March 30, 2002 | 9:50 AM

The other day I was channel surfing and stopped when I hit HBO.

Because I heard it. That theme song. The one from Superman II

Da da da da da da da da. Da da da da da DA DA DA!!!!!

There was a young and beautiful Christopher Reeve fighting three Super villains, each one with the same power he has. Exchanging witty quips with General Zod, the leader of the three villains, masterfully played by Terrence Stamp. Soaring over the North Pole and landing in The Fortress of Solitude, quite possibly the coolest living quarters ever dreamed up. Saving the fair city of Metroplois and making the world safe for truth, justice, and the American Way.

Am I in the mood to watch this? Can I deal with watching Superman II right now?

I tried. I gave it 15 minutes. And I failed miserably.

Off went the TV. Under the covers went me.

Sobbing uncontrollably. Thankfully no one else was home.

Superman II came out when I was four years old. I lived on Meadow Drive then. Was the only child of my adoring (albeit wholly neurotic) parents.

My father was obsessed with movies. And from a very young age he took me to see at least two movies a week. He always treated me like an adult, and figured I was smart enough to handle seeing just about anything�unless it was really really scary. So as a little kid, I had the amazing experience of watching Time Bandits, Tender Mercies, Arthur, Victor Victoria-- name a movie that came out between 1980 and 1989, and chances are I saw it in the theater with my dad.

I was enchanted by all of these films. And my father always talked about them with me afterwards, over french fries at Jay�s Diner. We�d discuss why certain characters behaved in certain ways, and what certain re-occurring themes were. Mind you, I was a little little kid. But I was never talked down to. It was one of the greatest gifts anyone could have possibly given me.

A movie that we saw over and over again was Superman II. I must have seen it over fifty times in the theater alone. Once, we watched it three times in a row. We could quote every line in every scene. I don�t know exactly why we loved it so much. It was just magic.

Once, my dad and I recorded a cassette tape for Christopher Reeve where we talked about how much we loved Superman II. I asked a bunch of questions, like,

What�s it like to pretend you are flying�When you�re pretending, do you feel kind of like you actually are flying?

and

Do you like living in Metropolis?

(My dad had to explain to me that Christopher Reeve didn�t actually live in Metropolis; that he probably lived in Hollywood. This disappointed me greatly.)

God�that was over twenty-years ago.

Now my father is dead. He died on May 19th, 1989, when I was 12 years old of a heart attack while I was away on a school field trip. There were no warning signs. He fell asleep listening to Beethoven and he never woke up. My mother and my small bother and sister (4 and 6 years old respectively) found him on the sofa.

So he was there and then he was gone and that�s that.

And it still makes me so fucking angry. I would give anything to just have him back for one god damned day. I can�t tell you how much I loved him and what knowing him meant to me.

Anyway� today I am going to see E.T., another movie I saw originally with my dad when it came out in 1982.

Maybe this is why I am so hooked on exploring the past.