[Admiral Archer]

What are your favorite adaptations of the Dark Knight in television and films?
Here's my list of favorites to least favorites:

--Batman: The Animated Series
--Batman (1989 film)
--Batman Returns
--Batman Forever
--The Batman (2004 animated)
--Batman Begins
--Batman: The Movie (1966)
--Batman and Robin

[Chris Fawkes]

I loved the Frank Miller comics.
The 60's tv show.
The recent Batman by Christopher Nolan

I thought the Tim Burton Batman did not work. It tried for the Frank Miller influence but never cut the chord from the 60's show.
Jack Nicholson dancing around to a Prince song was prety painful.
Probably the George Clooney Batman was the best of that series.

[RedShirtWalking]

The Tim Burton film was a travesty. It mangled the story of the character and, while many people love it, it's one of the worst films I've ever seen.

[sir num nums]

Growing up, I watched reruns of:

The Animated Series (voiced by Adam West)
The 1960's Movie and Series

My older sister took me to watch Batman in the late 1980's.

So, I also liked:

Batman (1980's)
Batman Returns
Batman Begins

Batman Forever was OK at best, but the bright colors just did not fit with a dark series

Batman and Robin was a joke, and should not have been made. Batgirl, Mr. Freeze, Nipples on the costumes, the bright neon colors, and horrible story just was part of what was wrong with that movie.

[Botany Bay]

As a kid I liked the 60ies TV-show because I was a kid and never heard of Batman before. I grew up in the GDR and loved comics. Thats a really odd situation, because comics in GDR or the whole eastern block where really childish. There where good comics, but nothing like the western superheroes or comic novells. When the wall came down (I was eleven years old) the first thing I did in West-Berlin was to check out a comic store and found "The Dark Knight".
First I didnt like it. But step by step I realized that the sixties TV-show was raping Batman. I got exited about the real Batman and read more and more comics, especially the pretty dark eighties stuff. I remember the one where Robin got killed by the Joker in a damn nasty way (he got beaten to death with an ironbar).

Round about the same time Tim Burtons Batman hit cinemas and I must say I liked that far darker and pretty gothic tone. And I just loved this rough and nasty Batmobile.

In summary my list is:

1. All the nasty and relatively brutal comics from the eighties (Joker being an insane bastard, Batman being a lonely Renegade on an illegal crussade of self-justice, Commisioner Gordon getting between the lines).

2. Christopher Nolans Batman (the closest we ever got to the "Real" Batman).

3. Frank Millers Commics (The First Year for instance)

4. Tim Burtons Batman and Batman Returns.

Thats it. All the other Batman movies just dont exist for me. And Goerge Clooney as Batman was a real pain in the back for me.

[the_tortel!]

Begins is THE best, to me

[Mr pointy ears]

The 2 batman movies starring micheal keaton were good the other were crap,but batman returns was better than all the previous batman movies.

[Berengarius7]

1. Batman Begins (Best screen adaptation of Batman. period)
2. Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm.
3. Batman: The Animated Series.
4. Batman, the 1960's television series. (I was thrilled as a child and left rolling on the floor laughing as an adult. A comedy/adventure masterpiece.)

Every thing else is ridiculous, superfluous and just plain bad.

[HRH The KING]

The Tim Burton movies are the best.

Once they switched direction in "Batman Forever", the franchise lost all direction.

I liked "Batman Begins" as well. It takes the franchise back to the dark style of the Burton films but adds more grit and realism to it. I loved the explanations in "Batman Begins" for where Batman gets his car, suit, technology etc...from

"Batman Forever" and "Batman and Robin" are just terrible.

The old TV show was crap camp rubbish.

[GODHOOD]

Tim Burton's Batman was pretty decent, after that the series of movies slowly went downhill until Batman: Begins arrived and put the character back on course.