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Intent for Edit:
Two of my favorite movies as a 10 year old boy were Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. As I have grown and learned many things about film and narrative, I have come to lament these two films. There are such beautiful gems in both films that are completely buried in a sea of boring, silly, and pointless things. For 15 years+ now, I have had the desire to try and salvage something good out of Superman III, as the corruption and subsequent redemption of Superman (crystalized in the junkyard battle) is still one of my favorite Superman moments across all media.
About 3 months ago I was introduced to Adigitalman's Superman Redeemed fan edit which is archived on this very site. I was blown away at the stroke of genius of marrying the plots and good moments from 3 and 4. Surprisingly, the two films fit together so well that they created NEW themes, seemingly from nowhere, that elevated both films past their original presentations. However, I was a little disappointed in the brevity and lack of character and story development that led to the great payoff moments. Therefore, I wanted to build upon what Adigitalman had already accomplished. This cut gives us a moment to breathe and contemplate Superman's turn to vanity and apathy which is catalyzed by the scratch from Nuclear Man.
So, with all that being said, I have edited together Superman 3 and 4 (with excerpts from Superman 2 and a few shots from Superman Returns) to create a pleasing and thematically rich film that actually focuses on the character of Superman/Clark Kent… unlike the failures of 3 and 4 which really seem to focus on plot points/messages/and extraneous characters slathered over by some very poor effects in the case of 4. To be 100% clear… I give full credit for the conception of this work to Adigitalman and his fan edit “Superman Redeemed.” The goal here is to more flesh out and fully realize his idea into a seamless film. Also, I have improved the visual and sound quality by sourcing the footage from a Superman 3 blu ray and Booshman’s color corrected Superman 4.
The ultimate hope is to restore a good final taste in the mouths of us Chris Reeve Superman fans when watching anything after the first two films. Also, I really wanted to give some closure to the Lois and Superman romance which was left hanging forever, sadly.
***CHANGES OVERVIEW***
-Elimination of all subplots not directly related to Superman/Clark Kent in both films (Superman 3 & 4). This leaves two main plots that tie together pretty well with some help from the Paris H-bomb incident in the Theatrical Cut of Superman 2.
-Removed Characters that distract from the new plot such as: Ross Webster, Guss Gorman, Mr. Warfield, etc...
-Removed as many cringey components of the films as possible (Lacey in outer space, looney toons style elements of Lex's prison break from Superman 4, Nuclear man's levitation, reverse time, and bazooka melting powers)
-Added new Opening Credit sequence which recaps the events of the first two films (a harmonized version of Superman The Movie and Superman 2 The Richard Donner Cut).
-Added a new mid credit sequence at the end of the film that finally gives the Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder romance a satisfying conclusion.
-Borrowed Booshman’s color corrected edit of Superman 4 to try and improve the look of the footage.
-Eliminated the worst effect in Superman 4 (when Supes and Nukes first fight and fall off the building Lex is in). Instead of following their fight down the length of the building (in terrible green screen) and then watching a tiny Superman slide diagonally across the screen for no apparent reason, we hold on the broken railing for an extra second or two and then cut to Superman chasing Nuclear Man.
-Since, in this cut, Superman is first made very sick by the Nuclear Man scratch, is saved by the influx of energy from the crystal power module given to him by his mother in his infant ship, I inserted an altered image of a Daily Planet newspaper showing that the world knows that Superman is in fact alive. This then cuts to his survival being celebrated by the town of Smallville at little Ricky's birthday he promised to attend earlier in the film.
-After Superman makes use of the energy module to survive the radiation poisoning scratch, I inserted a few altered shots of Superman Returns when Superman flies up to the sun in order to regain his energy. I used a portion of the evil Superman theme to accompany the imagery, broadcasting to the audience that this might not be an entirely good thing (since the sudden influx of crazy amounts of energy combined with this radical radiation poisoning corrupts his behavior and judgment). His sickness, while no longer fatal, has now become a corrupting agent within him. This is depicted in the subsequent evil Superman scenes from Superman 3.
