Buy The New Adventures of Superman - (DC Comics Classic Collection)

# Actors: Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander, Jackson Beck, Jack Grimes, Bob Hastings

These adventures were the first time that Superman (and his alter ego Clark Kent), Lois Lane and Perry White had been seen in animated form since they were immortalized in the iconic Superman short films of the 1940s. In addition, this series marked the animation debut of Jimmy Olsen and classic Superman villains like Lex Luthor and Brainiac. This animated Superman was forerunner show that lead to all the subsequent animated superhero programming.

The New Adventures of Superman was a series of six-minute animated Superman adventures produced by Filmation that were broadcast on CBS between 1966 and 1970[1]. The 68 segments appeared as part of three different programs during that time, packaged with similar shorts featuring The Adventures of Superboy other DC Comics superheroes.

History

These adventures were the first time that Superman (and his guise of Clark Kent), Lois Lane and Perry White had been seen in animated form since they were immortalized in the Superman short films of the 1940s.

The first TV series produced by Filmation Associates, The New Adventures of Superman was extremely popular in its Saturday morning time slot and, despite having obviously been developed for young children, employed the services of several DC comic book writers including George Kashdan. Many of the character designs (later based upon the artwork of Superman artist Curt Swan in the show's third season) stayed true to their comic book counterparts; iconic shirt-rip shots and related transformations from Clark Kent into Superman were incorporated into almost every episode, and such lines as "Up, up, and away!" and "This is a job for Superman!" were also borrowed from comics and the old Superman radio show. In addition, this series marked the animation debut of Jimmy Olsen and classic Superman villains such as Lex Luthor, The Toyman, and Brainiac. Due to a limited production budget, stock animation was often re-used for certain shots of Superman flying (or switching identities from Clark Kent into the Man of Steel), while character movement was often kept at a minimum.

Producer Lou Scheimer also recruited Bud Collyer and Joan Alexander, veterans from both the Superman radio show and the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons, for the voices of Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane respectively. For this series, Collyer returned to the same vocal technique he'd perfected on the radio show to play the Man of Steel. While in the identity of Clark Kent, Collyer would keep his voice lighter while projecting a sense of weakness. But when the mild-mannered reporter would change into his true identity of Superman, Collyer's voice would deepen dramatically into a heroic baritone. Alexander departed after the first season and was replaced by Julie Bennett in later episodes.

Despite its success, the series raised the ire of a conservative organization called Action for Children's Television, a grassroots organization formed in 1968 and dedicated to improving the quality of television programming offered to children, due to Superman throwing punches and other action-related violence which the group found objectionable. As a result, the series was soon cancelled, and future cartoons would not allow for such comic book violence.

Superman subsequently appeared in ABC's long-running animated series Super Friends (1973), produced by Hanna-Barbera, whose rights to DC Comics characters were gradually transferred from Filmation.

DVD

Warner Home Video released a two-disc DVD of The New Adventures of Superman on June 26, 2007. Due to the ongoing legal battle between Warner Bros. and the estate of Jerry Siegel over the rights to the "Superboy" name, it does not include the The Adventures of Superboy segments originally broadcast in between the Superman segments. However, the opening title sequence and bumpers for the Superboy episodes are included in the set.

 Buy The New Adventures of Superman - (DC Comics Classic Collection)

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