# 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:** 21
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/401 "2014-09-10T20:32:52Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Ditto to you. Ditto what to me? 😕😕😕 Color me confused. ---
**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 10, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/402 "2014-09-10T20:41:51Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Let’s see-You’re all set to call Penny Marshall a liar. What about the other stars that would have been in that supposed scene? How many of them are you prepared to call liars? :smack: I didn’t call her a liar. As far as we know, she has never said ANYTHING about it one way or the other. If this controversy were as big a deal as you seem to think it is, wouldn’t she have said, some time in her life, that the scene did not exist, was never conceived, and was never filmed? My guess is that this just is not as big a deal as you think it is. ---
**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 10, 2014, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/403 "2014-09-10T20:43:21Z")
Czarcasm, you seem to be getting really bent out of shape about this. I think I might have to take a break from responding to you until you chill out a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/404 "2014-09-10T20:45:18Z")
I’m sure he’s quaking in his boots at the thought. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/405 "2014-09-10T20:51:04Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > I find this an exceedingly weak argument. If you read comment from those who remember the ending, they thought it was a great ending. Who hasn’t at one time or another wished to be a kid again? How can you say that “makes no sense”? It makes PERFECT sense. > > If you’re looking at it from purely a logical standpoint, no, the entire movie makes no sense. In fact, there’s an amusing website that explores this: > > [5 Reasons 'Big' Had The Most Depressing Happy Ending Ever | Cracked.com](http://www.cracked.com/article_18793_5-reasons-big-had-most-depressing-happy-ending-ever.html) > > But it wasn’t conceived as a logical movie. You might as well go see Iron Man and point out all the things that don’t obey the laws of physics. In the context of the movie an old arcade machine grants the kid’s wish to be big. The adult woman didn’t make such a wish at a machine, so why would she be there? Why would she want to be a child again even if she was dissatisfied with her life? How was that all supposed to work? Movies don’t have to be consistent even in their own world, but why is there no other part of the movie that would support this ending? That isn’t the strong evidence against the existence of the alternate ending anyway, just my opinion of that proposed ending. The strongest evidence against the existence of the alternate ending is the lack of evidence. No one can show me script, a still, or a clip of this ending. Also, if you think Dopers can’t find obscure things, go look at this thread about[Al Traina](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=722215&highlight=traina). If there was evidence of the existence of this alternate ending it would have been found by the Dope by now, unless it’s just unavailable, and in that case we’ll just have to wait until it becomes available, which may be forever. You seem to perceive that we are arguing with you. We’re just pointing out that we’ve been down this road before, no alternate ending was ever found, and you don’t have any new evidence to show that it exists, so we’re still at the same place we were before. I don’t care if there is an alternate ending or not, I just don’t see a reason to expect that there is based on what is known at the moment. If you can find some evidence for it’s existence you’ll be a shoo in for the next[Vashbul Memorial Research Award.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17381008&postcount=955) ---
**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 10, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/406 "2014-09-10T20:52:14Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Another strawman. Nice. > > That’s ironclad logic. I’m not sure how you can deny it. Debate club meets here on the second Thursday of every week. Enjoy. ---
**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 10, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/407 "2014-09-10T20:55:58Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Czarcasm, you seem to be getting really bent out of shape about this. I think I might have to take a break from responding to you until you chill out a bit. You’re the one that has presented us with a unfalsifiable premise in your “alternate ending” of _Big_. You have not only shot down all evidence given so far, you have also given reasons why you wouldn’t accept sworn testimony from Penny Marshall, and you refuse to give us any indication whatsoever as to what type of evidence _would_ be acceptable in your eyes. The “No, _that’s_ not it. No, _that’s_ not it, either” game is tedious. However much it seems to you like you’re “winning”, you’re really not. ---
**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 10, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/408 "2014-09-10T20:59:08Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] However much it seems to you like you’re “winning”, you’re really not. [/QUOTE] Sure he is. He’s out-logicked the shit out of us! Too bad it’s not a logic argument, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sauron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/409 "2014-09-10T21:03:07Z")
**Killing Time** , I