#ReleaseTheXCut: Works that need a rerelease or different/extended version

Zack Snyder's Justice League came out last week to the excitement of his fans. However, Justice League (2017) is certainly not the only work out there that has some fabled extended edition, rewrite, director's cut, George Lucas Altered Version, or was simply held back by technological limitations and would look awesome if rereleased in modern times. What works would you want to see that happen for?

Personally, I would love to see Tom Hooper's director's cut of Les Misérables (2012). And I'd love to see the purported original Star Wars IX, but that one's a pipe dream.

I would also like to see a hypothetical Star Wars Episode 9 with Rian Johnson's direction.

I'd love to see a "full" version of The Wall: both the movie and the album.

I'd like to see the rest of Soul Eater's source material being properly adapted as opposed to the gecko ending we got. I couldn't stand the original manga, it was too crude and sexual without good reason. I found the anime's flamboyant tone elevated the source material into something special and palatable. I doubt they'd get the same staff back together and Fire Force having been adapted gives more reason to stick with recent works.

Edited by ChicoTheParakeet on Mar 28th 2021 at 9:05:14 AM

Omg, same. I tend towards being a source material loyalist (big part of my disappointment towards Game of Thrones) and Fruits Basket getting the Brotherhood treatment made me hopeful for more big works of the 2000s. Although it’s extremely unlikely as Fruits Basket was the top of the popularity pyramid already...

Pardon my ignorance here: what do you mean by “full” version?

Edited by Synchronicity on Mar 28th 2021 at 9:36:37 AM

All the cut songs.

Thomas and the Magic Railroad, The Black Cauldron, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles deserve to have their Director's Cuts officially released.

And while not of paramount importance, I'd also like to see the alternative cut of Happy Feet where Mumble actually lost his baby feathers.

The Doctor Who serial Ghost Light, which was the last story produced from the original 1963-89 run. It was originally planned as a four-parter, with a very complex plot, but they were forced to edit the story into a three-parter. In that process they lost most scenes necessary for explaining what the hell is going on, as well as a lot of nice scenes of character development. While the story is a confusing mess and very little is properly explained until the last 20 minutes, it is still a really entertaining watch and one of the better produced Classic Who tales. By putting back in all the deleted scenes, Ghost Light becomes a more coherent story in the originally intended four parts.

On the topic of Happy Feet: I think that may have been "Kids won't recognize the aged-up main character" type of Executive Meddling. That's also the reason why Caillou is bald as a 4-year-old (the original children's books depicted him as an infant).

Personally, I would like to see at least the first part of the Naruto anime get the Dragon Ball Z Kai treatment. Could reduce the Commitment Anxiety in newcomers when the filler is removed. I started watching it as part of my anime sampling during lockdown, and while it's a fun watch, it's so damn long.

Also with the marketing direction Sega is going nowadays, I would love to see a midnight screening of the original CGI of the Sonic movie

Edited by ccorb on Apr 11th 2021 at 9:52:11 AM

My secret wish since middle school is to see the original screen test version of the restaurant scene from Lilo & Stitch, where according to the DVD audio commentary the green turkey leg Jumba uses as a bait to lure Stitch was instead a severed finger that Stitch grabs and proceeds to rip the fingernail off, with Jumba commenting how much Stitch loves eating the flesh under the fingernails.

That's quite Creepy Awesome there.

A Twofer:

• On the subject of Disney works being toned down, I'd love to see a fully animated version of the Black Friday version of Toy Story. From what we know of it, Woody was much more of a Jerkass. In this version, him throwing Buzz out the window was fully intentional, and it wasn't an accident.

• I'd also like to see the cut songs from The Downward Spiral return in a super deluxe edition.

I would like to see the original version of "Some Enchanted Evening" from The Simpsons. You know, the one where it's VERY off model? Only thing that has been released of that version is a 5 minute cut on the 1st season DVD. Sure, it's probably going to be a trainwreck, but dang it, it will be an interesting one.

Edited by electricbean on Apr 11th 2021 at 7:03:28 AM

There's supposedly a scene in that one where one of the Happy Little Elves gets their head ripped off.

The original cut of Kangaroo Jack.

x 4 I'm kind of morbidly curious about "Just Do It", the Downward Spiral track that the Record Producer advised Trent against releasing because it went too far with the suicide theme (apparently the only lyrics were " Just do it, nobody cares at all").

Also, the "butthole cut" of Cats, obviously.

Edited by MikeK on Apr 11th 2021 at 6:56:00 AM

There's a director's cut of Ultraman Saga with an awesome climax sequence that got cut and it's shame there's no official international release yet

Also, the original cut of Finding Dory's ending where everybody decides to finish the truck drive to the Seaworld expy in Cleveland where Dory's parents were moved. It was changed due to controversy spurred by a certain documentary.

Edited by ccorb on Apr 12th 2021 at 3:52:14 PM

The extended cut of Babe: Pig in the City (with all the scenes cut to keep it family-friendly restored) could be interesting to watch.

I'd like to have the original versions of the early Yugioh dub episodes that have the theme song inserts. Those are gloriously well done. Not to say it's bad to see all the actual plays, but it's nice to have both.

We're never going to get that rework for Anthem, because EA all but confirmed it didn't find it worth the effort to try to save it. It's a shame, because if it got a ground-level reboot the way Square cid with FFXIV I could very easily see it being a thing worth keeping around, but alas.

EA's a trove of projects that for one reason or another either never got off the ground at all or ended up nerfed beyond recognition. I think the biggest mysteries in there would be the work that initially started as Titanfall 3 but ended up getting reworked into Apex Legends (though that one at least was Respawn's decision by all accounts rather than something the publisher pushed on them — at first, anyway) and what was up with that untitled extreme sports game that Criterion was working on before the founders left.

How about an extended version of The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland without Bert and Ernie's interruptions?

The problem is that Sesame Workshop is embarrassed that they scared kids who watched a rough cut.

Edited by MisterToodleoo on Apr 23rd 2023 at 2:44:53 AM

I want to see the original ending of National Lampoon's Vacation, which Chevy Chase has a VHS copy of. (It was changed because test audiences wanted to see inside Walley World.)

The first Hitman film. It fell victim to Executive Meddling at the last moment, there are promotional stills from deleted scenes floating on the internet and I wouldn't be surprised if the footage is still in a can somewhere.

I want to hear the original 16-minute version of "Sara" by Fleetwood Mac. I also want to hear unfaded versions of certain studio recordings with fade-out endings, such as "Back in Black".

Edited by MisterToodleoo on Mar 21st 2024 at 8:45:25 AM