Superman III - The Definitive Smallville Cut

Hi, this is gonna be my last edit for a while so if anyone would like to share thier thoughts on my edit "Superman III - The Smallville Cut" that would be cool.

SUPERMAN III: THE SMALLVILLE CUT

The original Superman III was a movie that had lots of heart (as represented in Clark/Lana's relationship) but was hampered by a poorly conceived plot and an unrestrained Richard Pryor. FatherMerrin's edit does an admirable job trying to reconcile this by focusing more on Clark's relationship and history with Lana and Smallvile and cutting back on the inept humor and Pryor zaniness.

Things I really liked: All the Smallville scenes, from the new opening establishing Clark and Lana's history to the closing with the realtor (plus the transition of hitting the baseball to the flying crystal was EXCELLENT! A very nice cut, indeed!) The all-new dream sequence and Clark waking up from it was also EXCELLENT! The only suggestion there I would have is since the Fortress of Solitude plays a significant plot point I would have included a scene of Young Clark creating it in the Dream Sequence for emphasis and continuity.

Little nitpicks I have.... the Daily Planet scene where Perry White give Clark permission to go to Smallville, if possible I would cut the audio of him including Jimmy since Jimmy does not go to Smallville in this version. Also, when Gus hacks into Vulcan the first time, I would have kept the focus on the computer screen and not have cut back to a drunken Gus reactions (which make no sense in this version), less Pryor antics the better.

Now as for the all-new plot twist... a very bold decision and darker direction. And for the most part, I think works. The only problem is the meeting between Gus and Superman at the end does not really make sense. Why would they even meet? Would Superman even be aware of the supercomputer and what Gus was was what up to? And would Superman really let him go since Gus basically murdered Webster and his sister?? If you did a version 2, I would maybe cut the whole Superman/Gus scene and go directly to Clark arriving at Lana's hotel room.

On a whole a very enjoyable edit. Definitely recommend it to all Superman fans. Would love to see a NTSC version in the future!
Thumbs up!

Thanks for that review bionicbob!!! You actually picked up on all the things I was worried about.

The Jimmy thing I didn't pick up on until after I deleted the edit of my PC. :???:

Regarding the meeting between Gus and Superman at the end. I kind of reached the idea that the film was actually split into 2 plots. The 1st is Superman going dark & the other Gus vs Webcore.

In this version Supes has no idea about the Super Computer (So doesn't know about the murder). The reason why Supe picks up Gus at the end is because it was Gus who gave him the Kryptonite & made him go bad.
It's not perfect I know, but on the whole I think it's forgivable considering I have the Websters killed of.

Personally I don't think you can actually tell Gus is drunk when he hacks into Vulcan & he doensn't really (IMO) do or say anything that's annoying. Also, I was very aware that some scenes are really quick, like the Ski Roof Top & the destruction of The Fortress of Solitude so I wanted to keep as much of the original as possible to keep the flow of the film.

After watching SIV I couldn't figure out why the Green Crystal was in the barn. So with the dream sequence I focused on the SI barn scene with the Green Crystal & I used the V/O from SI with his mother talking about being alone so when at the end he's in the barn getting the crystal the scene didn't feel out of place like it did in SIV. Logically there's still no reason why it's there but hopfully it doesn't feel strange cause of the dream sequence.

I'm glad you liked the baseball/crystal transition. I was going for a sort of 2001:Space Odyssey cut with that but I wasn't sure if it would work.

Thanks very much for your commets, that's my first ever review!!!

REVIEW TIME


Pros

-Opening space credits
-Clark waking up and actually being in his farm town, basing it in Smallville as frequently as possible.
-The use of Gus, how to make him less of a comedian, how to tie him into saving Supes, it all came together in a seemeless manner that suited and honoured Lester's direction and preference for comedy whist making it all the darker.
-Fourtress destruction made extra use of Clark's titling of the head, which I found added to the chilling malevolance of his actions, nice hint of the "Zod" theme too.
-Using the second energy module to restore the fortress, something I, rather lazily, did'nt do for TJC. Good job also tying the crystal into the dream sequence, establishing that Clark's prescense in Smallville was to find it and restore his lineage.
-Batting the baseball/fading into the module creating a new Fortress

Cons

-The dream sequence felt way too much like a trailer" for my tastes.
-Supes flying with Gus is still a ridiculous part of the movie, memorable, but still ridiculous, Supes really needed to be part of the Supercomputer storyline, as it had some very memorable set-peices such as Supes figthting the missles and Vera as the Cyborg.

You stuck to your guns and kept to your own ideas whilst incorporating some strong suggestions and oppertunities missed by the writers. One of the best you have done, but could also have added a little more. I know people love the Clark/Superman conflict, but part of what makes Superman work is his redeeming himself by saving the world from greater threats, not just himself.

Hi Zarius,

I was going to make the dream sequence more trippy like the the "travel thru time & space" scene in SI but it just didn't work, so I decided to go with the B/W as more subtle change. I actually based it on the dream sequence from SIV, clips & V/O were all in the original dream sequence & the length is the same as in SIV. In terms of style the only real difference is that mine is in B/W.

