Adventures Of Superman DVD Series Collection (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

That's great Josh. It will be interesting to see what you think after all this time and what your fiancé thinks of the episodes. I imagine you have Man of Steel, Superman Returns and the Christopher Reeve films already in your head, so that's going to be coloring your viewing perspective. Plus the recent Supergirl series and other recent TV incarnations.

That reminds me, someone mentioned above they weren't too taken by the new Supergirl. Of all the TV shows on Superman in the past 30 years, I think they are did a pretty good job with the first season of this series. I don't know the background of the character Supergirl, so I'm just taking it in as I see it.

 

[Nelson Au]

Gary, fair enough. Pilot was a term used out of habit. I realize The Mole Men was made prior to the series going into production.

 

[bretmaverick2]

I've had these for a while but never watched them. I recently started watching the series - the origin episodes, I'm sure, were hi-tech for their time but WOW those special effects were painful!!!

I've watched about 5 episodes and am really enjoying them! A great nostalgia purchase!!!

 

[Tony Bensley]

I watched the first two episodes last night. Seemed to look better then the ones I saw broadcast on Decades last weekend.

They really shortcut the origin part of the story in the first episode. I had seen it before, but I was really paying attention and comparing to other versions. I did some research and like the animated Fleischer films, Clark was put in an orphanage. So I wasn't sure when the idea of the Kents came into the story for where he grew up. I certainly prefer that route as an orphanage would attract attention if the authorities found out a little kid had the ability to lift heavy chairs!

The haunted Lighthouse episode seemed like an odd choice for a first episode after the pilot. Superman isn't really needed for too many super feats. Looking forward to carrying on though.

Odd as it may seem now, all of the episodes that later comprised the first ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN season, their eventual airing wasn't considered a given! Can anyone imagine 26 episodes shot for television (Actually 24, as the season 1 ending 2 parter originally played in Theaters!) NEVER airing? Such was the uncertain state of TV in its infancy! My point is the episode order may not have been priority under such conditions.

I ordered the set last night from Amazon - they had it for something insanely low like $13 new. Should arrive tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get some episodes in soon.

When I pulled out my AOS season 1 set last night, I noted the $20 price tag on the spine, which is what my used copy (Sans the outer cardboard cover!) cost me several years back!

CHEERS!

 

[B-ROLL]

When I pulled out my AOS season 1 set last night, I noted the $20 price tag on the spine, which is what my used copy (Sans the outer cardboard cover!) cost me several years back!

CHEERS!

Mine was $6.00 USD

Happy Canada Day

 

[Josh Steinberg]

That's great Josh. It will be interesting to see what you think after all this time and what your fiancé thinks of the episodes. I imagine you have Man of Steel, Superman Returns and the Christopher Reeve films already in your head, so that's going to be coloring your viewing perspective. Plus the recent Supergirl series and other recent TV incarnations.

That reminds me, someone mentioned above they weren't too taken by the new Supergirl. Of all the TV shows on Superman in the past 30 years, I think they are did a pretty good job with the first season of this series. I don't know the background of the character Supergirl, so I'm just taking it in as I see it.

I think I'll probably be watching it solo - I need a good half hour show for those nights when she ends up going to bed a little before me but where I don't want to commit to a full movie.

I saw at least the first disc's worth of episodes back when Superman Returns debuted in theaters - I rented the first disc of it then and generally enjoyed it. I'm not sure why I didn't continue with the show. I think I might have desperately been trying to catch up on five seasons of Smallville so that I could be caught up in time for the season premiere in the fall. But I'm excited to revisit it. I saw the George Reeves appearance in I Love Lucy recently too.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the insight Tony about the production of the first season and the unknowns of the episodes even airing. Different times!

Understood Josh. Will be interested in any thoughts you have after your revisit to Superman.

 

[Tony Bensley]

Thanks for the insight Tony about the production of the first season and the unknowns of the episodes even airing. Different times!

Understood Josh. Will be interested in any thoughts you have after your revisit to Superman.

Indeed. It's all mentioned within the Bonus Features!

I very much look forward to Josh's comments, also!

CHEERS!

 

[Matt Hough]

I finished season one and watched Superman and the Mole Men as well. My favorites have always been the three that scared me to death as a little boy: The Haunted Lighthouse, The Evil Three, and Mystery in Wax.

It's too bad they couldn't get Phyllis Coates to make some comments for the documentary on season one.

