Customer Reviews

Walt Disney Treasures - The Adventures of Spin & Marty - The Mickey Mouse Club

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4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Adventures of Spin and Marty was a 25 episode serial shown 1955-1956 during the first season of the Mickey Mouse Club. Spin Evans is the most popular boy at the boys' summer ranch, The Triple R - where boys gain actual experience on a working ranch, including learning to ride horses. Spin returns to camp after attending the previous year. Marty Markham is a rich, spoiled kid who is new to the camp. He doesn't want to be at the camp and doesn't want to play and work with the other boys. He starts off on the wrong foot with the other boys by calling the ranch a "dirty old farm". Marty is actually poor in many ways, and is very lonely because he just doesn't know how to act with other kids. Marty eventually learns not to be so spoiled and makes friends with several of the boys before the summer is over.

The 25 episodes end up about 4 1/2 hours, with another 1/2 hour for the Mickey Mouse Club show that contains the introduction to the serial.

Even though set in the 1950s, the series is timeless due to the setting of the boys' ranch. The shows deal with universal themes of friendship, understanding others, teamwork, and just getting along with others. There are numerous fun scenes throughout the series, with a very satisfactory ending to the series. This serial had two sequels: Further Adventures Of Spin And Marty (1956-1957 season) and The New Adventures Of Spin And Marty (1957-1958 season). Possibly these serials will be released in future Walt Disney Treasures within a few years.

Bonus features announced as being on this set are:

The complete episode of the Mickey Mouse Club that first introduced the series.

Tim Considine's (Spin) original screen test.

"Return To The Triple R" - Tim Considine (Spin) and David Stollery (Marty) give an exclusive interview and tour the location that was the original "Triple R Ranch" filming site.

"Back In The Saddle With Harry Carey Jr." where he reminisces with Leonard Maltin. Harry Carey Jr. was Bill Burnett, the foreman of the ranch in the serial.

A gallery of still frame images from the series.

I have owned this serial since it was shown in the 1980s on the Disney Channel showings of the Mickey Mouse Club. I have enjoyed it for years, either watching the whole series in one sitting or just watching one or two episodes at a time. I think the DVD would work out fine however you choose to watch it.

The acting, direction, and overall story are high quality. I enjoy the serial because I remember it from the original Mickey Mouse Club and from the Disney Channel showings. I believe this DVD set would interest most people, no matter how old they are.

I was born too late to watch the Mickey Mouse Club on TV and I never caught the reruns. Even so, as a life long Disney fanatic, I have heard lots of things about "The Adventures of Spin and Marty." Naturally, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this set and watch it. I immediately found the appeal of the serial.

Originally airing as part of the Mickey Mouse Club in 1955, this two-disc set contains twenty-five eleven minutes episodes about the adventures of a group of pre-teen boys spending a summer at the Triple R dude ranch.

Spin Evans is returning for his second year. He's got lots of horse knowledge and is quite popular.

On the other hand, Marty Markham is new to the ranch this year. He's a spoiled kid overly sheltered by his grandmother. In fact, their butler, Perkins, spends the summer at the ranch to keep an eye on him. Marty has a fascination with horses, yet is terrified of them. He tries anything he can to get the other boys to like him, causing rifts at the ranch, especially with Spin. Will he ever learn to get along with guys his own age?

Meanwhile, the guys will have lots of adventures, including a snipe hunt, an encounter with a bear, and an overnight camping trip to a haunted mine. As if that weren't enough, at the end of the summer, the ranch will compete in a rodeo with another ranch. Will this be the year the Triple R finally wins?

Starting this set, I wasn't sure what to expect. I got quickly hooked on the story, however. While it takes it time developing, it is charming from the start. You can't help but root for Spin, Marty, and the other guys. The great writing and acting help. These may be kids on a low budget show, but they do an impressive job with the material. The few special effects are poor by today's standards, but they fit with the charm of the show. The story takes the time to let us get to know the characters so we care about what happens to them at the various points along the way.

