Customer Reviews

Adventures of Superman - The Complete First Six Seasons (20pc)

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

At age 53 I was glad when Warner finally had an authorized release of my childhood favorite series, The Adventures of Superman. Overall the color quality is very good to excellent in light of the prints being 50+ years old. It would have been a nice gesture to us baby boomers if Warner had taken the time to digitally repair the scratches, pops and hisses in the opening scenes and some of the stock footage used throughout the series. Season one rocks with the black and white film noir style of filming. The sets in Season 5 and 6 are rich in color,style and expense. The cars used in the last two years would be a collectors dream now! Generally the transfer to DVD is primo. I would hope that when it comes time to re-release the authorized series in the future, Warner will spend a little money and digitally remaster the prints. Maybe if Warner searches their vaults a little closer they might find more out takes and bloopers to add as bonus material.

Overall this is a very good release, long overdue and greatly appreciated.

I cannot understand why they are charging so much for all 6 seasons together when if you buy them separately they come out to $85.97 which is a savings of $58.02. I guess they figure most people won't do the math and just order all the seasons together out of convenience.

Why is this price so high?

You can buy the complete 1-4 for 59, and the 5 & 6 for 25, totaling $85 for the first six season?

Someone please explain

A few years back, I watched these episodes of the Superman series on a black and white television. Every week during the season a new show would air and capture the interest of many a young viewer and probably quite a few adults as well.

While it's not quite the same to see these shows now, I find that I have a smile on my face the whole time an episode is playing. I purchased this series in April 09 and have 4 or 5 episodes left to view, I've been sort of rationing the shows to make them last longer.

The overall quality of these shows is much better that the quality of the television reception that we experienced in that era, what with the antenna on the fringe of the stations' reception area. The video in some of the shows displays washed out color then returns to good , I don't know why, but it's not a reason to put off purchasing this set if you're a fan of the Superman portrayed by George Reeves-the real Superman!

Note: I know I already reviewed the first season but that was mainly for the feature "Superman and the Mole Men". This way, I can give my opinion on the series as a whole.

Another superhero classic, made in a time when television was young, there were good actors and special effects weren't all done with the computer. This series was groundbreaking in many ways, which I'll touch upon when I get to it. For those who haven't seen the series yet, a little info: none of Superman's villains (Lex Luthor, Brainiac, General Zod, Mr. Mxyzptlk, etc.) don't appear, the character instead fighting scientists, foreign agents, corrupt politicians (again, when aren't they evil) or thugs. Also, the Fortress of Solitude never appears (that didn't come around in the comics until 1958) and Kryptonite is used rarely as a weapon against Superman. First I'll talk about the actors.

George Reeves is my personal favorite Superman actor, portraying him with a sense of believability, both in and out of the costume. I already talked about this in my reviews for Superman: The Movie and the individual first season release, so I won't reiterate here. Between the two Lois', I prefer Phyllis Coates. She played the character with spunk and attitude, character traits not present in women on TV back then and traits that I really don't see in other actresses who would play the part (other than Margot Kidder). Coates' Lois, when captured, would actually put up quite a good fight and probably could've gotten out of the situation, but thanks to Superman, she doesn't sustain as many bruises. Noel Neill plays her as your typical damsel in distress, but since she stays with the show longer, she's able to develop the character more (like in the episode "The Wedding of Superman", where Lois' real emotions come out). She was a groundbreaking character, not only because of those traits, but because there weren't that many strong female characters at that point that had a job in a field that's pretty much dominated by men. Jimmy Olsen is a character I've never really liked, he just seems like an unnecessary character who isn't used very much in the future movies and animated series. I also don't like the way he's portrayed, sometimes coming off to me as a smug little kid (Superman Returns). What's worse is that the character was actually better in the first two seasons, portrayed as a juvenile in danger who was competent in things he tried at. Sadly, in the color years he would be reduced to painful comic relief, waiting alongside Lois for Superman to rescue them. Fortunately, Jack Larson makes him likeable and the character has his memorable moments in episodes like "Semi-Private Eye" and "Jimmy Olsen, Boy Editor". Perry White, like Olsen, is put to more use than what future media outlets would do with the character. John Hamilton is great at White, portraying him as an old-time newspaper man, taking no nonsense from anyone, especially Olsen's constant use of the term "Chief". He too has standout episodes like "Perry White's Scoop" and "Money to Burn". Robert Shayne's Inspector Henderson was added for the radio show but the character feels like he's been apart of the Superman mythos for years, more or less serving as a more competent version of Batman's Commissioner Gordon (until the animated series of course).

