Posted by jayembee on 11/04/05 03:50

"anthony" <anthonyjhcnospam@netscape.net> wrote:

> Just noticed on Disc Five on the new Adventures of Superman set that
> there's two separate versions of the television pilot.
> First, if you just go to the Chapter Selection menu, is the film
> chopped into two parts for television broadcast.
> But if you go instead to Special Features, there it is again, as one
> complete tele-movie, with different credits and far superior
> picture-image.

The "complete tele-movie" isn't really a tele-movie. Though it was
always intended as a pilot for the series, it was made and released
as a feature film to gauge interest in the property as a TV series.

It was cut in two and shown as a 2-part episode of the series,
but not until it went into rerun syndication in the early 60s. The
2-parter has always been slipped into the syndication run at the
end of the first season because, like the first season, it had
Phyllis Coates playing Lois.

> I've not had time to watch either version for more than a couple of
> minutes. Are there any significant differences between versions?

I've never had the opportunity to compare the two. I've had a
commercially-released VHS tape of the feature version, but hadn't
seen the 2-parter version since I was a kid back in the 60s. I
haven't had a chance to watch the DVD set yet.

-- jayembee

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