Big Heroes on the Small Screen
In case the sharp eyed ones among you picked up on the change of this columns title, allow me a moment to pontificate. I recently decided that having a "movie" of the month was a tad too limiting, being that I am constantly reviewing all manner of media in the DVD avalanche that has descended upon us. By that I mean, there is such a damn explosion of re-released TV shows, and Serials, and the like, that I felt I would be able to be more prolific in my columns if I expanded my material selection.........make sense? Or sound like I'm gettin' lazy about watching and recommending movies??? Either may be the truth, let me tell ya', after a 31 day horror movie watching frenzy, I'm more than ready to lay off the films for awhile. This of course brings me to my subject of the month: Television Heroes, now available on DVD
I'm not really sure how or when it happened, but somewhere along the line I got caught up in neverending cycle of collecting things. You know, models, action figures, comic books, movies, memoribilia, that sort of thing. And to some extent thats okay, but, and heres the hook, BUT the trouble with collecting things is......THERE NEVER SEEMS TO BE AN END!!! I started collecting hero movies on DVD, mainly because I wanted the Batman Movies. Well, that led to the Superman movies, which led to the Spiderman movies, which led to.........you got the picture??? Along the way in supporting this habit, I started picking up even the TV shows that were in the HERO genre, and, just this year, that of course being the year that is ending tommorrow, 2006, starting actually sitting down and watching them. To my amazement, I found that there was an immense amount of enjoyment to be had!!! I started out with purchasing "The Flash - The Complete Series". Easy to do because it only ran for one season. Admittedly, I had somewhat romaticized this series since watching it during its original run in 1990-1991. I was originally drawn to it because it was coming right on the heels of the Tim Burton's Batman blockbuster. The set includes the 2 hour pilot movie which is the high point of the series unfortunately. I had heard when the series was cancelled that the high cost of production, reportedly $1 million per episode, was the reason. Upon watching the series in its entirety I more rightly suspect that the crappy writing and thoughtless plots of most episodes had viewers looking elsewhere for thier high powered TV needs. Not that the DVD is a waste of time, I still enjoyed most of the programs, especially the two episodes that feature Mark Hamill as the Trickster. He, of course, would later continue his comic book TV pursuits by voicing the Joker in the excellent Batman the Animated Series cartoon. Overall, The Flash is pretty standard TV schlock. At least half of the 22 episodes are throw away stories with goofy dialogue and stilted acting. John Wesley Snipes as Barry Allen/Flash is very likeable and handles his role with a self deprecating style that you will grow to appreciate, even in the midst of whatever cruddy storyline is involved. I rate it B-, and if your a collector, you have to have it.
Given the short life of the Flash, its somewhat hard to believe that a few short years later, in 1993, another major network would gamble its fortunes on another comic book character. Now, without a doubt Superman 100 times the bankable comodity of The Flash, but even so, ABC took a chance with an angle on the character focused not on the hero, but the hero's secret alter ego; Clark Kent. I never watched "Lois & Clark - The New Adventures of Superman" when it originally aired. I don't know why. But now with its DVD release, I have begun to realize the fun I missed. The character of Superman has had more media lives than any other character in modern history. Serials, TV shows, Movies, etc. , he's been done and done and done again. The most interesting part of all these Supeman tellings is the seeminless endless "new" approaches that the writers, producers and directors are able to take and still have the viewer buy into the story. A testament to the power and magnetism of the character I assume. Anyway, Lois and Clark approaches the hero in the form of a slow developing love story between our two main characters. Its smacks broadly of the slow festering sexual tension of Muldaur and Scully on the X-Files series. I'm only into Season Two so I may be ignorant of some later payoff, but for now I'm drawn in to their story big time. Terry Hatcher is without a doubt one of the most endearing actresses ever to play the Lois part. She really makes you believe that she is the person she is playing, and that's damn hard to do with a 60+ year old icon like Lois Lane!! Likewise, Dean Caine IS Clark Kent. I've seen 'em all and I grew up with George Reeves (God love 'em) but Dean is the man. He is so perfect for the role that you cannot think for one minute that he is not the wholesome, honest, true blue, do gooder that you know the character must be. And his unrequieted love interest for Lois is truly touching. Sure, it's TV and some of the episodes are trash. In fact, several are exact storylines from The Flash series, I mean EXACT, not close in content, EXACT!!! Watch the two series back to back and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, it amazes me how much I like this show. In fact, I like it so much that I've slowed down my viewings for fear that I'll run out of episodes too fast!!! Howz that for nutz???
