The lost director's cut and TRUE vision of SUPERMAN II

[thehefner]

Dear God. I pray, pray deep down, that you guys feel even half as moved and passionate about this news as I am. I really don't want to be the only one.

Some of you may know the tumultuous history regarding SUPERMAN II. The quick version is this: The first two Superman movies were initially shot simultaneously under Donner's direction, until a dispute with the producers led to his replacement on the second film by Richard Lester. Subsequently, most of Superman II was reshot, with the majority of Donner's footage left unused. However, a number of Donner's scenes were reinserted into the first televised broadcasts of the film.

Some of the new scenes included the final fate of the Kryptonian villains (having them being taken into custody, thus Superman is NOT a murderer), General Zod blowing apart a portrait of Nixon with a machine gun, and the destruction of the Fortress of Solitude. Later airings of the film reverted to the theatrical cut, leaving the new footage largely unseen, until a a group of dedicated Superman fans around the world sent out the call for video recordings of the first televised broadcasts.

Thousands of dollars and countless hours were spent restoring the footage and reintegrating it into the film. They put together a fan-produced DVD called SUPERMAN II: RESTORED DIRECTOR'S CUT and offered free copies to whoever wanted them, so the true original movie (as much as possible) could finally be seen.

The Superman II RIC was covered in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, in which a reporter from EW interviewed one of the RIC project leaders. In the course of the story, the reporter also notified Warner Brothers Home Video Department for their take on the situation. Surprise surprise, the WB swiftly sent the guys at www.supermancinema.co.uk notice to remove all details about the RIC. So the free DVDs ain't gonna happen. The project leaders are withdrawing, having achieved their stated goal to raise awareness of Richard Donner's original Superman II footage. Coverage in Entertainment Weekly will reach a far wider audience than anything on the internet.

"So what's the big deal?" some of you may still be asking. In an article released today, the reviewer goes into some depth revealing what the different footage is, and while it's all very interesting, the real prize... even more than absolving Superman of murder...

At the arctic, Lex and the Kryptonian villains have been taken away. Superman and Lois are alone. With his heat vision, he melts the Fortress of Solitude, then turns to her and says:

Superman: Look Lois, I...

Lois: Hey! No regrets, okay. I did it. I got the man I love, to love me... Didn't I?

Superman: Oh yeah.

Lois: Well okay then, those people need you. I mean I'd be buying... my little rainbow at the expense of those people that go, "Help, come quick!" You think I don't understand that? I mean it's... It's the old eternal triangle, only... only in this case... I have all of humanity waiting the next room.

Superman: We can still see each other, you know. I mean all the time. But it... it just can't be...

She kisses him.

Lois: Just don't forget. That's all. Don't ever forget...

Can you believe that? When all this time we were griping about that goddamn "amnesia kiss" ruining an otherwise perfect superhero movie, THIS ending has been out there this entire time! An ending that's so moving, so beautiful, its inclusion would have made this the single greatest superhero movie of all time. Just as today's X-MEN and SPIDER-MAN sequels have outshone and improved vastly on their precursors, so did the original cut of SUPERMAN 2.

I pray WB will get their heads together and release the original intended film, professionally remastered with as much love and care they gave their DVD of SUPERMAN. I pray that I'm not the only one who got a little misty-eyed just reading that original ending.

You can get more detailed info on the history of this amazing project and screenshots in these two articles. In the second, there's a link to contact WB's home video department, and rest assured I will be.

Comments

[tazira.livejournal.com]

Damn. That is SO much better.

I want to see this.

[yancentric.livejournal.com]

You know what bothered me the most about S2, even more than the Super-Amnesia?

When powerless, Clark Kent goes into a seedy diner in the middle of nowhere with Lois and gets his ass handed to him by a burly trucker.

Later, he gets his powers back, goes in again as Clark, purposefully picks a fight with the now-pathetic-human trucker, and then kicks his ass. You're Superman, fer chrissake.. how fucking petty do you need to be? It also IMO chisels away at the idea of Clark as kal-el being as human and flawed as possible, unless there is imminent danger of some sort. The act of kicking the shit out of the bully as Clark completely goes against that, in effect saying "Yeah, yeah, I'm a nerdy human -- but stare at me the wrong way and I'll impale your ass with my pinky."

I don't doubt it's a feel-good moment, and probably got some cheers from the audience at the time. It just feels very wrong to me.

Also, I've never been a big reader of Superman, but all those powers he seemingly pulls out of his ass in the movie -- did he have them in the comics? The telekinesis, teleportation, cloning, ripping the "Super S" off his chest so that it could magically grow and envelop his enemies? Seemed kind of cheesy to me..

[tompurdue.livejournal.com]

What about the lost cut of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace? You know, the one that didn't SUCK THE EIGHTEEN-FOOT MOOSE CRANK?

I'd love to see that, except that I just made it up.

[the-mithril-man.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, yes. If a writer needed Superman to have a super power he had it including Super-Photographic memory,, Super Hypnosis, Super Linguistics, Super Appetite.... the list went on and on.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

On one hand, I'm right there with your point. On the other hand, the easiest and best answer is this: It's the Pre-Crisis Superman. I presume you know the difference, but just in case: pre-Crisis on Infinite Earths Superman was, for lack of a better word, GOD. There was no set limit to what powers he had (or different colored kryptonites that could be thrown his way). Often times, yeah, writers, as mithril_man pointed out, would often just pull these powers out of their ass. Sometimes, the powers would be remembered, other times not.

Post-Crisis Superman was issues a strict list of powers and weaknessess, and they writers, to their credit, have stuck to it. However, current Superman could never, in a million years, beat Pre-Crisis Superman in a fight.

Also, look at the Luthors. Hackman's portrayal was far more in keeping with pre-Crisis Luthor: a mad scientist and publicly-feared criminal, as opposed to today's untouchable businessman/President that will hopefully be utilized when Spacey plays him.

So yeah. Silly things like that in the first two Superman movies? I remind myself this was pre-Crisis and enjoy the films as much as possible.

Ah yes pre-crisis

[the-mithril-man.livejournal.com]

Good point about Pre-crisis, should have mentioned it when i first said something. And very true about current supes there is no way he could ever beat Mr. "I can move the planet earth", the current one needed half the JLA to haul the moon out of orbit Or the horror that was silver kryptonite.

[justcomeinalone.livejournal.com]

I have a new quest in life! (granted I have about five different "quests" right now, but that's not important). I WILL HAVE a copy of this new director's cut! IT SHALL BE MINE!

Re: Ah yes pre-crisis

[justcomeinalone.livejournal.com]

The strange thing about Pre-Crisis Superman to me was that he had all those robot assistants. I'm like "Dude, you once CREATED a small planet in a GL story, are robot agents really necessary?" Yet the less powerful Post-Crisis Superman didn't really feel the need for robot duplicates (until Dominus came around and warped with the old noggin, but that's a whole nuther story). Kevin Smith said it best when the subject of robot guards in the Fortress of Solitude came up. "Why would SUPERMAN need guards?! And it's the Fortress of SOLITUDE."

Ah, well. Still not as weird as the sexual innuendos brought about by Supergirl dating a super-horse when he was in human form.