Animated Superman DVDs

[FLYIN BRIAN]

Okay, anybody tapped into the rumor mill here?

Warner Bros. has pumped out a number of DVDs out featuring the animated adventures of the DC heroes: Batman, The Animated Series first episodes; Mask of the Phantasm, Sub Zero, Batman Beyond (pilot, etc) and BB: Return of the Joker, Justice League (pilot), and the Superman Batman Movie.

My question: Where the hell is the Superman Animated Series pilot, The Last Son of Krypton? It's available on VHS, but not on DVD. Any word on when or if there are any plans to make it so?

Also, apparently Warner owns the original negative prints of the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons from the 40's, and we have yet to see an official, restored, re-masterered release of these (they are on various DVD and VHS releases at the moment--they are public domain, and the quality of these varies from adequate to awful).

The Fleischer Superman 'toons are fantastic. Could Warner actually plan on putting these out in some kind of official capacity soon? Anbody know?

[FLYIN BRIAN]

This looks like a job for *bump*!

[FLYIN BRIAN]

Able to leap tall buildings in a single *bump*!

[Pootie]

ok ill post here. i didnt like superman tv show. i liked batman even though the joker was not a classic villan by any means i still love that damn show. batman beyond is crap in my opinion. i never liked superman, too many damn powers, sure he could woop batmans/everyone else's ass but its not fun when you can do EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!! he can.......

*Go The Speed Of Light

*Go Back in Time (using the speed of light to go around the world really fast

*Have Red Hot Vision

*Have Blue Cold Breath

*Fly

*No weapon can hurt him AT ALL!!!!!!!!!!! nothing can hurt him except a rock wow

*Super Strength that never seems to end

*Faster than a speeding bullet. And the flash who that is his only power and superman blows him away.

i just dont like the dude but sure. let it on dvd *BUMP*

[edonline]

I just happened to see two Max Fleischer Superman DVDs in a local Target store today. If I remember correctly, one was titled Superman vs. Nature and the other was Superman vs. Villians, and they both had about 8 to 10 cartoons on them (I wanted to pick them up but was short on $$$). Are these the DVDs you're talking about?

[FLYIN BRIAN]

Yeah, it was seeing those Fleischer Superman DVDs at my local Target that prompted me to do some research.

The ones at Target (from Good Times video) are another example of an unofficial version of these. The video is reportedly okay, but evidently the producers decided to add extra sound effects to the original episodes. And, as with most, these don't come from the original negative prints (that Warner Bros evidently have).

Sure, the price is right (each volume was marked $5.99), but I have fairly decent ones on VHS already (from Bosko Video), and would just rather hold out for what is hopefully an eventual release from Warner. If you've never seen these, the Target DVDs are definitely worth the investment, especially the first volume (Superman Vs. Villains and Monsters, I believe it's titled).

To address the criticism of Superman being too powerful...well, that's one of the cool things about the Fleischer 'toons. They were done back in the 40's, when Superman's powers weren't nearly as "developed" as they eventually became (like in SUPERMAN THE MOVIE). In some, he doesn't even fly so much as leap (as in "tall buildings in a single bound"), he never approaches the speed of sound, let alone light. He's strong, but not nearly like today. He does have X-Ray vision, but no evidence of heat vision (that I can recall).

In fact, in the comics back in 1986, John Byrne "re-booted" the Superman character and knocked his powers back a notch. This same template was used for Superman, The Animated Series (and continues to be in Justice League). He's still super-strong, but not as much as in SUPERMAN THE MOVIE or the comics up to that point. He's got super-speed, but I don't think he's speed-of-light fast, or time travelling via that method. He does have the heat and X-Ray vision. He needs to breathe, and holds his breath under water or in while in outer space, and even that is limited. If you can catch Justice League or Superman, the Animated Series, you'll see he gets his butt kicked every now and then. In fact, in the Superman/Batman Movie, Batman catches him by surprise with a Judo flip and puts him on his ass.

And yes, I feel great shame in being a grown man and knowing (and writing) this much about Superman cartoons. I know....I need a life.

[FLYIN BRIAN]

Faster than a speeding *bump*!

[FLYIN BRIAN]

Just thought I'd throw this one back out there... any new info...?

[Jon Lyrik]

Wanker Brothers is always sitting on hot property (Looney Tunes taking 7 years to be released on DVD, no Batman SE, no Beetlejucie SE, no Popeye DVD, no Superman Cartoon Shorts DVD). This is nothing new.