DVD : Adventures of Superman - The Complete Second Season

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Bring on the rest of the seasons
Lets not wait any more, come on with the thing. Put them all on DVD instead of dragging this out. I need all of the episodes and now. This is an excellent product.

Rating:

- Not as great as first season...
I received the second season set today.

I still feel that season one was far superior to the succeeding seasons.

I was wondering if anyone has watched PANIC IN THE SKY with the Noel Neill/Jack Larson commentary. (It is a special feature on disc 2).

In the middle of the episode the disc malfunctions badly - Larson's voice over is all broken up and the picture reduces to slow motion and is also all broken up.

I am contacting AMAZON about returning this box set for a replacement. I was wondering if this is a mass manufacturing defect or just happening on my disc.

Any comments?

Rating:

- ALMOST A Great DVD Set
Warner Brothers released the second season of "The Adventures Of Superman" on January 17. 2006. Unfortunately, the effort that went into this DVD collection is the same as with season one...lackluster.
The DVDs are packaged over one another as they were with season one and I feel this could easily lead to scratches on the DVDs, which could render them unviewable. The menu is like season one's also...easily manageble.
Now...the all important question, how do the episodes look ?? They are a bit (and I do mean a bit) cleaner and sharper than season one's offerings, but that isn't saying much. Some look better than others. Anyone who states that the episodes on this DVD set look awesome or excellent is watching these DVDs on a tired old TV, or is in need of an eye exam. For some reason, Warners while using 35mm masters on their other TV show DVD releases, isn't doing this with this "The Adventures Of Superman." Warner Brothers took the cheaper way out and opted to use somewhat grainy, 16mm "dupe" prints instead of making new prints from the 35mm masters, which would have yielded a razor sharp image.
The sound is Dolby Digital mono and sounds very good considering the age of the source.
While the package says the complete second season, several of these episodes (Around The World With Superman & My Friend Superman) have been edited...why ??
There are no neat extras, like the commercials that season one had. Also missing are the Kelloggs openings and closes and the bumper, ("we'll return to The Adventures Of Superman in just a moment") that could have been included as a bonus extra.
Now the good stuff...The commentaries by Noel Neill (Lois) and Jack Larson (Jimmy) are GREAT !!! Just a note here...Noel and Jack did these commentaries for free. Warner Brothers refused to pay them for this, so they did it gratis for the love of the show and it's fans. This is a VERY commendable and generous act on their part.
The other commentaries by Gary Grossman, Jan Alan Henderson and Leonard Maltin are informative and a great contribution to the set. Also, the profile of Noel Neill is a gem, although too short in my opinion.
I definately recommend purchasing this DVD set, but be aware, it could and should have been much better.

Rating:

- I really did watch these DVD's
I think it's pretty amazing how so many people leave a review without ever seeing the actual DVD's first.

I mean, come on........ EVERYBODY who'd want to buy these DVD's would have seen the episode zillions of times on TV.

You don't need to say GEORGE REEVES IS GREAT.

We all know that.

People want to know how did you like the DVD's themselves.

I have seen them.

They are nice.

Quality and layout is identical to season 1.

I bought them and i'm happy.

Rating:

- Superman Flies Again
Am looking forward to this release. The first season of
"AOS" was hands down the best, but season two was undeniably the second best...and contains some of the most exciting and
vividly-recalled episodes of the entire series, such as the
wonderful "Panic In the Sky", "The Defeat of Superman", and
"Superman in Exile". Some reviewers have deemed "Panic In the
Sky" the "signature" piece of the series, but I would have to
say that "Panic" has to share that honor with the the second
episode from series one, "The Haunted Lighthouse". A good bit
of the physical violence from year one has been toned down for
season two (no old women in wheelchairs being pushed down stairs or ramps...and NOTHING like the graphic scene in "Crime Wave" where a dock worker has his legs crushed between two trucks). This season Superman dealt more with "thumps" to criminal assailants rather than punches that would in theory have killed them. This was a far cry from the almost gleeful murderousness (throwing crooks off buildings, crushing one with
an automobile engine) of Tom Tyler's "Captain Marvel" in the Republic serial of that name. This new approach sat better with
parents and worked out well for the rest of the series' run.

The replacement of Phyllis Coates by Noell Neil was the biggest change that was readily noticeable. Neil was winsomely pretty and a fine, fine actress. She is also the image of Lois Lane most "boomers" retain in their minds from "back then" (was
also the cameo "Mrs. Lane"...Lois's "mother"...in the train
sesquence from the 1st Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie). While Neil is adored by the fans, it has to be stated that "her" Lois was toned down by the producers and made more of
a perennial "damsel in distress" than was the Coates version. The Coates Lane was the BEST Lane...a regular wildcat in a Burlap bag...and it was (I have always felt) a regrettable decision by the "powers that be" to tone that feistiness down so much.

The second season closes out with one of the best loved and
best remembered of all the Superman episodes: "Around the World With Superman". It has no criminals, crimes, or conspiracies in
it, nor any real threats to anyone concerned. Yet it holds a
soft spot in many a "boomer" heart.It is a "five hankie weeper", a real warm/fuzzy stand-up-and-shout "hooray" episode...just don't let anybody see your wet eyes if you are a
good macho man. In season one there was an episode that got a very favorable fan response. "The Birthday Letter" concerned a
little girl whose legs were crippled with polio (she was in leg
braces). She wrote a letter to the Daily Planet asking if Superman would take her to the fair and he promised to do so. Some sleazoid crooks with a fake man of steel got into the act
and things didn't go so well at first. Then Superman won the day and took the little girl on a whirlwind flying tour of Metropolis. It was a real lip-trembler of an ending. Well, in season two the production team decided to try repeating that
kind of a heart-tugger episode. "Around the World" is the result.It is a re-working of the little-girl-in-leg-braces theme, but here a little girl is BLIND. In this story a blind child's parents seek help from Superman. They have been told there is a "chance" that a very delicate operation can repair their daughter's optic nerve and give her sight. The only hang-up is that her surgeons would need to work under guidance from
some kind of ultra-powerful x-ray machine and nothing in existence is that powerful....except perhaps Superman's x-ray vision. Superman agrees to lend a hand. Complications ensue (but of COURSE!!!), but finally the operation is at hand. Before surgery the child tells Superman that there are all sorts of wonderful places she has heard about, but never seen...not even pictures of...the pyramids, the Eiffel Tower...many, many places and things. And she hopes to really see these sights , now... if all goes well. Well, things DO go well and she gains her sight...but she doesn't need PICTURES to see all the things she's dreamed of seeing. With the glorious "AOS" theme pounding on the sound track, she sees them ALL... FIRST HAND. The title
"Around the World With Superman" says it all. It always had viewers sniffling and dabbing at their eyes...even pint-sized junior macho men, and some magazine once deemed it one of the
greatest "hanky jobs" in the golden age of television. This reviewer has wanted this episode for years and now its coming
available. Hot diggity! Heck, Hot Diggity for ALL of it!!!

"The Adventures of Superman, Season 2"....GET it!!! You'll love it!!!

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