Batfink

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Batfink
Batfink
Batfink in an authoritative stance
Created byHal Seeger
StarringFrank Buxton
Len Maxwell
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes100
Production
Running time26 mins
Original release
ReleaseSeptember, 1967 –
4 October, 1967


Batfink is an animated television series, consisting of five-minute shorts, that first aired in September 1967. The 100-episode series was quickly created by Hal Seeger, starting in 1966, to parody the popular Batman and The Green Hornet television series which had premiered the same year.

The cartoon was produced at Hal Seeger Studios, in New York City. It was syndicated by Screen Gems and continued to air on local stations throughout the 1980s. Nickelodeon briefly aired episodes of Batfink on its Weinerville and Nick in the Afternoon series in the 1990s. In the UK, Batfink was also shown up until the 80s, but was introduced to a new audience in 2004 when it was included in a number of episodes of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow, and since April 2006 has been enjoying an extended repeat run on BBC One and BBC Two. In September 2006 it returned to the US as part of "Cartoons Without a Clue", Boomerang's mystery lineup on weekends.

Batfink's life and wings are explained in the final episode, "Batfink: This Is Your Life", in which he is shown his boyhood, and how his real wings were replaced.

Batfink was made quickly and cheaply by re-using many common scenes to the series, instead of having to re-animate almost identical scenes for each episode. Although most serial animations do this to some extent, Batfink did it more than most. Commonly repeated scenes include the intro to the initial briefings by the Chief (the TV screen hotline buzzing into life), Batfink and Karate getting into the Battleac, the Battleac going round mountain bends, the Battleac going over a bridge, Batfink's radar and others.

Some scenes were reused every episode, some appeared sporadically and some were only repeated once or twice out during the entire series. Often, a scene would be used in more than one scenario, e.g. the Battleac going over a bridge on their way to get to a crime would also be reused during a chase scene or when they are looking all over the country for a specific item or person. Sometimes the repeated scenes would be cut short so that only sections of them could be re-used to fit the storyline more closely.

Batfink had at his disposal two main superpowers: his super-sonic sonar radar and his metallic wings. At least one of these would feature in every episode in order to help him catch the bad guy. His super-sonic sonar radar played upon his being a bat. Bats use echolocation to detect their prey and home in on it. Batfink's radar was the superpower version of this and usually took the form of the letters "BEEP" (sometimes "BEEP BEEP") emanating from his mouth and then flying wherever he needed them to go, accompanied by a distinctive beeping noise.

"My super-sonic sonar radar will help me!"

The "BEEP"s acted as people: they were able to see, be scared, evade capture and report back to Batfink on what they had seen. In one episode, the "BEEP" even gets beaten up after being ambushed from behind a tree. The "BEEP"s also get confused, misdirected and lost and Batfink has to rely on other means to find out what Hugo A-Go-Go (or some other major villain) has been up to. Once, when the "BEEP" was sent to investigate Queenie Bee and her swarm of villainous bees, it returned with the letters "EEP" swollen with beestings. When Karate asked Batfink, "How come they just stung the EEP?" he replied, "Because a bee would never harm another B. But a B will tell on another bee-- Queenie Bee is in THERE!"

Batfink's main defense were his metallic wings, which he was able to curl around himself as a protective shield against most attacks, thereby spawning the most famous catchphrase of the show:

"Your bullets (knives, darts, etc.) cannot harm me-- my wings are like a shield of steel!"

(He claimed in some episodes that his wings were stainless steel, but in other episodes he explicitly stated that they were not.) His wings would also help him fly at enormous speeds and were often used to help him escape certain death or cut through bonds when he had been captured. But sometimes they also hindered him; when in water, he would sink because of the weight of his metal wings.

Batfink's sidekick, Karate, was his backup in case his superpowers couldn't help him out of a sticky situation. Unfortunately, Karate was a bit clumsy and not the brightest sidekick, but was highly trained in martial arts, most famously his Karate Chop. Usually, when Karate did help Batfink escape Hugo A-Go-Go's clutches (or some other fiend's, for that matter), it was more by dumb luck than judgement, and sometimes, it was Karate that landed them both in a situation in the first place.

In many episodes, events would come to a head with Batfink in a seemingly fatal situation. At this point, the action would freeze and the narrator asked dramatically whether Batfink would survive. Then, the action would continue with Batfink surviving, either through use of Deus Ex Machina or through him using his superpowers. For example, Beanstalk Jack, a fiendish farmer who liked to throw beans and spray them with his water gun to make them grow into beanstalks, had a unique Rube Goldberg-style contraption that went like this: "When I shoot Bean (A) onto Floor (B), it will grow into Beanstalk (C), and push up Seesaw (D), tilting Acid (E), which will burn rope (F), releasing Bomb (G) onto Target (H), blowing up Batfink (I), and Karate (J)." He then shot the bean up, sprayed it with water, and the narrator said, "Bean A did land on Floor B, and Beanstalk C is rising toward Seesaw D. WILL Acid E burn Rope F, drop Bomb G onto Target H, and send Batfink I and Karate J to Kingdom Come K?!" So, Batfink sent out a "BEEP" that turned into a slide, diverting the acid to the base of the stalk he was on, causing it to fall over and free him. He then flew out onto the road, put up a wing in front of Jack's getaway tractor and shattered it, allowing him to capture Jack. Then Karate tried a contraption of his own at the police station: "I pick him up by his Neck (A), throw him into Cell (B), and slam Door (D)." The chief asked, "What happened to C?" and Karate replied, "Oh, C is the Key, and I threw that away."