As previously mentioned, there are 25 episodes in this two-disc set. These cover the first season. After the serial proved to be popular, the cast came back twice more over the next two years. Hopefully those adventures will be released soon. The episodes are presented in their original black and white. Somehow, anything else would just feel wrong to me. While the occasional dust or grain betrays the shows age, the show is remarkably well preserved and very clear. Extras include introductions from Leonard Maltin on both discs, the complete Mickey Mouse Club episode that first introduced the characters (it spoils much of the series, so I recommend watching it last), Tim Considine's screen test as Marty (he actually played Spin), photo galleries, interviews with stars Tim Considine and David Stollery as they tour the area where the series was filmed, and an interview with Harry Carey, Jr., who played counselor Bill Burnett in the series.

This show, with its low-key action and slow story telling, would never make it on TV today. But this set gives us a chance to enjoy a truly wonderful piece of television history. Those who grew up watching the show will love the trip down memory lane. Anyone willing to give this gem a chance will find it just as charming now as it was fifty years ago.

The TV shows on The Adventures of Spin and Marty will be
The Triple R (November,7,1955), The Misfit (November,8,1955),
The White Stallion (November,9,1955),
Froggy Day (November,10,1955), The Battle (November,11,1955),
A Surprise Decision (November,14,1955),
Homesick (November,15,1955), Logan's Lesson (November,16,1955),
The Chase (November,17,1955), Ride 'Em Cowboy (November,18,1955) The Snipe Hunt (November,21,1955),
The Secret Ride (November,22,1955), Tragedy (November,23,1955),
Perkins' Decision (November,24,1955),
Tossing the Calf (November,25,1955),
Rope Artist(November,28,1955),
Nothing Happens on A Sunday (November,29,1955),
Perkins and the Bear (November,30,1955),
The Runaway (December,1,1955), Haunted Valley (December,2,1955),
The Live Ghost (December,5,1955),
The Big Rodeo (December,6,1955),
Off on the Wrong Foot (December,7,1955),
Sky Rocket's Trick (December,8,1955) and
The Last Campfire (December,9,1955). The bonus features are the Mickey Mouse Club episode that started the series, Return to Triple R - a review with Tim Considine and David Stollery, Triple Ranch filming site, Back In The Saddle With Harry Carey Jr - an interview with Harry Carey Jr and Leonard Maltin and some galleries.

If we are paying for a Disney Treasure ...Act like a treasure.

I loved Disney's Spin and Marty when I was younger when it was on the classic Mickey Mouse Show. I used to run home to watch the club and it's serials like S & M, Annette, Hardy Boys, etc. So I bought this DVD set pre book.

The good news is the 25 episodes of the first year of Spin & Marty are all here in their glory. The black and white masters are CLEAN and like they were watching them as if they were new.The soundtrack is clear as a bell, digital remastering at its finest. A highlight of the DVD extra is the special Mickey Mouse Club that introduced that show from 1955.

Now to the BAD news... The extras are so limited. The Harry Carey interview ssem to be taken from an interview host Leonard Malin used on John Wayne's Island in the Sky. The current interview with Spin and Marty (Tim Considine and David Stollery) seems an afterthought. Also the episodes used to have a tale (a closer), when a voice would say "tommorrow episode is...", Those seem to be cut off from the episodes in this collection


There are NO advance trailers (other than the MMC espisode intro), Reprint comics, TV ads, Disneyanna from other shows, special audio tracks like the vault Disney collections have had (like an audio story), maybe a copy The TV remake of Spin and Marty from a few years ago or any of those extras like audio comments over an episode from someone in the cast. So Disney company, where are they?


This golden collection is slight tarnished. It is worth it for a new generation to see classic Spin and Marty. Lets do better when Disney releases Season two.
Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

"The Adventures of Spin and Marty" title refers to the first season (1955-56) of the show; the second and third seasons were given a modified title. When originally broadcast the total running time of 275 minutes was broken into 25 episodes and shown as part of the first year "Mickey Mouse Club". The show was broadcast Monday-Friday from 5Pm-6PM. The serials were structured in a mild cliffhanger format with a teaser at the end enticing viewers to watch the next episode for a resolution. When they were shown a few years ago on "Vault Disney" the episodes were paired up to provide a 22-23 minute running time.

