I think we can all agree that this is the most bat-tastic time to be a Batman fan, regardless of whether you’re excited about Ben Affleck’s mopey mug donning the cowl or not. Batman is 75 years old, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is marking the occasion by finally bring the campy classic 1960s Batman series to Blu-ray and DVD for the first time with Batman: The Complete Television Series. To coincide with this year’s Comic-Con, they’ve revealed the packaging and extra features for the set and holy Crayola, is it a colorfully fabulous collection.
Hitting stores on November 11, Batman: The Complete Television Series Limited Edition will set customers back well over $200 for the high-def Blu-rays, while the non-limited edition DVDs will predictably be a tad more cost-efficient. (Season 1 will also be available to purchase on its own, with later seasons to follow.) Both contain remastered versions of all 120 episodes from Batman’s hijinks-filled three seasons. Season 2 contained 60 episodes, if you can imagine that. How many puns do you think were uttered during that span? Count them and let us know your results by shining a light in the sky.
Both sets contain over three hours of special features, including several conversations and segments devoted solely to Adam West and his history with the character. “Batmania Born!” is an extra focused on the art and design behind the show, which should be extremely interesting, given how vibrant it was. Batman memorabilia collectors get their own feature, and then there’s “Bats of the Round Table,” which is Adam West and “his celebrity friends, chatting all things Bat ’66,” which sounds awesome. Rounding out the supplemental material is “Na Na Na Batman!” for which “Hollywood’s favorite stars and producers recount their favorite Batman memories.” I love the use of the words “Hollywood’s favorite” in a press release.
It’s already a solid purchase regardless of which format you choose, but bat-shelling out some more moolah will get you a wonderful toy and a few more nifty items. The Limited Edition comes with an exclusive Hot Wheels Batmobile replica (no fire included), 44 vintage trading cards, an episode guide full of photos and synopses, and the Adam West Scrapbook, which contains photos from West’s personal archives. Plus, you get Ultraviolet digital copies of all the episodes, if that’s your thing. Take a closer look at the Batmobile below.
And these cards are pretty solid as well. I used to have most of the trading cards for Tim Burton's Batman, and now I'm mad that I have no idea what happened to them.
You can be damned sure by November 12, I’ll be experiencing Vincent Price’s Egghead and Cesar Romero’s Joker in high definition for the first time in one way or another. And I know what I said earlier about the price of the Blu-ray set, but Amazon has a cheaper pre-order price that you can find here.
