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Adventures Of Superman Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

BobO'Link

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I was 9 when I saw Superman the Movie. It looked so incredible after all those years of watching George Reeves fly on wires.

I still love it. The best superhero origin story ever on the big screen. And it’s pretty much flawlessly cast (perhaps with the exception of Jeff East as Clark - I never bought that he grew up into Christopher Reeve). Margot Kidder is still the definitive Lois in my book.
Reeves didn't "fly on wires." They started that way but at one point early on a wire broke, he fell, and was injured. He refused to use wires again so they came up with a "flying pan" - a partial body cast of his front torso and legs that was attached to a bar which allowed a crew to move him about. This went *under* the suit. He'd lay on it and they'd move him about. It gave a far greater range of movement than using wires plus was safer.

1717899227473.jpeg


If you look closely at some of his flying shots you can just see the outline of the pan under the suit.

That incident is also what prompted them to come up with the spring board for taking off (they'd originally used wires for that, too).
 
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RolandL

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I imagine Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster never imagined that a copy of Action Comics #1 that they created in 1938 would go in auction 86 years later for $6M. Hell, even if they imagined that Superman stories would still be told 86 years later, they probably never imagined that there would be people still reading the original 1930s stories 86 years later.



Back in the 80's I think it sold for around $25,000.
 

BobO'Link

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In this area the Adventures of Superman came on every Saturday morning at 6, the first program of the day after sign on and the 5 minute "Morning Devotion." I'd get up early, around 5:30 or so, get a bowl of cereal, and sit in front of the TV eating my breakfast while watching the test screen (it came on at 5:30) with the sound down (didn't want to bother anyone with that 1000 cycle tone blaring) waiting for Superman to come on. Some years another episode aired in the early afternoon (before the weekly Tarzan or Shirley Temple movie).

Mom once commented that she never understood how she'd have to practically drag me out of bed during the week to get ready for school but on Saturday I was "up before the chickens" to watch Superman with no prodding or alarm of any kind. :laugh:
 

dana martin

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In this area the Adventures of Superman came on every Saturday morning at 6, the first program of the day after sign on and the 5 minute "Morning Devotion." I'd get up early, around 5:30 or so, get a bowl of cereal, and sit in front of the TV eating my breakfast while watching the test screen (it came on at 5:30) with the sound down (didn't want to bother anyone with that 1000 cycle tone blaring) waiting for Superman to come on. Some years another episode aired in the early afternoon (before the weekly Tarzan or Shirley Temple movie).

Mom once commented that she never understood how she'd have to practically drag me out of bed during the week to get ready for school but on Saturday I was "up before the chickens" to watch Superman with no prodding or alarm of any kind. :laugh:
Howie I get it, and thanks to modern technology i can watch an episode of Davey and Goliath then an EP of Superman, nice to relive those quieter moments, before adulthood kicks in.
 

cineescape

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WOW! Great News! I never thought it would happen after all I've read here over the last two years about show and the DVD release. But like Warners had done with so many of my favorite titles, I REALLY hope that they will do their best to restore audio quality. At the very least they MUST take advantage of the BD format, which as it dwarfs the storage capacity of DVD, allows for use of way less video AND audio compression, thus maximizing whatever dynamic range exists from the original optical or magnetic tracks. Note that less than expected sound quality happened with the Warners Batman TV series BD edition, though in that case it may have been due to Fox’s all too frequent practice of trashing the original audio masters, as they did with numerous feature films-some which were even originally recorded in 4-track sound, such as “Inferno” (1953) and “Woman’s World: (1954).
 

Bob Gu

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Randall, that's a photo taken on the set of episode S4E7, "The Girl Who Hired Superman", directed by Philip Ford and guest starring Gloria Talbott.

Tommy Carr directed 36 episodes in S1 & S2 and two in S6.
 

jwardxp

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This is astounding news! I thought the 35mm negatives were lost, although I was aware of 16mm negatives out there but not the same...

Still, I've owned a couple of 16mm prints and those are still astronomically better that the DVDs. Lap dissolves are problematic for all color episodes I think until season 6 - they would need the original elements to fix that.

It's wild to think that these episodes have never been seen in 35mm, unless the 5 theatrical releases of 1954 from combined episodes were printed in 35mm. I have never seen anything definitively saying they were, or even if they were released on 35mm, it was not a 16mm blow up. I have read that there was also a theatrical release of 3 color episodes in 1973, but I can't confirm that.

