ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN REPLACEMENT DISCS ? (1 Viewer)

[CIULLOCAMNY]

I have posted this before and so I am doing it again, because my feeble efforts to contact WHV have gone unnoticed. But I really would like Warner to know that they have a few edited episodes from Season 2 of The Adventures of Superman. Why can't they have a replacement disc(s) for this? They seem to be doing alright with replacements for other collections. I can't fathom they WHV doesn't have these episodes uncut somewhere. since they once aired many times on Nick or TV Land with the scenes intact. In case anyone wants to know the episodes in question, they are: MY FRIEND SUPERMAN and AROUND THE WORLD WITH SUPERMAN. There was a rumor that THE FACE AND THE VOICE was also missing footage, but I haven't been able to analyze it yet. I was very fortunate to have 16mm film prints of these episodes so that I was able to view them uncut. But, if anyone in this forum or a rep from WHV knows anything, please get those discs replaced. BTW here's a link to where TAOS is currently playing on TV. I personally don't get this channel because I am a Directv subscriber. Apparently, American Life TV Network (formerly GoodLife TV) is only available via cable. http://www.americanlifetv.com/programs.php?programid=AS

 

[Steve...O]

The American Life channel is also missing those scenes; they utilize syndication versions for their programming.

Face and the Voice on DVD is apparently intact although there is a S6 episode that is missing a very brief scene. I'm not sure about the Nick @ Nite and TVLand airings since TAOS haven't been part of their regular programming for a few years and both channels are notorious for showing cut episodes.

Although disappointing, in Warners defense, these scenes have been missing in "official" versions for quite some time due to the many ownership changes and the poor maintenance of the elements over the years. There are intact 16mm versions in the hands of private collectors but not in the WHV/DC vaults.

While I normally am very critical of syndicated versions being on DVD I am willing to give WHV a pass on this considering they did the best with what they had available to them and the inclusion of some nice features. In the 6 seasons there is less than 5 minutes of missing footage in total and the episodes on the DVDs look much better than I would have expected for a 50 - 55 year old syndicated TV show that was not well maintained over the years.

Had the right individuals at DC/Warners been alerted to the missing scenes early enough in the process and been provided high quality 16mm footage by a generous collector it might have made a difference. For example, one of the commentators on S1 said the episode they were commenting on was missing something; they told Warners and the complete episode was found and used. Apparently the episodes in question didn't get red flagged in time to fix (assuming WHV had access to fixed materials).

Would replacement discs be nice? Absolutely. But I am not holding my breath nor am I letting these minor issues detract from one of the most enjoyable DVD collections I have.

 

[Sky King]

Steve...O,

While it's convienent to now have the entire run of "The Adventures Of Superman" on DVD, I was disappointed, as were many others, with the picture quality of the set.
Yes I know this is a 50 plus year old show and the elements weren't handled with great care, but Warner Brothers could have done a little more research when it came to finding complete prints, or in one specific case a cleaner print.
For example, the print used for the opening to the color episodes looked it had been used to wash the floor with. Surely a better print existed for them to use....that couldn't have been the best they had. The first season episode titled, "The Stolen Costume" looked just as bad....better copies of this episode are known to exist in the hands of private collectors. Why didn't Warners put out a request for help ??
I wished they could have been a little more forthcoming as to whether 35mm negatives of this show still exist. They always seemed to skirt around this issue when asked. If these 35mm prints do exist, I wish Warners would turn them over to a private label for restoration and release....even if it was only to be a best of...it would be a real treat to see this show with pristine visual quality.
I do give them credit for the extras included which were entertaining, but do wish they could have included a few more Kelloggs commercials from that era and also maybe include the Kelloggs open and close.
This DVD set, IMHO, could have been much better.

 

[Steve...O]

Hi,

I certainly respect your opinion, and I know that this release did meet with some mixed reviews among Superman enthusiasts. From my personal point of view, I would much rather have an affordable collection of all the episodes that looks better than I expected than an expensive best of set just for the sake of having potentially marginally better PQ. I do agree that the color openings were very bad and surely one good one could have be found and replicated among the various episodes. There are other things I could nitpick on (lack of S1 previews, no Phyllis Coates participation, etc.) but on the whole I was quite satisfied with getting the entire run of the series (not a given in today's market) with untimesped and virtually complete episodes.

Doing a full blown restoration of these episodes would have undoubtedly been quite costly and from a business perspective may not have been cost justified. Would I have paid a higher price along the lines of the restored Looney Tunes sets? Probably. Would the average Walmart shopper? Possibly not. The TV on DVD market is quite saturated and pricing a product too high could kill a release.

