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AverageJoeArtwork — Little Mermaid 50 Day Challenge: DAY 7
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Published: 2014-10-05 13:34:07 +0000 UTC; Views: 22575; Favourites: 101; Downloads: 73
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DAY 7: ALTERNATE ENDING
This is by far the BEST deleted sequence that wasn’t used in the film. & by that, I DON’T mean it’s best that they didn’t use it. To say it’s sad they didn’t use it is BEYOND an understatement! & no, it’s not what you think it means. It’s not an ending where Ariel dies like the original book. What’s so great from this ending than what they used for the film’s ending? Well, you can read the ending here on Disney Wiki, but here’s the main key points, going in order. Get ready for a lot of reading.
- Eric isn’t hypnotized by Vanessa, he’s more manipulated by her. Meaning she acts like a damsel in distress & he goes & protects her. Also, Ariel doesn’t overhear Eric planning the wedding. He LITERALLY calls her downstairs to introduce her to Vanessa! He even tries to invite her to the wedding, but she runs out before he even asks. He even tries to go after her in confusion, but Vanessa holds him back. In fact, during the wedding, he becomes doubtful before saying “I do”!
- Have you noticed that Flounder stays a guppy? I mean, the most he does in the film ending is swim Ariel to the wedding ship & slap one of the eels. Yeah, it’s something, but the original version has that, but more importantly, has him overcoming his cowardly-ness! While pulling Ariel to the ship, the shark from the beginning comes back & attacks them again. Flounder first shoots away but notices Ariel about to be shark bait, so he risks his life to do this: trick the shark into the noose & lets the shark chase him to the ship, so Ariel can get there faster! Now, you have to admit, putting his life to save Ariel’s is true friendship. Also, the shark gets killed off! Just as he’s about to swallow Flounder in one bite once they reach the ship, Flounder shoves the barrel, which turns out to be gunpowder, into the shark’s mouth & BOOM! Yeah, it’s got a Jaws vibe, but still!
- Scuttle getting his army of animals & the attack on the ship seems like it would’ve been pretty much the same, but these differences: one is that Eric’s also alarmed with the attack instead of standing lifeless like a wax dummy, ‘cause like we said earlier, he’s not hypnotized. Another is that Scuttle grabs the mirror to show Eric that Vanessa’s true identity, so he tries to fly it out to the top deck. Even though it’s too heavy for him, he still carries on, but he crashes into a mast & the mirror shatters. But Eric sees Ursula’s reflection in the water on the floor (from the sea animals) & his trance is broken!
- Flounder guides Eric to where they are so he can save Ariel, but somehow, he can only squeak & squeal, unable to speak English… which doesn’t make sense when you think about it. Sebastian, Scuttle & Flounder were able to speak normally while Ariel’s in human form & Eric was able to hear Sebastian during “Kiss the Girl”. Why he couldn’t understand Flounder there, I don’t know.
- When Triton is transformed into a polyp, instead of a small glow, there’s actually an explosion! & there’s also a great “in yo face!” line from Ursula: “Dear, Triton! Oh, ho! I hope you’ll enjoy the garden, as much as I’LL enjoy the PALLACE!” instead of “At last… it’s MINE… ! *sinister laughter*”
- Ariel actually does more in the battle! In the film’s, she just tries not to be killed, dodging zaps from the trident. But in the original, she not only makes Ursula zap Flotsam & Jetsam (like in the movie), but also struggles to get the trident from Ursula’s claws & even strangles/slams into Ursula’s back, making her drop the trident! Then Ursula whacks Ariel off, making her slam into some rocks, making Ariel unconscious! THAT makes sense that she doesn’t do that much in the climax, but at least she did SOMETHING more than… being completely fine & doing nothing whatsoever.
- Ursula’s kept at normal size instead of transforming into a giant, which, you have to admit, seems really ridiculous. You don’t need a giant force of evil to LITERALLY BECOME a giant force of evil!
