Rating: - Superman
Like so many other American kids, I grew up watching episodes of The Adventures of Superman on tv. With perhaps no more than 7 channels to choose from for the first 30 year period of television, this meant pretty much everyone in the country was influenced by this character in one way or the other.

There's little doubt George Reeves is the original superhero in many people's hearts, and his portrayal of the Man of Steel is one for the ages. Though he died under mysterious circumstances shortly after filming of the series ended, he lives again with the release of this dvd from Warner.


Following are my favorite comments from others here:


"Season one of The Adventures of Superman is not only the best of the series, it's one of the best examples of children's - and Golden Age -television. And it stars the best Superman ever - George Reeves."


"To me George Reeves is Superman just as Sean Connery was to James Bond, the original and the best!"


"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", "able to leap tall buildings in a single bound", "can change the course of mighty rivers" etc.!"


"The first season is a slightly darker Superman than most are accustomed to and the original Lois Lane is tough as nails and no mere damsel in distress. This set definitely will bring back memories and if you're like me a smile to your face!"


"Filmed in gritty black-and-white, these hard-hitting episodes were intended for a more adult audience. (For example: When a criminal discovered Superman's identity, he didn't live very long.)"


"The first thing that all but the youngest viewers will realize is that this Clark Kent is not the weakling we have come to expect, hiding behind a timid persona to throw off any suspicion that he might be the Man of Steel. Rather, George Reeves played his Clark as an almost macho, man's man. He might make lame excuses to cover his frequent absences, but there is no missing the fact that this Clark could take care of himself in almost any situation. Also surprising is the fact that these early Season One scripts are actually darned good. In keeping with Reeves' more assertive Clark and Phyllis Coates' almost abrasive Lois Lane, many of the episodes have an almost film noir feel to them, with actual mysteries and a creepiness that was thought, only one season later, to be inappropriate for the show's primary audience of children."


"This series was in re-runs when every day when I got home from school I would sit and watch it with my grandfather. He was my best friend at the time and seeing these brought back all the great memories."


"Phyllis Coates is great, spunky, tough, and yes, an Olympic-quality screamer, but the differences between the actresses are also a function of script and direction. Noel was a different, but equally great Lois. More flirtatious, bratty, obnoxious, and meddlesome than her predecessor, Noel played to a 1950's boy's ambivalent fascination with young girls. The first season may have been the greatest for Superman as a series, but as for the Loises (as Fred Astaire once said of his various dance partners), they were all divine."


"Filmed in B&W, in 1951, the youthful, 37-year old Reeves offered a 'Man of Steel' of compassion, integrity, and honor, with a twinkle in his eye and a ready smile for the TV audiences who shared his 'secret'. Far more charismatic than his movie serial predecessor, Kirk Alyn, he was as quick to use his head and his fists as his "Powers and Abilities' to defend "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" against gangsters, spies, and evildoers. While some may quibble that his 'Clark Kent' was TOO heroic, and similar to his costumed alter ego, he was an unabashed role model for a generation of young viewers, and he never let us down, during the 'Superman' years, either on screen, or off."


"Adventures Of Superman" premiered in American living rooms on Friday, September 19th, 1952 (when the first episode aired on Chicago's WENR-TV), and continued for a total of six TV seasons. 104 episodes of the series were produced and aired (via syndication), with all 26 black-and-white episodes of the series' first season represented within this classy-looking 5-Disc DVD boxed set that was released by Warner Home Video on October 18, 2005. These first-year Supermans were actually made an entire year before they were ever aired, being filmed between July 23 and October 13 of 1951. The back of the DVD box claims that these episodes were "digitally mastered from original film elements". Sounds good to me. :)"


"The biggest problem, of course, is with the Stolen Costume episode. What bothers me the most is not the condition of the episode, though I know I saw relatively clear prints of this when I was growing up in the 1960s, but rather, the lack of an explanation as to WHY the quality is subpar. That would have been interesting, and easy, especially since they provided a commentary on that episode anyway."


"Many of us now don't think much of it, but "The Stolen Costume" actually features an ending in which Superman intentionally (if indirectly) places two criminals in a situation in which they MUST die, in order to preserve his secret identity. Needless to say, this episode fell out of favor when the show became syndicated, and became "lost" for quite some time. A very rough print is all that remains of this episode, so actually Warners should be commended for including "The Stolen Costume," if only for completists' sake."


"Just to add an explanation about the Stolen Costume episode - be thankful for the quality you got in this set - it's the ONLY existing print of that episode. All the others were well preserved in 35mm - this print exists only in a worn 16mm print that never went into later syndication. You may have seen a better version in the 1960s, but that was 40 years ago. We ALL looked better then!"


"Now, unfortunately, the negatives: This is NOT the "complete" first season. First, the episodes have been released without the original Kellogg's opening and announcer voiceover. Second, the bumpers leading into the commercials ("We will return to the 'Adventures of Superman' in just a moment," uttered by the announcer as the Superman crest fills the screen) have been dropped. And third, and most disappointingly, the previews have not been included. This was the thrust of the newspaper story I wrote."


"The program was shown in glorious black and white. While Superman's costume looked black and white on TV, it really was brown and white for contrast and clarity.
It is said that after several actors screened for the role of Superman, George Reeves was chosen because of his Olympian looks and he just looked the part. Reeves made the character of Superman believable and genuine and through the eyes of the young and old, he became a hero."


"I must say after reading the reviews for this Superman Dvd collection, I am floored by the nostalgic and heartfelt emotion many reviewers are posting. It's funny how sometimes you think you are the only one waiting with anticipation, for a 50 plus year old television series to be finally re-released. Then you are able to see, by the way of , other peoples feelings,how much these characters have shaped our lives, and have been tucked away into a special part of our collective psyche's."


"The Adventures of Superman was a staple of the 1950's early 1960's for anyone who was a grammer school age in that time. George Reeves is and has always been the ONLY SUPERMAN in the many years since I 1st saw or read Action Comics where Superman first appeared. Living in Gastonia, NC in the '50's, the show came on mon-fri at 5 pm. I rushed home from school humming the show theme. Such a fan I was, I broke an arm jumping off the front porch playing, what else..."Superman."


"Tragically, George Reeves (who was born George Keefer Brewer in January 1914) died at a very young age (45), when an apparent suicide took the life of America's first TV "Superman", on June 16, 1959 (just a little more than one year after Reeves filmed the last "Superman" episode)."


"Reeves captured not only the character of Superman perfectly, but he also captured the sense of the time in which the series was filmed. While Tom Welling and Brandon Roth may each capture the Superman of the early 21st Century, full of doubts, uncertainties and personal considerations that clash with his destiny, George Reeves embodied the can-do attitude of Post-war America, a time when there was a clear line between right and wrong, where justice was easily dispensed, and where a hero knew instinctively what he had to do."