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on superman seasons 3&4 disc 3 episodes#17 peril by sea and episode #18 topsy turvy freezes and has distortion.it not my dvd player because ive tried it in several other players as well.to those who purchased this set check it out for yourselves.other people who have bought this set that i know all tell me the same thing.what can we do about this .i think warner bros.ought to send out a new third disc to people who have brought this set and correct this issue.
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Just to let other potential buyers know, it seems that not all sets contain a free ticket to "Superman Returns", as mentioned by two reviewers. I specifically bought a new/sealed set (from a Marketplace vendor) in order to get the ticket, but discovered no ticket inside (and the boxed set seemed legitimately factory-sealed).
Since one of the reviewers finding a ticket posted several months ago, and the other said s/he pre-ordered the set, I wonder if the tickets were included in a limited number of early-run sets (or maybe it's just random distribution in only SOME of the sets).
Since Amazon doesn't mention the tickets in their comments, there was no misrepresentation from the seller. I still got the set for a good price, and I would have bought it regardless, so I'm only a BIT disappointed. I'll just wait for the new movie to come out on disc (as long as it doesn't take 50+ years like the TV series!).
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WHAT'S BETTER THAN SUPERMAN? --- SUPERMAN IN COLOR OF COURSE!!,
--SO WHO ELSE CAN CHANGE THE COURSE OF MIGHTY RIVERS IN LIVING COLOR?
SIMPLY STATED -- My favorite TV show as a child 50 years ago
When the first 2 DVD sets arrived in late January, I played a Superman marathon from start to finish which occurred only because the series is that good! The first season, which I recall though I have not seen the episodes for at least 40 years, has held up surprisingly well.
I still get a chill during the introduction as the announcer zips through the usual discourse of: "faster than a speeding bullet", "more powerful than a locomotive", "leaps tall buildings in a single bound", "can change the course of mighty rivers" etc.!
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--------------- ***** SEASON 3-4 DVD SET BELOW ***** ---------------
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Season 3 of "THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN" - includes these episodes:
-----* "Through the Time Barrier"
-----* "The Talking Clue"
-----* "The Lucky Cat"
-----* "Superman Week"
-----* "Great Caesar's Ghost"
-----* "Test of a Warrior"
-----* "Olsen's Millions"
-----* "Clark Kent, Outlaw"
-----* "The Magic Necklace"
-----* "The Bully of Dry Gulch"
-----* "Flight to the North"
-----* "The Seven Souvenirs"
-----* "King For a Day"
Season 4 of "THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN" - includes these episodes: including my favorite - "THE BIG FREEZE"
-----* "Joey"
-----* "The Unlucky Number"
-----* "The Big Freeze"
-----* "Peril By Sea"
-----* "Topsy Turvy"
-----* "Jimmy the Kid"
-----* "The Girl Who Hired Superman"
-----* "The Wedding of Superman"
-----* "Dagger Island"
-----* "Blackmail"
-----* "The Deadly Rock"
-----* "The Phantom Ring"
-----* "The Jolly Roger"
SPECIAL FEATURES include:
-----* "Adventures of Superman: The Color Era"
-----* "Faster Than a Speeding Bullet: The Special Effects of Adventures of Superman"
-----* "Look, Up in the Sky": The Amazing Story of Superman
THE NITTY GRITTY -- REASONABLE PRICE FOR A TERRIFIC PACKAGE
The color episodes which make up this set have a modern look to them that children find more appealing than the earlier two seasons. True, the stories are targeted more toward children than adults, but with so many adventures to watch there is something for everyone in this series. This most recent addition to the DVD editions adds, through color, a new dimension which really helps in rounding out this series. I look forward to the next set, and to seeing a few more of the series that I have not seen in almost 50 years.
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Warners/DC has now released seasons 3 & 4 of the 1950s classic "Adventures of Superman" series, this time in color for the first time.
One would like to say the overall collection is as good as
the black & white seasons one and two episodes, but that is not the case. The addition of color to the series created budgetary problems for the producers of the t.v. franchise that more than doubled the costs of each episode. In order to shoot in color, therefore, the t.v. crew had to slash the episode numbers in
half, from 26 to 13 episodes. This is why we have two seasons in one DVD collection.
