62 people found this helpful. Not wanting to risk becoming overworked (which could compromise the quality of each project), the Fleischers were strongly (but quietly) opposed to the idea of committing themselves to another major project when they were approached by their studio's distributor and majority owner since May 1941, Paramount Pictures. Four volumes were released, where each volume contained 2 selected episodes of the classic 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman (one black & white episode and one color episode), plus a selected Max Fleischer Superman short (marking the first "official" release of such as Warner holds the original film elements). Read more. The Fleischer & Famous Superman cartoons are a series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman. I had VHS copies of many of these Fleischer films as a kid. I voted for Ruby Spears Superman cartoon series, but I’m glad that Superman the animated series made first place. Find great deals for Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons: The Complete Series. Music for the series was composed by Sammy Timberg, the Fleischers' long-time musical collaborator. The Fleischer Superman cartoons of the 1940s are among the most influential theatrical film productions in the history of animation and comic book media. $22.99 . These cartoons are seen as some of the finest quality (and certainly, the most lavishly budgeted) animated cartoons produced during The Golden Age of American animation. The previous year, Merrie Melodies did a parody starring Bugs Bunny called Super-Rabbit. The discs are pressed, not burned. The movie gave a nod to its source following the robbery with the newspaper headline, "Mechanical Monsters Unearth Generators.". Unable to add item to List. Both Superman TAS and Batman TAS take style from Fleischer’s Superman. I think that max and daves fleischers superman is great action its too bad that they only made 17 cartoons. See reviews & details on a … Quality does vary from film to film, however. [17], In the pilot episode of Superman & Lois, Superman dons a costume reminiscent of his suit in the Max Fleischer cartoon during an origin montage, where he saves a young boy from being hit by a falling car, referencing the cover of Action Comics #1, Series of seventeen animated Technicolor short films released by Paramount Pictures. Helpful . Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, Learn how and when to remove this template message, The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection, List of films in the public domain in the United States, "Comic Legends: When Did Superman First Fly? Report abuse. WB Finally Provide the Fleischer Superman Theatrical Shorts with an Official, Authorised and Remastered Release! In 1980, Japanese animated film writer and director Hayao Miyazaki created an identical robbery with a similarly functioning robot in the last episode of the TV series Lupin the Third Part II, a robot design he used again in his feature film Castle in the Sky. In December 2004, Toonami Digital Arsenal made the shorts available for free download in mp4 format on its website. Cartoon impresario Max Fleischer was the among the first to bring the printed Superman comics to a wide audience in these fanciful 1940s shorts featuring the Man of Steel saving his true love, Lois Lane, battling mad scientists and overthrowing Nazis. The two discs were pressed in Mexico. 2 disc set with 9 episodes on disc 1 by Fleischer, and 8 episodes on disc 2 by Famous Studios, all in total 17 shorts. After seeing the leaping fully animated, however, the Fleischers deemed it "silly looking", and asked permission from Action Comics (later DC Comics) to have him fly instead; the publisher agreed, and Superman was formally given the power of flight thereafter. Los mismos están basados en Superman, el famoso superhéroe de las tiras cómicas propiedad de DC Comics.Estas caricaturas constituyen la primera aparición animada de Superman en toda su historia. They were produced by Max and Dave Fleischer (Dave as director) in between 1941-2 and subsequently, when Fleischer Studios dissolved after the first season of nine installments, they were tackled by Famous Studios from 1942-3, completing the next eight productions. https://www.amazon.com/Superman-Fleischer-Cartoons-Complete/dp/B01M74… They were working on their second feature, Mister Bug Goes to Town (rereleased as Hoppity Goes to Town.) Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in. [citation needed] The series strongly influenced the creation of the acclaimed animated television series Batman: The Animated Series, as well as the similar-looking Superman: The Animated Series. The DVD quality seems to match my memory, if not better, and is generally good for their age. Paramount's involvement in the Superman franchise did not end with the sale of the cartoons. [citation needed], This animated version of Superman was planned to be made as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Directed by Dave Fleischer, Steve Muffati. A Blu-ray set containing all the cartoons, called Max Fleischer's Superman: Collector's Edition was released October 30, 2012 by the Gaiam studio. The episode, entitled Superman (later called The Mad Scientist) was released on September 26th, 1941. