Superman

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » July 27th, 2006, 3:24 pm

It's going to happen later this year...

The 17 Fleischer/Famous Studios Superman cartoons are being split up as bonus features between the first two Christopher Reeve movies!

Yes, they are ALL restored.

Yes, these ARE the versions to get if you don't have a decent DVD of the shorts already. Heck, they'll be BETTER than the Bosko DVD (the only Superman shorts DVD worth buying now) if you don't have it already!

Yes, you DO NOT have to buy the boxed set of the entire Reeve Superman series.

If you want to pretend that Superman III and IV didn't happen, you only have to buy Superman I and II.

NOW, if you want the director's cut of Superman II, you can get it but it probably WON'T have the Fleischer shorts on it (the 8 divied to Superman II -- assuming we mean the theatrical cut).

P.S. -- This has been confirmed by TheDigitalBits this past week... Not bothering with direct links there.

Post by **Ben** » July 30th, 2006, 9:02 am

I guess you guys have seen how they are going to release these DVDs now. The 14-discer looks dead and the Donner cut will NOT be released IN the Christopher Reeve Collection, but as a stand-alone.

Now, I'm taking this two ways: 1) that they couldn't put it in due to some kind of legal issue with the Salkinds, who wouldn't want it to tarnish their "official" version, and 2) that Warners see more money in selling this on its own.

If that is the case, it will mean that the film will have to have been pretty well darn tweaked and completed to a very releasable standard. I've heard some new effects work has been completed for this release, which sparks my interest up more. If they are selling it separately, it could mean that it's actually a very viable alternate version, like the Blade Runner editions. At 122 minutes, it certainly has a healthy run time!

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » August 2nd, 2006, 10:13 am

I'm actually happy on how this situation turned out.

I HATE having to buy boxsets to get extra material that isn't available separately.

WB has actually done a huge favor to those of us who DON'T like Superman III and IV. Now, I can skip those two lousy films and get the ones I really want whilst NOT missing out on the Superman II Director's and the restored Fleischer shorts (which will be extras on the theatrical cut of Superman II and the Superman I 2-disc releases)!

And yeah, I don't think there's any reason for a 2-disc release of the Superman II Director's cut. I think the extras will pretty much be covered on the single disc of that release and the theatrical cut of Superman II...

Also, for continuity freaks who actually care for minutiae, being able to get just Superman I and II will satisfy them until the release of Superman Returns on DVD or wheneve they choose to buy that latter film.

*******************

Violet,

In retrospect, Superman Returns wasn't a very good film. There just isn't a lot of action and originality in it.

It's pretty much a blow-by-blow remake of Superman: The Movie and it's BORING...

I still think WB will make a sequel to this film IF they can keep the budget under control but I kind of doubt Bryan Singer will be involved.

While Singer can't be blamed for the film's budget problems -- a lot of the costs from developing the film over the past 12 (!) years were charged to it --, he can be blamed for the blandness of the resulting product.

It could have been better than it was if a director had been hired who KNOWS Superman and didn't just study the Cliffs Notes (first Donner Superman film) version.

GeorgeC · Post by **GeorgeC** » August 11th, 2006, 2:45 pm

It's here...

http://news.toonzone.net/article.php?ID=11952

Suffice it to say that if DC had allowed this comic to be published in 1940 as Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster wanted, it would have altered Superman forever...

Yes, it's that big of a deal.

It was rumored to exist for years but apparently somebody DID have the "lost" pages and let a group of Superman fans post the story on the Web.

Post by **Meg** » August 12th, 2006, 1:11 pm

Neat!

Post by **ShyViolet** » August 12th, 2006, 10:20 pm

In retrospect, Superman Returns wasn't a very good film. There just isn't a lot of action and originality in it.

It's pretty much a blow-by-blow remake of Superman: The Movie and it's BORING...

In some ways I agree, even though I liked the film. It did resemble the original Superman a lot (which I finally got to see). I thought there were some exciting parts, but there just seemed to be this heavy, leaden feeling about it, like it's SO SERIOUS (kind of like his X-Men, even though I enjoyed that as well.) There were some good moments though, but they did need a better, more original story.

The only really excellent aspect (IMO) was Brandon Routh. He totally makes this film. Without him, the picture would have sunk under its own weight of self-importance.

He made up for everyone else's shortcomings, which frankly were....somewhat glaring. Perry White--dull, no fun at all. Jimmy Olsen--WAY too old. Kate Bosworth--hmmm, she tied with Katie Holmes as the "most bland and predictable performance by current It Girl." On second thought, she was probably worse than Katie, who at least tried to inject some emotion into the role. Bosworth is too young (she definetely looks 23 so that would have made her, what, 18 when Superman left??) and doesn't really seem like she's preoccupied with anything in particular--not her career, Superman, nothing. She basically walks through this.

Kevin Spacey--well, I'm a big Kevin fan so I won't be too harsh. When he was playing at being REALLY evil, he did a good job. When going for humor...just didn't work. He hams it up a lot, but not in the good Gene Hackman way.

Parker Posey was good as Kitty though.

It could have been better than it was if a director had been hired who KNOWS Superman and didn't just study the Cliffs Notes (first Donner Superman film) version.

