The Adventures of Superman (1 Viewer)

[Sky King]

Hi all,

Decades has the same prints that we have on the DVD set.
Warners has made no effort, nor will they, in releasing this show on Blu-ray. They are too cheap to undertake a restoration to HD or Blu-ray as popular as this show still is. What we currently have…standard definition 35mm prints…is all we’ll ever see unless Warner hands over the restoration to an outside source. The source material will need the efforts of a talented company as the original 35mm masters weren’t well taken care of and were heavily edited.

John

 

[John*Wells]

Hi all,

Decades has the same prints that we have on the DVD set.
Warners has made no effort, nor will they, in releasing this show on Blu-ray. They are too cheap to undertake a restoration to HD or Blu-ray as popular as this show still is. What we currently have…standard definition 35mm prints…is all we’ll ever see unless Warner hands over the restoration to an outside source. The source material will need the efforts of a talented company as the original 35mm masters weren’t well taken care of and were heavily edited.

John

and I doubt That will happen with Discovery involved

 

[smithbrad]

Hi all,

Decades has the same prints that we have on the DVD set.
Warners has made no effort, nor will they, in releasing this show on Blu-ray. They are too cheap to undertake a restoration to HD or Blu-ray as popular as this show still is. What we currently have…standard definition 35mm prints…is all we’ll ever see unless Warner hands over the restoration to an outside source. The source material will need the efforts of a talented company as the original 35mm masters weren’t well taken care of and were heavily edited.

John

Why is it that whenever a favorite release of someone's doesn't come out the company involved is always being cheap, as if money should be no object when it comes to our needs (as collectors), who cares about cost to restore or return on investment, we should get what we want, when we want it, no matter the cost or loss involved. We also have a tendency to over inflate the popularity when it comes to a return on investment.

If anyone is to do the source material justice, it will be Warner Archive, not some outside source. If anyone could get a return on the cost, it will be Warner Archive, not some outside source looking at restoration fees and a limited licensing period. I'd very much like to see "Adventures of Superman" get its due, and I think it will in time by WB when the cost and resources align. Will it get a blu-ray release? I highly doubt it, it likely won't make sense at the time. However, I can see it potentially showing up streaming in HD at some later date, quite a bit in the future.

 

[ScottRE]

I must be the only one who is pretty happy with the prints they released. Obviously not HD restoration quality, but other than a couple of 16mm prints, they look pretty good for their age. They're not overly compressed either. If VEI or Mill Creek released these, man, we'd be really teed off.

 

[jayembee]

And in the early '90s, the writers of the Superman books (who all grew up on The Adventures of Superman) named an entire storyline after Panic in the Sky

Also, one of the first season episodes of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman -- titled "All Shook Up" -- was essentially a remake of "Panic in the Sky".

 

[jayembee]

I've never understood why Lois, Jimmy, and Perry don't recognize Superman once Clark is out of his glasses and in bed, but I guess the identity logic about this has never made sense, and we must just accept it as part of the narrative.

Well, to quote from the villain Tempus in a later-season Lois & Clark episode, it's because Lois is "galactically stupid".

The scene in the first Chris Reeve movie pretty much nails how he got away with it, when Clark was about to tell Lois that he was Superman. His voice deepens, he straightens up, and his bearing changes. When he chickens out, he goes back to the meek Clark. The problem in The Adventures of Superman was that George Reeves's performance as Superman was identical to that of Clark, so it was impossible to understand how no one ever figured it out.

Of course, in the comics, there was that super-spit-curl in his hair as Superman that threw everyone off.

 

[RobertMG]

I must be the only one who is pretty happy with the prints they released. Obviously not HD restoration quality, but other than a couple of 16mm prints, they look pretty good for their age. They're not overly compressed either. If VEI or Mill Creek released these, man, we'd be really teed off.

This CLASSIC show has been a cash cow since day ONE and for 70 years. The DVD sets were the best release --- heck use the same masters and put them on Blu Ray face it they will bever ooom better and it would still be better than that MILL Creek Jeanie!

 

[ScottRE]

Well, to quote from the villain Tempus in a later-season Lois & Clark episode, it's because Lois is "galactically stupid".

