#4 The Villains!

It’s no secret that the villains were often the best part of the show, portrayed by famed actors like Joan Collins, Vincent Price, and Eartha Kitt (Frank Sinatra himself lobbied to be cast as the Joker), and some of the most entertaining episodes (and the spin-off feature film that premiered between the first and second seasons) were the ones in which the villains teamed up to make life miserable for the Dynamic Duo. Return of the Caped Crusaders goes all in, featuring fan favorites the Joker, the Riddler, the Penguin, and Catwoman in featured roles.

Unfortunately, while Newmar was on hand to reprise her role, her co-stars have all passed away, requiring their roles to be portrayed by sound-alikes, to varying degrees of success. William Saly (Rigby on Regular Show) is the worst of the three, with his Penguin sounding nothing like Burgess Meredith’s (Rocky) squawking chain-smoker. Faring better are Jeff Bergman (the current official Bugs Bunny), who nails Cesar Romero’s Joker laugh but slips somewhat whenever the scene calls for him to deliver dialogue, and Wally Wingert, who modifies his Riddler from the Arkham Asylum series of video games to deliver a spot-on Frank Gorshin version of the manic quizmaster all throughout.

#3 The Bat Gadgets

If it can be prefixed by the word, “Bat”, it’s probably in here somewhere. Every classic gadget from the Bat-zooka to the Bat Boat makes an appearance, while new creations, such as a Bat space rocket and deep dive exploration suits for the heroes, have been designed with an eye towards the 1960s aesthetic. Just try not to cheer when the Batmobile is revealed in all its glory for the first time.

#2 It’s absurd in all the right ways

Hitting screens over a decade before Superman the Movie showed the world that comic books could be taken seriously, the Batman TV show reveled in poking fun at superhero tropes. Aside from the endless parade of Bat gadgets, the old show delighted in constantly having Batman be the smartest man in the room, correctly deriving the most out-of-left field deductions from non sequitur clues, causing supporting characters shake their heads at how they themselves were unable to reach such “obvious” conclusions.

Also present here is Batman’s predilection to instruct Robin in the finer points of everything from ballet form to fastening his seatbelt, making use of pedestrian crossings, and even the importance of upper body strength for their infamous Bat-climbs. Honestly, the only thing missing here is Sammy Davis Jr. sticking his head out a window for a mid-Bat-climb cameo.

#1 There’s a sequel!

Just as it’s a miracle that Return of the Caped Crusaders exists at all, it was announced earlier this month at New York Comic Con that the film would be receiving a sequel next year, with Two-Face as the villain as voiced by none other than the original Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner! This will mark Two-Face’s first appearance in the 1966 TV universe, as the character was previously believed to be too scary for younger viewers.

If nothing else, the very notion of the legendarily hammy Shatner matching wits with West and Ward’s Dynamic Duo shows that whoever came up with the idea of reintroducing Batman ‘66 in animated form should go right on making them for as long as they want.

Holy retro-trip, Batman! Half a century on, it’s a good time to be a Bat-fan.

Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 1

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