Simon the Pie-Man is in at least a couple of the shorts; but, the main baddies from the live action series got the most appearances.

I have the 1978 New Adventures of Batman, but I've never seen the 1968 cartoon. I will have to look for it.

Season 1 had to follow the big crackdown in cartoon violence, following the Adv of Batman, where the Dynamic Duo actually punched and kicked the villains and henchmen and threw things at them. That led to a huge furor and the networks instituted mandates to get the parental watchdog groups off their backs, which included an educational mandate. So, H-B couldn't have fights or other violence and the stories had to have an educational element. They predominantly met that by having the episodes revolve around environmental concerns, since that was a hot topic, at the time (too bad the majority didn't pay attention then, given what we are dealing with now). Most of the villains are actually trying to accomplish good things; but they cause unintended side effects. A civilization has run out of power, because it used up all of it's fuels, so a representative comes to Earth to steal energy and transport it back to his world. Another is trying to raise the temperature on Earth so his people can migrate there, because they have so polluted their own world that the temperatures plummeted. Another wants to reduce the size of people to extend available resources, but never bothered to ask if people wanted to be shrunk. Another builds a sophisticated computer control system that can operate vehicles safely and more efficiently than people and handle other aspects of life. people turn over their work to it and settle into a life of luxury, while their brains atrophy because they face no challenges. Then, a small mouse gets inside the system and shorts out circuits, causing things to go haywire, in this perfect automated system.

All of these were intriguing ideas and were well developed, if somewhat metaphorically and some of the solutions were simplistic. It sent a definite message that resources are finite and renewable energy was the course for the future, as well as tighter controls on pollution, because of the delicate balance in the eco-system. Also, they way to institute an idea for the betterment of mankind is not by imposing your idea on people, without their consent, not to mention that the "Road to Hell is paved with good intentions!"

The Planet Splitter episode was a favorite, as a scientist and his buddy are rocketing off to mine for minerals in an asteroid (or planetoid) and Wendy relates the parable of the planet Krypton to them, allowing an episode that showed Superman's origin story. The episode with The Raven had an actual crook, who tries to get revenge on Superman, but is undone by his own arrogance. The Professor Baffles episode, with the disappearing formula, was intriguing as the various Super Friends fell into traps and you then waited to see how they would get out of them, while Wendy and Marvin tried to help the professor escape the crooks who were manipulating him.

Nearly 50 years later, I can recall the episodes with great clarity (though I do own the DVDs), because they were well developed stories. No, they couldn't fight and no, there were very few real villains; but, there was plenty for the imagination and the brain. Some of the names of the guest characters were real groaners, like Dr Shaman and his electro-magnet he used to try to pull in asteroids, to mine the minerals (The Shaman U) or Dr Noah Tall.

I found it more interesting than the bulk of the next series, The All-New Super Friends Hour, which introduced Zan and Jayna. The educational element meant preachier morals (especially the Wonder Twin segments). The half hour Justice League segment varied quite a bit, with some really good stories and some just okay. Not many villains there, either, other than Manta (not Black Manta) and the Grim Ghost. Most of the shorter segments, with various pairings of Super Friends were kind of run-of-the-mill, with a few that stood out. The guest hero segments and the main story were really the only parts I enjoyed and the guest hero plots usually didn't have enough time to do much with them. Rima was an odd choice; but, she had a comic (which I think was cancelled by then) and she was a female, though why not Black Canary, I don't know.

Challenge was closest to being a JLA cartoon, with the villains, though it always suffered because they could never lay hands on the villains and the deathtraps were usually short-lived. Plus, I wanted to see more of the Hall of Doom and the Hall of Justice, but that meant more drawing and that wasn't going to happen. The companion All-New Super Friends had some good ones, like the Phantom Zone villain episode and the one with the Olympian Gods, as well as the riff on The Fantastic Voyage.

World's Greatest Super Friends used storybook themes, with mostly good results.

The early 80s season, prior to Legendary Super Powers, were all over the place. Legendary and Galactic Guardians were a distinct improvement; but, they still had some so-so stories. I'd put the original series ahead of seasons 5, 6 and 7 (1980, 81 and 83).

Personally, I liked Wendy and Marvin, as they actually learned and grew and tried to help, without powers. Zan & Jayna were mostly kept out of the long-form episodes and were usually needing rescue when they were in adventures with the adult JLAers. They never really developed their powers well and stuck with the same configurations, again and again. I grinned when I spotted Marvin in Kingdom Come.

The comic book actually established Wendy to be Bruce Wayne's niece (how, I don't know, since he was an only child), which made for an interesting family connection. Wonder Dog I always found more tolerable than Gleek (liked him better when he was Blip, in Space Ghost).

Almost finished watching the 1968 cartoon. I think the writing got better as they went. (Either that, or my mind's adjusting to them... heh.)

Ran across a fun article online. In the comments section they clear up a mistake at the IMDB, it was in fact TED KNIGHT doing the voice of The Joker.

13thdimension.com/13-great-things-about-filmations-1968-batman-cartoon/#comment-266363

^^ Not just a superb sf movie, but one of the great movies, period. Excellent direction, sets and costumes that have a realistic, lived-in look, a crackling good script delivered at near-light speed, and solid acting from a cast of pros. Howard Hawks is credited as the producer and Christian Nyby as director, but the spirit of Howard Hawks saturates every frame of this movie.

No "Thing," no "Alien", no "Predator," etc., etc.

I'm been watch some stuff on HBO Max while I have it (waiting for Hawkeye/Book of Boba Fett to swap back to disney plus)... So far I really like 'Bad Blood'.. it was a small bit of Dick Grayson and Damian as Batman and Robin... the main plot had Talia trying to mind control the world. I did NOT like Flashpoint much... the art was rushed and very stylized (almost anime) but not in a good way. 'Titans vs Justice League' was decent.. mostly focused on Damian leading to work with others, which was not what I expected at all, but wasn't terrible.

Probably going to try 'Batman: Ninja' next.. seems a bit odd, but could be fun.