This latest addition to my collection is a generous gift from fellow SuperFan Alexei Lambley-Steel who, after inquiring about a single prop was offered a large set of screenused items from Superman IV: The Quest For Peace!
Shown above is a genuine set-used/screen-used prop US car numberplate used throught production. The timing of this acquisition could not be better in view of the fact they are now clearly identifiable on the recently-released Blu-Ray disc (and not, unfortunately, from the DVD screengrabs above) proving the plate 774 LPS makes its first appearance on Lacy Warfield’s car as it pulls up outside the UN. It later adorns the front of a white sedan (far left in screengrab) whose roof is torn off during Nuclearman’s attack before finally being scorched by the car next to it as its engulfed in a fireball.
Constrained by budgetary restrictions, the same vehicles appear over and over on the Elstree Studios set, including a portion stripped of their engines and crushed by the battle with the first Nuclearman from the deleted scenes (bottom pic)…
Hot from the PC of Alexei Lambley-Steel come these ‘Portrait’ test shots for our evolving mock vintage Superman IV trading Card set.
These prototypes represent the last of the try-outs before we begin the set proper. Alexei informs me the only amendment will be the typeface which will be even closer to the ‘real’ thing on the finished cards. My contribution (besides the images) is to produce the titles and copy for the cardbacks – there will be a title card, possibly a checklist and maybe even a sticker set to round it off in true retro style.
Enjoy and check back for updates and a preview of the finished set…!
Blue Storyboard revisions from the Big Red Book – interesting to note at this stage the sequence still featured Superman rebuilding the wall at speed until budget restraints with visual effects forced the curious invention of ‘Mortar Vision’…
If you think the images above are genuine Topps style picture card samples from an abandoned Superman IV Series then thank you very much! This project is a success –
As collectors, completists and SuperFans the world over already know, Superman IV was the only Superman film to NEVER have a Trading Card set devoted to it, a fact I always found odd considering its such a merchandising staple so one day sought to fill the gap somehow.
Now, In collaboration with and using the considerable talents and creativity of SuperFan Alexei Lambley-Steel we have endeavoured to adapt my considerable archive of quality stills from Superman IV: The Quest For Peace into a complete set of unofficial vintage style cards in a ‘what if?’ project to make up for a thirty-year oversight. The four samples above are a result of a great many exchanged emails, research and submissions before we both were in complete agreement the designs were ‘simple’ enough to emulate the real thing. To that end, all the characteristics of the typical sets of the era will also be present, from the printing flaws to the text on the rear.
Stay tuned for updates but for now, enjoy the unashamed nostalgia from the age of the freeze-dried pink bubblegum stick…