- In the film, Ursula becomes giant & creates the ultimate sea storm, with waves crashing, whirlpools & hard rain. One of the shipwrecks surfaces & Eric swims onto it. He steers it to Ursula, jabs it through her body and… for some reason, that defeats her. In the original, Ursula chases Eric both underneath & above some underwater caverns/rock formation during a storm. She even manages to catch Eric, strangle him in her tentacles & tries to drown him. As he struggles to stay alive, Sebastian found the trident & struggles to give it to the prince. As Ursula cackles believing Eric’s dead & letting her guard down, Eric gets as much strength as he can & throws the trident, JABBING it into Ursula’s heart & THAT’S what defeats her; what she was most longing for! What a twist! Also, instead of becoming chopped-up sushi, she dissolves into black sea foam, like the original book ending. & her necklace is the only thing left of her.
- After Triton turns back to normal, he, Sebastian & Flounder find Ariel sprawled on the ocean floor, scared she might be dead. Then they see the seashell from Ursula’s necklace fall to them, it breaks open, letting Ariel’s voice return & bringing her back. This means Ariel is still silent during the battle. Yes, that does mean there would’ve been A LOT less of Jodi Benson’s vocal work, but it does have an element of suspension to it.
- There’s more of a father-daughter moment with Ariel & Triton. In the film, yeah, Ariel does apologize, but it’s pretty quick & said out of angst. Here, it happens after Ariel gets her voice back. She gives a more softer, meaningful apology, complete with Triton saying “It’s alright, sweetheart. It’s alright…” softly as they hug. That’s a nice embrace.
- Triton turns Ariel into a human… after a few glances between him & Sebastian. He sees Ariel looking at Eric, gives a “Should I?” look to Sebastian, the crab nods excitedly & Triton turns Ariel to a human. Now, the film did this section much better. It had the both of them have a conversation that any parent can relate to.
Sebastian: Well… it’s like I always say, Your Majesty. Children got to be free to live der own life.
Triton: *heavy sigh* Then I guess there’s just one problem left.
Sebastian: & what’s dat, Your Majesty?
Triton: How much I’m going to miss her.
That’s much more stronger than a couple of silent glances.
- Ariel reprises “Part of That World” as she reveals herself to Eric, by running to him from behind some giant beach rocks. Her dress is in the tones of her tail (green, teal & blue tones) & it looks very similar to these from Phantom of the Opera , instead of a sparkly periwinkle. With this, I like the dress & the reprise, but I think it’s better with her emerging out of the water.
- Chef Louis & Sebastian let bygones be bygones & end their feud. Sebastian is on the cake, crying with joy. He sees Louis brandishing a giant knife, horrified that he’s about to chop him again. But it turns out Louis was just cutting a slice of cake for the crab & Sebastian laughs, faints/falls off the ship, joining the rest of the sea people.
- Instead of Triton & Ariel hugging, Ariel whispering “I love you, daddy” & Eric giving Triton his blessing, Ariel just tosses him & rose & blows a kiss. Kinda weak. & Triton doesn’t shoot a rainbow from his trident. The film did this section better as well. In fact, the start of the differences up to Triton & Ariel’s embrace, the original script did better. Triton turning her to the end, the finalized film did better.
Now it’s rage time. With all these great elements, why didn’t they use this ending? 2 words: “Die Hard”. You heard right, “Die Hard”. What does the Bruce Willis action flick have to do with a Disney fantasy film? Well, get a load of this. Just as the staff was about to start the animation for this ending, they had it storyboarded & had all the voice actors recorded their lines, Jeffery Katzenberg told them to change it. Why? Because he gone to see Die Hard & told EVERYONE “make it more like Die Hard.” & you wanna know the REALLY bizarre thing is? THEY ACTUALLY LISTENED TO HIM & WENT ALONG WITH IT! Yeah, months & months of finalizing & perfection is just flushed down the hole at this LAST-MINUTE DECISION! THAT’S the professional way!
Soon Katzenberg tried out is other “great ideas” for the future, like betraying Robin Williams during Aladdin & trying to make Toy Story more appealing for adults by making Woody an asshole! And, no big shock, they didn’t work! If THAT’S not evil enough, he soon got fired & moved on to one of the heads of DreamWorks Animation & would soon make Dreamworks rip-offs of PIXAR films ! All this goes to show how much of a villain Katzenberg can be!