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. The Mad Scientist), was released on September 26, 1941, and was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. Using this device, the Fleischer brothers got a contract with Bray Studio in 1919 to produce their own series called Out of the Inkwell, which featured their first characters, the as yet unnamed Koko the Clown, and Fitz the Dog, who would evolve into Bimbo in 1930. Las Caricaturas de Superman de Max Fleischer son una serie de 17 cortometrajes animados de dicho personaje en Technicolor, producidos por Paramount Pictures desde 1941 hasta 1943. Saturday Night Live: The Complete Seasons 1-5, Adventures of Superman: The Complete Third & Fourth Seasons, The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Series (DVD), The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Tenth Season, The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Eleventh Season (BD) [Blu-ray]. The voice of Superman for the series was initially provided by Bud Collyer, who also performed the lead character's voice during The Adventures of Superman radio series. This series also featured a slight variation of the now-classic exclamation (also from the radio series): "Up in the sky, look! However, for the final two Fleischer-produced cartoons and the first of the eight Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening was changed to "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. This show is very similar to what you can expect from a newer Superman show today. Have you ever heard of the Fleischer Superman cartoons? Full rights to Superman III and Supergirl are now with WB, but Paramount still has some partial rights to Superman IV (as part of the Cannon Films library), and TV distribution is now held (on Paramount's behalf) by Trifecta Entertainment & Media. Among the best reviewed of these various releases was a 1991 VHS set produced by Bosko Video, the somewhat incorrectly titled The Complete Superman Collection: Golden Anniversary Edition - The Paramount Cartoon Classics of Max & Dave Fleischer released as two VHS volumes which featured high-quality transfers from 35mm prints. Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" The Mechanical Monsters itself was featured as part of Fantastic Animation Festival. It is really good, REALLY GOOD with great art, animation, atmosphere, an old sense of adventure and suspense that still holds tension, and a worth progenitor to generations of dramatic and action cartoons........... then you hit the racism like a brick wall. The Fleischer Superman series is a classic, and I’m happy to see that it made the second place ranking. The first cartoon had a budget of $50,000 (equivalent to $850,365.62 in 2016), and the other sixteen each had a budget of $30,000 (equivalent to $510,219.37 for each of the eight other Fleischer cartoons and $485,414.68 for each of the eight Famous Studios cartoons), bringing the total cost of the series to $530,000 (equivalent to $8,815,438.02 in 2016). [10] Writer/artist Frank Miller cited the influence of Max and Dave Fleischer, including them among a list of prominent Golden Age comics creators whose work he acknowledged at the end of his 1986 comics series, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. The Fleischers were also well into production on their second, Mr. Bug Goes to Town. Although Superman is still popular today, it has been around since the 1940's when Fleischer cartoons originally came out with the show. The high cost of the series kept it from continuing in the face of budgetary restrictions that were imposed after removing the Fleischers from the studio. In these movie shorts one can see the complex type of hero that we often take for granted in modern times: a reporter who investigates a story, seeks to get closer to his coworker, becomes a reactionary hero when trouble arises. Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons: The Complete Series by Warner Home Video Format: DVD. Many of the slogans and attributes we ascribe to Superman today originated in this series. With Bud Collyer, Joan Alexander, Jackson Beck, Jack Mercer. [citation needed]. DVD features included: all 17 animated shorts digitally restored in Dolby Digital 2.0 audio; a bonus cartoon: Snafuperman (a 1944 Warner Bros. wartime parody of the Fleischer cartoons, featuring Private Snafu and produced for the U.S. Army); "Behind the Cape" synopses and fun facts with each cartoon; a DVD fold-out booklet with notes on the series; bios of the voice actors, producer Max Fleischer, and Superman; a bonus trailer for the 1948 Superman serial with Kirk Alyn; and a recorded audio phone interview with Joan Alexander (the voice of Lois Lane). Beginning in 1941, Fleischer Studios produced nine animated segments of Superman, at which point production was switched over to Famous Studios, where the series continued until 1943.In total, seventeen episodes were completed and have been widely … Joan Alexander was the voice of Lois Lane, a role she also portrayed on radio alongside Collyer. The colors were off, and I’m stuck seeing a watermark on my Blu-ray video every episode. The Bosko Video release was not associated with DC Comics or their parent company Warner Bros. Another DVD was Superman: The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection from VCI Entertainment released on May 30, 2006, a month prior to the release of the film Superman Returns. 