# MASSIVELY improve a movie/TV show by changing ten seconds or less **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386 "2010-10-16T23:58:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/61 "2010-10-19T16:53:41Z")
It’d take more than ten seconds, but I’d restore **The Bad Seed** ’s original ending where the mom dies, and Rhoda doesn’t get struck by lightning. I believe there was a remake which did just that. And anyway, I kinda like the hilarity of the original too, in a bad movie kind of way. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/62 "2010-10-19T17:37:55Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > It’d take more than ten seconds, but I’d restore **The Bad Seed** ’s original ending where the mom dies, and Rhoda doesn’t get struck by lightning. I believe there was a remake which did just that. And anyway, I kinda like the hilarity of the original too, in a bad movie kind of way. > > Never mind. The ending of the 1950s version of \*\*The Bad Seed \*\*was imposed on the filmmakers by the Production Code. After all the things she did, there was no way the Code would allow Rhoda to be left standing at the end of the movie. [QUOTE=Winston Bongo] Signs: Add a line or two at the end revealing, or at the very least suggesting, that the invaders were not space aliens, but demons/supernatural beings sent to test the faith of humanity. It works much better with the spiritual theme of the movie, and dispenses with the story’s most ginormous plot hole, i.e. what kind of idiot aliens would invade a planet covered in a substance deadly to them (while wearing no protective clothing, to boot). [/QUOTE] But why would a demon need a spaceship? 😉 Although I don’t subscribe to it, some people have suggested that the “alien invasion” is really a dream by Gibson’s character that enables him to get back his faith at the end. To further support this explanation, they cite the movie’s seemingly strange logic (e.g., aliens who can’t open doors) and slightly-off tone (e.g., the weird Lynchian conversation with the recruiting officer in town). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/63 "2010-10-19T17:58:12Z")
I’ve always wished that in Lethal Weapon 4, Martin Riggs had briefly questioned whether all the money that Roger had suddenly come into was some of the drug money he considered taking from the drug lords at the end of the second movie. ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/64 "2010-10-19T21:47:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > I think they’re aliens in fact, but not an invasion force. They weren’t trying to conquer anything, and capturing humans was only incidental. All the aliens on the ground going through a passage rite to prove their bravery. That is why they were weaponless (discounting the poison at least one coudl admit, which might have been a natural ability) and why they were naked on a world rich in their version of kryptonite. It was _supposed_ to be inordinately difficult for the raiders. Although I still prefer the “demon” idea, yours would also be better than what we got. But shouldn’t there be _something_ in the movie itself to indicate that one of these explanations is true? Even if the characters themselves didn’t know what was going on, one of them could have at least speculated about it, if only to give Shyamalan an out when people say “Boy were those aliens ever dumb!” I like keeping some things mysterious too, but not to the point where viewers will just assume the writer was incompetent. (Note: the previous comment may also be applied to _Lost_.) ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/65 "2010-10-19T21:59:10Z")
> [@Winston\_Bongo](#): > > Although I still prefer the “demon” idea, yours would also be better than what we got. But shouldn’t there be _something_ in the movie itself to indicate that one of these explanations is true? Even if the characters themselves didn’t know what was going on, one of them could have at least speculated about it, if only to give Shyamalan an out when people say “Boy were those aliens ever dumb!” > > I like keeping some things mysterious too, but not to the point where viewers will just assume the writer was incompetent. (Note: the previous comment may also be applied to _Lost_.) Maybe we’re just watching the movie differently. Even on first watching, I never took it that the kids’ interpretation was supposed to be the correct one. We don’t get the correct explanation of what the raiders’ motive is. I think the crop circles are a misdirection. Thinking on it, I see some validity to the demon idea. The primary effect of the events of the movie is to terrify people and cause them to question things.. If we take it that Christianity is in some sense true in the world of the movie, then the raider/demons are seeking mostly to make people question their faith. They fail in the Gibson character’s case, presumably because God has intervened beforehand (by arranging the death of the Patricia Kalembar character (the wife) and giving her the brief prophetic vision that ultimately saved them), but they may have succeeded in other causes. Alternatively, God did not will the PK character’s death, but did give her the prophecy, which came through garbled. God is a wormhole alien. ---
