Wow!  Have you heard?  Ok, so as fans of the movies probably already know, Richard Donner directed Superman: The Movie (1978) and a large portion of Superman II (1980.)  Friction between him and the producers resulted in him being fired and replaced with Richard Lester.  Richard Lester desecrated the film and caused it to be a tremendous disappointment to me, personally.  It was still a hit at the box office, presumably riding on the success of the first film.

Anyway, in 2006 Richard Donner managed to release a "new" version of Superman II entitled "The Richard Donner Cut."  He basically took his original footage (which, unfortunately, was not enough to finish the film the way he originally intended) and I assume that it did well.  And he cut out everything that Lester put it in it.  Hmmm...  Ok, I can understand why he did that, but Lester didn't *totally* desecrate it.  I've seen this version but it's been years.  I do remember that I don't think it's as good as the fan edit(s).

And so the story ends...  Or does it?  Eventually, fans came along and began gathering footage and releasing "fan edits."  As far as I know, there are at least FIFTEEN fan edits of Superman II.  Pretty good stuff, too.  The first one I saw is called the "Hybrid Cut."  Basically, it takes original footage from both the Donner and Lester versions (including casting footage that shows Christopher Reeve before he buffed up) to make a fairly impressive version of the movie.

Today, I watched the "Ultimate Cut" which clocks in at two+ hours and doesn't use *any* casting footage (which is good because it can be pretty "jarring" to see Reeve change from buff to scrawny and back again.)  In fact, I'd say that I've never seen about 50% of the Ultimate Cut footage, even though most of the "new" stuff is alternate takes of the same scene.  Seeing Margot Kidder wearing Superman's shirt and her own socks while watching Supes give up his powers was pretty cute!  Also, the Jor-El hologram seemed to be sentient (compared to the Theatrical release that ignored everyone and had pre-scripted dialogue.)  For instance: the hologram watches Clark enter the chamber that takes his powers and then turns to look at Lois.  Although, admittedly, the hologram ignores Lex when he activates it at the beginning of the film.

I have two other versions of it but I haven't seen them yet.  Supposedly, these other two versions are considered the "best" fan edits.  One is called the "Booshman Cut" and the other is called "The Richard Donner Cut Redux."  I'm in touch with Booshman and (s)he hasn't released a new version since 2007, although (s)he assures me that they're updated and unreleased.  (S)he told me that there are clips of it on YouTube.