I've been re-watching the RIC, and I have to say I respect Lester's contributions a little more now. I prefer the Honeymoon Suite reveal to Lois-with-a-gun; and say what you will about the Amnesia Kiss, Kidder and Reeve's acting is superb there.
I feel exactly the same way. The acting and content in both those scene really carries the romance in a way the Donner scenes just don't do.
I agree, and I'm sure out of the inevitably high number of fan edits that will come from Superman II, one version will end in this way. For those of us who want to acknowledge Superman Returns in continuity, there will be other versions.
Personally, though ,I would have preferred that Singer have adapted "Secret Identity" if he wanted to keep Superman grounded and attack many of the same themes he attacked in the movie. That graphic novel is one of the purest, most inspirational and heartfelt studies on Superman I've read.
I feel exactly the same way. The acting and content in both those scene really carries the romance in a way the Donner scenes just don't do.
What I'm coming around to is that there's probably no way to reconstruct the 'original vision' since that would be the 600-page script that was never completely shot. Scholars, weigh in here: if the time-reversal gag was the original ending, would Lois still have died at half-time? At the end? At all? It's fairly unworkable.
You're absolutely right. There were so many alterations to that original script and then so much that was not shot, it's impossible to recreate it with the materials available. And to answer your question, Lois was originally to have died at the end of Superman II, at the hands of the villains. This was to enrage Superman enough for him to reverse time, saving Lois and putting the villains back into the Phantom Zone. In this context everything would have fell into place quite nicely.
If you're talking about making the best Superman II without any sort of connection to returns, then simply cut out all the world spinning nonsense AND the super-kiss and have Clark trusting Lois on that Balcony to stay quiet about the secret and then have him fly straight to the North Pole. That's the simplest, and probably best choice if all you're concerned with is making Superman II itself the best Superman II it can be, everything else be damned.
You're absolutely right. There were so many alterations to that original script and then so much that was not shot, it's impossible to recreate it with the materials available. And to answer your question, Lois was originally to have died at the end of Superman II, at the hands of the villains. This was to enrage Superman enough for him to reverse time, saving Lois and putting the villains back into the Phantom Zone. In this context everything would have fell into place quite nicely.
If you're talking about making the best Superman II without any sort of connection to returns, then simply cut out all the world spinning nonsense AND the super-kiss and have Clark trusting Lois on that Balcony to stay quiet about the secret and then have him fly straight to the North Pole. That's the simplest, and probably best choice if all you're concerned with is making Superman II itself the best Superman II it can be, everything else be damned.
I agree, and I'm sure out of the inevitably high number of fan edits that will come from Superman II, one version will end in this way. For those of us who want to acknowledge Superman Returns in continuity, there will be other versions.
Personally, though ,I would have preferred that Singer have adapted "Secret Identity" if he wanted to keep Superman grounded and attack many of the same themes he attacked in the movie. That graphic novel is one of the purest, most inspirational and heartfelt studies on Superman I've read.
Yes, that's a great graphic novel! A very mature and insightful exploration on what it means to be Superman, and of course a great "What If?" scenario.