Batfink is an American animated television series, consisting of five-minute shorts, that first aired in April 1966. The 100-episode series was quickly created by Hal Seeger, starting in 1966, to send up the popular Batman and Green Hornet television series, which had premiered the same year.
It depicts an anthropomorphic bat cyborg who acts as superhero and a martial artist who is acting as his sidekick. The main villain is Hugo A Go Go, a mad scientist who seeks world domination.
Contents
Plot
Batfink is a bat superhero with metal wings. With the help of his sidekick, Karate, he fights crime in his city, usually against his recurring villain, Hugo A-Go-Go.
Many episodes place Batfink in a dangerous cliffhanger-type situation. Typically, this is effected by trapping him in some sort of bondage, placing him in a position that renders his wings useless. At the moment the potentially fatal shot is fired, the action freezes, and the narrator asks dramatically if Batfink will survive. The action then continues, with Batfink escaping via a convenient but previously unseen deus ex machina or through the use of his superpowers.
Characters
Batfink
Batfink (voiced by Frank Buxton) is a superpowered anthropomorphic grey cyborg bat in a yellow costume with a big red "B" on the chest and red gauntlets and boots. He uses his supersonic sonar radar and black metallic wings to fight crime. When not fighting crime, Batfink lives in a split-level cave, though he also has a direct video link to the Chief's office in case his help is needed.
Batfink's "supersonic sonar radar" is a super-powered version of a bat's echolocation, used to locate prey. Batfink's power takes the form of the letters of the word "BEEP" either once or twice emanating from his mouth. The radar is anthropomorphic and sentient and can fly wherever Batfink needs them to go – accompanied by a distinctive beeping noise. His catchphrase during that time is "My supersonic sonar radar will help me!" Whenever Batfink said those words, he would say it through the open sun roof of the Battilac car, while it was not in motion. The radar can see, feel fear, evade capture and report back to Batfink on what it has seen. In one episode, the radar is ambushed and beaten up. The radar also gets confused, misdirected, and lost, leaving Batfink to rely on other means to spy upon the episode's villain. Once, when the radar is sent to investigate Queenie Bee and her swarm of villainous bees, it returns with the "EEP" swollen with bee stings. When Karate asks Batfink "How come they just stung the E-E-P?", he replies "Because a bee would never harm another bee. But a bee will tell on another bee.". The literal spelled-out appearance of an onomatopœia was a running gag not limited to the supersonic sonar radar; in one episode, Hugo A-Go-Go invented a tickling stick that tickles its adversaries into submission, which sent out the words "Kitchy Koo" to do the deed on Batfink (the episode ended with Batfink slicing the K's off to create the far more irritating, but less distracting, "Itchy Oo").
Batfink's main defense are his metallic wings, which he is able to fold around himself as a protective shield against most attacks, thereby spawning the most famous catchphrase of the show: "Your bullets cannot harm me – my wings are like a shield of steel!" He claims in some episodes that his wings are stainless steel, but in other episodes he explicitly states that they are not – since he always carries a can of spot remover to keep them polished. Batfink can also use his wings as offensive weapons. In one episode, he uses one of them as a sword during a duel. His wings can also help him fly at incredible speeds. They are often used to help him escape certain death or cut through bonds when he has been captured (he can break out of regular ropes, but not rubber ones). In the episode "Ebenezer the Freezer", Batfink has automatic retrorockets built into his wings, but not in any other episode. Sometimes, his wings hinder him. When in water, he will sink because of the weight of his metal wings. Powerful magnets are also a problem for him. Plutonium, for reasons unexplained (but possibly relating to his birth in a plutonium mine), also renders the wings useless. Batfink's life and wings are explained in the final episode, "Batfink: This Is Your Life", which depicts his boyhood and how his real wings were replaced.
Karate
Kara "Karate" Te (voiced by Len Maxwell) is a gi-clad martial arts expert and Batfink's oafish sidekick who drives the Battillac. He is somewhat oversized and not very bright, but is strong enough to help Batfink out of any situation. He carries a wide variety of objects and gadgets in his "utility sleeve" (a parody of Batman's utility belt), but he often has trouble finding what he needs in it. Karate tends to succeed by dumb luck rather than by skill or ingenuity, and often Karate's involvement will make a bad situation worse. Karate is usually ordered to check downstairs while Batfink checks the upper floor. At the end of each episode, Karate will make a corny pun that is sometimes physical on the part of his stupidity. Karate's father was the blacksmith who made Batfink's metallic wings.
Karate is a direct send-up of Kato, the Green Hornet's companion. Also, like in The Green Hornet, when both characters are in the car, Karate is the driver, while Batfink rides in the back seat. In early episodes, he speaks in a stereotypical Asian accent; in later episodes, he is voiced in a clipped, nasal speech pattern, inspired by Don Adams, whose Get Smart character, Maxwell Smart, was popular at the time. On occasion, Karate even utters the Maxwell Smart-inspired catchphrase, "Sorry about that, Batfink".