don’t think you fully understand the concept of “burden of proof.” The movie _Big_ has an ending that is familiar to 99 percent of people who have seen it. That ending is easily identifiable and provable – just watch any commercially available version of the movie. You (and others) assert that there’s at least one different ending to the movie, which the vast majority of people haven’t seen. As a result, the burden of proof rests upon you. It’s not enough to say “I remember it, so I know it exists.” You’re challenging a commonly held belief, so you have to prove your assertion. All the rest is just arguing for argument’s sake. ---
**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 10, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/410 "2014-09-10T21:30:43Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > I did not say uploading it would be hard to achieve. I said _finding_ it would be hard to achieve. You are assuming vast resources have been put into finding and posting this clip. I don’t see how that assumption is warranted. In this, you are wrong. Significant efforts have been documented in this thread and on other internet discussion boards. Tape libraries have been searched, we’ve had people in NZ and other markets which were rumored to have gotten the alternate ending to find copies of “Big” that were distributed in their countries and guess what? None have the alternate ending. The extended edition of the movie was released in 2007 with deleted scenes, but there’s no mention of the alternate ending. Stars of the movie have no knowledge of the scene ever being filmed, let alone part of the original release. Here’s a quote by a review in the NYT at the time of the movie’s release - “And the large pumpkin waiting at the end of Josh’s Cinderella episode becomes an acceptable, even welcome thing.” Without giving away the plot it makes clear that Josh doesn’t end up with Susan. People have done the research you’re talking about for nearly 30 years now and no evidence of the alternate ending has ever been found. That simply defies plausibility. Which is easier to believe? That a major hit movie was released in 1988 with an alternate ending that is 180 degrees from the one now present on all copies of the movie known to exist and there’s absolutely no physical evidence of it. Or, peoples’ memories are confused with a movie released the same year, with a very similar plot, that has an ending very similar to the one a few people claim to remember. You can continue to believe what you remember, but there is a vast quantity of evidence against your claim and literally none for it besides conflicting memories. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/411 "2014-09-10T21:40:16Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > For the umpteenth time, I understand the argument. I just think you’re WAY overestimating the motivation to find this clip. It’s one thing to bandy it about on the internet and do google searches. It’s another thing entirely to try to find a VHS tape from the 1980s that possibly only existed in one release, and maybe only in certain markets. I’m going to make it my life’s quest to find this tape? For what? To settle an argument? And you apparently don’t understand how the internet works. If it existed, there would be evidence of it somewhere besides your memory. At the very least, somebody who owned the “alternate ending” would have, at some point, seen the well-known ending and proven there was once a different ending. Unless your claim is that the alternate ending was only released on a handful of VHS tapes like golden tickets from Willy Wonka, and those that had them are all dead now, and had their VHS tapes buried with them. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/412 "2014-09-10T22:12:50Z")
I wonder if there was ever a parody of “Big” on SNL or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/413 "2014-09-11T00:37:41Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > It’s another thing entirely to try to find a VHS tape from the 1980s that possibly only existed in one release, and maybe only in certain markets. I’m going to make it my life’s quest to find this tape? For what? To settle an argument? If this alternate ending only appeared in “a VHS tape from the 1980s that possibly only existed in one release”, how did [Cakecrumbs’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17709502&postcount=238) 14 year old daughter see it? Other posters in this thread also saw it [in the theater when the movie was first released](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16407264&postcount=118), on television in the UK [in the 1990s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15902512&postcount=48) and [as recently as 2011](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16051361&postcount=86), while others saw it [on television in the US](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=2003585&postcount=6), on [VHS in the Netherlands](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16636315&postcount=149), and on [Betamax in Indonesia](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16287118&postcount=99). And that’s all from just the first few pages of this nine page thread. If all these different people in different countries saw the classroom ending of _Big_ in different formats and in different decades, it must be pretty widely available. ---
