History Main / RevisedEnding

** More specifically there is the epilogue: In the leaked original script for episode 26 (which was used for the last half of End of Evangelion) featured two different proposed versions, neither of which corresponded completely with the one in End of Evangelion: The first one ultimately ends as the finished film does, but portrays itself somewhat more positively. The second one however was much bleaker than the film [[spoiler: with Shinji being the only human self-reflective enough to return from instrumentality, meaning he will be spending the rest of his life alone]]. The final version both takes and discards scenes from both versions and changes one piece of dialog ([[spoiler: Asuka's "I won't let you kill me" to the infamous "I feel sick"]]). As for the manga's epilogue? [[spoiler: It pulls an CosmicRetcon and creates a world where Second Impact never happened.]]

* Later editions of Henry Williamson's "Tarka the Otter" have a revised ending. In the original, Tarka fights a hunting hound called Deadlock, and neither survives. In the revised ending, Tarka fights a hunting hound called Deadlock, and neither survives. Despite the plot being the same, Williamson became horrified by the way he had originally described it. He even kept the original ending as a postscript after the revised ending, followed by a note expressing his disbelief that he ever wrote it.

* Later editions of Henry Williamson's "Tarka the Otter" have a revised ending. In the original, Tarka fights a hunting hound called Deadlock, and neither survives. In the revised ending, Tarka fights a hunting hound called Deadlock, and neither survives. Despite the plot being the same, Williamson became horrified by the way he had originally described it. He even kept the original ending as a postscript after the revised ending, followed by a note expressing his horror that he ever wrote it.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "The Lure Of The Orb" has two similar endings, both in which the Smurfs have their comeuppance with Allura. In one ending, Jokey gives Allura one of his surprises and it simply explodes and reveals the true face of Allura behind her kind gentle persona. In the other ending, Papa Smurf sprinkles some magic dust on Jokey's surprise so that, when he gives it to Allura, it explodes and turns Allura into a frog. The latter ending (with its other change being that the Smurfs held captive by Allura in her fortress have chains on their legs) is usually shown in markets outside the United States.

* The musical ''Show Boat'' reunites Magnolia and her grown daughter Kim with Ravenal and Captain Andy for the final curtain. At the end of Edna Ferber's novel, Captain Andy and Parthy have both died, and Ravenal is PutOnABus for good. Of the three film versions, only the first (mostly silent) one includes the deaths of Captain Andy and Parthy, and even that reunites Ravenal and Magnolia. The 1936 movie version has a variation on the stage ending (not a surprise, as Oscar Hammerstein adapted it himself); the 1951 version has a completely original ending which brings together Ravenal, Magnolia, Kim (still a child), Captain Andy, Parthy and even Julie.

* In fiction: A key part of ''HeyArnold'', "Eugene, Eugene" has Eugene horrified that the guy producing his school's musical has changed a perfectly good HappyEnding into a downer which is at odds with the play's message.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', after very negative reaction to the original ending, released a free "Extended Cut" DLC to try and placate the fans.

* Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [[KilledOffForReal killed off]] SherlockHolmes in "The Final Problem" to be able to focus on other literary projects. Public demand and mourning was so great that he eventually wrote a new short story that [[{{Retcon}} retconned]] Holmes' death as only a faked one and continued his adventures. (It didn't hurt that Watson NeverFoundTheBody, either.)

* The deleted last chapter to Joan Lindsday's ''PicnicAtHangingRock'', which explains what happened to Miss [=McCraw=], Marion, and Miranda, was first published in 1987. The reader discovers that [[spoiler: Hanging Rock is in the middle of some kind of mystical temporal anomaly; the three women change shape and vanish into the rock itself, leaving Irma (in an echo of "Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin") stuck outside.]]

** [[BrokenAesop Assuming you think someone's children can be "replaced" that is.]]

* The infamous ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' DarkFic ''Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}}'' ends with Pinkie Pie horrifically killing Rainbow Dash and getting away with it, but has a ''lot'' of alternate endings, few, if any, by the original writer. These range from her moving on to the ''rest'' of her friends, [[AllJustADream it being a dream]], [[OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUS it being a fanfic]] written by one of the characters, it being a play, Rainbow Dash breaking free and killing Pinkie Pie instead, and [[BrokenAngel Rainbow Dash being rescued, but losing her wings]]. The AllJustADream version has a great many versions, including one called ''Fanfic/RocketToInsanity'' where the dream causes Rainbow Dash to eventually kill Pinkie Pie...which in turn has its own AlternateEnding (''Fanfic/RocketToInsanityAlternateEnding'')where she snaps out of it and gets Pinkie Pie to the hospital in time but has to earn forgiveness for it. Another psudo-AlternateEnding is ''Fanfic/TheLightInTheDarkness'', wich goes with the AllJustADream version and ends on a ''very'' heartwarming note (to the point it's been dubbed "the antithesis of ''Cupcakes''") but it's vague on if this is a true one or not, despite the fact the author originally intended for it to be before being rewritten.

