7 Famous Movie Flaws That Were Explained in Deleted Scenes
Even the greatest movies will end up with some scenes on the cutting room floor. For the most part, it's with good reason: As awesome as it was, Darth Vader's wakeboarding montage would really have broken the flow of Empire. But a few of those cut scenes would have absolutely made the movie, and it's a tragedy that we've never seen them... until now. NOTE: Obviously there are spoilers, but don't let that stop you from reading (just from complaining that we didn't warn you.)
#7.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
This whole article, a small novel, two abridged textbooks and an epic poem could be written about the sheer volume of deleted scenes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but there's one particular cut from The Two Towers that seems particularly important. The flashback scene we're referring to shows Boromir and Faramir having a conversation after stomping some Orc ass--a flashback to before anybody knew that a certain hobbit had found a certain ring. Then their father, Denethor, shows up to kill the moment, because he's just generally not a "party type of dude."
Boromir (Left), Faramir (Middle), Denethor (Right). Because all Gondor boys look alike.
Boromir and his father Denethor discuss the Council at Rivendell, and the fact that "Isildur's Bane" is the One Ring (a fact not presented otherwise). Denethor instructs his son to retrieve the Ring for Gondor.
Which went over well, in case you're wondering.
This actually explains Boromir's entire motivation in the first film, and everything he does. His father, his brother, his people are all depending on him to bring back that goddamned ring. He was never going to let them destroy it. It puts the whole first film in a new light and without that scene, Boromir is just "that shifty dude" that kind of hangs out in the back, making all the hobbits uncomfortable for no reason anybody can place. He might as well have been driving a windowless van.
"Hey guys? Hobbits are technically adults, right?"
#6.
Independence Day
Are you kind of a nerd? Have you seen Independence Day? What's the problem we're about to point out here? Exactly. Fully half of you reading this have just screamed to the heavens in futile rage about the probability of the famous Apple OS/advanced alien mothership compatibility issue. Even here at Cracked, we've drawn attention to this once or twice in one of our articles (like this one, this one, this one, this one and, well, this one.)
Nerds are an unforgiving lot.
Essentially, Jeff Goldblum is reminded that the word "virus" exists, which is all the motivation and know-how he needs to hack a completely alien spacecraft with a mid-90s PowerBook. We can't even get our damn Xboxes to play pirated copies of Step Up 2 the Streets from our computer, and they were made specifically to interact with one another, yet the dude from Jurassic Park somehow manages to encode a goddamn .GIF of a laughing skull in there when he takes out the mothership with the cutting edge power of MacOS 7.6.
HELL YEAH, MACS!
But in the seven minutes of cut scenes included in the extended release Independence Day DVD, Goldblum is actually shown tinkering with his PowerBook inside the recovered craft from the Roswell crash site, mumbling something about how the spaceship was running off the same programming language he was able to decipher before (when he first uncovered their invasion plans and all that).
He may also have mentioned tachyons.
So, he presumably worked from there and was able to code some disruptive program and translate it into their language or whatever. It's still flimsy as hell, but it at least proves the filmmakers were aware of and willing to address the problem, thus defusing a decade and a half of pent-up nerd-rage.
#5.
Aliens
In Aliens, Ellen Ripley, sole survivor of the first movie, is finally rescued after floating in outer space for 57 years. When she wakes up and inquires about her old life, she's informed nonchalantly that her daughter has grown up and died while she was in hypersleep. Wait, really? All in the span of 57 years? Apparently, despite mastering cryogenic freezing, the future has suffered some great steps backward in geriatric care.
There's nothing funny about dead children, so instead we present you with this photo of Sigourney Weaver in her underpants.
But that's OK, because upon hearing this devastating news, Ripley essentially gives the camera a "whattayagonnado" shrug and trots off to kick some xenomorphs in whatever they call groins. Typical action movie fare.
But in this deleted scene, we are explicitly shown Ripley's heartbreak at missing out on her daughter's entire life, despite promising she would be home on her 11th birthday.
Kitty cats and vast, unfathomable emotional trauma.
After seeing the human side of Ripley this early in the film, it makes perfect sense that she rescues and instantly grows so attached to the orphaned girl Newt. It changes the entire dynamic of the film; changing Ripley from a blank-slate Hero character to a grieving mother suffering from emotional transference. Also, it answers all the audience's accusatory screams of "Bitch, leave the girl! You don't even know that girl! They're Aliens! Run, bitch, run!"
#4.
