# 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:** 22
**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 11, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/421 "2014-09-11T02:47:49Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > Someone said it was impossible that there was an alternative ending? I missed that. Yeah, I must have too. There’s just no compelling evidence to be convinced there is one. I’m happy to change my mind if I’m wrong. ---
**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, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/422 "2014-09-11T02:57:23Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > It takes two to argue. I certainly am not just sitting here arguing with myself. Actually, you are arguing with yourself, or at least a strawman that you built yourself. I just did a CTRL-F search on the thread, and here’s every instance of the word “impossible” that I could find since you joined in: > [@Killing\_Time](#): > > I guess my question at this point would be: Why is it impossible for you to believe that they shot two different endings? It’s a pretty common practice in Hollywood. > [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Right, so isn’t that evidence that it is at least _possible_ (and therefore not IMpossible) that a different ending could have been filmed? > [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Frankly, some of you have made some pretty fallacious arguments that hardly befit a true skeptic. A skeptic would be open to the possibility that another ending was filmed, not doggedly insist that it’s impossible. > [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I personally still own videos from the 80s. Plus, my point was to refute the argument of why it was impossible for the clip to have shown up on Youtube. The point was that clip was on home release, so it’s not improbable that it could have ended up there. That was your argument I was responding to. > [@Killing\_Time](#): > > Could we please take it easy with the strawman arguments? I NEVER, EVER, said it was “impossible” for the clip to be on YouTube. > [@Killing\_Time](#): > > 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. The only one of these posts not made by you was by \*\*IvoryTowerDenizen \*\*attributing an “it’s impossible” argument _to you_. Funnily enough, you objected that this was a strawman and made sure to point out that you hadn’t used the word “impossible”. ---
**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, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/423 "2014-09-11T03:27:33Z")
> [@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”. > > Wow… Yeah, we keep saying “Wow” here too. The issue is a simple is/isn’t one, with the prevailing weight of evidence on the isn’t (any such ending) side. Your extended logical calisthenics are just that… useless exercises. No amount of logic or ratocination will prove the matter. You think it exists? Go find it. Further convolutions of your logical constructions will not make it pop into existence, nor convince any of us who have been waiting for proof for more than a decade… which would appear to be more than half your life, by the available evidence. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/424 "2014-09-11T06:41:02Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > 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. Nobody has claimed the alternate ending is impossible. Of course it’s possible. Alternate endings are shot all the time. There is no reason to believe that Big has an alternate ending as described. None. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2014, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/425 "2014-09-11T08:25:05Z")
Speaking as someone from New Zealand who saw _Big_ in the cinemas on its original release, on VHS, and on TV, I have never seen this alternative ending. ---
**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, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/426 "2014-09-11T12:22:38Z")
> [@Killing\_Time](#): > > You seem to be saying my logic is “poor” simply because I don’t agree with you. Your logic is poor because it relies on human memories which are demonstrably fallible over the large collection of actual evidence presented that there was no alternative ending to Big every shot or shown. Your logic is poor because it relies on a very poor piece of evidence at the exclusion of all other evidence. I could care less if you agree with me as long as your logic is sound. And to echo others, no one has said that an alternative ending to Big is impossible, just that there’s no reliable evidence for it and tons of evidence against it. Your poor logic is a result of being unable to fairly weigh the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/427 "2014-11-07T03:41:10Z")
I’m sorry for resurrecting this again. [This dude just claimed a Youtube clip(with no sound) exists that shows the other ending.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17879351&postcount=35) Come on, man. Post it if it exists. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/428 "2014-11-07T03:49:36Z")
It’s in this thread. Now I have to find it again. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/429 "2014-11-07T03:57:17Z")
Okay, it appears **Loach** ’s post in #415 confused me. The ending as described appeared to be the ending of a movie called _14 going on 30_ which I’ve never actually heard of. Sorry, it appears our mystery remains unsolved. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2014, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/430 "2014-11-07T04:01:30Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Okay, it appears **Loach** ’s post in #415 confused me. The ending as described appeared to be the ending of a movie called _14 going on 30_ which I’ve never actually heard of. Sorry, it appears our mystery remains unsolved. There’s something very meta about all of this. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/431 "2014-11-07T04:03:39Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s something very meta about all of this. I’ll try to remember that as I crawl under my computer desk in embarrassment. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2014, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/432 "2014-11-07T04:39:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > There’s something very meta about all of this. It’s the alternate ending to this thread. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/433 "2014-11-07T04:53:56Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s the alternate ending to this thread. You’re thinking of the end of the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer thread. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/434 "2014-11-07T05:03:44Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’m sorry for resurrecting this again. > > [This dude just claimed a Youtube clip(with no sound) exists that shows the other ending.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17879351&postcount=35) > > Come on, man. Post it if it exists. > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Okay, it appears **Loach** ’s post in #415 confused me. The ending as described appeared to be the ending of a movie called _14 going on 30_ which I’ve never actually heard of. Sorry, it appears our mystery remains unsolved. But the posted Youtube link does have sound: > [@Loach](#): > > It is. It’s even on [Youtube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vmcLhURu24). So which is it? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/435 "2014-11-07T07:12:37Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > But the posted Youtube link does have sound: > > So which is it? For me, the video has sound up until that scene, then that particular scene is all muted. I’m not even going to claim that’s the case for every person who clicks that link. That’s just the way it is when I click on it. I promise, I have no dog in this fight. Having not read any meaningful portion of this thread except the last page, I submit that maybe a lot of people saw _14 going on 30_ and have it confused with _Big_. They were both released in the same year and the ending of _14 going on 30_ appears to be exactly as described by the OP as the alternate ending of _Big_. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/436 "2014-11-07T07:21:56Z")
Okay, so it appears that theme has been explored _ad nauseum_ since 2002. Carry on. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/437 "2014-11-07T17:16:16Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Okay, it appears **Loach** ’s post in #415 confused me. The ending as described appeared to be the ending of a movie called _14 going on 30_ which I’ve never actually heard of. Sorry, it appears our mystery remains unsolved. Yeah that was my point. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/438 "2014-11-07T21:45:48Z")
Could it be that some lowly anonymous technician in the 1980s spliced the ending of a different movie onto “Big” for kicks when it was getting distributed?? ---
**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:** [November 7, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/439 "2014-11-07T21:51:31Z")
> [@LC\_Strawhouse](#): > > Could it be that some lowly anonymous technician in the 1980s spliced the ending of a different movie onto “Big” for kicks when it was getting distributed?? And no one in the studio, distributor or trade press noticed, even though some large number of thousands of people apparently saw it? Seems vanishingly unlikely. It’s a straightforward memory fart, IMVHO. I just wish one of the principals would answer an inquiry about it… I am mystified at the wall o’silence on the matter. (Also that **Cecil** has failed to take up the question, after all this time and several requests, when it’s probably two hours’ work for him to get to someone who can make an authoritative statement.) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/440 "2014-11-07T22:00:02Z")
I could feel my blood pressure rising when I saw this thread was bumped. Thankfully the issue has been resolved so quickly and this episode of the “Alternate Ending to Big” is over. But we’ll be here. Watching and waiting. Because the next time might not be so easy. Or the time after that. Or the time after that. Or the… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=21) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=23)