 

[Nelson Au]

Saw two more episodes, the ventriloquist and The Case of the Broken Statues. I thought the statutes was a more engaging story with good guest stars. Amazing to see those Nash automobiles.

 

[Sky King]

I finished season one and watched Superman and the Mole Men as well. My favorites have always been the three that scared me to death as a little boy: The Haunted Lighthouse, The Evil Three, and Mystery in Wax.

It's too bad they couldn't get Phyllis Coates to make some comments for the documentary on season one.

I think the one episode I remember as a kid that kinda scared me was "A Ghost For Scotland Yard," from season 2. The Great Brockhurst's face projected in the clouds is an image that will live with me forever.

 

[Nelson Au]

I caught three more episodes today whilst ironing:

"The Monkey Mystery" was quite good. I was worried the violence might extent to the monkey too.

"Night of Terror" was terrific too. The baby-face gag was pretty good.

"The Birthday Letter" had those thugs really treating the poor girl badly! I recognized the actor playing the one who impersonated Superman to kidnap the girl. He was terrific in a Get Smart episode. So to see him here was fun. I couldn't help but feel like the final scene of Superman flying the girl around was a really nice sequence that every kid watching would have loved to take her place. Yet the show had not aired yet when it was filmed. So it seemed like they might have inadvertently done something the audience would have appreciated.

 

[Oliver Ravencrest]

I bought my copies when they were first released, probably paid about $30 each but they were worth it.

My favourite episode is Panic In The Sky, which Lois & Clark used as a basis for one of their episodes in the 90s. I also really enjoy Mystery of the Broken Statues, The Stolen Costume, Shot in the Dark, The Mysterious Cube and Superman in Exile.

 

[Tony Bensley]

I bought my copies when they were first released, probably paid about $30 each but they were worth it.

My favourite episode is Panic In The Sky, which Lois & Clark used as a basis for one of their episodes in the 90s. I also really enjoy Mystery of the Broken Statues, The Stolen Costume, Shot in the Dark, The Mysterious Cube and Superman in Exile.

Having given "Superman In Exile" a fresh viewing the other night, I'd likely rank it as an AOS favorite. There's just so many great elements working in this episode, including getting the most mileage out of what was available Fx wise! In my opinion, stuff like Superman glowing with radiation, and grabbing the small plane's tail really holds up!

Incidentally, here's a screenshot of another S2 episode, "A Ghost For Scotland Yard", which displays covers of England's then newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II (As of the episode's original airing! I'm not sure whether the shooting might have preceded the coronation?), and London Calling (Later the name of a late '70s iconic LP by British punk rockers, The Clash!) magazine!:

CHEERS!

 

[David Von Pein]

My review of Season 1:

http://www.amazon.com/review/R34C8U81C0PUYX

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I watched the first disc of season 1 over the past couple days and it's been really enjoyable returning to the show for the first time in ten years - it's exactly what I was in the mood for. Thanks guys!

 

[Steve...O]

Very sad news today that one of my lifelong crushes, Noel Neill, has passed away (yesterday) at age 95. She was the first live action Lois Lane (by virtue of the Kirk Alyn serial) and my personal favorite on the TV series (with Phyllis Coates a close second.)

She remained beautiful throughout her life and was radiant as she toured the convention circuit up until her 90th year or so.

God Bless her and may she rejoice in her Heavenly home.

 

[Matt Hough]

I had not read that she had passed away, and I'm so, so sorry about it. She seemed a lovely lady in all the interviews I ever watched, and I love seeing her pop up in small moments like in An American in Paris occasionally that show she did do work other than Superman.

 

[Steve...O]

Below is the official announcement of her passing from her manager. It indicates that she was in close to 100 films.

From Larry Ward:

It is with great sadness that I report the passing of my very close friend, actress Noel Neill, the original "live action" Lois Lane from Superman. Noel passed away yesterday at her home in Tucson, Arizona after a long illness. She was 95.

Noel Darleen Neill was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1920, the daughter of Minneapolis Star Tribune news editor David Neill and New York vaudeville performer LaVere Neill. She hit the stage early in life in local productions at the age of five, and also offered dramatic radio performances on local Minneapolis stations as early as 1929. She was childhood friends with the Andrews Sisters as they attended dance school together, with Noel eventually branching out as a solo singer and dancer. Noel and the Andrews Sisters barnstormed middle America together playing many of the RKO Orpheum Theatres throughout the region, as well as performing at countless county and state fairs throughout the midwest in the 1930s.

