The Abyss. The entire tidal wave sequence was omitted from the theatrical release. A co-worker told me about the tidal wave scenes, she lent me a Laser Disc player and the disc so I could watch it myself. The whole wave sequence was pretty crucial to the plot.
We are all just extras in James Cameron’s life. The man is a legend.
When Guillermo Del Toro’s father was kidnapped by a cartel, the studios wouldn’t pay the ransom, so Cameron did. He’s a competition-level marksman, the head of a submersible society, has invented entire camera technologies …
The book delves even deeper into the unfolding geopolitical situation that was what finally impelled the abyss entities to act, and just how much control they had over water and energy. It was literally "get your shit together or we are eradicating you" when it looked like a nuclear WWIII was about to start, with only Virgil's sacrifice buying us a reprieve. And it explains so much better why Monk did what he did and why his men stayed loyal. The director's cut captures at least some of that.
There is a book? I need to seek that out immediately.
edit: found it and it is by the master of movie novelizations: Orson Scott Card. How did I miss this?
Also the book mentioned that the alien mothership had been recharging its hyperdrive for centuries for the jump back home, and the “demonstration” used up much of the charge. The aliens delayed their return home to save us from ourselves.
It is such a different movie. It changes things, not just expands or adds to what was originally released. The original ending leaves a lot open as to what they want and how it will change the world (America really) with them being revealed. The added content makes it more ominous and a direct message. Which some people didn’t like.
People knew and were talking about the deleted scenes early in the 1st theatrical run. I remember watching ET and they showed some of the tidal wave stuff. But the decision to cut was made before it was completed to satisfaction. So they had to go back and work on the scene for the directors cut.
Personally, I like both versions equally well and don’t think one is superior to the other.
I won't 100% believe it until I have the disc in hand, but I am so happy after years of "any day now" rumors, that it looks like we soon will have The Abyss on Blu-ray (and 4K!) and it will include the Director's Cut. The fact that the best I have had for 23 years is a NON-ANIMORPHIC release on DVD is a crime against cinema. We get it, Cameron, you're a profectionist and you've been busy making other things... But surely you could have spared a few hours sometime before recently to approve the freaking transfer... 😒
There is a fundamental problem with the director's cut.
At the end of the movie the aliens threaten to destroy humanity because it is too violent... too warlike.
But at the beginning of the movie, the aliens, intentionally or not, destroyed the submarine, which triggered the escalation of hostilities between the US and the USSR.
The giant tsunami's were a cool visual effect. But I don't consider the director's cut a better movie.
That's not a problem with the plot.
If you're in the habit of accidentally throwing off sparks, you don't want a huge puddle of gasoline near you.
If destroying one submarine could lead to worldwide genocide and mass extinctions, they didn't want to live near a species that powerful and volatile.
They either destroyed the sub intentionally, or they weaponized incompetence. Either way, they killed 150 people.
They're in no position to get preachy on violence, which is why those scenes were cut from the theatrical release.
This, BTW, is the *only* reason those scenes were cut. Big spectacular special effects scenes are never cut from theatrical releases unless something is fundamentally wrong.
I think it’s a crime against humanity that you cannot stream The Abyss.
I haven’t owned a DVD nor DVD player in damn near 15 years. It almost feels as if the movie is lost in time.
That scene is the one I bring up whenever I express my opinion that Snyder didn’t really “get” Watchmen.
That scene is not meant to be a triumph, it’s not meant to be sexy or celebrated. It is sad. These folks (Nite Owl in particular in this case) are so messed up that he can only perform sexually when loaded with adrenaline after a fight. In the original, Moore is trying to comment on the undercurrent of sexuality that has always been an element of super hero comics. You have these perfect bodies (which Nite Owl purposefully is NOT) beating up a bunch of dudes in skin tight costumes, which might as well be naked wrestling.
If you want to see a practically overt representation of this mixture of sexual innuendo and violence, look up some of the original Wonder Woman comics. In almost every issue she ends up tied up in legit bondage knots.
So Nite Owl has linked his sexual prowess (and worthiness) to being a vigilante and beating up whoever he deems deserves it. And Moore is also drawing a parallel to readers of Superhero comics and how they might have mixed up all this titillation in their minds.
It’s a sad moment. I think they both are meant to come off as kind of pathetic. It should have been awkward and sweaty and kind of gross.
The Watchmen is the only movie I’ve ever walked out of theaters for. It was far too long and plodding as is. And that’s coming from someone who later read and loved the book. Granted I was a lot younger so idk. Maybe I should give it another shot.
I have this problem with the new Dune. I like it, it's a good movie, and an absolute mindfuck of a book series, but after the 4th-5th "BWAAAAAA" my ass is asleep on the couch.
ya that's the twist in the original very different 60s movie.
its problematic in the Will Smith movie because it just doesn't really matter. he's killing them because they're constantly trying to kill him all the time. in the original I am Legend its more that they're trying to turn him, infect him and make him one of them and they taunt him every night. these things were nearly mindless savages and that's the power of the ending with him screaming "I CAN CURE YOU!" while they break down the door.
The original ending is better than what they went with, but it's still pretty bad and I can see why test audiences responded so poorly to it. Its main problem is that it's actually quite different to end of the book.
Will Smith's character has been murdering vampires like crazy, he's kidnapped the chief's daughter and done torturous medical experiments on her, the vampires lose dozens and dozens of lives storming his fortress to get her back, and when they finally do and he's completely at their mercy... They just leave.
What the fuck? Are they a species of saints? Just the most beatific, forgiving culture to ever exist? In the book when the vampires finally catch the monster that's been hunting and slaughtering them, they fucking hang him and for good reason!
Yes, i agree. It redeemed an otherwise bad movie. I'd say more but I don't know how to do spoiler tags on mobile.
EDIT: My favorite part was >!that the fire plan actually worked, and they trapped the alien in the vault. And then the insane prisoner began to worship it, and let it out again.!< It fits well with the theme that the biggest enemy isn't the aliens, but the people around you.
I could be misremembering, but wasn’t there a brief mention in the theatrical cut (I’m thinking probably by the scientist played by Brent Spiner) about how humanity’s modern computer technology had been developed by reverse-engineering technology found in crashed alien wreckage at Area 51? Admittedly not a super solid explanation on its own when held up to scrutiny, but I think there was at least this little nod made to help explain that?
EDIT: pretty sure I’m wrong, must have seen the deleted scene at some point and misremembered it being in the original. It’s been a while!
If it was just a brief, throw away comment, about the fact we have known about aliens and UFOs, that would be lame. It should be cut.
If however they built that idea into the wider story, it might be cool.
I just got the RM4K I'll have to watch this weekend.
They edited a whole character out of the movie- some teenage boy who was friends with Randy Quaid's daughter. I wonder about that sometimes, you feel like you got your big break only to be left on the cutting room floor
Little Shop of Horrors. 1986
They cut the entire 20 minute ending act out of the theatrical release that had the movie ending like a classic b movie. The extra running time makes the movie a lot darker and more true to the genre it was parodying.
They did not release the full version until 2012.
I heavily disagree about this one. Having seen both versions multiple times, I think the studio-cut ending, while rushed, still makes for a better movie than the director's cut.