Happy Gilmore
Adam Sandler is angry and kind of dumb. This is literally the heart of every one of his films: Punch-Drunk Love, Waterboy, Anger Management, Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore all relied on his unrestrained, over-the-top violence.
This image represents the single most significant achievement of the 1990s.
That's why it's so puzzling that, in what would have been the most satisfying possible use of this device, Madison strangely reined it in and let the bad guy get away. Of course we're talking about Happy Gilmore, and the fact that, in the movie, the nanny-beating mustachioed Ben Stiller goes all Buffalo Bill on Happy's grandma and gets no come-uppance. It's the single most despicable character in the movie, and he gets away with everything.
His mustache would go on to have a successful career as a pedophile.
Even Bob Barker got punched in the face in this movie. But they didn't just forget about him, the deleted scene has Happy hurling him out of a window...
So why did it get cut from the theater release? We can only cite the controversial anti-grandma slant of the MPAA.
This scene remained in the movie, and will linger in our nightmares for decades to come.
Could you have possibly picked a clip of PA's alternate ending with shittier audio/video? Hell, I think the number of pixels onscreen were well into the double digits at some points.
ReplyEven with the alternative ending in #2, it's pretty hard to accept anything happened in that movie other than paranormal activity. How would you explain the footprints and all that?
ReplyHallucination.
You've listed the deleted scene in Aliens that explains Ripley's emotional position, but amazingly missed out the deleted scene that patches up an even bigger plot hole.
ReplyIn the original cut, following the discovery of Ripley, who's been floating in space for 57 years, "the company" lose contact with the colony on LV 426.
Well, that's a coincidence. It's been colonised for at least decade and they happen to lose contact the minute they find the one person in the universe who knows what's there.
A deleted scene shows a scene of the colony commander (George Kennedy) receiving a communication asking them to go and investigate some co-ordinates (provided by the thawed Ripley) that the company has provided.
They thusly discover the clutch of eggs in the same way as John Hurt did and the cycle begins again, and the plot hole never existed in the first place.
That is still explained in the theatrical cut. Ripley and Hicks find the order to check out the coordinates where the alien ship is and confront Burke with it later on in the movie.
I don't see what the problem is in #2. And that "arguably way, way better" alternate ending SUCKS ASS. Are you high?
Replyin the independence day one the last few words "pent-up nerd-rage." is actually pent-up-nerd rage. yup. had to. sorry bout that...well not really
ReplyCreative writing doesn't have to follow all the rules of proper English. Hence, creative. My teacher always said It's more important to tell a story than to follow strict rules of grammar. But hey, let that shot ruin your fun. I guess everyday must suck for you.
Cracked staff FYI since you have a Dork Trek mention you should tag the entire post with a NERD ALERT so the sane rational non-mother's basement dwelling non-virgins can avoid mixing with teh Big bang Theory level mega geek pencil necks.
Reply Hide All See All 3 Repliesso you're the "cool" nerd?
Sorry dude, but, did you see the Star Trek film? I can't stand the series. Any of them, they're all tripe, but the film blew me away. Genuinely interesting characters, great effects and a killer plot.
Besides which, you seem to be a c**t, and therefore have no right to look down on anyone, even if they do still live with their mothers at the age of 40. (nerds)
Shouldnt you be looking at yourself in a mirror or something?
The problem with Star Trek XI (2009): warp-distance teleporting. It obviates the need for ships entirely.
ReplyWell, since spock gives scotty his own theory, maybe scotty eventually came up with it and therefore, ships were no longer necessary for long distance travel, just for the s**t that spock does around romulus. Warships might still be necessary.
Considering all the gaping plot holes/complete ignorance of physics, explaining Nero's 25 year abscence is akin to treating a paper cut whilst the patient bleeds out from multiple severed limbs and a torn carotid artery.
Reply"If, for some reason, you're reading an article about deleted scenes but not watching said scenes"
ReplyThat's me, i don't want to use all my wireless usage or else i will be bored for a month at work waiting for it to recharge.
I never understood why they pulled the chip scene from T2. It wasn't an especially long scene and made a lot more sense than the long drawn out scene that could have been condensed where John discovers he commands the Terminator and promptly uses it to attack 2 guys that were trying to protect him.
Replyright after the scene it's the next morning and they go to steal a car to leave the gas station and John shows him to check under the visor of the car for the keys.. and says "are we learning yet?" and later the Terminator starts to crack open a steering column, stops and reaches up to the visor and keys fall down showing it's "learning" (although when did it become commonplace to stick your cars keys up under the visor? mine go in a weird place.. my pocket.
