SUPERGIRL: THE MOVIE

SupergirlINTRODUCTION
After many years of starring in Action Comics and two short-lived series of her own, Supergirl was launched to the big screen in November 1984. Her costume, which had gone through a dizzy array of changes during the 70's and early 80's from her original 1959-1970 costume consisting of blue dress, yellow belt, red cape and boots, was reinvented for the movie in the classic look which she wears today. It is also the outfit she first wore when a trial "Super-Girl" debuted in a test issue in 1958 in which a companion for Superman was wished into existence by Jimmy Olsen. A self-contained story which introduced her origins and first appearance on Earth, the movie stuck fairly closely to the comics while presenting audiences with an exciting original adventure.

Disguised as Linda LeePLOT
Kara, daughter of Alura and Zor-El, has lived all her life in the peaceful Argo City, a remnant of Krypton that was hurtled into Inner Space when the planet exploded many years earlier. What little she knows about Earth she has heard from her mentor Zol-tar (sp?), an artist with a penchant for going against the system. This includes "borrowing" one of Argo City's primary energy sources: an Omegahedron. When Kara loses the Omegehedron she feels responsible and impulsively climbs into Zol-tar's nearby spaceglobe and follows the orb. Her pursuit leads her to Earth, a strange land where the friendly and not so friendly inhabitants cause her to use her new superpowers to retrieve her world's critical energy source. Her arrival is just in time, for Superman is on a mission lightyears away, and there is no one to stop a devious and increasingly powerful sorceroress with plans of nothing less than world domination. With the Omegahedron's power, there is nothing that can stop the evil Selena - nothing except the most powerful woman on Earth.

Arrival on EarthThe standalone Supergirl movie offers us a very different view of the Super mythos and presents a picture of what a young girl might do if suddenly granted superpowers. As she samples the new-found delights this planet offers and tests out her new superpowers, young Kara comes of age and rises to the challenge at hand by facing her own internal demons before defeating her external foes. This movie stands apart from the four Superman movies, for the characters and situations are quite different, and should not be judged according to how it "fits in" with the other sequels. Certainly it stands above the less successful Superman sequels (Superman III, for example), and the score is a wonderfully inspired production by Jerry Goldsmith. The movie never enjoyed commercial success in North America, as Warner Bros. handed the distribution rights over to the fledging Tri-Star pictures, who cut the movie from its 125 minute runtime to 105 minutes. The story obviously suffered, and North Americans never got enjoy the original version which international audiences received. The movie was hugely popular overseas, especially in Japan, where a laserdisc release came out long before the movie debuted in North America.

Buy the VideoRELEASE
Until recently North American viewers had to settle for the heavily edited 105 minute release, while international viewers could enjoy the full 125 minutes director's cut (available only on Japanese imported laserdisc). Having seen the full-length (or almost full-length) version on TBS, I have to say that the scenes they cut are key to enjoying and understanding the story, and I can't imagine why they were left out. Finally in 1998 Anchor Bay Entertainment re-released a longer, 114 minute edition for North America. It's available in NTSC VHS video from Amazon.com. Unfortunately customer reviews seem to indicate a poor video transfer.

Anchor Bay is currently preparing a DVD release! The THX Approved Edition, which will be available individually or as part of the Limited Edition, will run 125 minutes (the international version) which is longer than the original theatrical version released in the US. It will also include a re-mastered "The Making of Supergirl" special, as well as theatrical trailers and television spots. The 2 Disc Limited Edition DVD will include the above, plus a disc containing a never-before-seen 140 minute version that was struck from the original uncut negative. The release date has been pushed back to July 25, 2000 in order to prepare more supplements including a Director's Commentary.

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MOVIE MERCHANDISE

The following is just some of the merchandise that was released for the movie, both domestically and worldwide (the movie was produced in Britain so much of the merchandise originates there).

Note: I don't actually own all these products myself. Most of the images were found on Ebay.


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