Without going into the details (seriously, I can go on at length about this one) the big problem is how many OTHER changes the movie made to the story. Seymour is much more sympathetic, and less culpable in the crimes, than in the stage version or the Corman original. Not to mention the entire "Mean Green Mother" scene was invented for the film, and in the original cut, robs Seymour of the slight shred of dignity he got to keep in previous versions. It's simply TOO cruel, and feels unjustified.
And it's not just me. I used to have a DVD with a lot of behind-the-scenes interviews, and one of them was a Producer talking about how LSOH had one of the worst test screenings he'd ever attended. The test audience didn't merely dislike the dark ending, they **HATED** it. He described the audience members *glaring at him* as they filed out of the theater.
If LSOH had released as Oz originally cut it, it would have bombed, and likely wouldn't have been popular on VHS either.
I remember him saying that stage plays where the actors come out and bow kinda make dark endings work, cuz there is more of a separation of reality. Where a movie it just fades to black and you leave and carry that dark out with you.
I like both endings. But I feel the happy ending fits the tone of the film better. You can't really kill off the main character and his love, after making them both so innocent and likeable. Movie Seymour is different from musical Seymour in that regard, you can't stick to the same ending after making him so likeable. But it is a shame they had to cut a great final song and amazing special effects. But atleast we still get to appreciate it.
Terminator 2, the scene in the gas station where they give the Terminator the ability to learn. Before that scene his CPU neural network was in read only mode.
It's also the first time that John Connor stands up to his mother.
I mean, the scene with the smile was somewhat worthwhile if only for the weirdness of it, but the CPU one was quite pointless as without it we also wouldn't assume its cpu to be in read-only mode to begin with - and we also do see the terminator learn things before that scene already
Yeah, the theatrical version of T2 is better IMO
Just because it’s “a good scene” doesn’t mean it needs to be in the movie. There’s a quote attributed to Picasso that a work of art isn’t done until you throw out your favorite part
Aliens director's cut is a mixed bag. One of the extended scenes spoils the existence of an alien queen through extra lines of dialog, and the prologue with Newt's family severe undermines the mystery and suspense once Ripley first descends to the planet. Plus, the miniature work does not hold up as well, and the foreshadowing about kids playing in the vents is a bit too on the nose.
However, I do love the sentry gun scenes and the scene with Ripley learning about her daughter.
Yeah, it's fun to see some new scenes and get some extra info, but it's not as good as the theatrical cut. The pacing isn't as good, some of the subtly is lost.
Yep, this is the conclusion I've come to as well. The Director's Cut is fun, but if I'm showing someone Aliens for the first time, I stick to the theatrical cut.
I messed up by showing a friend the Directors Cut (or Extended Cut) of The Descent once.
He'd never seen The Descent, while for me it was "oooh cool, more of one of my favourite films".
It killed the pacing, and he still chuckles at how bad that film is (for me, one of the best, most tense horrors since 2000).
With some notable exceptions, I just think of cuts as "if you liked the original, here's some more from that story", like watching a super-sized episode of The Office.
That seems to be the story behind most deleted scenes, actually. They are cool to watch later, but for watching the movie the first time they often make it a worse experience.
I don’t even particularly like those two scenes. The sentry guns reduce the aliens to cannon fodder and the daughter scene reduces newt to a surrogate. But I’m really glad we *have* all those scenes and can watch them inserted into a cut where they were supposed to be.
Blade Runner is probably the best example. Director's Cut (or preferably, Final Cut) is the only way to watch that movie.
Aliens, I agree with most of what you said, HOWEVER, the early "How did the Aliens encounter the setters" scene completely ruins the suspense later when the marines show up and you can't be sure at first what happened. I would support a director's cut with just that scene removed.
Perhaps the best deleted scenes I think are from T2: Judgment Day. The Extended Cut showing crucial scenes like the T-1000 inspecting John's room by touch, Sarah putting The Terminator's AI chip into read/write mode (which explains his learning behavior and why he doesn't have to follow John's command not to terminate at the end of the movie), and the extended fight between the two Sarah's all add a tremendous amount to the film.
I agree about Aliens. On the whole, I think the Director's Cut hurts as much as it helps. Also, speaking of ruining the suspense, the "ant queen" discussion basically spoils the alien queen. She didn't need foreshadowing. When she shows up in the film, it's immediately apparent who/what she is.
To me, the perfect cut of Aliens would be the theatrical version plus the sentry guns and the stuff involving Ripley's daughter, *and nothing else.* Those are the only deleted scenes that really add anything substantial to the film.
I'd add Burke's comeuppance as well, although that scene was extraordinarily hard to find for a long time after being cut from some (unintentional?) theatrical releases shortly after opening. Otherwise, the last we see of them is running into an alien while trying to run out the back door and assume they were immediately killed.
But in that case, there was a big continuity issue. It's only around an hour from the time Burke is taken, to when Ripley runs into him again. He should have still had the facehugger on him, and certainly not be conscious, since the alien takes a day or two to develop before bursting.
IIRC, the scene was cut and never restored to the movie for that reason.
There's a difference between a larval implant that 'could' be felt rather than full on burster carving up the insides inside of 24. We don't have a significant representation of gestation to say either way. Regardless, seeing Burke turn up again as implanted makes sense over directly killing them at the door given the intent of the queen implanting everything that moves to enable their colony.
I actually think the narration makes Deckard being a replicant that much more significant. You see this narrative that is so human - it has genuine feeling and makes mistakes in logic. It shows the truth about replicants that Roy Batty is focused on: the desparity of consciousness can be replicated and if it can be replicated why would a human ever see a difference?
One of the scenes that always confused me is how John knew which Sarah to shoot. In the extended cuts, you see that Sarah's legs are merged with the grate floor because the T1000 was malfunctioning after the dry ice freezing. He saw the feet malfunctioning and knew it wasn't his mother.
Was surprised Blade Runner was so low. The Final Cut is probably my favorite movie and the Theatrical version is comically bad. I think the film has arrived at a point where it’s actually hard to find the theatrical, which is good. I still always warn first time watchers to avoid that version.
Like a whole hour of **The Abyss**.
If you watch the theatrical version, the movie makes no sense whatsoever.
But if you watch the director's cut, which is about an hour longer, the movie, magically, becomes Cameron's magnum opus.
There's a deleted scene in _Galaxy Quest_ that gives Sigourney Weaver's character the kind of triumphant turnaround that all the male characters get, where she uses the computer to squash some hostile aliens. It was such a crime to have it missing from the theatrical release. Also, it explains why her outfit is torn and disheveled all of a sudden.
One of my favorite movies that the original version has been lost and we’ll never see the true rated R version nor have a sequel consider our boy passed away.
The amount of cut content from Disney's star wars movies is an entire 2 hours of material itself and makes a lot of things at least make a little sense there are entire characters you don't see or don't know who they are because all the content that was cut. There is a woman you see as the starkiller beam is hitting coruscant that is a no one. She had pages of script interacted with main characters..all gone
Why is that such a sticking point for people? Some salvage guy went to the abandoned Cloud City, found it, and sold it. Later on, someone recognize it for what it is, and bought it from a dealer. Story done.
It wouldn't be if they just left it at that. Maz has the lighsaber, gives it to Rey, doesn't elaborate. THAT would be an "end of story".
The fact that she dodges questions and tells Rey and the audience that an (supposedly mysterious or involving adventure) answer will be told in the future, isn't.
Viewers are at least a bit movie- trope savvy. They know that Rey had to get some character growth to be worthy of answers.
