THURSDAY THEME SONG: AQUAMAN

This week's Thursday Theme Song, and going along with the Underwater Adventures theme, is the very first aquatic superhero:

Aqualad and Aquaman

Aquaman

Filmation, most know for their 80s nostalgia hit He-Man, got into the animation business quite early. 1963 saw the debut of their first show, Rod Rocket, and 1966 saw the debut of their second show, The New Adventures of Superman.

In 1967, Filmation repackaged Superman into a new hour-long series called The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure which featured reruns of the six-minute Superman episodes and new six-minute Aquaman cartoons.

Also included in the show were rotating 'guest star' episodes feature many DC Comics stars, including the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, the Atom, Superboy, the Justice League of America and Teen Titans. Most of these heroes were seen for the first time in this series and would go on to their own series in later years.

"Superman! I'm open!"

The animation in this show is very limited as was the practice by Filmation. Budgets were very small so animation was reused as much as possible and characters only moved if they really needed to. This became Filmation's signature in animation and lasted all throughout the studio's life.

In 1968, Aquaman got his own series which was a 30-minute version of the Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, only without Superman.

Aquaman's voice was provided by Marvin Miller, who is best know for his work as Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet. Aqualad was voiced by Hanna-Barbera regular Jerry Dexter.

The voice you will hear in this theme song is none other than Ted Knight who was the narrator in many cartoons of this era including Super Friends. His most well know work is Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore Show.

THURSDAY THEME SONG: THE BATMAN

It's the first week of September! This month's theme is "Themes by Rock Stars"

The Batman, by The Edge

The Batman debuted on the WB! on September 11, 2001. Unlike the previous Batman: the Animated Series from 1992, this Batman was new to the game. Bruce Wayne has only been Batman for three years. He is still learning how to be a detective and a superhero.

Classic villains like the Joker, Penguin and Catwoman are constant threats to the Dark Knight, as well as modern Batman villains like Black Mask, Ragdoll and Spellbinder. Many of the villains are voiced by some very notable people including Ron Pearlman, Dan Castellanella, Clancy Brown, Gina Gershin and Brandon Routh just to name a few!

The series has, what some people are calling, a pseudo-anime style similar to the Jackie Chan Adventures. Comicbook artist Jeff Matsuda redesigned all the characters for the show along with some new personalities. Many fans, especially fans of Batman: TAS, didn't like the show because it was not as dark and it strayed to far from the comicbooks (Batgirl appeared in Season 3 becoming Batman's partner. Robin is making his debut in this year's Season 4).

I was one of the many who didn't like this show. I am a huge fan of the original animated series and to me this was an abomination. I stayed far away from it until Season One came out on DVD. I decided to give it a shot. What I found was solid animation, good stories and plenty of action. I am a converted fan.

The theme song to The Batman was composed and performed by U2's The Edge and sets the feel for the dark, mysterious and often fast paced Gotham City. The song was replaced in Season 3 for a new song composed by Andy Sturmer who also wrote the Teen Titans theme song for Puffy Ami Yumi.

You Edge fans may find this interesting too

Next week: Aerosmith's Joe Perry!