SPOILER ALERT!!!!
I find it interesting that no one ever mentions the enormous plot holes that are created when Superman turns back time. The way it's portrayed in the movie, it's like only certain things get turned back. If he did turn back time he'd have a lot of things to do over again, and we never see that. Not to mention, if he was turning back time, we would have something much more akin to Back To The Future where Superman could run into himself and have the same things to do all over again. Which, could be a story in itself where Superman is finally able to stop crime because he essentially created two of himself to patrol the world.
If you where to look at it logically, turning back time does not mean Superman can do two things at once, just do the same things again and run the risk of screwing up the "time/space continuum" as Doc Brown would say.
Man, I hate that time travel element!
On a different note, my favorite part to Donner's film was the way Lois finds out about Superman/Clark Kent. Brilliant!
Ugh; don't even get me started! If you really read into it, it seems like he only went back in time and changed one thing...he somehow stopped the crack in the ground from swallowing Lois' car. That's it. Because clearly the earthquake still happened--Lois mentions it, and in the second movie, Otis says something like "California almost fell into the sea." So I figure it thusly--he went back in time, and intentionally avoided running into his former self. His former self was out saving the bus on the bridge, and damming the flood, but "Future" Superman was stopping the crack. That's it. HOWEVER--this runs into a total paradox! Because if he stopped the car, Lois wouldn't have been yelling for help. And therefore, the "other" Superman wouldn't have heard her and would have gone about his business, wouldn't have tried to save Lois and would never have gone back in time at all! And thus, it almost implies that there are then TWO Supermans flying around--one the time traveler and the other who never saved Lois and never went back in time. When Austin Powers did the same thing, he went back in time 10 minutes and ran into his former self, and therefore the Austin Universe actually has two Austins running around. But the movie implies that for some reason when Superman went back in time he poofed his other self out of existence! Which is also kinda weird, though very convenient from a writers' standpoint alone.
I don't know--I think the ending was a major cop-out in a way. And to see him pull it again in the Donner cut was another cop-out.
