Superman: Up, Up and Away Edition

A very skillfully edited edition of the first outing for the man of steel, and it's astonishing to think with a little more paitence, the Salkinds and Donner could have delivered a movie which felt a lot more focused and more in-keeping with the kind of groundedness Donner was aiming for in these movies. There's more of a reality to this cut, no silly indulgences into silver age comic book tomfoolery, no shock value death, no time twisting, no weird costume change in mid-air, and the best thing was how easy it is to remove the sequel hook of the three Phantom Zone criminals, allowing Jor-El to ease back into his more traditional role as a desperate scientist rather than some cladestine proesecutor. For anyone wanting a nice smooth done-in-one telling of the Superman mythos, this edit is highly recommended. A great yarn.

This is exactly the movie I always wanted Superman: The Movie to be for my whole life. The pace is tightened, much of the cheese and dated jokes are gone, and what's left is a much more timeless showcase for Reeve's iconic portrayal of Superman. The highlight is the excision of the "turning Earth" ending, which allows this edit to sit much more comfortably next to Superman II: The Donner Cut (or whatever fan edit of that version you prefer) without making it look like Superman is quite so cavalier about messing with the space-time continuum.

MusicEd's HD remaster of this project is apparently in the works, and I look forward to it as much (if not moreso) than whatever new Superman movie WB releases next.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen Superman: The Movie. It was an absolute favorite through my childhood, and many more teen and adult viewings followed. As such, I'm somehow sentimentally attached to it, which makes me overlook many of its flaws, I'm so used to them. Even the turn-back-time thing never bothered me as much as it does other people, since for me it was always there and part of the mythos, as I think I watched the movie before I ever read a single Superman comic book.

As such, this very enjoyable edition by MusicEd is more of a mix than a fix for me. Of course I am happy to see some really bad stuff gone (Can You Read My Mind... ugh), but at the same time there are some bits I kinda miss all along. Not that I have much of a problem with that, as almost all of them can be easily considered a matter of personal preference and the movie works just as well without them. One, however, as others have mentioned, creates a bit of a character development hole: the removal of the "swell" scene results in Clark and Lois having just met in the Planet office cutting to them suddenly walking and talking down the street as if they have instantly grown fond of each other's company. The "swell" scene provided the casual encounter factor needed for this to flow naturally (Incidentally, the last workprint of this that I watched did not have the "swell" scene either but I found it less noticeable there because it kept more of the Planet scene, while the released edit cuts it right after "Any more at home like you?/Not really, no" and straight to the street. It doesn't feel like a proper flow. It is, however, the one real problem I have with this cut.

For the rest, it flows really well and has very good pacing. The trial scene removal is a very good choice, as it is of course irrelevant to this movie, and the rest is a combination of cutting good yet unneeded bits, and cutting garbage and mythos-killers. Even the infamous Clark-turning-to-Superman-in-mid-air is gone. As for the end, before watching I was a bit worried that the movie would end up without much of a climax once the turn back time stuff was removed, but to my pleasant surprise it works really well and is still climactic and strong.

Technically it's all very well executed, except for the music fadeout right after the boat robber hits Supes with the crowbar, it feels too fast and a bit edited. Visually there are also one or two hints of tweaked elements in the opening credits (the theatre curtains, and a couple blue blurs from removed names) if you look closely and with the intention of nitpicking. But overall, a solid job.

Video and audio quality on the disc are top-notch. However, the menus still have the same problem "The Moonraker Plot" menus had: they turn to a completely green screen a split second after they start, if viewed on VLC Player on a computer (and I've tried them on several different PCs). It must be a matter of the authoring software.

Ed's "The Moonraker Plot" definitely became a replacement disc for me, turning a really bad movie into an unexpectedly good one. This, however, is more of a companion disc to the theatrical cut to me, for alternate viewing. But, I must say I definitely prefer it to the bloated and draggy extended DVD cut, and would recommend it to any fan of the movie or the character.

This is a pretty great fanedit. Superman The Movie is my favorite Sups flick and this makes it even better. It runs smoothly without dragging, while retaining the deliberate pace and character moments. Recommended for fans of Superman.

This was a very good fanedit. It decides to be standalone and faster paced, and it does its job greatly. Highly recommend it!