Superman II : The Complete Cut

[AvP]

What is it about?: This is a Donner biased version of Superman II that is complete. There is far less compromises with this version so for those who loved the Donner material this cut is for you.

How to get it? via RAPIDSHARE

tagline: The version you should have seen.

original film name: Superman II : The Richard Donner Cut

new film name : Superman II: The Complete Cut

film studio name : WB

edit crew name : WearneO aka Ollie W

Date Original Film Was Released : 2006

Date Edit Was Released : 2009

Original Runtime : 111 min (PAL)

New Runtime : 122 min (PAL)

Amount of time Cut/Added : 11 minutes of extra footage has been added along with many minor trims and a different ending.

Cuts removed/added/extended :
There are a couple of new changes made to my revised SII cut but predominantly the reason for revisiting this was to create a stronger audio track as my previous version simply wasn't mixed right.

There are three people who I must thank for making this edit possible.

Red Krypton Son; Who gave his blessing for me to use some of his material from the RKS cut, including two re-composited scenes and two audio elements. These being;

- New scene with Lex and Jor-El which shows Zod and co making havoc on Krypton.
- Moving fountains when Superman returns the flag to the Whitehouse.
- Sound element during Villains confrontation which the sheriff.
- Sound element during the first half of the Villain's entering East Idaho.

Verisimilitude; For his guidance in matching LC footage with DC footage.

Booshman; For some really helpful advice on audio editing.

Here's the scene order, NEW changes made to my revised cut are in bold;

- WB logo
- DC; Reeve credit is met with silence.
- DC; Same music cue opens the picture but this is played over traveling space footage from the LC followed by a dissolve into Thau's opening Krypton shot.
- DC; Thau's entire recap is retained, but I've replaced Thau's flipped shot of Krypton exploding with that from STM.
- DC; For credit sequence, Reeve receives top billing followed by Gene, then Brando.
- DC; 'S' logo has been replaced with the STM 'S' logo.
- DC; Daily Planet/Lex in Prison/Villains on the Moon
- DC; Sound FX is added when Zod kicks the astronaut on the moon.
- DC; End dialog between those guys in the control room has been trimmed.
- DC; Lex escapes/Niagara Falls exteriors
- LC; Hotel tour of the room scene is put back in.
- DC; Dialog extended as Lex and Eve head north to include "Ice and snow is this your idea of a good time".
- RKS; Inserted scene of villains making havoc on Krypton.
- LC; ''No possibility for parol'' is put back in.
- LC; Included a shot of Eve walking away.
- DC; Music cue added as Lex thinks out loud with toilet flush removed.
- DC; Rescuing boy at Niagara Falls with dialog "oh course he's Jewish" removed.
- LC; Superman landing behind the stall followed by his explanation with Lois.
- DC; Villains landing & Ursa and the snake scenes have been joined.
- DC; Blank Bullets scene
- DC; Encounter with the Sheriff features additional LC footage and RKS audio with "holy skunk sweat" dialog removed.
- DC; lovers fly north
- LC; Villains encounter with the people of East Idaho features RKS audio playing over the first half of the scene. Cut away from "these human are beginning to bore me" to Supes shows Lois around the fortress, minus crystal being left on the floor.
- DC; Television crew show up features some additional LC footage.
- DC; Cut from "Where's Superman, and why doesn't he do something" to LC Supes and Lois having dinner.
- DC; Non catching rocket, then cut from "Is there no one on this planet to even challenge me" to DC Supes and Lois in bed.
- DC; Zod speech which LC audio.
- DC; Fall of Washington monument/Depowering scene
- LC; Villains fly over the Whitehouse.
- DC; Villains in the Whitehouse
- DC; Diner scene fades into Clark's trek to the fortress.
- DC; Replaced Reeve's delivery of "father" with that from the LC.
- DC; For Lex at the Whitehouse, I opened with Ursa playing with the revolving planets gizmo, thus Non's confused reaction with his toy is scraped.
- DC; Back at the Daily planet
- DC; Music added to the Daily Planet invasion.
- LC; Door knob line put back in.
- DC; Lex's end dialog, "You ought to have that thing fixed" is removed.
- Supes return uses mostly DC footage but features Thorne music and "would you care to step outside".
- DC; "I'm not a coward" audio has been fixed.
- DC; Freezing the tanker with LC audio. A few shots from the LC were needed to keep the audio in sync.
- LC; Included lady on the ground "Superman help us"
- DC; Battle with Zod on the car uses LC audio.
- DC; To the Fortress
- DC; Superman defeats Zod with LC audio. Again a little bit of LC footage was needed to keep the audio in sync.
- Artic patrol scene minus "Smallville strongboy".
- Artic patrol minus "Blast off"
- DC; Destroy fortress/Break-up scene/Dropping Lois back home
- LC; Memory kiss back in but ends with a dissolve from a dizzy Lois to a sun setting shot (from Superman IV), to a day shot of Metropolis.
- DC: Back at the daily Planet (go get the Pizza) scene.
- Clark and Jimmy by the elevator.
- DC; Return to the Diner with LC audio.
- LC; Supes returns flag using RKS's restored shot of the fountains moving.
- LC Fly over, DC fly bye
- DC; End titles with Thorne score.

