DC Universe Animated Original Movies
-
- AV Founder
- Posts: 25736
- Joined: October 22nd, 2004
- Location: London, UK
I am quite excited by the George Miller news, gotta tell ya. If he can get back what made Mad Max so brutal and apply that to the League - with unknowns in the leads that could well pooh over Routh and Bale - we could have something pretty gosh darn friggin' awesome!
Love 40s Fleischer Supes too...closer to the way he looked in his 1930s comic books debut...but it doesn't look right here. Why do they always draw him flat and front on in these modern cartoons. There are no strong poses for him anymore. The last time Superman looked, well, super, was in Alex Ross' paintings.
Love 40s Fleischer Supes too...closer to the way he looked in his 1930s comic books debut...but it doesn't look right here. Why do they always draw him flat and front on in these modern cartoons. There are no strong poses for him anymore. The last time Superman looked, well, super, was in Alex Ross' paintings.
-
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 823
- Joined: February 22nd, 2007
- Location: Belgium
I just watched Fleischers' Superman cartoons last night on one of the bonus discs from the Superman movies boxset. Its been years since I last saw these and viewing them again was an enjoyable experience to say the least. I forgot how great these are!! The animation, the lighting, the backgrounds, the music, the list goes on...
While watching them, visuals of the first seasons of Bruce Timms' Batman TAS kept flashing through my mind. you can clearly see where those guysy got big chunk of their inspiration designwise.
While watching them, visuals of the first seasons of Bruce Timms' Batman TAS kept flashing through my mind. you can clearly see where those guysy got big chunk of their inspiration designwise.
It was that moving to me.-
- AV Forum Member
- Posts: 10081
- Joined: September 1st, 2006
The soundtrack for Superman: Doomsday has now been released! If I see it on sale, perhaps I'll get it.
The Doomsday soundtrack's not worth it.
There's much better soundtracks out there than this one! It's one of those synth-scores that's kind of hollow. WB couldn't afford to pay for a full orchestra?
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (conducted by John Debney) recording of the Superman: The Movie score is a far superior CD to get. Much better recording than even the original out-of-print motion picture CD (2-disc and one-disc releases). Also, Superman: The Ultimate Collection is another better choice. That's the only disc out on the market that has a brand new digital recording of the Fleischer AND Adventures of Superman themes, too.
The last couple of projects featuring an animated and live-action Superman have left a lot to be desired where the music's concerned. The 1996 animated series had some good pieces, but the 1978 movie score is still the best collection for the character IMHO.
There's much better soundtracks out there than this one! It's one of those synth-scores that's kind of hollow. WB couldn't afford to pay for a full orchestra?
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (conducted by John Debney) recording of the Superman: The Movie score is a far superior CD to get. Much better recording than even the original out-of-print motion picture CD (2-disc and one-disc releases). Also, Superman: The Ultimate Collection is another better choice. That's the only disc out on the market that has a brand new digital recording of the Fleischer AND Adventures of Superman themes, too.
The last couple of projects featuring an animated and live-action Superman have left a lot to be desired where the music's concerned. The 1996 animated series had some good pieces, but the 1978 movie score is still the best collection for the character IMHO.
-
- AV Founder
- Posts: 25736
- Joined: October 22nd, 2004
- Location: London, UK
I always find Debney's score adaptations to be too slow...the Back To The Future album (that I only bought for the ride score) drives me nuts and I have to will it along.
The best Superman: The Movie album out there is the 2-disc Rhino/Archives release, awesome sounding, conducted by Williams himself.
What's the Ultimate Collection? Missed that.
Passing on the Doomsday score is a no brainer - I'm surprised it came out separately. Like game scores, I don't see how a DTV title's music can compete with the many other rounded tracks out there, especially sampled scores which can drive me nuts too if they're not done well enough.
The best Superman: The Movie album out there is the 2-disc Rhino/Archives release, awesome sounding, conducted by Williams himself.
What's the Ultimate Collection? Missed that.
Passing on the Doomsday score is a no brainer - I'm surprised it came out separately. Like game scores, I don't see how a DTV title's music can compete with the many other rounded tracks out there, especially sampled scores which can drive me nuts too if they're not done well enough.
Have to disagree with you on the Debney Superman adaptation, Ben.
Most people -- including me -- who have heard all the major CD releases of the first Superman motion picture (Williams') score on CD think his sounds a lot better than the official motion picture soundtrack release.
The original tapes are a mess and have lost a lot of their "oomph." WB just didn't invest its money in properly restoring the soundtrack and the Rhino CD release sounds tinny in a way. It's not horrible, but it's just not as full-sounding as the Debney 2-CD release. Debney's score is not slow. I've listened to Superman enough to know that the tempo's fine.