-I replaced several pieces of music throughout both the Superman 3 and 4 excerpts to help highlight some of the plot and theme differences in my cut.
-There are an almost uncountable number frame trims and cuts... as well as audio blends and L cuts to smooth over the transitions from one film to the next.
-I included a few pieces of text after the credit sequence but before the film proper begins to give an idea of the passage of time from Superman 2 and also highlight the theme of the movie. It's a quote from Perry White's memoirs, presumably, years down the road upon reflection of a time when Superman almost got too carried away with trying to steer the world in a better direction. By doing so, perhaps he was in danger of making himself out to be an antagonist to human development.
***MORE DETAILED EDIT BREAKDOWN***
-New opening credit sequence that serves as a recap of Superman 1 & 2. It is about 10 minutes of score and imagery, so I consider it to be a bit of a classic overture as well. This might not be for everybody, but it also serves to tell the audience what canon this story takes place in. It is, essentially, a follow up of the Donner cut of Superman 2. Though, it’s really a spiritual sequel to Wraith’s epic cut of 1&2.
-Cut out the opening scenes of both Superman 3 and Superman 4 (Guss Gorman at unemployment/slapstick opening credit sequence [3] & Superman saving the Russian astronauts [4]).
-Immediately after new credit sequence we cut to the daily planet scene in Superman 3 where Lois goes on vacation and Clark heads back to smallville for his highschool reunion with Jimmy.
-Cut to Clark and Jimmy on the bus heading toward small villa. This leads into Superman saving the day at the chemical plant fire in Superman 3. The scene plays out un-altered.
-Cut to Clark flying into his old home in smallville from Superman 4 as he talks selling the house and retrieves his mother’s gifted power module from his infant ship. The scene plays out un-altered.
-Cut to the highschool reunion from Superman 3. The scene is un-altered.
-Cut to Lex Luthor being broken out of prison by Lenny (Superman 4). This scene is heavily truncated. Cut out redundant closing mechanisms on car to make the whole thing feel more quick and sudden, thus catching the guards by surprise. In the original presentation they look like total morons. I also cut out two shots after the car goes off the cliff. The first is the initial exchange between Lenny and Lex (redundant information and waste of time). The second is the cutaway showing the guards surviving the crash. This is so cartoony it undercuts the tone of the film. By excising that shot it also makes Luther seem a bit more dangerous... as he may have just killed two men right at the onset of the film.
-Cut to the morning clean-up of the highschool gymnasium with Clark and Lana (Superman 3). This is a great scene where we really start to reconnect with Clark on a human level and get to learn who Lana is. The scene plays out un-altered.
-Cut to Lex and Lenny stealing Superman's strand of hair at the museum with the intent of creating nuclear man from his DNA (Superman 4). The scene is un-altered.
-Cut to the wheatfield picnic with Lana, Clark, and Ricky from Superman 3. The scene is un-altered.
-Cut back to Metropolis and the daily planet as Clark is writing the article for his experience back home and what memories that brings up (Superman 3). He receives a call from Lana who asks if Superman can attend little Ricky's B-day party. Clark tells her that Superman will be there. This reconnecting with his past and the audience getting to know who Clark really is outside of the Superman persona helps set up our cheering for Clark later on in his battle with evil Superman. Also, his humility and groundedness are pitted against his large world history altering decision to singlehandedly rid the world of nuclear weapons. We, already, are starting to see a dichotomy between Clark as a person... and Superman as a global figure/persona. The scene cuts out the hurt bingo winners that went to central America threatening Perry with a lawsuit. I also re-used the Daily Planet building facade shot for an establishing shot and transition from smallville.
-Cut to Lenny and Lex building the cloning machine to create Nuclear man in Lex's lab from Superman 4. The scene is un-altered.
