Revised Ending: Difference between revisions

* ''[[The Big O (Anime)|The Big O]]'' had its ending revised numerous times before being broadcast, with the final product being subject to a [[Executive Meddling|request]] to be ''less'' conclusive than previous drafts, in case the network decided on a third series. It didn't, leaving the show with a [[Gainax Ending]] and no proper resolution.

* Surprisingly, the anime adaptation of ''[[Full Moon O Sagashite]]'' had a more [[Bittersweet Ending]] compared to the original manga which had a true [[Happy Ending]], given all the events and details of characters removed or changed in the anime.

* The infamously [[Dark Fic]] ''[[Cupcakes (Fanfic)|Cupcakes]]'' ends with Pinkie Pie horrifically killing Rainbow Dash and getting away with it, but has a ''lot'' of alternate endings, few, if any, by the original writer. These range from her moving on to the ''rest'' of her friends, [[All Just a Dream|it being a dream]], [[Oh Crap There Are Fanfics of Us|it being a fanfic]] written by one of the characters, it being a play, Rainbow Dash breaking free and killing Pinkie Pie instead, and [[Broken Angel|Rainbow Dash being rescued, but losing her wings]]. The [[All Just a Dream]] version has a great many versions, including one called ''[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/02/story-rocket-to-insanity.html Rocket To Insanity]'' where the dream causes Rainbow Dash to eventually kill Pinkie Pie...which in turn has ''[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jtyqCgnlSZLoXZ76FFqET1MpBXkyivJFz3gJlHboT9c/edit?hl=en&pli=1# it's own]'' [[Alternate Ending]] where she snaps out of it and gets Pinkie Pie to the hospital in time but has to earn forgiveness for it. Another psudo-[[Alternate Ending]] is ''[[The Light in The Darkness (Fanfic)|The Light in The Darkness]]'', wich goes with the [[All Just a Dream]] version and ends on a ''very'' heartwarming note (to the point it's been dubbed "the antithesis of ''Cupcakes''") but it's vague on if this is a true one or not, despite the fact the author originally intended for it to be before being rewritten.

* The edited-for-TV broadcast version of ''[[Brazil (Film)|Brazil]]'' ended with the hero living happily ever after with his love interest. What television audiences didn't see was a scene cut out in which this win-all ending is revealed to be a [[Cuckoo Nest|delusion of the main character]]. (The American theatrical release has been [[Mis Blamed]] for this; its ending is identical to the European theatrical version, except with more footage of clouds.)

** There's a book detailing the hard fight [[Terry Gilliam (Creator)|Terry Gilliam]] fought to have the original ending in all versions: ''The Battle for Brazil''.

* ''[[Infernal Affairs]]'': In this Hong Kong cops-and-robbers movie, Andy Lau's character, a mole placed in the police by [[The Triads and The Tongs|triads]] he betrayed, {{spoiler|leaves a building besieged by police forces holding a police badge after betraying and killing everyone inside out of desperation in the final climax to ensure his real identity remains a secret}}. However, an alternate ending was made for the theatrical releases in China, Singapore, and Malaysia, showing that {{spoiler|the character was arrested by police upon leaving the building when it is stated, without explanation, that there was proof of his complicity in the crime}}. This, apparently, was to please the governments in those three countries stating {{spoiler|that crimes does not pay}}.

** Sorta. It ends with a [[The End - Or Is It?]] moment.

* ''[[Dawn of the Dead 2004 (Film)|Dawn of the Dead 2004]]'' remake originally ended on an ambiguous bittersweet note; after test audiences complained, an additional, more pessimistic, sequence was filmed and interspersed through the credits.

* Averted by the 1963 ''X: The Man With X-Ray Eyes''. In its theatrical release, the [[Professor Guinea Pig|lead character]] ultimately [[Eye Scream|blinds himself]], because his [[Blessed With Suck|super-eyesight]] has shown him the [[Go Mad From the Revelation|swirling madness that underlies reality]]. For years, rumors circulated that his self-mutilation was originally meant to be followed by the terrifying line: "I can ''still see!''" The DVD commentary, however, reveals that this line was inserted as a spur-of-the-moment improvisation by director Roger Corman, who found it unsatisfying and opted to stick with the original script.

