Episode 178 - Superman IV: The Quest For Peace: LIVE!

[SeaSkunk 212]

 

1. I know that this is a super-low budget Cannon Group flick, but couldn't they make Superman go a little faster? He is the slowest on-screen version of himself in this movie.

 

 

You don't enjoy slo-mo, soft moon fighting?

[PollyDarton 1807]

The Clark/Superman double date is amazing. It's such a familiar 80's trope... especially in sitcoms. It's like a warm cup of cocoa. I was trying to remember some examples where shows/movies have done this and my first thought was this...

 

Warning, it's not a Susanne Somers, but it is a Mr. Furley.

(It should start where all the switcheroos start getting fun.)

https://youtu.be/zggVMheLsf8?t=872

 

There is also an episode of 30 rock where LL does this to Kenneth I think.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

In honor of Mariel Hemingway's grandfather:

 

...Never pay a blackmailer,

Never go to law,

Never trust a publisher,

Or you'll sleep on straw.

All your friends will leave you

All your friends will die

So lead a clean and wholesome life

And join them in the sky.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

I found Perry White to have one of the most intriguing arcs in the entire film.

 

 

First time we see him, he's being told that his life's work is shit by a Rupert Murdoch-type who wants to destroy The Daily Planet by turning it into a tabloid. And Perry resents the fact that this guy was able to buy it up out of nowhere because it hasn't been profitable for years and it's publicly traded so he can just buy up all the stock (which incidentally is not how that works) and then slap his name on it and make his daughter a publisher.

 

So, at the 24 minute mark, he announces that he's "not going to take it lying down" and "if anyone needs me, I'll be downtown" (as if someone could just call "downtown" on the phone and ask to speak to Perry). Lois Lane makes the crack about how he's dressed like his dad used to when he went to the bank to ask for a loan (which was how many times, exactly, Lois?).

 

We don't see Perry White again until the very end of the movie, after everything else has resolved, when he rolls into the lobby to take down the Warfield sign and announce that he got the bank to load him the money to buy the remaining shares (not how that works) which somehow made him majority owner, which implies that Warfield came in and started throwing his weight around even though he wasn't the majority owner.

 

Anyway, what has Perry White been doing all that time? Days have passed. A specific plot point was that Clark Kent had ghosted and no one at the Planet had seen him so Lois gets worried and breaks into his place, yet nobody missed the boss not being there? How long was Perry at the bank? Did he chain himself to the front door of the bank? Did he stage a hunger strike? Did he have to perform dirty deeds for the bankers? There's no way a love of the Fourth Estate alone convinced a bank to give an elderly man millions in order to resurrect an unprofitable newspaper -- what did Perry do during all that time to convince them to loan the money?

 

And more importantly, what was his long-term plan, going into debt in order to buy a failing newspaper? He would have had to borrow millions, which would take decades to pay back, and if the Planet was struggling in 1987, it has to be deader-than-dead today when even, in my own town print, media is practically non-existent. Knowing the path that print journalism has taken since this movie came out makes this the story of Perry White's impending financial ruin, incurred in a Hail Mary attempt to save a vestige of dying industry as it slips toward irrelevance at the dawn of the age of "fake news."

 

This, combined with the nuclear weapons story line, may make this one of the most poignantly prescient American movies ever filmed in a British industrial park.

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

 

You don't enjoy slo-mo, soft moon fighting?

Their "space slap-fight" wire-work was particularly impressive.

[tomspanks 9039]

2. I must respectfully disagree with Ms. Lyonne: I thought that Lex Luther, in this movie, seems to have been reduced to Adam-West-Batman-villain levels of ridiculousness. His costumes are baffling. His dialogue is ludicrous ... he's either addressing his own "awesome brain" or just talking out loud about what he's doing. And I quote:

 

How ironic!

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

The conceit of Nuclear Man is that he came into existence when Superman threw all those missiles into the sun. Specifically, Luthor hid a device in one of said missiles. But why? The sun is, essentially, a massive fusion reactor. Why not just launch the device directly into the sun yourself? Why go through with the whole rigamarole of hiding a device in a nuclear missile hoping that someday, somehow, Superman will throw said missile into the sun?

 

I understand that we're in Dr. Evil territory, but what's Luthor's backup plan?

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

There are some intuitive ways to understand how the earth is round.

 

1) As you head north or south, you'll notice that the length of days change. Well, if the earth was flat, that wouldn't happen. That's because your angle relative to the sun wouldn't change very much. That's true whether you assume the sun revolves around the earth or the earth revolves around the sun (spinning like a quarter?).

 

2) If you are flying over the ocean you can actually see the curvature of the earth. If you're on the water, it's harder to see, but you'll notice that distant objects "disappear" over the horizon (i.e. there is no longer a direct line of sight between you and the distant object).

Didn't real Mariners know the Earth wasn't flat for like always? Because you can't just see across the world on a clear day? And it's a myth that Columbus was the first to think it was round?

 

Also, another reason to believe now--even if you think that Moon landing thing was a hoax: satellites work? Like we have GPS in all our phones, ergo NASA calculated correctly?

 

I read an article a few weeks ago about a man who was going to shoot himself into orbit with a homemade rocket to prove the world was flat.

https ://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/21/this-man-is-about-to-launch-himself-in-his-homemade-rocket-to-prove-the-earth-is-flat/

 

I am afraid to look up what happened.

 

 

Ooh, Lee Danger Hawken came in and out-nerded me on kryptonite. I am shamed.

[Bumpy 1674]

No one can replace June but Jessica is a more than worthy addition to the nonsense. I'm excited that she's in for at least one more.