**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:** [October 19, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/66 "2010-10-19T22:18:00Z")
Maybe a few mumbles about how we don’t know for sure that these are “aliens” would be enough. But more than that would be a mistake. But the origin of the beings that terrify Mel and his family is irrelevant. They are bogey-men. Maybe they’re bogey-men from outer space, maybe they’re bogey-men from under the stairs or under your bed, maybe the bogey-men came because the cornfield was made over an indian burial ground, maybe the bogey-men were made in a secret government lab, maybe the bogey-men were sent by Satan. They’re still bogey-men, their purpose is simply to cause terror, their origin is irrelevant to the story. Compare and contrast to the Buffy tVS episode “Hush”, where the Gentlemen’s origin is handwaved away by saying (or rather writing) that they are fairy-tale creatures, and they are banished similar mundane methods (a scream, rather than a glass of water). “Signs” isn’t a perfect movie, but it does work as a fairy-tale or nightmare, and follows the same logic. ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/67 "2010-10-19T22:46:36Z")
> [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > I would add a ten-second explanation of the history of the Maurader’s Map into the movie version of **Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban** , or the line “Don’t call me coward!” to **Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince**. What are otherwise the two best movies of the series are nearly ruined by leaving out key moments. The latter is nearly unforgivable. That line, to me, is the whole point of that scene and quite possibly the whole point of the series. In goblet of fire, a brief exposition of priori incantatum would have been great. Rather than Dumbledore just saying “ah, priori incantatum.” ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/68 "2010-10-20T02:12:04Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Maybe I don’t remember it well? I thought that the flashBACKS about Mr Glass were stunning to me and revelatory and essential. However, I don’t remember any title cards depicting future events. The flashbacks were indeed revelatory and essential. Then Price has an emotional speech during which Dunn realizes what he (Price) had done (which is reproduced in the quotes section of IMDb, and is somewhat of a spoiler):As Dunn walks slowly away from Price, the camera stays with him as Price, in his wheelchair, speaks from behind him: “Now that we know who you are… I know who I am. I’m not a mistake! It all makes sense. In a comic, you know how you can tell who the arch-villain’s going to be? He’s the exact opposite of the hero, and most time’s they’re friends, like you and me. I should’ve known way back when. You know why, David? Because of the kids.” Freeze frame for five seconds; screen displays “David Dunn led authorities to Limited Edition [Price’s shop] where evidence of three acts of terrorism was found.” Unfreeze. Dunn walks out of frame and we cut to focus back on Price in his wheelchair, saying, “They called me Mr. Glass.” Freeze frame again; screen displays “Elijah Price is now in an institution for the criminally insane.” Fade to black; roll credits.So yeah, maybe it’s not a “succession of title cards,” but it’s non-essential and it disrupts the impact of the revelation and the flow of that final scene. But I guess test audiences wanted a neater, cut-and-dried resolution, as **AClockworkMelon** said. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/69 "2010-10-21T02:03:39Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > > [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > > > **Carnivale** – I would get rid of the last couple of scenes in the finale. So Jonesy’s shooting and Justin’s resurrection would not have happened. > > Well.. yeah, but product of unexpected cancellation. That doesn’t matter – I thought those two moves were stupid. You don’t spend two season working up to the death of your major villain, only to resurrect him not five minutes after he’s killed. That’s some Friday the 13th-level shit right there. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/70 "2010-10-21T03:37:58Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **European Vacation** - From the scene where Michelle Trachtenberg is seen from the back raising her top to get someone on the Autobahn to stop, we cut to the same scene from the front, and get 10 seconds of Michelle’s tits bouncing. Sicko! Watching a baby girl’s breasts: [European Vacation (1985)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089670/) [Michelle Trachtenberg (b. 10/11/1985)](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005502/) ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/71 "2010-10-21T16:35:19Z")
Saving Private Ryan, an excellent movie but the the bit with Hanks saying with his dying breath “Live a good life”, or somesuch was totally unbelievable and incredibly cheesy. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/72 "2010-10-21T17:31:55Z")
In _Star Trek: Generations_, the scene where Solan (Malcolm McDowell) has just launched a missile that caused the sun to go supernova, which gives him the power to open the Nexus gate while the universe around him is being destroyed: he simply waits for the gate to open and close around him. He should have been laughing manically, like a triumphant mad scientist WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW? HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAA! ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/73 "2010-10-22T01:39:48Z")
