Who saw this in cinemas back in 87?
Who saw this back in the day? What are your memories - the anticipation of seeing it in the weeks/days before, the actually seeing it and how much a big deal was it where you were back then, the crowds, audience etc and after coming out of the cinema what were your thoughts and in the days/weeks that followed..
TQFP was a VERY big deal to me back in 87 - there hadnt been a new superman in AGES (as a kid time passes much slower so 4 years felt more like 10 years) there was no internet and i didnt have any money to buy magazines like Starlog so the first i knew of a superman IV was when i walked past the Cannon cinema (UK) and saw this poster in those plastic cases outside (note the superior crystal font:)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8154/7678329200_bfa4d8747c_b.jpg
as a huge huge fan of the series having seen II (my first time in a cinema) and III (& STM on tv only) i couldnt believe it..I had no idea they were making another let alone it being due out soon (i remembered Reeve having stated several times hed never do another after III in articles and tv interviews) . It just didnt make any sense!! how could i not know about this!?....
Initially I excitedly thought it was showing right there and then and was preparing to go in and see it but realised there was a 'Coming Soon' banner under the poster. I think I had to go in the cinema and ask when it was coming out and was told it was about a couple of months away and being really disappointed it was so long (think I remember being really annoyed thinking it was stupid to show the poster so long in advance).. So the wait was agony ..like waiting for xmas only wanting it more and when it eventually came out i saw it 4 times at the cinema (the most times id been to see any superman movie! each of the rest bar STM just saw once..maybe saw III twice I dunno) and thought it was amazing - the best one of all 4!
it was exciting, new, fresh, it was non stop action packed (even more than II - to which it felt like a true sequel)- it had a powerful scary supervillain (like the 3 villains but as one), there were fights in space (a first!) and on the moon (nice call back to II), superman got his ass kicked loses his powers and nearly dies (again similar to II), Lex was back and we got to see the fortress again (first time since II), the new Nuclear Man music was awesome..
i knew something was up with the FX as they seemed to reuse the same shot of a turquoise coloured superman flying toward the camera (crazy fact - SIV had the same budget as 'Aliens' the year before!)but it didnt affect my enjoyment one bit - neither did the whole Milton Keynes setting or the massive cuts - i had no idea about all that.
i had no idea it was reviled and was a flop (i mean i knew it wasnt as big a hit as star wars but i mustve thought it'll have been at least as big as the previous ones) i bought all the stuff - the Starlog poster magazine, the DC comic (which both confused me as there was a whole other Nuclear Man!)
http://www.supermaniv.com/Superman_IV_Merchandise/Superman_IV_Poster_Magazine/Superman_IV_Poster_Magazine_COVER.html
http://www.supermaniv.com/Superman_IV_Comic_Adaptation_Spanish/Superman_IV_Comic_Adaptation_English/Superman_IV_Comic_Adaptation_English_COVER.html
(seeing those on display in the window of the comic store I would go to was such a thrill)
I searched for a novel (as I had the SIII one) but couldn't find one. Years later I found it in a 2nd hand bookstore:
http://supermaniv.com/S4_Novelization/Superman_IV_Novel_COVER.html
i remember being quite disappointed there were no action figures
So back then in my mind it went best to worst - IV, II, III and lastly STM which i didnt like much as I thought it was abit long, the Krypton and Smallville bits were quite talky/boring to a kid as was the whole Supes and Lois romance, Lex was like an Adam West Batman villain, there wasn’t that much action aside from it turning into a 70s disaster movie, no supervillains and there wasnt any fighting! (But now I obviously appreciate it for the classic it is)
the question i was asking myself after IV was would Superman V (due in a couple of years with an all new cast joining Reeve according to the newspapers) be even more enjoyable than IV?!
it was a question id have to wait 20 years to be answered (just like superman promised at the end of TQFP)....and the answer was a resounding NO!!