Cast

  • Batfink (Frank Buxton) is a bat with superpowers. He uses his super-sonic sonar radar and metallic wings to fight crime. He rides in a customized Volkswagen-type car called the "Battleac" (rhymes with "Cadillac"), that is outfitted with lots of barriers and shields. In this way, when the car falls into a valley or gets shocked by a sound wave, it remains intact. Then, Batfink says something like, "It's a good thing the Battleac is equipped with a thermonuclear plutonium-insulated blast shield." and Karate says, "It's also good it was a small bomb."
  • Karate (Len Maxwell) is a martial arts expert and Batfink's sidekick, who drives the Battleac. He is overweight and isn't very bright, but is strong enough to help Batfink out of any situation. His voice was a characature inspired by Don Adams as Maxwell Smart of the Get Smart series, which was popular at the time. Karate on occasion also uttered the phrase, "Sorry about that, Batfink."
  • The Chief (Len Maxwell) is Batfink's consultant and informs Batfink of all the latest crimes via a direct video link to Batfink's split-level cave ("The hotline! Batfink here.").
  • Hugo A-Go-Go (Frank Buxton) is the main villain of the series, who spends his time in his laboratory creating inventions to defeat Batfink and dominate the world. He somehow manages to escape jail every time when caught to antagonize Batfink in a later episode. He also sometimes talks with the narrator.
  • Other villains have included Queenie Bee (with her army of bees) "Victor The Predictor, "Judy Jitsu" and Goldyunlocks (with an obsession of unlocking every lock she sees).

Episodes

  1. "Pink Pearl of Persia" (pilot)
  2. "The Short Circuit Case" (pilot)
  3. "Ebenezer The Freezer"
  4. "The Sonic Boomer"
  5. "Big Ears Ernie"
  6. "Batfink on the Rocks"
  7. "Manhole Manny"
  8. "The Mad Movie Maker"
  9. "Nuts of the Round Table"
  10. "Skinny Minnie"
  11. "Fatman Strikes Again"
  12. "The Kitchy-Koo Kaper"
  13. "The Dirty Sinker"
  14. "Gluey Louie"
  15. "Brother Goose"
  16. "The Chocolate-Covered Diamond"
  17. "Crime College"
  18. "Myron the Magician"
  19. "Brain Washday"
  20. "M P F T B R M"
  21. "Gloves on the Go-Go"
  22. "Sporty Morty"
  23. "Go Fly a Bat"
  24. "Ringading Brothers"
  25. "Out Out Darn Spot"
  26. "Goo-Goo A-Go-Go"
  27. "Crimes in Rhymes"
  28. "Stupidman"
  29. "A Living Doll"
  30. "Bat Patrol"
  31. "Dig that Crazy Mountain"
  32. "Spin The Batfink"
  33. "Greasy Gus"
  34. "The Mark of Zero"
  35. "Swami Salami"
  36. "The Human Pretzel"
  37. "Jumping Jewelry"
  38. "Roz the Schnozz"
  39. "Karate's Case"
  40. "The Wishbone Boner"
  41. "Hugo for Mayor"
  42. "The Indian Taker"
  43. "The Devilish Device"
  44. "Goldstinger"
  45. "The Shady Shadow"
  46. "Party Marty"
  47. "The Beep Bopper"
  48. "The Super Trap"
  49. "Bride and Doom"
  50. "Topsy Turvy"
  51. "The Rotten Rainmaker"
  52. "Gypsy James"
  53. "The Kooky Chameleon"
  54. "Beanstalk Jack"
  55. "The Time Stopper"
  56. "The Kangarobot"
  57. "Presto-Chango-Hugo"
  58. "Curly The Cannonball"
  59. "Robber Hood"
  60. "Slow Down! Speed Up!"
  61. "Sandman Sam"
  62. "Yo-Yo A-Go-Go"
  63. "Hugo's Hoke"
  64. "Backwards Box"
  65. "The Great Escapo"
  66. "Watch My Smoke"
  67. "Daniel Boom"
  68. "Queenie Bee"
  69. "The Thief from Baghdad"
  70. "The Mean Green Midget"
  71. "Double Double Crossers"
  72. "The Baffling Bluffs of Hugo A-Go-Go"
  73. "Napoleon Blownapart"
  74. "The Atom Boom"
  75. "Magneto the Magnificent"
  76. "Hugo the Crimefighter"
  77. "The Trojan Horse Thief"
  78. "The Zap Sap"
  79. "Unhappy Birthday"
  80. "Buster the Ruster"
  81. "Karate's Day Off"
  82. "Mike the Mimic"
  83. "Cinderobber"
  84. "Bouncey Bouncey Batfink"
  85. "The Bomber Bird"
  86. "The Copycat Bat"
  87. "Old King Cruel"
  88. "Victor the Predictor"
  89. "Goldyunlocks and the Three Bears"
  90. "Jerkules"
  91. "Hugo Here, Hugo There"
  92. "Bowl Brummel"
  93. "Fleiderfink"
  94. "Blankenstein"
  95. "Whip van Winkle"
  96. "Tough Macduff"
  97. "Judy Jitsu"
  98. "Ego A-Go-Go"
  99. "Father Time Bomb"
  100. "Batfink: This Is Your Life"

1980s Theme Song

The Battleac is ready, it's a wonder car,

and Batfink has his radar super-sonic sonar.

A missile that can find him he will never feel--

his wings are his protection like a shield of steel,

it's Batfink!

Airing History

External links

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