The Superman Motion Picture Anthology, 1978-2006 (1978)

Finally, the original Superman series hits Blu ray. I still don't get why this didn't happen way back in 2006 when the dvd set came out. All we got were a poor transfer of the extended version of the first film, a great transfer of the Donner Cut of part 2, and a fairly poor transfer of Superman Returns. Here we get 'em all, plus they are all new transfers from the previous releases making it beyond worth picking up.

All, and I mean ALL, the special features from the previous dvd set is included in this eight blu ray disc box set. Now maybe someone out there can correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't recall, on the box set dvd or the blu ray, the previous releases of Superman Returns having the deleted scene of Superman returning the barron and destroyed planet Krypton searching for life in his crystal spaceship. I've never seen this five minutes sequence before in my life. I've only seen snippets of it on the theatrical trailers for the film. Well, I got to see it for the first time today. While Returns is no great film, this scene should have been left in. It would've opened the film up more. Even weirder is this scene is completely finished. All the effects are GREAT and finished and polished. I can't believe they cut this scene. Hell, there were even action figures made of Superman's space suit and his ship back in 2006 for a sequence that was never even seen by mainstream film goers. Whatever. All the other deleted scenes and extended cuts are here too. All the films have their commentaries included, except Returns which never had one unfortunately.

Of course some of the special features are repetitive. The commentaries repeat some of the info give in the featurettes and documentaries. Back in 2001 a box set for the first four films was released on dvd. Only the first film had special features and an extended cut. The documentary, cut into three parts, is included. While this doc repeats a lot of what is on the eighth disc's featurettes regarding the whole series' history, it does skim over the on set tensions and the firing of Richard Donner from the directing duties of part 2. So, essentially, if you're a hardcore fan like me, you will have to view both. We get the first feature film of Superman starring George Reeves called Superman and the Mole Men, not really in HD unfortunately. Even better is we the classic animated shorts from Fleischer studios. They're not cleaned up but they look pretty good in a low grade version of hi def. The audio of all movies has been upgraded and it reall shows.

Shockingly to me, is that the AWFUL Superman IV: The Quest for Peace looks really good in hi def. I mean, it never looked that good, and all the edges of the effects always showed, but the blu ray transfer doesn't make them MORE apparent, but the colors look good. Go figure. My favorite part of the part IV disc is the deleted scenes. Now these scenes make the film seem more whole and help it make a ton more sense, especially towards the third act, but the movie stilled would've been just as awful. It just would've been a comprehensible mess as opposed to what it is. I also appreciate co-screenwriter Mark Rosenthal committing a commentary to this disc, as well as an interview for the 8th disc docs. He is frank and never once tries to polish this turd that he worked on. He's the only one from this film that even bothered to comment, so I more than appreciate it. Something about filmmakers talking about movies that didn't work always intrigues me more than the ones that do, just see the Joel Schumacher commentary for Batman and Robin. Superman Returns FINALLY looks the way it should. The colors pop and the sound booms. All previous dvd and blu ray versions of this film were terrible, and even more so when you see the new disc, which kept all the previous releases special features and included the video diaries which were an exclusive to the Superman tin from 2006.

Finally, the last thing I'll mention, is Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. This is the best special feature ever made for any movie ever made in the history of movies. I'm super happy that Warner Brothers paid to have this experiment made, that Donner cared enough to give it a whirl, and that it was worth watching. Most people who initially reviewed this movie just DIDN'T GET IT. It wasn't a complete representation of Donner's vision for Superman II. Most people complained that it had the same ending as the first film. Well, if you bothered to listen to the commentary or watch the doc that accompanies the disc you would know that they were behind while shooting both films back to back, and decided to hedge their bets and not assume that Superman: The Movie would be an instant hit. They stole the ending from part II and stuck it on the first film. Since Donner never got to make part II he has no ending to put but the one that was scripted when he was making the film over thirty years ago. So this is more of an experiment than a competition for the theatrical Lester version. This is as close to Donner's movie as we'll ever get. Personally, I loved it. The screen test footage sticks out like a sore thumb, the acting and writing is GREAT, and Superman's reveal to Lois is clever and fun, as opposed to the dumb Lester version of Clark tripping into a fire. If you watch the doc or listen to the commentary you will understand what shots were all Donner stuff. If you have a keen eye for film you'll now anyway. The effects work and photography and choreography for Donner's footage is sooooo much more graceful and classy. While his films have goofy humor, the villains from Krypton are played straight and malevolent, unlike the Lester version. Now I don't hate the Lester version. It's enjoyable, but an obvious step down in tone and quality from the first film. It will forever be the offical sequel due to Donner never having filmed or even been give the opportunity to come up with a third act. Now the only annoyance of the Donner cut for me, beyond the reused end of the first film, is that the middle section is very choppy. The scenes that cut between the alien invasion and Superman and Lois falling further in love are harshly edited and don't always breath enough. That's it. Donner reveals much bitterness regarding not having stayed on board for all the Superman movies, but he seems jovial all the time. I'm happy he was able to get some closure, and really happy that fans like me could have such a neat gift. It's also bittersweet in the sense that the Donner cut shows so much potential it makes you feel slighted regarding what he eventually got with the series and the downward spiral it took.

All discs are upgraded in audio and visuals so for any Superman fan it's a no brainer. This is an upgrade. Now I understand if you don't care to own the later films, but you will have to wait as I'm sure they will all be released individually just like the Batman films. This will probably happen to coincide with the release of Zach Snyder's upcoming Superman film next year. I'm hoping the next Superman film is truly just a tale of Superman and NOT another origin story. It's been done in the comics, movies, cartoons, and tv shows. NO MORE. Who doesn't know Superman's origins at this point. I will be very bored if that's the case. We'll see. Fingers crossed.