The Chief
The Chief of Police (voiced by Len Maxwell) is Batfink's contact on the local police force and informs Batfink of all the latest crimes via a direct video link to Batfink's Split-Level Cave. Batfink answers "The hotline — Batfink here". The Chief also has a wife and children, who never appear onscreen, but are mentioned by Karate as having seen them in the episode "Tough MacDuff."
The Mayor
The Mayor is the unnamed mayor of the city that Batfink protects.
The Narrator
The Narrator (voiced by Len Maxwell) narrates each episode while explaining certain information and doing the cliffhanger narration.
Hugo A-Go-Go
General Professor Hugo "Jerkules" A-Go-Go (voiced by Frank Buxton) is the wild-haired smocked main villain of the series. He speaks English with a German accent. He is referred to as the world's maddest scientist and spends his time in his secret laboratory creating weird and wacky inventions (including a robot bride, complete with robot mother-in-law) to defeat Batfink and dominate the world. He always manages to escape jail to antagonize the hero in a later episode. Hugo A-Go-Go often breaks the fourth wall and has conversations with the narrator.
Other villains
Other villains that are Batfink's enemies are:
Ebeneezer the Freezer is a villain who collaborated with Hugo A-Go-Go in a plot to freeze the city.
Mr. Boomer is the owner of Boomer Glass Works who has been using the sonic booms caused by his jets to improve his business.
Big Ears Ernie is a villain with sensitive hearing.
Manhole Manny is a villain who operates in the sewers.
Mr. M. Flick is a mad movie maker.
Skinny Minnie is the world's thinnest thief.
Bony Mahoney, Diet Wyatt and Scrawny Arnie the Narrow Knaves are the henchmen of Skinny Minnie.
Fatman is a criminal with an inflatable suit who steals fat items.
Gluey Louie is a villain who uses glue in his capers.
Brother Goose is a supervillain who always leaves taunting clues based on nursery rhymes.
Myron the Magician is a criminal magician.
Sporty Morty is a sports-themed villain that wields different sports equipment.
The Ringading Brothers are criminal acrobats.
Stupidman is a criminal who commits crimes that no sensible person would commit. He is also the brother-in-law of the Chief of Police.
Hidden political message
According to Dave Mackey's Batfink site, a two-part political message is concealed in two episodes, disguised as sped-up gibberish. Mackey translates the message as follows:
Part 1 (in "Spin the Batfink"): "The most dangerous force in America today is Walter Reuther and his political machine. It's time we realized that they intend to run this country. When the smut publishers put a..."
Part 2 (in "Bride and Doom"): "...dirty cover on a clean book, let's take it at face value and call it trash and dump it in the river".
Production and syndication
The cartoon was produced at Hal Seeger Studios, in New York City, and at Bill Ackerman Productions in Midland Park, New Jersey. It was syndicated by Screen Gems and continued to air on local stations throughout the 1980s. Nickelodeon briefly aired episodes of Batfink on Weinerville as well as its Nick in the Afternoon block in 1995 and 1997. In September 2006, it returned to the U.S. as part of "Cartoons Without a Clue", Boomerang's mystery lineup on weekends. MeTV Toons started airing episodes of Batfink in February 2026 as part of the channel's Casper and Company block.
The Batfink series was very popular in the UK, becoming a cult series like the later Danger Mouse, and from 1967 onwards, it was shown at least once every year on UK terrestrial television until 1983, initially on the BBC network, where it was allocated an early evening slot just before the BBC News, and latterly as part of Children's ITV; it subsequently reappeared in 1986 on the ITV Saturday morning magazine show Get Fresh. In the early 1990s, it was repeated again as part of TV-am's Wide Awake Club/Wacaday series; after Wacaday finished in 1992, Batfink was consigned to the vaults in the UK for the next twelve years. It first aired on 6 January 1994 on BBC One during its CBBC Block at the exact time of 16;00.
In 2004, Batfink gained a whole new following, when it was rerun in a number of episodes of the BBC's Saturday morning show Dick and Dom in da Bungalow. From April 2006, it had enjoyed an extended, if somewhat irregular, repeat run on CBBC.
In 2026, MeTV Toons began airing Batfink cartoons, along with other Seeger produced cartoons, during Casper & Company.
Batfink was made quickly and cheaply by re-using stock sequences.
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 Battillac, the Battillac going round mountain bends, the Battillac going over a bridge, Batfink's supersonic sonar radar, and others. Sometimes, the repeated scenes would be cut short, so that sections could be re-used to fit the storyline more closely.
DVD release
Cinema Club released the complete series on Region 2 DVD on 6 December 2004.
Shout! Factory released Batfink: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 on 3 July 2007.
Both DVD boxsets run over four DVDs and contain all 100 episodes of the series.
In January 2007, A-Design released a single Batfink DVD in Bulgaria, which includes 26 5-minute segments.