"The Green Hornet" Japanese Poster
Discovering new Bruce Lee footage is virtually non-existent these days, but the next best thing would be finding semi-rare TV appearances. With that being said, Bruce Lee fans should take note of Warner’s upcoming Batman: The Complete TV Series (see photo), which will be hitting Blu-ray & DVD on November 11th.
Within its 120 episode listing are all three Batman/The Green Hornet crossover episodes – Batman’s Satisfaction (1967), A Piece of the Action (1967) and The Spell of Tut (1966) – starring Van Williams as The Green Hornet and Bruce Lee as Kato.
These episodes (not to mention the yet-to-be officially released The Green Hornet series) have been around from various sources (bootlegs, etc.), but their inclusion in the Batman: The Complete TV Series marks the first time they’ll be completely remastered in 1080p HD (1.33:1).
Batman: The Complete TV Series is a worthy addition to the growing library of other Bruce Lee-related titles featured in high definition, such as Shout! Factory’s Bruce Lee’s Legacy Collection and Warner’s Enter the Dragon. Hopefully, studios will finally release the rest of The Green Hornet (1966–1967) series, as well as Longstreet (1971), but definitely don’t hold your breath, as both may not be profitable enough for a proper release. For now, the Batman: The Complete TV Series is currently available for pre-order.
I think the Green Hornet show should be easier to pick up, since it’s not going through a tug-of-war between two studios. That recent movie happened, too, so it’s probably not a big deal to deal with the rights owner of that property, either.