Steve

 

[CIULLOCAMNY]

I do know, though, that some private collectors that are reknown in TAOS
of collecting some of the 16mm prints, HAVE been or were asked by WB to borrow thier prints to have complete episodes appear on the DVDs. But WB was playing the "runaround" game with some of these enthusiasts. I guess there should have been a monetary solution to the problem and WB wasn't willing to shell out. Also, if the footage was to be used, not giving the so-called collector - at least - a DVD credit as being one of the archivists to supply footage. The 16mm print I had of MY FRIEND SUPERMAN was complete and even had the original Kellogg's voice over tag at the end credits. AROUND THE WORLD was just a complete syndicated print. Some of these prints had the WB slate at the end after the final credits. So why is then that they don't have this stuff in thier vaults if my prints have the WB slate at the end ? I find it hard to believe that none of it exists in thier possession. Also, I had a complete 16mm print of THE STOLEN COSTUME and for some reason, most of the prints that I have come across look to be dupish. Not as sharp as the others. Back in the day, the sponsor, Kellogg's, had the producers tone down the violence a bit and there were some episodes under scrutiny - STOLEN COSTUME being one of them. Also, THE EVIL THREE, CRIME WAVE, RIDDLE OF THE CHINESE JADE just to name a few. There are different versions of these episodes floating all over. The Stolen Costume episode that appears on the first Season set looks exactly like my 16mm print. When comparing this episode with 16mm to the version being run on TV, there are little things to notice. In one event there is a scene dissolve, but looking at the other source it was a jump cut to that next scene - but nothing was cut. At another point, there is a fade to black but on the other source it was a scene dissolve. There are so many variations that it sometimes hard to keep up. CRIME WAVE opens up with a montage of underground crime hits. There are two variations with this montage - one with narration and another without - go figure. Even before the credits at the end of this episode, one version ends with Superman saying his line and there is dead silence. The other version has music underscore as he is saying his lines. EVIL THREE cut some of the visions of the apparitions and the scene where the old lady gets pushed down to the basement in her wheelchair. Riddle of the Chinese Jade had one specific scene where the villain jumps on top of the Chinese woman and punches her a couple of times (his back was towards the camera so that you physically didn't see her getting pummeled, but you do see the villain raise his fists and go thru the motion). Surprisingly enough though, these scenes have been maintained in the DVD release. CRIME WAVE still wasn't the full episode. There is minor edit in it. I am willing to forego a minor edit than have whole scene being cut entirely. In MY FRIEND SUPERMAN, the entire scene of Tony the diner owner, planting a tape recorder under one of his tables, has been cut from the episode. To me that's a crucial scene, because later on he's trying to record the crooks as they plan thier next crime. So if you don't see him setting the thing up, how would you know later on what he's actually doing. Are we to assume that he's recording them ? In AROUND THE WORLD...Clark/Superman goes to visit the blind girl and there is an extensive dialogue scene between them and then he takes her face and looks deep into her eyes to see if there is still a fragment that might be keeping her from regaining her sight. There are exteme close-ups during this crucial scene. This has been omitted entirely. I know that this exists in some aspect because I remember that scene due to the close-ups. It's hard to forget that. And that was long before I had a 16mm print of it. So I know that had turned up on TV a couple of times. Anyway enough of my bickering. I hope that there are a bunch of TAOS afficianados out there that are on board with this. Oh and BTW - it looks like some of the Bowery Boys features have been under the same kind of treatment. View a VHS copy of Bowery Buckaroos. It is edited and it clearly states on the front cover that it is complete and uncut feature - NOT !!! When the films ran on The Family Channel way back when, they were mastered beautifully, but some of the features had slight edits in them and it wasn't to facilitate commercial time because they were run in a 90 minute time slot - enough time to run a 60 or 65 minute movie. Bowery Buckaroos and IN THE MONEY just to name a few. Some time ago there was a rumor that WB was planning to release a box set of some of the Bowery Boys films this year. I hope these edits are remedied before its release whenever that may be. Oh what a tangled web we weave !!!!

 

[Lecagr]

Overall, I am satisfied with the Adventures Of Superman DVD's. The one color episode which I believe contains an edit is Superman Silver Mine. The episode runs about a minute shorter than normal. Since they used the same opening credit sequence for all the color episodes, it's annoying for me to see copyright 1957 on all the episodes. They used the same opening credit sequence for the black and white episodes too, but the copyright is not as noticeable.

Season two has those two edited episodes- My Friend Superman and Around The World With Superman. Not a good thing, but that's what Warner's gave us.

With season one, I know there are a couple versions of Crime Wave. I think the original version is the one that was put on the DVD. The Mind Machine I think might be edited, but not sure. The unrestored print used for The Stolen Costume is not really a concern for me. The rest of the episodes I believe are complete, although the running times do vary a little, unlike the other seasons where the times are very consistent.

In a perfect scenario, all the episodes would be complete but if we are talking about 5 edited episodes out of 104, that's a pretty good percentage. And with the episodes that have edits, the edits are minor, not a lot of footage is missing.