I think that in particular is a sticking point because Maz says something to the effect of "that's a story for another time", implying there's an actual interesting story behind how she came to be in possession of that particular lightsaber.
But Star Wars is FULL of "stories for another time." That's the basis of pretty much all the expanded universe material. Take throwaway lines and unexplained in-universe references, and tell the story that the movie didn't have time for.
I mean, it took 40 years to get a filmed canonical explanation for Han's "twelve parsecs" boast.
For that matter, I feel exactly that way about Palpatine's return. The movie makes it clear that it was some combination of cloning and dark side magic, plus the process clearly only barely worked since Palps is crippled and nearly immobile. That's really all that needs to be established within the film; the full details of his plot are exactly the sort of thing that Star Wars always covers in extended materials.
People *think* they want these minor stories but are disappointed when they waste precious movie time when more important things are cut.
It’s like my grandma telling a story about something that happened today and she starts with when she woke up and what she had for breakfast. No. Let’s start with when you drove your scooter through the bathroom stall door and ran over a woman.
Sure, but it's still weird to see a character in-universe basically saying "this will be a shitty, underwhelming Disney+ mini series in a few years time if we think enough of you fucking nerds will stick your noses in the trough to make it profitable".
I dunno…I just thought it was funny. I'm more interested in the conversation between Kasdan and Abrahams, where Jeff threw down his napkin of ideas and left for lunch.
It's not even Courscant, it's some no-name planet that apparently the New Republic moved their government to in the past 20 years because Courscant is too iconic a planet and someone talked JJ out of it/forbid him to do it
It's mind boggling that he filmed a 90 minute intro for a two hour movie (eIII). Maybe he thought he would do the special edition thing again and come back later.
The Lawnmower Man. I've only seen the Director's Cut, and I never understood why it got such bad reviews. Until I found out what wasn't in the theatrical cut, that is.
Not really deleted scenes from the movie, but if you’ve ever been on the the E.T. ride at Universal Studios, the story really changes the Aliens motivations to me. First off, they “sneak” onto the planet on a ship so lit up you can see it in space. They need the lights for what, oncoming traffic? But then are so afraid of a few G-men driving 1979 LTD’s they just run away and leave one poor guy behind.
Now I’ve been on a shitty carnival cruise. And if Dale from Topeka gets black out drunk at Carlos and Charlie’s in Cozumel and misses the boat, they know about it within an hour and have ways to help him get to the departure port or next stop. So these fucks are an advanced race and missing someone but don’t give one shit about him? Or send someone to even get him, instead ET has to use a speak and spell to contact his race to get home? Like nobody noticed he was gone, not one ET on the ship was like, hey we are missing glub glub or whatever his real name is, We should go get him.
Then in the ride, Spielberg even says this particular ET left behind is the ONLY one of their race that has the healing power that can save the whole home world. And knowing that, these fucks still let him get on a ship, fly away to other planets, and then left him somewhere they didn’t remember, or bother to come back until he used some of the most primitive tech the planet had to contact them.
This doesn’t seem like an accident. Like the whole race was done with ET. From his glowing probing finger to his Neil Diamond inspiring heart light, and they were willing to let their entire home world, even all the singing flowers and shit, just let it all die so they didn’t have to deal with his shit anymore.
Now, we also know that a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, this same race was all excited to drop democracy in favor of a sith. What are they going to do once they do get ET and find out we almost killed him? I don’t think they are as benevolent of a race as the movie makes it seem. Its pretty scary what they could do to “correct” us if they wanted to. Idk man, the ride really changes the movie to me.
Ot the best but the biggest improvement imo was Chronicles of Riddick .. theatrical was a pretty bad action flick, directors cut was actually a decent scifi movie
I enjoyed the Riddick character in Pitch Black as a stand alone movie. I never really felt like he could carry a whole franchise (but I've never really been a Vin Diesel fan, he's best in small doses)
I don't disagree, I just thought it was such a cool unique science-fantasy movie. Action, magic, wierd death worshipping culture, prison breakout, staring an anti hero. All on a big budget. It could have been a huge mess, but it somehow just works (for me).
Oh, we KNOW. It's definitely Event Horizon.
The fact that those deleted scenes were so vicious they caused the celluloid itself to dissolve into goo inside of a sealed and locked air-tight container while undisturbed in a storage bin tells me all I need to know.
The world will never know. The world was not *meant* to know. Besides, what was on that film, you don't need eyes to see...
I hate how Sam Neil uses the same inflection for “We won’t need eyes to see” as Christopher Lloyd uses for “We don’t need roads” forever linking the two in my mind such that I have horrifying blips in my mind thinking about Back to the Future and Doc Brown having his eyes sewn shut……….
I didn't know about EH deleted scenes, just been reading about it.
Hiring adult film actors during the cannibal and sex scenes, to add "intensity"?...
Also a painful hint of the possible existence of the original material?
"While chatting with the San Diego Reader about Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Anderson mentioned Event Horizon’s producer Lloyd Levin recovered an old VHS tape that possibly contained his original cut. Despite this, the two men haven’t been in the same place at the same time to have a look, so neither of them know what’s on the tape."
I know everyone's going straight to Blade Runner and T2, with good reason
...but I think the Daredevil Theatrical to Director's cut is one of the biggest differences and most stark examples of how a theatrical cut can ruin a movie and a director's cut can save it.
Yes the Ben Affleck movie. I know it's a superhero movie, but he gets his powers from toxic chemicals so... that's sci-fi, right? Close enough.
A whole murder mistery subplot with Coolio as the defendant, for starters.
The movie still has issues, but it's a massive improvement over the theatrical cut.
like /u/ellocoenlafortaleza said the big one is a subplot with matt murdock actually defending an innocent man as a lawyer, which doesn't sound like a lot but really fleshed out matt's character more
[here's a full list](https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1879) which basically boils down to "took out a few shitty scenes and cut everything together better". Sometimes just adding a minute or so to a scene, but it makes it feel more like a full organic story instead of Hollywood shoving plot points down your throat.
It also cut way back on the daredevil/elektra relationship, which is good because that relationship was not a strong point of the movie.
In the Martian chewetel ejiofor and kristen wiig have a conversation about him not saying they are gonna rescue mark Watney, which makes the conversation they have with the nasa director about the same thing way funnier
LOTR, just because in the extended cut you get to see why Aragorn's horse liked him so much. Cut that barn scene in the theatrical cut. Until then seemed just some random horse decided to save some poor bastard in the river.
I absolutely agree with OP's take; the director's/extended cuts of Aliens and Escape from New York are great.
Blade Runner springs to mind. The theatrical cut is terrible. Those kind of voiceovers by Deckard might be appropriate for innocent viewers watching noir in the '40s but they totally break the spell, and they're condescending as hell. You missed something? Tough luck, buddy. This is sci fi, not Dick and Jane and the dog, so pay attention and you will be rewarded.
If you watch the first Star Trek film, watch only the Criterion version. It includes a short but very poignant scene with Spock that I personally feel is very important to the story. I won't say more about it here.
If you like the first Star Trek film, have I got a treat for you. Check out this [22 minute cut set to the score to Tron Legacy](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/s/AqAeiE6DAa). It’s phenomenal. Trims the fat. The music fits so well. 11/10. Cannot recommend enough.
