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The Adventures of
Superman |
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Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! "Look! Up in the sky!" "It's a bird!" "It's a plane!" "It's SUPERMAN!" The
most famous (& best) superhero of them all - the one, the only Superman Superman
first came to radio in 1940 and through 325 episodes across 36 adventures, he
ran the full gamut of adventures: from chasing train robbers to battled Nazis
& "Japs" at the North Pole. Bud Collyer played the big guy in red & blue and he
certainly delivered - he was able to change costumes in midsentence, from
mild mannered Clark "this looks like a job for, ----" to
barrel-chested "----- SUPERMAN", man of steel The
syndicated series of The Adventures of Superman concluded in February 1942
after 325 fifteen minute episodes - a continuing series with all episodes
intact! Note
that the series did continue – after a hiatus of 6 months –
recommencing with 1942-08-31 Superman Comes to Earth, however this episode
and many others that were to follow have not survived (not so good when itŐs
a continuing serial) and so it has been decided to just go with the first 325
episodes – complete with no missing episodes and each beautifully
restored! Want
to check out some episodes of one of this radio serial? - why not "taste
& try"? Below
are the very first three episodes of Superman on Radio - fabulous! These
episode can be freely downloaded to your computer - just right button click
on any link below and chose "Download Linked File" (or words to
that effect). The file is on an average about 8Mb - download time will depend
on your (broadband) speed SEA_1940-02-12
EpisodeNo.1.mp3 SEA_1940-02-14
EpisodeNo.2.mp3 SEA_1940-02-16
EpisodeNo.3.mp3 Australian
Series So
far only 7 episodes have surfaced: Nos 1, 2, 302, 715, 716, 1039 & 1040 -
in other words, we have the first two episodes (dealing with the destruction
of Krypton and Superman's early days on Earth), the last two episodes
(telling of skulduggery leading up to the Metropolis Track Meet), a single
1950 episode from the Batman's Great Mystery adventure (No. 302) and two
consecutive episodes from 1953: a logging adventure titled The Secret of
Stone Ridge The
Batman & Stone Ridges episodes were each adapted from the US adventures
of the same name. In
1999 noted Australian radio historian Bruce Leonard as part of his Theatre of the Mind radio series broadcast a documentary about the
Australian edition of Superman - itŐs a very informative 30 minute listen
which includes the two Stone Ridge episodes (ie Nos. 715 & 716) from the
radio show. In
a effort to preserve continuity, the 7 episodes from the Australian series
have been set up in the following order: Episode No. 1, Episode No. 2,
Episode No. 302, Bruce Leonard's Theatre of the Mind Doco (encompassing
Episode Nos. 715 & 716), Episode No. 1039, Episode No. 1040 (see also
below for greater detail). BBC
Superman Moving
the clock forward almost 40 years, Superman on Trial was a1988 BBC production to celebrate Superman's
50th Birthday. Starring
Stuart Milligan as Superman /
Clark Kent, William Hootkins as Lex Luthor, Shelley Thompson as Lois Lane and
Vincent Marzello as Jimmy Olsen, it ran for 45 mins it told the story of
Superman being accused of crimes against humanity, standing powerless before
a court dominated by Lex Luthor - the criminal genius turned prosecutor! It
was directed by the now legenary Dirk Maggs, a freelance writer and director who is credited
with evolving radio drama into "Audio Movies," a near-visual
approach combining scripts, layered sound effects, cinematic music and
cutting edge technology. Buoyed
by the success of this venture, Dirk Maggs &
the Beeb went ahead with a much more ambitious project in 1990: The
Adventures of Superman. It tells
the story of The Man of Steel from the beginning - of his love affair with
Lois Lane, his friendship with Jimmy Olsen, and his battle with not only Lex
Luthor but also The Bizarro Superman and Metallo, the cyborg with a
kryptonite heart. Originally
sold on 3 Audio (not MP3) CDs and comprising two and a half hours, it had the
essentially the same cast as Superman on Trial. When BBC4 decided to bring it to radio they
re-edited the story into 10 x 15 minute episodes which is the preferable way
to listen and fits in with the original US series format. A
further Maggs / BBC Superman dramatization followed in 1993 titled Superman:
Doomsday and Beyond. Chronicling
not only Superman's duel-to-the-death with the monster called Doomsday and
how he ultimately returned, but also the story of his love affair with Daily
Planet reporter Lois Lane and the true fate of his arch-enemy, Lex Luthor.