-Cut to an establishing shot of Metropolis from Superman 4. I removed the text from the bottom of the screen stating "METROPOLIS" since we have already been there and do not need an introduction to the location. I did this by repeating the last frame of the shot for several seconds; the frames of the shot without the text were too few to use un-altered. In order to make it appear less like a still image I added some moving film grain.
-Cut to the next shot from Superman 4 which is Clark crossing the street almost getting hit by a taxi and going down into the subway system. I only used this portion of the scene to create a sense of a passage of time, since the last time we saw Clark was ALSO at the daily planet. By cutting here early in the morning and seeing Clark on his way to work we establish that this is some time in the future from his phone call with Lana.
-Cut to Cark walking into the main floor of the daily planet and making his way into Perry's office. This is a scene from Superman 2 (theatrical cut). Clark learns that terrorists have hostages on the Eiffel Tower and are threatening to level all of Paris with a nuclear hydrogen bomb. He also learns that Lois is there covering the story. I altered the audio so that Perry says, "I put her on the first concord." as opposed to "I put her on the first concord out of here." This harmonizes the scene from earlier where Lois is mentioned to be going on vacation in Bermuda. The implication is that a concord jet got her from her vacation to Paris.
-Cut to the next scene from Superman 2 (theatrical) where Lois ascends the Eiffel Tower, the hostages are released, and Superman throws the bomb out into space. The scene is truncated to cut away from after the explosion... as the rest of the scene depicts Zodd and company being freed from the phantom zone. Bridge music was used to bring an end to the scene via audio.
-Cut to re-sourced sequence from Superman Redeemed, where a voice announces that nations will be further constructing nuclear weapons in response to the terrorist nuclear threat... thus upping the nuclear arms race across the globe. From here Adigital man cut to the school scene in Superman 4 where Jeremy says he wants to write a letter to Superman so he can help get rid of all nuclear weapons. This more or less, L cuts to the scene of Clark contemplating what to do in the daily planet with the audio of him reading Jeremy's letter. From here he cuts to Clark contemplating further in his apartment while recalling what Jor-el said to him in Superman 1 about destruction being avoided by not falling victim to vanity. In my cut I used a different flying shot of Superman from Superman 3 so as not to repeat the shot originally used which is seen later in the film. Also, I added the president’s television address from Superman 4 to further highlight the political context and tension.
-Cut to Superman flying to the fortress of solitude consulting with the elders (Superman 4). The scene is unaltered.
-Cut to UN Superman speech in Superman 4. Scene is unaltered. The film continues as normal with Superman collecting nuclear missiles and sending them into the sun.
-Cut to Lex enlisting political and black market accomplices to defeat Superman and re-arm the world with nukes. The scene is truncated. (S4)
-Cut to Lex present at the middle launch. The scene is un-altered. (S4)
-Cut to the birth of nuclear man in space who then travels to earth. (S4)
-I excised the workout scene with Lacey as she is no longer a boss/love interest. She now serves as another daily planet employee and friend of Lois. (S4)
-Cut to Lex meeting Nuclear man. The scene is unaltered. (S4)
-Cut to Lana rebuffing Brad over the phone. The scene is truncated for a smoother edit. The plot point of her inevitable move to metropolis is not entirely lost however. She still realizes the answer to her plight vocally and dials the phone. Her travel arrangements are implied rather than stated.(S3)
-Cut to Clark getting the threat of blowing up a building from Lex on the big screen downtown (Superman 4). This is a snippet of a much larger scene which was removed (double date of Supes/Lois and Clark/Lacey). I also used the shot of Superman flying to Lex’s building to confront him as a bridge to that scene. I accompanied that shot with the audio of the shot of him flying right over the building a few seconds later in the film since the musical cue cut in better. (S4)
-Cut to Lex filling Superman in on his plan and orders Nuclear Man to kill Superman.
***Detailed Edit Breakdown is still being compiled. Thanks for your patience***
*** NOTE*** This project did not attempt to alter much footage, but rather to restructure the plots of Superman 3 and 4 to create a satisfying final adventure for Christopher Reeve's Superman.
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