Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

Mario Puzo really had it in for Pope John Paul I, didn't he.

THAT'S who Puzo's Clark Kent is: Data.

50% through the Mario Puzo first draft of Superman. At this point, there's almost nothing here that is recognizable to the movies we got. Three scenes have something akin to what we got in the movie:

Superman gives an interview to Lois. This, however, is a quickly done interview iimmediately after saving the group from Luthor. It's not as indepth as the one in the movie (at all), but there is an mention that he does several of these off-camera throughout the second quarter of the movie.

"Superfeats." The scene in the movie where Superman stops various crimes, and saves a cat is an echo of a similar scene here. After Superman saves Lois and company from Luthor, he does a similar set of superfeats. The only one that has a parallel in the movie is Superman walking alongside someone who is using suction cups to climb a building.

"Edge sends the group to Iran." This has an echo in the Richard Lester version of Superman II, where Edge sends the group to Iran to cover a terrorist takeover of an oil refinery, where in the movie Perry White sends Lois and Clark to Paris to cover a terrorist takeover of the Eiffel Tower.

Other than those echoes, this is a completely different story altogether, focusing on the group to Lois, Clark, Jimmy Olsen and Steve Lombard covering crime for the TV news. Lois comes across as a very competent reporter, and very incomptenet weather girl, Olsen is a true believer in Clark, and Lombard and Clark have a rivalry about how Clark is a coward, and Lombard is a washed up footballer trying to prove his worth.

Eventually, the four bad guys in the Phantom Zone find Luthor and while he's asleep whisper to him about Kryptonite and how the yellow sun of the Earth gives Superman his powers. This convinces Luthor to find and steal some Kryptonite from the local museum and fashion it into a straightjacket for Superman.

The group head to Iran as a group of terrorists take over an oil refinery, but it's a ruse. Instead Luthor has created the distraction to steal the Peacock Throne of Tehran, hoping Superman will show up. He manages to get the straightjacket on Superman and captures Lois. Olsen and Lombard go to save them, however Lois has managed to save herself (with a little advice from Superman) about a hidden sword in the throne. She uses that to cut her and Superman's bonds, and he cleans house. Luthor gets away.

As they get ready to fly back, Lois has the kryptonite straight jacket in a lead lined suitcase to give as a "present" to Superman. She obviously suspects Clark is Superman.

So so so SO different....

Okay, I laughed:

I can totally see Margot Kidder delivering this line exactly as described:

About a quarter of the way through Mario Puzo's first draft of the Superman Movie. It's wierd....

The opening of the movie goes directly to the scene on Krypton where Jor-El is explaining that Krypton is going to explode. The four villains (General Zod, Jax-Ur, Kru-El and Professor Vakox) are already in the Phantom Zone, described as a black void where all you can see are their faces.

Krypton is more of a regular planet than the crystal world we see in the movie, but that's kind of how it's described in all drafts including the shooting script. It's more of a regular looking city with buildings, just covered in glass to keep the air in. Jor-El lives in a house.

The movie quickly moves to Earth, where there's just no time wasted on the Kents. They take Kal-El in and raise him, but seem to leave him be for the most part. This is where it starts to diverge a little, where the high school coaches want him on sports teams, and he refuses. Once he gets back to the farm, he's already talking with holograms of Jor-El and Lara in the barn.

He decides on his own to go North, based on advice from Jor-El to hide himself away in the arctic, where he will read all the info he got from Krypton, and then read all the info on earth(!).

It then switches to Metropolis, where there's no Daily Planet! It's Galaxy Communications, a TV station where Lois is an off-screen reporter and an on-screen weather girl! Clark's been hired to anchor the news.

"Luthor Lux" is working with Eve Tessmacher and his henchmen (no Otis here yet) to pull off a money laundering crime (We put the counterfit money in the bank, and take the real cash, and when the crime is found out, the bank takes the fall). The news reporting team finds them and interferes, and Superman interferes with the plot. Luthor gets away, and Lois is already suspicious that he's Clark.

The story feels very fast, everyone speaks in a very concise way with little extraneous dialogue. The Movie's Kryptonians speak almost biblically...here it's just straight up info-dump. The Kents spend little time "Teaching" Kent. They're just kind of there. Superman himself comes across as a an obediant little boy, who does what he is told and parrots it back.

There's still 75% more coming, and seeing how quickly the plot veered off what comes in later drafts, I'm looking forward to seeing it....

Luthor Lux, not Lex Luthor? Also, funny seeing the idea of Dustin Hoffman or Paul Newman playing Lex Luthor instead of Gene Hackman.

Mario Puzo's Superman, no!

Well, now. Ask, and apparently ye shall recieve....

I've read the status of the Superman scripts given to Richard Donner (although not the original Mario Puzo ones, which I'd kill to read). They were...goofy.

The main plot beats are there for both Superman 1 and 2, but the attitude is very different. It's clear the Salkinds wanted a campy 1960s Batman feel to the movies and Richard Donner and Tom Manckewicz brought some real down-to-earthness to the script. Pun intended.

Superman 3 was the kind of movie the Salkinds wanted for 1 and 2. And that...wasn't good.

https://fandomwire.com/it-was-disparaging-richard-donner-revealed-original-superman-script-with-marlon-brando-wouldve-killed-the-superhero-genre-forever/

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Babi Kecap

Oh, this is good. THIS IS GOOD. But it's Indonesian, so I knew it was going to be good. Brasied Pork in a sweet soy sauce. It calls for kecap mani, but since we dont' get that round here, I made some homemade kecap mani by using soy sauce and brown sugar and boiling it into a syrup. Tastes a lot like the Taiwanese Braised Pork, but a little sweeter. It works with the salty pork. :9

# Babi Kecap

Asia: The Beautiful Cookbook

2.0 pounds boneless pork
1.0 tsp salt
1.0 tsp black pepper
0.25 cup vegetable oil
1.0 whole onion
2.0 tsp garlic (crushed)
2.0 tsp ginger (minced)
1.0 tsp red chili (minced)
1.0 cup thin coconut milk
0.25 cup soy sauce
0.25 cup brown sugar
0.125 cup brown sugar

1 - In small pot, add brown sugar and soy sauce.
2 - Boil the sauce over low to medium flame until thickens resembling maple syrup. If the mixture starts to boil vigorously and looks like it is going to overboil, move the pot away from the flame until the boiling has calm down and continue to boil over low heat. As the mixture cools down, it will further thicken.
3 - Cut the pork into 1/4-in (4-cm) cubes and sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
4 - Heat the oil in a large pan until very hot and fry the pork until evenly colored; do not overcrowd the pan or the pork will begin to stew instead of browning.
5 - Transfer to a heavy saucepan or baking dish.
6 - Peel and finely chop the onion.
7 - Sauté the onion in the remaining oil with the garlic and ginger until softened
8 - Add the chili and sauté again briefly.
9 - Add to the pork with the remaining ingredients.
10 - Bring to a boil, then simmer gently over low heat or in a 350°F (180°C) oven for about 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is completely tender and the sauce is well reduced.
11 - Add a little more coconut milk during cooking, if needed. Skim the fat from the surface before serving.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

Smoke...