Adventures Of Superman DVD Series Collection (1 Viewer)

I find it very interesting that there appears to be no topic for this ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN DVD Collection, the Seasons of which were originally issued between October 2005 and November 2006.

A Few Fast Facts About The ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN Series And Collection:

- Popular Syndicated Television Series, consisting of 104 Episodes, which originally aired from
September 19 1952 to April 28 1958.
- The 2nd TV Series (After THE CISCO KID) to have Episodes Filmed in Color, beginning with Season 3.
- The Color Episodes were only broadcast in Black & White until 1965.
- 52 Episodes were Filmed in Black & White (Seasons 1 & 2), and 52 in Color (Seasons 3 - 6). Because Filming in Color was such a costly venture in the 1950's, the number of Episodes Filmed for each Season was reduced from 26 to 13 for the last 4 Seasons.
- ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN is the Show's Original Title, and was never preceded by "THE."
- This DVD Collection consists of 4 individual Sets, each consisting of 26 episodes on 5 Discs.
- To accommodate the reduced Episode numbers after Season 2, Seasons 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 were combined for the last 2 Sets.
- ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN has never been released as a Complete Set. Nor has it been issued on Blu-Ray.

I would love to receive some feedback about this Classic Collection, and opinions regarding any possible future Blu-Ray release!

There was a thread on it some time back. I believe some of the original elements are missing (?) and some cut episodes made their way on to the DVD sets. I always liked this when I was a kid in the 70's and 80's and caught it again last year on Warner's streaming service. Maybe someone with a bit more knowledge can chime in!

I frequently have trouble finding old threads. Superman was one of those series where WHV produced too many copies and so many of the seasons were heavily discounted for years. I have heard that the case of the missing costume from season 1 had some missing footage.

JoeDoakes said:

I frequently have trouble finding old threads.

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Yes, the search engine here isn't always the best

Those black and white episodes hold such vivid memories for me going back to among my earliest remembrances as a child. Several of them were very gripping and would make me hide my eyes ("The Evil Three" honestly scared me). I've watched every episode countless times, even the lamest of the lame produced in the final two seasons. They all instantly take me back to my childhood, and I can remember so well seeing those color episodes on our first color TV for the first time. We were all bowled over by them.

Looking at them now, though, the episodes vary widely in quality from very clean and sharp to those in faded condition and loaded with artifacts. Unless there was major remastering, I don't think we'll ever see them on Blu-ray.

I'm just happy to have the DVDs. I had just moved to a new city and was in a Wal-Mart and there was season one. That set gave me a lot of comfort at the time (2006?)

As far as the search engine on this site, the best way to find a topic is to type something completely unrelated to the topic into the search engine. It's just about as effective as the traditional method.

Tony Bensley said:

I find it very interesting that there appears to be no topic for this ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN DVD Collection, the Seasons of which were originally issued between October 2005 and November 2006.

A Few Fast Facts About The ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN Series And Collection:

- Popular Syndicated Television Series, consisting of 104 Episodes, which originally aired from
September 19 1952 to April 28 1958.
- The 2nd TV Series (After THE CISCO KID) to have Episodes Filmed in Color, beginning with Season 3.
- The Color Episodes were only broadcast in Black & White until 1965.
- 52 Episodes were Filmed in Black & White (Seasons 1 & 2), and 52 in Color (Seasons 3 - 6). Because Filming in Color was such a costly venture in the 1950's, the number of Episodes Filmed for each Season was reduced from 26 to 13 for the last 4 Seasons.
- ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN is the Show's Original Title, and was never preceded by "THE."
- This DVD Collection consists of 4 individual Sets, each consisting of 26 episodes on 5 Discs.
- To accommodate the reduced Episode numbers after Season 2, Seasons 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 were combined for the last 2 Sets.
- ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN has never been released as a Complete Set. Nor has it been issued on Blu-Ray.

I would love to receive some feedback about this Classic Collection, and opinions regarding any possible future Blu-Ray release!

Click to expand...

Tony Bensley said:

I find it very interesting that there appears to be no topic for this ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN DVD Collection, the Seasons of which were originally issued between October 2005 and November 2006.

A Few Fast Facts About The ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN Series And Collection:

- Popular Syndicated Television Series, consisting of 104 Episodes, which originally aired from
September 19 1952 to April 28 1958.
- The 2nd TV Series (After THE CISCO KID) to have Episodes Filmed in Color, beginning with Season 3.
- The Color Episodes were only broadcast in Black & White until 1965.
- 52 Episodes were Filmed in Black & White (Seasons 1 & 2), and 52 in Color (Seasons 3 - 6). Because Filming in Color was such a costly venture in the 1950's, the number of Episodes Filmed for each Season was reduced from 26 to 13 for the last 4 Seasons.
- ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN is the Show's Original Title, and was never preceded by "THE."
- This DVD Collection consists of 4 individual Sets, each consisting of 26 episodes on 5 Discs.
- To accommodate the reduced Episode numbers after Season 2, Seasons 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 were combined for the last 2 Sets.
- ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN has never been released as a Complete Set. Nor has it been issued on Blu-Ray.

