History WhatCouldHaveBeen / WesternAnimation

* ''TheFairlyOddparents'': Originally Timmy was going to be a redhead because [[WordOfGod Butch Hartman hates brown hair]], but forced to change his mind because he didn't want Timmy and Vicky to have matching hair color. Also Timmy was almost named Matt after Butch's other brother, but an argument with his brothers changed that. Timmy's shirt and hat were meant to be blue, but Hartman ran out of blue marker and grabbed the next nearest color—which just so happened to be pink. It stuck.

* ''StormHawks'': In the original concepts for this show, the Storm Hawks are a bunch of prison kids who escape into the Wastelands, where they meet Oriole(Piper). In addition to the war against Cyclonia, the plot involves their quest for the Helix, an artifact holding the world together. The Helix is broken up into numerous crystal fragments around the world and [[GottaCatchEmAll it's the Storm Hawks' job to find them]] with help from the Guardian of the Helix, the White Hawk. (Who, incidentally, is the one who leads [[strike: Piper]] Oriole to the others in the first place.) Instead of Master Cyclonis, we have Master Anarchis ([[EpilepticTrees Cyclonis's mother?]]), a fashionista who was formerly exiled to the Terra of Thorns by her brother, Heron, the rightful king of Cyclonia. Piper is a well-traveled, crossbow-wielding adventurer. Finn is younger and smaller ([[SmallGirlBigGun but still the main turrets guy]]), has a knack for telling [[ConMan tall tales]], and fights with energy blades in hand-to-hand combat. Junko has a temper, although he tries to control it. Stork is an expert metal-smith and loyal friend who is largely confined to the Condor due to a leg injury. Also, there are living storms that have their own names and personalities. Some of this can be found [[http://disneyxd.disney.in/shows/storm_hawks/index.html here]], although other things like the Helix plot are no longer up.

*** The "Robot Richard Simmons" joke on the episode where Bart gets adopted by Mr. Burns got cut because test audiences didn't think it was funny (it didn't stop the writers from putting it on that clip show episode where Troy McClure narrates The Simpsons' history and behind-the-scenes moments).

** Specifically, "The Most Dangerous Man in the World" would have started with Cobra suspending all other schemes for a worldwide manhunt for a single man, and the Joes investigating the reason for this abrupt shift. The Joes would eventually find the subject, who would be revealed as a ''political science professor'' who invented the socio-political system that Cobra was based on. The professor was planning to publish a paper documenting a newly-discovered fatal flaw with the system; Cobra wanted to eliminate him to keep the weakness hidden.

* The writers for ''GIJoe'' had some [[http://www.joeheadquarters.com/interviews_dixon.shtml intriguing plans]] that never materialized, mostly due to ExecutiveMeddling -- some of it understandable, some of it downright mind-boggling. The most notable is probably the original movie idea, ''The Most Dangerous Man in the World'', which would have offered a very different spin on Cobra's origins.

* ''{{Avatar the Last Airbender}}'': The series was originally going to have a futuristic setting, which explains all the SteamPunk. Zuko originally had a pet messenger hawk, as seen in the {{pilot}}, but the writers realized this wouldn't work because HeroesLoveDogs. Zuko's and Mai's comic "Going Home Again" was also originally going to reveal that Zuko had always carried a rock of hardened lava shaped like a heart that Mai gave him when they were children. Katara's name in the pilot was Kya, [[spoiler:a name they used for her mother]].
** Someone had posted the [[http://plus4chan.org/boards/a/res/58561.html#59033 original series summary]] from the UniverseBible and shows that the planned plot started out largely similar -- though even then several characters were majorly different, and it kept getting more and more different from the final product. Pretty much everything involving the Earth King and the invasion of the Fire Nation by the Earth Kingdom was the ''exact opposite'' of what was originally planned. The GrandFinale was also originally going to have a scene of [[spoiler:Zuko finding his mother]], which was (hopefully) compressed into a SequelHook.
** Many changes involved [[AffirmativeActionGirl adding gallons more estrogen to the cast]]. Azula was originally supposed to be male. The original plan for the second season shows no sign of any equivalents of Mai and Ty Lee. [[CuteBruiser Toph]] was originally supposed to be a big ''man'' and look like the Earthbender in the opening, whose model appears to have been reused with ''Roku's'' earthbending teacher. She was ''later'' changed into a teenaged boy ''and'' a [[http://plus4chan.org/boards/a/res/58561.html#59100 love interest]] of Katara... [[LesYay which would explain a lot]]. Toph's original design even got a reference in the already very meta 'The Ember Island Players'.
** And [[EvilUncle IROH WAS GOING TO BE EVIL!!!]] It says that Zuko fights his uncle in season 3 and learns that he had taught him incorrect firebending all along, under Ozai's orders. This is so far from how Iroh turned out that it's scary.
** A less drastic example is the fact that Sozin's Comet was originally three episodes long instead of four. After realizing how insane this was and how massively rushed the finale would've been as a result, Mike and Bryan expanded it to four episodes.

