Category: Super-Props

A recent viewing of the Richard Donner Cut of Superman II prompted a dusting off of my original script, (originally belonging to Production Illustrator Reg Hill) where I was reminded of the intended opening shown above.

These pages are the only evidence of the scene’s existence, however, as apparently it was never shot. The lack of the Fox Hunting scene among others accounts for Superman’s late appearance in his own movie, highlighting the fundamental problem with the Donner Cut insofar as expectations could never be met by what is, essentially, a series of unfinished scenes with Richard Lester footage as glue. Despite a valiant effort by editor Michael Thau to achieve coherence with this, it ultimately best viewed as a flawed but nonetheless groundbreaking experiment – and possibly the greatest DVD extra ever conceived.

Its also fascinating to think what potential use the above scene may have been put to in a campaign to ban foxhunting by people who shared Superman’s sentiment – a law that was passed by the UK Government decades later…