After graduating from Central High in Minneapolis in 1938, Noel and her mother headed west by automobile, reaching Los Angeles a week later where she would eventually make her permanent home. Soon after her arrival, at almost 18 years of age, she was hired to sing with Bing Crosby's band at the Del Mar Racetrack. Other singing jobs followed in San Francisco, Tucson, and in Los Angeles.

And then Hollywood came calling. With the help of Crosby, Noel signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures in 1941. She initially made several short films, then appeared in mostly non-speaking roles, gradually gaining leading lady status beginning with 1944's Are These Our Parents?

In total, Noel made close to 100 films in her long and incredible career, and surprisingly, most were Western films made in the 1940s and 1950s. She worked with many noted directors such Cecil B. DeMille, Vincent Minnelli, and Hal Roach, and starred with actors Bob Hope, Crosby, Gene Kelley, Clayton Moore, Johnny Mack Brown and William Holden.

But it was her role as Lois Lane in the 1948 Columbia movie serial Superman that caught the interest of fans everywhere. She was bright, funny, assertive but with a quick sense of humor; and opposite film's first Superman, Kirk Alyn, the serial was a hit which necessitated a sequel, 1950's Atom Man Vs Superman, again starring Alyn with Tommy Bond as Jimmy Olsen.

Her work in the iconic 1950s television series, The Adventures of Superman with the late George Reeves, however, best defined and cemented her legacy as "the intrepid reporter." After years of playing bit parts in bad films and great roles in forgotten films, she finally found her niche. As a teenager she knew all about the newspaper business from her father and she had also actually written for Women's Wear Daily in the late 1930s, so it was a role she believed she was born to play. And as she would admit in interviews later in life, she simply played herself.

Arguably the most prolific actor in the Superman science fiction genre, Noel would also go on to work with Christopher Reeve in the 1978 film Superman, in the 1980s in the Superboy series with Gerard Christopher, the 2004 Jerry Seinfeld webisode Hindsight is 20/20; and finally, in Brandon Routh's 2006 feature film Superman Returns.

The recipient of many awards over the years, she had long professed that her 2004 Golden Boot Award - for her many Western films - as presented to her by her friend and fellow actor Tom Selleck - was likely her favorite.

The town of Metropolis, Illinois, which had proclaimed Noel Neill First Lady of Metropolis some years ago, also dedicated a Lois Lane statue in her likeness in 2011 for her love of the role and her many visits to Metropolis over the years. The statue is a popular attraction and has been visited by thousands of her admirers since its dedication.

As Noel's close friend, companion and biographer, I found Noel to be generous with her time and the same person off the screen as she appeared to be on the screen. Her stamina was legendary as she happily made personal appearances and attended book signings well into her 90th year. She was kind, selfless, hardworking, funny with a quick wit, and assertive - all the same qualities that embodied the character of Lois Lane. Noel truly was Lois Lane, and for many of us, she was the first working woman seen on television. Few of her fans actually knew her real name, almost always simply calling her "Lois" to which she would unfailing answer with a bright smile and a kind word. It was more than a role to her. "Lois" was someone she believed in and a character she happily and warmly embraced.

Noel Neill maintained that bright, perky and engaging personality up until her death.

Funeral services will be private with a public memorial held later this year.


Larry Thomas Ward, July 4, 2016



Photo credits: Both photos of Noel Neill with actor George Reeves in 1957.

 

[Nelson Au]

Interesting to read that Noel Neill had a such a busy career before Superman. It was very cool she was invited to be part of the Superman films.

I watched a few more fun episodes: The Mind Machine which had a very familiar idea used later in The Outer Limits and Star Trek. Rescue was fun. I think they enjoyed throwing every trick at the audience to keep Clark from hearing the news so he'd arrive at the cave-in as late as possible. The Secret of Superman was not what I expected, but engaging to watch to see how Clark would get the bad guys. Interesting to see Peter Brocco here as the bad guy. I remember him more for The Outer Limits and Star Trek.

One thing that's pretty cool here is to see the use of the Forty Arces backlot for the Metropolis exterior shots. The alleyway Clark ducks into to change into Superman is the same alley we've seen a couple of times in Star Trek. And of course The Andy Griffith Show and other series.