In the original Superman films General Zod and his accomplices are trapped in The Phantom Zone, which in the films is represented as a 2D 'crystal' prison sent spinning through space. I am looking for any writings/insights into how the visual effects for this were created, and exactly by whom. Any other insights, from comic book lore, about how the Phantom Zone was represented - especially visually - would also be appreciated. I know about the Richard Donner controversy (Superman was directed by Richard Donner in 1978, and after he was 'fired' from the project Superman II was taken over by Richard Lester, 1980). That's for another discussion.

This is the Only Level is a 2D platformer in which you have to guide a boldly unanimated elephant over a series of pits, some of which are filled with spikes, past a switch that will raise a door, and deliver him safely to the exit. And that’s it. The twist is that, once you have initially completed the task, you’ll find you have to do it again, guiding the elephant over the same pits and the same spikes, and past the same switch that raises the same door, the difference being that this time the game’s mechanics have changed fairly dramatically. Then you’ll do it again, and again, each run-through offering a twist on the controls, or an unexpected tinkering with the environment.

It’s an approach that swiftly turns the standard tenets game design upside-down: instead of giving you a single set of tools and then varying the backdrop, the level becomes a controlled lab in which you play the role of the rat.