Different conductors may approach things a bit differently, but the first thing I would have noticed on the Debney release is a massive tempo change. I just didn't detect it. If there are any major musical changes, that's really John Williams' fault. He never fully documented everything he did on the score and Debney had to reconstruct the full score from Williams' condensed conductor notes as best as he could. It was still an outstanding job and one of the better Superman CD's I've listened to.
Debney's CD release definitely benefits from superior sound technology (20-bit digital), recording, and mastering. It's only natural that a newer recording should sound better, but again, WB/Rhino should have done a better job handling and restoring the original master tapes.
http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Movie-Re ... 700&sr=1-3
If you want to hear a SLOW tempo version of a movie theme, listen to the Boston Pops/John Williams' version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Now, THAT'S a slow tempo version of movie music!
As to the Superman: The Ultimate Collection CD, it's just a collection of all-new digital recordings of themes from the various Superman TV shows and movies prior to Superman: The Animated Series and Superman Returns. It has the themes from the Fleischer cartoons, the first Superman serial, the The Adventures of Superman (the George Reeves TV series), the first Christopher Reeve film, and bits of music from Superman I, II, and III and the 1967 Broadway show (but no vocals there). http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Ultimate ... 92&sr=1-10
The highlights of that CD for me are the new recordings for the Fleischer Superman theme and The Adventures of Superman theme. They are just phenomenal orchestrations and performances where I'm concerned. Very full, nicely tempoed, and so on. They would fit in very well with a new movie or animated series. I'm surprised nobody at WB has figured out how they can use either of these older Superman themes because they still are impressive even today.
NOTE: Post re-edited to add links to Amazon listings for CD collections of said-music at request of moderator. Enjoy, folks!
P.S. -- In many ways, I like Williams' score for Superman even BETTER than his Star Wars scores. As much as I like the music in The Empire Strikes Back a lot, the Prologue and Opening Theme for Superman is probably my favorite Williams' composition.
Most people -- including me -- who have heard all the major CD releases of the first Superman motion picture (Williams') score on CD think his sounds a lot better than the official motion picture soundtrack release.
The original tapes are a mess and have lost a lot of their "oomph." WB just didn't invest its money in properly restoring the soundtrack and the Rhino CD release sounds tinny in a way. It's not horrible, but it's just not as full-sounding as the Debney 2-CD release. Debney's score is not slow. I've listened to Superman enough to know that the tempo's fine.
Different conductors may approach things a bit differently, but the first thing I would have noticed on the Debney release is a massive tempo change. I just didn't detect it. If there are any major musical changes, that's really John Williams' fault. He never fully documented everything he did on the score and Debney had to reconstruct the full score from Williams' condensed conductor notes as best as he could. It was still an outstanding job and one of the better Superman CD's I've listened to.
Debney's CD release definitely benefits from superior sound technology (20-bit digital), recording, and mastering. It's only natural that a newer recording should sound better, but again, WB/Rhino should have done a better job handling and restoring the original master tapes.
http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Movie-Re ... 700&sr=1-3
If you want to hear a SLOW tempo version of a movie theme, listen to the Boston Pops/John Williams' version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Now, THAT'S a slow tempo version of movie music!
As to the Superman: The Ultimate Collection CD, it's just a collection of all-new digital recordings of themes from the various Superman TV shows and movies prior to Superman: The Animated Series and Superman Returns. It has the themes from the Fleischer cartoons, the first Superman serial, the The Adventures of Superman (the George Reeves TV series), the first Christopher Reeve film, and bits of music from Superman I, II, and III and the 1967 Broadway show (but no vocals there). http://www.amazon.com/Superman-Ultimate ... 92&sr=1-10
The highlights of that CD for me are the new recordings for the Fleischer Superman theme and The Adventures of Superman theme. They are just phenomenal orchestrations and performances where I'm concerned. Very full, nicely tempoed, and so on. They would fit in very well with a new movie or animated series. I'm surprised nobody at WB has figured out how they can use either of these older Superman themes because they still are impressive even today.
NOTE: Post re-edited to add links to Amazon listings for CD collections of said-music at request of moderator. Enjoy, folks!
P.S. -- In many ways, I like Williams' score for Superman even BETTER than his Star Wars scores. As much as I like the music in The Empire Strikes Back a lot, the Prologue and Opening Theme for Superman is probably my favorite Williams' composition.
Last edited by GeorgeC on October 25th, 2007, 1:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.