Superman II The Official Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut Discussion/News Thread!!!!

[buggs0268]

Here you go:

Thanks Cap Jimbo. Yep. Bill Cosby. Large as life. Plain as day. right there. It just caught my eye and I said "Hey. Bill Cosby." Not nitpicking. Just caught me by suprise.

"Zod. What are you doing with the crushing of the Lincoln Memorial? And the taking over the world. Abbubbubu, ohhhh...you know what I am talking about. Mushmouth! Take him down."

 

[jrd550]

I noticed a few minor things:

Is it my ears or does Chris Reeve sound sort of British as he's talking to Jor-El about loving Lois?

Margot Kidder looked way hotter in Donner's scenes and not so boney as in Lester's version.

Yeah I noticed that too - it's easier to pick out which scenes Donner shot vs. Lester because Lois looks skinny and older in Lester's version - with Donner she still looked cute...

 

[animexcel]

There were no close-ups of Lois during that scene; and when Jor-El looked at Lois, she backed away...I think I would too; that's a pretty scary look lol
I think Clark looks funny with the Jackie Chan hairdo.
...Another thing when Lex Luthor told Zod that the chamber was a trap, he got away when Superman tried to grab him hahaaa... I mean, Superman couldn't grab Lex a few feet away? Anyway, I'm sure Superman didn't want to overexaggerate since he knew he got them where he wanted them in the first place.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Finally got and watched the Donner cut today. Really liked everything except the world reserve ending, it basically says all the events in this movie never happened. Now, I don't like the "super-kiss" either, but at least with that ending the events in the movie actually happened. I kinda wish they just ended with Lois still knowing about Clark being Superman. The scenes of her catching on and finding out, especially drawing over his picture and shooting him were awesome. Everything with Clark/Kal-El and Jor-El was great, really gave the movie more of a focus and theme, Clark losing and getting his powers back being the last lesson for Clark was awesome, everything about this cut shows it to be a movie about a father and a son rather than just a normal action movie.

 

[buggs0268]

There were no close-ups of Lois during that scene; and when Jor-El looked at Lois, she backed away...I think I would too; that's a pretty scary look lol
I think Clark looks funny with the Jackie Chan hairdo.
...Another thing when Lex Luthor told Zod that the chamber was a trap, he got away when Superman tried to grab him hahaaa... I mean, Superman couldn't grab Lex a few feet away? Anyway, I'm sure Superman didn't want to overexaggerate since he knew he got them where he wanted them in the first place.

Yeah, it was all a part of an act to make it look like he was pissed at Luthor for spilling the beans, but he knew he could Count on Luthor to do that.

 

[Longshot777]

-The reveal to Lois that he's Supes is not as good as the "original"


-Turning back the time damaged the plot continuity.....like him beating up that guy at the diner.

First off, that guy and the owners of that diner should not have known who the heck is that guy with glasses beating up this guy for noo reason and understanding, when he said " i've been working out." What?? Who are you???

Plot error!!!

WHich also means that Zod and co. are still alive in the Phantom Zone.

And if that soo....then shouldn't the New Jersey missle hit them again?? Or the missle just MAGICALLY vanish whenever he turns back time??

Why bother fighting them in the first place when he could have obviously avoided all that crap just by turning back time.


- And lastly:

What was the whole point of Donner making Superman become human???


At least in the original, the reason is because he cant make love with a normal human due to his Kryptonian Physiology. So he has to become human.


In this cut, he had sex with her already.

So he could do both. Be in love with Lois and still be Superman. It worked in "Lois and Clark."

If he can't make love to her then I would understand but it was obvious that he could in Donner's cut.



The original Superman 2 is wayy better than the Donner Cut.

 

[3 Dev Adam]

At least in the original, the reason is because he cant make love with a normal human due to his Kryptonian Physiology. So he has to become human.


In this cut, he had sex with her already.

But that was an old Larry Niven joke, made more popular by MALLRATS. Supes has enough control of his powers to make love to a woman the missionary way. Just like Hulk made love with his girlfriends still in Hulk form.

 

[buggs0268]

-The reveal to Lois that he's Supes is not as good as the "original"


-Turning back the time damaged the plot continuity.....like him beating up that guy at the diner.

First off, that guy and the owners of that diner should not have known who the heck is that guy with glasses beating up this guy for noo reason and understanding, when he said " i've been working out." What?? Who are you???

Plot error!!!

WHich also means that Zod and co. are still alive in the Phantom Zone.

And if that soo....then shouldn't the New Jersey missle hit them again?? Or the missle just MAGICALLY vanish whenever he turns back time??

Why bother fighting them in the first place when he could have obviously avoided all that crap just by turning back time.


- And lastly:

What was the whole point of Donner making Superman become human???