4.7 out of 5 stars 128 ratings. It's Superman!". Previously, he was only shown flying in the comics due to an artist and editorial error in Superman #10.[6]. : The Return of Black Adam, Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman. The Paramount Superman cartoons are widely available on VHS, DVD and online. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons: The Complete Series by Warner Home Video at Amazon.com. Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons SN 1 | EP 8 | Jungle Drums / The Underground World / Secret Agent. [2] Nonetheless, Warner Bros., via parent WarnerMedia's ownership of DC Comics, now owns the original film elements to the cartoons. When Lois' plane is shot down over Africa, Lois and Superman battle Nazis at a secret base in a desperate attempt to prevent German submarines from attacking an unsuspecting American fleet. Amazon.ca - Buy Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons: The Complete Series by Warner Home Video at a low price; free shipping on qualified orders. They posted one episode per day with the final episode, "Secret Agent", going live on New Year's Day 2005. The Fleischer Superman cartoons are a series of 17 animated short subjects originally released in Technicolor by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman, making them his first animated appearance.. Superman was the final animated series initiated by Fleischer Studios, before Famous Studios officially took over production.[1]. I threw it away and replace it with a more sturdy case that I purchased on Amazon. The first nine cartoons had more of a science fiction aspect to them, as they involved the Man of Steel fighting robots, giant dinosaurs, meteors from outer space, and other perils. It's a plane! By mid-1941, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer were running their own animation studio in Miami, Florida, and had recently finished their first animated feature film, Gulliver's Travels. But they deemed it as "silly looking" after seeing it … Boz Hollywood. In 1995, after being sold to Viacom, Paramount's television syndication unit absorbed Viacom Enterprises, and as a result, Paramount now held the TV rights to the third and fourth Superman films, along with the Supergirl film (which up to that point had been held by Viacom). A 1988 music video for the song "Spy In The House of Love" by Chrysalis Records recording artists Was (Not Was) borrowed footage extensively from Famous' Secret Agent short. Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2019. In this cartoon, Popeye's enemy Bluto, who was voiced by the announcer for the Superman radio series, Jackson Beck, dresses up as Superman to fool Olive Oyl, and he challenges Popeye to feats of super-strength that "only Superman" can do. Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2015. Superman tries to save the world from the villains while protecting the innocent people of his city. This release does cost more, but that being said, I have no regrets with this purchase at all. Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2013. In 1985, DC Comics named Fleischer Studios as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great for its work on the Superman cartoons. Fourteen of the shorts are available for $1.99 for every two, while the other three are all in one video for the same price. Please try again. The musical score for She-Sick Sailors includes echoes of Sammy Timberg's Fleischer/Famous Superman score. Great collection of these classic Superman cartoons! The New Adventures of Superman: 1966 - 1970, Superman - The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection, New Adventures of Superman, The: The Complete Second & Third Seasons, Superman: The Complete Animated Series (Repackaged/DVD), Tex Avery Screwball Classics Volume 2 [Blu-ray], Adventures of Aquaman, The: The Complete Collection (Repackaged/DVD). The sleek look of the series continued, but there was a noticeable change in the storylines of the later shorts of the series after Famous replaced Fleischer as producer. In the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" tie-in comic, the world of those cartoons take place on the Earth-F before being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor. Paramount was interested in financially exploiting the phenomenal popularity of the then-new Superman comic books, by producing a series of theatrical cartoons based upon the character. According to Blu-Ray.com and Amazon reviews, it was upscaled from standard definition to HD, and the set's video quality and audio quality were criticized.[15]. