It's finally time!!!

The fact that I was born in 1978 and Richard Donner brought Superman to life on screen that very same year must mean something. It was six years later that my uncle brought home a video for us kids to watch, and the title just had a triangle on it, with a big "S" inscripted inside it. I am amused when I think of the VCR we had back then. It would auto-eject the video every 20 minutes, and it was one of those pop out players, with a remote control with a wire! And the small screen of the TV, always flickering and whobbling (bad picture tube they said).

But the next two and a half hours or so were and would always be beyond words for me. Let's just say they were followed by years of jumping off of my parents cupboards onto the bed yelling "Supperrmannnnnn", and always landing with a thud, never taking off.

My love for Superman only grew when I saw Superman II, but somehow it lacked the wonder of the original. As I would grow older, I'd realize that II was just the hacking together of Donner's vision by a completely short-sighted studio puppy. But never the less, Superman I & II helped me get to that wonderful place in childhood, where all unreasonable dreams can come true the very next day. I don't really remember when I realied that I might not be able to fly like my buddy Kal-el in this life time at least. But yes, some of the wonder of Superman was lost on me when I eventually saw the movies they called Superman III & IV. After I had seen III, I was of the opinion that they couldn't possibly do any worse. And then I saw the Quest for Peace, and a very important human trait dawned on me. Human-beings can always do worse! There's great wisdom in realizing this little snippet. However I do own both III & IV on DVD, I mean if Reeves, Kidder, and Hackmen agreed to work on them, then who am I to complain!

The timing of my entry into this world should have made me a Batman fanatic, and Burton perhaps single-handedly created a complete and unique universe. I really liked Batman, but my barometer for super heroes was already set, and even though Keaton and Basinger were good, they were never Reeves and Kidder. And Nicholson could never bring to Joker what Hackmen brought to Luthor! So even though I liked Batman, I still dreamed of myself as being Kal-el, just waiting to find out that I am a visitor from another planet. Heck I was so motivated that I still have excellent reflexes. I am the best person to have around if you drop something and hope that it's caught before it's shattered...

Such was the love for Superman that I actually started reading. I read every Superman comic I could find, until I was seduced by the world of X-Men and Spidey. Over the years I progressed from the world of comics to the worlds created by Dostoevsky and Dickens. I would stop reading comics eventually, and be excited only by a book that would call out to me from a shelf, but that comic lover would always live on. I realized that every time I drift to the comic book isles in airport book shops, and every once in a blue moon, even pick one out!

And then, in this grown-up mould, I read the news that they're making Superman again. No I heard this exact news more then once, but this time, what excited me was the associtation of this person called Singer with the project. And then more and more things happened that got me more and more excited and jittery, like a drunk waiting for his glass to be filled again. I found out that the musical score would be brought forward, and the new music would base itself on the original's roots. I found out that the movie would pick up after II and we would all try to forget III & IV ever happened. I found out that Spacey is the new Luthor, and Luthor would finally be bald through most of the film and not wearing wigs. All these facts were exciting for me, slowly building my frenzy to boiling point, counting down hours to the showing of Superman!

But rest assured, I have my doubts! Even though I am overjoyed by how much Routh looks like Reeves, there's always a voice at the back of my mind when I watch the trailer..."too young...".

But my biggest doubt is the Kidder replacement in the form of Bosworth. Even though on her worst day she can't possibly ravish the character like the Smallville series did, but can she be that cynical, chain-smoking and all the while mesmerizing woman from the real days of Superman? And believe me, no Superman can work without a Lois Lane that rocks the show.

But tomorrow night, I'll make my way to the theater for the first showing of Superman Returns, breaking my rule to not go out for too long on a working night. I'll get there half an hour early to get that seat in the middle row and middle column, and would excitedly wait for the magic to begin. During the wait I'll keep picturing Superman catching Lois and the helicopter, and saying to her don't worry, I've got you, and Lois firing back, "you've got me, but who's got you!"

See I won't walk into the theater to be convinced that a man could fly, Donner already did that for me, but I would walk into the theater to feel a love in the lines of the love I found 22 years ago, in front of a whobbly television with a flickering screen, and a manually tuned VCR which would pop-up videos after every 20 minutes or so. The little screen would be replaced by a giant curtain, and mono sound would be replaced by Dolby Surround. And the effect of the movie won't be shattered every twenty minutes.

But the person sitting in front of the screen would be much more cynical and bitter then the kid who would jump to pop the video into the VCR every time it popped out, all the time shaking with excitement...