**Million Dollar Baby** - have her stand between rounds, with no stool ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/74 "2010-10-22T03:14:03Z")
Ok, here’s how we improve Signs AND Independence Day: Show alien ship approaching Earrth. A group of Signs aliens are looking at readouts surrounding an image of Earth. First alien: What the hell? That’s a water planet! Second alien: Water planet? What the hell? Water is too corrosive to exist in its natural state on any planet. First alien: No, look at the readouts, the surface is three quarters water! And the atmosphere has significant amoutns of water vapor in it, which periodically condense and fall on the few places that AREN’T covered by water. Second alien: Well fuck that shit! I am not going anywhere NEAR that place! Itll kill me for sure! First alien: I’m totally down with that, mate. But you know … (face gets a sly grin) “I know some folks that would pay good money to know the location of a planet like this.” Next scene: Independence Day Mothership approaches Earth. ---
**Author:** ![HubZilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ccd318/32.png) [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/75 "2010-10-22T13:20:19Z")
"No, Pippin, we cannot use the eagles to carry the rings to Mordor, because \_\_\_\_\_. Now sit down and stop asking foolish questions." ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/76 "2010-10-22T15:17:43Z")
Here’s how to improve _A New Hope_ [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k3d672nMbU) ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/77 "2010-10-24T07:02:01Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > That doesn’t matter – I thought those two moves were stupid. You don’t spend two season working up to the death of your major villain, only to resurrect him not five minutes after he’s killed. That’s some Friday the 13th-level shit right there. Well… I agree about Jonesy, given that he’s already had the whole ‘healed’ arc, there was no interesting reason to put him in jeopardy again. But WRT the Big Bad, what would you have done for a cliffhanger? I think the pint here was that, the healer of the Big Bad was a new Big Bad. That was the twist. What else could they have done (under the premise that they thought there would be a new season)? > [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > In _Star Trek: Generations_, the scene where Solan (Malcolm McDowell) has just launched a missile that caused the sun to go supernova I always wondered… since the NEXUS transgresses temporal notions… and ‘part’ of Whoopie and Solan are already in the Nexus, would Solan STILL be in the Nexus partially, because one alternate universe version of him made it there completely? In which case, win-win! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/78 "2010-10-24T07:50:27Z")
Another Independence Day improvement/ Everybody figures out in about 10 seconds that the alien signal interfering with out satellites is a COUNTDOWN. It really shouldn’t take, like, a super genius to figure that out. Oh, yeah, and the President says, “Nuke Em” well before they get to earth. And the First Lady dies instantly in her crash. And we see the stripper chick do her whole routine. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/79 "2010-10-24T15:36:09Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > Well… > > I agree about Jonesy, given that he’s already had the whole ‘healed’ arc, there was no interesting reason to put him in jeopardy again. But WRT the Big Bad, what would you have done for a cliffhanger? I think the pint here was that, the healer of the Big Bad was a new Big Bad. That was the twist. What else could they have done (under the premise that they thought there would be a new season)? I would have kept Justin dead and come up with some other way to indicate that Sofie was the new Big Bad. Maybe have her go after Ben (unsuccessfully) or something. Or have her go after both of them, pre-empting Ben’s attempt on Justin’s life. Or something! I just think it’s stupid to undo the progress and drama of your entire show thus far in a matter of minutes. And I **loathe** to the core of my being the proposed plan (per Dan Knauf) for the third season to start with Sofie and Justin married, which Justin’s permanent death would preclude, making me a big fan of that particular idea. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386/80 "2010-10-24T16:55:06Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Saving Private Ryan, an excellent movie but the the bit with Hanks saying with his dying breath “Live a good life”, or somesuch was totally unbelievable and incredibly cheesy. Gonna have to disagree with you on this. At the end Hanks says “earn this” because throughout the whole movie people are questioning whether or not this one guy deserved the manhunt simply because his brothers died. Lots of brothers/sons died…so they wanted Ryan to earn all of the effort it took to find him. It also sets up the final scene where old Ryan starts crying/getting emotional about his life. Massive OPEN SPOILER to Gone Baby Gone Follows: This is more than 10 seconds but I want to change the ending of Gone Baby Gone. An otherwise great movie that should have ended 20 minutes earlier. Once Casey Afflecks girlfriend says “if you call the cops I will never speak to you again” we see him go outside in apparent debate…then the cops come and the movie goes on. The movie should have ended with him in debate so the audience can decide for themselves what happened. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/massively-improve-a-movie-tv-show-by-changing-ten-seconds-or-less/557386.md?page=5)