Review of Superman: Lost Episodes

Introduction

To appreciate what significance these animation shorts have you first have to understand a little about their past.

Produced by the Fleisher and Famous studios who produced animation shorts such as `Koko the Clown`, Superman flew out of the comic book and on to the big screen in a series of short films in 1941. Receiving unheard of success at the time, the Superman shorts were often used as the main feature with the live action film as a lead-in because of their massive popularity.
During a merger with Paramount the Fleischers were given the go ahead to produce a Superman series that would rival the Disney studios best work and with the huge budget of $90,000 spent on each episode they certainly succeeded in producing some of the most detailed animation of all time for an animation short.

Receiving academy awards for their achievements, Fleischer produced more and more advanced work and was influenced by the comic books and the radio shows which he especially exploited by using the vocal talents of the actors from the radio show drama. In fact the Superman shorts started to influence
some of the later Superman comic books in a total turnaround.
Some of the voice actors used included Burt Lancaster, Orson Welles and Jean Turney amongst many others.


Due to their huge budgets, the Superman shorts looked like features and used many of the effects including tracking shots, light sourcing for realistic shadows and of course all the fires and explosions you would normally expect, all painstakingly done by hand. In all 9 episodes were made by the Fleischer studios and a further 8 episodes by the Famous-Paramount studio which are featured on this DVD.

The new studio although employing some Fleischer veterans had their budgets cut significantly and mainly concerned themselves with having Superman fight in World War II rather than the more fantasy element of the stories found in the Fleischer era.
The animation and visual style of the preceding episodes are still very apparent, but on comparison these shorts were never as dynamic or exciting partly due to the anti Nazi/Japanese propaganda which they wrapped the story up in. The best episodes contained on this DVD are `The Mummy Strikes` and `Underground World` which are not propaganda pieces and feature stories with an obvious fantasy element.

Altogether though the Superman series is a landmark in animation history and as such, an important work in the history of the Superman mythos and popular culture.

Episodes include:


Japoteurs:
As preparations are made for the unveiling of an American superbomber, a Japanese spy is sent out to capture the plane which contains a stowaway Lois Lane. Will Superman be able to save her?

Showdown:
Superman`s good name is in jeopardy when he is found caught stealing .

Eleventh Hour:
Lois and Clark while reporting from Japan find that acts are sabotage are being made against the Japanese.

Destruction Inc:
Lois is captured by dark forces while working undercover in a munitions factory.

The Mummy Strikes:
A researcher is poisoned while experimenting on an archaeological dig. Clark investigates.

Jungle Drums:
Lois discovers a secret Nazi base in the depths of the jungles of Africa when her plane is shot down.

The Underground World:
Lois, Clark and Perry White are presented a map to an underground world. The world of the birdmen.


Secret Agent:
Superman saves the life of a female intelligence spy who has information the Nazis don`t want to lose.

Video

Presented in a newly colour restored print you can really appreciate the amount of work that went into producing these cartoon shorts. The original prints had deteriorated badly with dull, muted colours and a fair amount of print damage. After extensive restoration these prints have been restored to a state where colours are bright and bold and you can actually see what`s going on.

This DVD presents the restored print in its original 4:3 ratio and has its fair share of problems.
First thing you`ll notice is how much interference there is on the picture. It basically looks like your watching on a badly tuned TV set. The next is the actual print damage seen in each episode. It can be quite extensive with really obvious bits of dirt, scratches and print deterioration. The picture tends to be soft and there can be problems with contrast. Colours having been restored to somewhere near there former glory are bright and colourful although some scenes do seem to be oversaturated and a little bleed can be seen. The only restoration has been on the colour, which is great to see but it is obvious that the source print was in bad shape anyway and needs extensive restoration.
If you can ignore the faults then you will be treated to some great animation with real mood and style.

Audio

Sound is presented in Dolby Pro Logic and a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix.
There have been many so called soundtrack remixes. Some have been worthwhile restorations of old material given a new lease of life, others have been appalling cash ins on the 5.1 digital name.
This one sort of heads for the bad, or at least different. I`ll explain.

While retaining the old mono track from the 40`s with its wafer thin sound and crackly, wavering music that seems to fade in and out of tune, this track has also been mixed with new sound effects to add a bit of life and vitality. The problem is that this process, apparently called `Feel the Sound` or more realistically `feel the sub`, is so distinctly different from the old that they seem totally out of place with each other and do not mesh well.

Basically what this means is that although the old soundtrack has been cleaned up as best as possible it still obviously sounds very restrictive and isn`t very dynamic. This you would expect from a title this old. The music sometimes wavers in and out of tune and often sounds quite shrill, and the dialogue although clear enough suffers from the same limitations.
The additional effects that have been put on in this new mix, which of course are made to sound very dynamic and use the speakers for positioning, sound so detached from the original that it`s like watching a film with the wrong soundtrack playing. It just doesn`t go. The effects have been engineered to show off a 5.1 system with lots of sub usage for practically everything with a little bass in it. Even when Lois falls on the floor the sub lets rip with a deep thud.

It`s just so unbalanced it laughable. You have the old soundtrack and dialogue in basically a mono form and all these flashy effects on top zooming around the speakers. It`s very strange.
This is a tragic episode for purists out there and I can understand the complaints that they would make against remixing a soundtrack. But saying that I can also appreciate the added ambience from the remix and the dynamic thud of the sub. It`s not a quality issue, but an aesthetic one. Have a balanced but restricted soundtrack or a dynamic surround soundtrack that uses a more expansive soundfield but is in no way meshed with the old.

Either way the sound is certainly listenable with clear dialogue and a low noise floor. Sometimes the music is a little shrill or off balance but all in all a good effort.
It really is a personal choice whether your going to accept this remix or not. I have to admit wavering in-between the two extremes and if you really can`t stand the new remix you can always revert to the Pro Logic mix which is more balanced and less due to the limitations of the Pro Logic format.

Features

Extras are mainly promotional pieces and include.

Promotional trailers for Cartoon Crazy`s 1 and 2 and a Superman preview trailer.
A restoration demo which shows you just how bad the episodes were before being colour restored.
A `feel the sound` demo which is just a promo for the sound restoration, featuring clips from Superman.
A general overview of the Superman series is included in text form, as is a small amount of information for each episodes history, credits and story outline.
As a bonus episode a cartoon short of the first appearance of Mightymouse which was inspired by the two most popular characters at that time, Mickey Mouse and Superman is also included.

The overview is interesting but the rest of the material are just promotional pieces which you won`t return to. A bit disappointing to be honest.

Conclusion

Although it`s good to see the release of these Superman shorts, I can`t see them being of much interest to the average viewer. The video although being colour restored is far from perfect and the 5.1 remix has its problems with being an unbalanced culmination of the original soundtrack and new effects.
As an historical insight to World War II and film propaganda it has its value, and also to those people interested in icons of popular culture.

Animation students will find a lot of interest here but due to the nature of the cartoons being a propaganda device, featuring racial stereotypes and the such it`s not really suitable viewing material for children if left unattended and unexplained.
The animation and design is very good in these shorts although not up to the standard of the first 9, and will be of most interest to anyone who can appreciate good animation and who can forgive the bad picture quality.
Certainly a niche product and not for everyone.