But what’s sad is that THIS is his only decision that was ACTUALLY made. & why? Would really people think “Oh, Disney seems to be back on its feet, but there wasn’t enough violence & man-action needed”? I mean, come on, we got Michael Bay’s Transformers movies with that. & that’s the main point; after reading this ending, you probably won’t watch the film ending the same way ever again, mostly at the climax with Ursula. & why not? The original ending had final confrontations, more characters involvement & most importantly, it’s more fantasy-fuelled. When you think “fantasy”, do you think “Die Hard”? OF COURSE NOT! I really do stand strong in my point saying that this original ending HAS to be animated! May King Triton strike me down if I’m wrong!
Anyway, for the drawings, I highlighted the most important differences from the original ending (see list above). Why don’t they look like the ones from the actual movie? On the Blu-Ray & DVDs, they have half this in the deleted scenes, done in storyboards, so I decided to keep it in that style. Seriously though, this SHOULD be remade!
Little Mermaid alternate ending & film (c) Disney
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Comments: 35
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The shark scene at the beginning does seem superfluous without his reprise. But I wouldn't call a small fish who can swim that fast with such a load, slap an eel, and retrieve and stash away a statue bigger than him a guppy. Then again, those are only faint glimmers of light compared to what could've been. Of course, those glimmers are still so precious. Then again, this is all just my opinion.
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I don't think I'd call Gult's first scene POINTLESS, 'cause he still showcases the danger of the sunken relms. But in this regard, I know what you mean (both Gult and the "guppy" remark). Something ELSE that's peculiar is how Flounder just pops up in the final climax. He's last seen panting from exhaustion after getting Ariel to the ship & then he shows up when Sebastian yells "COME ON!" to get Flopsam & Jetsam! He doesn't follow Ariel & Ursula when she gets kidnapped & he doesn't help Eric guide him, what happened between those scenes?
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Katzenburg. That's what happened. Anyway, it'd be funny if they called him a tuna. You know, "chicken of the sea". And maybe Ariel calls chickens "tuna of the land".
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That might've been a bit too much/fly over the heads of those who aren't that big on fish facts. Like I almost thought you were going for an Office reference with tuna until I read the full thing. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAQpw9…
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While I liked that in the final ending Ursula became gigantic, I do prefer this ending as well. It brings more character development to Ariel, it makes her more active in the battle and apologize to her father in a more meaningful manner (if this ending was used, I bet money that the criticism that "Ariel didn't learned her lesson" wouldn't even exist!). Plus it makes her and Eric look more like a battle couple and equals instead that he has to save her. I do think, however, that final monologue between Triton and Sebastian as well the "I love you daddy" in the movie was perfect as it is in the final product. But I completely agree with you about the original plans for the climax as well about Katzenberg (he did try to cut Part of Your World after all). Love you illustrated the original ending!
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Wait, wasn't her reflection supposed to be revealed in water from the explosion and not by Scuttle with a mirror?
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Yes, yes it was. I know that creates a flaw but I just framed it similar to how it was in a coloring book: vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/d… .
But when I get to that scene in my live-action comic version, it'll be done the right way.
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I'd like to defend the final ending, if you don't mind.
Although it would have been cooler, if Ursula would have turned into black sea foam; I personally liked the idea of Ursula getting impaled by ship. Why? Because the way Eric threw a trident in Ursula's heart reminds little too much about Phillip throwing sword to Maleficent's heart and because of this much similarity it wouldn't have been dramatic enough. Second, in this case you could have seen ship's bows as a spear. How many people could survive from having spear going through their body? Okay, Ursula was giant (and she was fat even before she became giant, hah), but even for fat ball like her it's quite unlikely to survive from that kind of strike.
Then the wedding: Thank god they kept chef crazy. If it would have been like "here little friend, have some cake", it would have been rather sappy. And I personally enjoyed, when Sebastian owned him at the end of the chase.
Both alterned and final endings have their good and bad sides (I found that reflection thing quite interesting and the apology from Ariel in alterned version was sweet) and I'm not going to argue, which one is better. Things have turned to be like this and it's always interesting to know, how else it could have been, but it's kinda too late to argue about how wrong it was to not use this version in the movie.
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Don't mind at all. & if you don't mind, if I could defend back.
