Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition 14 Disc Set

On November 28, 2006, Warner Home Video released the Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition. It's rare that anything in Hollywood lives up to the hype nowadays but this new DVD collection comes awful close. It features 14 discs in all featuring every motion picture release featuring the Man of Steel (except "Supergirl").

Discs One through Four are Superman the Movie. But in addition to the usual commentary tracks, trailers, and deleted scenes, there's two versions of the movie. Also included is the classic George Reeves first Superman movie, Superman versus the Mole Men. And nine of the wonderful Paramount produced Fleischer brothers cartoons of the 1940s too.

Discs Five through Seven contain two very different versions of Superman II. Disc Five is the theatrical release of the movie from 1980 (released in the US in 1981). Disc Six is the new "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" featuring the edited together version of footage shot by director Donner before his replacement on the picture by Richard Lester. Disc Seven contains lots of extras -- again the extras are related to more than just the film version of Superman. There's two vintage TV specials, a featurette on the Fleischer cartoons, and the last eight of those 1940s cartoons by Famous Studios.

Disc Eight contains a new deluxe version of Superman III with deleted scenes, a vintage TV special, and more. Disc Nine contains a deluxe version of Superman IV The Quest for Peace with deleted scenes that have never before been seen.

Discs 10 and 11 contain the 2006 film Superman Returns and supplementary materials. Disc 12 contains the 2006 documentary Look Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman. Disc 13 is only available in this set and contains three new documentaries -- one on the Superman movie franchise itself, one on Superman and mythology, and one a tribute to Chris Reeve -- plus a bunch of cool Looney Toon cartoons and the unsold 1958 pilot The Adventures of Superpup. Disc 14 contains Bryan Singer's video production journals on the making of Superman Returns.

All in all there's more than 20 hours of bonus materials in this huge set. Much of this material has long been demanded by fans of the Superman movies and this set doesn't disappoint Kal-El collectors and completists. For more information including a disc by disc exhaustive review see the Superman Homepage.