* The infamous ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' DarkFic ''Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}}'' ends with Pinkie Pie horrifically killing Rainbow Dash and getting away with it, but has a ''lot'' of alternate endings, few, if any, by the original writer. These range from her moving on to the ''rest'' of her friends, [[AllJustADream it being a dream]], [[OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUS it being a fanfic]] written by one of the characters, it being a play, Rainbow Dash breaking free and killing Pinkie Pie instead, and [[BrokenAngel Rainbow Dash being rescued, but losing her wings]]. The AllJustADream version has a great many versions, including one called ''Fanfic/RocketToInsanity'' where the dream causes Rainbow Dash to eventually kill Pinkie Pie...which in turn has its own AlternateEnding (''Fanfic/RocketToInsanityAlternateENding'')where she snaps out of it and gets Pinkie Pie to the hospital in time but has to earn forgiveness for it. Another psudo-AlternateEnding is ''Fanfic/TheLightInTheDarkness'', wich goes with the AllJustADream version and ends on a ''very'' heartwarming note (to the point it's been dubbed "the antithesis of ''Cupcakes''") but it's vague on if this is a true one or not, despite the fact the author originally intended for it to be before being rewritten.

* The infamous ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' DarkFic ''Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}}'' ends with Pinkie Pie horrifically killing Rainbow Dash and getting away with it, but has a ''lot'' of alternate endings, few, if any, by the original writer. These range from her moving on to the ''rest'' of her friends, [[AllJustADream it being a dream]], [[OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUS it being a fanfic]] written by one of the characters, it being a play, Rainbow Dash breaking free and killing Pinkie Pie instead, and [[BrokenAngel Rainbow Dash being rescued, but losing her wings]]. The AllJustADream version has a great many versions, including one called ''[[http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/02/story-rocket-to-insanity.html Rocket To Insanity]]'' where the dream causes Rainbow Dash to eventually kill Pinkie Pie...which in turn has ''[[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jtyqCgnlSZLoXZ76FFqET1MpBXkyivJFz3gJlHboT9c/edit?hl=en&pli=1# its own]]'' AlternateEnding where she snaps out of it and gets Pinkie Pie to the hospital in time but has to earn forgiveness for it. Another psudo-AlternateEnding is ''Fanfic/TheLightInTheDarkness'', wich goes with the AllJustADream version and ends on a ''very'' heartwarming note (to the point it's been dubbed "the antithesis of ''Cupcakes''") but it's vague on if this is a true one or not, despite the fact the author originally intended for it to be before being rewritten.

* The ending of the 1956 movie ''TheBadSeed'' was changed to conform with the Production Code, which required that "the sympathy of the audience should never be thrown to the side of crime, wrong-doing, evil or sin". Thus EnfanteTerrible Rhoda could not [[KarmaHoudini get away with her crimes]] like she did in the ending of the stage play, and the novel it was based on, in which [[spoiler:she survives after her mother Christine, having realized Rhoda is a sociopathic little murderess, poisons her and then kills herself. So, in the movie, Christine survives a bullet to the head at point-blank range -- judging from her actions earlier in the film, the viewer can only surmise that it missed her brain -- and eight-year-old Rhoda is killed by a literal bolt of lightning.]]

** More specifically there is the epilogue: In the leaked original script for episode 26 (which was turned into the last half of End of Evangelion) featured two different proposed versions, neither of which corresponded completely with the one in End of Evangelion: The first one ultimately ends as the finished film does, but portrays itself somewhat more positively. The second one however was much bleaker than the film [[spoiler: with Shinji being the only human self-reflective enough to return from instrumentality, meaning he will be spending the rest of his life alone]]. The final version takes and discards scenes from both versions and changes one piece of dialog ([[spoiler: Asuka's "I won't let you kill me" to the infamous "I feel sick"]]). As for the manga's epilogue? [[spoiler: It pulls an CosmicRetcon and creates a world where Second Impact never happened.]]

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' has what may be the most thorough revised ending, the [[GainaxEnding final two episodes of the TV series]] being replaced by the [[KillEmAll movie]] ''End Of Evangelion''. The original is [[MindScrew notoriously incomprehensible]]; the movie is a DownerEnding. And the manga's ending, with what we have so far ([[spoiler: Adam giving Gendo god-like powers, Shinji making it in time to save Asuka, and Shinji starting to remember things from his childhood that he'd forgotten or repressed as Rei/Lilith interacts with him]]) is setting things up for yet another mind fuck. And then there's ''Rebuild'', which [[EpilepticTrees has some implications]] that it's ''not'' an AlternateContinuity.