I would love to receive some feedback about this Classic Collection, and opinions regarding any possible future Blu-Ray release!

Click to expand...

I have these four collections - AOS is one my favorites from the years when I was growing up. I thought WB did a good job on these releases . There were a couple of episodes from 16mm, but it was mostly nice quality. Even though I like some of the later portrayals of Superman by people like Christopher Reeve, George Reeves will always be Superman to me.

Carabimero said:

I'm just happy to have the DVDs. I had just moved to a new city and was in a Wal-Mart and there was season one. That set gave me a lot of comfort at the time (2006?)

As far as the search engine on this site, the best way to find a topic is to type something completely unrelated to the topic into the search engine. It's just about as effective as the traditional method.

Click to expand...

Hi Carabimero!

It's nice that these DVD Sets were there to help you through a big life change!

As far as the search engine, I've had some difficulties sorting that one out, though I've been posting on HTF for close to 4 years now (My original Join Date was July 19, 2010--Long Story!!), though I do find that changing the selection default from "This Topic" to "Forums" helps. Still, it is a bit frustrating knowing that I've likely inadvertently created a duplicate Topic (Which is actually my first for this Forum!), but at least it is generating some positive feedback for this Classic Television Series!

In my opinion, a Blu-Ray release isn't likely too necessary for this Collection, though I'm sure that not all will agree with me on this point! With that said, if some new restoration work could be done and should superior Film elements surface, especially for the Episodes for which 16mm Transfers were used, then in that case, a Blu-Ray release could indeed, be a worthwhile enterprise!

I think it is also worthwhile noting that the same End Credits were used for all of the Color Episodes, instead of the different ones that were originally used for each Season. It is the Season 5 End Credits, with the Copyright Year of 1957 labelled, that are used for these. If the elements for other ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN Season End Credits could be found, their additions would also no doubt, be most welcomed!

CHEERS!

Tony

After some HTF searching, I found this Topic: Superman TV Series

Here is the link for the above: http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/236212-superman-tv-series/?hl=%2Bgeorge+%2Breeves#entry2807590

CHEERS!

Tony

On the occasion of George Reeves' centennial on January 5 of this year, I did a piece on the Superman series on my blog, after having first watched a ton of episodes on the DVDs. I made some interesting discoveries:

http://briandanacamp.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/george-reeves-centennial-a-look-back-at-adventures-of-superman/#more-1525

I've mentioned this several times in different threads... Adventures of Superman is one of my absolute top 10 favorite TV shows. I'd get up on Saturday morning, get my bowl of cereal, sit in front of the TV watching the test pattern (the Indian head one) with the sound turned down so mom wouldn't fuss, eat my cereal, and wait for AOS to come on at 6. Mom never did understand how I'd get up for this, *without* a alarm, when she practically had to drag me out of bed for school!

There were *several* episodes where Superman would get too close to a bar of Kryptonite and I'd hide behind the chair because I couldn't stand to see Superman get "hurt". It didn't matter that I'd seen the episodes dozens of times it would still get to me! And, yeah, I watched them all - even those less than stellar episodes from season 6 - without distractions that I might have around (coloring books, comics, toys, etc) for lesser series.

I definitely prefer the crime dramas of season one and am hoping for a release of all the Jackson Gillis stories which to me COMBINED are the best episodes of TAOS.

I always thought George Reeves commited suicide. Then a few months ago, I'm watching Hollywoodland, and it looked like he might have been killed.

RolandL said:

I always thought George Reeves commited suicide. Then a few months ago, I'm watching Hollywoodland, and it looked like he might have been killed.

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One of the great, unsolved mysteries of Tinsel Town.

Matt Hough said:

Those black and white episodes hold such vivid memories for me going back to among my earliest remembrances as a child. Several of them were very gripping and would make me hide my eyes ("The Evil Three" honestly scared me). I've watched every episode countless times, even the lamest of the lame produced in the final two seasons. They all instantly take me back to my childhood, and I can remember so well seeing those color episodes on our first color TV for the first time. We were all bowled over by them.

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Completely agree, they take me back to my childhood. I always thought that George Reeves' Clark Kent was more competent and hard-nosed than Christopher Reeve's movie version.