Well, it was 30 years since Sleeping Beauty (Disney's last fantasy animated film until TLM). Maybe they were doing an homage to it. The stab works in terms of irony. What Ursula was longing for her entire life is what defeats her.
With Chef Louis, it seems a little forced. This IS the ending, after all. Wouldn't it seem a little too rushed to put that kind of conflict literally at the last minutes?
I wouldn't really say the finalized ending is wrong; just more of a stupid decision. The film ending is fine, but this just puts a damper on it. Like I said in the description, Katzenberg's the one who demanded the change. It's not mentioned what Ron & John had to say about this! What if they objected to the idea? I mean, it is THEIR movie; they're the directors!
Besides, think of Jeffery Katzenberg's other decisions. Would YOU wanna watch this version of Toy Story, with it having more "edge"? www.youtube.com/watch?v=bk8a_C… Would you wanna work with someone again after lying to a signed agreement? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_… Wouldn't you wanna fire that guy with bad ideas?
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I agree that Katzenberg was real douchebag by trying to control the project of someone else and cheating and lying to workers. I've read and heard enough of this guy to see that he isn't someone you could call nice guy.
I like Toy Story just the way it is and I'm feel sorry for Robin Williams (may he rest in peace). It is clear that big deal of Katzenberg's decisions were really bad, but maybe it's the nostalgia or something, but I like slightly more the finalized ending than the alterned one. Just slightly.
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Well, no problem at all with that. Diff'rent strokes, diff'rent folks.
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P.S: Thank heavens they didn't put that selfish and son of a ***** Woody into the finalized Toy Story
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I like this depiction of the original intended ending, but I had what may be a rather stupid idea for the climax - yet here it is...
A) Ariel gets her voice back in human form, as Eric runs and manages to kiss her just before the sun sets, yet it is too late.
B) Vanessa turns back into Ursula, just as Ariel turns back into a mermaid and dives with Eric back into the sea.
C) Ursula then confronts King Triton with Ariel and Eric being forced to watch Triton exchange his name for Ariel's on the contract.
D) As the wedding ship heads back for Eric's Kingdom, Ursula becomes giant after being forced to kill Flotsam and Jetsam accidentally.
E) From the vortex created by Ursula and the trident, several ships are raised, and our heroes get the idea of ramming Ursula.
F) Eric climbs aboard the leading shipwreck; while Ariel, Flounder, Scuttle and Sebastian try to keep Ursula occupied.
G) The four appear to be guiding the cavalcade of wrecked ships piloted by Eric towards Ursula through a water canyon lined by tall waves.
H) Bolts of lightning from the trident force Flounder, Sebastian and Scuttle to pull out, leaving Ariel to guide Eric's ship solo.
I) A cannon shot from the mainland distracts Ursula long enough for Ariel to hurl the wrecked ship and Eric into ramming and stabbing the witch.
J) Eric is flung into the water from the force of the explosion that kills Ursula, and collapse on the beach, tired and naked but successful.
K) Ariel restores her father with the trident and offers to come home, feeling awfully guilty over the turn of events that led to this.
L) Realizing he was like Ariel when he was her age, the two patch up their relationship and let her be able to have the best of land and sea.
M) Triton's last present for his daughter and Ariel's hopeful husband Eric is the ability for them to switch between human and merperson forms at will for the rest of their lives.
N) Ariel and Eric get married and all of Atlantica and Eric's kingdom turn out to wish the two newlyweds the best for the future...
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I prefer this ending because it is close to the hans christian anderson fairytale where the mermaid dies into seafoam.
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& that's another plus this original has. Seeing chunks & pieces from Ursula after she's killed is a little too... graphic. Same goes for Flotsam & Jetsom's deaths. In this version, they just evaporate. That's it. But sadly, chunks & an eyeball survive... screencaps.us/198/9-tlm/full/l… despite none being shown after the zap screencaps.us/198/9-tlm/full/l…. At least it gives us Ursula's "My poor little poopsies" line.
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Just wonderful, if only Katzenberg had thought of this to be like Die Hard. What an idiot
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to be honest, i never took her giant voice seriously. all im thinking of is Max from Cats Dont Dance.
and yes, i think this wouldve been a stronger ending.
