Customer Reviews

Adventures of Superman - The Complete Fifth and Sixth Seasons

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I'll keep this brief as I'm probably already "preaching to the choir" here. However, just on the off-chance that there are a few of you out there who have never known the wonder of "The Adventures of Superman" television series, may I just say this: there has never been--and at this rate, it appears that there never will be--a greater, more heroic, more noble, and more enjoyable "Superman" in the history of the character, than the interpretation given to us by the late George Reeves.

And I'll give you my reason why I believe that with all my heart in a single word: balance. George Reeves didn't play Kent/Superman as "bumbler moron"/"hero". He played Kent/Superman as "Hero Type A"/"Hero Type B".

There is a marvelous bit of dialogue from the 1st (or was it the 2nd?) season--a bit I'll no-doubt mangle here--that really explains it all. A small group of mobsters are discussing the difficulties of life in Metropolis. Of course they mention Superman. But then, one of them utters the magic lines that go something like this: "Forget Superman. It's that Kent guy at THE DAILY PLANET I worry about. There's times that Kent and his typewriter scare me more than Superman."

That simple speech seared itself into my little eight-year-old mind and heart for all time. Imagine that! The bad guys feared Kent almost as much as they feared Superman! What a fantastic life-lesson to teach a boy: for all his amazing powers, the thugs were almost more scared of the "normal guy who wasn't afraid to stand up for what's right" than they were of "...the amazing being from the planet Krypton, with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men."

And it was George Reeves and his courageous portrayal of Kent/Superman who made you believe that could be so.

Maybe that's why this cripple grew up to be a writer. And every time I took on a bully--on the playground or in the corporate world--somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking, "Do the right thing, buddy. Mister Kent might be watching."

Yes, I recognize all the various narrative and production short-comings of "The Adventures of Superman". But Reeves, in refusing to play Kent as a cartoon unich, gave the character of Kent/Superman a vitality that has yet to be equaled--CGI or no CGI.

And if that's not enough to convince you, the jaded and cynical, to invest in these DVDs, let me share with you one, last, marvelous memory: the first word my baby son ever uttered was, "GO!". It was shouted with all the passion, glee, belief, and intensity a tiny heart could muster. And it was shouted as my son watched a black & white George Reeves make his famous running spring-board leap over the observatory fence in the classic climax of the episode, "Panic in the Sky". And, in that instant, I knew what my baby boy knew--what all of us lucky enough to discover the magic and wonder of "The Adventures of Superman" at a tender age knew: George Reeves WAS Superman.

And he always will be.

Completing the collection of "The Adventures of Superman", the series' final two seasons offers a mixed bag, for viewers; while some episodes are laughably bad (offering up green-haired, midget Martians, a mind-reading mule, and Professor Pepperwinkle's latest goofy inventions), some are, in fact, surprisingly good (tales of the search for a Civil War-era coat, a missing circus elephant, and a barber who reforms his childhood friend, now a gangster, are all very sweet, and quite enjoyable), and one of the last episodes filmed, "The Perils of Superman", directed by George Reeves, himself, is a bonafide 'classic', with unsettling images of helmeted criminals walking the streets of Metropolis, and Clark, Lois, Jimmy, and Perry, each subjected to silent movie cliffhanger demises. Best of all, these last episodes prove that Reeves, though far heavier and grayer by the series' end, never lost the sincerity or humor he had displayed in earlier seasons...Playing the Man of Steel may have been the "Kiss of Death" for his career, and, possibly, his life, but he never gave anything less than his best, and it shows!