Money woes were also behind a certain ongoing cheapness in set and properties construction that shows up on film. Walls shake when doors slam, "rocks" shudder when Superman drives a fist into them, and, in one episode wherein a submarine lurks off the coast and watches a beachfront house through its periscope,
the house and its surroundings are quite obviously not even a painted matte, but, rather, A PEN & INK DRAWING COLORED WITH WATERCOLORS!
This is truly indicative of how much cost-cutting has gone on here!
The tone of the series has changed radically as well. When AOS began , it was structured as a cinematic extension of the rough and tumble Bud Collyer radio series , with a touch of the old Fleischer cartoons of the forties for added flavor. But by the time the color conversion was getting readied a whirlwind had struck the world of comics. A psychiatrist named Frederick Wertham (called "Fabulous Freddie"....sarcastically...by comics insiders) had launched a campaign to "rein in" the "extravagant evils" of comic books and got congress caught up in his drive
to "clean up" this "depraved medium". The innocent minds of the little kiddies had to be protected from such corruptive rot. In the frenzy over "Werthamism", entire lines of comics folded, and
a new industry regulatory group, the Comics Code Authority, came into being. This was the comic book equivalent of the Hays Office in the film industry.
Comics had to, under the new guidelines, "shape up" or ship out.
Most of the EC titles...from "Tales From the Crypt" to "Vault of Horror" and "Weird Science"...did the latter.
Other titles, from "Superman", "Batman", and others, began to "tone things down" as well.
And what happened to the comics got tied to the AOS t.v. series.
The decision was made to "tone down" AOS too. Make it more "kid-friendly" and less "stress-inducing".
For this reason, the 3rd and 4th seasons didn't pack the kind of visceral punch the first two seasons did. Some of the episodes are just plain cornball stupid. Others, though, work pretty WELL. "The Big Freeze", "Joey", "Dagger Island", the superb "The Wedding of Superman", and "Test of a Warrior" (along with a few others) deliver the goods as "Super" entertainment. "Test of a Warrior" I strongly recall from childhood, wherein Perry White is given the Indian tribal name of "okeecheeboygan"..."He who writes with thundering machines".
Overall, the color is good in these transfers, if somewhat inconsistent. I don't think this is a film-to-DVD pixelation problem. I think it is a problem inherent in the original color photography. It took a good deal of light (key lighting, side
lighting, back lighting) to shoot good color in those days and I sense that the lighting set-ups in use weren't always sufficient to get the job done ideally. What one notices in various scenes is that the color in CLOSE-UP shots is vibrant and sharp...often simply gorgeous...whereas in medium shots and long shots it tends to have a yellowy , washed out look...and sometimes even looks overexposed. All in all, though, the color looks good and gives the production values some extra "Pizzaz".
The acting is first rate. The ensemble of Reeves, Neil, Larsen,and Hamilton hits on all cylinders, and Reeves, especially, simply "owns" this roll. His Clark Kent is also still the best...and toughest...of all Clark Kents, movie versions included.
One additional thing should be said here. The George Reeves Superman comes across, still, as the most POWERFUL Superman.
A special feature on Disc 5 involves the special effects of flying in AOS and reminds us of one thing; Superman is the essence of POWER, and his takeoffs and landings IN AOS remind us of that. Reeves utilized the mini-trampoline and coil springboard techniques pioneered at Republic Studios for their "Captain Marvel" and "Rocketman/Commando Cody" flying hero adventures for his takeoffs (and the jump-from-a-ladder or swing-out-from-a-suspended-bar techniques for his landings). Because of this, the Reeves take-offs and landings have an athletic "muscularity" to them that none of his successors have achieved. In fact, in the world of Reeves/Reeve landings, Chris's look positively wussy compared to George's. The screaming-wind sound effect of Superman in flight in AOS is still the best audio accompanyment to all versions, as is the whipping wind effect. Again, all these elements work together to enhance the effect of kinetic POWER here, something that has largely been missed in other versions. I have not seen "Superman Returns" yet, so I cannot comment on how well that film evokes the power sense I've been addressing . Hopefully it will do so nicely.
So is this collection 3 of AOS worth the loot you need to shell out for it. Sure it is. How could it not be ? The good features still outweigh the clunkers and you're still in for a super good time watching it all.
Enjoy!
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Am I the only person who ha a bad disk? On my set, disk 3 works up until the last two episodes -- neither of which will play on my DVD player. Disks 1 and 2 were fine, and I haven't tried the remaining ones yet.
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