Let us enjoy ... The Adventures of Superman!

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane! It's a bird! It's Superman!

Many have watched the television series "The Adventures of Superman." Some of you may have seen it after school and heard your mom ask, with a sigh, "Is your homework done?" Others may have seen it on Saturday morning and had their nannies toss them a box of Frosted Flakes®, saying, "Don't forget to eat!" Whatever the circumstances, or if you've never seen the show, it's worth a second, or a first, look.

The first disc of the series' first season is a real treat. It contains six episodes, including "Superman on Earth," which is about Superman's arrival on Earth. He arrived, while still a baby, aboard a small -- flimsy -- rocket from the planet Krypton. His father and mother placed him in the rocket -- did they strap him in? -- and launched it on a course for Earth just as Krypton disintegrated. The rocket crash-landed and was found by a childless couple, surnamed Kent, who gave the baby the name "Clark" and raised him. At the age of twelve, Clark came home from school one day in a funk. "Mom" asked "Clark" what the matter was, and he told her that he had abilities the other boys didn't have: That very day he had found a lost baseball behind a rock, and he was able to see it because he had X-Ray vision! "Mom" told "Clark" about his origin. "Clark" grew to be a man and, after "Dad" died, left on a bus for Metropolis, where, with the help of his extraordinary powers, he landed his job at the Daily Planet newspaper.

The second episode, "The Haunted Lighthouse," can be seen with voice-over commentary by Gary H. Grossman, who wrote Superman: Serial to Cereal, which is considered the go-to guide for the series. Grossman didn't see re-runs; he saw it as a four-year-old, when it was first broadcast in the early 1950s. He became a life-long, passionate fan, and he did a lot of research before writing his book. Grossman says that the first season is the best; the episodes were mini-films with sound plots. Although he finds "bloopers," he has a lot of praise for the series' production values, which, he says, were quite good considering the episodes were filmed in a rush and on a low budget.

The first disc, by itself, might be good to have when people visit. It runs for about two and one-half hours -- about the right length for a mini-marathon -- and might lead to some interesting conversations: Where were you when you first saw the show? It's so fake, now! Wow! Did everyone wear hats -- and suits? -- back then? Will either "Lois" or "Jimmy" ever realize that "Clark" is Superman? Was George Reeves the best Superman ever? Where can we buy -- wear? -- vintage clothes? What kind of car does "Lois Lane" drive?

There is an excellent picture of a preserved or restored car, like the one "Lois Lane" drives during disc-one's "The Mystery of the Broken Statues" episode, here, at Wikipedia's entry for the television series, here. Grossman mentions Aardvark's -- in LA -- for vintage clothes, but, alas! the store may no longer be in business.


The DVD looked very good when played on a 40" hi-def TV, via a Blu-ray player. The aspect ratio is 3:4, so on a 40" TV the picture appears as though it's on an old-school TV of about 32 inches, letter-boxed, left and right. The series was filmed and, when the DVD is paused, some grain can be seen. The picture is much clearer than what I remember seeing broadcast -- in re-runs! -- on TV years ago. I timed one episode and it ran for twenty-five minutes, so there must have been five minutes (!) of Kellog's commercials (?) when the show was broadcast. I've read that some of the commercials can be seen on another disc from the first season set.

One short episode -- not from the first season -- was made for the U.S. Government and is in the public domain:



via Stamp Day for Superman (1954)

Check your library for this DVD set. I obtained disc one from my library. Apparently, they broke the set up into several items for lending.