I was really excited to see the never-before-released "Return to Krypton" sequence from "Superman Returns," but I know there are still several deleted scenes from "Superman: The Movie," Superman II," and "Superman III" which have NEVER been released anywhere that I know of. What's the reasoning behind this? In "The Movie," from what I've heard there was a scene from a TV version where Jonathan and Martha Kent are talking in the truck about their lives right before the meteor lands. There was also an extended scene between young Clark Kent and Lana Lang with Jeff East's original voice not dubbed (this one can be seen on Youtube). In "Superman II," there's a cut scene where the young boy from the town the villains invade jumps on a white pony and tries to escape, then General Zod said "I said NO ONE LEAVES!" and Non throws a police car siren at the boy, killing him. Part of this scene appeared in the documentary "You Will Believe" included on the set, but not all of it. There are also several other scenes that were shown in previous TV versions, such as two pilots on an airplane seeing Superman fly by. In "Superman III," it would have been nice to include the original opening title sequence which took place in outer space (this is also viewable on Youtube). From "Superman Returns," we're still missing the scene where young Clark discovers the crystals in the barn (a clip was seen in the trailer), Clark Kent hiding his Superman outfit in a janitor's closet at the Daily Planet, and a meeting between Perry White and Superman on the street (this was shown in a TV version). I guess we'll never be able to have any of these scenes on an actual disc to enjoy over and over again. :-(

Buy The Superman Motion Picture Anthology, 1978-2006 (1978) Now

Superb. Comprehensive. All any fan will ever need.

Extras are fabulous. Multiple documentaries and commentaries with plenty of terrific, fascinating retrospective info that digs deep into what a monumental achievement getting the original 1978 "Superman" to screen was, followed by the bizarre downward slide of the series.

And, once and for all, we get the lowdown on how Director Richard Donner and the Producers parted company in such poisonous fashion. Amazing considering they'd just released one of the most popular movies of all time, the progenitor and benchmark for all superhero films to follow.

The mostly diabolical "Superman IV" looks nice and crisp on Blu. The commentary by writer Mark Rosenthal dishes on the troubled production you can tell he's struggling to be gracious. And his bitterness manifests in amusing ways like his utter contempt for poor Mark Pillow as Nuclear Man (or more specifically his haircut..) wow, did Pillow beat up Rosenthal for his lunch money or something?

As dreadful as the fourth movie is, 'Superman III' comes off as the most misbegotten of the series. Trashing the spirit and integrity of the character for cheap, flat slapstick humour humour that had began to seep into Lester's 'Superman II' sequences.

What the Hell was Superman ever doing playing second banana to Richard Pryor? Worst of all, he and the movie simply aren't funny. Apart from the ever reliable Reeve, virtually EVERYTHING that made I & II so memorable is missing.

Ironically, Bryan Singer was so reverential to the Donner original, it became a millstone round his neck that makes 'Superman Returns' a suprisingly dull retread. And it really doesn't pop on Blu-ray like it should.

Here's hoping new director Zack Snyder can make Superman fly high again. The Man of Steel deserves it.

Read Best Reviews of The Superman Motion Picture Anthology, 1978-2006 (1978) Here

This is not a review. I just wanted to let people know that I ordered this directly from Amazon and not a 3rd party seller and received the US version. Some people are saying they are receiving the UK version, and perhaps it's because they bought from a 3rd party seller and not from Amazon directly. I really don't know. I suppose it's possible they received the UK version directly from Amazon because of some mistake, but it just doesn't make since that the US Amazon would be sending UK versions of this set. The pictures for this show the US version and that is what I received. You will know you have the US version if top of the box splits open from the bottom to pull out discs. The UK version requires you to slide discs out from side of box. Also the US version has the names of the movies clearly printed in big letters on the middle of the discs, whereas the UK version has the names of the movies in tiny print on the edge of the disc. It's so tiny you can barely read it. There are also some Spanish words on disc art of UK version.

I know this really isn't the place to mention something like this, but didn't want anyone to hesitate buying this if they've been thinking of it, since there is a great sale on it right now. I was a little hesitant myself because of previous reviewers saying they had received UK set, but again if you buy directly from Amazon you should have no problems. If you do, Amazon is always great about accepting returns, especially since they are advertising the US set in the pictures.

Want The Superman Motion Picture Anthology, 1978-2006 (1978) Discount?

The Classic Superman movies are so great, excelent and very good made. However, the re-adaptation of the movies from one source to a brand new one (blu-ray) are not very nice. What I mean is that these movies have to be re-mastered with more detail and with more hours invested in order to get an excelent work. The high definition quality is not as one expected to have. If you compare these movies with Back to the future movies or Star Wars Blu-rays, you could problably say that Superman movies have the poorest qualtity of them. I was expecting a better quality when we talk about high definition picture, may be I am so demanding but I like movies and I like the classic the most. Superman has been always one my favorites characters and so the movies. Blu-ray means that the movie per se has to offer you the highest qualtiy possible compared with other sources like the DVD, so the studios have to invest a lot of hours, work and huge budget in order to make an excelent job not just a good job. Old movies are more complicated to re-mastered because the original source could be damaged or lost, but technicians know how to solve this issue. In conclution, I would say, that if you allready have the movies from the DVD collection, keep them and take in mind that probably in the near future, there is going to be a better release of Superman anthology.