Superman 35th anniversary

[Emcg0211]

I think all the movies have more stuff that could've been put in the anthology set. That being said, I only care about the first two movies.

[Torgon]

Originally Posted by The Crimson King

Wasn't there something about awhile ago about a Superman boxset with pretty much EVERYTHING Superman? All of the old tv shows, cartoons, serials, including Smallville and Lois and Clark: TNAOS. Of course it'd be like $1000, lol.

I have most everything you listed. I have the Superman serials (Kirk Alyn), The Adventures of Superman, Superman (Fleischer) cartoons, The Superfriends (most) cartoons, Superboy, Lois & Clark, Superman TAS, Smallville (1/2 DVD and 1/2 BD) and The Superman Anthology (and Supergirl too). About the only thing I'm missing is some mid '70s and '80s cartoons (I think). I wouldn't mind having it ALL on BD . They should box it with one of these:

[Clark Kent]

Sideshow really knocked it out of the park with that figure. You will also need this box set for the complete Superman scores:

http://www.screenarchives.com/title_...8-2ND-EDITION/

[MTRodaba2468]

Originally Posted by Clark Kent

Sideshow really knocked it out of the park with that figure.

Agreed. That and the figures for the '89 Batman are all great...

[GuruAskew]

Hot Toys actually did those figures. You can order them through Sideshow. Sideshow is their main distributor in the US and the were able to get an exclusive accessory with their Supes figure (the Kryptonite on the chain) though you could buy the figure elsewhere without it.

I actually have the Hot Toys Supes and its incredible. I have the Film Score Monthly box set of the scores too.

[roguescribner]

Originally Posted by Ben_UK

I think they need someone who is slightly more detached from the series (rather than Donner) to assemble a better version of SII. Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of what Donner did in SII was great, in fact there are very few scenes where I don't prefer the Donner footage. However, the blank bullets scene is test footage and I think some of the CGI (mainly the rockets and the phantom explosion) looks cheap and not like it was filmed in 1980-something.

PS, oh and there was far too much repetition of music cues in the Donner cut. Not really sure what you could do with that if they didnt want to use Ken Thorne's stuff, short of getting J Williams to come in a score a few scenes (expensive).

Richard Donner was not the driving creative force behind the "Donner Cut." That was Michael Thau. Thau did a lot of work on the cut before Donner was convinced to join in on the fun. Donner mainly looked at edited footage and gave notes, but did not spearhead any major decisions regarding the film. Due to the nature of the project, alternate takes, deleted scenes, test footage, and new footage was used to construct the narrative. Donner never finished shooting his version of Superman II so they had to work with what they had. Obviously Warner Bros. wasn't going to spend a ton of money on new footage for a curio film. John Williams was approached to score new cues, but he was too busy.

It was never meant to be a fully realized film. There's no way it ever could be since Donner never finished shooting it in the first place. But for people who for years heard about Donner's original ideas for Superman II and wished they could see that version instead, Warner Bros. decided to try to meet that desire. It has its faults, but I think the "Donner Cut" is about as good as it could reasonably be expected to be considering the resources available.

[GP Legend]

Isn't this year also the 75th anniversary of the character?

[Bolty]

Originally Posted by roguescribner

Richard Donner was not the driving creative force behind the "Donner Cut." That was Michael Thau. Thau did a lot of work on the cut before Donner was convinced to join in on the fun. Donner mainly looked at edited footage and gave notes, but did not spearhead any major decisions regarding the film. Due to the nature of the project, alternate takes, deleted scenes, test footage, and new footage was used to construct the narrative. Donner never finished shooting his version of Superman II so they had to work with what they had. Obviously Warner Bros. wasn't going to spend a ton of money on new footage for a curio film. John Williams was approached to score new cues, but he was too busy.

It was never meant to be a fully realized film. There's no way it ever could be since Donner never finished shooting it in the first place. But for people who for years heard about Donner's original ideas for Superman II and wished they could see that version instead, Warner Bros. decided to try to meet that desire. It has its faults, but I think the "Donner Cut" is about as good as it could reasonably be expected to be considering the resources available.

All that is true, BUT, Thau had the VERY STRONG impression from Donner that he was to use AS LITTLE Lester footage as possible.

I prefer by a huge margin the Donner cut, but I would make 3 changes to it.

1. I drop the 'Lois jumps out the window to prove Clark is Superman' and just cut the scene so they get the assignment to Niagra Falls.

