# Alternate versions of stories/performances you'd like to see **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 26, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720 "2017-11-26T01:47:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/1 "2017-11-26T01:47:30Z")
I was watching the _Nightmare at 20,000 feet_ episode of the _Twilight Zone_ with The Shat. Of course after that I thought of the 80s movie version of the story with John Lithgow and how it resulted in one of the best TV scenes ever when Shatner guest stared on _Third Rock Form the Sun_. After watching that scene on YouTube, I recalled reading in several genre related magazines that the original ideal for the movie version was to have Robert Mitchem (I believe) play an ex WWII fighter pilot who was familiar with gremlins dealing with the creature on the wing of the plane. As much as I enjoy Lithgow’s performance, I would love to see the story that was originally planned. An older veteran who was familiar or at least heard the stories about gremlins having to deal with one many years after leaving the service. If they ever re-do this story I hope it is from this perspective. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/2 "2017-11-26T02:21:58Z")
Alejandro Jodorowsky’s version of [Dune](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodorowsky%27s_Dune) would have been a trainwreck, but a very entertaining trainwreck. Before Ron Ely was cast as Doc Savage, there was talk of Chuck Connors playing the role. I would love to see that. (But only if the production went for action and adventure, not camp and comedy.) _Arsenic and Old Lace_, with Boris Karloff instead of Raymond Massey. Or perhaps a modern version, with Christopher Walken playing the role. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/3 "2017-11-26T02:29:14Z")
I wish I could have seen George Miller’s Justice League Mortal. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/4 "2017-11-26T02:35:31Z")
Star Trek Alternate History Department: I heard once that a novella either was written or at least talked about that would have had Khan’s “Botany Bay” discovered by the Enterprise _D_. Would have loved to read that. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/5 "2017-11-26T02:52:45Z")
I would love to have seen the original ending Kevin Smith wanted for “[Red State](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0873886/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv),” but didn’t have the budget to do. (IMDb Trivia spoiler #1) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/6 "2017-11-26T04:59:46Z")
I would’ve liked to have seen the original ending of Hitchcock’s **The Birds** that had thousands of crows perched on the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge. Supposedly it wasn’t shot because it was too expensive and too bleak. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/7 "2017-11-26T07:09:40Z")
Army of Darkness should have ended with Ash transported into the distant future on a spaceship or something. Then have a sequel to AOD. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2017, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/8 "2017-11-26T08:10:26Z")
I’ve read that Christopher Walken was originally supposed to play Han Solo. Yes, that’s right, Christopher Walken as Han Solo. Christopher fucking Walken as Han fucking Solo. If I could choose just one “alternate casting” version of a movie, this would have to be it. It would have been a trip, to say the least. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/9 "2017-11-27T02:01:50Z")
Willis O’Brien, who animated _King Kong_ (and his Son, and Mighty Joe Young) wanted to do _King Kong vs. Frankenstein_, with both Kong and Frankenstein’s monster animated. I’ve seen the concept drawings. It would’ve been _awesome_ (says my inner 10-year-old). They sorta did make a version, without animation, in the Japanese film _Furankenshutain Tai Chitei Kaijū Baragon_, released in the US as _Frankenstein Conquers the World_. It was as satisfying as _King Kong vs. Godzilla_, with its man-in-a-suit Kong. One of the films I’d REALLY like to see them make is _The Wizard of Speed and Time_. What’s that, you say? Mike Jittlov did make such a film? Well, it’s true that he released a film with that title, an elaboration on his short of the same name. But it’s NOT the film he wanted to make. He couldn’t get enough money together for that, so this is what was released instead. I heard Jittlov describe the film he wanted to make at a small convention (where he showed a lot of his shorts that I haven’t seen anywhere since). It would have been an effects extravaganza with an awful lot more than the 1988 feature film had, and less bitching about how hard it is to get things made in Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/10 "2017-11-27T02:08:56Z")
The two-movie version of “The Hobbit” that Guillermo del Toro had planned. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/11 "2017-11-27T02:13:20Z")
Well, this one is just my Star Wars Geek Y-Wing inner-fanboy, but for Star Wars IV: A New Hope: Gold Squadron hits the trench, then Darth Vader and his two wingmen drop in behind them as in the original. Then the ion cannons mounted atop the Y-Wing’s cockpit canopies rotate 180 and start lighting up the TIE Fighters (Vader’s incl.). One TIE fighter goes out of control and “face plants” on the trench floor; the other goes all wobbly and crashes into Vader’s TIE, sending him spinning out of the trench out of control. Gold Leader drops the rocks, The Death Star goes boom, end of story. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/12 "2017-11-27T04:14:05Z")
David Lynch turned down the chance to direct _Return of the Jedi_ for _Dune_. His \*Return of the Jedi \*would’ve been interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/13 "2017-11-27T12:25:49Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > _King Kong vs. Frankenstein_ Can’t see how this would have been much different than _Bambi vs. Godzilla_. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alternate-versions-of-stories-performances-youd-like-to-see/802720/14 "2017-11-27T12:34:55Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Can’t see how this would have been much different than _Bambi vs. Godzilla_. For his film\*, O’Brien imagined a Kong-sized Frankenstein Monster, as in this sketch: [http://www.roberthood.net/daikaiju-antho/unnatural\_history/images/kkvsfrankenstein.jpg](http://www.roberthood.net/daikaiju-antho/unnatural_history/images/kkvsfrankenstein.jpg) Here’s one of his Frankenstein sketches, clearly scanned from an issue of _Famous Monsters of Filmland_: [http://www.forgottensilver.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/king-kong-vs-frankenstein3.jpg](http://www.forgottensilver.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/king-kong-vs-frankenstein3.jpg) Some of the heads he was contemplating: [![](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmqlzwyHaz1qev2zx.jpg) ](https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmqlzwyHaz1qev2zx.jpg) It wouldn’t have been _Bambi Meets Godzilla_, but, on the other hand, it wouldn’t have been Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein, either. Not even Glenn Strange. - As in the Japanese film that was made, which I cited.