# 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:** 42
**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:** [July 30, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/821 "2019-07-30T23:15:56Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I was sad when this got closed, just because it’s like an annoying childhood friend that you miss somehow. I felt sad, too, and a bit worried for Mahaloth. I’m glad the mods reconsidered. This thread is where we can come to be informed on important psychological phenomena, and also where we can come to be goofy about pop culture. That’s value for money! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2019, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/822 "2019-07-30T23:47:19Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > This thread is where we can come to be informed on important psychological phenomena, and also where we can come to be goofy about pop culture. That’s value for money! After all, what’s the alternative? You expect a kid to pay $19 for a comic book? ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/823 "2019-07-31T00:11:41Z")
Do you guys realize that Outkast were the original writers of _The Way You Move_ , and Earth, Wind, and Fire are the ones who covered it? I can’t stop thinking about that. Had it backward for a disturbingly long time. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/824 "2019-07-31T01:05:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > After all, what’s the alternative? You expect a kid to pay $19 for a comic book? Well, you know this message board: just pop in a brand-new disk, and you get a whole new set of options. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/825 "2019-07-31T03:00:50Z")
I notice that Zoltar now has a gig doing commercials for an insurance company. Progressive? Geico? Liberty Mutual? **HMS Irruncible** , [Pssst. Over here.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=879347) ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/826 "2019-07-31T23:14:12Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I notice that Zoltar now has a gig doing commercials for an insurance company. Progressive? Geico? Liberty Mutual? It’s the company that Shall Not Be Named due to their ultra-annoying musical-trademark. I will say that they’ve apparently hired a better advertising firm—the more recent ads are tolerable if you mute just before the hellish musical-trademark. The company’s original "You \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ " ads were just revolting. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2019, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/827 "2019-08-01T06:12:55Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I notice that Zoltar now has a gig doing commercials for an insurance company. Progressive? Geico? Liberty Mutual? [Psst. Over here.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21773465&postcount=674) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Pinelocker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Pinelocker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pinelocker)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/828 "2019-08-31T10:01:36Z")
Sorry I can see this thread has gone on for years and years and caused lots of frustration! But… yes, I’m another one who remembers?! The alternate ending. Im sure I saw it, it would have been late 1980s, on video in North of England. Haven’t watched the movie since until watched it lately with husband and kids. At the end, during the credits, I was saying, wait, wait you have to see the actual end, there’s a bit more…except there wasn’t. Husband never heard of it having more. I vividly remember it, can picture it now! I don’t think I’ve seen either of the similar theme movies that are being put forward as the explanation for this. Have watched the clip of 14 going on 30, have never seen that before. And when I was a kid you didn’t actually get to see that many movies! We hardly ever went to the cinema and VHS was new, I think I must have seen Big at a friends house. ``` So this is really wierd. Sorry, I can see this thread has been going for a very long time and has moved on a bit. If I ever see piles of old vhs for sale eg charity shop I will look out for a copy of Big. You never know, it could turn up somewhere, the missing scene....!!! Although the strange bit is, when I remember that scene, the Tom Hanks character turns round in the class to look at the new girl and she does a little wave at him and they recognize each other...the actors do look like a younger version of themselves. So I mean therefore they would remember acting it if this scene did happen? So then it didn’t happen if the actors say there was no such version. I see the original poster says he was mistaken . And another guy who said he saw it then said it had been recorded over 14 going on 30, which then played the end scene after big so he thought it was all one film. So I’m open to it being a wierd false memory or some kind of messed up recording thing? but still I will ask around and try to look out for old videos. Sorry everyone. Carry on..... ``` ---
**Author:** ![Wrenching\_Spanners](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecb155/32.png) [@Wrenching\_Spanners](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wrenching_Spanners)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/829 "2019-08-31T10:09:12Z")
Actually, there **IS** an alternate ending to Big. Coming soon to London anyway… [https://www.bigthemusical.co.uk/](https://www.bigthemusical.co.uk/) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/830 "2019-08-31T10:13:12Z")
> [@Pinelocker](#): > > …So I’m open to it being a wierd false memory or some kind of messed up recording thing? but still I will ask around and try to look out for old videos… You claim to have read the thread, but apparently without paying much attention. Given the widespread publicity about this, given how many people have this false memory, and how people (just like you) find it so difficult to believe the evidence when it contradicts their unreliable memories, do you really think that the earth has not already been scoured for old VHS tapes to prove that the false memories are real? The awful misleading aphorism _absence of evidence is not evidence of absence_ is so often misapplied. If a hypothesis predicts that we should certainly _expect_ to see evidence, but we do not see that expected evidence, that absence is strong evidence that the hypothesis is false. > **[Settled](https://xkcd.com/1235/)** > > Well, we've really only settled the question of ghosts that emit or reflect visible light. Or move objects around. Or make any kind of sound. But that covers all the ones that appear in Ghostbusters, so I think we're good. For the umpteenth time, the alternate ending _does not exist_. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/831 "2019-08-31T14:05:41Z")