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. The first nine cartoons were released as part of the four-disc special edition Superman: The Movie set, and the eight remaining cartoons were included on the two-disc special edition Superman II set. The later eight cartoons in the series, which were all Famous Studios productions, dealt more with World War II propaganda stories, such as in Eleventh Hour, which finds Superman going to Japan to commit acts of sabotage in order to reduce the morale of the enemy; meanwhile, an angered Adolf Hitler had a cameo role at the end of Jungle Drums after Superman foiled another Nazi plot. As all of these cartoons are now in the public domain,[2] free downloadable links from the Internet Archive have been provided. Production was resumed in May 1942 by Famous Studios, a successor company to Fleischer, who produced eight more cartoons in 1942 and 1943. The first "official" home video releases of the series were by Warner Home Video in 1987 and 1988, in a series of VHS and LaserDisc packages called TV's Best Adventures of Superman. the eleventh Superman cartoon short, "Showdown" began when a thief dressed in a Superman uniform doing a series of crimes for his boss gangster. Read honest … Able to soar higher than any plane!". Aunque se trata de unos dibujos animados con bastantes años de antigüedad, se encuentra editada con una muy buena calidad de imagen, a pesar de los pequeños defectos que presenta en algunos momentos la imagen debido al estado de conservación del original. More powerful than a locomotive! and Dave Fleischer) and asked them to make a series of Superman cartoons. It's a bird! This is a good thing. Many of the slogans and attributes we ascribe to Superman today originated in this series. [4] Many of Superman's actions, however, could not be rotoscoped (such as flying, lifting very large objects, etc.). As the Br… Please try again. With Richard Fleischer, Leslie Cabarga, Jerry Beck, Myron Waldman. Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons: The Complete Series. & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons: The Movie, The Batman/Superman Movie: World's Finest, Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite, Justice League – Attack of the Legion of Doom, Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Super-Villain High, Lupin the 3rd Part IV: The Italian Adventure, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin – Advent of the Red Comet, Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Superman_(1940s_animated_film_series)&oldid=1011656633, Articles needing additional references from February 2011, All articles needing additional references, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2018, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Wikipedia articles with WorldCat-LCCN identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, ← The characters Lieutenant Marvels were debuted by C.C. They told Paramount that producing such a conceptually and technically complex series of cartoons would cost about $100,000 per short (in 1940s dollars, or $1,700,000 per short as of 2017); this was about four times the typical budget of a six-minute episode of the Fleischers' popular Popeye the Sailor cartoons of that period. Price: $67.93 + $3.99 shipping: DVD $67.93 Additional DVD options: Edition Discs Price New from Used from DVD April 7, 2009 "Please retry" Standard Edition. Upon this release though, there was controversy by some consumers over why Warner's chose to release these animated shorts amongst the Superman films DVD releases instead of packaging them as their own complete individual DVD release. But that only applies to 4 of the dozen or so shorts. Beck. 1987), p. 312. [5] Now the Fleischers were committed to a project they never wanted to do—with more financial and marketing support than they had ever received for the projects they had done thus far. Title card from the first Superman animated short produced by Fleischer Studios. The entire collected Fleischer / Famous cartoons were included in the box sets The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection and Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition, where both sets also included a 13-minute short documentary on the history of these cartoons, entitled First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series. The company had its start when Max Fleischer invented the rotoscope, which allowed for extremely lifelike animation. More powerful than the pounding surf! It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. In 1942, Fleischer Studios was dissolved and reorganized as Famous Studios, which produced the final eight shorts. A rocket powered brick wall that you just insulted and that hates your face. Although all entries are in the public domain,[2] ancillary rights, such as merchandising contract rights, as well as the original 35mm master elements, are owned today by Warner Bros. Entertainment, which has also owned Superman's publisher, DC Comics, since 1967. [12] The 2004 feature-length movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (which Paramount released in several territories, WB also distributed in a few countries) kept the setting in the 1940s, but scaled up the scene from a single robot robbing a jewelry exhibition to an army of gigantic robots stealing city infrastructure. The Fleischer's had been making Popeye cartoons for years and following in the path of Walt Disney had recently released their first feature length animated film, Gulliver's Travels. For the remaining Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening line was changed again to "Faster than a streak of lightning! The Man of Steel fights a mad scientist who is … Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons: The Complete Series The Complete Superman Collection: Diamond Anniversary Edition the authorized DC / Warner Home Video restorations are also included as a supplement on Warner Home Video's Superman the Movie and Superman 2 blu-rays box-set. La edición es excelente. Shop with confidence on eBay! The Paramount Superman cartoons are widely available on VHS, DVD and online. The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? 