THE END
DVD PAL 122 Min

Fanedit details:
DVD PAL 16:9 widescreen
2.0 Stereo
Static scene selection menus
Cover Art available separately

Your intention for this fanedit: To re-edit the official release so to making a Richard Donner Superman II that is complete.

Hardware and software information: Clone DVD, DVD2AVI, Besweet/Belight, TMPGEnc Enc, Ulead Video Studio.

Time needed for the edition: Difficult to say.

persons involved: - WearneO aka Ollie W from the Superman Cinema forum
- Father Merrin: For creating DVD artwork
- Boon23; For uploading to rapidshare

 

[Ollie W]

Hi everyone, WearneO here I edited this version of SII. Special thanks to AvP for making it available and for doing the NTSC conversion as this edit was made from PAL source material.

If anyone doesn't have the ability to download or would like an original PAL version you need only ask and I'll happily mail you out a copy.

 

[Ollie W]

Here is some awesome cover art by Father Merrin;

Feel free to send me a PM if anyone would like a high resolution copy of the artwork.

 

[jamiemark]

AVP did you test unpacking the archive? Quick Par says the rar's are fine but they won't extract without errors, even with the password.

 

[AvP]

i never used quick par.

 

[jamiemark]

Quick Par merely checks the individual RAR files. Anyway, I'm still not able to extract without an error message.

 

[AvP]

ok ive tryed the 1st rar...and i get a error too,but the rar files on my HDD are ok,so ill unpack them reupload the film.

 

[stomachworm]

Cooooool. Thanks WearneO. Cool cover father merrin. And of course, thanks for upping this AVP.

 

[Ollie W]

ok ive tryed the 1st rar...and i get a error too,but the rar files on my HDD are ok,so ill unpack them reupload the film.

Thank you for following this up AvP, really appreciated dude.

 

[AvP]

no probs should have it back up in about 4 hrs.

 

[AvP]

new links.

 

[Ollie W]

Has anyone had a chance to watch either or both of my Superman edits?

I'd really appreciate some feedback.

 

[tranzor]

the firstlings/approvals column is lacking. I assume your edits are still in limbo? Luckily I love both Superman 2 and kind of liked Sup 3. Will be checking out your edits by the weekend and offer approval or disapproval--

 

[Ollie W]

Hi tranzor, I sent a copy of each of my Superman edits to Molasar just last week so he should receive them soon to review.

At the end of the day I'd like as much feedback as possible so I'd certainly welcome your opinions on my edits. Particularly Superman II which I am quite proud of. It presents a Donner-like Superman II with far less compromises then the official release.

Personally I feel had this version been released the criticism would have been significantly less. I'm sure the debates would've raged on about which is better; Donner or Lester opening, blank bullets or pink bear. And no doubt the cheap CGI effects would have got a bashing. However from and overall flow and feel I think it would've been more accepted.

That's taking nothing away from any of the other SII edits. Both RKS's and litemakr's were of huge inspiration to me. RKS's was built around trying to make the best version of SII and litemakr's was more of a novelty idea, though executed very well.

My goal with this edit was never to create the ultimate version of SII, but rather to present a more complete and workable Donner version.

 

[Molasar]

FanEdit Review by Molasar

Title/FanEditor: Superman II: The Complete Cut by WearneO

Prologue: Superman II was my favorite sequel as a kid. Great poster, too. As I matured, I grew fonder of the first film. Richard Lester's Superman II was too hokey for me as an adult. It was too light. (Superman Lite?) Anyway, I was very excited to see Richard Donner's version when it premiered on DVD. It treated the characters and their story with much more respect -- it was more serious, if that's the right word. Zod and his minions are more ruthless and evil. But, I felt that reusing the "make the world spin backwards and reverse time" ending was lazy. (I don't care if it was the original intention.) With all the new extra footage available, I knew that fans would attempt to combine both versions -- especially fans like me who really liked Richard Lester's Superman II growing up. This is the second Superman II fanedit I have seen. Based mostly on Donner's cut, it bills itself as the complete cut. Is it? Read on.