Now there are several tacks you can take in absorbing all that the wonderful world of DVD releases offers. With our heros you can go OLD school and pick up on the fabulous re-releases of the original movie serials that are now remastered and available. Both the Batman and the Superman 1940's serials are out and are laughable
in light of todays versions of the characters, but endearing in their simple charm and cheesy production values. Or, you can step it up 
just a bit into the 1950's and get all 6 seasons of the beloved ( at least to those of us born in the 50's) George Reeves Adventures of Superman. This interpretation would be the definitive for a generation of hero addicts, comic book geeks, and
hopeless afternoon TV dreamers. Along the short lived newer line there is the one season of "The Adventures of Superboy" which came and went so fast I never even knew it was on TV!! I'm looking forward to checking it out. Continuing with Superman there is the excellent (I'm told 'cause I have yet to see one episode) "Smallville". Another telling of the legendary character that has its 
plot gimick being the absence of the iconic uniform. This series dwells on the development of the Clark Kent character and his interactions with family and friends that lead him on the path to becoming Superman. Then its on to MY favorite character of all time......Batman. Not nearly as saturated as Superman, there are still alot of avenues to pursue to get your Batman media fix. The biggest travesty being that the Holy Grail of Batman media, the 1966 Series has not yet been released on DVD. Apparently alot of back office bullshit about rights keeping this sure to be a mega billion selling DVD off of your local Best Buy shelves!! However you can get your mitts on the 1943 Serial (which predates the 
first Superman outing by 5 years!!!) and several cartoon versions starting with the creme de la creme, "Batman the Animated Series". 
This excellent program was like watching a mini-movie each and every time. Excellent animation that borrowed heavily from Max Fliescher, top drawer writing, and adult themed content made this particular cartoon a legend. Later there would be variations that maintained most of the quality but never matched the overall perfection of the original 4 seasons. The New Batman Adventures, The Adventures of Batman and Robin, and finally the most recent 
"The Batman" all have their moments, but fall short of the original series. Of course, once you really get the sickness, like me, you can pursue the sublime and the 
subliminal with features like " The Justice Leaque", "Teen Titans", "Superman - the Animated Series" and the ubiquitous "Defenders of the Earth" which is noteworthy for its accumulation of its 
lessor known characters The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, and Flash Gordon, among others. Look, if you love this genre, and you want to take a swim in big ol' lake yesteryear, then these are the DVD's for your my friend. And I'm sure there will be 
others, and I've not even included the younger genereation Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, etc. Lord, will there be no end to the ways in which the producers of this stuff can find to fleece me of my hard earned dollars. Think not of the cost, dear reader, think only of the value!!!!! Peace out!
I'm not really sure how or when it happened, but somewhere along the line I got caught up in neverending cycle of collecting things. You know, models, action figures, comic books, movies, memoribilia, that sort of thing. And to some extent thats okay, but, and heres the hook, BUT the trouble with collecting things is......THERE NEVER SEEMS TO BE AN END!!! I started collecting hero movies on DVD, mainly because I wanted the Batman Movies. Well, that led to the Superman movies, which led to the Spiderman movies, which led to.........you got the picture??? Along the way in supporting this habit, I started picking up even the TV shows that were in the HERO genre, and, just this year, that of course being the year that is ending tommorrow, 2006, starting actually sitting down and watching them. To my amazement, I found that there was an immense amount of enjoyment to be had!!! I started out with purchasing "The Flash - The Complete Series". Easy to do because it only ran for one season. Admittedly, I had somewhat romaticized this series since watching it during its original run in 1990-1991. I was originally drawn to it because it was coming right on the heels of the Tim Burton's Batman blockbuster. The set includes the 2 hour pilot movie which is the high point of the series unfortunately. I had heard when the series was cancelled that the high cost of production, reportedly $1 million per episode, was the reason. Upon watching the series in its entirety I more rightly suspect that the crappy writing and thoughtless plots of most episodes had viewers looking elsewhere for thier high powered TV needs. Not that the DVD is a waste of time, I still enjoyed most of the programs, especially the two episodes that feature Mark Hamill as the Trickster. He, of course, would later continue his comic book TV pursuits by voicing the Joker in the excellent Batman the Animated Series cartoon. Overall, The Flash is pretty standard TV schlock. At least half of the 22 episodes are throw away stories with goofy dialogue and stilted acting. John Wesley Snipes as Barry Allen/Flash is very likeable and handles his role with a self deprecating style that you will grow to appreciate, even in the midst of whatever cruddy storyline is involved. I rate it B-, and if your a collector, you have to have it.
