# 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:** 25
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/481 "2016-05-24T01:17:05Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > I’m still in the “it exists” camp. I remember the people I watched it with and how they explained she had gone to the Zoltar machine too. When my accountant mentioned it was her son’s birthday, I told her I remembered the year she did our taxes while very pregnant and uncomfortable. She replied that she had adopted her son and, in fact, had never been pregnant in her life. Sometimes we remember wrong. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/482 "2016-05-24T01:21:34Z")
Yeah, it only took once in my life to have my “absolutely certain, dead set memory” proven wrong to realize that, basically, our memories are shit. We think we know, _know_, KNOW how something happened to us and it’s incredibly easily to prove otherwise. I just can’t believe in 2016 that people fight so hard against Occam’s Razor and I’ve yet to see anyone who defends the ‘alternate ending’ say why they believe this particular conspiracy is afoot. And why soooooo many involved have kept the secret for life. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/483 "2016-05-24T03:28:44Z")
Yeah the only evidence we have is that so many people share this memory. My guess is it only existed as a version that was broadcast on TV and for those few viewers that happened to tape that particular showing. (I first watched it on a friends VHS tape) We don’t have any solid evidence that it DOESN’T exist. We just have a lack of evidence either way. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/484 "2016-05-24T04:42:12Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Yeah the only evidence we have is that so many people share this memory. My guess is it only existed as a version that was broadcast on TV and for those few viewers that happened to tape that particular showing. (I first watched it on a friends VHS tape) We don’t have any solid evidence that it DOESN’T exist. We just have a lack of evidence either way. Explain to us how this special version came to be made for such a small audience, despite the fact that the people that made the film deny it ever being made, then all copies of this version _including any home copies_ disappear off the face off the Earth? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/485 "2016-05-24T09:47:53Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Yeah the only evidence we have is that so many people share this memory. My guess is it only existed as a version that was broadcast on TV and for those few viewers that happened to tape that particular showing. (I first watched it on a friends VHS tape) We don’t have any solid evidence that it DOESN’T exist. We just have a lack of evidence either way. We will find that Bigfoot has all copies. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/486 "2016-05-24T11:34:17Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Yeah the only evidence we have is that so many people share this memory. It’s not really that very many people-it’s just that those who _think_ they remember this tend to post quite exuberantly on the subject, and tend to stick to their story despite all evidence to the contrary. The fact that a poster just revived two different threads on this subject to make the same post about this claim shows this. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/487 "2016-05-24T12:12:20Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > Yeah the only evidence we have is that so many people share this memory. The thing is, they don’t. You have a group of people, probably the largest percentage but there’s no way to gather this data, that remember a story very similar to the ending of 14 Going on 30, and they can be easily assumed to have confused the two. Then you have a smaller percentage that remember a variety of contradictory story and plot points. These conflicting memories aren’t evidence for a particular alternative ending. If you assume the memories are accurate then we now have a half dozen alternative endings shown only once on TV or in a limited VCR release in New Zealand, and no human has ever seen two of these alternates, nor is there any evidence of any of them from the cast and crew, nor any stills, call sheets, records, or even a snippet of it on Youtube. Either memories are reliable, and now you have to explain multiple alternatives, or memories are unreliable, and we have plenty of evidence of that. And so it goes. I probably repeat something similar to this post the next time this thread is revived by someone who’s sure that they saw yet another alternative ending to Big, and are sure it’s not 14 Going on 30. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/488 "2016-05-24T13:35:25Z")
> [@Sterling\_Archer](#): > > We don’t have any solid evidence that it DOESN’T exist. We just have a lack of evidence either way. What??? The people how made the movie, including the director, say the fake scene was never shot. People have looked over the production schedule and shooting scripts and it wasn’t there. That’s called evidence it doesn’t exist. Note that the _Star Wars Holiday Special_ aired only once in 1978 (before home VCRs took off) and has never been released on home video. Yet you can easily find copies of it online. If the alternate ending ever aired or was on home video anywhere, it would be online. People get [false memories](http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98195) all the freaking time. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/489 "2016-05-24T13:38:59Z")
