Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Adventures Of Batman: "From Catwoman With Love"



Premiered December 12, 1968.

Robin:Forget the hearts and flowers!
Batman:It's villains and brickbats time again, come on!

"Holy Cupids Bruce!"  Dick Grayson (AKA Robin) looks at the calender & realizes tomorrow is Valentine's Day.
It's Valentine's Day in Gotham City!

Batman (Olan Soule) and Robin (Casey Kasem) are called to the Gotham police station by Commissioner Gordon (Ted Knight).  Various villains have sent Valentine gifts to the Dynamic Duo.  Most of the gifts turn out to be bombs in disguise.


Catwoman (Jane Webb) has sent them a package...which contains a live Siamese cat!


The package also contains a poem from Catwoman that reads:
Roses are red
Violets are blue-o
And I adore 
The Dynamic Duo! 
Catwoman says she admires the heroes and wants to declare a truce in honor of Valentine's Day.  The cat likes Robin, so he names her Valentina.  Batman says they can keep her, since she doesn't appear to be a bomb.


At the same time, Catwoman and her minions are on a crime spree, stealing money and jewelry.  Batman and Robin are alerted to her whereabouts, but she keeps getting away.

Batman & Robin pursue Catwoman, Valentina joins them for a ride.
We observe Catwoman monitoring the Batmobile on a tracking device.  This allows her to know where they are during her robberies.


Batman and Robin discover that Valentina's fur is covered with a chemical that gives off radio waves.  This is how Catwoman is tracking their movements.


Later, Batgirl (Jane Webb again) joins the Dynamic Duo in their attempt to capture Catwoman.  They succeed in apprehending her Catmen minions, but Catwoman gets away.

The heroes hang on for dear life, while Catwoman whips them (ouch)!
Can the three heroes stop Catwoman and save Valentine's Day?

J.A. Morris says:
"From Catwoman With Love" isn't great, but it's short, fun and one of the few superhero episodes based around Valentine's Day.

The Joker doesn't appear in this episode, but he send his foes a Valentine!
There isn't much of a plot, it's basically just an extended chase scene through Gotham City.  But it opens with a Batman dismantling several booby-trapped Valentines sent by their foes, which is fun, if ridiculous.

Batman opens a Valentine gift using bomb-disposal equipment.
And speaking as a cat-lover, I thought Valentina was cute and enjoyed Robin's interaction with her.  Plus, Valentina ends up helping them fight Catwoman!


Younger fans might find the plot and (limited and often recycled) animation rather simplistic.  But Olan Soule and Casey Kasem were always fun voicing the Dynamic Duo.  Jane Webb also does a nice job here, performing double duty as the voice of Catwoman and Batgirl.

Batgirl tails Catwoman.
I must mention one thing though about Valentina the cat.  When Batman and Robin go chasing crooks in the Batmobile, the cat is riding with them on the back of the car!

Valentina climbs a brick wall.  Is she "Spider-Cat"?
When Batgirl goes on patrol, Valentina is in the sidecar of her Batcycle.  Who takes a house cat with them while chasing super villains?  They might be great crime fighters, but Batman, Robin and Batgirl should NOT be trusted as catsitters!


  But thankfully, Valentina makes it through the episode unharmed.

Catwomam attacks the Batmobile with her car's "Cataram".
I was a bit surprised to see Catwoman us a whip on the heroes.  I don't recall seeing many Saturday morning cartoons where anyone got literally whipped.

Batman & Robin capture Catwoman's flunkies.
This series is available for streaming on Amazon and it will be released on dvd  this June.

Valentina turns on her "boss"!
"From Catwoman With Love" isn't exactly "essential" viewing.  But it's an entertaining Valentine episode, and at under 15 minutes in length, doesn't overstay its welcome.



J.A. Morris' rating:






2 and a half Valentine Hearts.




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