# 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:** 26
**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:** [June 1, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/501 "2016-06-01T01:16:28Z")
> [@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) Cool! ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/502 "2016-12-22T14:00:34Z")
Tangentially related to memories and movies… > **[The movie that doesn’t exist and the Redditors who think it does](https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2016/12/movie-exist-redditors-disney)** > > Over the years, hundreds of people online have shared memories of a cheesy Nineties movie called “Shazaam”. There is no evidence that such a film was ever made. What does this tell us about the quirks of collective memory? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/503 "2016-12-22T14:13:50Z")
Thanks Iggins. When I read the very beginning of that article I thought “Hmm, I kinda remember that move.” Obviously I was thinking of the Shaq one, but if that hadn’t been brought up later in the article I would have wasted a good part of my morning trying to track down the non-existent movie I “remembered.” ---
**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:** [December 22, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/504 "2016-12-22T14:24:50Z")
> [@Iggins](#): > > Tangentially related to memories and movies… > > [http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/12/movie-doesn-t-exist-and-redditors-who-think-it-does](http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/12/movie-doesn-t-exist-and-redditors-who-think-it-does) Oh thank goodness. When I saw this thread pop up again I thought we were in for another round. Interesting article. Never heard of this Shazam stuff before, but it’s fascinating when paired with this and the Bearenstain Bears. Memory is indeed a funny thing. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/505 "2016-12-22T14:25:45Z")
Durn! When I saw this thread in my new posts search, I thought we had yet another person who had registered to post that they were certain that there was an alternate ending. Cool article, **Iggins**. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/506 "2016-12-22T16:13:28Z")
Going back to the second page: > [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Someone on here claimed they had that alternate Star Wars. Their family owned a cinema or something like that. Has any footage of the recalled scenes surfaced over the years? Some footage has and the bit with the binoculars [is nothing like I remember](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19428479). ---
**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:** [December 22, 2016, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/507 "2016-12-22T16:50:17Z")
Thanks for the article. That’s a fascinating phenomenon. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2016, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/508 "2016-12-22T19:11:19Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Durn! When I saw this thread in my new posts search, I thought we had yet another person who had registered to post that they were certain that there was an alternate ending. > > Cool article, **Iggins**. Thanks. Double ditto. I HATE seeing this thread get bumped… but this was good. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/509 "2016-12-22T19:13:56Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Double ditto. I HATE seeing this thread get bumped… but this was good. And I love seeing it get bumped. The conviction and certainty of each newbie is fascinating to me. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/510 "2016-12-22T19:23:35Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > And I love seeing it get bumped. The conviction and certainty of each newbie is fascinating to me. Okay, well, yeah, there is that. And they read all or some of this thread… and are _still_ convinced they are the one true believer. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/511 "2016-12-22T20:59:06Z")
Agree that that’s a good article. I don’t have a memory of a Sinbad film, but I did remember seeing at least the box cover or promo poster of the Shaq movie. I’m more interested in the factoid in the article that Neil Tyson thinks there’s a 50% chance we are living in a computer simulation. Has there been a thread on that? ---
**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:** [December 22, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/512 "2016-12-22T21:04:43Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > I’m more interested in the factoid in the article that Neil Tyson thinks there’s a 50% chance we are living in a computer simulation. Has there been a thread on that? Not yet-It’ll be in the next update, postdated 02/17/14. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/513 "2016-12-22T21:15:34Z")
Many thanks for posting the _New Statesman_ article, Iggins–fascinating! ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/514 "2016-12-22T21:59:23Z")
FWIW - I will go to my grave knowing that it’s “Berenstein Bears.” This is definitely the alternate timeline. I only know the original ending to Big, and never saw Sinbad the Genie… 🙂 ---
**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:** [December 22, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/515 "2016-12-22T22:29:04Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Double ditto. I HATE seeing this thread get bumped… but this was good. Hey, I’m the author of this thread and you may hate it, but I’m relying on it to be my only footprint after I die. I _need_ this thread to continue! [This video is how I am with this thread. I’m the guy on the truck who jumps.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KlSuGNt8e4) Witness me!!! ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/516 "2016-12-22T23:01:52Z")
> [@Iggins](#): > > FWIW - I will go to my grave knowing that it’s “Berenstein Bears.” This is definitely the alternate timeline. There’s not an alternate timeline. There’s an infinite number of alternate timelines, and we’re all constantly moving in between them. Every time you wake up, you’re in a different reality than the one you went to sleep in. It’s just that, the vast majority of the time, you’re not in a position to know that something’s changed. You go to sleep in a universe where the guy living at a particular address on a particular street somewhere in Jakarta was left handed, and you wake up in one where he’s right handed. You didn’t know him before, you don’t know him after, so you have no way of knowing something changed. Sometimes, though, the change is big enough to be noticeable: from a different spelling in the title of a children’s book, or a different ending to a popular movie. Sometimes you go to bed in a universe where a political prisoner just died while incarcerated, and wake up in a world where he didn’t - but you don’t realize it until twenty years later, when the guy you’re sure died suddenly is released from prison. Some unfortunates take even bigger leaps. They go to sleep in a world where we’ve colonized Mars, and wake up in one where the space program stalled out decades ago. Some people go to sleep in a world ravaged by nuclear war, and wake up here. Some keep quiet about it, knowing that they’ll never be believed. Most, though, go mad. Or at least, are assumed to have done so. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/517 "2016-12-23T00:26:28Z")
[Angry Video Game Nerd has an episode about this effect. It’s not hilarious, but pretty funny.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB3CybXl8rs&t=1s) ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/518 "2016-12-23T03:45:17Z")
I’ve posted about this earlier in this thread. The first time I heard about anything resembling this was the “Missing Thunderbird Photo.” > **[SEEKING THE MISSING THUNDERBIRD PHOTOGRAPH - ONE OF CRYPTOZOOLOGY'S MOST...](https://karlshuker.blogspot.com/2014/11/seeking-missing-thunderbird-photograph.html)** > > ShukerNature explores cryptozoology & animal mythology - bigfoot, chupacabras, yeti, vampires, sea monsters, Nessie, sasquatch, dragons, mystery cats. Since I was a kid I’ve had an interest in things like cryptozoology, UFOs, ghosts/poltergeists, etc. I’ve abandoned any kind of belief in these things but I still find some of it interesting to read about. I don’t have any recollection of seeing the photo myself. I wonder if there is any earlier example of this “phenomenon” or if this is where this sort of thing began. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/519 "2016-12-23T03:53:40Z")
Reddit page about Thunderbird Photo. [https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/48p6u3/the\_missing\_thunderbird\_photo\_the\_original\_me/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MandelaEffect/comments/48p6u3/the_missing_thunderbird_photo_the_original_me/) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/520 "2016-12-23T14:56:28Z")
> [@Iggins](#): > > Tangentially related to memories and movies… > > [http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/12/movie-doesn-t-exist-and-redditors-who-think-it-does](http://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/internet/2016/12/movie-doesn-t-exist-and-redditors-who-think-it-does) It is interesting, although depressing, to see that people still believe there was a Sinbad genie movie even though Sinbad himself says he never made such a movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=25) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=27)