Just to break up the monotony could we discuss the alternate beginning to Big? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/490 "2016-05-24T14:24:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Just to break up the monotony could we discuss the alternate beginning to Big? OK, there was this alternate ending that I saw where Susan unaged herself, but the transformation caused a shift in the space-time continuum, and within 5 years there was global nuclear war. Billions of people died, but somehow both Josh and Susan survived. At the end it is revealed that Josh’s middle name is Adam, and Susan’s is Eve. And that’s the ending I saw. And the fact I had a 103 fever at the time had nothing to do with it. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/491 "2016-05-24T15:27:33Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > When my accountant mentioned it was her son’s birthday, I told her I remembered the year she did our taxes while very pregnant and uncomfortable. She replied that she had adopted her son and, in fact, had never been pregnant in her life. > > Sometimes we remember wrong. She was obviously lying. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/492 "2016-05-24T18:43:49Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > She was obviously lying. I think her delivery was shown on TV in New Zealand. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/493 "2016-05-24T18:53:39Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > I think her delivery was shown on TV in New Zealand. I remember-that was right before that solar flare that wiped all the video tapes that were also used to show that special version of “Big”. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/494 "2016-05-24T22:50:31Z")
All the best shit happens in New Zealand. It must be the Hobbits. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/495 "2016-05-25T02:43:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > All the best shit happens in New Zealand. It must be the Hobbits. Not the hobbits, but what they’re smoking. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/496 "2016-05-25T14:02:44Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#): > > Not the hobbits, but what they’re smoking. Old Toby! ---
**Author:** ![Battlemage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@Battlemage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battlemage)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/497 "2016-05-27T16:01:44Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I was telling a friend the other day that I remembered the Tom Hanks movie ending different when I was younger. I saw it on video when it first came out and swear there is a different ending. > > In the version we all have seen, it ends with Josh and his friend walking down the street. Fade to Black. > > In the version I remember, it cuts to school and Josh is in class. The teacher introduces a new student named… the girl Josh was in love with. Yep, she went to the fair and asked the machine to become Josh’s age. Josh and her have eye contact and they laugh. Fade to black. > > The imdb lists this as a possible alternate version in the New Zealand video release. I distinctly remember this(shot for show) in the U.S. > > [http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0094737](http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0094737) > > Anyone else? This appears to be the Oldest Thread in Living Memory of the Internet, so I thought I’d add my two cents for posterity. It definitely seems as the the OP is mixing up movies, but I have done that as well. The first time I did this was Darkman with Liam Neeson. When i watched it as an adult years later I kept waiting for someone to say “the sun is shining,” and for another to answer with “but the ice is slippery.” It turns out I was mixing Darkman with the Shadow. As to how this happens, I am sure it was because around 1995 or so when i was a kid my father took us to a remote drive in theater that played both of them back to back (yes those were still a thing in very out ofbthe way places). Another one was Winnie the Poo. Some time in the early 90s I watched reruns of the live action version of Winnie the Poo. Just recently I watched the intro on youtube and was shocked to see that the song had different lyrics than what I remembered. I definitely did not remember the chorus of singers either. I did however remember the tune for the most part, although it seemed a little more upbeat than I remember. Another similar thing I did once was revisit my elementary school 20 years later. THAT was quite a surprise. The geography was way different than I remember, and of course everything looked significantly smaller. But biggest difference was between my frame of references for geographical markers of the school. I had a mental map as a kid that was completely different from my sense of spatial location for things as an adult- for example where the bus loading area was in relation to the huge jungle gym I used to play on. Part of it was due to the teachers hearding us from different doors to the outside and us not having full freedom as a kid to walk all over the campus, I’m sure. But I am certain most was do to me simply having a higher point of view due to height increase. I have so many other instances of those sort of memory mix ups. I will add them as I remember so as to keep this Epic thread alive until the internet dies. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2016, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/498 "2016-05-27T18:57:18Z")
> [@Battlemage](#): > > Another one was Winnie the Poo. Some time in the early 90s I watched reruns of the live action version of Winnie the Poo. Just recently I watched the intro on youtube and was shocked to see that the song had different lyrics than what I remembered. I definitely did not remember the chorus of singers either. I did however remember the tune for the most part, although it seemed a little more upbeat than I remember. [This one](http://www.betterthanpants.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/large_preview/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/i/winnie-the-poo-tee-large.png)? ---
**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:** [May 31, 2016, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/499 "2016-05-31T23:35:37Z")
This thread was mentioned in an article on Vox about how false facts propagate on the internet: > **[How a middle schooler incepted the internet with a hoax about a bad '90s cartoon](https://www.vox.com/2016/5/27/11788884/street-sharks-hoax)** > > As a kid, Jordan Minor fabricated an entire history for an obscure cartoon called Street Sharks, and then walked away. But the internet didn't. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/500 "2016-05-31T23:45:29Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > This thread was mentioned in an article on Vox about how false facts propagate on the internet: > > [How a middle schooler incepted the internet with a hoax about a bad '90s cartoon | Vox](http://www.vox.com/2016/5/27/11788884/street-sharks-hoax) I made it! I finally made it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=26)