- Title: Adventures of Batman – The Cool, Cruel Mr. Freeze
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In honor of Batman‘s 75th Anniversary we turn out attention back to the Dark Knight’s more memorable moments on the big and small screen turning our attention to The Adventures of Batman. One-half of the short-lived The Batman/Superman Hour, The Adventures of Batman featured the Dynamic Duo against Batman’s rogues gallery in 6-minute and 13-minute episodes. Casting Olan Soule as Batman and Casey Kasem as Robin the Boy Wonder for the first time, the pair would reprise the roles on Scooby-Doo and the various SuperFriends shows over the years.
When Mr. Freeze (Ted Knight who narrated each show and voiced most of the villains) threatens to freeze all of Gotham City unless it pays $1 billion in gold bullion Bruce Wayne agrees to bail out the city by liquidating his entire fortune. Once Freeze has his money Batman and Robin turn villain in an attempt to discover Mr. Freeze’s real plan by tricking him into their confidence. As Batman’s plans go this one is a bit hard to follow.
Sending Alfred (Soule) to steal the Melman jewels, Batman and Robin step in to help his escape from the police. Later the Dynamic Duo steal a pair of paintings and a gold shipment from the U.S. Mint. Although Freeze sees through the ruse he still leads the Dynamic Duo to the missing gold revealing his own odd plan involving a whale used in government sonic experiments to find sunken gold he has hidden in Gotham Harbor. With the truth revealed, and after escaping a death trap meant to turn the frozen pair into ice cubes, Batman and Robin defeat Mr. Freeze, return the stolen items, and clear their names.
Even if Batman’s plan of turning evil doesn’t fool Mr. Freeze (or make much sense in the larger scheme of things as Batman discovers the importance of the whale prior to the crime spree), the Dark Knight Detective does get his man in the end. The Filmation design of Batman and Robin as seen here would continue throughout the series and for years to come while Mr. Freeze’s astronaut look does appear a bit dated. The animation itself does include the same kinds of mistakes found throughout the SuperFriends run (missing or wrong-colored emblem on Batman’s chest, etc.) and the show makes use of certain animated sequences they would reuse in multiple episodes.
