I’m sure a few people out there remember the animated movie “Heavy Metal,” from 1981.
From what I’ve heard, the movie was planned to feature a segment called “Neverwhere,” but it was cut from the final version.
Now…could anyone tell me what song was going to be used in Neverwhere? I remember reading the answer, somewhere, a long while back. But I can neither remember it, or find it again online. Can anyone help?
Ranchoth
(And to think, Heavy Metal came out only seven years before Akira. It’s rather humbling, really.)
The missing segment was titled “Neverwhere Land.” It was a bridge between the Captain Stern bit (which ended with the dismembered hand holding the little green gem flying through space) and the B-52 bomber scene.
It’s a sort of “history of violence” with the green orb constantly showing up as a recurring image. It runs from dinosaurs eating each other, through tribal clubs and rocks warfare, up to, at the end of the segment, a flight of bombers heading into a setting sun which is actually the orb, again.
The whole thing only runs like four minutes or so, and the version I’ve got isn’t even finished animation, just pencil work. I bought the VHS tape when it first came out, so I can’t speak to what’s on the DVD release, though I’d imagine it’s about the same.
And on the tape, it’s tagged on after the closing credits, it’s not integrated back into the film itself.
The music is “Passacaglia” (from “Magnificat”) as performed by the Krakow Philharmonic Chorus and Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra. Heavily metalic it ain’t, really. Well, musically speaking.
I seem to recall hearing or reading somewhere along the line that the intended music for the scene was going to be a Pink Floyd tune, but I don’t recall ever hearing specifically which song it was supposed to be.