So this morning I went onto Amazon Prime to further look at any differences in the Superman movies from its current HD streaming versions as opposed to the 2011 Blu-ray set and the 2006 DVD releases, and I noticed one very important change in the releases…

The 122-minute version of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut has now been replaced with the 116-minute edition that was released in November 2006.

As you remember, the 122-minute version contained an extra minute of footage shot by Donner in 1977 which consisted of longer alternate takes involving Lex Luthor interacting with the Jor-El program and a vastly different fate for Miss Teschmacher.

It also contained re-edited footage originally directed by Richard Lester in 1979 which consisted of nearly all of the East Houston footage and Superman’s soufflé, mixed with retracked music from the John Williams score and revised sound effects, as well as some slight CGI revisions of visual effects. Some of these clips were included on the Superman II special edition DVD set and the You Will Believe documentary for the 14-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition DVD set.

In the following clip, which is taken from the extended Donner Cut, we can clearly see and hear the revisions in the footage of Superman cooking the soufflé. We also see how the dinner scene in the Fortress was presented in the extended Donner Cut.

This next clip, which was also part of the extended Donner Cut, was first aired in February 1984 on ABC as part of the extended TV broadcast of Superman II and was included in the You Will Believe documentary in 2006:

There were other revisions in this cut, including a CGI removal of Zod’s levitation beam, other music replacements through the Lester footage, the alternate shot of Deputy Dwayne’s silent reaction to Zod shooting himself (which was also used in the 1984 extended TV cut), and alternate sound effects for Non’s heat vision. Later, in the shot of the Army general saying, “I answer only to the President,” the voice of the general remains the same as in the original theatrical version—it is only changed in the final Donner Cut.

There are also a few revisions in the end credits, including one for priceless enthusiasm and support from Warner executives George Feltenstein and Paul Hemstreet, who gave their support and blessing for the development of the Donner Cut. The final title card about Donner’s advisory against fur and tobacco use in the film was much shorter and not expanded and blocked off in the final credits.

All of this is gone.

The film has now been replaced with the final 116-minute version, as proven by this on Prime:

And here is an image from what had been previously posted on Prime for the past several years. It was this same cut that was also posted on Vudu but was removed in favor of the final cut.

Quite frankly, I’m surprised that Prime kept it on their service for as long as they did. But with the recent 4K UHD release, I’m also not surprised that they replaced it. I had felt inside that it wasn’t a long matter of time before it would be replaced, and I was unfortunately right.

For those of you who managed to save this alternate version of the Donner Cut in some format possible—download, hard drive, flash drive, DVD burner, DVD+R recordable disc—good for you. Save it. It’s the only way now to watch this cut of the film.