At what age did you discover Superman: The Movie?

[crazy_asian_man]

Hopefully this hasn't already been put up: People may have mentioned when they did in bits and pieces here and there, but I don't recall there actually having been mentioned in any one spot (and feel free to close this poll down if there has, mods.).

For my own two cents, I was 15 when I was wowed by STM. This was my first experience with seeing a superhero film--- and it's hard to perceive how STM is experienced by others who may have viewed the "Batman" movie series/ "X-men" series/ or "Spiderman" series first before watching STM. I'd like to think that I'd still consider STM epic, but, obviously, it's always hard to really be objective as timing of experiencing something always colors an experience to a degree.

Some films that I experienced at that age haven't aged as well ("Last Starfighter" for one) in looking back, but STM does. Curious when others first came across STM...

[Jimbo]

I was but a wee lad. I grew up with STM and S2 ABC cut in equal doses starting when I was around 5 years old.

[Jor-L5150]

i was playing outside in the sandbox. my tonka truck. was 4 years old. dad was adding a room to the homestead and waited all day to surprise me.

already knew of superman from "superfriends". STM owned me forever. one of the few happy memories....

EDIT
original thetrical run- small-town hole-in-the-wall theater, btw

[Kirok]

I was about 5 or so. My dad had recorded STM and SII off HBO so it was TV-recorded versions for me. Unfortunately these were not the extended ones everyone else seems to have grown up with, haha.

I used to play along wearing my Superman costume. I wore my dad's old glasses (lens free of course) and a robe over the costume when I was Clark Kent.

[Deleted]

Around two or three, I believe. ABC's 1981 cut. Never knew there was otherwise 'til about 1993.

[The Phantom Menace]

I didn't watch the film until I was in college. It was 03, so I'm certain the version I saw was the Expanded Edition.

[Kal-Ex]

I saw it in 1978 in a movie theatre, I was 4 years old.
I’m almost sure it was the expended edition because when I saw the added scenes in 2001 I had a feeling that it wasn’t the first time I saw those images.

[TylerDurden389]

When I was a kid I used to watch S1 and S2 (ABC version) on a videotape all the time. The funny thing is, whenever I popped the tape in, I never knew which one it would be. The similar openings confused me. I knew which one I was watching only after we got to Krypton. If I saw Marlon Brando, I knew I watching 1. If not, then I knew it was 2. Also, my mom didn't get the entire opening with the kid reading the comic book. For me S1 always began with the daily planet globe.

[atp]

I also saw it when I was about 4 or 5. It was in 1978, and it was the first movie I had ever seen in a cinema.

In fact, there were no videos back then, so it was the first movie I had seen, period!

I recall it was also the first time I had smelled popcorn in my life.

It was a real event movie. They gave everyone a kind of souvenir book with black-and-white stills from the movie.

I will always treasure that magic experience. I often long for that state of innocence, not knowing that there was such a thing as a crap film.

[Legsy]

Honestly, I can't remember. I grew up with Superman. Some of my earliest memories are of me and my family watching STM. I remember burning my hand on the stove while watching STM on ABC. Some of my baby pics are of my with a Superman bib.

[reevevsrouth]

didn't appreciate STM until i was 16, mostly had SII rattling in my head till then.

[Jimbo]

Jan 11, 2010 14:11:22 GMT -5 reevevsrouth said:

didn't appreciate STM until i was 16, mostly had SII rattling in my head till then.

That's because a lot more stuff happened in 2 than STM. I sure felt that way when I was a kid. I usually fast-forwarded through the Fortress of Solitude. ;D

[Bobby M]

I saw it in the cinema in 1978, before I was born.

Seriously, though, I grew up with it and all the sequels on VHS and TV in the 1980s. The fourth one was the first I was old enough to see at the cinema.

So I'm in the 1-6 bracket then.

[crazy_asian_man]

It was a real event movie. They gave everyone a kind of souvenir book with black-and-white stills from the movie.

I will always treasure that magic experience.

I hear ya...feel the same way. "Event film" I think captures the experience just right- The special touches by Donner/Baird gives the film its immortality, imo. SII's disappointment comes from Lester downplaying the situations in the film for me, but STM remains unspoiled in its undiluted passion from the director.

Feel bad that you (and other friends as well) don't care for SR as an extension of STM's spirit, though- There were scenes in SR that I thought matched STM, but I know that SR remains polarizing for STM fans...

...at least we can all agree on STM, tho'. (and mostly on SIV-- but for sadder reasons on that one).

[ShogunLogan]

7. I was 7 when it came out.

[zoom]

My uncle was a elecronics buff and made a VHS bootleg for me. I would have been around 5 or 6.

[mickah]

when I was a young girl, aged about 5.......

boy I man, a young boy..........

[crazy_asian_man]

So far, have to admit I'm surprised how many members saw STM during their 1-6 years....

For my two cents, I'd read a Superman reprint (the siegel/shuster) about that age, prior to the movie. But there was the exposure to the character then.

Neil Gaiman once said something like, "The real golden age of comics is whatever comics you started to read when you were 7, rather than what comic dealers designate"- And I thought that interesting.

If someone grew up with George Reeves as THE Superman, then Chris Reeve may seem forever too young for the role on film. If someone grew up with first experiencing Dean Cain as the man of steel, then Chris Reeve may feel 'wrong'.

I'm not sure yet what exactly the numbers of this poll show for sure, but maybe it's that maybe a lot of us came into the character about the same age..... does that mean the affection for the character (and Reeve as the character) is tainted by it?

Not impossible....

[EnriqueH]

I was, at most, 3 years old when I first saw it...(and Star Wars ANH).

My dad had one of those projector things, so I saw that and ANH constantly.

EDIT: I'm 34, so that must've been around '78/'79.

[SGB]

I discovered STM at age 6 when I rented it on VHS.

It's been my favourite film ever since.

[superman]

I was 5 years old and 5 months, since my birthday is in June, so the date was October 1982.

The main thing I remember was Superman chasing the missle, and because I DO remember him stopping in front to grab it, I know it was the extended cut!

I also remember Clark Kent falling from the window and changing into The Man Of Steel, and the flight to Luthor's Lair, the main flight scene I remember is when he goes all the way down to the street and bounces back up!

I also remember watching Superman II for the first time, and the scene which I remember most is when Clark gets confronted by Lois at Niagara Falls that he is Superman!

[Rod]

It was mid 80s when Superman first appeared in brazilian tvs.
I was 8 years old.
The dubbing was (and I still have the tape) excellent.
Always loved the Krypton and Smalville parts, never got tired of those.
Since my mother recorded STM and S2 in the same tape I used to watch both movies eventually so it was always kind of one movie for me and the memory of this movies is very mixed up.
I had a Supermam costume and when I play around with it I remember that the MUSIC of John Wiliams was very important so I used to put the tape in the helicopter sequence.

Man, once in a while I realized that I still miss Chris Reeve so much.

[eccentricbeing]

I was 3-4. But I vividly remember watching Superman II on ABC when I was 4 and taping it.

[capedwonder]

I guess I am the old man in this group. I was 17 and a senior in high school when Superman hit the silver screen...

[theoj]

I still have the original VHS recording of STM's first showing on UK TV - it has the Thames Television logo at the beginning!

I think I was 3 or 4 years old... 1981 / 1982?