Superman (casting, rumors, pix till release)

[Captaindemotion]

^ To be fair, the poster explicitly stated that it wasn't a new rumour when he posted the link.

[Dusty Ayres]

ObiWanShinobi wrote:

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Maybe a cityscape similar to Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

If you're talking about the scenes on Krypton, I'd say yes. If you're talking about Metropolis, I'd say no. It's best to set Superman NOW, instead of yesterday.

davejames wrote:

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Hopefully they can find a way to make Krypton look advanced without just looking like another futuristic city you'd see in a Star Trek movie.

One thing I always appreciated about the Donner Krypton is how it truly felt like a strange, alien world from another time (or even another plane of existence). That hint of fantasy lent a real magic to the character from the very start, which probably wouldn't have come through as strongly if he existed only in the strict, scifi world of spaceships and alien planets.

Donner clearly understood that, and I'm hoping Nolan and Snyder do as well...

No, sorry, but what was seen in the Donner movie was complete bullshit, IMHO. There's NO WAY that humanoid beings would be able to live in such a world as seen in the Donner movies, period. How do they eat? What do they drink? How do they live? And how do they breathe air? Do they eat crystal food? And unless I was dreaming, the world of Krypton was depicted as a 'strict, scifi world of spaceships and alien planets' in the comic books, albeit with the same natural flora and fauna as seen here on Earth.

Sorry again, but I want to see a Krypton similar to the Krypton shown on Superman: The Animated Series (and don't tell me that it can't be done; similar worlds were shown on Star Trek [TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise] for less money than what was supposedly spent by John Barry [not the same guy who was a composer] to design Krypton for the 1978 movie.) Snyder will want to put his own stamp on what Krypton looks like, and he'll have the money to do so, with today's CGI tech making it possible just as it was made possible on Enterprise and in Star Trek Nemesis for less money that will be budgeted for this upcoming movie.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Yeah I was talking about Krypton.

[Admiral_Young]

Apologies regarding it not being an old rumor. I didn't catch the last part of his post. If they're using Birthright as source material this negates what Zack said last October about the movie not being based on any comic...Zod of course is not included in Birthright so who knows. This just is another reinforcement of my point that no one knows anything about the plot so fans shouldn't be freaking out that this is a rehash of Superman II. Wait until we know something about the movie before blasting it.

[Kai "the spy"]

Admiral_Young wrote:

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Apologies regarding it not being an old rumor. I didn't catch the last part of his post. If they're using Birthright as source material this negates what Zack said last October about the movie not being based on any comic...Zod of course is not included in Birthright so who knows. This just is another reinforcement of my point that no one knows anything about the plot so fans shouldn't be freaking out that this is a rehash of Superman II. Wait until we know something about the movie before blasting it.

Yet, there was this faked Kryptonian invasion with a pretty prominent leader, so they could name that one Zod.

Of course, that's in the comics, I wouldn't expect Snyder to actually adapt that part. Although it would be pretty cool.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Superman is fantasy and Krypton doubly so - I'd rather it be stylish than look "futuristic" in some plausible sense. Crystal planet or Sky Captain-ish deco "world of tomorrow" both work for me.

[Dream]

Dusty Ayres wrote:

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No, sorry, but what was seen in the Donner movie was complete bullshit, IMHO. There's NO WAY that humanoid beings would be able to live in such a world as seen in the Donner movies, period. How do they eat? What do they drink? How do they live? And how do they breathe air? Do they eat crystal food? And unless I was dreaming, the world of Krypton was depicted as a 'strict, scifi world of spaceships and alien planets' in the comic books, albeit with the same natural flora and fauna as seen here on Earth.

Bullshit or not, it was still great. I loved it. There is a reason why the look has been adapted to the comics and Smallville tv series. It works.

It is better than Superman having to pick up a giant key to open the Fortress of Solitude.

The Kryptonians from the movie knew how to building FTL starships. I'm sure they knew of ways of getting food and air. Just because we didn't see it happen onscreen doesn't mean it didn't exist.

[Admiral_Young]

Geoff Johns worked pretty hard to adapt all previous known depictions of Krypton into the current Superman comics. From the Silver Age uniforms to the Bryne era Green puffy robes, to the Donner Verse stoic scientists all of these variants of their culture made their way into the books. The DonnerVerse Fortress of Solitude was brought back and introduced for the first time in the comics was the Jor-El simulcrum. The crystals were given a name "Sun stone" crystals. They used them to build their world.

