As we await the forthcoming 4K UHD release of the Christopher Reeve Superman films from Warner Home Video in standalone, regular box set, and steelbook box set editions (which have been delayed a few weeks from the middle of April to early May), some of the films are going straight to 4K digital releases on numerous streaming platforms. One of the films that has garnered quite a bit of attention is the new version of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace on iTunes.

Right from the start this is more than just a change to the Warner Bros. logo at the start of the film (as with the new digital version of Superman III). This film has undergone several major changes and a few minor modifications.

Right from the start it showcases the original Warner Bros. logo that was included in the film’s original release in 1987. The most previous home video release utilized the CGI-developed logo that was included at the start of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut and Superman Returns, so this is a nice fix to say the least.

But as soon as the logo appears on screen, the first of the major changes occurs. The film’s original Prelude is replaced with a similar sounding alternate Prelude featuring a solo horn.

Once it goes into the main title credits, an extremely awkward sounding version of the Main Title March plays over the film’s opening credits. At first I was like, “Where did this version come from?”

The final version of the main title theme has all of the quality of a high school marching band performing the cue, right down to several noticeable hiccups and variations that occur throughout.

These are not the only musical differences in this version of the film. There are also different versions of the tracks “Space Saver” (which is particularly noticeable when Superman returns the Russian cosmonaut to the space capsule), “Back in Time”, “Fresh Air” (which was first heard on disc two of the Superman IV soundtrack album), “Confrontation”, “Volcano”, and “Statue of Liberty Fight”. These alternate tracks are part of the original recording sessions held in Germany in the middle of May 1987.

According to Mike Matessino, who had restored all of the Superman film scores for the Film Score Monthly CD box set in 2008 and the individual CD releases from LaLaLand Records in 2018-19, the German orchestra did well in performing a number of incidental underscores but had difficulty with some of the larger pieces of the score. It was recommended that recording be halted, and a week later sessions resumed in England, where these cues and the remainder of the score were recorded for the film.

But a few questions remain unanswered. How did these alternate German tracks make it into this version of Superman IV? Where have these tracks been all of these years? And who was responsible for the music replacement of these alternate tracks into the 4K version of the film? The answers are unknown as of this writing. It has been suggested that this is due to licensing issues with the final score. These questions are currently being pursued for a report to be presented in the near future.

But that is not all.

One upside to this new 4K version of the film is the increased sound quality throughout. Dialogue and sound effects are punched up to the foreground, making the film sound cleaner and clearer than ever. It’s a vast improvement over previous home video releases of the film.

However, in the iTunes version, this new sound and music mix is solely in the English language version of the film. Some people have commented that the French and Spanish language versions contain the previous sound mix with the original music. I myself cannot confirm this, but I list this note here for reference.

Image quality is also somewhat improved through the film, particularly in moments with people on the ground throughout the film. Color is also richer in places as well, and the colors of Superman’s costume appear to be more vibrant in some scenes, such as the closing moments when he speaks to reporters about his mission.

At other times the image quality is a bit darker in some places, with the yellows and flesh tones appearing almost washed out. It may be my monitor.

In some places the visual effects are improved in the 4K transfer, with some wires eliminated and the obvious glass plate where Superman and the Nuclear Man fought also removed from the shot.

Still, other visual effects are sorely obvious and in need of attention, as in the shot of Superman falling at the Statue of Liberty and the Nuclear Man landing beside him. After all of these years, the animation used to paint out the wires are still obvious.

In other places, flesh tones are darker and almost waxen, as in this shot of the Nuclear Man.

One clip that received a brief enhancement is the shot of Superman taking off from Boys Town. The camera now digitally moves in in order to hide the obvious platform Christopher Reeve is standing on. It’s a brief enhancement that adds to the believability of the moment.

Still in other places, matte paintings are more obvious than ever, almost as if they’ve been freshly painted. One case in point: the shot of Superman flying away from Italy. And after careful analysis of the shot, a glaring error in the visual effects matting now appears. Look at the bottom of the image.

On the flip side, English subtitles are now placed at the top of the screen and no longer superimposed onto the film itself, in the cases of Russian and Italian dialogue spoken by Superman and other characters.

I know that these things are all in layman’s terms, and there’s more qualified people who are more versed in the technical jargon of 4K ultra high definition video than I am. But sometimes you gotta call a spade a spade. I recently had a great discussion with my friend Aaron Price about the quality of the 4K film, and his sentiments echo mine.

One final thing that I must note: this new 4K version is exclusive to iTunes only. It is not currently available on Amazon Prime, Vudu, Google Play Movies, or Movies Anywhere. I have checked all of these streaming services myself, and every one of these carry the previous version of the film. Whether or not they will update their services to carry the new version of the film is unknown at this time.

The new 4K version of Superman IV is a mixed bag at best, given the change in soundtrack cues and the varying image quality throughout. I’d love to say that this is the best that this film has looked and sounded in years, but with glaring things that stick out like a sore thumb, that’s all I can really say. Whether this iTunes version is going to be featured on the upcoming 4K disc release or not is unknown at this time. But once the 4K discs are released in May, we’ll all find out for ourselves.

(Some of the screenshots in this blog are courtesy of Jim Bowers and CapedWonder.com.)

Update to the blog: super fan and blog follower Dan Kampling alerted me to another variation of the new 4K release that is currently available on YouTube. This version contains the altered music throughout the film, but the subtitles in the Russian and Italian scenes are in fact superimposed at the bottom of the screen as in the original theatrical version. He also provided this screenshot from the YouTube version that this is indeed the case.

Whether or not this will be the case on the 4K UHD disc, again, we will find out when the set comes out next month. Thanks, Dan!