Again, originally sold on 3 Audio (not MP3) CDs and comprising two and a half
hours, it had the same cast as The Adventures of Superman. When released in the United States this later
series underwent a name change to Superman Lives! (probably to avoid confusion with the young readers
novelization of the Superman: Doomsday and Beyond). When BBC5 decided
to bring it to radio they re-edited the story into 6 x 25 minute episodes
which is the preferable way to listen and fits in with the original US series
(later) format (of 30 minute episodes). These
4 MP3 CDs contain all 36 complete adventures from the 1940/42 series, the 7 surviving episodes from the
Australian series (with two being part of the Bruce Leonard Doco) as well as
the three superlative Dirk Maggs / BBC Superman productions: A.
Superman - 15 minute serial (1940 - 1942): 1. Early
Adventures (17 episodes) 2. Mystery
of Dyerville (4 episodes) 3. The
Emerald of the Incas (6 episodes) 4. Donellis
Protection Racket (6 episodes) 5. Airplane
Disasters at Bridger Field (6 episodes) 6. Buffalo
Hills (6 episodes) 7. Alonzo
Craig Artic Explorer (6 episodes) 8. Horace
Morton's Weather Machine (6 episodes) 9. Hans
Hoblien's Doll Factory (6 episodes) 10. Happy Land
Amusement Park (6 episodes) 11. Lighthouse
Point Smugglers (6 episodes) 12. Pillar of
Fire at Graves End (3 episodes) 13. The Mayan
Treasure (6 episodes) 14. Professor
Thorpe's Bathesphere (12 episodes) 15. The Curse
of Dead Mans Island (6 episodes) 16. Yellow
Mask $5 Million Jewel Robbery (15 episodes) 17. The
Invisible Man (6 episodes) 18. The $5
Million Gold Heist (8 episodes) 19. The
Howling Coyote (14 episodes) 20. The Black
Pearl of Osyrus (11 episodes) 21. The
Dragons Teeth (10 episodes) 22. Last of
the Clipper Ships (20 episodes) 23. The
Nitrate Shipment (9 episodes) 24. The
Grayson Submarine (6 episodes) 25. Dr Deutch
and the Radium Mine (12 episodes) 26. The White
Plague (8 episodes) 27. Fur
Smuggling (6 episodes) 28. Dr
Roebling and the Voice Machine (16 episodes) 29. Metropolis
Football Team Poisoned (15 episodes) 30. Crooked
Oil Association (10 episodes) 31. The Silver
Arrow (7 episodes) 32. The Pan Am
Highway (15 episodes) 33. The
Mechanical Man (10 episodes) 34. Lita the
Leopard Woman (12 episodes) 35. The Ghost
Car (8 episodes) 36. A Mystery
for Superman (5 episodes) B.
Superman - Australian Edition - 15 minute serial (1949 - 1954): 1.
1949-05-23 A Coming
Catastrophe (No. 0001) 2.
1949-05-24 Temporary
Reporter for The Planet (No. 0002) 3.
1950-12-06 Batman
Speaks Here Tonight (No. 0302) 4.
1999-xx-xx Bruce
Leonard's Doco (includes
Episode Nos 0715 & 0716) - 30 minutes 5.
1954-05-19 Lucky
Intuition (No. 1039) 6.
1954-05-20 Unity House
Track Team (No. 1040) C.
BBC Superman (1988 - 1993): 1. BBC
Superman: Superman on Trial (45 mins) 2. BBC
Superman: The Adventures of Superman (10
x 15 minute parts) 3. BBC
Superman: Superman Lives! - aka Superman: Doomsday and Beyond (6
x 25 minute parts) |