Say what you will about the Donner and Lester films but those films depiction of Krypton is one of my favorite things about the movie. I don't know why, but I get a true sense of awe and mystery regarding the ice world. Not to mention that John William's breathtaking Krypon theme is one of my all time favorite pieces of music.

[Dusty Ayres]

Dream wrote:

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Bullshit or not, it was still great. I loved it. There is a reason why the look has been adapted to the comics and Smallville tv series. It works.

No, it doesn't and it didn't work for me as a boy of 8 seeing the first movie in 1978. That was lazy budgeting on the part of the Salkinds and lazy design on the part of John Barry. And amazingly enough, it wasn't 'timeless' for the producers of Lois & Clark, as they didn't use any of it for the ship that brought Superman to Earth or for the episodes about the surviving Kryptonians.

It is better than Superman having to pick up a giant key to open the Fortress of Solitude.

No one says that he has to, and he hasn't done so for the past two decades in the comic books; they can have him use Kryptonian tech to enter and exit the Fortress. Actually, even if he did/does use the giant key, so what? It's more of an icon than that stupid version of the Fortress that was so simple Lex Luthor could get into it. (BTW, in All Star Superman,he does use a key to get in-but it's a small key made of super dense white dwarf materiel so heavy that only he can lift it.)

The Kryptonians from the movie knew how to building FTL starships. I'm sure they knew of ways of getting food and air. Just because we didn't see it happen onscreen doesn't mean it didn't exist.

I don't care what was not shown onscreen, that fact is that it should be impossible (and most likely is impossible) for flesh and blood beings to live that way. It's also extreme laziness on the part of the set designer, producers and director to do that design for Krypton with the millions of dollars it cost to make Superman The Movie.

[Admiral_Young]

^It's an escapist film about an alien who flies and has super-strength and you're concerned with the way it depicted an alien culture? LOL.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Dusty Ayres wrote:

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I don't care what was not shown onscreen, that fact is that it should be impossible (and most likely is impossible) for flesh and blood beings to live that way.

It's impossible for Superman to exist.

Flat-out impossible, no ifs, ands or buts.

[davejames]

Dusty Ayres wrote:

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No, it doesn't and it didn't work for me as a boy of 8 seeing the first movie in 1978. That was lazy budgeting on the part of the Salkinds and lazy design on the part of John Barry.

You may not like the design they came up with, but I would hardly call it "lazy". It looked about a thousand times more sophisticated and expensive than anything we'd seen in a superhero movie before.

I agree the crystal sets look a bit on the cheap side now (as do the sets in the original SW movies, for that matter-- especially compared to what we see in movies today), but the concept they came up with is still as strong as ever, I think.

[sojourner]

It was the best way to go. If they had tried to do "futuristic city" it would have looked dated within 5 years. Using the crystal design made it look timeless and really drove home the "advanced technology as magic" aspect of Krypton.

[Broccoli]

Dusty Ayres wrote:

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And amazingly enough, it wasn't 'timeless' for the producers of Lois & Clark, as they didn't use any of it for the ship that brought Superman to Earth or for the episodes about the surviving Kryptonians.

Yeah, but according to you:

Dusty Ayres wrote:

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Lois & Clark was just nonsense and bullshit

So, are you implying that it was nonsense that they didn't use it?

I don't care what was not shown onscreen, that fact is that it should be impossible (and most likely is impossible) for flesh and blood beings to live that way. It's also extreme laziness on the part of the set designer, producers and director to do that design for Krypton with the millions of dollars it cost to make Superman The Movie.

Superman: The Movie was one of the most expensive films made at that time. I'd hardly argue they skimped on the budget for their opening scenes.

Anyway, the point of the matter is that the Krypton stuff looked so crazy and unrealistic to give it a sense of it being truly alien and advanced from anything Earth has without resorting to characters saying to the audience "We are an advanced alien race!" That would have been lazy. What the movie did was just good storytelling.

Now, if you didn't like the design, that's fine. But to claim that it was lazy is completely misguided.

[Dream]

The trailer for Superman: The Movie was incredible, there were a ton of scenes with Krypton in it. It wouldn't have worked if Krypton didn't feel so alien.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twyYIPhSa3U