Product Description

HOGAN’S HEROES: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON focuses on a group of American soldiers, led by Colonel Hogan (Crane), who are confined in a Nazi prisoner of war camp called Stalag 13 during World War II. While trapped in Stalag 13, the inmates conduct an espionage and sabotage campaign right under the noses of their warders. Because the Germans, led by the bumbling Colonel Wilhelm Klink (Emmy Award™-winning actor Klemperer), are often gullible, the real strength of Hogan’s men are the elaborate ruses and sometimes dangerous lengths they will go to complete their mission.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2232 in DVD
• Brand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2005-03-15
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 5
• Dimensions: .85 pounds
• Running time: 822 minutes

Amazon.com
Two years after 1963's The Great Escape thrilled movie audiences with a tale of Allied soldiers working cooperatively to flee a World War II-era prisoner-of-war camp, CBS found a hit situation comedy in the loosely similar Hogan's Heroes. Initially dismissed by critics as being in poor taste, the half-hour show starred Bob Crane (previously known for a supporting role on The Donna Reed Show) as Colonel Robert Hogan, leader of a resourceful band of French, British and American guests of the German Luftwaffe. Rather than sit out the war with his fellow captives, Hogan essentially used the POW camp, Stalag 13, as a base for sabotaging Nazi operations whenever possible, helping important prisoners escape, supporting the Resistance, gathering intelligence for the Allies, and generally screwing up enemy battlefield plans. The work was always dangerous, but Hogan's crew had a number of advantages: a network of underground tunnels beneath the camp (some leading to a nearby town), a flair for disguises, the complementary talents of Hogan's key staff, and the reliable idiocy of camp Commandant Klink (Werner Klemperer) and willful ignorance of lead officer Sergeant Schultz (John Banner).

Season one of Hogan's Heroes found all of these elements securely in place and the series balancing farce with suspense. Typical storylines include "Hold the Tiger," in which the boys smuggle a new German Tiger Tank into the camp, disassemble it to construct a blueprint, and then reassemble it under Klink's nose. "The Prisoner's Prisoner" finds Hogan kidnapping a Nazi general, sneaking him into Stalag 13, and tricking him—a la Mission: Impossible--to reveal troop plans. In "The Prince from the Phone Company," one of Hogan's most-trusted confederates, radio operator Kinchloe (Ivan Dixon), disguises himself as an African prince trying to secure money from the Third Reich. Half the fun of these shows is watching Hogan thinking quickly on his feet whenever things start to go wrong, or when one of Klink's more intelligent superiors becomes suspicious that not everything at Stalag 13 is as under control as it seems. Besides Dixon, the other players making up Hogan's elite squad include Richard Dawson as the slightly disreputable Newkirk (with a talent for thievery), Larry Hovis as chemistry whiz Carter, and Robert Clary as the charming LeBeau. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Hogan's Heroes, my favorite TV show
Finally, Hogan's Heroes is on DVD. I have every episode on VHS tape, but I have been anticipating the release of HH on DVD. My favorite episodes in Season One are It Takes A Theif Sometimes, Hogan's Hofbrau, The Scientist and The Safecracker Suite. My favorite characters on the show are Sgt Shultz (I see nothing, I know nothing!) played by John Banner, Robert Hogan played by Bob Crane and Major Wolfgang Hochstetter played by Howard Caine. In an interesting tidbit, Howard Caine plays three different German officers on Hogan's Heroes. First, he is Major Keitel in the episode, "Happy Birthday Adolf," (in season one) and he plays Colonel Feldkamp in the episode "The Battle Of Stalag 13" (in season two).