The Edit: Overall, I would say that this fanedit is a complete cut. It includes Donner's version (warts and all) minus the recycled reverse time ending from Superman: The Movie plus the "step outside line replacing the "reedom of the press" line, the "US Arctic Patrol" deleted scene, the "amnesia kiss" scene, and the "elevator bully" deleted scene. (WearneO also used some footage from RKS's cut - with permission.) There are many more smaller edits -- see the first post for a complete list. This fanedit retains the serious nature of the Donner cut and even extends the emotional punch of Clark and Lois's relationship by using Lester's ending. The cuts were seamless and well timed. I saw or heard no off musical cues or jumps anywhere. An excellent job as far as cutting. First rate. ("Warts" meaning the use of screen test footage, stand-ins and ADR.)

Edit Grade: *****/*****

Image Quality: This fanedit was originally a PAL-sourced edit. It was converted to NTSC on the DVD I screened. The image was a bit soft and jittered during panning shots at the beginning. Colors were a bit washed out. So, good but not great.

IQ Grade: ***/*****

Audio Quality: The sound was a weak MPEG audio decoded into Dolby Pro-Logic II. The volume was barely audible on my preferred listening level (which my wife would tell you is too loud). I had to switch from RAW to PCM for an increase in volume and I had to turn it up several notches. Despite my efforts, there was little panning across the surrounds and no punch on the LFE end. Overall, lackluster and un-cinematic in the extreme.

AQ Grade: **/*****

The DVD: Static menu with 18 full motion chapter stops. (Father Merrin's art is fantastic. Be sure to check it out.)

Overall Rating: ***.5/***** (not an average) I approve of this cut, given its A/V quality limitations. I'm a stickler for A/V and perhaps I'm too harsh. The edit is so great that I believe it should be seen by others.

Epilogue: This version will not replace my Donner DVD -- yet. Better A/V quality could move this fanedit into rotation whenever I spin the Supes series. Wearneo wanted "to stay true to Donner's vision. Meaning this is not an Ultimate cut of SII, but a more complete and workable Donner version." Mission accomplished.

Molasar has spoken.

Reviewed using Sony 51" 16x9 RPTV with Oppo DVD player upconverting to 1080i via DVI and Onkyo 650 Watt 5.1 surround sound.

 

[Ollie W]

Thank you Molasar for taking the time to review my edit.

Fan editing is a very personal thing and the very fact that anyone can cut a film to his or her liking makes it even more objective. At the end of the day fan editing can be a juggling act as a result of not having access to all the source material. However as with anything there is always a way.

Thus far the only feedback I've received is with regards to the actual film. No one has mentioned the quality of the image and audio. I can't say I'm shocked by your comments Molasar. I'm more then aware that the process I used to create my movie files is not the strongest method and I'm well aware about the shortcomings of the audio which lacks substance and volume.

I think what I'd really like to do is have a crack at creating a much better transfer with true 5.1 sound if possible. However it would be some considerable amount of time before I could work on this again due to work commitments.

Thank you so much for taking the time to watch my edit and approving it on the basis of some quality editing. At the very least your review should motivate me to create a better transfer.

Now that my cut is approved I plead that people provide me with as much feedback as possible. Then when I get around to updating my edit I might consider making further changes based on that feedback.

I'd also really appreciate some help with modifying some of the visuals. For example painting in a 1 on the XK-101 rocket which was mistakenly finished as the XK-10 in the Donner cut.

 

[zerohour]

Hey guys,

I downloaded the files from rapidshare and extracted.
I have burned DVD-R and DVD+R but can't get either to play in my set top players.

The burned discs play just fine on my PC and the folders seem complete and play just fine on my PC.

Anyone else have this trouble and can offer any suggestions?

I burned these discs like I do any movies and am no stranger to DVD authoring so am really stumped by this.

Thanks in advance I am really looking forward to watching this. Everything I read it sounds like it will be extremely enjoyable.

 

[AvP]

what did you use to burn?...sound like you burnt as a DATA disc.

 

[zerohour]

Thanks for the quick response AvP!

I was using Roxio 6.

I did choose data disc as the option and then dumped the Audio_TS and Video_TS folders onto it. That is usually how I burn them and they work just fine.

 

[AvP]

try nero or imgburn.