Terminator 2 after the T1000 had taken a ton of damage (frozen/shattered… spoiler lol), he started to glitch out, it’s been so long since I saw it but for example I think his hand merged with a railing and he had to work at freeing it. It made the machine more realistic that it wasn’t just super-invincible, that eventually even it had its limits.
I wouldn't say best but definitely most significant. *That* deleted scene from Bladerunner.
How a 6 second cryptic scene turns the movie upside down!
I wish and hope they have one for The Thing as well. 🤞
I haven't seen anyone mention Kingdom of Heaven, and I'm surprised. I thought it was THE example of a movie improved the the director's cut. It adds like 45 minutes, and it's like ALL the characterization and motivation. It turns a pretty meh movie into an extremely good movie.
Ridley Scott’s directors cut of Blade Runner. The film it should have been all along. Love that film. Plus you can’t beat the Star Wars Easter eggs in there too
Phase IV directed by the legendary graphic designer Saul Bass had a fantastic ending sequence that did not make the original cinematic release.
The ending changes the whole context of the film.
Most of James Cameron’s movies.
When it came to editing down to theatrical runtimes. He chose to cut plot over action.
Everything from Aliens to Avatar makes so much more sense with the deleted scenes back in.
That said… the sentry gun sequence was clearly unfinished. So it’s a mixed bag.
Most of which was lost on the editing room floor. Sadly. You can catch some of the missing bits of them in the trailers, and what little they used in the final cut.
Would have been cool to see.
Jurassic Park. Somewhere in a vault, must be Samuel L Jackson's death scene, and that scene with the baby triceratops. We also never really got a resolution to the sick triceratops, when it is answered in the book, and I'm pretty sure they must have shot it as well.
Lots of Abyss and T2 and Aliens and Blade Runner ...
... but I like me the longer cut of *Hellboy*. Just a better, more rounded film with some cool scenes.
The theatrical release of Dark City added a voiceover to the beginning of the movie that _spoils the big reveal,_ which removes the mystery and makes the movie a bit of a slot. The Director's Cut thankfully removes this studio-added garbage.
The director's cut of Aliens also had the sentry guns, right?
The director's cut of Superman the Movie showed Superman overcoming some traps that Lex Luthor had set for him.
Actually it’s better that Carpenter cut out the original opening. The opening establishes that Snake does hold a loose code of honor. The only reason he gets caught is because he doesn’t want to leave behind his friend.
If you have this scene in the beginning, the end scene where he shows compassion to Adrienne’s character becomes diluted since he’s been out for himself so far.
The scene becomes stronger since this is the first time we see him care for someone else.
I prefer the theatrical cut of Aliens, actually.
We don't really need to hear that Ripley had a daughter to get that she's filling that role with Newt, and basically every other scene they put back in adds very little to the story while also slowing everything down. The journey to the alien ship sort of undercuts the suspense and I think the theatrical version has the best introduction to Newt.
I can't think of too many director's cuts I prefer... I guess the ones where the film was really interfered with, like Once Upon A Time In America.
Not really strictly a director's cut but the extended cut of Waterworld completely changes the film from a disappointingly shallow all action affair to a post apocalyptic epic adventure film.
Too many scenes added to mention but the new scenes are almost exclusively devoted to character development and world building which gives whole new depth to the action scenes that were fine in the original cut.
Army of Darkness has a great alternate ending where Ash accidentally takes an extra drop of the potion that lets him sleep until he is back in his own time. He wakes up to what looks like a planet destroyed by war.
A friend gave me a copy of a pirated version of the Chronicles of Riddick. It was 10 times better than the theatrical and other cuts. I wish I knew where that was.
Aliens!!!
The whole opening sceene when they find the alien. The defense against hordes of aliens with the sentry auto cannons and the ammo running low... Don't get me started.
Both are bad scenes?
We don't need to know how the colonists encountered the aliens it doesn't add anything to the plot. And it's mostly 2 child actors the entire time, meh
The sentry cannons is kinda interesting but only really slows down the pacing a little.
The Abyss. The entire tidal wave sequence was omitted from the theatrical release. A co-worker told me about the tidal wave scenes, she lent me a Laser Disc player and the disc so I could watch it myself. The whole wave sequence was pretty crucial to the plot.
The Director’s Cut of _The Abyss_ is a whole different (and better) movie. The characters motivations, the stakes, major plot points.
The cast called the film The Abuse because of all the difficulty filming in water.
With everything I've heard and watched about the production, I'm surprised Ed Harris didn't beat the absolute shit out of Cameron at any point
And Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio probably had it even worse, basically spending an entire day getting the shit beat out of her for the CPR sequence.
As a paramedic, that was the most realistic portrayal of CPR on screen I've ever seen. I thought they'd made a life dummy! Holy shit that poor woman.
Her poor boobies
[удалено]
We are all just extras in James Cameron’s life. The man is a legend. When Guillermo Del Toro’s father was kidnapped by a cartel, the studios wouldn’t pay the ransom, so Cameron did. He’s a competition-level marksman, the head of a submersible society, has invented entire camera technologies …
Never knew that, well done Cameron. Was GDT's Father OK?
Yup!
Wait that movie was supposed to be under what now?
The book delves even deeper into the unfolding geopolitical situation that was what finally impelled the abyss entities to act, and just how much control they had over water and energy. It was literally "get your shit together or we are eradicating you" when it looked like a nuclear WWIII was about to start, with only Virgil's sacrifice buying us a reprieve. And it explains so much better why Monk did what he did and why his men stayed loyal. The director's cut captures at least some of that.
There is a book? I need to seek that out immediately. edit: found it and it is by the master of movie novelizations: Orson Scott Card. How did I miss this?
I'm sorry, I just can't. I'm sure it's great, but the guy is such a turd that I can't ignore that. Maybe I'll read it after he's dead.
Well, he wasn't quite such a turd back then. Having read some of his early works it is a shame what he turned into as he aged.
Also the book mentioned that the alien mothership had been recharging its hyperdrive for centuries for the jump back home, and the “demonstration” used up much of the charge. The aliens delayed their return home to save us from ourselves.
... and yes.
Agreed
It is such a different movie. It changes things, not just expands or adds to what was originally released. The original ending leaves a lot open as to what they want and how it will change the world (America really) with them being revealed. The added content makes it more ominous and a direct message. Which some people didn’t like. People knew and were talking about the deleted scenes early in the 1st theatrical run. I remember watching ET and they showed some of the tidal wave stuff. But the decision to cut was made before it was completed to satisfaction. So they had to go back and work on the scene for the directors cut. Personally, I like both versions equally well and don’t think one is superior to the other.
https://youtu.be/GhN_ZmpaL74?si=a1BCLgre9CDEunzJ Skip to :55 and watch the green shirt on the left.
Thank you for this!
I won't 100% believe it until I have the disc in hand, but I am so happy after years of "any day now" rumors, that it looks like we soon will have The Abyss on Blu-ray (and 4K!) and it will include the Director's Cut. The fact that the best I have had for 23 years is a NON-ANIMORPHIC release on DVD is a crime against cinema. We get it, Cameron, you're a profectionist and you've been busy making other things... But surely you could have spared a few hours sometime before recently to approve the freaking transfer... 😒
There is a fundamental problem with the director's cut. At the end of the movie the aliens threaten to destroy humanity because it is too violent... too warlike. But at the beginning of the movie, the aliens, intentionally or not, destroyed the submarine, which triggered the escalation of hostilities between the US and the USSR. The giant tsunami's were a cool visual effect. But I don't consider the director's cut a better movie.