* ''[[Franchise/EvilDead Army of Darkness]]'' originally had a {{Downer|Ending}}/TwistEnding, in which [[spoiler: Ash is given a potion in order to sleep until he awakens in his own time, but he takes too much of the potion and (in a CruelTwistEnding) awakens in a post-apocalyptic England]]. This was changed to a happier ending (through ExecutiveMeddling), which does admittingly have a few more catchy [[PreAssKickingOneLiner OneLiners]] than that ending.

* ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' had at least [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNcY8nsxTRU two alternate endings]]. Originally, it was supposed to end with a reprise of "Arabian Nights", which was later used in the second sequel, ''Disney/AladdinAndTheKingOfThieves''. The second deleted ending starts with the reprise of "A Whole New World" as seen in the final movie, but then cuts to a sequence where the peddler from the beginning of the movie reveals himself to be the Genie. This is followed by a cruder version of the "made you look" gag from the final ending.

[[folder:Film]]

* The theatrical release of ''TheButterflyEffect'' had a [[BittersweetEnding bittersweet]] "things are ok-ish but Evan and Kayleigh never knew each other and pass in the street with only a wistful sense of what might have been" ending. The director's cut [[spoiler:has what may well be the only prenatal suicide in film history, as Evan concludes the only way to avoid all the bad things that happen to the people he loves is to not survive birth]].
* The original DownerEnding to ''{{Clerks}}'' was changed to a BittersweetEnding by removing the very last scene, which would have been the shooting of Dante. This meant that a whole lot of {{Foreshadowing}} went to waste. However, ''Clerks II'' and ''Clerks: The Animated Series'' would have been nullified by this original ending.

* ''InfernalAffairs'': In this Hong Kong cops-and-robbers movie, Andy Lau's character, a mole placed in the police by [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs triads]] he betrayed, [[spoiler:leaves a building besieged by police forces holding a police badge after betraying and killing everyone inside out of desperation in the final climax to ensure his real identity remains a secret]]. However, an alternate ending was made for the theatrical releases in China, Singapore, and Malaysia, showing that [[spoiler:the character was arrested by police upon leaving the building when it is stated, without explanation, that there was proof of his complicity in the crime]]. This, apparently, was to please the governments in those three countries stating [[spoiler:that crimes does not pay]].
** In the American rendition of the movie, ''TheDeparted'', [[spoiler:Matt Damon, playing Andy Lau's character, does indeed manage to leave the building keeping his identity a secret, but, perhaps to please American audiences, he is eventually confronted by another detective who discovered the truth in the movie's end, and is killed]].

* ''InvasionOfTheBodySnatchers'' is an odd case. The original novel had an unambiguously happy ending, with the Pods fleeing Earth, the Pod People slowly dying off, and the town returning to normal. The first movie adaptation initially had a DownerEnding, with the hero hysterically screaming "You're next!" to oblivious highway drivers (and the audience) as truckloads of Pods are shipped all over the country. The execs didn't care for this ending, and slapped on a prologue and epilogue that showed the military discovering the threat, and preparing to fight back. Meanwhile, the 1978 and 1993 remakes had unambiguously {{Downer Ending}}s and the 2007 remake restored the happy ending of the original book.

* The 1932 version of ''{{Scarface}}'' featured an alternate ending to comply with the then-recently released [[UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode Hays Code]]. In the original ending, [[spoiler:Tony Camonte gets shot to death by the police while trying to escape]], while in the Hays-approved ending, [[spoiler:Camonte is arrested, tried, and executed by hanging]].
* ''{{Terminator 2}}'' featured an ending where Sarah Connor reflected on her experiences many years after the events of the movie, as she watches her son playing with his daughter at a park. James Cameron changed the ending because it didn't fit the dark, apocalyptic mood of the film.
** Cameron has stated that the Dark Highway ending was a better for the film since it better represented the ambiguous nature of the future. The playground ending would imply that the future was now set, and thus deterministic.

* The cult classic zombie college film ''NightOfTheCreeps'' was originally supposed to end with a funny parody of standard horror movie TheStinger endings, with a zombie parasite seemingly escaping to cause more mayhem, only to be vacuumed up by alien zookeepers. Due to ExecutiveMeddling, this was replaced in the final film with a more cliche TheStinger DownerEnding where an alien parasite suddenly jumps out of an infected dog at the camera, presumably zombifying the female love interest.