If you grew up with the original MMC you already know that serials like this were the most anticipated part of the show and that "Spin and Marty" was by far the most popular. The reason for their popularity was no mystery, they were the only kid's shows in those days that featured kids instead of puppets or animation.

If you were not around for the "Spin and Marty" phenomenon, think of it as a 1950's version of "The Saddle Club", both featured kids getting to spend all their time with horses. But instead of girls hanging out at the Pine Hollow stables, here it's boys living in bunk houses at "The Triple R", a dude ranch summer camp. And who wouldn't like spending an entire summer at a ranch, riding horses far away from parental supervision?

The first season's story was adapted from the novel "Marty Markham" by Lawrence Watkin. The show went rapidly downhill after the first season so it is no great tragedy that only season one is out on DVD. Mostly this was because the writers were never able to duplicate the charm of the first season's premise. But the show also fell victim to the Kevin Corcoran curse. Corcoran was a terminally precocious little actor that Disney tried to make a star by inserting him into this popular show at the start of the second season. Corcoran was an unbearably bad actor and the damage was compounded by Disney's insistence on manipulative showcasing of his terminal cuteness; an especially bad fit for a show whose first season appeal had been its naturalness and the understated performances of the cast.

Like "Saddle Club's" first season, it revolves around a new kid who has difficulty fitting in at the ranch. Marty Markham (David Stollery) is an overprotected orphaned rich kid who arrives in his grandmother's chauffeured limousine with his own butler (Perkins-J. Pat O'Malley-who is detailed to help the ranch's cook) and immediately manages to offend all the boys by calling the Triple-R Ranch "a smelly old farm".

A rivalry soon develops with Spin Evans (Tim Considine), a popular boy who has to work all year to pay the attendance costs. Marty is afraid of horses but lies about being a polo player. Considine and Stollery are both convincing although Stollery has the more difficult part. The supporting cast of boys have appropriate nicknames; the lazy "Ambitious", the freckled "Speckle" and the chunky "Russell the Muscle".

Special effects are a bit weak (like the woodchuck chase scene where you have to accept that a ball of fur pulled though the field on a string is a woodchuck) and the campfire scenes are obvious day for night shooting.

Harry Carey Jr. and Roy Barcroft provide sympathetic and concerned authority figures but my favorite is insightful horse trainer Ollie (Leonard Geer) who always seemed to have about nine days worth of stubble and repeatedly said: "Well I'll be a blue-nosed gopher".

Predictably Marty learns to love horses and to get along with the other boys. He breaks his arm but Perkins is able to keep the news from his grandmother so that he is not sent home early. There are all the great summer camp elements from bears to ghost stories.

The two-disc DVD set has a photo gallery, interviews, and a little feature called "The Return to the Triple-R"; which includes the adult Considine and Stollery visiting the ranch where most of the show was filmed.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I have bought all of the Disney Treasures for my personal collection (I guess I'm not an avid collector because I actually watch what's on them). Spin and Marty has been very enjoyable. I really like the idea of having them all on one collection. Being in my mid 20's, I didn't watch this growing up, yet I'm still really enjoying it. The extra episode and other features are also really good. I highly recommend as this is quality family programming that I'm fairly sure most kids and adults could get in to.

Oh, how I remember rushing home from school to be able to catch the next episode of my most favorite TV series ever. I ran home, like most of us did, in the fifties when there were no chauferred drives to and from school. Mom was there chiding about "do your homework first" knowing that would be impossible..."SPIN AND MARTY are on mom!!! I'll do my homework the minute it's over, I promise"!

I had to wait until I was the ripe old age of 35 to buy my first horse. That seed planted all those years ago watching Spin and Marty. It never occured to me that there were no girls at the Triple R. That was OK, the boys were so cute. The series plot line had no room for females and except for the cook, no ethnic diversity. PC....I think not. It is now strange to realize how simple, pure and predictable the stories were. Simple, each with a moral lesson or two about how life should be. Maybe life was truly "simpler and better" way back in the fifties. Being a child of ten at the time it is hard to judge now.

I had hoped my "almost nine" year old granddaughter would be captivated as I was. She is Horse Crazy but I saw that the story didn't capture her heart as it did mine. Maybe when she is ten? Maybe if it were in color? Or, maybe it is a good thing if she doesn't suffer through the Horse Crazies as I did?