I was surprised to find out, when watching the extra featurettes on the WB 2006 dvd release, that the producers evidently had all the scripts ready at the start of a season! They could then film all of the scenes involving the guest-star Bad Guys all in one block, for all episodes of the season.

Office scenes involving the Daily Planet staff were filmed last, all in one block, for all episodes of the season. No wonder they always seemed to be wearing the same clothes.

I was 10 years old when I first saw ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN on Television. My memory might be playing me false, but although I do remember a few of the Episodes being broadcast in Color, I vaguely remember viewing the GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST Episode in Black & White, and only saw this one in Color more recently on the DVD Sets. It was my erroneous perception that the Series must have ran for about Four Seasons (I was going by how many months it took for the TV Station to burn through all of the Episodes!), with only one of those in Color. In retrospect, I believe that the Television Affiliate might have had a mixed bag of actual Color Episodes, and Black & White Prints of Color Episodes, if that makes any sense! The Station in question was WKBW Channel 7 in Buffalo, New York; and these aired on THE COMMANDER TOM SHOW Weekday Afternoons. It was between August 1974 and January 1978 or so that I viewed these!

My journey towards viewing all of the Episodes on the DVD Sets has been rather jumbled. It all started on Christmas Day 2006, when I received the Season 5 & 6 Set From my lovely Wife! Sometime later, I was able to purchase a used copy of Season One, and eventually the Season 3 & 4 Set. It was only in the past couple of months that I finally ordered Season 2, and have yet to view all of those, though I have enjoyed the handful that I've seen thus far! In my opinion, every Season has something to recommend them, and I for one, am glad that they were changed up over time, as I believe they were kept from getting too stale that way. Sure, the later Episodes tend to play more like Children's Comic Books, but that was the primary market that was being aimed at, and having these Episodes in Color (Though not aired that way until 1965!) helped them to play like a Superman Comic Book come to life! As for the lack of actual Comic Book Superman Foes, such as Lex Luthor, I can only surmise that legalities more than likely played a role in that.

CHEERS!

Tony

Just for the record, if you haven't seen the 1950 serial, ATOM MAN VS. SUPERMAN, you're missing one of the very best examples of filmed Superman I've ever seen. Lex Luthor is the villain (played by Lyle Talbot) and he even supposedly goes straight and becomes a legit media mogul in Metropolis, going so far as to hire Lois Lane away from the Daily Planet and give her a job at his TV station doing the first "man-in-the-street" TV interviews! (Noel Neill plays Lois Lane.) The Phantom Zone is in this, as well as a runaway atomic missile and Superman even flies up into space at one point. Superman intervenes in several disasters and animated footage of him is matted into actual disaster footage.

Here's my IMDB review of it:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042211/reviews-6

rjd0309 said:

I was surprised to find out, when watching the extra featurettes on the WB 2006 dvd release, that the producers evidently had all the scripts ready at the start of a season! They could then film all of the scenes involving the guest-star Bad Guys all in one block, for all episodes of the season.

Office scenes involving the Daily Planet staff were filmed last, all in one block, for all episodes of the season. No wonder they always seemed to be wearing the same clothes.

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this is exactly the same way the Saturday morning Filmation live-action series were filmed in the '70s. As Sid Haig told me on the phone, all of the Filmation shows in production during a single season shared stages and were produced during the same two weeks or so in the summer (those weeks were the traidional "Summer Hiatus" that existed at that time in Hollywood, so they were guaranteed their production crew wouldn't be tied up working on other projects).

All the shows shared a common backstage crew, and like you said, all scenes for that season were shot set-by-set (all Dragos' control room scenes were shot at the same time, all Starfire cockpit scenes, all Star Command bridge scenes, etc.). He said these production guys had it down to a science and were very efficient. They shot a whole season (16 quarter hours the first year, 12 half-hours the second) in two weeks time.

My 7 year old daughter likes Adventures of Superman. She especially likes when he gets into costume and flys to the rescue. She also like the scenes where they shoot at him amd he just stands there and lets the bullets bounce off. I prefer seasons 1 and 2, but i let my kids watch starting with the color epsiodes since they are a bit more kid friendly. We watched seasons 3 and 4 over a year ago and recently picked back up again with season 5. After a few episodes, they wanted to know the origin of Superman. To better explain it i broke out the 1948 serial. They enjoyed it well enough that we are continuing through the serial watching two chapters a night before bed. Once doen with the serial we will switch back to AOS.

I know some don't like the animation in the serial, but i find it quite good and adds something extra. Instead of reusing the same positional flying scene's over and over again the animated sequences add more flair to Superman's movements. And they did a really good job of transitioning back and forth between real and animation.

I have watched Atom Man Vs. Superman in many years, so the next time I get some free moments in my schedule, I'll take it from the shelf and watch it again.