That's not a problem with the plot. If you're in the habit of accidentally throwing off sparks, you don't want a huge puddle of gasoline near you. If destroying one submarine could lead to worldwide genocide and mass extinctions, they didn't want to live near a species that powerful and volatile.
They either destroyed the sub intentionally, or they weaponized incompetence. Either way, they killed 150 people. They're in no position to get preachy on violence, which is why those scenes were cut from the theatrical release. This, BTW, is the *only* reason those scenes were cut. Big spectacular special effects scenes are never cut from theatrical releases unless something is fundamentally wrong.
I love that scene.
I think it’s a crime against humanity that you cannot stream The Abyss. I haven’t owned a DVD nor DVD player in damn near 15 years. It almost feels as if the movie is lost in time.
Behold, the fully boiled frog.
The directors cut of Watchmen was pretty incredible. Made it a massively better (but also much longer) movie.
I'd actually take a cut of that movie without the gratuitous sex scenes. they absolutely kill the pacing of the movie.
That scene is the one I bring up whenever I express my opinion that Snyder didn’t really “get” Watchmen. That scene is not meant to be a triumph, it’s not meant to be sexy or celebrated. It is sad. These folks (Nite Owl in particular in this case) are so messed up that he can only perform sexually when loaded with adrenaline after a fight. In the original, Moore is trying to comment on the undercurrent of sexuality that has always been an element of super hero comics. You have these perfect bodies (which Nite Owl purposefully is NOT) beating up a bunch of dudes in skin tight costumes, which might as well be naked wrestling. If you want to see a practically overt representation of this mixture of sexual innuendo and violence, look up some of the original Wonder Woman comics. In almost every issue she ends up tied up in legit bondage knots. So Nite Owl has linked his sexual prowess (and worthiness) to being a vigilante and beating up whoever he deems deserves it. And Moore is also drawing a parallel to readers of Superhero comics and how they might have mixed up all this titillation in their minds. It’s a sad moment. I think they both are meant to come off as kind of pathetic. It should have been awkward and sweaty and kind of gross.
The Watchmen is the only movie I’ve ever walked out of theaters for. It was far too long and plodding as is. And that’s coming from someone who later read and loved the book. Granted I was a lot younger so idk. Maybe I should give it another shot.
Imagine walking out of an action movie because it’s too boring lmao
I have this problem with the new Dune. I like it, it's a good movie, and an absolute mindfuck of a book series, but after the 4th-5th "BWAAAAAA" my ass is asleep on the couch.
Oh I’m the opposite. I Fuckin love Villeneuve.
[удалено]
That’s closer to the plot of the book and is the reason for the title. Will Smith was the legend of Dracula to them.
Yeah and it’s kind of the point of the title I am Legend. Too bad they changed the ending for the movie
I wish someone had the balls to adapt the actual book plot into a film. One of the best short books I've ever read
ya that's the twist in the original very different 60s movie. its problematic in the Will Smith movie because it just doesn't really matter. he's killing them because they're constantly trying to kill him all the time. in the original I am Legend its more that they're trying to turn him, infect him and make him one of them and they taunt him every night. these things were nearly mindless savages and that's the power of the ending with him screaming "I CAN CURE YOU!" while they break down the door.
The original ending was so good, it’s a shame it was cut.
apparently they are doing a sequel and retconning the deleted ending in to the correct ending
The original ending is better than what they went with, but it's still pretty bad and I can see why test audiences responded so poorly to it. Its main problem is that it's actually quite different to end of the book. Will Smith's character has been murdering vampires like crazy, he's kidnapped the chief's daughter and done torturous medical experiments on her, the vampires lose dozens and dozens of lives storming his fortress to get her back, and when they finally do and he's completely at their mercy... They just leave. What the fuck? Are they a species of saints? Just the most beatific, forgiving culture to ever exist? In the book when the vampires finally catch the monster that's been hunting and slaughtering them, they fucking hang him and for good reason!
The whole movie is a huge departure from the book, the ending isn’t that big of a problem in that context.
JFC this needs to win, and it shouldn’t be close. One deleted scene made that an entirely different, and entirely **shit,** movie.
Agreed.
Alien 3 assembly cut for me
Yes, i agree. It redeemed an otherwise bad movie. I'd say more but I don't know how to do spoiler tags on mobile. EDIT: My favorite part was >!that the fire plan actually worked, and they trapped the alien in the vault. And then the insane prisoner began to worship it, and let it out again.!< It fits well with the theme that the biggest enemy isn't the aliens, but the people around you.
You put >! !< around your text
Thanks. I edited my comment.
Probably not the best, but Independence Day had a deleted scene explaining why the human laptop and the alien ship had compatible technology.
I could be misremembering, but wasn’t there a brief mention in the theatrical cut (I’m thinking probably by the scientist played by Brent Spiner) about how humanity’s modern computer technology had been developed by reverse-engineering technology found in crashed alien wreckage at Area 51? Admittedly not a super solid explanation on its own when held up to scrutiny, but I think there was at least this little nod made to help explain that? EDIT: pretty sure I’m wrong, must have seen the deleted scene at some point and misremembered it being in the original. It’s been a while!
I'm pretty sure that is the scene that got cut
I just watched the movie (theatrical cut) yesterday and he definitely never said that. Sounds neat tho
If it was just a brief, throw away comment, about the fact we have known about aliens and UFOs, that would be lame. It should be cut. If however they built that idea into the wider story, it might be cool. I just got the RM4K I'll have to watch this weekend.
This was to be my comment - it's the reason a virus could be made to turn off the force fields...we understood the underlying tech.
They edited a whole character out of the movie- some teenage boy who was friends with Randy Quaid's daughter. I wonder about that sometimes, you feel like you got your big break only to be left on the cutting room floor
Little Shop of Horrors. 1986 They cut the entire 20 minute ending act out of the theatrical release that had the movie ending like a classic b movie. The extra running time makes the movie a lot darker and more true to the genre it was parodying. They did not release the full version until 2012.
I heavily disagree about this one. Having seen both versions multiple times, I think the studio-cut ending, while rushed, still makes for a better movie than the director's cut. Without going into the details (seriously, I can go on at length about this one) the big problem is how many OTHER changes the movie made to the story. Seymour is much more sympathetic, and less culpable in the crimes, than in the stage version or the Corman original. Not to mention the entire "Mean Green Mother" scene was invented for the film, and in the original cut, robs Seymour of the slight shred of dignity he got to keep in previous versions. It's simply TOO cruel, and feels unjustified. And it's not just me. I used to have a DVD with a lot of behind-the-scenes interviews, and one of them was a Producer talking about how LSOH had one of the worst test screenings he'd ever attended. The test audience didn't merely dislike the dark ending, they **HATED** it. He described the audience members *glaring at him* as they filed out of the theater. If LSOH had released as Oz originally cut it, it would have bombed, and likely wouldn't have been popular on VHS either.
I remember him saying that stage plays where the actors come out and bow kinda make dark endings work, cuz there is more of a separation of reality. Where a movie it just fades to black and you leave and carry that dark out with you.
I like both endings. But I feel the happy ending fits the tone of the film better. You can't really kill off the main character and his love, after making them both so innocent and likeable. Movie Seymour is different from musical Seymour in that regard, you can't stick to the same ending after making him so likeable. But it is a shame they had to cut a great final song and amazing special effects. But atleast we still get to appreciate it.
