I have to admit that turning this movie into a special edition DVD truly is an exercise in creating a silk purse from a sow's ear.  Supergirl ended up being reviled on a fairly universal level, which is a little bit of a pity because there are good elements to it, and it's certainly a lot easier to stomach than Superman III, which had so few good elements that being a Superman fan was painful thereafter.

Supergirl actually takes more drastic liberties with the original Supergirl concept than the Superman movies did with the original character.  She's still his cousin, and she still becomes Linda Danvers, but the latter is so that she can have a base on Earth while she searches for a device called the Omegahedron.  This device is the power source for Argo City, a utopian community that withdrew from Kryptonian society by moving itself to "inner space."  Zaltar, apparently the architect of this community, and a master artist, borrows the Omegahedron to work on some of his creations.  Plot points ensue, and the Omegahedron's off to Earth,and Argo is doomed unless they can somehow get it back.   Kara swipes an experimental spaceship and takes off in pursuit, and Zaltar announces the Phantom Zone is the place for him now.  Sort of "You're all going to die, and I shall live forever -- and be miserable."  Big comfort, Zaltar.  Give Peter O'Toole credit, though -- he does a lot with the little he's given.

So, Kara (Helen Slater) reaches Earth, finds her cousin conveniently off-planet, and spends her time alternately mopping up creeps and searching for the Omegahedron ... which has fallen into the hands of Selena (Faye Dunaway), whi has ambitions, and, now, power.  Toss in Jimmy Olsen, Lucy Lane (Lois Lane's sister), a goofy love interest for Supergirl (Hart Bochner) and we're off to the races.

The Anchor Bay package presents two different versions of the movie, neither of which is actually the cut originally seen in the US.  The first of the two discs includes the international version, which runs 124 minutes (ten minutes longer than the US release), while the second disc includes the "director's cut" -- a version as close to Jeannot Swarc's intentions as possible, this one running some 138 minutes altogether, with 24 minutes of footage turfed out of film vaults in the UK.   While the International version includes a good stereo soundtrack, the restored version is in rather rough mono.

The image quality of the Internal version is good, with a little bit of softness and grain evident here and there.  The transfer is anamorphic, with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1.  Colors are good throughout, though contrast seems a little low at times.  The restored version is also an anamorphic transfer, and looks okay overall, if a little dark in places, and sometimes just a little bit scratchy (indicating the elements that were restored, no doubt.

Extras include the original "Making Of" film, a rather leaden commentary track with direct Jeannot Swarc, an assortment of trailers (unfortunately mostly painfully bad examples of the art of making trailers), television spots, storyboards, stills, and posters (some of which are quite interesting to see.)

©2001 by Steven E. McDonald