DVD : Adventures of Superman - The Complete Second Season

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO CHANGE THE COURSE OF MIGHTY RIVERS?
IN A NUTSHELL: DIFFERENT THEMES + A DIFFERENT LOIS = A NEW TONE

We are treated to more of the same GREAT STUFF as was presented in the first season; however, Noel Neill replaced Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane and we see a true diversity of themes. Whereas the first season had focused on mobsters and crime, the second toned down the violence and added a wide range of themes to the growing Superman universe. In the process, the second season was more kid-friendly at the expense of some of the film-noir ambience.

All and all, this is a great addition and companion to the first season.

SEASON TWO has just been released. I pre-ordered it from Amazon prior to its release and and I have just completed viewing the 5 disks of the second season. The quality is the same as the first season -- almost unbelievably good. Episode 12, "Panic In The Sky" on the second disk, is a standout that also has an interesting and informative commentary track narrated by Noel Neill and Jack Larson.

If there is a difference between the first and second season, it is probably caused by several obvious differences;

---1] LOIS LANE:

Noel Neill is much lighter and more of a kid-viewer-friendly sidekick for Clark Kent, whereas Pyllis Coates was much more Kent's equal and rival. My daughter, watching parts of many of these shows -- but whole shows of none -- as she sort of flits in and out seeing parts of many and whole shows of none, stated that in "The Defeat Of Superman" if Phyllis Coates were still Lois then she would have been the one who got hit with the Kryptonite bullet instead of Superman. That's it exactly. Many of the crooks in the first season were literally mauled by Lois Lane, wildcat, as they tried with great difficulty to subdue her. Often, Phyllis Coates as Lois was physically assaulted as one would expect a man to be and the bad guys often came out of it bleeding and hurting. When that failed, there was the famous Lois Lane scream that is still reverberating all over the galaxy.

Obviously, I think a lot of Phyllis Coates as Lois but, in fairness, Noel Neill does a great job of showing a compassionate and vulnerable Lois who would surely perish if Superman were not there to save her, OFTEN.

---2] THE SCRIPTS:

The dark, "film-noir" style of the first season was definitely geared more for adults than for kids, though as a kid at the time I didn't know -- until now. Mobsters and corrupt politicians dominated that first season, with only traces of the humor that was to come in future seasons from Jimmy Olsen, and most of all from the new Lois [Noel Neill]. The new Lois did present the opportunity to change the tone of the show to the lighter side without ruining the Superman Universe in the process. Noel Neill, although five years older than Phyllis Coates, acted younger and more like she needed Superman's help while basically tagging along with Kent instead of blazing her own trail as Lois had in the first season. I have read that she was more palatable to young viewers, especially boys who found her likably obnoxious and bratty mannerisms to be cute and compelling. I guess they wanted to be Superman and save Noel. I was not one of them, and I always hoped that Phyllis Coates would return as Lois, but I had to wait until reruns for that.

---3] RUNNING TIME ON SEASON TWO IS LONGER:

Another difference from the first season is the length which ran about 25 minutes for the 1st season and has averaged over 26 minutes for the second.

COMMENTARY FOR SECOND SEASON BY NOEL NEILL {LOIS} & JACK LARSON [Jimmy}

THE EPISODES ON SEASON TWO ARE AS FOLLOWS; [Picture & Short description inside boxed set for each episode are included];

----- DISK ONE:

"Five Minutes to Doom"
"The Big Squeeze"
"The Man Who Could Read Minds"
"Jet Ace"
"Shot in the Dark"
"The Defeat of Superman"

----- DISK TWO:

"Superman in Exile"
"Ghost for Scotland Yard"
"The Dog Who Knew Superman"
"The Face and the Voice"
"The Man in the Lead Mask"
"Panic in the Sky" [PLUS OPTION TO CHOOSE COMMENTARY TRACK WITH LOIS & JIMMY]

----- DISK THREE:

"The Machine That Could Plot Crimes"
"Jungle Devil"
"My Friend Superman"
"The Clown Who Cried"
"The Boy Who Hated Superman"
"Semi-Private Eye" [PLUS OPTION TO CHOOSE COMMENTARY TRACK WITH LOIS & JIMMY]

----- DISK FOUR:

"Perry White's Scoop"
"Beware the Wrecker"
"The Golden Vulture"
"Jimmy Olsen, Boy Editor"
"Lady in Black"
"Star of Fate"

----- DISK FIVE:

"The Whistling Bird"
"Around the World with Superman"

"Documentary - "The First Lady of Metropolis" examines Noel Neill as Lois Lane - recently filmed and just 7 minutes, but quite interesting and features Jack Larson, Noel Neill and others.

>"Stamp Day For Superman": Special 18 minute episode promoting savings stamps for school kids backed by Superman. That's right -SAVINGS STAMPS - NOT BONDS!

BOTTOM LINE: [I have never been happier with a DVD boxed-set purchase]

--------------- WHY IS THIS IS AN EXCELLENT BOXED SET?

