# Anyone else remember the alternate ending to "Big"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 16, 2002, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864 "2002-04-16T02:03:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/281 "2014-09-08T20:12:44Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Let’s say somebody does contact him and he denies the existence of such an ending. Would that be closure or would, as I guess is more likely, folks on the alternate ending side of things say he’s under some sort of NDA or something? Or perhaps point to the Eubanks example of the horse’s mouth denying the existence of the “in the ass/up the butt, Bob” story when, in fact, a video of a moment similar enough to be clearly referring to the same event did eventually surface? Of course there will still be Truthers. If Jesse Ventura gets another show he can do a story about it. But I still can’t understand why they would put out a DVD special edition with every scrap of footage they could find but not the supposed alternate ending that was good enough for [del]Hobbiton[/del] New Zealand but is apparently too dangerous for the rest of the world. Why would they leave it out? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/282 "2014-09-08T20:17:33Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Of course there will still be Truthers. If Jesse Ventura gets another show he can do a story about it. But I still can’t understand why they would put out a DVD special edition with every scrap of footage they could find but not the supposed alternate ending that was good enough for [del]Hobbiton[/del] New Zealand but is apparently too dangerous for the rest of the world. Why would they leave it out? It was destroyed along with the Eye of Sauron. ---
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/283 "2014-09-08T20:18:33Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Obviously, this topic is proof that the Multiverse theory is correct. Somewhere out there is an alternate universe where \*Big \*and _14 Going on 30_ are in fact the same movie…and somehow some people have been accidentally transported here from their ‘home dimension’. > > I can only imagine the horror being experienced by their counterparts who were swept from their homes here in our dimension, and are now cursed to spending the rest of their lives wondering where Tom Hanks got that Van Dyke beard. Ahh… so it’s just like the [Berenstain/Berenstein Bears alternate history theory](http://woodbetweenworlds.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-berenstein-bears-we-are-living-in.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Sterling\_Archer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Sterling\_Archer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterling_Archer)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/284 "2014-09-08T20:50:09Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > Describe the scene you believe you saw. OK, but this is going from a very old memory. First, the students all look 11 or 12, much younger than the students in “14 going on 30”. The teacher (who is not Alan Thicke, I think she’s female) introduces a new student to the class. Josh looks up and it is a young girl with dark curly brown, shoulder-length hair. He watches her come and sit down at a desk near the front with a quizzical look on his face and then she looks back over her shoulder at him and kinda raises her eyebrows and gives him a little grin. Then blackout and credits. There is no dialogue between the two, unlike “14 going on 30”. That’s my memory of the scene, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/285 "2014-09-08T20:58:49Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Wow! They had VCRs that could record a movie in a theater? That’s amazing. Here I was thinking they only worked with televisions. Which is gosh-darn convenient, as quite a few supporters swear they saw it on TV. (_Pssst_… we also had camcorders. I watched at least one pirated movie recorded that way around 1992.) > [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Sorry folks, but I just don’t buy the “If it happened, it would be on YouTube” argument. Very weak. That’s not the argument. The argument, which is extremely long-lived and widespread, is whether or not this alternate ending exists and was ever shown, much less shown so widely across time and media that thousands of people could claim they saw it… but that not _ **once** _ in the history of the internet has a person who might have a record of that alternate ending - even a publicity or set still, or a script page - crossed with the discussion and posted the evidence. The only reliance on YouTube I’m supposing is that it’s extremely easy to put a video clip there… if it exists. The vast, echoing silence, at least a decade long and punctuated only by crickets, despite several ongoing public debates, is becoming pretty damned conclusive. Which does not reduce my disappointment that H’wood luminaries no longer seem to answer their mail. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/286 "2014-09-08T21:13:07Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Which does not reduce my disappointment that H’wood luminaries no longer seem to answer their mail. Have you tried Twitter? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/287 "2014-09-08T21:24:41Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > The vast, echoing silence, at least a decade long and punctuated only by crickets, despite several ongoing public debates, is becoming pretty damned conclusive. Alternative endings are often written, filmed, and sometimes even released in theatrical form, so in principle this alternative ending could exist. But there is always some record of them - either snippets of film are preserved, screening copies are issued, there are stills from the set, actors or crew wrote up their accounts, reviews that mention alternative endings, scripts, dialog, etc. We have accounts by some cast that have said that they were not involved in or have ever heard about alternative endings. We have detailed accounts of [differences in released versions](http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=4151), none of which mention any alternative ending. In this case there is no evidence of any alternative scene except for contrary memories by viewers clouded by the veil of time and an extremely similar scene from a competing contemporary movie. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/288 "2014-09-08T21:53:06Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Have you tried Twitter? Short answer, yes - my queries on FB and Twitter were ignored, so I wrote old-school formal letters back in February. I have an industry insider chum who might have one of the principals on his speed-dial. That’s my next stop. (I try to be sparing in asking favors of him.) ---
**Author:** ![Killing\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Killing\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killing_Time)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/289 "2014-09-08T22:02:37Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > I graduated in 1978. The rumor was discussed to death all three years of high school. So what you’re saying is that all of us who have a distinct memory from the late 1980s of the other ending to “Big” are wrong, based on _your_ “distinct” memory from the late 1970s. You do see the flaw in your logic, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Killing\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Killing\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killing_Time)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/290 "2014-09-08T22:06:32Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > . We have accounts by some cast that have said that they were not involved in or have ever heard about alternative endings. Again, I am asking for a cite on this. If people continue to say this without any verification, I will be forced to disregard it. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/291 "2014-09-08T22:17:13Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Again, I am asking for a cite on this. If people continue to say this without any verification, I will be forced to disregard it. Post #103 is what is being referred to here, I think. ETA: Sorry, [link for convenience.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16287720&postcount=103) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/292 "2014-09-08T22:20:45Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I admit, though, that it is a curious topic and wish somehow one way or the other it could be conclusively resolved. Don’t worry, we’ll get to it eventually. Just as soon as we’ve conclusively resolved what brought down the World Trade Center, who killed Kennedy, and whether or not we’ve landed men on the Moon. ---
**Author:** ![Killing\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Killing\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killing_Time)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/293 "2014-09-08T22:20:47Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > That’s not the argument. The argument, which is extremely long-lived and widespread, is whether or not this alternate ending exists and was ever shown, much less shown so widely across time and media that thousands of people could claim they saw it… but that not once in the history of the internet has a person who might have a record of that alternate ending - even a publicity or set still, or a script page - crossed with the discussion and posted the evidence. That’s a long winded way of saying, “absence of evidence is evidence of absence”. That is false. Also, publicity photos do not spoil the ending of a movie. Why have we never in the history of the universe, ever found a Star Wars promotional poster that says, “Darth Vader is Luke’s Father”. Because nobody would DO that. So we can strike your “publicity or set still” argument right off the bat. Script page? Do you have an original script of “Big”, written before it was filmed? I doubt it. So why bring it up? Are you saying that someone would have posted that on the internet? Why do you assume that? That makes no sense. And you’re assuming that anyone CARED enough to actually find this evidence and post it for the world to see. Why? It’s just a bit of trivia. It’s not the JFK assassination. > [@](#): > > The only reliance on YouTube I’m supposing is that it’s extremely easy to put a video clip there… if it exists. If a copied clip of that scene exists, which I don’t see why it would, it would be in a format that’s not used anymore. So no, not extremely easy at all. > [@](#): > > The vast, echoing silence, at least a decade long and punctuated only by crickets, despite several ongoing public debates, is becoming pretty damned conclusive. “Ongoing public debates”? You mean some nerds arguing about it on message boards? I’ll say it one more time: Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Find me an interview with Penny Marshall swearing no such ending was ever conceived or filmed, and I _might_ be convinced. ---
**Author:** ![Killing\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Killing\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killing_Time)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/294 "2014-09-08T22:31:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Post #103 is what is being referred to here, I think. > > ETA: Sorry, [link for convenience.