There are moments worth savoring, in viewing the episodes; for Lois at her sexiest, catch "The Tomb of Zaharan", where the Daily Planet business suit is replaced by a tight-fitting 'Egyptian' costume and black wig (Noel Neill is surprisingly voluptuous, and HOT!)...in fact, the entire sixth season offers Lois with bright ORANGE hair, which she actually makes look GOOD..."Money to Burn" is a throwback to the early seasons, with a bogus 'Fireman's Friend' mobile diner, and one of John Hamilton's best performances as Perry White; "Whatever Goes Up" is 'classic' Jack Larsen, as Jimmy Olsen 'invents' an anti-gravity formula; and for sheer 50s pop culture shtick, catch "Superman's Wife", where a stereotypical, bleached-blonde policewoman 'plays' the Man of Steel's bride to help nab a gang!

Also included in the collection is a made-for-dvd celebration of Jack Larson, offering recent interviews with everyone's favorite 'Jimmy Olsen', Noel Neill, and a variety of the series' historians. While not 'in-depth', it is great fun!

The only 'negative' to the collection is the inconsistent picture quality, with the color density frequently changing; the original prints certainly could use some remastering.

While "Adventures of Superman - The Complete Fifth and Sixth Seasons" may lack the luster of the earlier seasons, fans of the show, and George Reeves, won't be disappointed...and if you aren't a fan, give the collection a chance, as you may become one!

Many fans of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN prefer the first 2 B&W seasons, and, quite unfairly, dismiss the color episodes as being lightweight and strictly for kids.This is NOT correct!! Although season 5 is probably the weakest of all of the 6 seasons, the final (6th) season contains several of the best episodes of the entire series. Episodes such as "The Mysterious Cube", "All That Glitters" and "The Perils Of Superman" are gems.

The glorious Technicolor work makes these episodes a joy to behold. They positively radiate with good humor, interesting plots and the so-obvious camaraderie of the best ensemble cast ever assembled.

Everyone should own these DVDs.

Adventures of Superman began production on its last two seasons (that aired during 1957-58), the series more or less had overcome its tight budgetary restrictions by evolving into a veritable universe unto itself. And it was a wacky universe indeed, operating under its own screwy story logic often totally disconnected from any semblance of reality. That gangsters would watch their bullets bounce off Superman's chest then, having emptied their cartridges, throw their empty guns at the superhero, as if that would stop him, or that Superman's pals never seemed to realize that the Man from Kypton and mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent were one and the same, mattered not one iota to its legion of young viewers.
For fans of the comic books, the big-budget movies and TV shows of recent decades, Adventures of Superman rightly appears quaint and at times depressingly cheap, but if you stick with it, chances are you'll find that it has a peculiar but very real charm all its own. This year's Hollywoodland, about Superman actor George Reeves' last years as a struggling actor and a private eye's investigation following Reeves' death (barely a year after the last show aired), adopts a curiously contemptuous attitude toward the show and especially its fan base. Though young children took its wild stories at face value, for many adults the very charm of the show is its good-natured goofiness.Adventures of Superman is one of the most iconically '50s/Eisenhowerian programs of its era. Superman was, after all, fighting not only for truth and justice, but also for "the American Way." Instead of super-villains like Lex Luthor, Superman's foes were more likely to be communist types, and ironically enough union activist Robert Shayne, the actor who played Superman's ally Inspector Henderson of the Metropolis Police, was during its run subpoenaed to appear before The House Un-American Activities Committee and nearly lost his role were it not for members of the cast and crew who rushed to Shayne's defense.

A wonderful example of this very '50s tone is "The Atomic Captive," a Cold War masterpiece. After Russian fifth columnists fail to bring back a Russian-immigrant nuclear scientist (and loyal naturalized American citizen), Daily Planet reporters Jimmy Olson (Jack Larson) and Lois Lane (Noel Neill) drive out to the desert to interview him. However, the scientist is dying of radiation poisoning, and so "hot" his mere touch is likewise fatal. Jimmy and Lois rush in, and naturally ignore his pleas not to go near him, each pawing the man with reckless abandon.

