Review of Supergirl (1984) by Stuart K — 28 Apr 2014

After the success of the Superman films, producer Alexander Salkind thought it would be a good idea to do a film based on the Supergirl series of comics, which started in 1958. It seemed like a good idea at the time, especially as Christopher Reeve was in no hurry to play Superman again.

But Supergirl would prove to be a troubled production, filmed on the hoof and the special effects look rushed too, but it's just cheesy fun mostly. On the Kryptonian community of Argo City, Kara Zor-El (Helen Slater) accidentally loses a powerful orb known as the Omegahedron, which belonged to Zaltar (Peter O'Toole).

Blown into outer-space, Kara follows it, and transforms into Supergirl along the way. The Omegahedron lands on Earth, and it ends up in the hands of witch Selena (Faye Dunaway), who uses to break her relationship with warlock Nigel (Peter Cook), and wreck power on the world.

Kara arrives on Earth, and enrols at an all-girls school under the name of Linda Lee, quickly befriending Lucy Lane (Maureen Teefy). But when Selena wages destruction, Kara/Linda becomes Supergirl. It follows the same formula as the Superman films, but this was rushed into production to make a Summer 1984 release, but it ended up being delayed when Warner Bros.

dropped it from distribution, and negative publicity saw it flounder at the box-office, which was a shame, as it's not as bad as it's made out to be.