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16287720&postcount=103) Thanks for that. All I can say is, “That’s it?” THAT’S what people are referring to when they say multiple cast members have denied the existence of the other ending? How would she know that scene wasn’t filmed? They don’t necessarily shoot scenes in the order they’re going to appear in the movie. I would assume all the scenes with the child actors would be shot at one time, and the scenes with the adult actors would be shot at a DIFFERENT time. Why would Tom Hanks and Elizabeth Perkins be on set for scenes that they aren’t even IN? I would believe that she might know about a scene that was filmed, but to definitively state that she knows a particular scene was NOT filmed doesn’t make any sense, since there wouldn’t be any reason for her to be there at the time. Sorry, not convinced. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/295 "2014-09-08T22:35:47Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > And you’re assuming that anyone CARED enough to actually find this evidence and post it for the world to see. Why? It’s just a bit of trivia. It’s not the JFK assassination. We know people cared. Those in charge of the movie and all of the footage. They cared enough to release an extended edition with all the deleted footage. About 30 minutes of footage that did not make the theatrical release. But the ending was the same. Do you know what would have made the extended edition more interesting and therefore more lucrative? A long rumored alternate ending. But instead they showed all the filler that was edited out of the movie. Nothing bad, just fat that could be and was trimmed. So why would they leave out the most important deleted scene? ---
**Author:** ![Killing\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Killing\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killing_Time)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/296 "2014-09-08T22:39:38Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > We have detailed accounts of differences in released versions, none of which mention any alternative ending. But that person is comparing two releases that most likely both have the same ending. That doesn’t prove the other ending doesn’t exist. I could compare two Star Wars releases where the spirit face of young Darth Vader was replaced by the face of Hayden Christensen, but that doesn’t prove there was never a version with a different actor’s face. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2014, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/297 "2014-09-08T23:47:31Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > But that person is comparing two releases that most likely both have the same ending. That doesn’t prove the other ending doesn’t exist. Bring us _any evidence_ besides your memories. We have lots of reasons to believe that no such ending was ever filmed, let alone released. So far you’ve presented bubkis for the other side. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/298 "2014-09-09T01:25:45Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Find me an interview with Penny Marshall swearing no such ending was ever conceived or filmed, and I _might_ be convinced. _Might_ convince you? Screw that-I want this over and done with. What definitely _would_ convince you? ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/299 "2014-09-09T02:04:01Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Find me an interview with Penny Marshall swearing no such ending was ever conceived or filmed, and I _might_ be convinced. Even the director’s word might not be enough to convince you? Let me ask you something- [was Kevin Bacon in Footloose](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yX_1gJ_51M)? ---
**Author:** ![Killing\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/76d3ee/32.png) [@Killing\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killing_Time)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2014, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/300 "2014-09-09T02:10:33Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > One of the main arguments for the alternative ending is that it was included in NZ and UK copies of the DVDs and VHS tapes. I’m not seeing that. There was a website that mentioned that, but many of the people here are remembering it from the U.S., myself included. Maybe it was included in those countries, but I don’t think they are the only places it was ever shown. > [@](#): > > I’m utterly surprised that no one has uploaded this critical piece of evidence. Why? I search for things on the internet all the time - things I know exist, but that haven’t been put on the internet. Do you think that every movie and TV show clip that has ever existed is on YouTube? They’re not all there, you know. Again, this is just a repeat of the “absence of evidence” argument, which I don’t find convincing. How many times do I have to say this? This EXACT same argument was made with regard to the Newlywed Game, and turned out to be wrong. After I’ve proven a given argument is illogical, I don’t understand how you can continue to make the same argument. > [@](#): > > Also, I’m still curious what you think the motive is to keep it all a secret. I don’t think anyone’s keeping it a secret. I think the movie was made 26 years ago, and they most likely cut the ending out shortly after it was released, therefore you probably never saw the ending in question. Lots of people who were around at the time DO remember it, so how is that a “secret”? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=16)