* ''[[Aladdin (Disney)|Aladdin]]'' had at least [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNcY8nsxTRU two alternate endings]. Originally, it was supposed to end with a reprise of "Arabian Nights", which was later used in the second sequel, ''The King of Thieves''. The second deleted ending starts with the reprise of "A Whole New World" as seen in the final movie, but then cuts to a sequence where the peddler from the beginning of the movie reveals himself to be the Genie. This is followed by a cruder version of the "made you look" gag from the final ending.

* ''[[Transformers Dark of the Moon]]'''s original ending can be read in the movie adaptations. According to those, {{spoiler|Megatron finally decides to end the war after his constant failures, forms a truce with the Autobots, and heads back to Cybertron.}} The movie ending gives us a complete opposite scenario: {{spoiler|Megatron proposes a truce, but Optimus Prime kills him without hesitation. Cybertron is (apparently) destroyed, and though the war is over, there are still many Decepticons lurking around Earth whose faith is never touched upon.}}

* ''[[National Treasure]]'' originally ended with the protagonists learning of a new treasure to search for. It was intended to be an [[And the Adventure Continues]] ending, but test audiences assumed it as a [[Sequel Hook]].

* Referenced by director Kasi Lemmons on the commentary track of the director's cut of her film [[Eves Bayou]]. The original ending was much more ambiguous, giving no final interpretation of the movie's central event {{spoiler|Did Louis molest Cisely or did she come on to him?}}, leaving the truth locked in the mind of a disabled character who witnessed the event (and was subsequently cut from the theatrical release.) Kasi laments that she did not have experience taking test audiences' judgments with a grain of salt so she thought she had no choice but to change the ending to something more satisfying, though she prefers the ambiguity.

* ''[[Lilo and Stitch (Disney)|Liloand Stitch]]'' was orginally going to end with the heroes stealing a passenger jet from an airport to save Lilo from [[The Dragon|Gantu]], and destroying most of Honolulu while they are chasing each other, but because of what happened on 9/11, the airplane was replaced with a spaceship.

* ''[[A Clockwork Orange (Literature)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' is an unusual case: the revised ending is actually the [[Downer Ending]], and the "true" ending is more optimistic. The film adaptation was based on the revised ending (the American publication that cut out the last chapter), either because [[True Art Is Angsty]], or, as is claimed, Stanley Kubrick had never seen the original until some time into production and when he did he didn't like it.

* [[HG Wells]]' story ''The Country of the Blind'' has an original and revised version which diverge at a point where the protagonist is going to agree to have his eyes removed to become a member of the titular society. In the original, he ditches his [[Jungle Princess]] fiance in the middle of the night and is implied to have died in his efforts to climb down a mountain back to civilization. In the revised version, he escapes with her and they have sighted children and live [[Happily Ever After]].

* The deleted last chapter to Joan Lindsday's ''[[Picnic At Hanging Rock]]'', which explains what happened to Miss McCraw, Marion, and Miranda, was first published in 1987. The reader discovers that {{spoiler|Hanging Rock is in the middle of some kind of mystical temporal anomaly; the three women change shape and vanish into the rock itself, leaving Irma (in an echo of "The Pied Piper of Hamlin) stuck outside.}}

* ''[[And Then There Were None (Literature)|And Then There Were None]]''. In [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]]'s original novel, {{spoiler|[[Captain Obvious|everyone dies.]]}} When she adapted the work for the theatre, she felt the book's [[Downer Ending]] was unsuitable for the stage, and revised the plot so that {{spoiler|the two most sympathetic characters from the book turn out to be innocent of the crimes they are accused of, survive, and fall in love with each other.}} All of the numerous film versions, with the exception of the Russian version, have retained the changed ending of the play.

* The musical ''Show Boat'' reunites Magnolia and her grown daughter Kim with Ravenal and Captain Andy for the final curtain. At the end of Edna Ferber's novel, Captain Andy and Parthy have both died, and Ravenal is [[Put On a Bus]] for good. Of the three film versions, only the first (mostly silent) one includes the deaths of Captain Andy and Parthy, and even that reunites Ravenal and Magnolia. The 1936 movie version has a variation on the stage ending (not a surprise, as Oscar Hammerstein adapted it himself); the 1951 version has a completely original ending which brings together Ravenal, Magnolia, Kim (still a child), Captain Andy, Parthy and even Julie.

