Comments on: Film Junk Premium Podcast #19: The Superman Franchise

By: scoobydelite

scoobydelite — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:03:00 +0000

Think it is said on the commentary that Tom Mankiewicz (co-writer of some Bond films) completely rewrote the final script because Donner thought the script was pretty goofy, so basically hardly anything Mario Puzo wrote is in Superman I & II.
The Donner Cut of Superman II fixes the losing his powers portion of the story. In his version, Superman & Lois get in on when he still has his powers and then he decides he wants to settle down with Lois. After Superman decides he made a mistake giving up the powers, Jor-El tells Superman he anticipated this possibly happening and is therefore able to give Superman his powers back one final time, which thematically nicely ties back to the line from the 1st movie “The son becomes the father, and the father becomes the sun.”
The Donner Cut also cuts out the teleporting stuff and the giant S-net Superman throws at the end.

By: Kenneth Serenyi

Kenneth Serenyi — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:13:00 +0000

Say huh?

By: Lord Humungus

Lord Humungus — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:20:00 +0000

This argument is unvalid you puppy! He realized enough to know that he had the powers he had in the first film — which were enought to fight crime.

By: James Starkie

James Starkie — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 13:57:00 +0000

Cheers for aligning the start of each chapter with the discussion of each film. Makes it much easier.

By: Xidor

Xidor — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:07:00 +0000

I’m surprised that John Williams score didn’t make a top five list, but you were probably sick of it after all of those movies. I thought that his music made the list for star wars podcast.

By: Ripplesdip

Ripplesdip — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 22:34:00 +0000

“He also realizes that he turned his back on all his responsibilities just to get laid ”

Well, we’ve all been there…right Lads?

By: Kasper F. Nielsen

Kasper F. Nielsen — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:10:00 +0000

Helen Slater was extremely hot back in the 80’s. The Legend of Billie Jean? HOT MAMA, WOOOoo!

By: devolutionary

devolutionary — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:35:00 +0000

Jay’s right in the sense that it’s a lot easier to get behind Superman 3 if you embrace it in its own world separate from the first 2. While there’s a lot of semi-funny (dated humour) and quite hilarious unintentional comedy in the movie, I’d still rather watch the first 2 if given the choice. To me, it’s biggest offense, is having rather uninspired antagonists. A “bizarro” Superman element that was fully fleshed out may have been a more interesting scenario than the double-indentity mechanism used but, like Sean, I still quite enjoyed the Kent/Superman junkyard fight. It definitely draws from a strong singular vision without any production issues that plagued the previous films though. However, as an adult, Superman 4 is still pretty hard to get through.

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:09:00 +0000

Interesting, I hadn’t really thought about it that way. I just assumed it was because he was from Smallville or something.

By: Xidor

Xidor — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:59:00 +0000

There is some fish out of water for Clark after he leaves the fortress. He uses words like “golly and swell” because he hasn’t talked to anyone in over a decade.

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:50:00 +0000

While I would love Reed to be on all premiums, I think most of them would just consist of him watching just a random 10 minute stretch of each film, which would be entertaining as well.

Yeah, I agree…bring Reed on more premiums.

By: Kenneth Serenyi

Kenneth Serenyi — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 06:29:00 +0000

Superman took so long starting to fight crime for several reasons: He didn’t know his full powers until he spent 10 years tripping-out in the Fortress of Solitude. He probably had to practice his Clark Kent persona before he re-integrated into society (pa-Kent training). I thought Superman not being tough and his terrible fighting style in Superman 2 were actually very realistic. He wouldn’t have a clue how to fight because he has never faced anyone who also had super-powers. In the bar, he’s not used to experiencing pain and weakness at all so of course he comes off as a complete wimp. He’s experiencing how it is to be human for the first time, he finds it unpleasant, and he panics back to the North Pole. He also realizes that he turned his back on all his responsibilities just to get laid .