That's so funny because all these articles were stressing how he's so into Superman and has "great respect for the source material," as though he's a comic book fan. And I'm pretty sure he isn't....he didn't know anything about X-Men either when going into it. I doubt he read too many of the comics, or if he did he would have maybe concentrated on something OTHER than mutant/human relations as a metaphor for prejudice. There are tons of other stories too.

Post by **Josh** » September 7th, 2006, 5:08 am

The Superman fans here might like to know that DVD Active has the cover art for the Superman re-releases coming November 28th.

Interestingly, the front for Superman III does not include Richard Pryor. This is a somewhat odd dismissal, considering the other three Superman covers feature the main characters of their films.

Post by **Ben** » September 7th, 2006, 9:14 am

Yeah, bad art on all four I think, especially after the cool Batman releases last year.

The Pryor omission is odd, and yet Pamela Stephenson's sub-plot character gets on there??

The three at the bottom should be (in order): Pryor, Vaughn and O'Toole.

Ahh well...

Post by **Randall** » September 7th, 2006, 11:56 pm

I was shocked at how bad these covers are. They are just so uninspired. Oh well, that won't keep me from getting them of course. And I doubt the hoped-for BluRay versions will have anything too different for their covers.

I hated Pryor's inclusion in III (nothing against him, it was just bad casting), but his absence from the cover art is an insult to his memory. At the time of the release, the merchandising had him as the star of the movie!

Post by **Ben** » September 8th, 2006, 12:36 pm

For a series that had some seriously awesome theatrical teaser and release art, you'd think they could come up with something better.

And I HATE, HATE, HATE that the Superman II sleeve uses the new, gay reversioning of the S on Reeve's chest.

Theatrical art reinstated please!! Custom covers, here I come...

Post by **ShyViolet** » September 13th, 2006, 5:32 pm

The Pryor omission is odd, and yet Pamela Stephenson's sub-plot character gets on there??

I wonder if it's because some people today might not recognize him (although he was a star at the time.) I guess he doesn't have that "star pull" anymore: that big, glossy and essentially fake glow that actors have today. (but yeah, it's true they put that woman there so...

)

But I still think it's really wrong and VERY disrespectful to the man's memory.

And I HATE, HATE, HATE that the Superman II sleeve uses the new, gay reversioning of the S on Reeve's chest.

Oh yeah, it's shorter and the S looks kinda squeezed out (squashed and stretched?) and fatter. That's pretty stupid. I think this was also brought up WAYYYYYYYY back when, more than a year ago when we first got a glimpse of the Routh Superman.

http://www.animated-news.com/forum/view ... 36&start=0

Plus look what was written on "Supanet" at the time:

After so many star names passed through the spandex, the crucial lead role eventually went to unknown actor Brandon Routh, who now stars as Superman, and his bumbling alter-ego Clark Kent.

The first image of Routh in his Superman costume (top) has appeared on the actor's website, and it seems to be very faithful to the popular image of the character.

The colours are a touch darker than previous versions, and the "S" diamond emblem is an embossed shield, but fans should be happy with the visual look if nothing else.

Post by **ShyViolet** » September 13th, 2006, 6:13 pm

BTW, I was just wondering (a friend asked me actually) is Annette O'Toole (Lana Lang in #3) related to Peter O'Toole?

Post by **Ben** » September 14th, 2006, 8:05 am

Nope.

Post by **Randall** » September 22nd, 2006, 12:02 am

OK, so has everyone now seen the huge 14-disc package? If not, head to thedigitalbits or dvdactive.

Just wow. Now we're talking!! I'm a Superman completist (sadly, I even bought the Superboy Season 1 set), so I admit that would have picked up whatever came out; but I'm very happy with how this Ultimate Superman Set looks, both in terms of content and packaging. It looks WAY better than the single movie releases (maybe other than having the new "S" on the spine of the tin, but no biggie). The special features on the 14-disc set also look terrific. But now I'll have to ditch my "Look" documentary DVD. Dang, should've waited on that one.

Now, if Warner would only announce that the 14-disc set was to be released on hi-def, then I would be buying a player for Christmas, no question. Yes, I know that the new movie is coming out on BluRay and a HDDVD-DVD combo, but I'd love to have Superman:The Movie be my first hi-def purchase. That film was my first videotape, and one of the few I've held on to. I just love that film.

Post by **Ben** » September 22nd, 2006, 12:58 pm

Superman The Movie was an early 8mm purchase, my first bootleg VHS, my first rental bought VHS, my first sell-through VHS, and my first LaserDisc. I'd have bought it first on DVD too, but it came out late!

We all knew this was coming, but to see it...ahhhhhhhhhhhh...

And I gotta point out - that silver S is from the original 1978 teaser posters - it looks like they're going Reeve-centric on the artwork!

And Donner Cut included?? Just what is the POINT of the separate Chris Reeve Collection then, anyway? This new set makes the Fleischer cartoons and the Mole Men feature more of an understandable inclusion, since it's essentially all the major cinematic outings for Big Blue (the serials nicely coming out around the same time).

I even don't mind having the "Look!" doc twice, since the one in the box will come packaged differently and I'm sure to just watch the standard release of this in future rather than unpack the big box.

And at just under $100? It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

-----------------------------------

Steering clear of the HD discs. Bad combo choices and extras in SD?? Me thinks a wait for the eventual true HD version is probably best.

BIG PICTURES:
http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/ ... ction.html

Superman

"Lost" Superman comic RESTORED for the Internet