#1 - The Informer - September 17th, 1965
#2 - Hold That Tiger - September 24th, 1965
#3 - Kommandant Of The Year - October 1st, 1965
#4 - The Late Inspector General - October 8th, 1965
#5 - The Flight Of The Valkyrie - October 15th, 1965
#6 - The Prisoner's Prisoner - October 22nd, 1965
#7 - German Bridge Is Falling Down - October 29th, 1965
#8 - Movies Are Your Best Escape - November 5th, 1965
#9 - Go Light On The Heavy Water - November 12th, 1965
#10 - Top Hat, White Tie And Bomb Sight - November 19th, 1965
#11 - Happiness Is A Warm Sergeant - November 26th, 1965
#12 - The Scientist - December 3rd, 1965
#13 - Hogan's Hofbrau - December 10th, 1965
#14 - Oil For The Lamps Of Hogan - December 17th, 1965
#15 - Reservations Are Required - December 24th, 1965
#16 - Anchors Aweigh, Men Of Stalag 13 - December 31st, 1965
#17 - Happy Birthday, Adolph - January 7th, 1966
#18 - The Gold Rush - January 14th, 1966
#19 - Hello, Zolle - January 21st, 1966
#20 - It Takes A Thief...Sometimes - January 28th, 1966
#21 - The Great Impersonation - February 4th, 1966
#22 - The Pizza Parlor - February 11th, 1966
#23 - The 43rd, A Moving Story - February 25th, 1966
#24 - How To Cook A German Goose By Radar - March 4th, 1966
#25 - Psychic Kommandant - March 11th, 1966
#26 - The Prince From The Phone Company - March 18th, 1966
#27 - The Safecracker Suite - March 25th, 1966
#28 - I Look Better In Basic Black - April 1st, 1966
#29 - The Assassin - April 8th, 1966
#30 - Cupid Comes To Stalag 13 - April 15th, 1966
#31 - The Flame Grows Higher - April 22nd, 1966
#32 - Request Permission To Escape - April 29th, 1966

Colonel Klink isn't going to like this.
For those of you not familiuar with the show; Hogan's Heroes was a great military sitcom. It paved the way for other military shows such as M.A.S.H. and The A-Team. The basic plotline of the show is that Hogan and four other prisoners of WWII are being held in a german P.O.W. camp. Hogan and his friends take advantage of their situation to sabotage the Germans any way they can. It has many hilarious moments, usually resulting from the Germans led by Col. Klink who are incompetent and completly oblivious to what is going on right under their noses. Hogan and his men have underground tunnels and a seemingly endless supply of disguises at their disposal. My favorite character of the show was Colonel Klink who was played to perfection by Werner Klemperer. You can catch him reprising his role in the season 5 episode of the Simpsons "The Last Temptation of Homer" where he is Homer's guardian angel. I am thankful that this show will finally be available in season sets on DVD. I would also love to see some bonus features on these DVDs but since this is a Paramount release I am skeptical that there will be any. This should be available on March 15. So until then enjoy this list of the 32 season 1 episodes that should all be included on this DVD set.

1. The Informer
2. Hold the Tiger
3. Kommandant of the Year
4. The Late Inspector General
5. The Flight of the Valkyrie
6. The Prisoner's Prisoner
7. German Bridge is Falling Down
8. Movies Are Your Best Escape
9. Go Light on the Heavy Water
10.Top Hat, White Tie and Bomb Sight
11.Happiness is a Warm Sergeant
12.The Scientist
13.Hogan's Hofbrau
14.Oil for the Lamps of Hogan
15.Reservations are Required
16.Anchors Aweigh, Men of Stalag 13
17.Happy Birthday, Adolf
18.The Gold Rush
19.Hello, Zolle
20.It Takes a Thief... Sometimes
21.The Great Impersonation
22.The Pizza Parlor
23.The 43rd, a Moving Story
24.How to Cook a German Goose by Radar
25.Psychic Kommandant
26.The Prince from the Phone Company
27.The Safecracker Suite
28.I Look Better in Basic Black
29.The Assassin
30.Cupid Comes to Stalag 13
31.The Flame Grows Higher
32.Request Permission to Escape

Thanks to TVTome.com for the above list of episodes.

Slice and dice, you won't miss what you don't know
I was very excited to get this first season of Hogan's Heroes on DVD. If you are a fan of the show who has only had the pleasure of watching it on late night UHF then the complete first season will be a great pleasure. The lack of special features will not upset you very much.

If you however like myself you have the VHS tapes you will notice that the pilot is cut. Whole scenes are missing as well as key lines and jokes. I was planning to dump my VHS copes after buying this. I don't plan to do so now.

As this is 17 hours of episodes I don't expect I'll notice every missing scene, but if you are going to make a collection is it too much to ask that the actual broadcast episodes as opposed to the cut versions (for extra ads) from UHF be used? I would think not but apparently we beggers can't be choosers.

My advice is to pick up the VHS versions whenever possible, but for episodes not available this collection will fill the bill.