The effects could have been a lot better. Consider the Captain Marvel movie serial from the 40s. From what i read the reason Luthor was not used in AOS was, because it was considered a waste of his character to just have him robbing banks. Superman was already a pop culture icon since the late-30s/early-40s. It's just that it would been nice for Superman to have had a series that was worthy of him.
I found the Captain Marvel serial SFX by the Lydeckers to be the least effective of their flying effects. Cap floats reather than flies..for nop notch flying see KI
NG OF THE ROCKETMEN with Tris Coffin(everyone's fave AOS villian) as Larry King, Rocketman. This Republic serial was a big influence on Dave Stevens' Rocketeer.
They even used "Flying Lydecker" SFX is several sequences in
Superman:The Movie esp in the Saving the World sequences.
And the SFX in
Lois & Clark are pretty decent anyway - alittle cheesy but more reality oriented than some of the CGI gumby bears flying around these days.