Superman (1978)

[jian]

Just saw this for the first time in cinema (and in concert, too) and thought it held up better than I remembered. As a kid, I thought the second half dragged a bit, but that seemed not to be the case this time around. It’s still spectacular, an incredibly seminal and pure superhero story. And Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder are both amazing,

(Though the 70s sexism, oy. What’s with cutting out all the mums? “We will always be with you, Kal-El, by which I mean me, I won’t bother recording Lara in these crystals. Also, I’m going to homeschool you at the North Pole for twelve years, never mind if Martha worries.”)

(Also: “I know you’re the best reporter here, Lois, but I’m giving your beat to a tall white guy without a college degree because he’s a damn fine typist.”)

Anyway, I noticed what I thought was an interesting inconsistency in the film (not surprising - honestly the script is a bit of a mess) about Krypton.

1) When the recording of Jor-El speaks to Clark at the Fortress of Solitude, he says that Krypton exploded several thousands of years ago. Which is fine, presumably baby Kal-El was in suspended animation and the ship doesn’t have FTL. It also makes Lara’s reaction about how primitive Earth is more interesting - she’d presumably have last seen it around 2000-1000 BC. Also, fragments of Krypton would probably take at least that long to get to Earth.

2) During his planning, Lex states that Krypton exploded in 1948, and that it took Kal-El 3 years to get here. Which is also fine, and baby Kal indeed aged about that much. Apparently the ship has FTL now. What that doesn’t explain is how fragments of Krypton only took 3 years to get to Earth.

What do you think? Is Jor-El mistaken and the ship somehow just got to Earth a lot faster?

(Also, Lex quotes Lois’ interview as his source, when we saw the whole interview on screen and he didn’t say any of that. Maybe Superman came back later to fill in some facts and figures?)

(Also, honestly, I think the kryptonite is a complete ass pull by Lex. It’s narratively not necessary - the main distraction is that there are two missiles and Superman can’t catch them both - and its only real function is to give Miss Tessmacher something to do.)

(That said, Hackensack, NJ is basically half a second away from New York (and Metropolis is very clearly NY in this film) as the Superman flies and it’s really not much of a distraction. Maybe shoot the missile at Paris instead? That way you get to free Zod et al without having yet another atomic bomb plot.)

 

[MarkB]

As I recall, in the Smallville series Kal-El's escape pod essentially dragged a whole bunch of Kryptonite along with it, most of which fell on the area around the town in a spectacular meteor shower the same night he crashed there, allowing for it to be the space-magic-of-the-week for much of the series. So that's one way to handle it.

 

[jian]

As I recall, in the Smallville series Kal-El's escape pod essentially dragged a whole bunch of Kryptonite along with it, most of which fell on the area around the town in a spectacular meteor shower the same night he crashed there, allowing for it to be the space-magic-of-the-week for much of the series. So that's one way to handle it.

Yeah, that’s a good solution to the problem and much better than a fragment of an exploding planet somehow managing to hit another planet light years away by accident.

 

[bloodtide]

Well...

1)Like most Comic Book Lore, the When, Why, How and What of Krypton have been both kept very vague and changed every couple years. It can be hard even for Superman fans to follow. Plus every comic or show or such will often have it's own "truth".

Superman the Movie wants Krypton to be right next to Earth...literately the planet was in the spot the asteroid belt is now, until they were told "hey people would notice a planet blowing up there in 1948".

Maybe the interview had a page 2?

And, well, the missiles are just plot holes...

 

[jian]

Jor-El also states that Kal’s ship will pass through six galaxies to get to Earth (six of the “28 known galaxies”) which is frankly some Doctor Who level nonsense. Honestly, it’s very likely that Ghost Dad was high for most of the film. No wonder the council don’t take him seriously.

 

[Tonguez]

Maybe krypton exploded thousands of years ago but it was only visible on earth from 1948 - thus making both correct. Then Kal-els pid went through time dilation effects blah blah arrived in 1950s

 

[MarkB]

Jor-El also states that Kal’s ship will pass through six galaxies to get to Earth (six of the “28 known galaxies”) which is frankly some Doctor Who level nonsense. Honestly, it’s very likely that Ghost Dad was high for most of the film. No wonder the council don’t take him seriously.

Maybe it just had really bad pathfinding and took a huge intergalactic detour along the way.

 

[Mercurius]

Still one of the greatest superhero flicks of all time, and one of my favorite childhood films - I re-watch it every few years (along with its sequel). I still cringe at the "Can you read my mind" scene, though.

 

[jian]

Still one of the greatest superhero flicks of all time, and one of my favorite childhood films - I re-watch it every few years (along with its sequel). I still cringe at the "Can you read my mind" scene, though.

I think it might have been better if she’d sung it as originally scripted, but the director didn’t like it.

 

[TerraDave]

Maybe krypton exploded thousands of years ago but it was only visible on earth from 1948 - thus making both correct. Then Kal-els pid went through time dilation effects blah blah arrived in 1950s

I think at some point they hint at that…but time dilation only explains so much.