The problem I had with Supes fighting the missiles was all that annoying computer game stuff & when Vera turns in a Cyborg IMO it justs looks riduculus. Fair enough I could of trimmed the worst parts but I'm not sure there would of been much of the end left if I did

I agree that Supe saving the world from greater threats is important, but I don't think anyone really considers Webster as a great threat to the world. If the evil computer was more prominant in the story & was in the film much earlier on then maybe it being a threat to the world would be more realistic but it's just thrown in at the end & they don't even do anything with it.

Thanks for your feedback Zarius.

When I was developing TJC, I succesfully edited out the computer game, and as for Vera...well I honestly thought that part was genuinly awesome and an excellent example of how good the film could be at times. Difference of opinion there.

Webster was'nt the threat, the computer on the other hand was a vast one.

Yep I think we have to agree to disagree there, as I really think Vera looked silly as a cyborg. That silly walk & hair is just embarrassing IMO.

The computer was a threat, but it was only a threat for about 5mins out of a 2hr film & that's just not enough to hang entire movie on.

Also, the main point of the edit was to reduce Pryors goofyness & there's a lot of slap stick at the end that would of made a difficult edit. Like when he's messing around with that donkey, when he swallows the screw & when he runs around shouting "My baby". Considering how much the characters are disliked I think it was best to just blow them all up.

Overall I quite enjoyed this edit. The only thing I scratched my head over was the inserted deleted scene of Clark being woken up by the phone. It didn't seem to add anything to the story at all.

It's there to show Clark was having a nightmare. The sequence is a deleted scene from SIV. If I didn't show Clark being woken up by the phone the dream sequence would of been really confusing. Not using it would of meant showing the dream then Clark just walking out of his farm house.

At least in this version you get the dream sequence, the phone wake up scene to show Clark was dreaming, then him walking out of his Farm House to show he's in Smallville.

FatherMerrin said:

It's there to show Clark was having a nightmare. The sequence is a deleted scene from SIV. If I didn't show Clark being woken up by the phone the dream sequence would of been really confusing. Not using it would of meant showing the dream then Clark just walking out of his farm house.

At least in this version you get the dream sequence, the phone wake up scene to show Clark was dreaming, then him walking out of his Farm House to show he's in Smallville.

Click to expand...

Was he imagining the phone ringing or was he really hearing it? The voice he heard was Lois, who earlier had already left for her "vacation". That was the part I found confusing.....

He was really hearing it. He was dreaming & the phone call woke him up. But you're right about the continuity problem.

Best not to think about it too deeply.

Clark was having a nightmare a phone call woke him up & he went for a little walk around his farm. That's it, looking into it any more than that will just give you a headache.

I guess I'm a continuity freak, it's my curse. If it was Olsen's voice it may have made sense. At least it wasn't Nuclear Man calling...."must kill Superman"...... :-D

jamiemark said:

At least it wasn't Nuclear Man calling...."must kill Superman"...... :-D

Click to expand...

LOL!!!

You wouldn't believe how close I came to using that

I actually had no problem with the phone call. If there was BIG story breaking, Perry White would not hesitate to cancel Lois's vacation and call her back to the Planet. And Lois in turn, would then call in Clark to help with the story.

At least that is how I rationalized it. :?

Hi,

From the feedback I've had it's pretty clear that even though people liked the edit they felt it needed a dramatic climax, ie, it needed the Evil Computer.

So I've re-done the edit putting back in the Evil Computer. I've sorted the continuity issues with Jimmy & Lois at the start & added to the dream sequence.

Regarding the Evil Computer stuff, I've removed the computer game bits, the balloon Supe was caught in, the shite bits from Gus's & Webster's fight & I've trimmed the dodgy bits where that women turns into a robot.





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RS on linktalk

nice!!! I have deepest respect for each faneditor that comes back to his work to get rid of issues and improve on it. Kudos for that. Great!

Thanks, the way I look at it is that this edit was based on ideas given to me through the forum so it was a natural progression to take on the suggestions people had after seeing it to improve the film.

To be honest the only reason I changed the end so dramatically 1st time round was because the bulk of the film was based on other people's ideas & I wanted to make my mark. I should of realised that my ability to edit together so many different ideas from so many different people was my contribution to the edit & that I didn't need to "make my mark".

Next time I'll know better.

will this be released before the end of the month?

i'd like to rewatch this before voting

and i agree with boon - updating fan edits to address weaknesses or add improvements will be what makes fan edits great.

Hi joebshmoe, it's been released today.

AvP has kindly put the demonoid link for The Definitive Smallville Cut in the Torrent section

I thought you made your mark with the "gus" ending, it was really something different, and comically dignified. Ah well, at least we now have two versions to choose from (or one, depending if you want to keep the original up here)

I'll take a look at this, and thanks for realizing how appreciated the battle with the computer is. Getting rid of the computer and that darn bubble were what I was doing with the aborted TJC.