The scene in the first Chris Reeve movie pretty much nails how he got away with it, when Clark was about to tell Lois that he was Superman. His voice deepens, he straightens up, and his bearing changes. When he chickens out, he goes back to the meek Clark. The problem in The Adventures of Superman was that George Reeves's performance as Superman was identical to that of Clark, so it was impossible to understand how no one ever figured it out.

Of course, in the comics, there was that super-spit-curl in his hair as Superman that threw everyone off.

In Superman IV, Reeve tossed all that out the window and his Clark was no different than his Superman except his curl moved to the other side. I loved George's Clark and since he was the actual main character in the bulk of the episodes, I can see why they had him being a stronger, more respected reporter. But yeah, he didn't seem all that concerned about subtlety. Even Lois seems less mean about it, mostly due to the casting change. Noel Neill was a softer Lois.

 

[ponset]

Came out in 1954.

 

[Sky King]

If anyone is to do the source material justice, it will be Warner Archive, not some outside source. If anyone could get a return on the cost, it will be Warner Archive, not some outside source looking at restoration fees and a limited licensing period. I'd very much like to see "Adventures of Superman" get its due, and I think it will in time by WB when the cost and resources align.

smithbrad,

Warner Bros. has owned this program almost 50 years and aside from scanning the 35mm masters to standard definition for TV syndication in the early 90’s for Nick At Nite, they have done nothing to further the cause for this popular series. The DVDs we got from Warner were from the same Nick At Nite scans.
Yes Warner is cheap…When the commentary by Noel Neill and Jack Larson was included on the first season DVDs, Warner refused to compensate them. So Noel and Jack did it for free, for their love of the show. Warner also refused the offer a better print of “The Stolen Costume” from a private collector. The one on the DVD set looks like it was used to wash the floor.
I’m glad we have what we have, but I don’t expect anything more from Warner regarding this series.

John

 

[smithbrad]

Warner Bros. has owned this program almost 50 years and aside from scanning the 35mm masters to standard definition for TV syndication in the early 90’s for Nick At Nite, they have done nothing to further the cause for this popular series. The DVDs we got from Warner were from the same Nick At Nite scans.

Yes, they used scans for this title that they had readily available for the DVD release, but they have also produced many great releases based on new scans. WB has a huge catalog to work from. If you want to stick with the negative perception, that is your prerogative. I'd prefer to focus on the positive that even though dated, I'm glad to have and to have enjoyed the existing release of this title and hope for better down the road then potentially no release at all.

Yes Warner is cheap…When the commentary by Noel Neill and Jack Larson was included on the first season DVDs, Warner refused to compensate them. So Noel and Jack did it for free, for their love of the show.

What about all the work Warner Archive is doing? Warner Archive has become my number one go to for catalog titles over Criterion and any other company. The quality they are putting out is costly and exceptional to say the least. Yet that kind of quality takes time. If you want quantity, you have Kino, but you can't call WB cheap based on what Warner Archive is putting out. Do you want quantity, do you want extras, do you want quality, or just what you want? It all comes at a price, whether that be time, resources, or money, and when the catalog is as large as WB's there are going to be titles delayed, or that get lesser treatment, or never make it out at all, that's just the way it is. It is a business after all.

Warner also refused the offer a better print of “The Stolen Costume” from a private collector. The one on the DVD set looks like it was used to wash the floor.

While I've heard of some small independents accepting prints from a collector, I do not recall ever hearing of a large studio doing it. Even if they got the print, they would still have to scan it to use it, and what if something happened to it in the process. I'm assuming WB has the original elements in a vault, when they are ready to do a transfer, it will be from the original elements and it will be of exceptional quality,

I’m glad we have what we have, but I don’t expect anything more from Warner regarding this series.

John

That's a valid outlook, but I don't happen to share it. It's a valued property and does no good sitting in a vault forever. At the same time, WB has a lot of valued assets, and they can't all be done at once. And I don't believe a company can be declared "cheap" when looking at individual titles. I think you have to take a broader perspective. I doubt anyone in the Warner Archive thread would use "cheap" to describe their efforts, "too slow" for their liking maybe, but not cheap.