Season 1 is considered by many to be the best. Original radio producer Robert Maxwell treated it as the radio show, just done for a different media. He envisioned "mini-movies" (a term later used by Bruce Timm and the writers of Batman: TAS). And they are too, mini-crime dramas done in the style of film noir. Criminals lurk in the shadows and death happens both on and off screen. Also, something that doesn't happen in later media interpretations of the character; Superman engages in fisticuffs with regular humans, something that would logically kill them. Standout episodes from season 1 other than the first episode (which, like, in EVERY OTHER Superman media, is his origin story) include; "The Haunted Lighthouse", "Night of Terror", "The Secret of Superman" and "The Stolen Costume". Season two is where new producer Whitney Ellsworth and sponsor Kelloggs lightened things up a bit. The good thing was that it balance the dark aspects of the first year and lighter aspects that would be present in future seasons. Characters were more inclined to die offscreen and plots began to be more child friendly (like "My Friend Superman") but nonetheless there were many great episodes like "Five Minutes to Doom", "The Defeat of Superman", "Panic in the Sky" and "The Golden Vulture". My favorite episodes are season one's "Crime Wave"; which has Superman battle an army of stock footage in order to get to Metropolis' mysterious #1 crime boss (features some great effects and twist reveal) and season two's "The Wrecker", in which a terrorist uses remote toy airplanes laced with explosives against Metropolis' transportation system. Plot device sound familiar? In Batman: TAS episode "The Grey Ghost", a terrorist uses a similar ploy of explosive toy cars.

Seasons 3 and 4 is where things got extremely kid friendly. While it was great that the episodes were done in color (a very rare thing for 1950s television but the producers were thinking of re-runs in the future when color broadcasting would become a reality). No longer did people die, Superman rarely fought and guns were always fired at him. The episodes got really repetitive with these seasons, you basic formula is as follows:

1. Minor inconvenience (thug with gimmick)

2. Lois and Jimmy get captured

3. Superman is briefly detained

4. Superman saves them at the last second

"Flight to the North", "The Bully of Dry Gulch", "Joey" and "Topsey Turvy" were some of the worst episodes the series ever produced. But fortunately there were some great episodes as well. "The Talking Clue" and "Blackmail" were great features for Insp. Henderson while "The Deadly Rock" had a good story and featured Robert Lowery (Batman in the 1949 serial). My personal favorite episodes were season three's "The Magic Necklace" in which Clark's secret is almost blown and season four's "The Big Freeze" where two criminals freeze Superman's abilities, proving far more effective than any piece of Kryptonite.

Seasons 5 and 6 was when they tried to go back to their second season roots, George Reeves directs the final three episodes as well, making the sixth season feel special. Outside the first year, these are probably my favorite seasons as there were far few clunker episodes and the effects were better than ever (including the little balls of light that would bounce of Reeves' chest). Some great episodes include "Peril in Paris", "Disappearing Lois", "Close Shave", "The Mysterious Cube" and "The Big Forget". Two of my favorites include season 5's "The Stolen Elephant", where a boy adopts a baby pachyderm and season 6's "The Perils of Superman", in which a criminal who encases his identity in a lead mask, picks off the Daily Planet staff one by one. There were to be at least two more seasons but George Reeves' untimely death skewered those hopes.

The effects are great. It shows that a lot of time and effort went into creating them and they tried to make them as realistic as possible (comapred to the CG Brandon Routh of Returns). The flying shots are especially inventive, the effects team would shoot it once and then reuse and alter the effect when needed. Occasionally, new flying material was filmed, and when it did it made the episode that much better. The take offs and landings were more physical and looked more realistic than the gracefulness of the future movies/TV series, wondering why effects teams won't resort to the phsyicalcality of this series. I wish the little bullet lights were present for most of the seasons but I guess they figured the audience knew the bullets were bouncing off (I just liked the effect, I think it added to it). All in all, a great series for young or old.

The set of the 6 seasons of The Adentures of Superman are a reminder of simpler times and a reminder of my childhood. Considering the technology of the times, the producers worked a miracle of TV viewing enjoyment.

Bob

I am thrilled to bits with this purchase

They are really good quality, very clear picture and sound

It takes me back to my childhood. Fantastically funny when on a 50" plasma screen you can see all the imperfections etc that you would never have seen on a 12 black and white back in the 50's

The fight scenes were not done by George Reeve - on the large screen you can see it is a "stand in" - then suddenly reverts back to George Reeve

We are both thrilled to have this set

Well worth the money

Very well worth the money. I am handicapped with a lot of time to watch a lot of tv. These episodes remind me of my younger day's.

I have always been a huge fan of Superman TV series and to now have it in such great condition is wonderful. I'm highly satisfied with this and completely recommend the seller.

What can I say, other than Fantastic? All six seasons of coolness. Great classic and a geat price to. Pure, fun entertainment. The older I get the more I turn to movies and tv from the past. No cussing, NO sex, NO modern day gutter minded trash. Just well done, fun. Not only that but it has other elements I love. Lots of Fedora hats and those really cool old cars. A classic time in American history. Every episode is five stars to me.