# 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:** 43
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/841 "2020-04-18T14:16:20Z")
I was thinking about this thread, and _poof_ it appeared! In a MPSIMS thread, I replied to someone’s “I have this memory, but found out it’s not true” post… well, here’s my whole reply, because it does apply to the latest “I vividly remember it happening”: > [@Share a childhood memory - just for fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-a-childhood-memory-just-for-fun/851123/89): > > I have memories like this, where once I dig up old facts I realize it could NOT have happened the way I _clearly_ remember it. > > In fact, there’s a book _“So Long, See You Tomorrow”_ that deals with this. A boy grows up with a memory of playing in a neighbor’s house under construction, with snowflakes falling. Goes back as an adult, and the homeowners are puzzled: “We built this house in the summer, construction was May to August.” > > Memories like these have gotten me to research the nature of how we store and retrieve memories. It’s not pulling a paper from a file cabinet, it’s more like sifting through a pile of scraps of paper and trying to reconstruct a memory. We pull scraps that someone has told us about, others from the wrong event, and some that our brains have just made up, for fun. > Anyhow, my earliest memory is seeing Sinbad in the alternate ending to BIG. Watching it with Nelson Mandela, on his prison deathbed… ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/842 "2020-04-18T15:30:34Z")
I saw the alternate ending to Big. Once. For 20 minutes. In 1960. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2020, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/843 "2020-04-18T16:38:26Z")
And yet the Mandels Effect crowd chooses to base their belief on someone who possibly thought Nelson Mandela was dead sometime in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/844 "2020-04-18T16:47:13Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > And yet the Mandels Effect crowd chooses to base their belief on someone who possibly thought Nelson Mandela was dead sometime in the 90s. Whoa, I could have sworn it was called the “Mandela Effect”. Trippy… ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/845 "2020-04-18T17:00:02Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Whoa, I could have sworn it was called the “Mandela Effect”. Trippy… Lines like this is why I’m glad they’ve never closed this thread. Well, that and the occasional drive-by who’s sure he saw the elusive “Kuala Lumpur Drive-In Theater Release” ending. Besides, you’re thinking of the [Mandelbaum Effect](https://www.reddit.com/r/seinfeld/comments/1g72e5/mandelbaum_mandelbaum_mandelbaum/)… ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/846 "2020-04-18T17:03:58Z")
Clearly a tour bus of time-travelers went to the _Big_ filming location and someone got out and accidentally changed the past. We know which people were on the tour bus. They’re the ones who remember _Big_ the way it was before the past got changed. ---
**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:** [April 18, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/847 "2020-04-18T17:06:16Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Besides, you’re thinking of the [Mandelbaum Effect](https://www.reddit.com/r/seinfeld/comments/1g72e5/mandelbaum_mandelbaum_mandelbaum/)… Sorry, typo, I meant the [Howie Mandel effect.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPwpbzVMkuw) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/848 "2020-04-18T20:03:58Z")
Ah, ok. I thought you might have meant the Mandelbrot Effect, where you zoom in and see something that’s very similar to what you saw previously, but slightly different. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/849 "2020-04-18T22:50:00Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Ah, ok. I thought you might have meant the Mandelbrot Effect, where you zoom in and see something that’s very similar to what you saw previously, but slightly different. Do you know what the B. stands for in Benoit B. Mandelbrot? Benoit B. Mandelbrot… He’s the[fractals](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD2XgQOyCCk) guy… (in this timeline) ---
**Author:** ![P1nch3W3ba5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@P1nch3W3ba5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P1nch3W3ba5)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/850 "2020-10-17T15:16:12Z")
So, I ask David Moscow (Instagram) if there was an alternate ending, ando the answer is NO, this broke my heart, i was convinced that I ser that ending, I can ser in my head right now :’( ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/851 "2020-10-17T15:55:57Z")
Welcome to the Straight Dope. So after 18 years sounds like we have the answer? ---
**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:** [October 17, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/852 "2020-10-17T16:15:05Z")
YES!!! I was waiting for this thread to be resurrected on our new board! Yes!!! > [@P1nch3W3ba5](#): > > So, I ask David Moscow (Instagram) if there was an alternate ending, ando the answer is NO, this broke my heart, i was convinced that I ser that ending, I can ser in my head right now :’( Hey, can you link us to the exchange? Or screenshot it and post it for us? > [@What\_Exit](#): > > Welcome to the Straight Dope. So after 18 years sounds like we have the answer? Oh, we’ve had the answer. Just nice to hear from someone in the movie, though. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2020, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/853 "2020-10-17T16:27:38Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Oh, we’ve had the answer. Just nice to hear from someone in the movie, though Various people both in front of and behind the camera have talked about this, as has been mentioned here(and other threads on this subject). ---
**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:** [October 17, 2020, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/854 "2020-10-17T16:33:21Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Oh, we’ve had the answer. Just nice to hear from someone in the movie, though. But I’m _sure_ the ending exists - David Moscow is probably suffering from reverse recovered memory syndrome. QAnon will get to the bottom of this, just you wait. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/855 "2020-10-17T17:04:50Z")
Maybe there never was an ending to _Big_ and each of us has created memories of the ending in our minds. ---
**Author:** ![P1nch3W3ba5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@P1nch3W3ba5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P1nch3W3ba5)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/856 "2020-10-17T17:06:59Z")
I can’t upload images because im a New user, followme on Twitter and DMme so I send you the screenshots @P1nch3W3ba5 ---
**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:** [October 17, 2020, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/857 "2020-10-17T17:07:12Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Various people both in front of and behind the camera have talked about this, as has been mentioned here(and other threads on this subject). Yes, but not directly to us, which is nice. I’m aware as I have created both often-resurrected threads on this topic. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/858 "2020-10-17T17:09:37Z")
I’m pretty sure they are both sick of talking about it, and being accused of lying about it or misremembering it when they do so. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/859 "2020-10-17T17:26:25Z")
Please don’t upload pictures to the Straightdope. What we typically do is host elsewhere and just link to the hosted location. You can do that now in fact. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864/860 "2020-10-17T17:26:32Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I’m pretty sure they are both sick of talking about it, and being accused of lying about it or misremembering it when they do so Who? Tom Hanks and David Moscow? When has Tom Hanks been asked and answered about it? Penny Marshall discussed it once. Who else in the movie has? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=42) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-else-remember-the-alternate-ending-to-big/103864.md?page=44)