For me, life is too short to focus or worry about what I don't have, or to wish everything got the royal treatment. I'd much rather focus on what I do have and enjoy it for what it is. Growing up watching on 19" b/w tube TV and only a handful of stations I never would have dreamed someday I could basically have my own network in my house playing what I want when I want it.

 

[ScottRE]

While I've heard of some small independents accepting prints from a collector, I do not recall ever hearing of a large studio doing it.

The only time I've heard of it with a larger label was when Fox borrowed 16mm prints of the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea pilot episode; one of the unaired pilot and the other for the broadcast pilot with original commercials to be included as bonus features. Apparantly Fox either didn't have them in the vaults or didn't want to check (most likely). I actually know the fella they got the unaired pilot from, although I haven't spoken to him in a few years. He had a plethora of episodes on 16mm and provided me with many copies over the years.

Honestly, it probably wasn't even Fox who borrowed them but Kevin Burns. He tried very hard to make the release valuable for fans when Fox wasn't interested in doing much other than releasing them in split season sets on double sided DVDs.

 

[The 1960's]

Not cheap, but certainly abandoned.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m not sure this helps or applies, but for years, fans here called Paramount cheap for not remastering Star Trek The Motion Picture Directors Edition and we finally got it last week. Paramount+ funded it and it had the strong backing of Robert Wise and David Fein, Mike Matessino and Daren Dochterman. Of course we’re still waiting for DS9 and Voyager to get an HD remaster. Hope that happens.

I’m ripping the Adventures of Superman now and I did view one episode on my OLED display. It did look very nice. Of course it’s not as nice as a modern scan at higher resolution. I’m watching on a screen 4 times the size of what anyone would see at home in 1952. It’s holding up pretty well. I have not gotten to the color episodes yet so I’m looking forward to see those. If Adventures of Superman never gets a more modern scan, at least we have it now.

It would be cool if Warner did something with Adventures of Superman.

 

[ScottRE]

Came out in 1954.

View attachment 153523

So funny how Lois got more and more matronly once the 50's rolled around. Lois, as conceived, was actually pretty hot. She had a killer figure with a spunky personality. Over time she became a dupe for Superman's dickishness while he protected his dual identity while she became more concerned about being Mrs. Superman rather than the Daily Planet's best reporter.

Perry White looks depressed in that illo. I guess with that staff of goofballs, I would be too. Also hilarious: a Superman board game is a "game of news reporting." Thrilling! Because that's why we read the comic and watched the TV show!

 

[jayembee]

So funny how Lois got more and more matronly once the 50's rolled around. Lois, as conceived, was actually pretty hot. She had a killer figure with a spunky personality. Over time she became a dupe for Superman's dickishness while he protected his dual identity while she became more concerned about being Mrs. Superman rather than the Daily Planet's best reporter.

Well, that pretty much reflected the comics of the 50s and 60s. They'd tried to correct that in the 70s, but weren't particularly successful. At least with respect to trying to be the Planet's best reporter. They did ramp down her efforts to (a) uncover Superman's identity, and (b) get him to marry her.

These days, she and Clark are married, and his secret identity is no longer secret, so those two things are moot points now. But they've also built her up to be a top-notch investigative reporter. To the point where Batman gives her respect as a detective.

 

[smithbrad]

Not cheap, but certainly abandoned.

Abandoned in what way?

 

[The 1960's]

Brad, I'll answer your question with a question.

What was the last time the WarnerArchiveCollection released a classic tv series?

 

[jayembee]

I think he means that WAC has released all of those other TV shows, but not (yet) The Adventures of Superman.

Which doesn't necessarily mean much, as (a) there are a number of other Warner TV shows have not been released, and (b) we're talking about an upgrade to Blu-ray, while all of those pictured are DVDs. And TAOS is on DVD. As is Lois & Clark, and even Superboy.

 

[jayembee]

Brad, I'll answer your question with a question.

What was the last time the WarnerArchiveCollection released a classic tv series?

Depends on how you define "classic". And I haven't kept track of DVDs specifically, but with regard to Blu-rays:

2019 03 12 - The Man from Atlantis Pilot Film
2019 08 27 - V: The Original Mini-Series
2019 10 08 - Shazam! The Complete Live-Action Series
2020 04 14 - V: The Final Battle

And Warner Home Video:
2020 07 28 - Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection