An excellent 1950s television series (Adventures of Superman)

Member Name: sharktrager

Product:	Adventures of Superman
Date:	25/11/00 (74 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It's Superman - what more do you want!

Disadvantages: It can look a little dated in this day and age

I remember watching this show on BBC television when I was a child, during the school holidays. This was long before the time when LOIS AND CLARK made the characters sexy and sophisticated – this show was made in the 1950s and was a lot more wholesome!

George Reeves played both Superman and Clark Kent and later became so connected to the character that he killed himself because he felt he was typecast (although there is apparently some debate about whether it was actually suicide or murder). Reeves played the character(s) with a strong jaw and a firm eye on showing America’s youth of the time how to be wholesome young people.

Lois Lane was originally played by Phyllis Coates but she was replaced after the first year by Noel Neill. Lois here is very much a 1950s woman – strong, yet often in need of the help of a ‘Super’-man. Looking at the character of Lois Lane over the decades is a good indication of how women are regarded in the media at the time – think of the Lois of LOIS AND CLARK – a sexy, sophisticated go-getter who can more than hold her own in a fight.

Many of the storylines involved basic down-to-earth incidents like robbers and gangsters, but occasionally the show strayed into more science-fiction-like territories with time machines and Kryptonite.

The special effects for the time were actually quite good – much better than those in the Superman movie serials from a couple of decades before.

In closing, this is the Superman series which made me really like the character – a feeling which continues to this day.

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