* The book version of ''[[Wicked (Literature)|Wicked]]'' ends with an absurdly bleak [[Downer Ending]]. In the musical? {{spoiler|Oh Elphaba's still alive. And so is Fiyero. And they get to live happily ever after, albeit somewhere else.}}

* In the original ending of [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[A Dolls House (Theatre)|A Dolls House]]'', Nora leaves her stifling marriage with Torvald. This was so controversial in the late 19th century that Ibsen, a Norwegian, [[Executive Meddling|was persuaded]] to write a new ending for the German productions in which she is reminded of her [[Stay in The Kitchen|duties as a mother]]. Don't get him wrong, he hated it. Later he would openly refer to the alternate ending as "a barbaric act of violence towards the play. Its use is absolutely contrary to my wishes, and I hope that it will not be used by many German theatres."

* The ending of ''[[Snatcher]]'' on the PC-88 and MSX2 was a rather dark one, with many of Gillian's allies dead and the Snatcher menace still a lingering threat. This was because the ending was actually the climax before the real ending - the development of the game was behind schedule and the game's third and final act had to be excluded. When ''Snatcher'' was [[Video Game Remake|remade]] for the [[Turbo Grafx 16|PC-Engine]] years later, the actual intended ending was included. [[Gecko Ending|A very different version]] of the ending was already featured in the previous RPG remake ''[[SD Snatcher (Video Game)|SD Snatcher]]''.

* After finishing all three routes of the [[PS 2]] ''Realta Nua'' version of ''[[Fate Stay Night]]'', a Last Episode is opened up, which offers a happy conclusion to the {{spoiler|Fate route, the only route which had only one bittersweet ending, giving Archer and Saber a happy reunion in what might be Avalon.}}

* One of the proposed endings for ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4]]: Guns of the Patriots'' had Solid Snake and his sidekick Otacon being convicted for terrorism and executed by the government. The ending was vetoed by Kojima's staff before it was even produced; it's been described as a full on revolt. The ending theme "Here to You", a song about two real-life anarchists executed for murder who were believed to be innocent, is an allusion to the proposed ending.

* The [[PS 2]] port of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni]]'' replaced the [[Earn Your Happy Ending|happy-ending]] ''Matsuribayashi-hen''(Festival Music Chapter) with the [[Bittersweet Ending]] ''Miotsukushi-hen''(Canal Drying Chapter). The main plot of each differs wildly, but come to similar conclusions, with one MAJOR difference. ''Matsuribayashi'' focused {{spoiler|mainly on Rika and Hanyuu getting everyone to believe them, and working together to prevent the [[Big Bad]]'s plans from succeeding. It ends with (in the anime) Takano pointing a gun at the group, and Hanyuu stepping forward to shield them. Takano fires, and the bullet misses in an [[Ironic Echo]] of the time she dared God to strike her with lightning. (The miss was explained more in the original sound novel, where Hanyuu uses her powers to stop time, and Rika plucks the bullet out of the air. It's reasonable to assume that Hanyuu's powers are the reason it missed in the anime was well.)}} ''Miotsukushi'', on the other hand, had {{spoiler|three of the 'insane' plotlines get triggered at once: ''Watanagashi''(Cotton-drifting), ''Tatarigoroshi''(Curse-Killing), and ''Tsumihoroboshi''(Atonement). Rika and Keiichi are left alone, and have to rescue everyone from their respective plotlines before anything bad can happen. They manage to do it, and it ends with the same confrontation with Takano that ''Matsuribayashi'' does: Pointing the gun at the group, Hanyuu steps forward to shield them. The difference is when Takano fires, the bullet hits and kills Hanyuu. (No idea why she didn't use her powers that time.) So, the group does reach their happy ending, and none of the horrible murders happened, but it comes at the sacrifice of the one who enabled them to reach that ending in the first place.}}

* [http://mountaincomics.com/2010/08/02/mountain-time-195/ One episode] of ''[[Mountain Time (Webcomic)|Mountain Time]]'' offers 2 alternate endings, as the author anticipated that readers [[Downer Ending|might find the original one rather unhappy.]] The alternates aren't exactly cheery, though...