I am very please that Disney has chosen to release this wonderful Time Capsule for the mainly over sixty crowd. Gosh, does that seem possible as I type it...over sixty? All those of you who ran home like I did will be so pleased to own this well done DVD set and I highly recommend it. Yippy Yay, Yippy Yo!

Wow! I was flashbacking to racing home from school to watch this truly infectious "horse-opera" for kids-just MY age. Leonard Maltin is his usual right-on-target self, ever gratious and knowledgeable. I must add to Gord Wilson's review about the shooting in color but shown in black and white on TV. MY DVD IS IN BLACK & WHITE, not color like he says his is! I wonder where he got HIS copy from!? Growing up in Burbank just down the street from "the lot", we knew magic was being made behind those walls as we rode by on our bikes. This confirms the fact that Walt Disney truly knew what kids wanted to see. After all these years, feeding the Boomers to their heart's content from the Disney vault. We could hardly wait for the next historical drama or true-life adventure to hit the screen, no matter what size the screen might be. Hopefully, they will unleash Season's 2 and 3 so we can drive our kids and grandkids crazy with more rounds of, "Yippi-i, yippi-a, yippi-o!"

Just five weeks into TV airtime in 1955, The Mickey Mouse Club unveiled its first serial,"The Adventures of Spin and Marty". In the very first episode, Spin talks about being at the Triple R Ranch the previous summer, so it seems like the series is already going, and doesn't seem like a first episode. While alluding to the backstory, the episode also sets up the conflict between Spin and Marty Markham, so right out of the box it's exciting.

A high point of the Disney Treasures series are the introductions by Leonard Maltin, but he's really excited about this show and delves far deeper than the brief bits on some other Treasures DVDs. In his book, The Disney Films, he says that this was the most popular serial from the Mickey Mouse Club, and calls it "an excellent story about two boys and their life at a summer ranch." Tim Considine would also go on to star in the Hardy Boys serial.

Besides the additional features listed, this two disc set contains all 25 episodes of the first season which aired daily on ABC on the MM Club from November 7 to December 9, 1955. Although the series aired in black and white, Disney wisely filmed all his shows in color. They weren't seen in color, however, until Disney moved to NBC in 1961, when the show that in the 'fifties was called "Disneyland" became known instead as "The Wonderful World of Color." That's because NBC was owned by RCA, whose president, General David Sarnoff, had one interest: selling color television sets. The most fascinating example of this is the Ludwig Von Drake program which aired September 24, 1961, and included the outstanding educational short from 1959, "Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land," (hopefully soon on DVD). The first half of the hour long show was called "An Adventure in Color," with Von Drake commiserating with the poor viewers who have to watch the show on a black and white set, contrasting the inferior picture with the new marvel of dazzling color. Since Disney's earlier shows had been filmed in color, they could be rotated into the new lineup and also released theatrically. Which also means we get to watch Spin and Marty in color on this DVD.

Some reviewers have complained that the metal Disney Treasures box seems flimsier on this release. If so, it's still quite sturdy. Also, one of the two discs is on a flap inside the case, but many dual disc DVDs are packaged this way. Although Disney Treasures are only available retail for a limited time, owners can register their Treasures DVDs with Disney, which has a replacement program if discs get damaged. I join the numerous viewers who would like to see the whole run of the Mickey Mouse Club make it to DVD, including the other serials, "Annette," "The Hardy Boys," and "Corky and White Shadow." But with Spin and Marty we're off to a great start.

As a parent constantly struggling to find quality TV programs for my son to watch I purchased this series for him for Christmas. All I can say is that it was excellent and certainly all we hoped it would be. I was suprised how much I enjoyed watching this with him. He enjoyed the episodes more and my favorites were the personal interview with Harry Carey Jr. and the conversation between Tim Considine and David Stollery as they returned to the Triple "R" Ranch. This series just wet our appetites for MORE!!!!! There are many more Spin and Marty espisodes to be put on DVD. Come on Disney let this only be the first. WE WANT MORE!!!!!!!!