Alternate Versions of Movies for TV that You Remember

[OzReturner]

I don't experience this all that much anymore, but I remember there being a bunch of movies I would watch on TV that would have deleted or alternate scenes added into them, presumably to make the runtime match the allotted slot. This was a time before DVDs and Director's Cuts, and some movies weren't even worth an alternate cut anyhow. This is different than cutting content, I only mean when they add it. What's more annoying is how difficult or impossible it is NOW to locate these alternate versions.

A list of what I can remember right now (more to possibly follow?) and how they were changed:

• Encino Man- there was an extended conversation between Sean Astin and Pauly Shore and Sean's mom and sister while they are unearthing Brendan Fraser in the backyard.
• Waterworld- given that there is only 1 single spot of dry land left, it makes sense it would be Mt. Everest, and this is confirmed in a scene at the end when they find a plaque on the mountaintop, verifying that it is indeed Mt. Everest. This may now be in a DVD release.
• HP and Chamber of Secrets- during dueling practice, Justin Finch-Fletchley introduces himself. I think you can get an extended version of this movie with this scene, but it's difficult to find.

Anyone else have some examples? I know I'm missing some that I watched.

 

[Lord Boron]

Superman: The Movie immediately comes to mind. I believe they finally released the TV version on Blu-ray a few years ago.

 

[batguy]

I'm kinda surprised that the big studios weren't ordering directors/producers to deliver TV cuts decades ago. Maybe not with every small arthouse movie, but they knew darn well that 'Superman' or 'The Towering Inferno' was gonna get heavy TV airing. Eventually there would be a need for a G-rated version with the running time hitting a nice round number. They could have saved some trouble and produced better results by doing it at the original filming stage.

Directors in particular are known for throwing fits about their work being altered in any way. But by the 1970s it was clear that half the public would be seeing their film on TV. You'd think they would want to get involved and make the TV cuts as good as possible.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I believe the TV version of Waterworld has that scene in it. It has now been released on BluRay with 3 different versions and I may be mistaken, but it's theatrical cut, TV version (with that scene?), and the extended cut (with that scene?)

I remember the Superman: The Movie one... but also Superman 2 being shown with additional scenes on TV in Denmark - scenes I have not seen in the Bluray release, where Zod tears off the shoulder straps on a general after the battle in the small town is over and some additional stuff happening here and there. Some of that I believe showed up in the Donner Cut. Could remember wrong.

 

[AJK001]

Superman: The Movie immediately comes to mind. I believe they finally released the TV version on Blu-ray a few years ago.

I remember that one and some of the stuff they added back in actually made a few scenes work better.

 

[Keiko]

I remember a few alternate versions and scenes of Superman II airing in the 80s here in Canada as well. I think most of it is on Blu-ray as extra features. One scene that stuck with me was Superman and Lois talking about how he's never done "it" before, and she tells him to just go slow. The camera pulls out to reveal that he's about to cook a soufflé with his heat vision.

 

[tcsmit29]

I remember a scene in Karate Kid that takes place in a cafeteria. I believe Daniel puts a piece of pie in Johnny's chair as Johnny is sitting down. I may have that the wrong way around my memory is a little hazy. I don't know if this scene was in the original released movie or a televised version. The scene isn't in the movie in the versions I've seen later.

 

[Treadwell]

Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Several scenes.

 

[Treadwell]

ARGH, this memory is so vague I haven't been able to identify the movie even after a google search.
80s or 90s thriller-ish movie that I saw on TV first. Later I saw the theatrical version and there was an entire subplot that was new to me. Cut for time on TV, I guess. Funny thing was, though, the movie made perfect sense without it, so it obviously wasn't needed.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Several scenes.

You can buy versions with theatrical and director's cut, if I remember correctly.

 

[Treadwell]

Theatrical IS the director's cut. She didn't even allow the TV scenes to be put on DVD as special features.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Ah... makes sense... then Dir/theatrical cut and studio cut.

 

[bwayne64]

Just watch watched Buck Rogers again on Tubi with a friend. There were several scenes I'd never seen before. Which is weird, cause I thought I'd seen it in every version there's been. I kept saying that's a new scene, there's another one. My friend was like, what are you talking about. He wasn't a big fan. I felt a serious case of the Mandela effect.

 

[OzReturner]

I kept saying that's a new scene, there's another one

Its frustrating. I wish I could remember more movies that did this. I think more than 1 Harry Potter did it, and I would say the same thing. The thing is that they are inserted so flawlessly, it is as though another version exists we don't have access to.

 

[Laspector]

JAWS did it.
Some of the movies like Fast Times had to be so heavily edited for TV that those extra scenes were put back in just to give it a proper run time.

 

[Treadwell]

One Fast Times TV scene I do rather like is with the school counselor, where she tells Brad he needs to "buckle down" and that the fun is over. "I'm still waiting for the fun to START!"

It's ill-placed in the TV version, though. His dialogue about his part-time job situation doesn't match what is currently the case in the narrative where they put it.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Several Harry Potter and Narnia movies has extra long versions produced in limited runs. I think they are hard to get now.

Der Untergang has a longer TV version that has STILL to this day not been made available on Blu-ray. I have the special edition DVD that includes both versions and I only watch the TV version.

Legend is another film that has multiple versions - it's Ridley Scott after all. There's the European version with orchestral score and there's the American version with the Tangerine Dream score. There are also shorter TV versions, which I don't believe has been released on dvd or blu-ray.

 

[dascoyne]

Do they still show Looney Tunes with all the shooting and most of the violence cut out?
What's the point of even showing them at all, if that's the case?

 

[Laspector]

No, Boomerang shows the full Looney Tunes--guns and all. But I do remember all that censoring during the late 70s and 80s. It was pointless to even try to watch a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

 

[Indy Magnoli]

I've seen Blues Brothers a million times... but the first several hundred was the edited version on one of the cable network channels (TBS?). I wouldn't mind seeing the edited version again just to see how they did a few of the scenes (like when Elwood gets pulled over... how do they start and end the "****. What? Rollers. No. Yep. ****." dialogue).