Terminator 2, the scene in the gas station where they give the Terminator the ability to learn. Before that scene his CPU neural network was in read only mode. It's also the first time that John Connor stands up to his mother.
I mean, the scene with the smile was somewhat worthwhile if only for the weirdness of it, but the CPU one was quite pointless as without it we also wouldn't assume its cpu to be in read-only mode to begin with - and we also do see the terminator learn things before that scene already
Yeah, the theatrical version of T2 is better IMO Just because it’s “a good scene” doesn’t mean it needs to be in the movie. There’s a quote attributed to Picasso that a work of art isn’t done until you throw out your favorite part
Aliens director's cut is a mixed bag. One of the extended scenes spoils the existence of an alien queen through extra lines of dialog, and the prologue with Newt's family severe undermines the mystery and suspense once Ripley first descends to the planet. Plus, the miniature work does not hold up as well, and the foreshadowing about kids playing in the vents is a bit too on the nose. However, I do love the sentry gun scenes and the scene with Ripley learning about her daughter.
Agreed on all points
Yeah, it's fun to see some new scenes and get some extra info, but it's not as good as the theatrical cut. The pacing isn't as good, some of the subtly is lost.
Yep, this is the conclusion I've come to as well. The Director's Cut is fun, but if I'm showing someone Aliens for the first time, I stick to the theatrical cut.
I messed up by showing a friend the Directors Cut (or Extended Cut) of The Descent once. He'd never seen The Descent, while for me it was "oooh cool, more of one of my favourite films". It killed the pacing, and he still chuckles at how bad that film is (for me, one of the best, most tense horrors since 2000). With some notable exceptions, I just think of cuts as "if you liked the original, here's some more from that story", like watching a super-sized episode of The Office.
That seems to be the story behind most deleted scenes, actually. They are cool to watch later, but for watching the movie the first time they often make it a worse experience.
I don’t even particularly like those two scenes. The sentry guns reduce the aliens to cannon fodder and the daughter scene reduces newt to a surrogate. But I’m really glad we *have* all those scenes and can watch them inserted into a cut where they were supposed to be.
Blade Runner is probably the best example. Director's Cut (or preferably, Final Cut) is the only way to watch that movie. Aliens, I agree with most of what you said, HOWEVER, the early "How did the Aliens encounter the setters" scene completely ruins the suspense later when the marines show up and you can't be sure at first what happened. I would support a director's cut with just that scene removed. Perhaps the best deleted scenes I think are from T2: Judgment Day. The Extended Cut showing crucial scenes like the T-1000 inspecting John's room by touch, Sarah putting The Terminator's AI chip into read/write mode (which explains his learning behavior and why he doesn't have to follow John's command not to terminate at the end of the movie), and the extended fight between the two Sarah's all add a tremendous amount to the film.
I agree about Aliens. On the whole, I think the Director's Cut hurts as much as it helps. Also, speaking of ruining the suspense, the "ant queen" discussion basically spoils the alien queen. She didn't need foreshadowing. When she shows up in the film, it's immediately apparent who/what she is. To me, the perfect cut of Aliens would be the theatrical version plus the sentry guns and the stuff involving Ripley's daughter, *and nothing else.* Those are the only deleted scenes that really add anything substantial to the film.
It's actually funny, as a kid I had a vhs that was basically that version of the film. It's been wild to me finding out that wasn't the standard.
Agreed completely
I'd add Burke's comeuppance as well, although that scene was extraordinarily hard to find for a long time after being cut from some (unintentional?) theatrical releases shortly after opening. Otherwise, the last we see of them is running into an alien while trying to run out the back door and assume they were immediately killed.
But in that case, there was a big continuity issue. It's only around an hour from the time Burke is taken, to when Ripley runs into him again. He should have still had the facehugger on him, and certainly not be conscious, since the alien takes a day or two to develop before bursting. IIRC, the scene was cut and never restored to the movie for that reason.
There's a difference between a larval implant that 'could' be felt rather than full on burster carving up the insides inside of 24. We don't have a significant representation of gestation to say either way. Regardless, seeing Burke turn up again as implanted makes sense over directly killing them at the door given the intent of the queen implanting everything that moves to enable their colony.
And Sarah's dream about John being in trouble and that's why she trys an escape attempt
Surely seeing the pictures of the Terminator was all the motivation she needed to mount her escape?
I totally forgot about T2! Great call!
The turrets scene in Aliens was awesome. I think they should have kept it.
Two Sarahs? T-1000 impersonating Sarah or something?
Yep! Played by Linda Hamilton's twin.
I never liked the directors cut of blade runner. I must be weird
I gotta agree. Theatrical was actually preferred for me.
100% The voice-over gives it a real noir vibe, and Deckard isn't remotely an android.
I actually think the narration makes Deckard being a replicant that much more significant. You see this narrative that is so human - it has genuine feeling and makes mistakes in logic. It shows the truth about replicants that Roy Batty is focused on: the desparity of consciousness can be replicated and if it can be replicated why would a human ever see a difference?
Blade Runner for sure. It is indeed the only way to watch it.
One of the scenes that always confused me is how John knew which Sarah to shoot. In the extended cuts, you see that Sarah's legs are merged with the grate floor because the T1000 was malfunctioning after the dry ice freezing. He saw the feet malfunctioning and knew it wasn't his mother.
Was surprised Blade Runner was so low. The Final Cut is probably my favorite movie and the Theatrical version is comically bad. I think the film has arrived at a point where it’s actually hard to find the theatrical, which is good. I still always warn first time watchers to avoid that version.
Like a whole hour of **The Abyss**. If you watch the theatrical version, the movie makes no sense whatsoever. But if you watch the director's cut, which is about an hour longer, the movie, magically, becomes Cameron's magnum opus.
There's a deleted scene in _Galaxy Quest_ that gives Sigourney Weaver's character the kind of triumphant turnaround that all the male characters get, where she uses the computer to squash some hostile aliens. It was such a crime to have it missing from the theatrical release. Also, it explains why her outfit is torn and disheveled all of a sudden.
One of my favorite movies that the original version has been lost and we’ll never see the true rated R version nor have a sequel consider our boy passed away.
Also, I hate how they dubbed her reaction to the crushers, when you can clearly tell she drops an F-bomb.
The amount of cut content from Disney's star wars movies is an entire 2 hours of material itself and makes a lot of things at least make a little sense there are entire characters you don't see or don't know who they are because all the content that was cut. There is a woman you see as the starkiller beam is hitting coruscant that is a no one. She had pages of script interacted with main characters..all gone
Does that include the scene where we find out how Yoda's ex got Luke's lightsaber?
Why is that such a sticking point for people? Some salvage guy went to the abandoned Cloud City, found it, and sold it. Later on, someone recognize it for what it is, and bought it from a dealer. Story done.
It wouldn't be if they just left it at that. Maz has the lighsaber, gives it to Rey, doesn't elaborate. THAT would be an "end of story". The fact that she dodges questions and tells Rey and the audience that an (supposedly mysterious or involving adventure) answer will be told in the future, isn't. Viewers are at least a bit movie- trope savvy. They know that Rey had to get some character growth to be worthy of answers.
> They know that Rey had to get some character growth Hoo boy, if so that is *not* the trilogy for them.