* ONE-SIDED DVDs [each with cool art-work]
* INCREDIBLE DVD TRANSFER - RESTORED TO ORIGINAL LENGTH
* SPECIAL FEATURES [2 EPISODES INCLUDE OPTIONAL COMMENTARY TRACKS + "STAMP DAY WITH SUPERMAN" + "THE FIRST LADY OF METROPOLIS" - documentary]
* DVD INSIDE COVER INCLUDES NEAT PHOTOS & BRIEF NOTES ON EACH EPISODE
* STURDY ATTRACTIVE BOXED SET [same size as 1 VHS + includes outer sleeve]
* "REEL" CLASS ACT + AFFORDABLE PRICE [can't wait till the 3rd season comes out!]
* SUBTITLES AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH - FRENCH & SPANISH

FINAL THOUGHTS: Sometimes Christmas comes at the end of January, but whenever the 3rd season is released will be Christmas too!

Rating:

- The Super-spectacular adventures continue!
Seasons One and Two of "The Adventures of Superman" were, for this fan, the best of this series. Starting with Season Three, the show was forced to tone down its serious and sometimes violent nature - it became a kiddie show (with the exception of some episodes that were in many ways a return to greatness).

This Season Two DVD contains some of the best episodes of the series, including the all-time best, "Panic in the Sky", the classic story in which Superman loses his memory after seemingly saving the Earth from an asteroid.

The DVD contains a few extras - though not many - however, one of them is a never-before-seen (for me, at least) story called "Stamp Day for Superman". This is a bona fide episode that was really a pitch for U.S. Government Bonds and Stamps. It's a little hokey, but is really wonderful to see.

One thing almost drops this to a Four and a half Stars rating, and that's the commentary for the aforementioned "Panic in the Sky". While I welcome commentary from the beloved Noel Neill and Jack Larson, it didn't work: Larson, unfortunately, rambles on about things pretty much unrelated to the episode. The effect is that his chatter becomes annoying.

Too bad, because I have great respect for both Jack Larson and Noel Neill (who is somewhat subdued in the commentary, unfortunately). Maybe in subsequent DVDs for this show, they'll provide better comments.

Bottom line, though: this DVD is nothing short of spectacular - like the show.

Rating:

- Great series -- give us more
The Reeves packages are well done and fully restored. You'll be amazed at how good they look after 50 years, and perhaps a little sad that George Reeves thought he was doing a show with little significance. As it turns out, perhaps the only show of the 50's with as much fan following today is "I Love Lucy." As far as I can determine, there were four additional films related to this series, and so far we have been treated to two of them as extras. Vol. I gave us the feature version of "Superman and the Mole Men" and Vol. II gave us "Stamp Day for Superman." Now if we can just get the pilots for Superboy and Superpup as extras on Vol. III, that would be great. Also, we should commend Warner Bros. and DC for stamping these as one-sided disks, meaning there are fewer glitches and an overall nicer package. Lois & Clark is also one-sided, but the animated series package suffers from a two-sided disk. ONE MAJOR REQUEST: Fans would enjoy a Superman "theatre" package containing nice transfers of both Kirk Alyn serials AND the 17 theatrical cartoons. Perhaps a three-disk set in nice packaging would be a big seller to Superman collectors.

Rating:

- He's still super!
I enjoyed this series when I was a kid, and love it to this day.

Superman embodied what used to be the American ideal: He employed his brain (or Clark Kent's!) to solve problems, and only resorted to force when absolutely necessary. He was honest, trustworthy, and fair. Just perfect.

Great cast, great stories, you'll enjoy it!

Rating:

- Correcting mistaken reviewer
Actually, it's an urban legend of sorts that George Reeves's role in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY was cut down due to his sudden popularity as Superman. The source of this tale is Jack Larson, who starred with Reeves as Jimmy Olsen on the Superman show. He saw the film (FHTE) the day it opened and remembers
audience members calling out "There's Superman." The next time he saw the film, he says Reeves's role had been severely cut.

The problem with this is manifold. First, Jack's next viewing of the film, as he told me personally, was some twenty-five years later. I'm convinced that his memory of what he'd seen in that initial viewing had "expanded" over the years, particularly in light of the impact of Superman typecasting
on Reeves's career and life. Secondly, Daniel Taradash's first-draft screenplay, and every draft thereafter, contains exactly the scenes for Reeves's character that are in the film as released and as now seen, and not one scene more nor less. Taradash told me personally that he did not write a single scene for Reeves's character that was not in the final release
print or in subsequent video releases. Thirdly, director Fred Zinneman told me personally that not only was not one of Reeves's scenes cut from the film, but that not one frame of the film was cut after the first audience screenings. He was at the same viewing that Jack Larson attended and, while he allowed as that there might have been some muttered reference to Superman from audience members, he does not remember any and that in any case, there was no impact whatsoever on the film as released, nor even any discussion of the matter. He said the video release of the film is identical to the original theatrical release and that not one frame of Reeves's scenes was cut for any such reason. Fourthly, the editor of the film and its assistant director also confirmed and concurred with the statements of Taradash and Zinneman. Fifthly, several of the cast members, including Frank Sinatra and Claude Akins, assured me they knew of no such reduction in Reeves's screen
time for any reason.

Part of the problem may stem from the fact that Sgt. Maylon Stark, Reeves's character, is a vastly more important character in the novel of FROM HERE TO ETERNITY. Scores of characters from that huge book were either trimmed or eliminated. Sgt. Stark remained, but in a smallish way, in the film. But it was a small part in the first place, long before George Reeves was cast. It was never reduced further, due to his Superman fame or for any other reason.

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