* ''{{Futurama}}'' was originally the story of a gruff deliveryman Fry, working for evil overlord Mom in a dystopian future.
** And was originally named ''Aloha Mars!''.
** And featuring Phil Hartman as Zapp Brannigan.

* Prior to this, ''BeastWars'' had an entire episode missing from its lineup known as "Dark Glass", dealing with Rattrap finding a copy of his friend/foil Dinobot's memory engrams and attempting to install them into [[EvilCounterpart Dinobot 2]]. While it never got past the script phase (replaced due to its extreme dark storytelling for the more lighthearted "Go with the Flow"), many fans still consider it canon, if only because it fills up a nasty little PlotHole during the show's finale. There was also going to be a series following ''Beast Machines'' called ''[[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transtech Transtech]]'', possibly dealing with a resurgence in the Great War on a now technorganic Cybertron, but various factors canceled it.

** Before NeilGaiman's TheSandman truly got firmly placed into ExiledFromContinuity territory, there were talks that there would be a special BatmanTheAnimatedSeries episode- a ''Christmas'' episode, where Batman would meet Dream and Death (presumably as part of a Dickens "you will be visited by three ghosts" type of plot).
** Also, Black Canary was originally going to be in a BTAS episode (a team-up with Catwoman that saw the usual Batfamily appear only near the end), but at the time ExecutiveMeddling dictated that Robin had to be prominent in every episode, so the episode was scrapped.
** Captain Marvel was originally going to first appear in SupermanTheAnimatedSeries, but both the infamous problems about his name (IAmNotShazam) and trouble trying to figure out how to put him in ''without'' having to create a JusticeLeague delayed his DCAU integration until JusticeLeagueUnlimited. Even then, they were only able to have him in one episode and name-check him in another.
** Originally the "Justice Guild" was going to be the Justice Society of America, but this was dropped, probably for the best, as it allowed them to have the Guild say things the JSA wouldn't ("You are a credit to your race," for example).
** Plans to have Ra's Al Ghul show up in JusticeLeague never materialized, possibly because of rights issues with BatmanBegins, possibly because Vandal Savage is sort of similar.
** A meeting between the Teen Titans and Static on StaticShock never materialized, possibly because the TeenTitans TV show (which was in development when these foreshadowings were done) ended up being of a completely different style than the DCAU.
*** They also wanted to do a Titans/JLU crossover, and the two teams even meet to discuss it. After discussing it they weren't really sure what direction to take it in and just opted for some nice references to each other.
** There was going to be a DTV movie called ''Justice League: Worlds Collide.'' It would have involved the Justice League facing the [[EvilCounterpart Crime Syndicate]], and would have served as a bridge between ''Starcrossed'' and JusticeLeagueUnlimited, revealing how they decided to start a HeroesUnlimited. After JLU was cancelled with no chance of continuing, the script was re-written to fit into the DC Original Animated Movies line, and was published as ''Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.'' It's still very easy to see the DCAU aspects.

* Originally, TheEmperorsNewGroove was going to be a more traditional Disney epic called ''Kingdom of the Sun'', with a typical PrinceAndPauper storyline. After a WriterRevolt, ExecutiveMeddling, and more than one ReTool, they scrapped the original idea, and the resultant film was [[MontyPython completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute.]] It was awesome.

* GalaxyRangers: In initial demo real, Zachary's ''children'' were also captured and implied to have shared in their mom's FateWorsethanDeath. [[OhCrap The reaction from the fanbase?]]

** Many changes involved [[AffirmativeActionGirl adding gallons more estrogen to the cast]]. Azula was originally supposed to be male. The original plan for the second season shows no sign of any equivalents of Mai and Ty Lee. [[CuteBruiser Toph]] was originally supposed to be a big ''man'' and look like the Earthbender in the opening, whose model appears to have been reused with ''Roku's'' earthbending teacher. She was ''later'' changed into a teenaged boy ''and'' a [[http://plus4chan.org/boards/a/res/58561.html#59100 love interest]] of Katara... [[LesYay which would explain a lot]].
*** Toph's original design even got a reference in the already very meta 'The Ember Island Players'.
*** And [[EvilUncle IROH WAS GOING TO BE EVIL!!!]] It says that Zuko fights his uncle in season 3 and learns that he had taught him incorrect firebending all along, under Ozai's orders. This is so far from how Iroh turned out that it's scary.
**** A less drastic example is the fact that Sozin's Comet was originally three episodes long instead of four. After realizing how insane this was and how massively rushed the finale would've been as a result, Mike and Bryan expanded it to four episodes.
**** Also, {{Word of God}} says that Zuko was originally going to be Katara's original love interest. If you look closely, it explains a lot. Cue the Zutara fanbase feeling at least somewhat justified.