Penny Marshall said they filmed ONE ending. The budget would not allow another filming even if there was another ending written. I think that’s good enough for me. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/832 "2019-08-31T19:14:37Z")
> [@Pinelocker](#): > > ``` > Although the strange bit is, when I remember that scene, the Tom Hanks character turns round in the class to look at the new girl and she does a little wave at him and they recognize each other...the actors do look like a younger version of themselves. > > ``` > [@Skywatcher](#): > > Might that have actually been the end of _Explorers_, just before the last dream? … ---
**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:** [August 31, 2019, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/833 "2019-08-31T20:08:53Z")
> [@Pinelocker](#): > > Sorry I can see this thread has gone on for years and years and caused lots of frustration! But… yes, I’m another one who remembers?! The alternate ending. Im sure I saw it, it would have been late 1980s, on video in North of England. Haven’t watched the movie since until watched it lately with husband and kids. At the end, during the credits, I was saying, wait, wait you have to see the actual end, there’s a bit more…except there wasn’t. Husband never heard of it having more. I vividly remember it, can picture it now! I don’t think I’ve seen either of the similar theme movies that are being put forward as the explanation for this. Have watched the clip of 14 going on 30, have never seen that before. And when I was a kid you didn’t actually get to see that many movies! We hardly ever went to the cinema and VHS was new, I think I must have seen Big at a friends house. > > ``` > So this is really wierd. Sorry, I can see this thread has been going for a very long time and has moved on a bit. If I ever see piles of old vhs for sale eg charity shop I will look out for a copy of Big. You never know, it could turn up somewhere, the missing scene....!!! > > Although the strange bit is, when I remember that scene, the Tom Hanks character turns round in the class to look at the new girl and she does a little wave at him and they recognize each other...the actors do look like a younger version of themselves. So I mean therefore they would remember acting it if this scene did happen? So then it didn’t happen if the actors say there was no such version. I see the original poster says he was mistaken . And another guy who said he saw it then said it had been recorded over 14 going on 30, which then played the end scene after big so he thought it was all one film. So I’m open to it being a wierd false memory or some kind of messed up recording thing? but still I will ask around and try to look out for old videos. > > Sorry everyone. Carry on..... > > ``` 14 Going on 30 was a TV movie. No need to go to the cinema. It was on broadcast TV and was released on tape. ---
**Author:** ![gfletcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@gfletcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfletcher)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/834 "2020-04-17T18:17:13Z")
I remember this alternative ending, me and my partner were just talking about it after buying the DVD for our kids. It wasn’t the 14-30 film. I vividly remember it happening…just wish I could find it! ---
**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:** [April 17, 2020, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/835 "2020-04-17T18:22:10Z")
Almost 8 months. Is that our longest gap so far? ---
**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:** [April 17, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/836 "2020-04-17T18:47:19Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Almost 8 months. Is that our longest gap so far? Not even close. The first gap was 9 years. And there’s at least one other thread started by the OP of this thread as well! To our most recent doubter; people have been saying exactly what you’re saying for over 20 years. No one yet has turned up any evidence in support of an alternative ending to \*\*Big \*\*- you really are confusing it with the ending of **14 Going on 30**. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/837 "2020-04-17T19:00:26Z")
> [@gfletcher](#): > > I remember this alternative ending, me and my partner were just talking about it after buying the DVD for our kids. It wasn’t the 14-30 film. I vividly remember it happening…just wish I could find it! It was the 14 Going On 30 movie. Your memory got fudged, no matter how vivid it is to you. It happens. For example, I was absolutely sure of a memorable chapter in _One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich_, but it was actually from Elie Wiesel’s _Night_. Human memory is both wonderous and incredibly fallible. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/838 "2020-04-17T21:00:34Z")
> [@gfletcher](#): > > I remember this alternative ending, me and my partner were just talking about it after buying the DVD for our kids. It wasn’t the 14-30 film. I vividly remember it happening…just wish I could find it! Have you read the key points repeatedly spelled out in this thread? 1. No version of the script, including the shooting script includes this scene. 2. The filming schedule does not include this scene. 3. Penny Marshall, the director, says it was never filmed. 4. No one involved in the film, including the kid who played the young version of Tom Hanks, has any knowledge of this alleged scene. Congratulations, you have a false memory. Welcome to the human race. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/839 "2020-04-17T23:22:47Z")
> [@gfletcher](#): > > I remember this alternative ending, me and my partner were just talking about it after buying the DVD for our kids. It wasn’t the 14-30 film. I vividly remember it happening…just wish I could find it! How much of this thread have you read? ---
**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:** [April 18, 2020, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/840 "2020-04-18T01:58:14Z")
One day, probably in the next five years, someone somewhere is going to make a “deep fake” video of the “alternate ending”, and the world as we know it will end. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=41) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=43)