Anyway, somewhat related, and may be on a thread of its own, but there is a "Lone Ranger Channel" on one of the streaming services out there (I'm new and don't know if I can mention which one).

I don't know how many, but many B&W have been remastered in HD, and all of the color episodes I have observed so far. I watch on my 135" (guessing 96" in 4:3 AR), and these negatives, which appear to resolve from 35mm, have been immaculately preserved, It blows me away and I spend hours just to look at the detail and colors.

And then I lament that TAOS is SD...
 

The 1960's

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This is astounding news! I thought the 35mm negatives were lost, although I was aware of 16mm negatives out there but not the same...

Still, I've owned a couple of 16mm prints and those are still astronomically better that the DVDs. Lap dissolves are problematic for all color episodes I think until season 6 - they would need the original elements to fix that.

It's wild to think that these episodes have never been seen in 35mm, unless the 5 theatrical releases of 1954 from combined episodes were printed in 35mm. I have never seen anything definitively saying they were, or even if they were released on 35mm, it was not a 16mm blow up. I have read that there was also a theatrical release of 3 color episodes in 1973, but I can't confirm that.

Anyway, somewhat related, and may be on a thread of its own, but there is a "Lone Ranger Channel" on one of the streaming services out there (I'm new and don't know if I can mention which one).

I don't know how many, but many B&W have been remastered in HD, and all of the color episodes I have observed so far. I watch on my 135" (guessing 96" in 4:3 AR), and these negatives, which appear to resolve from 35mm, have been immaculately preserved, It blows me away and I spend hours just to look at the detail and colors.

And then I lament that TAOS is SD...
Welcome to the HTF Forum Joe!

Thanks for the alert about The Lone Ranger Channel and the HD remastered episodes. Yet another classic tv series released in HD to streaming and broadcast and not physical media.

Insightful post about TAOS too!
 

JoshuaB.

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I only have the vaguest memories of TAOS reruns, so I’m unsure how much I’d enjoy the show, even on Blu-ray. Superman is one of my favourite heroes (after Batman, Wally West Flash, and Green Arrow), so I’ve watched nearly all of the character’s film and TV adventures (except for Superboy, which never aired in syndication in the cities I lived as a kid and I never picked up the DVDs).

I have a lot of hope that James Gunn’s film next year will return the Man of Tomorrow to his roots (I have had great difficulty sitting through the DCEU depictions of Superman—it’s one of the reasons I’ve revisited DC’s reprinting of John Byrne’s post-Crisis revamp to cleanse my assaulted palate) and open the floodgates for other older versions to flourish in the spotlight, including TAOS—even if I have my doubts, I’ll happily buy a Complete Series set on Blu-ray! If I can survive Smallville, I can do the same for a ‘50s TV show aimed primarily at kids.
 

Baenwort

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Welcome to the HTF Forum Joe!

Thanks for the alert about The Lone Ranger Channel and the HD remastered episodes. Yet another classic tv series released in HD to streaming and broadcast and not physical media.

Insightful post about TAOS too!

I too would like to know where the HD rescan of The Lone Ranger could be found. Perhaps, like TAOS it will some day come to a blu ray set?

I'm really hoping this TAOS set will come out near the date of and with the new Superman movie?
 

The 1960's

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I too would like to know where the HD rescan of The Lone Ranger could be found. Perhaps, like TAOS it will some day come to a blu ray set?
Actually I checked it out since jwardxp's post and it's quite disappointing. The remastering is excellent however fubo is streaming episodes edited down to 22 minutes in 720p only. They originate from the GritTV Network.

As Bob Gu first reported here, the only entity showing these remastered prints uncut is on The Lone Ranger Channel at YouTube. Most are 720p with a few in 1080p but they don't appear to be true 1080p HD resolution.

IMO, a somewhat bizarre treatment for a series of this caliber.
 

Jw_Malibu

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XUMO Play streaming has a Lone Ranger channel. They have been airing the series in order. Season one is a mix of remastered and 720p but seasons 2 thru 5 are all remastered and from what I have seen are not edited. They run around 25 min each episode and look great. Season 5 in color the remasters looks fabulous! Check out XUMO Play!
 

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