** YourMileageMayVary on that. The six songs written by Sting - including [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=374xW4zZbZA this badass little ditty]] sung by Yzma about wanting to ''snuff out the sun with the help of a demon from hell'' - was among the things scrapped due to ReTool. There's even a whole documentary about the ExecutiveMeddling and process of making TheEmperorsNewGroove called [[http://www.mouseplanet.com/8212/The_Greatest_Disney_Documentary_You_May_Never_See The Sweatbox]] ... which Disney promptly locked in its vault and refuses to let out.

** Slipstream was originally intended to appear in "Endgame, Part II", in which she would revive Starscream after the Autobots left Earth, but the scene was cut for time.
** Prior to this, ''BeastWars'' had an entire episode missing from its lineup known as "Dark Glass", dealing with Rattrap finding a copy of his friend/foil Dinobot's memory engrams and attempting to install them into [[EvilCounterpart Dinobot 2]]. While it never got past the script phase (replaced due to its extreme dark storytelling for the more lighthearted "Go with the Flow"), many fans still consider it canon, if only because it fills up a nasty little PlotHole during the show's finale. There was also going to be a series following ''Beast Machines'' called ''[[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Transtech Transtech]]'', possibly dealing with a resurgence in the Great War on a now technorganic Cybertron, but various factors canceled it.

** Recently, someone posted the [[http://plus4chan.org/boards/a/res/58561.html#59033 original series summary]] from the UniverseBible and shows that the planned plot started out largely similar -- though even then several characters were majorly different, and it kept getting more and more different from the final product. Pretty much everything involving the Earth King and the invasion of the Fire Nation by the Earth Kingdom was the ''exact opposite'' of what was originally planned. The GrandFinale was also originally going to have a scene of [[spoiler:Zuko finding his mother]], which was (hopefully) compressed into a SequelHook.

** Prior to this, ''BeastWars'' had an entire episode missing from its lineup known as "Dark Glass", dealing with Rattrap finding a copy of his friend/foil Dinobot's memory engrams and attempting to install them into [[EvilCounterpart Dinobot 2]]. While it never got past the script phase (replaced due to its extreme dark storytelling for the more lighthearted "Go with the Flow"), many fans still consider it canon, if only because it fills up a nasty little PlotHole during the show's finale. There was also going to be a series following ''Beast Machines'' called ''Transtech'', dealing with a resurgence in the Great War on a now technorganic Cybertron, but the strong negative reception to ''Beast Machines'' canceled it; only a few concept sketches and prototype models for the toys still exist.

* ''HeyArnold'': Long before ''[[{{Rugrats}} All Grown Up]]'' was a twinkle in Klasky and Csupo's eyes, Craig Bartlett had announced his intention to make a flash-forward series after ''Hey Arnold'' ended centering around Helga Pataki. The jury is still out on whether that would have been a good thing, but in the end, none of the nets he pitched it to wanted it. He'd also pitched two movies to Nick, one for TV and one for cinemas. Only the one for TV was made... and it went into cinemas. The troubles with the other movie are well-documented.

** Anyone who was lucky enough to see Bartlett's original "Arnold" comics in the early 90's (which featured in the shortlived ''Simpsons Illustrated'' magazine, mostly because Bartlett is Matt Groening's brother-in-law) may have found themselves wondering what might have been when they saw the series. Let's just say the comics were VERY different; far from the heartfelt lesson-filled show it became, the original comics were dark, surreal, and bitingly satirical. Arnold was a borderline insane genius who no one paid attention to, so he would retreat into elaborate fantasies which parodied aspects of modern life. The stories were mostly visual; Arnold never spoke, unless you count the time he fended off Helga (a brutal class bully in this version) by breaking into a showtune.

***The "Robot Richard Simmons" joke on the episode where Bart gets adopted by Mr. Burns got cut because the writers didn't think it was funny (it didn't stop them from putting it on that clip show episode where Troy McClure narrates The Simpsons' history and behind-the-scenes moments).