Some thoughts/observations on Superman II

[enyawd72]

Rewatching Superman II the other day I began thinking about some curious plot points that deserve discussing.

You will recall that upon arriving on Earth, General Zod lands in a lake and comments on the "strange surface".
He completely fails to recognize it as water or even as a liquid...how is this possible? It suggests that Kryptonians are totally unfamiliar with water, and possibly liquids in general, yet Kryptonian technology, specifically architecture, is based off the reaction of pre-programmed crystals with water.

This is further compounded by the appearance of Krypton in the film. The planet appears entirely crystalline in nature, and completely devoid of any water, vegetation, or animal life outside of the Kryptonians themselves. This begs the question...how/what do Kryptonians even eat or drink? They must consume something, for their makeup seems so similar to humans that their bodies must also be made up of a large percentage of water. This is clearly evident as Superman cries tears, produces saliva, and bleeds when stripped of his powers. He also tells Lois in during his initial interview that he does eat when he's hungry.

This also brings up the question of how baby Kal-El was sustained during his flight to Earth, as he grew quite a bit during the trip. And exactly how was his bodily waste disposed of?

Thoughts?

[Earth 2 Chris]

My thought: You're thinking about it too hard.

Seriously though, those are good points. I think with Krypton, John Barry just went with the most alien, sterile world he could think of. We really don't see much of Krypton at all. The exterior of the big dome, and the inner chambers of the council and Jor-El's lab/home are about it. One thing I liked about MoS was that Krypton looked like a living world, not just a cool set piece. As much as I loved the Krypton of Donner's film, it's no place I'd ever want to visit. But the point of Krypton in that movie was just to get the story rolling, and give Brando a good part in the film so the Salkinds could get investors.

It could have been worse...Jor-El could have been a bagel....or a green suitcase!

Chris

[ctc]

>My thought: You're thinking about it too hard.

"Then repeat to yourself: 'it's just a show; I should really just relax'...."

They are good questions though.... REALLY good ones. So;

>He completely fails to recognize it as water or even as a liquid...how is this possible?
>how/what do Kryptonians even eat or drink?

Hmmmm.... maybe everything on Krypton is manufactured; so you'd get food and water in some sort of packet, and the idea of a whole lake of water is unheard of. Maybe they eat some sort of hybrid, like a paste; and don't have fluids in large enough amounts to be collected. There's also the red sun/yellow sun bit: Kryptonians may get nourishment like a plant, since it's been shown that solar radiation does have an invigourating effect on them. Along those lines, maybe there's ambient moisture on Krypton, facilitating crystal growth everywhere, and absorbed by Kryptonians.

>how baby Kal-El was sustained during his flight to Earth, as he grew quite a bit during the trip. And exactly how was his bodily waste disposed of?

Trickier.... Maybe the Kryptonian system is nourished by some sort of ambient effect, like the solar thing.... and the capsule produced it in enough quantity to facilitate life. Any kind of an excretory system may be vestigial. On Earth he'd eat 'cos that's how we roll here, and his hyper metabolism would require the complete breakdown of it for nourishment. Or facilitate the complete breakdown.

Don C.

[Nostalgiabuff]

if you want to really get into things, why didn't the baby's muscles atrophy from being kept in the same position for 2-3 years? he was awake and learning the whole time so he was not in suspended animation or anything