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Adventures of Superman - The Complete Second Season
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| List Price: | $39.98 |
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Product Description
Containing one of the most instantly recognizable intro sequences to a TV show ("Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!") THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN was the first attempt to bring the comic book character to television screens. Great cinematic characters such as Lois Lane Jimmy Olsen and of course Clark Kent himself were established on the show with Kent attempting to live an anonymous existence as a reporter for the Daily Planet by day but transforming into Superman the last survivor from the planet Krypton when trouble comes calling. George Reeves plays the Man of Steel in this complete collection of episodes from the second season of the show. System Requirements:Running Time: 683 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 012569729742 Manufacturer No: 72974
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #8029 in DVD
- Brand: Warner Brothers
- Released on: 2006-01-17
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)
- Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
- Formats: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
- Number of discs: 5
- Dimensions: .85 pounds
- Running time: 683 minutes
Features
- Containing one of the most instantly recognizable intro sequences to a TV show ("Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!"), THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN was the first attempt to bring the comic book character to television screens. Great cinematic characters such as Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and of course Clark Kent himself were established on the show, with Kent atte
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Adventures of Superman - The Complete Second Season pretty much follows the formula laid out in the first season, building on what made the groundbreaking show so popular. For many fans, season two is the best of the series and it is easy to see why. Each episode has that strong "mini-serial-crime-movie" feel and was again scripted and shot to appeal to adults as well as younger audiences. This would all change once season three, the first color Superman season, rolled around and the producers would strictly tailor the show for children. The biggest difference viewers will notice in this season is the new Lois Lane. Fans had to say goodbye to the wonderfully tough Phyllis Coates, replaced by the perkier Noel Neill who would play the sassy and smart journalist for seasons to come. For many young girls growing up in the 1950s Noel Neill's Lois Lane, the first liberated woman presented to the TV audience in the children's market, was the ultimate role model. Highlights of season two include "Panic in the sky" (the episode many feel is the series best--where Superman saves Metropolis from an asteroid that also erases his memory), "Semi-Private Eye" (where Jimmy Olsen poses as a private eye to stalk the bad guys), and "The Defeat of Superman" (where Superman loses his powers thanks to a dose of Kryptonite). --Rob Bracco
From the back cover
Sleep tight, Metropolis. No matter what trouble comes your way, a powerful hero will protect you. And trouble does come--big trouble: a plummeting asteroid... a terrorist targeting transit systems... deadly radiation... mad scientists... a criminal clown. But none is a match for the Man of Steel.
George Reeves returns to put on the hero's cape (and, when necessary, the customary eyewear of a mild-mannered reporter) for the steel-bending, bullet-speeding, tall-building-leaping excitement of 26 Season Two episodes. Noel Neill joins the series as Lois Lane, the Daily Planet reporter who sometimes suspects that maybe--just maybe--Clark Kent isn't who he says he is. Powerful fun!
Customer Reviews
George Reeves, in Super Second Season!
"The Adventures of Superman - The Complete Second Season" is an essential for fans of the original series, it's star, the unforgettable George Reeves, and anyone who would enjoy seeing a series 'at the top of it's game', when it was a genuine national phenomena!
The back story is truly amazing; the first season, filmed in 1951, had taken two full years to finally reach the entire country (television, at that time, was still in it's infancy, and just beginning to spread throughout the nation, as the FCC issued licenses for new stations, from coast to coast). "The Adventures of Superman", syndicated and sponsored by Kellogg's, was a fresh, exciting series that many of the new stations picked up to help promote themselves, and sell televisions...and the series began an astonishing climb to a level of popularity that no one involved had ever anticipated.
Certainly, none of the cast was prepared for what happened; in the two-year hiatus, Phyllis Coates, the 'Lois Lane' of the first season, assuming the series was finished, took on other acting assignments, and was no longer available when the call went out for the second season to be filmed (her role was filled by the 'Lois Lane' of the 40s movie serials, Noel Neill, 33, who saw the role toned down considerably from the aggressive, feisty newspaperwoman of the first season). Jack Larson, 20, who had felt misgivings about the role of Jimmy Olsen from the beginning (only agreeing to the part when his agent joked that "nobody will ever see it, anyway") discovered himself typecast in the role, and his privacy lost...a situation even more acute for the series' star, George Reeves, now 39. During the series' hiatus, he had gotten a juicy supporting role in the blockbuster, "From Here to Eternity", only to see the role edited down to an unbilled cameo, as the producers feared a film featuring 'Superman' would lose it's impact as a 'serious' film. Reeves would only appear in three feature films during the series' entire run, and one film, afterward, all in supporting roles...with no film work at all, the last three years of his life...which provided 'motive' that his 1959 death was suicide (despite evidence of foul play).
Knowing what the future held for Reeves makes the second season of AOS a bittersweet experience, as he is so wonderful in the role! Still youthfully handsome, he projects even more confidence and ease than he had in the first season, and was far more 'kid friendly', as his fight scenes were toned down (as was all the violence, as Kellogg's responded to parents' concerns). With the national Superman 'craze' in full swing, he took special pains to remind children that "only Superman can fly", and his portrayal of the Man of Steel reflected his increasing sense of responsibility of being a good role model to a generation of children who adored him.
If the series lacked it's earlier grittiness, the second season offered spectacular compensations, especially in "Panic In the Sky", the most famous and popular episode of the entire series. As a huge asteroid plunges toward Earth, Superman launches himself into space, in a last-ditch effort to save the planet. Slamming into the gigantic rock head-on, all he can accomplish is to change it's course, temporarily...while being knocked into a state of amnesia by the encounter! With Earth's destruction imminent, can Superman regain his memory in time...AND find a way to stop it? Despite some primitive FX, the episode is STILL riveting, after a half-century!
This is DEFINITELY a 'Must-Have' collection!
High hopes for the Second Season of a classic show
The second season of the Adventures of Superman is now slated for release on January 17, 2006. In this season Noel Neill takes over as Lois Lane. (Neill played Lois in the Superman movie serials.) There are 26 black and white episodes, just like the first season, but this second season was a bit less violent than the first.
Here are the episodes in season 2:
And special features should be:
I'm giving the release 5 stars based on the fact that the first season was very well done, and I have high hopes that the second season DVD set will surpass all our expectations.
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!