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& by "old" you mean the finalized version, right?
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I dig the original ending more, for adding more depth to the story and giving a bit of depth to characters like Eric. I also prefer the idea of the final battle in this version. While I think the giant battle is epic, there is something tense about a 1 on 1 fight when one opponent is clearly stronger than the other, sort of like the Ratigan vs Basil fight in Great Mouse Detective.
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Exactly! By making her a giant, that makes it really unfair. Having her normal-sized makes her easier to defeat. & by easier, I mean more relateable.
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Well for me; making her a giant made the final battle more chaotic in a sense that it wasn't really a battle. There was no way for the fight to go any other way. Ariel had to be used as bait because she was useless otherwise, and she and Eric couldn't work together like in the original ending because then Ursula would blast them both instantly.
There are just no creative options with the newer ending.
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I agree; this ending would've been way better! I never knew the final version was inspired by "Die Hard" * imagines a TLM/Die Hard crossover XD *.
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There's nothing wrong with the ending used in the film, but once you hear that Die Hard fact (based off an action flick, even though this a FANTASY film), this part of your childhood... kinda gets killed. Obviously over-exaggerating, but you get what I mean right?
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Sorry if I've been writing a little unclearly.
What I like about the original: I like that Vanessa gets more lines and some more screentime overall. I like that Ariel doesn't get her voice back until later. I like most aspects of the final battle better. For the most part I like the concepts of the original perfectly well, but the way they're written makes me think that the pacing may not have been as good as the final version.
But the main thing I like about original is the added content on Vanessa, minus one or two quibbles. I said to start with and it's true; she's one of my favorite characters and storlyines ever, so more of her is a plus in my book.
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Very cool! I've read through the alternate ending before, but I haven't seen most of the storyboards (I like this style that you've chosen to stick with here), and I'm big fan of the movie in general, so this is cool
I don't quite agree with you about how generally superior this ending is, but I would like to see it redone anyway just so I can compare them back and forth in realtime. I'm also a huge fan of the Vanessa storyline, and I do agree that that got kind of ripped off in the official version of the movie, so I especially like your two panels with her. The one with Scuttle and the mirror is killer; people usually ignored the potential inherent in how she gets so utterly trashed at that wedding. Anyway, this is just a shout-out because I like this a lot.
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Well, if you click on the first link leading to the script, there's also a gallery showing what Disney did have for the old ending. One of the sub-galleries is a group of storyboards done by Glen Keane (which is why Ursula's face looks a lot like Ratigan.) & if you have the 2006 DVD, if you look at the deleted scenes, half of the original ending is there.
& just out of curiosity, what is it that you find the film ending did better than this version? (just to hear another's reasoning) & what do you mean by "Vanessa's thing being ripped off in the official version?"
The reason she's so trashed is 'cause, since I didn't comic the ENTIRE ending, I'd at least like to showcase what happened leading up to it. So, naturally, you HAVE to show stuff like feathers, water, cake frosting, seaweed, ripped clothes, starfish & any of that stuff to stimulate what happened.
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Yeah, that's great. I guess I have seen most of that from the 06 DVD before, but it'd been a while.
For the film version, my biggest thing is pacing. It's hard to be certain of course, since this ending was never officially done, but around the time Scuttle tells them all that Vanessa's really Ursula, there are so many dramatic cuts back and forth that all of these climactic moments just seem like they would be taking too long. I also think the way that the final sea battle plays off in the film version gives both Ariel and Eric more range than they would have had in the original script. I'm not a huge partisan though, there are things that were definitely better in the original version.
What I meant about Vanessa being ripped off was just a really inarticulate way of agreeing with you that the hypnotism angle is kind of lame. I like what they did with the hypnotism in the final version and visually it works really well, but I would have preferred her to have a more subtle means of control.
And yeah, I get why the wedding panel is the way it is. I was just approving, because in my experience, almost always when people make art of that scene, they sort of do what the film does and just sanitize her appearance a bit, which I always think misses a great opportunity. A big thumbs up on that.
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Alright. Took a little bit to get that, 'cause the way you wrote the second half confused me a bit. What about this: what parts of the original do you think were better than the finalized?
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