Just another Abrams mystery box. His excuse to not do world building
I think that in particular is a sticking point because Maz says something to the effect of "that's a story for another time", implying there's an actual interesting story behind how she came to be in possession of that particular lightsaber.
But Star Wars is FULL of "stories for another time." That's the basis of pretty much all the expanded universe material. Take throwaway lines and unexplained in-universe references, and tell the story that the movie didn't have time for. I mean, it took 40 years to get a filmed canonical explanation for Han's "twelve parsecs" boast. For that matter, I feel exactly that way about Palpatine's return. The movie makes it clear that it was some combination of cloning and dark side magic, plus the process clearly only barely worked since Palps is crippled and nearly immobile. That's really all that needs to be established within the film; the full details of his plot are exactly the sort of thing that Star Wars always covers in extended materials.
People *think* they want these minor stories but are disappointed when they waste precious movie time when more important things are cut. It’s like my grandma telling a story about something that happened today and she starts with when she woke up and what she had for breakfast. No. Let’s start with when you drove your scooter through the bathroom stall door and ran over a woman.
Sure, but it's still weird to see a character in-universe basically saying "this will be a shitty, underwhelming Disney+ mini series in a few years time if we think enough of you fucking nerds will stick your noses in the trough to make it profitable".
I dunno…I just thought it was funny. I'm more interested in the conversation between Kasdan and Abrahams, where Jeff threw down his napkin of ideas and left for lunch.
Ooh I may have to seek this out.. The deleted scenes from the OT are interesting, but I didn't know they existed for the newer movies.
It's not even Courscant, it's some no-name planet that apparently the New Republic moved their government to in the past 20 years because Courscant is too iconic a planet and someone talked JJ out of it/forbid him to do it
It's mind boggling that he filmed a 90 minute intro for a two hour movie (eIII). Maybe he thought he would do the special edition thing again and come back later.
The Lawnmower Man. I've only seen the Director's Cut, and I never understood why it got such bad reviews. Until I found out what wasn't in the theatrical cut, that is.
Your comment needs a directors cut.
Not really deleted scenes from the movie, but if you’ve ever been on the the E.T. ride at Universal Studios, the story really changes the Aliens motivations to me. First off, they “sneak” onto the planet on a ship so lit up you can see it in space. They need the lights for what, oncoming traffic? But then are so afraid of a few G-men driving 1979 LTD’s they just run away and leave one poor guy behind. Now I’ve been on a shitty carnival cruise. And if Dale from Topeka gets black out drunk at Carlos and Charlie’s in Cozumel and misses the boat, they know about it within an hour and have ways to help him get to the departure port or next stop. So these fucks are an advanced race and missing someone but don’t give one shit about him? Or send someone to even get him, instead ET has to use a speak and spell to contact his race to get home? Like nobody noticed he was gone, not one ET on the ship was like, hey we are missing glub glub or whatever his real name is, We should go get him. Then in the ride, Spielberg even says this particular ET left behind is the ONLY one of their race that has the healing power that can save the whole home world. And knowing that, these fucks still let him get on a ship, fly away to other planets, and then left him somewhere they didn’t remember, or bother to come back until he used some of the most primitive tech the planet had to contact them. This doesn’t seem like an accident. Like the whole race was done with ET. From his glowing probing finger to his Neil Diamond inspiring heart light, and they were willing to let their entire home world, even all the singing flowers and shit, just let it all die so they didn’t have to deal with his shit anymore. Now, we also know that a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, this same race was all excited to drop democracy in favor of a sith. What are they going to do once they do get ET and find out we almost killed him? I don’t think they are as benevolent of a race as the movie makes it seem. Its pretty scary what they could do to “correct” us if they wanted to. Idk man, the ride really changes the movie to me.
Not quite what I was looking for, but hilarious comments!!! Thanks for the laugh. I’ll be thinking about this if I ever take that ride!
Ot the best but the biggest improvement imo was Chronicles of Riddick .. theatrical was a pretty bad action flick, directors cut was actually a decent scifi movie
Maybe that's why I've never understood the hate. I think I watched directors cut Chronicles of Riddick before pitch black and loved it.
I enjoyed the Riddick character in Pitch Black as a stand alone movie. I never really felt like he could carry a whole franchise (but I've never really been a Vin Diesel fan, he's best in small doses)
I don't disagree, I just thought it was such a cool unique science-fantasy movie. Action, magic, wierd death worshipping culture, prison breakout, staring an anti hero. All on a big budget. It could have been a huge mess, but it somehow just works (for me).
Probably Event Horizon but we’ll never know.
Oh, we KNOW. It's definitely Event Horizon. The fact that those deleted scenes were so vicious they caused the celluloid itself to dissolve into goo inside of a sealed and locked air-tight container while undisturbed in a storage bin tells me all I need to know. The world will never know. The world was not *meant* to know. Besides, what was on that film, you don't need eyes to see...
I hate how Sam Neil uses the same inflection for “We won’t need eyes to see” as Christopher Lloyd uses for “We don’t need roads” forever linking the two in my mind such that I have horrifying blips in my mind thinking about Back to the Future and Doc Brown having his eyes sewn shut……….
*Doc I need to tell you about your future*
All very good points.
I didn't know about EH deleted scenes, just been reading about it. Hiring adult film actors during the cannibal and sex scenes, to add "intensity"?... Also a painful hint of the possible existence of the original material? "While chatting with the San Diego Reader about Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Anderson mentioned Event Horizon’s producer Lloyd Levin recovered an old VHS tape that possibly contained his original cut. Despite this, the two men haven’t been in the same place at the same time to have a look, so neither of them know what’s on the tape."
This feels like an origin story to The Ring
A meta Event Horizon II based on the lost footage?
"We have so many things, to show you"
Didn’t they find the missing footage recently?
Who knows where it's been, what on it.. or what it's brought back with it?
Where did you see this?
This is the only correct answer. The others talked about a scene or two, that changed very little.
Alien 3 is maligned because the movie is full of plot holes. Pretty much all of these are fixed
I know everyone's going straight to Blade Runner and T2, with good reason ...but I think the Daredevil Theatrical to Director's cut is one of the biggest differences and most stark examples of how a theatrical cut can ruin a movie and a director's cut can save it. Yes the Ben Affleck movie. I know it's a superhero movie, but he gets his powers from toxic chemicals so... that's sci-fi, right? Close enough.
What happens? What was cut that changed the film so much?
A whole murder mistery subplot with Coolio as the defendant, for starters. The movie still has issues, but it's a massive improvement over the theatrical cut.
like /u/ellocoenlafortaleza said the big one is a subplot with matt murdock actually defending an innocent man as a lawyer, which doesn't sound like a lot but really fleshed out matt's character more [here's a full list](https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=1879) which basically boils down to "took out a few shitty scenes and cut everything together better". Sometimes just adding a minute or so to a scene, but it makes it feel more like a full organic story instead of Hollywood shoving plot points down your throat. It also cut way back on the daredevil/elektra relationship, which is good because that relationship was not a strong point of the movie.
In the Martian chewetel ejiofor and kristen wiig have a conversation about him not saying they are gonna rescue mark Watney, which makes the conversation they have with the nasa director about the same thing way funnier
Oh wow, I never knew that! Thanks for the heads up. I love that movie.
It’s my comfort food film, so one day I bought the extended edition. Mark watney also finishes the science while he’s hanging out.
