girl scouts + superman

2008.04.09 23.37

Got an email today from a guy interested in attaining a copy of my 1983 broadcast of SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. I'm still working on my response to him in GMail. As I've mentioned in previous super movie geeky blog entries, my dad and I recorded this when it first premiered on broadcast television. It was chock full of weird deleted scenes that seemed to have been pulled straight out of the film editor's trash bin. In retrospect it makes perfect sense why these excised scenes found their way back into the film. Advertising revenue. ABC was able to capitalize on showing SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE on two different nights because the cut was so gargantuan. This brings me to my latest deleted scene. I haven't posted one in over two years. Slacker! I've enhanced this clip using Adobe Premiere CS3 by widening the aspect ratio, adjusting the white balance, the gray balance, the saturation, the hue, the contrast, the brightness, and tossing in a partridge in a pear tree. Watch now and be amazed.

the superman stormtrooper

2006.03.08 19.59

Hey now. This is a short little entry I'm making because another blogger linked to my Superman deleted scenes. He requested the scene where the ''stormtrooper'' gets blown away. In the extended DVD release that came out in 2001, you see the Kryptonian council detecting that Jor-El is using ''too much energy'' so surely something is up with that. They send in some guy (below) dressed in a white suit with a mask on to go get him and throw his ass into the Phantom Zone. The ''cop'' never gets there, though, because the planet is busy blowing itself up. Check out the clip which is super short and clocks in at less than 5 seconds. The scene itself reminds me of how the Disney film ''The Black Hole'' ends with Maximillion having human eyes and presiding over what appears to be hell. It's either that or El Paso.

shut down

2005.09.07 20.21

The following blog post is in honor of the brain crushing headache I've had for the last three days, plus as a final anecdote to the memory of the Relationship That Wasn't Meant To Be™ with the aforementioned totally out of my league slash super-intelligent writer hottie Tisha. There will be no more practicing out loud of the phonetic saying of the name ("Teesha"). My self-imposed moratorium on the posting of all things related to SUPERMAN is now hereby lifted! To kick things off, I give you Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine in the last installment of my ''Diversionary Tactics'' deleted scenes series. My personal belief about why this scene was cut? Larry Hagman's sudden unexplained absence, for one thing. Another? The filmmakers never bother to show the CORRECT SEQUENCE when Valerie Perrine is ''correcting'' what Ned Beatty messed up in an earlier scene (because his ''arm wasn't long enough''). She closes the panel and all the numbers are completely wrong. Duh. Dropped scene. Enjoy this one. Now I'm off to walk my dog and then hit the gym to do abs and cardio.

even more diversionary tactics

2005.08.24 19.56

I'm home sick today. I'd been hoping to do some work with Actuate but I ended up drugged out sleeping most of the day. So, since I have nothing more of interest to say, I thought this would be an ideal time to post another edition of Deleted Scenes From Superman The Movie That I Thought Were Cool But Were Not Really Shown... Uhhh... Officially. Riiiiight. In today's sequence, Larry ''I Dream of Jeannie'' Hagman suggests a vigorous chest massage and mouth to mouth are the most appropriate medical responses for the unconscious blonde in the middle of the road. But wait! There's more. Watch the video and you'll see a lot more from Lex Luthor (with Otis screwing up the sabotage of a nuclear warhead) than you'd seen before. They cut the Otis part out so it would be more of surprise and not flat out obvious that he'd screwed up the plan. Okay, now watch.

more diversionary tactics

2005.08.16 23.31

As I try to shrug off a possible sore throat today, I'd like to publish another round of my deleted scenes from SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE that I got off my 1982 recording of the ABC broadcast. This is just a quick reaction shot of the guys who are driving up to the scene of Miss Teschmacher lying on the road. They pretty much say ''Oh, wow! That's pretty bad!'' and many variations on that same theme. If you look closely, that's Larry (I Dream of Jeannie, Dallas) Hagman saying that he's going to call an ambulance. Larry had several lines in this sequence trimmed back. He's totally hilarious. Just wait until the third scene gets published. But for the time being, watch this scene and wish that it was longer. That sounds bad. Oh well, too bad. I've gotta go. It's hard writing these snippets, okay?