Another movie with a deleted scene that cleared things up was Star Wars episode 1. as craptastic as it is, when Qui-Gonn and Anakin say goodbye to his Mother and slowly sadly start walking off, it cuts to Obi-Wan back at the ship and the next thing you see is Qui-Gonn and Anakin running to the ship like they're being chased by the devil. and here comes Darth Maul. in the deleted scenes after they left his Mom, Qui-Gonn ended up cutting one of those seekers in half, poking around in it and saying "It's a sith design, we need to go.. NOW..." and they start running.
As far as I remember, Goldblum didn't really break the alien code at the start of the movie. He simply noted that there was a repeating pattern that was decreasing by the same amount with every iteration, which is where he got the idea to associate it with a timer and... voilá, countdown to doomsday.
ReplyEven a programmer guru will have a horrendous time trying to figure out how to program an unknown OS in binary language. Take into consideration that, if we're doing research on it, the aliens might be already at or past the qubit stage of computer sciences (quantum computers), and you see just how "shooting a bullet with another bullet while ridding a horse blindfolded" unlikely it would be to develop that virus overnight.
And in regards to Star Trek, there was a bit of "science" that left me confused and I'm still to find a deleted scene that explains it: right at the end, after the Narada is destroyed, the Enterprise is caught in the "black hole"'s pull. They say that they are already at warp but they can't break free. Warp 1.0 is the speed of light. The escape velocity of a black hole is c *AT* the event horizon. If the Enterprise couldn't break free by being at warp, then they would've passed the horizon already and every atom in their existence would've been pulled apart from all the others by tidal forces. Which makes the whole "eject the warp core and ride out in style" ending impossible. But hey, Hollywood. Just sayin'.
LOL Paranormal 2 was a prequel wasn't it? It's ok since this article predates it...I think :/
ReplyLOL Both movies sucked balls xD
That's not even the best example from Independence Day. What bugged me most about that movie was that final scene. The planes have all fired their missiles. None left. No more missiles. We know this because back at Central Command, they tell us so. And you know they have computers and stuff to keep track of how many missiles have been fired and stuff. But then Randy Quaid shows up and he's got one missile left. So why wasn't his plane included in whatever computer systems the humans were using to keep track of the battle? This was actually explained in the alternate, and arguably much more plausible, ending in which Quaid is rejected as a fighter pilot on the reasonable grounds that he's a drunk who flies biplanes, but shows up (in his biplane) at the last minute with a stolen missile. Which of course doesn't fire, because, again, he's a drunk who knows nothing about modern fighter jets.
ReplyHas already went?
ReplyThis had me scratching my head, too.
basic binary code is a universal language, there is no reason to assume that these aliens would have different binary code. the hardest part would be for him to calculate and figure out what coding means what
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesWho says binary code is universal? Us? A different civilization has a different way of thinking, especially considering the civilization in question lives thousands of light years away from ours.
Maybe the aliens didn't get the memo that we declared Binary to be universal.
Maybe they did get the memo but thought "from" was "to" and aaahhhhh nevermind.
"It made you question what you've really seen - was it, in fact, paranormal activity, or mere psychosis? And it killed all chances at the derivative sequel that they are, of course, filming right now."
ReplyHow would it have been psychosis? That makes no sense...unless its like some Carrie telekinetic psychosis or something....The whole premise that you were seeing 'recorded footage' of stuff.
The Paranormal Activity movies are not scary at all. They are extremely boring, not scary, and highly implausible. I think thats the problem with all horror films they tend to be so fake they lose the horror aspect. Thus making them boring as hell.
ReplyMost Horror movies are good for a laugh.
Just curious...how would Paranormal Activity be implausible (I mean, aside from the fact that ghosts and demons are make believe)?
Personally, I got a kick out of it because it seemed so realistic
Improvisational acting makes movies realistic automatically. It doesn't just make the dialog awful.
I think all the paranormal activity in ... "Paranormal Activity" can be explained by a draft, close the door, problem solved
ReplySo what you are saying is that a DRAFT drug Katie out of bed in the first movie?
So....I liked both paranormal activities. Anyone else?
ReplyI'm sure I'm not the first to say this, but Kirk was never, ever Nero's intention. They mention off-hand that they'll enjoy killing a federation hero before his prime, but he was there for Spock, and Spock wasn't alive/old enough when Nero first emerged to understand the vengeance being dumped upon him. While what Nero was doing in that time might be an interesting concept, it was never a 'hole'.
Reply