Given the short life of the Flash, its somewhat hard to believe that a few short years later, in 1993, another major network would gamble its fortunes on another comic book character. Now, without a doubt Superman 100 times the bankable comodity of The Flash, but even so, ABC took a chance with an angle on the character focused not on the hero, but the hero's secret alter ego; Clark Kent. I never watched "Lois & Clark - The New Adventures of Superman" when it originally aired. I don't know why. But now with its DVD release, I have begun to realize the fun I missed. The character of Superman has had more media lives than any other character in modern history. Serials, TV shows, Movies, etc. , he's been done and done and done again. The most interesting part of all these Supeman tellings is the seeminless endless "new" approaches that the writers, producers and directors are able to take and still have the viewer buy into the story. A testament to the power and magnetism of the character I assume. Anyway, Lois and Clark approaches the hero in the form of a slow developing love story between our two main characters. Its smacks broadly of the slow festering sexual tension of Muldaur and Scully on the X-Files series. I'm only into Season Two so I may be ignorant of some later payoff, but for now I'm drawn in to their story big time. Terry Hatcher is without a doubt one of the most endearing actresses ever to play the Lois part. She really makes you believe that she is the person she is playing, and that's damn hard to do with a 60+ year old icon like Lois Lane!! Likewise, Dean Caine IS Clark Kent. I've seen 'em all and I grew up with George Reeves (God love 'em) but Dean is the man. He is so perfect for the role that you cannot think for one minute that he is not the wholesome, honest, true blue, do gooder that you know the character must be. And his unrequieted love interest for Lois is truly touching. Sure, it's TV and some of the episodes are trash. In fact, several are exact storylines from The Flash series, I mean EXACT, not close in content, EXACT!!! Watch the two series back to back and you'll see what I mean. Anyway, it amazes me how much I like this show. In fact, I like it so much that I've slowed down my viewings for fear that I'll run out of episodes too fast!!! Howz that for nutz???Now there are several tacks you can take in absorbing all that the wonderful world of DVD releases offers. With our heros you can go OLD school and pick up on the fabulous re-releases of the original movie serials that are now remastered and available. Both the Batman and the Superman 1940's serials are out and are laughable
in light of todays versions of the characters, but endearing in their simple charm and cheesy production values. Or, you can step it up 
just a bit into the 1950's and get all 6 seasons of the beloved ( at least to those of us born in the 50's) George Reeves Adventures of Superman. This interpretation would be the definitive for a generation of hero addicts, comic book geeks, and
hopeless afternoon TV dreamers. Along the short lived newer line there is the one season of "The Adventures of Superboy" which came and went so fast I never even knew it was on TV!! I'm looking forward to checking it out. Continuing with Superman there is the excellent (I'm told 'cause I have yet to see one episode) "Smallville". Another telling of the legendary character that has its 
plot gimick being the absence of the iconic uniform. This series dwells on the development of the Clark Kent character and his interactions with family and friends that lead him on the path to becoming Superman. Then its on to MY favorite character of all time......Batman. Not nearly as saturated as Superman, there are still alot of avenues to pursue to get your Batman media fix. The biggest travesty being that the Holy Grail of Batman media, the 1966 Series has not yet been released on DVD. Apparently alot of back office bullshit about rights keeping this sure to be a mega billion selling DVD off of your local Best Buy shelves!! However you can get your mitts on the 1943 Serial (which predates the 
first Superman outing by 5 years!!!) and several cartoon versions starting with the creme de la creme, "Batman the Animated Series". 
This excellent program was like watching a mini-movie each and every time. Excellent animation that borrowed heavily from Max Fliescher, top drawer writing, and adult themed content made this particular cartoon a legend. Later there would be variations that maintained most of the quality but never matched the overall perfection of the original 4 seasons. The New Batman Adventures, The Adventures of Batman and Robin, and finally the most recent 
"The Batman" all have their moments, but fall short of the original series. Of course, once you really get the sickness, like me, you can pursue the sublime and the 
subliminal with features like " The Justice Leaque", "Teen Titans", "Superman - the Animated Series" and the ubiquitous "Defenders of the Earth" which is noteworthy for its accumulation of its 
lessor known characters The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician, and Flash Gordon, among others. Look, if you love this genre, and you want to take a swim in big ol' lake yesteryear, then these are the DVD's for your my friend. And I'm sure there will be 
others, and I've not even included the younger genereation Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, etc. Lord, will there be no end to the ways in which the producers of this stuff can find to fleece me of my hard earned dollars. Think not of the cost, dear reader, think only of the value!!!!! Peace out!
posted by Cal's Models at 2:17 PM
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