 

I read an article a few weeks ago about a man who was going to shoot himself into orbit with a homemade rocket to prove the world was flat.

https ://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/11/21/this-man-is-about-to-launch-himself-in-his-homemade-rocket-to-prove-the-earth-is-flat/

 

I am afraid to look up what happened.

I believe he proved that law enforcement can stop some rando guy from shooting off half-assed homemade rockets.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Didn't real Mariners know the Earth wasn't flat for like always? Because you can't just see across the world on a clear day? And it's a myth that Columbus was the first to think it was round?

Yep. People knew the earth was round since forever.

 

They even knew that the earth revolved around the sun since forever, because the positions of the planets change eccentrically in the sky. But people in the western world *did* forget that one, at least until Copernicus came around and re-established that particular fact.

[grudlian. 4725]

 

You don't enjoy slo-mo, soft moon fighting?

I did really enjoy Nuclear Man pounding on Superman's head driving him into the ground like a nail.

 

One thing I found interesting about the moon is I didn't know if we left the flags on the moon. Or, at least, not all of them. It turns out we did leave them. The Apollo 11 one is probably gone or destroyed since Buzz Aldrin saw it get knocked over from the rocket blasts as they left.

 

The flags that do exist would all the bleached white due to their being no protection from ultraviolet rays. Micro meteors and abrasive lunar dust have probably ripped them to tatters supposing they weren't burned up by lunar blasters.

[PollyDarton 1807]

 

I was compelled by a conversation to make this for you guys.

[RyanSz 3140]

While it's unfortunate we couldn't get a Christmas movie for the Christmas episode, I felt it prudent to send you all a Merry Christmas message.

 

[Chopping MAL 15]

One of the biggest plot holes (I know there is a ton) is Nuclear Man's clothes. Lex puts a gold and a black strip of fabric into the box on top of the protoplasm. Then says the computer will weave him clothes. But how?

 

There is no way Nuclear Man's costume would fit in that tiny box. Also when would it make the costume? After it explodes in the Sun? What kind of super computer could weave a full size, indestructible costume, comple with a cape and emblems? And making it to fit a person who wasn't formed until after the computer was destroyed.

 

Just lazy film making.

[Chopping MAL 15]

And I love that GIF Polly.

[EvRobert 1684]

I can't believe that ya'll forgot about Pink Kryptonite which makes Superman gay.

 

I wish I was making this up.

[SeaSkunk 212]

I think Lois "flew" beside Superman instead of dangling because he was going so fast. She was like a windsock in a hurricane. I bet she wished she had goggles.

[PodMeIfYouCan 4]

A bit off Topic BUT... Remember when Jason said he thought it was pronounced 'Reecey's Peeceys' in a previous episode? Instead of Reece's Pieces. So i was watching the 1986 film 'Lucas' with Corey Haim and Charlie Sheen and the bully comes into the cinema candy bar and orders them by pronouncing them 'Reecey's Peeceys'. Reminded me of How Did this Get made right away.

[pscudese 701]

I ask you all... did you ever wonder who attended the UK premier for this film??

 

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

I ask you all... did you ever wonder who attended the UK premier for this film??

How did Mark Pillow clear out his schedule?

[PollyDarton 1807]

All right guys - it may be the old eggnog talking, but I've been thinking and it seems to me that Superman has some stuff in common with another nice guy in red:

I'll start... they both know all the languages of the world. Superman speaks a few languages in SIV and SC...

https://youtu.be/ibDD8Y3IJrg?t=20

[sycasey 2.0 2301]

One of the audience members did mention how Lex was somehow able to sign a lease on an apartment despite being a fugitive, which is a fair point. But I'm also wondering how he's able to go ANYWHERE and do ANYTHING in this movie. He's busted out of prison in VERY conspicuous fashion by his VERY conspicuous nephew (all the prisoners and guards on site heard Lenny's name and saw what happened). Lex is already a famous supervillain, owing to his previous tussles with Superman. He also not only has an apartment, he has what appears to be a very ostentatious penthouse apartment in the middle of Manhattan (or whatever they call that part of Metropolis). He's not even attempting to hide himself.

 

When Superman destroyed all the nukes, did he also cause every law-enforcement agency in America to close up shop?

[Cameron H. 23786]

Happy Life-Day, everyone!

 

 

Keep it classy.

[grudlian. 4725]

One of the audience members did mention how Lex was somehow able to sign a lease on an apartment despite being a fugitive, which is a fair point. But I'm also wondering how he's able to go ANYWHERE and do ANYTHING in this movie. He's busted out of prison in VERY conspicuous fashion by his VERY conspicuous nephew (all the prisoners and guards on site heard Lenny's name and saw what happened). Lex is already a famous supervillain, owing to his previous tussles with Superman. He also not only has an apartment, he has what appears to be a very ostentatious penthouse apartment in the middle of Manhattan (or whatever they call that part of Metropolis). He's not even attempting to hide himself.

 

When Superman destroyed all the nukes, did he also cause every law-enforcement agency in America to close up shop?

Maybe I'm getting the timeline of the movie mixed up but doesn't Superman interact with Lex Luthor midway through the movie? Before Luthor created Nuclear Man? Why didn't Superman just take him to the police then?

[The_Triple_Lindy 2482]

I think Lois "flew" beside Superman instead of dangling because he was going so fast. She was like a windsock in a hurricane. I bet she wished she had goggles.

Oh man, good point. If she was going so fast that she achieved lift-off, the wind buffeting would've been nightmarish ... anyone who has ever ridden a motorcycle or stuck their head out of a moving car window knows that you can't even breath, let alone keep your eyes open. Not to mention getting hit by the bugs and random airborne detritus. She'd be getting the crap knocked out of her.