Search - The Adventures of Robin Hood on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 7/24/2024...

Classic TV well done!

Good collection of season 1 episodes, but incomplete

Robert Huggins | Suburban Philadelphia, PA United States | 10/05/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the Fall of 1955, American television audiences were treated to one of the earliest imported television series from England, "The Adventures of Robin Hood." "Robin Hood" ran for three full seasons in the U.S. on the CBS network and paved the way for other British costume adventure shows like The Buccaneers: The Complete Series and The Adventures of Sir Lancelot Volume 1, among others. In the early days of television, each season meant a production schedule of 39 episodes. An abbreviated fourth season of 26 episodes was produced and aired in England, but not broadcast in primetime in the U.S., though these episodes did turn up in later syndication runs. "Robin Hood" starred British film actor Richard Greene, who was well known to both American and British audiences.



While "The Adventures of Robin Hood" has been officially released in its entirety in the United Kingdom from a company called Network, the series has never had an official release in North America. Apparently, many or possibly all of the episodes from this series have slipped into the public domain, and the result has been numerous DVD releases from multiple releasing companies. Currently, the most comprehensive release of episodes from the series comes from Alpha Video, which has released 60 episodes spread over 15 discs. This release of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" is, at the same time, one of the very best U.S. releases of the series as well as one of the most puzzling. Puzzling, in the sense that the packaging says "Season 1" but only the first 30 episodes (of 39) from season one are included, spread across three dual layered DVDs. It just begs the question of the releasing company, the Timeless Media Group, where are the other nine episodes? On the plus side, this release contains some of the best looking episodes that I've seen to date on a U.S. release of the series. The episodes are generally clean looking with minimal films specks and damage, and contrast is good. And, unlike Timeless' previous VHS release, Adventures of Robin Hood (7pc), the full title sequence and end credits are included.



This set was one of the later DVD releases of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" in North America and, as a consequence, has been overshadowed by releases from other companies, especially Alpha Video and, as previously mentioned, all 143 episodes of "The Adventures of Robin Hood" have been officially released on DVD in the UK. If you have a multi-region DVD player and the financial resources, then I suggest that you consider importing those sets. But this is one of the very best (and overlooked) collections of episodes available in the U.S. and, given the low selling price, is highly recommended for fans of the series and those interested in 1950s style action/adventure shows. However, the question remains, where are those missing nine episodes?

"

Three episodes from the classic 1950s television series

Robert Huggins | Suburban Philadelphia, PA United States | 04/05/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This is a low cost 3-episode compilation from "The Adventures of Robin Hood" that was broadcast on CBS from 1955-58. As is the case with most US releases of this series, these episodes have fallen into the public domain and the prints utilized for this release are a bit ragged looking, but certainly watchable. The episodes "Isabella" and "Food for Thought" have been released on other Robin Hood TV collections, but the episode "Lincoln Green" has not been released on any other compilation of Robin Hood episodes to date, at least as of this writing. As such, this DVD would be of interest primarily to those who are collecting episodes from this entertaining series, or those who are looking for a low cost introduction to the series."

Nostalgic

B. Garber | Snohomish, WA United States | 05/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is just what we needed, a welcome break from today's cheap, cynical, formula tv, well-written, many scenes shot outdoors, so glad these were still available!"