George Reeves' Superman on DVD (1 Viewer)

[Gary OS]

Great news but I won't be completely at rest until I have the set in my hands. There have been a few too many "hiccups" with releases I've really wanted to make me 100% comfortable until I can literally hold a long-awaited set in my own hands.

Gary "I hope nothing can derail this release now" O.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Is there any possibility that they compromised and won't have the theme music? That was the holdup, wasn't it? If the theme is there, I'll buy the set.

 

[TravisR]

Great news!

 

[Joe Lugoff]

After so many disappointments lately, as much as I want this set I will not lay out one penny for it until I read on this forum, from you guys, that all is well. My greatest concern is that the episodes will be time compressed, as they have been on TV for many, many years now.

You may think -- no way will they be time compressed. What I think is -- nothing will surprise me any more! "Wanted: Dead or Alive" is time compressed, and they go, "Oh, see, we used the PAL transfers." I just have this awful feeling that somehow, in some way, someone will screw up Supie.

About "Superman and the Mole Men" -- wasn't that shown as a two-part episode the first season? I guess it was cut by several minutes, but won't everything in the two episodes be from the movie, which means if you watch the movie first when it comes time to watch the two episodes you'll already have seen it all?

 

[TravisR]

No offense but some of you guys are a tad pessimistic. Like I said, I'm not trying to be a jerk but it seems like people are already complaining about release that's four months away

 

[Angela_K]

Yeah just be happy there's news, we still could have been where we weren't going to get news for months, now we have a release date. I'm just going to be happy to have the episodes on DVD

 

[Carlos Garcia]

About "Superman and the Mole Men" -- wasn't that shown as a two-part episode the first season? I guess it was cut by several minutes, but won't everything in the two episodes be from the movie, which means if you watch the movie first when it comes time to watch the two episodes you'll already have seen it all?

The movie "Superman and the Mole Men" was shot before the series. Different music was used. The movie was split into two parts and aired as the final 2 episodes of the first season, with the new title "The Unknown People". It was edited differently, so to answer your question, no, if you watch the movie, it'll feel different than the 2 episodes.

 

[Tom.W]

Is there any possibility that they compromised and won't have the theme music? That was the holdup, wasn't it?

I believe the problem was with using the theme music on special features. I can't imagine it's not on the episodes, especially if original source elements were used.

It'll be interesting to see who offers commentary. Larson, Neill, Coates? Are any of the creative talent still living?

 

[Roy Wall]

Personally...I'd rather have the "previews" than the feature film but perhaps the previews were ommitted from the prints. I hope there are a few of the "previews" mixed among the shows.

 

[Steve...O]

It'll be interesting to see who offers commentary. Larson, Neill, Coates? Are any of the creative talent still living?

Noel Neill told a friend at a convention that Jack Larson is indeed contributing to this set. She is not as she was not part of this first season. I dunno about Phyllis. I've read that Noel and Phyllis aren't exactly buddy buddy so I doubt Noel would know anything about the latter's participation.

If there are additional seasons released I would hope that Noel would be a part of them.

This sounds like a winner all the way from Warners. No complaints here.
Steve

 

[ScottR]

The first season of a show is usually done correctly. It's the latter seasons that usually contain an alteration (i.e. Wonder Woman...WB did such a wonderful job with the first two sets, but have you seen the Alterations List on tvshowsondvd.com? My goodness, how could they screw it up so badly?

 

[JoSAN]

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[Michael.J.Hayde]

I am interested in seeing what the "Vintage George Reeves short" is about.

When Reeves was first under contract to Warner Bros., he appeared in some of the studio's "American History" short subjects during 1938-39. I'm not sure which one they're going to include, but hopefully it'll be "Wild West Days." Leonard Maltin wrote of that one in his first book, "The Great Movie Shorts": "One of the best in this series... "Wild West Days," filmed in color, was a highly fictionalized account of the Pony Express and one of its riders, Bill Cody (George Reeves). It makes no more sense than any of the Warners historical shorts, but it moves like lightning and packs more into two reels than many feature films do in an hour and a half."

Unrelated to "Superman," but FYI: the Porky Pig cartoon "Old Glory" (1939) was commissioned by Warner Bros. specifically to accompany these shorts.

Michael

 

[pitchman]

David Lambert has now posted the "official DVD announcement" for the upcoming 5-disc set over at TVShowsOnDVD.com including a splendid shot of the box art. WOW!! This looks... pardon the pun... SUPER!! October 18th can't come fast enough!!

 

[JoSAN]

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[Sam Favate]

Whenever I get any shows with these kind of hubs (the ones that have three nubs in a triangular layout but only the top one actually moves), I struggle to remove the discs carefully then transfer them to plastic amaray cases, for which I have to make custom covers based on the original slip cases. It's a pain in the butt but it beats having discs that will either one day break or be rendered unplayable due to delamination caused by the stress.

I've found that the simpler option is to take a nail file and file down the hubs ever so slightly so that the disc goes in and out with ease.

 

[David Von Pein]

The last 56 episodes of the original "Superman" series were filmed in COLOR. (That is, if the site linked below is accurate in this regard; some nifty Superman info and pics on that site too.)

http://superman.ws/fos/thescreen/tv1/

So those color shows should look nice on DVD, when/if we get to those. 56 color eps. means that more than half of the 104 eps. were done in color, which would include the last 4 shows of Season 2, filmed in 1954.

I wonder how many Americans actually saw The Man Of Steel in "full living color" circa 1954? I'm guessing very few, since a very small % of people owned color TV sets until the late 1960s, more than a decade later. Makes you wonder WHY they even bothered to film these early-'50s programs in color. Quite surprising, IMO. But it should bode well for future DVD releases.

And, what with just 6 eps. per DVD disc, that should mean plenty of 'breathing' room for these Season-One Superman adventures.

This was not a DVD set that was even on my radar screen (or Wish List) -- but it is now. Esp. with the "Mole Men" movie inclusion. I have that film on VHS put out by WB back in 1987, and it's a pretty good little feature (although a very short one -- just 59 minutes long).

It would be ideal if some of the old-time 1940s Superman radio shows (starring Clayton "Bud" Collyer) could be included on future DVD collections. Some of those shows are very good. You can get the first 27 Bud Collyer Superman radio shows on CD, btw......



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Cheers to WB for bringing this good-looking package to the masses come October 2005. ........

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/protectedi...vs1_r1pack.jpg

 

[Carlos Garcia]

David, even though the show was eventually shot in color, in the 50s it only aired in Black and White. In hindsight, it was a very smart move because the producers knew color would eventually catch on and become the "norm". However, since so few people had color sets in the 50s, all the color episodes were originally distributed to all the local stations running the show, in black and white. It wasn't until the 60s that The Adventures of Superman was first shown in color.

 

[David Von Pein]

It wasn't until the 60s that The Adventures of Superman was first shown in color.

Thanks Carlos. Makes sense.

 

[Roy Wall]

I dedicate this pic to Mr Gord Lacey of TVShowsonDVD.com for posting the info of The Adventures of Superman on DVD so promptly for us. Although he stands 6'8...he gave his approval via email for this pic where he's "the little guy". I hope the rest of you like this as I selected a second season pic (as a small peace offering and I bet you all can guess the episode that it comes from.

Again thanks to Mr Lacey (and Mr Lambert, too) for the excellent website that they provide for us TV fans.