* Both ''Disney/TheLionKing'' films have alternate, unproduced original endings. The first one would've had Scar throw Simba off Pride Rock, but Scar would then perish laughing hysterically as the flames consume Pride Rock. Simba survives, but doesn't get his revenge. In the final film, he ends up throwing Scar off of Pride Rock where the evil lion is eaten by his angry Hyena {{Mooks}}. The second film's original ending would've had Zira commit suicide by letting go of the cliff with the line "No...never..." in response to Kiara's attempts to save her life. In the real version, she simply slips and falls.
* ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' had at least [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNcY8nsxTRU two alternate endings]]. Originally, it was supposed to end with a reprise of "Arabian Nights", which was later used in the second sequel, ''The King of Thieves''. The second deleted ending starts with the reprise of "A Whole New World" as seen in the final movie, but then cuts to a sequence where the peddler from the beginning of the movie reveals himself to be the Genie. This is followed by a cruder version of the "made you look" gag from the final ending.
* ''ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld'' has an alternative ending, which consists of Scott getting with [[spoiler:Knives rather than Ramona]].

* ''TheGoldenCompass'' was originally filmed to stay true to the book's ending, but [[ExecutiveMeddling executives didn't want]] a DownerEnding to launch a franchise, so scenes of Roger's death were cut and moved to [[StillbornFranchise the sequel that never happened]].
* ''NationalTreasure'' originally ended with the protagonists learning of a new treasure to search for. It was intended to be an AndTheAdventureContinues ending, but test audiences assumed it as a SequelHook.

* ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' was orginally going to end with the heroes stealing a passenger jet from an airport to save Lilo from [[TheDragon Gantu]], and destroying most of Honolulu while they are chasing each other, but because of what happened on 9/11, the airplane was replaced with a spaceship.
* The movie version of StephenKing's ''{{Dreamcatcher}}'' has an original ending that's considered far superior to the theatrical version. [[spoiler: While in the theatrical version, Duddits turns into another alien and fights Mr. Gray, in the original ending, he uses his psychic powers to force Mr. Gray out of Jonesy, then destroy him, then he throws up his arms triumphantly, yells "I Duddits!", and then dies of his cancer.]]

** [[spoiler:Tony Montana gets the original treatment in the ''Scarface'' remake]].

The biggest problem arises when the author has already written and/or produced the final ending and executives or test audiences dislike it, most commonly due to it being a DownerEnding. They pressure the author to change the ending to one they think the public will like better, usually to a HappilyEverAfter. The author reluctantly complies and the ending is changed.

* The first version of Mussorgsky's opera ''Boris Godunov'' ended with a scene in St. Basil's Cathedral (drawn from Pushkin's original play, though it was not the final scene there), in which the Simpleton is accosted by street urchins and calls the dying Boris "Tsar Herod." The last act was replaced in the 1870s with an entirely different KingOnHisDeathbed scene, followed by the Katyn Forest scene which incorporated most of the Simpleton's part from the older version in between triumphant choruses. Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov then rearranged much of the opera, reversing the order of the scenes in the new final act to end the opera with Boris's death. Productions in Soviet Russia from the 1920s onward restored the St. Basil's scene (in a Rimsky-Korsakov-like arrangement by Nicolai Ippolitov-Ivanov), even though it conflicts with or duplicates the musico-dramatic content of the revised final act.

* MassEffect3, after very negative reaction to the original ending, released a free "Extended Cut" DLC to try and placate the fans.

* The ending of Mussorgsky' opera ''Boris Godunov'' was drastically revised in the 1870s, with the original final act almost completely rewritten in two scenes. The Rimsky-Korsakov edition took this new final act and rewrote it again, reversing the order of the scenes.

* After finishing all three routes of the PS2 ''Realta Nua'' version of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', a Last Episode is opened up, which offers a happy conclusion to the [[spoiler:Fate route, the only route which had only one bittersweet ending, giving Archer and Saber a happy reunion in what might be Avalon. Overlaps with DiedHappilyEverAfter, TogetherInDeath and IWillWaitForYou.]] Opinion varies on whether it fits the theme of said route, though.

* TheMovie version of ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' had two different endings produced for it. The original theatrical ending (the same ending used in the {{Streamlined}} dub) was a GeckoEnding which featured Kenshiro losing the final fight against his elder brother Raoh, with his life spared due to [[TheMessiah holy child]] Lin's intervention. When the movie was released on [=VHS=] and Laserdisc in Japan, the ending was changed to have Kenshiro and Raoh end their fight in a stalemate (but is otherwise identical), which is closer how their first fight ended in the manga. For awhile the theatrical ending was not available in Japan until the movie's [=DVD=] release in 2008, leading to the common misconception among western fans that the revised ending was the original ending.

* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3460966/1/Difficult_to_Fight_Against_Anger Difficult to Fight Against Anger]]'' is an alternate ending to ''Series/{{Buffy|thevampireslayer}}'', sixth season, where [[spoiler: Tara isn't shot, but rather raped by Warren Mears, and Willow's ensuing rampage is fueled not by grief, but by rage]].

* OrsonWelles' second film, ''The Magnificent Andersons'', was taken from him in post-production, savagely edited down, and given a new HappyEnding. It is considered a classic despite this ExecutiveMeddling.