When the scientist tells them they've just given themselves a fatal dose of radiation, all Jimmy can do is turn to Lois and say, "Golly Miss Lane, I guess we're done for." Making matters worse, they then drive out into the desert, taking a short cut through "ground zero" at a nuclear test site, wrongly figuring they wouldn't possibly reschedule that H-Bomb test they had flown out to cover in the first place. Well, they were wrong, and take the full force of a nuclear blast, just like Glenn Manning in The Amazing Colossal Man. How does Superman save the day? You'll have to tune in for yourself.

This complete lack of common sense on the part of Lois and Jimmy is used throughout these later seasons, apparently as a kind of shorthand to propel the narrative forward without the need for lengthy (and logical) character motivation. In "The Perils of Superman," an imposing man in a lead mask (Michael Fox) shows up at the Daily Planet to grimly announce that he's devised fiendishly imaginative means to "liquidate" Lois, Jimmy, Clark, and Planet editor Perry White (John Hamilton). Within a minute or two after he leaves, Lois and Perry are blithely off to a meeting, business as usual. It's no surprise then that they're kidnapped the minute they get into Lois' car. Then again, if nothing happened to them, there'd be no show.

The budget precluded Superman actually performing feats as grand as "changing the course of mighty rivers," but the production values on these later shows is better than those when the show began. Seasoned B-movie directors like Lew Landers and Howard Bretherton helmed episodes, as did star George Reeves, while instantly recognizable character actors like Jack Kruschen, John Banner, Cyril Delevanti, Laurie Mitchell, Billy Curtis (as Martian Mr. Zero), Dabbs Greer, and Joi Lansing populate episodes. Serial fans will likewise delight in such familiar faces as Dale Van Sickel, Tristram Coffin, I. Stanford Jolley, usually playing villains.

Video & Audio

Adventures of Superman: The Complete Fifth & Sixth Seasons in Full Color is presented in its original full frame format with episodes of varying quality. Opening titles on all shows tend to look awful, but the episodes themselves generally are very sharp with bright, super-saturated hues reminiscent of early two-color Technicolor. The series used the same shots of Superman leaping out of windows and in flight over-and-over and these modest effects were probably never color-timed with the new footage, hence they tend to stick out like sore thumbs. The mono audio is okay, with optional subtitles in French and Spanish.

Extra Features

The only extra is Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olson, a brief tribute to Jack Larson's charming performances throughout the run of the series. He's interviewed once again, as are Noel Neill and Superman historians Jim Beaver, Gary Grossman, Michael J. Hayde, and Jan Henderson. There's no mention of Reeves' untimely death anywhere on the discs, or anything about the various aborted attempts to revive the series in some form in the years that followed.

Parting Thoughts

Though the Adventures of Superman's scripts leave all logic at the door, stories in these last 26 episodes are pleasingly close in spirit to the light-hearted tone of that era's comic books. Neill's hair becomes almost phosphorescently orange and both Reeves and Larson have fleshier features, with Reeves' hair a little grayer and thinner, and Larson no longer the 19-year-old youth he was when the show began, but the youthful excitement that still greets the show remains unabated.

Most who have reacquainted themselves with the now complete "Adventures of Superman" from television's golden age would likely agree that the series' fifth and sixth seasons were its weakest. By then most of the stories did not meet the standard set in the first and second (b/w) seasons. The show was always shot fast and on the cheap, but now a certain carelessness had also set in, such that you can almost watch these last episodes just to count the flubbed lines that weren't reshot. That said, the series never lost its playfulness, the obvious love the actors had for one another, and the respect for the kids in their audience. They did their work so well that they never dreamt they were making pop culture history that would endure for over five decades and counting. Finally, however, the show belonged to George Reeves, a fine actor who breathed affable life into a comic-strip character. For those of a certain age, George Reeves remains the definitive Clark Kent and the most endearing of all Supermen.