At least in the original, the reason is because he cant make love with a normal human due to his Kryptonian Physiology. So he has to become human.


In this cut, he had sex with her already.

So he could do both. Be in love with Lois and still be Superman. It worked in "Lois and Clark."

If he can't make love to her then I would understand but it was obvious that he could in Donner's cut.



The original Superman 2 is wayy better than the Donner Cut.

Okay, about that whole people in the Diner remembering him thing after he turned back time. You know, watching the Jimmy and Clark deleted scene, Jimmy is showing off his brand new camera (to replace the one destroyed by Non), before he bumps into the rude bald guy and gets the idea to go after Mr. Wonderful. So it looks like he goes to the diner before turning back time. So that is why the restarurant people remember him. Because he hasn't turned back time yet. Since Donner elected to not use that scene in his cut, which he shot, it makes the scene look iffy. Compounded by the fact that he puts the turning back time first. I can see why he did it in the donner cut. It is to show that he did it in a fit of passion. Donner said that they wrote the turning back time scene originally as Lois and Clark would have never made it nto doing so, and she would have been constantly grabbing him into the closet as Clark to kiss him.

So it shold go like this:

1. Clark comes in for the day and talks to Jimmy about his new camera.

2. Bumps into bald guy

3. Goes to diner and beats up Mr. Wonderful.

4. Turns back time.

5. The scene where White and Lois have that funny deja vu. Clark goes for pizza.

6. Clark re-straightens the leaning tower of Pizza (originally supposed to have been in 2. But Lester and co put it and shot it for 3. Supes, so in love when he gets the stuff for dinner with her at the fortress, which I believe was supposed to have been Pizza, flies by leaning tower of Pizza and straightens it. Then after all that, flies by it and leans it.

7. Supes flies over planet. End titles.

 

[animexcel]

-The reveal to Lois that he's Supes is not as good as the "original"


-Turning back the time damaged the plot continuity.....like him beating up that guy at the diner.

First off, that guy and the owners of that diner should not have known who the heck is that guy with glasses beating up this guy for noo reason and understanding, when he said " i've been working out." What?? Who are you???

Plot error!!!

WHich also means that Zod and co. are still alive in the Phantom Zone.

And if that soo....then shouldn't the New Jersey missle hit them again?? Or the missle just MAGICALLY vanish whenever he turns back time??

Why bother fighting them in the first place when he could have obviously avoided all that crap just by turning back time.


- And lastly:

What was the whole point of Donner making Superman become human???


At least in the original, the reason is because he cant make love with a normal human due to his Kryptonian Physiology. So he has to become human.


In this cut, he had sex with her already.

So he could do both. Be in love with Lois and still be Superman. It worked in "Lois and Clark."

If he can't make love to her then I would understand but it was obvious that he could in Donner's cut.



The original Superman 2 is wayy better than the Donner Cut.

One has to take into consideration that this is what Superman II was originally concieved before Donner was fired; and did not have a chance to make another ending for it. Of course it has plot holes, Donner's version was never completed. I like the reveal to Lois scene better in the DC, too bad they didn't shoot the real thing; but the screentest is better than nothing.

 

[CGHulk]

The things I would change in the Donner Cut are, remove the one shot of of where Bill Cosby's picture shows up, for continuity sake. Remove the scene where Ursa rips the medals off the generals chest in the White House. Add in the scene where Lex is arrested by mounties at the end of the film. Make the hologram of Jor-El in the scene with Lex to look like it does in Superman the Movie (make it look fuzzy). Remove the scene at the end where a stand in that's supposed to be Margot at the type writer that isn't Margot. When Lois notices Clark looks like Superman at the Niagara Falls location shoot, she just shrugs it off, take out that little bit in the scene so it will make more sense. Add in the scene where Non gets zapped by the FOS forcefield (it's just so cool) and with the three villians having to unite to break through it. Darken all the Lester shots in the FOS to fit in with the Donner shots. I'm still not sure why Superman had to give up his powers?

 

[animexcel]

I wonder how far Clark and Lois had to walk in the snow to get a car lol not so romantic now, is it?

 

[KaptainKrypton]

Watching this film was like piloting my own personal time machine in a way. It felt weird as hell to be watching a film that I've seen countless times before (including my ABC cut)...but presented in a sometimes startlingly different way. I loved the new audio presentation and felt that the significance of some of Ken Thorne's music cues were improved exponentially with a solid mix and proper mastering. I did feel that some of the use and alterations done to the original Williams pieces from STM was overdone and sloppy, but I wasn't expecting much, so I wasn't completely let down. I do think that this isn't what I'd consider the perfect rendition of an SII cut, but that I still think there is a perfect marriage between the two that would incorporate more of the Lester footage (that doesn't suck) to make the film flow more evenly. I didn't really dig the screen test sequence and still prefer the Lester version, but that's just my taste. I do think that the Metropolis Battle and Fortress encounter were played out much sharper than before (especially with them speeding up some of the action). I will say that I miss Superman asking the General if he would "care to step outside." On the whole, though, this version spanks the Lester Cut hands down, uncontested. I must do a fan edit or I'll go crazy.