47 people found this helpful. Cartoon impresario Max Fleischer was among the first to bring the printed Superman comics to a wide audience in these fanciful 1940s shorts featuring the Man of Steel saving his true love, Lois Lane, battling mad scientists and overthrowing Nazis. Wonderful animation and a piece of history.........for better more than for worse. Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" It lost to Lend a Paw, a Pluto cartoon from Walt Disney Productions and RKO Pictures. They were originally produced by Fleischer Studios, who completed the initial short and eight further cartoons in 1941-1942. Comment Report abuse. On April 7, 2009, yet another release was made, this time a collection of all the cartoons released by Warner Home Video as the first authorized collection from the original masters, titled Max Fleischer's Superman: 1941-1942 with a suggested price at $26.99; the set included one new special feature in the form of "The Man, The Myth, Superman" featurette, along with an old special feature seen in the Superman II 2006 DVD release entitled "First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series".[13]. Superman: The Fleischer Cartoons: The Complete Series: Amazon.nl Selecteer uw cookievoorkeuren We gebruiken cookies en vergelijkbare tools om uw winkelervaring te verbeteren, onze services aan te bieden, te begrijpen hoe klanten onze services gebruiken zodat we verbeteringen kunnen aanbrengen, en om advertenties weer te geven, inclusief op interesses gebaseerde advertenties. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" The Fleischers, looking for a way to reject the project without appearing uncooperative, agreed to do the series—but only at a (intentionally inflated) per-episode-budget number so exorbitantly high that Paramount would have to reject them, instead. This documentary (which was included on the Superman II two-disc special edition DVD) features interviews with surviving members, relatives and biographers of the animation and production team, also contemporary animators such as Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series), Paul Dini and Dan Riba (Superman: The Animated Series) who detail the influence these cartoons have had on their own works. These short films were shown in theatres as compliments to the screening feature films, and the Fleischers were given a big budget of $50,000; resulting in some of the most lavish, bright and meticulously plot-driven animated shorts produced during the golden age of American cinema. See, This page was last edited on 12 March 2021, at 02:45. By the end of 1941, the brothers were no longer able to cooperate with each other, and the studio's co-owner Dave Fleischer had left Florida for California, where he would eventually become the new head of Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems studio. All eventually fell into the public domain, due to National failing to renew their copyrights; thus, they have been widely distributed on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD. The Fleischers' last- and most- expensive series. Full content visible, double tap to read brief content. The rights to all seventeen cartoons eventually reverted to National Comics, who licensed TV syndication rights to Flamingo Films (distributors of the TV series Adventures of Superman). Out of the Inkwellbecame a very successful series. The Bosko Video set was later issued on DVD by Image Entertainment as The Complete Superman Collection: Diamond Anniversary Edition in 2000. If you’re a fan of the Man Of Steel, you owe yourself to get this! Boz Hollywood. Cartoon impresario Max Fleischer was the among the first to bring the printed Superman comics to a wide audience in these fanciful 1940s shorts featuring the Man of Steel saving his true love, Lois Lane, battling mad scientists, and thwarting Nazis. Great collection of these classic Superman cartoons, Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2018. Famous Studios ended the series after a total of seventeen shorts had been produced, replacing it with a series of shorts based upon Marge's Little Lulu. Helpful . The Mechanical Monsters is the second of the seventeen animated Technicolor short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman. In 2004, a two-disc set was released by Platinum disc corporation with digitally enhanced audio 5.1. Maltin, Leonard (1980, rev. For international prints of Superman cartoons starting with "Showdown" the opening line is "Faster than a streak of lightning! To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Superman leaps off the comic page for the first time in this animated series that ran from 1941-1942. National Comics Publications, Inc. v. Fawcett Publications, Inc. Scooby-Doo! Like most Superman origin stories it began with the destruction of Krypton, and Kal-el’s narrow escape to Earth. One can step back in time to the early days of an American Icon. I’m sure these are also of much better quality than most of the public domain releases of probably lesser quality, or those available for free online. A 1944 Famous Studios Popeye the Sailor cartoon entitled She-Sick Sailors parodied the Superman cartoons a year after production of the cartoons had ceased. Superman Animated Theatrical Cartoon Series -Fleischer Studios- 1941 – 1942.