79. PERIL IN PARIS
80. TIN HERO
81. MONEY TO BURN
82. THE TOWN THAT WASN'T
83. THE TOMB OF ZAHARAN
84. THE MAN WHO MADE DREAMS COME TRUE
85. DISAPPEARING LOIS
86. CLOSE SHAVE
87. THE PHONEY ALIBI
88. THE PRINCE ALBERT COAT
89. THE STOLEN ELEPHANT
90. MR. ZERO
91. WHATEVER GOES UP
92. THE LAST KNIGHT
93. THE MAGIC SECRET
94. DIVIDE AND CONQUER
95. MYSTERIOUS CUBE
96. ATOMIC CAPTIVE
97. SUPERMAN SILVER MINE
98. THE BIG FORGET
99. THE GENTLE MOBSTER
100. SUPERMAN'S WIFE
101. THREE IN ONE
102. THE BRAINY BURRO
103. THE PERILS OF SUPERMAN
104. ALL THAT GLITTERS

*Taken from the book, Superman: Serial to Cereal; by Gary H Grossman

You can read my review of Season 3 & 4, and see why I think these color episodes are great fun for adults and kids. George Reeves was the most intelligent Clark Kent ever presented by Hollywood. It was George Reeves' input into this TV series that made Clark Kent an insightful, intelligent, almost detective-like character that one can still admire today. I saw these episodes when I was growing up in the late 1950's, and plan on buying this last set so that I can continue to laugh and cheer for Superman when he comes crashing through another wall just in the nick of time!

I have posted lengthier reviews of this series on the other AOS boards, so I'll get right to some of my favorite episodes that appear on this collection:

By this time, the series was really formulaic. The innovative flying sequences of the first two seasons had been replaced with repetitive stock-footage of the same right-to-left shot. (In a cost-cutting move, when Superman has to fly in the opposite direction, the editor simply revereses the film, as evidenced by the backward "S" emblem.) The bad guys are really goofy, and the main actors seem to be going through the motions.

That being said, there are stil a few gems here.

"Superman's Wife" is not as hokey as many of the other episodes in the final season. Joi Lansing is a knockout, and John Eldredge, as usual, makes one of the more interesting, intelligent villains.

"The Perils of Superman" is pure FUN.

Noel makes for some NICE cheesecake in that proto-Jeannie outfit in "The Tomb of Zaharan." The story was pure cheese, though. (In "Foghorn Leghorn" voice: hey, I made a funny. Cheese--Cheesecake.)

"The Big Forget" contains the greatest tease in the entire series: Clark changing into Supes in full view of all the series regulars!

The final shot of "All That Glitters" is really poignant, considering how things turned out for George.

The featurette about Jack Larsen is a nice little tribute.

Even with its faults, this is fun time with old friends that I now share with my grandkids. (All warm and fuzzy.)

The final two seasons of the Adventures of Superman are timeless fun for all who admired the talents of George Reeves and the rest of the cast. It is too bad that Reeves passed on right after the series. Thanks to these DVD's his spirit continues into the 21st century capturing a new legion of fans. I enjoyed the episode he directed. Only one funny moment out of the episodes. If you watch The Man Who Made Dreams Come True, the king was told to drive the car backwards at 10 o'clock at night. The king is actually driving the car in broad daylight!!!! I thought this was a well put together collection of Superman classics. THANKS WARNER HOME VIDEO FOR MAKING THE FANS OF THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN DREAMS COME TRUE WITH THE WRAP UP TO THIS WONDERFUL COLLECTION!!

The 5th and 6th seasons completes the total package of the George Reeves saga. I wish there were more maybe "lost episodes." The story lines were funnier but to see them in order of there orginal broadcast was fantastic. I was hoping for them to include the I Love Love Lucy episode!!! But I can't ask for everything! At times the print quality was washed out but it is still better than when I first viewed them on a B&W TV in the early 1960's . I highly recommend the entire 6 seasons.

I was disappointed in the quality of some of the episodes in this collection. They looked as though someone had skipped over them during the digital cleanup for DVD. A tad washed out. Other than that, it was outstanding. I'd recommend it to anyone!