 

[captain_jimbo]

^ I'd love to see that!

 

[Bad Superman]

I finally got to watch Donner's Cut and I must say it's far superior than Lester's.

I found it funny when

Spoiler

Clark and Lois are at the Niagara Falls suite and Clark has the "hairstyle and weight change".

I would've wanted a different ending to separate itself from STM's end. I know that was the original ending for SII.

 

[Erzengel]

I really wish Donner would have finished this movie.

His scenes are far superior to Lester.

And I'm sure everyone has already mentioned the whole time thing but the only things that bothered me aside from Clark/Superman's hair changing and of course "General? Would you care to step outside".

I'm really glad I got to see it. I really enjoyed it. Too bad the continuity is all f'ed up.

 

[jorel]

why didn't this Donner Cut incude the villains rule the world scene? It would have been easy to do with today's CGI technology.

Mr Thau please, create in CGI villains rule the world scene.

 

[LostSon88]

There are alot of things that could've been cleaned up with some CGI work...but as Thau said in the documentary, "We were on a budget."

A pretty low budget I presume based on the effects in the movie.

 

[Mister J]

I'm late to the party, but I just finished watching this (after the good people at WB were so nice to finally re-market the Ultimate Collection). I preferred a number of Donner's scenes over the Lester version, especially the White House attack, both father/son conversations at the Fortress, the reveal to Lois and even the final fight at the Fortress (no goofy made up superpowers).

Obviously, there were some plot holes, but it was good to see this thing finally fleshed out. I did wish the scoring made better use of the Superman theme at times (Niagara Falls rescue, arrival to meet the Villains) and have some other nitpicks, but I'm much more a fan of the Donner Cut.

 

[slave2catwoman]

I just got here too. The new version is better, but still severly flawed. The plot of Superman II, either version is so heavily dependent upon about a million coincidences all aligning at once that it becomes ridiculous.

 

[captain_jimbo]

I'm late to the party, but I just finished watching this (after the good people at WB were so nice to finally re-market the Ultimate Collection). I preferred a number of Donner's scenes over the Lester version, especially the White House attack, both father/son conversations at the Fortress, the reveal to Lois and even the final fight at the Fortress (no goofy made up superpowers).

Obviously, there were some plot holes, but it was good to see this thing finally fleshed out. I did wish the scoring made better use of the Superman theme at times (Niagara Falls rescue, arrival to meet the Villains) and have some other nitpicks, but I'm much more a fan of the Donner Cut.

I know there are flaws, but it's an unfinished film, which is a real shame, but I truly love it nonetheless!

 

[C. Lee]

Yep....Donner's recut makes Supes II a damn fine movie. The made up powers and unfunny background jokes made the original hard to take.

 

[BH/HHH]

Yep....Donner's recut makes Supes II a damn fine movie. The made up powers and unfunny background jokes made the original hard to take.

 

[LostSon88]

There is ONE department though where Lester outdid Donner...

"General...would you care to step outside?" t: >>>>>> "I believe in freedom of the press, Zod."

 

[Mister J]

I believe it was "Haven't you heard of Freedom of the Press?", which makes me think, of course he hasn't. He's been trapped in the flippin' Phantom Zone for God knows how long. Is there a Kryptonian Bill of Rights scene that ended on the cutting room floor?

At any rate, that was a letdown. The 'step outside' mention is so damn great. It only could have been better if right after he said, Supes flew into the Planet, grabbed Zod by his ****ing throat and tossed him through the damn window.

 

[I'm Old Greg]

just watched this on Bluray and it is a hell of a lot better than the Lester version.

the original superman movie came off too corny i just never enjoyed it as a kid it had a tv movie feel to it that just felt cheesey and kinda boring. just wasn't like a giant movie for superman should be.

Man the scenes with the three villains killing all the people in the white house was AWESOME! i couldn't believe Donner shot something like that for a Superman movie.

When Donner said he wanted the 3 villains to be a real threat, i really wish I got to see his complete take on those characters cause i always saw them as dumbasses in the Lester version.

The entire father son relationship between Reeve and Brando was what brought it all together as a cohesive movie with a continuing theme.

man they really F'd up the superman movies by firing Donner and Brando all cause of MONEY.

Thats why most movies suck and are remakes cause of just quick buck to the pocket.

I enjoyed the Donner cut a hell of a lot, it felt like Superman to me.