The New Adventures of Superman
BY Ryan LaMarca / 2008-03-14
Arriving on DVD from Warner Home Video is the classic 1966 series The New Adventures of Superman produced by Filmation Associates that originally aired on CBS. The show is one in a series of many classic DC Comics superhero cartoons produced from Filmation throughout the 1960s. This two-disc set features thirty-six classic Superman shorts as well as a brand new retrospective featurette. Although this set claims to be the complete series, it is not. The New Adventures of Superman actually lasted for three seasons with a total of sixty-eight Superman shorts. However, as with most cartoon shorts of the 1960s, the series packaging can get quite confusing. Technically, The New Adventures of Superman consisted of one season from 1966 to 1967 with the thirty-six shorts featured on the disc, as well as eighteen shorts titled The Adventures of Superboy, which are not featured on the set. Then, the 1967 to 1968 series was called The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure which consisted of more Superman and Superboy shorts, as well as Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash, Atom, Hawkman, Justice League of America, and Teen Titans shorts. In the 1968 to 1969 season called The Batman/Superman Hour, more Superman and Superboy shorts were put together alongside Batman and Robin shorts. Get all that? So, to clear this up, this set only includes the original thirty-six Superman shorts from The New Adventures of Superman. Although it would have been nice to get the rest of the shorts as well as the Superboy cartoons, I am quite content with this release.
Although I was not around when this series was first on the air, I did grow up with these cartoons in repeats airing on the Cartoon Network and later on Boomerang. I am a huge fan of this, and the other DC Filmation series, so there is a bit of a nostalgia factor here, and it's great to finally have some of these shorts on DVD with the original titles and credits. The versions you see on Boomerang nowadays are edited to remove the opening and closing credits and feature new intro slides that resemble comic panels and new narration. I was very excited when I put on the first episode on the set and was finally able to see the wonderful theme song for this series that I had not seen or heard in years.
As much as I love these cartoons, one must admit that they're overly simple and meant to entertain kids. So what? I still find them enjoyable and fun to watch. Another thing people have commented on is the presence of the narration telling you exactly what you are seeing as well as the characters' tendencies to tell you what they are going to do directly before or while they are doing it. Personally, it doesn't bother me at all, but it does irritate some people. It's also worth noting that this series features the return of several cast members from the Superman radio show of the previous decade. Bud Collyer returns as both Superman and Clark Kent, and Joan Alexander reprises her role as girl reporter Lois Lane.
This two-disc DVD collection is, in my opinion, far superior to the The New Adventures of Batman DVD set that was released simultaneously. These thirty-six Superman shorts are almost all serious with a little bit of humor thrown in at the end, but are in no way as campy as the 70s Batman Filmation show. The series adapted the core members of the Superman mythology like the staff at The Daily Planet as well as several of the supervillains from the comics. The episodes are very faithful to the comics, in terms of style and design, and the stories are very similar to something you would read in a Silver Age Superman story from the 50s and 60s. I find it amazing how many actual supervillains they incorporated into the series, like Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Toyman, the Prankster, and even Mr. Mxyzptlk. And with all Silver Age Superman stories, there is a good amount of the classic Superman vs. a giant monster shorts, which while not bad, are weaker than the episodes with classic villains.
I am staring to get annoyed with the cheapness in which these Warner animation DVDs are being released. It seems that every release gets less and less money spent on making it, especially regarding the boxes. When the first wave of the Hanna-Barbera Golden Collections and DC Comics Classic Collections were released, they were reasonably sized sets with a fair amount of new artwork, beautifully displayed in fold-out packaging. This new Superman set, as well as the Batman set, come in single tray, dual-layer packaging, with one disc in front of another. Thankfully, both discs are single sided with some nice villain images for disc art. I am impressed with the cover art though and think they did do a good job with that.
However, the video quality is not quite up to what I was hoping. As with most of the recent Warner Bros. classic animation releases, there are a lot of cel dirt and scratches to be found. The colors are very vibrant and the overall quality is very good, considering the content's age. The audio sounds great and does not seem to have any problems except for the slight misprint listing surround sound audio, while instead actually featuring a mono track.
The one special feature on the set is a fifteen minute retrospective featurette titled "Superman in '66." It first focuses on Superman in the comics and gradually phases into the series and its inception and history with Filmation. It also features a host of DC Comics writers as well as people who worked on the series from Mark Waid to Lou Scheimer to Paul Levitz to Mark Hamill to Sander Schwartz. It's very interesting and definitely worth checking out as it provides some interesting little details regarding the history of the show as well as some background on Filmation.
The New Adventures of Superman was a milestone for both Filmation and Superman in terms of animation and deserves recognition for its place in history. While it's more serious than shows like Superfriends, it's not Superman: The Animated Series, so don't go in expecting a sophisticated animated show. While they may be inferior to the Max Fleisher Superman cartoons in terms of animation, I find these shorts to be much, much more enjoyable and fun. It's just a great show and comes highly recommended from me.
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