**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 11, 2014, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/414 "2014-09-11T00:40:52Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I wonder if there was ever a parody of “Big” on SNL or something like that. No, but I bet a parody of this thread is in the works… ---
**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 11, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/415 "2014-09-11T00:49:39Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > If this alternate ending only appeared in “a VHS tape from the 1980s that possibly only existed in one release”, how did [Cakecrumbs’s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17709502&postcount=238) 14 year old daughter see it? Other posters in this thread also saw it [in the theater when the movie was first released](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16407264&postcount=118), on television in the UK [in the 1990s](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15902512&postcount=48) and [as recently as 2011](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16051361&postcount=86), while others saw it [on television in the US](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=2003585&postcount=6), on [VHS in the Netherlands](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16636315&postcount=149), and on [Betamax in Indonesia](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16287118&postcount=99). And that’s all from just the first few pages of this nine page thread. If all these different people in different countries saw the classroom ending of _Big_ in different formats and in different decades, it must be pretty widely available. It is. It’s even on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vmcLhURu24). ---
**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 11, 2014, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/416 "2014-09-11T02:12:22Z")
So let me see if I understand this. Several of you are upset because I am treating this as an argument of logic, yet are bringing up things such as “sworn testimony” and “burden of proof”. Wow… ---
**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 11, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/417 "2014-09-11T02:24:08Z")
> [@Sauron](#): > > **Killing Time** , I don’t think you fully understand the concept of “burden of proof.” No, I’m sure I do. > [@](#): > > The movie _Big_ has an ending that is familiar to 99 percent of people who have seen it. That ending is easily identifiable and provable – just watch any commercially available version of the movie. I am not asserting that it doesn’t exist. I agree that most versions of the movie have that ending. Therefore proof is not necessary. > [@](#): > > You (and others) assert that there’s at least one different ending to the movie, which the vast majority of people haven’t seen. As a result, the burden of proof rests upon you. It’s not enough to say “I remember it, so I know it exists.” You’re challenging a commonly held belief, so you have to prove your assertion. Well, no. I simply posted that I saw that ending, and that I am certain of that in my mind. I never claimed to have proved its existence. This was followed by a string of people saying that it’s _impossible_ for there to be another ending. To say a thing is impossible is to make a positive assertion, and thus shifts the burden of proof to the person making that assertion. If people don’t want me to respond to their posts, then they should stop saying things like, “It is impossible for that ending to exist because of such and such argument I am making”, because I don’t believe it is impossible, and I don’t think anyone here has made the case for it being so. > [@](#): > > All the rest is just arguing for argument’s sake. It takes two to argue. I certainly am not just sitting here arguing with myself. ---
**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 11, 2014, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/418 "2014-09-11T02:28:33Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > So let me see if I understand this. Several of you are upset because I am treating this as an argument of logic, yet are bringing up things such as “sworn testimony” and “burden of proof”. I can’t speak for others, but I’m not upset, just annoyed at your extremely poor logic. You’ve been presented with a rational argument for why your position (which has been around for 20+ years) doesn’t hold water. You repeatedly fall back on the idea that until we have exhausted every possibility that we should consider this alternative ending to be a plausible scenario. It isn’t. ---
**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 11, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/419 "2014-09-11T02:37:53Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I can’t speak for others, but I’m not upset, just annoyed at your extremely poor logic. You’ve been presented with a rational argument for why your position (which has been around for 20+ years) doesn’t hold water. You repeatedly fall back on the idea that until we have exhausted every possibility that we should consider this alternative ending to be a plausible scenario. It isn’t. You seem to be saying my logic is “poor” simply because I don’t agree with you. You have given no explanation as to what is lacking in my logic. I understand that you _think_ you have exhausted every possibility, but the only thing you have to back that up is condescension and to act annoyed. Obviously I have stumbled onto some sort of religion here, and there’s going to be a big old dogpile on anyone who disagrees with the mob, so I am out of here. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/420 "2014-09-11T02:46:11Z")
Someone said it was impossible that there was an alternative ending? I missed that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=22)