Things that might have been

[Unicron]

Ever read about some of the things that could have happened in TV and film, and almost made it into the final version but didn't? I was reading recently about a planned ending for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which presumably was in an early draft but never filmed.

There would have been an actual battle between Arthur's forces and the French at Castle Aggghhh over the grail, and the French would have the upper hand until a group of swallows flew over and bombed them with coconuts. As it was, the Pythons didn't have enough money left in the tiny budget and the improvised army that appears to support Arthur comprised all of the extras, leaving none to be French knights. One of the Pythons apparently suggested instead the filmed ending, with the English all getting arrested.

There's also an unfilmed scene in the official script, which explains where the dragon boat comes from. After crossing the Bridge of Death, Arthur and Bedivere would have met the guardian of the Sea of Fate, who owned the boat and required answers to 28 questions instead of only three. They would have just chucked him in the sea and taken the boat.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Well, those are definitely Python-esque ideas.

Would it have been 2 swallows with the coconut on a line between them? Or just some wayward African swallows?

 

[sojourner]

Would it have been 2 swallows with the coconut on a line between them? Or just some wayward African swallows?

I don't know that! AAIIIEEEEEEEEEE!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

First thing that comes to my mind is the alternate ending of Red Dwarf Series VIII, which would have ended on a cliffhanger with Rimmer being rescued by Ace Rimmer (who would have been the original Rimmer that left back in Series VII). They were all ready to shoot it. In fact, Chris Barrie was already wearing his Ace Rimmer wig when Doug Naylor came on set with the new idea of Rimmer kicking the Grim Reaper in the balls.

 

[Australis]

George Raft as Rick in Casablanca. He knocked it back and some guy called Humphrey got the role.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Would it have been 2 swallows with the coconut on a line between them? Or just some wayward African swallows?

I don't know that! AAIIIEEEEEEEEEE!

And that wraps it up for the old man from scene 23.

Maybe they could dig up Graham & do up those "missing" scenes

 

[Unicron]

Although it was never stated onscreen, at one point it was planned in Mad Max: The Road Warrior for Lord Humongous to be Max's former partner, Jim Rains (Goose). He's badly burned in the first film but never specifically confirmed dead.

There are also some interesting things that never made it into the Ghostbusters films. The ghostly Titanic was used in place of a ghostly Hindenburg concept in the second film, as well as several ghosts which never made it onscreen (but the Frog Ghost apparently came close, having a prop built for the subway scene).

In the original film, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man was originally conceived only as an intermediate form for Gozer, who would have then become a more monstrous entity. One of the more recent games slightly lampooned Gozer by saying it can only assume one destructor form on a given world, therefore on Earth it can only manifest as a giant Stay-Puft Man. Ray says perhaps he didn't choose such a bad form after all.

 

[Mysterion]

George Raft as Rick in Casablanca. He knocked it back and some guy called Humphrey got the role.

Ronald Reagan was also considered for the role at one point, IIRC.

 

[Australis]

^ True.

 

[Harvey]

George Raft as Rick in Casablanca. He knocked it back and some guy called Humphrey got the role.

Ronald Reagan was also considered for the role at one point, IIRC.

Both claims are actually false. Having seen George Raft in the medicore Casablanca-clone entitled Background to Danger (1943), I can't express how happy I am that he wasn't cast in the movie.

 

[Australis]

<goes to Wikipedia>
Damn! I used to be good at this stuff!

Several rumors and misconceptions have grown up around the film, one being that Ronald Reagan was originally chosen to play Rick. This originates in a press release issued by the studio early on in the film's development, but by that time the studio already knew that he was due to go work for the army, and he was never seriously considered. George Raft claimed that he had turned down the lead role. Studio records make clear, however, that Wallis was committed to Bogart from the start.

Ah, looking up Raft, he turned down High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, which Bogart picked up. Can ypu imagine TMF without Bogart?

Okay, one I do know. Jack Lord as Capt. Kirk. That would have been a very different show.

 

[Saul]

First thing that comes to my mind is the alternate ending of Red Dwarf Series VIII, which would have ended on a cliffhanger with Rimmer being rescued by Ace Rimmer (who would have been the original Rimmer that left back in Series VII). They were all ready to shoot it. In fact, Chris Barrie was already wearing his Ace Rimmer wig when Doug Naylor came on set with the new idea of Rimmer kicking the Grim Reaper in the balls.

He really chose the wrong ending there.


I would have loved to have seen the original sequel to King Kong. King Kong vs. Frankenstein.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Of course, Spock could have had red skin.

 

[Mysterion]

Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones in Raiders. CBS wouldn't give him the time away from Magnum, though.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones in Raiders. CBS wouldn't give him the time away from Magnum, though.

I'd be curious to see an alternate reality Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones. However, I don't think I'd give up the Harrison Ford versions to do that, because I really like what he did with the part, especially in the third film with Sean Connery.

 

[Harvey]

Ah, looking up Raft, he turned down High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon, which Bogart picked up. Can ypu imagine TMF without Bogart?

Raft was the Keanu Reeves of his generation. They Drive By Night would be considered a masterpiece if it wasn't for the dullard being cast in the lead role. I shudder at the thought of him in those movies.

--

If we're talking other choices for James Kirk, some internal memos I've read indicate that Roddenberry wanted James Coburn in the role for a time. He would have brought a very different sense of humor to the role than Shatner did, I think.

 

[Australis]

Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones in Raiders. CBS wouldn't give him the time away from Magnum, though.

I'd be curious to see an alternate reality Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones. However, I don't think I'd give up the Harrison Ford versions to do that, because I really like what he did with the part, especially in the third film with Sean Connery.

There was an episode of Magnum which was blantantly a, uhm, homage to Indiana Jones, where Selleck had at least the fedora and satchel.

 

[Mysterion]

Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones in Raiders. CBS wouldn't give him the time away from Magnum, though.

I'd be curious to see an alternate reality Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones. However, I don't think I'd give up the Harrison Ford versions to do that, because I really like what he did with the part, especially in the third film with Sean Connery.

You can see part of Selleck's screen test in the DVD extras of the original three movie set. I would have had no problem with Selleck playing Indy at all.Interestingly, Sean Young is seen reading for Marion. Being in a now thirty-year crush on Karen Allen, though, I cannot see anyone else in that part.

There is also an alternate universe somehwere where Raiders was made in the late 1940s, and starred Jimmy Stewart in the lead role.

 

[Harvey]

If Raiders of the Lost Ark had been made during that era, it would have been a crime to cast anyone besides Humphrey Bogart in the role. That would have been something.

 

[Gov Kodos]

If Raiders of the Lost Ark had been made during that era, it would have been a crime to cast anyone besides Humphrey Bogart in the role. That would have been something.

With Peter Lorre playing Sulla, yeah. And perhaps Richard Widmark as Beloq.