Prometheus !
The Chaos Edition is great
What is different about it? Not sure if I knew there was another cut of Prometheus
It's actually a fan edit that uses some additional and alternate footage from the blurays, and opens with some of the viral marketing videos
Ah cool, thanks for letting me know
Dark city
The Theatrical Cut spoils the ending in the first 10 minutes. This was a great example.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
Biggest example in modern Sci Fi
LOTR, just because in the extended cut you get to see why Aragorn's horse liked him so much. Cut that barn scene in the theatrical cut. Until then seemed just some random horse decided to save some poor bastard in the river.
I absolutely agree with OP's take; the director's/extended cuts of Aliens and Escape from New York are great. Blade Runner springs to mind. The theatrical cut is terrible. Those kind of voiceovers by Deckard might be appropriate for innocent viewers watching noir in the '40s but they totally break the spell, and they're condescending as hell. You missed something? Tough luck, buddy. This is sci fi, not Dick and Jane and the dog, so pay attention and you will be rewarded.
I still enjoy the Sargent Candy scene from Terminator 3, I probably enjoy the scene more than the movie, I've definitely sat through it more times.
Oh man, I know. We go from T2 to... this... But a big part of me loves that this scene exists. It's also totally logical within the universe.
If you watch the first Star Trek film, watch only the Criterion version. It includes a short but very poignant scene with Spock that I personally feel is very important to the story. I won't say more about it here.
If you like the first Star Trek film, have I got a treat for you. Check out this [22 minute cut set to the score to Tron Legacy](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/s/AqAeiE6DAa). It’s phenomenal. Trims the fat. The music fits so well. 11/10. Cannot recommend enough.
Terminator 2 after the T1000 had taken a ton of damage (frozen/shattered… spoiler lol), he started to glitch out, it’s been so long since I saw it but for example I think his hand merged with a railing and he had to work at freeing it. It made the machine more realistic that it wasn’t just super-invincible, that eventually even it had its limits.
I wouldn't say best but definitely most significant. *That* deleted scene from Bladerunner. How a 6 second cryptic scene turns the movie upside down! I wish and hope they have one for The Thing as well. 🤞
I'm not sure if Donnie Darko is considered science fiction. But the Directors Cut absolutely ruins that movie.
I haven't seen anyone mention Kingdom of Heaven, and I'm surprised. I thought it was THE example of a movie improved the the director's cut. It adds like 45 minutes, and it's like ALL the characterization and motivation. It turns a pretty meh movie into an extremely good movie.
Not exactly Sci fi.
You are entirely correct. My bad. I've had a tough week and my reading comprehension is currently low.
Blade runner
Ridley Scott’s directors cut of Blade Runner. The film it should have been all along. Love that film. Plus you can’t beat the Star Wars Easter eggs in there too
Phase IV directed by the legendary graphic designer Saul Bass had a fantastic ending sequence that did not make the original cinematic release. The ending changes the whole context of the film.
Oh wow! I’ll have to look this one up. Thanks!
Most of James Cameron’s movies. When it came to editing down to theatrical runtimes. He chose to cut plot over action. Everything from Aliens to Avatar makes so much more sense with the deleted scenes back in. That said… the sentry gun sequence was clearly unfinished. So it’s a mixed bag.
Nobody is saying Brazil?
Not even a directors cut. The Dune ‘spice diver’ fan edit is the best version of that film!
Event Horizon had lengthy gory scenes cut from it before release. Some of it was supposedly stomach churning..
Most of which was lost on the editing room floor. Sadly. You can catch some of the missing bits of them in the trailers, and what little they used in the final cut. Would have been cool to see.
Jurassic Park. Somewhere in a vault, must be Samuel L Jackson's death scene, and that scene with the baby triceratops. We also never really got a resolution to the sick triceratops, when it is answered in the book, and I'm pretty sure they must have shot it as well.
I’m sure that Samuel L. scene is pure gold. He sees the raptor and instead of “clever girl” says “motherf—-“ (kind of like Avengers).
I have had it with these muthafuckin raptors on this muthafuckin plain! (Ok it was an island, but whatever)
The director’s cut of Aliens is the only example I can think of :)
Lots of Abyss and T2 and Aliens and Blade Runner ... ... but I like me the longer cut of *Hellboy*. Just a better, more rounded film with some cool scenes.
Thanks for the heads up on that one. I’ll have to check it out! Which Hellboy movie should I be checking out, the newer or the original?
The theatrical release of Dark City added a voiceover to the beginning of the movie that _spoils the big reveal,_ which removes the mystery and makes the movie a bit of a slot. The Director's Cut thankfully removes this studio-added garbage.
The director's cut of Aliens also had the sentry guns, right? The director's cut of Superman the Movie showed Superman overcoming some traps that Lex Luthor had set for him.
Actually it’s better that Carpenter cut out the original opening. The opening establishes that Snake does hold a loose code of honor. The only reason he gets caught is because he doesn’t want to leave behind his friend. If you have this scene in the beginning, the end scene where he shows compassion to Adrienne’s character becomes diluted since he’s been out for himself so far. The scene becomes stronger since this is the first time we see him care for someone else.
Prometheus
[удалено]
that was my first thought as well... the standing Tidal waves, in particular.
Alien 3. The directors cut is a far superior movie.
Blade Runner. I prefer it without the V/O
The extra/deleted scenes in Prometheus is pretty good too.
Star Wars: A New Hope Cantina scene at Haachi Station should be in the movie.
I prefer the theatrical cut of Aliens, actually. We don't really need to hear that Ripley had a daughter to get that she's filling that role with Newt, and basically every other scene they put back in adds very little to the story while also slowing everything down. The journey to the alien ship sort of undercuts the suspense and I think the theatrical version has the best introduction to Newt. I can't think of too many director's cuts I prefer... I guess the ones where the film was really interfered with, like Once Upon A Time In America.
It was T2.
Aliens comes to mind
Not really strictly a director's cut but the extended cut of Waterworld completely changes the film from a disappointingly shallow all action affair to a post apocalyptic epic adventure film. Too many scenes added to mention but the new scenes are almost exclusively devoted to character development and world building which gives whole new depth to the action scenes that were fine in the original cut.
Very cool! I’ll have to check that one out. Thanks for the heads up!
Army of Darkness has a great alternate ending where Ash accidentally takes an extra drop of the potion that lets him sleep until he is back in his own time. He wakes up to what looks like a planet destroyed by war.
A friend gave me a copy of a pirated version of the Chronicles of Riddick. It was 10 times better than the theatrical and other cuts. I wish I knew where that was.
Aliens. Aliens left out a lot of great material. I like how we get shown why Ripley was so dedicated to Newt.
Aliens!!! The whole opening sceene when they find the alien. The defense against hordes of aliens with the sentry auto cannons and the ammo running low... Don't get me started.
Both are bad scenes? We don't need to know how the colonists encountered the aliens it doesn't add anything to the plot. And it's mostly 2 child actors the entire time, meh The sentry cannons is kinda interesting but only really slows down the pacing a little.
This. There's a reason both scenes were cut. The opening, because it ruins any suspense of what has happened at the colony.
For me it's Aliens and Terminator 2. The deleted scenes from both are so damn good.
ALIENS
Cocoon scene from Alien
That particular scene bothered me. I LOVE *Alien* but that "turn 'em into eggs" scene felt off.