diversionary tactics

2005.08.07 17.29

Lex Luthor is gritting his teeth, waiting to see if Otis is going to figure out what he's doing wrong. After waiting several moments, Luthor finally questions Otis: ''Mr. Otis, do you live in England?'' Otis thinks about this for a moment, as if it's a trick question. Can you guess what he's going to say? I really like this little scene. It's one of three from this sequence that I'll be posting whenever I feel bored. My guess on why this was cut? There's too great a distance between how far the car goes and when they finally flip it over. Same problem from the cat burlgar sequence. Continuity. Despite that, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE has all sorts of little surprises like this that got cut in the editing room. Okay, now I'm trying to think of something else to say so I can fit this text into the space to the left of the photo. Ummm. Wal-Mart closes way too early on Sundays in Philadelphia. Tell your friends. Okay, that's enough of that. Now, watch the clip.

reporter

2005.07.29 5.59

In this quick deleted scene from SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, the reporters who have been watching Superman save Lois and the falling helicopter from crashing down are arguing over what just happened. I'm like: ''What's the big deal? A man in a blue skintight suit just jumped into the air and defied gravity. A lot. Yeah, so, he didn't really just jump because he was able to stop in mid-air and then change direction. It could happen.'' This scene also contains a few extra seconds of Superman flying from right to left. They dropped this in lieu of cutting straight to the cool part where he rotates, then the camera rotates, and then he rotates once again. Personally, one thing about the camera guy in this shot -- I wouldn't be using a steadycam to film video of someone flying straight up above me, but that's just me. If he wants to hold the camera awkwardly then have at it. This might have been as far back into the 70's when local news used FILM instead of video. What a pain! Alright, I've stretched this subject way more than the 15 seconds of video requires. My next deleted scene update will feature driving in England. Figure that one out.

feeling catty

2005.07.21 20.42

On Superman's first night out protecting Metropolis, he spots a cat burglar scaling the side of a tall building. This extended sequence features said burglar passing a seemingly oblivious late night worker. My bet is that Donner took this out because the suction cups are making so much noise and it's not believable that the guy inside the building couldn't hear it. Another good point is that the cat burglar doesn't get too far past this guy when Superman steps in and asks, ''Hi. Something wrong with the elevator?'' This sends the surprised burglar plummeting and they show him falling a long, long way. Way longer than how far he just crawled between ignorant worker guy and Superman. My clip only consists of the cut sequence so close your eyes if you want it to keep going. Ahhh. Just think -- SUPERMAN RETURNS is less than a year away. Yeah, I'm geeking out.

superman memories

2005.06.11 10.42

Before I last left Houston, I captured two more samples of deleted scenes from my 1982 copy of the ABC presentation of SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE. In the first scene, the military reacts to the missiles going haywire all of a sudden. The sequence starts off with a general asking if the bomb can be knocked down to which the lieutenant replies ''Function negative, Sir!'' This piece picks up right after the general says: ''My God!'' You will be interested to know that John Ratzenburger (the guy from Cheers, not the guy from the Vatican) plays the lieutenant. They show him pushing buttons and looking exasperated. The scene then shifts to the Pentagon and eventually ends up on a golf course where the president of the United States is stuck in a dirt trap.

This second short and sweet additional dialog occurs when Lex is in his library researching whether or not kryptonite might have fallen to earth at some point. This was pre-Smallville on the WB, of course. If he'd gone to Smallville there should have been tons of it to go around. Otis and Miss Teschmacher argue when Otis presents something as if he first mentioned it, and Miss T. declares that she already said that. I know, it's not that interesting a piece of deleted dialog, but it does make you think about getting your lines cut. Good times.

more superman deleted scenes

2005.05.15 12.51

I've got two more little gems to post from my cache of deleted scenes from Superman: The Movie. The first is a really nice little piece featuring Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure) as he emulates Perry White while speaking to a coworker. Jimmy apparently has some authority over this guy. He is promptly humiliated when Perry asks him for some coffee. Jimmy shrugs it off and delegates the coffee request to the coworker. It's a funny little piece and you do get to see Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder shuttle out of the office after Perry White has given his, ''What are you standing around for? MOVE!'' speech.

The second deleted scene is a short piece lopped off after Lex Luthor is given his robe by Otis while still standing in the pool. In the theatrical cut, the scene ends with Otis looking down and grunting as he realizes his mistake. This scene continues as Otis belts out apology after apology and attempts to ring the water out of the robe as Luthor exits the pool.

last son of krypton

2005.04.21 22.29

Yeah, I'm completely geeking out. I've gone ahead and created a new deleted scene page for SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE -- this time featuring an extended version of the Frisky the cat rescue scene. Read all about it!