2. I'd include the Lois tries to drown herself and Clark falls into the fire reveal. (Not because it's so much better, but because the test footage is too cheesy

3. Remove the 'turn back the world' reprise which is---- and always will be unacceptable. ( I know that's the way is was originally scripted but we can't erase our memories that it is the finale to the first movie!!!)


Those 3 changes i think would make the ultimate version. Some folks think it should also include the Paris opening--I waver back and forth on that one.

[roguescribner]

Those changes would negate the idea behind the project: to try to reconstruct the original story idea for Superman II, warts and all. Obviously if Donner wasn't fired the ending would have been changed and other scenes may have been tweaked as well. But this is the closest representation of the movie as originally scripted they could muster. It's not meant to replace Superman II. It's an alternate universe what-if curiosity.

And that falling-into-the-fire-losing-his-glasses reveal scene was just stupid. I thought it when I first saw it and think it now, especially in light of the much superior version (script-wise) in the Donner cut.

[bb8977]

Agreed but re-creating the original plan for the movie didnt really make sense as the original plan didnt include the ending being used for part 1.

[Bolty]

Originally Posted by bb8977

Agreed but re-creating the original plan for the movie didnt really make sense as the original plan didnt include the ending being used for part 1.

Exactly. It's not about re-creating the plan for Superman 2 BEFORE Superman 1 was filmed and released-it's about showing what Donner would have done to complete the movie--if he had the chance. He clearly would have done something else or even perhaps let Lois remember Clark's identity.


"Lord have mercy!!!"


I agree the 'fire-fall' is kind of lame, but so is a screen-test where Reeve's hair changes 12 times in a two-minute scene.

We have the Donner-cut
We have the Lester-cut

Is there anything wrong with a third version that combines elements of both to create a stronger movie?

I don't think so.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by Bolty

All that is true, BUT, Thau had the VERY STRONG impression from Donner that he was to use AS LITTLE Lester footage as possible.

That has to be the reason why the Donner cut feels so incomplete, there was some sort of edict to use as little as the Lester scenes as possible in it. That hampers the Donner cut in the end, making it an incomplete version of an idea.

[Eusthenopteron]

Originally Posted by Hussun1

The box set is a nice edition but the transfers could be a lot better.

Absolutely. This would be one way to definitely improve on the anthology box set.

[HeavyHitter]

I seem to recall an interview from someone within Warner that described the process of the original movie transfers (not counting Superman Returns). It sounded like a lot of effort was put into them.

[MisterXDTV]

The transfer on the Anthology Set are perfect, you can't improve them... You can't change Geoffrey Unsworth cinematography to make it look better

[Eusthenopteron]

Originally Posted by MisterXDTV

The transfer on the Anthology Set are perfect, you can't improve them... You can't change Geoffrey Unsworth cinematography to make it look better

Not sure I agree. Geoffrey's Unsworth's photography is amazing however not sure the transfer does the best justice to his work. Not saying the transfers are bad either, seen a lot worse than them, however I think there is room for improvement. But hey-ho, difference of opinion.

[Eusthenopteron]

Originally Posted by MisterXDTV

The transfer on the Anthology Set are perfect, you can't improve them... You can't change Geoffrey Unsworth cinematography to make it look better

Originally Posted by Eusthenopteron

Not sure I agree. Geoffrey's Unsworth's photography is amazing however not sure the transfer does the best justice to his work. Not saying the transfers are bad either, seen a lot worse than them, however I think there is room for improvement. But hey-ho, difference of opinion.

MisterXDTV, on reviewing the film from the Anthology, in both cuts, I now must retract my comment where I disagreed with you. The film does indeed look very, very good indeed. You were right and I was wrong.

[merlinjones]

I'd love love to have:

Superman II Theatrical Cut

Superman II the Ultimate Cut (Best of Donner/Lester)

Supergirl International and Director's Cuts

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Not sure what more they could do at this point, beyond releasing the tv cuts of I-III and an extended cut of IV, or maybe giving us the Mole Men film and the Fleischer animated shorts in HD.

[Ben_UK]

People love to rag on the Lester version of SII (deservedly so in some cases). However, exactly how much was changed script wise when Lester took over? Or was it mostly the "tone" that was changed and the script and narrative was pretty much set?

I guess they couldn't change much because they already had shot 50-70% of it...?

In terms of the Donner cut itself, including basic things like establishing shots would be an improvement. Its almost like basic filmmaking rules were ignored when assembling the cut.