History Main / WhatCouldHaveBeen

[[folder:Roleplay]]

[[folder: Space exploration]]

* The ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_program Voyager]]'' program was to consist originally of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_program four spacecrafts]], that would explore the four outer planets of the Solar System, plus Pluto (at the time [[PlutoIsExpendable considered a planet]]). Budget constraints left just two probes: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 and Pluto unexplored until ''New Horizons'' passed by in 2015.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bionicle}}'''s ''Mata Nui Online Game'' (aka ''Mata Nui Adventure Game'') by Templar Studios was originally envisioned as an interactive web layout to the 2001 bionicle.com site, before being re-imagined as one of the site's many games. Templar was given mere table scraps to work with, as the main story was set to be told via the high profile ''The Legend of Mata Nui'' PC game, featuring the franchise's primary heroes, the Toa. ''MNOG'' had to make do with the "nobodies", fleshing out the unexplored side characters and an [[FeaturelessProtagonist unknown]] PlayerCharacter who would only catch occasional glimpses of the Toa. Even the game assets were of low quality because Toys/{{LEGO}} refused to help out the Templar team. This also lead to [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness early or contradictory concepts]] appearing in the game, which LEGO at the time deemed non-canon. As ''MNOG'' neared its final chapter with no set end goal, ''The Legend of Mata Nui'' was abruptly cancelled, and without another storytelling alternative, LEGO tasked Templar with concluding both their own side story and the main plot intended for the Toa and their fight against [[BigBad the Makuta]]. ''MNOG'' pulled it off so well, it became the most celebrated piece of ''BIONICLE'' media and was cited as an inspiration for the ''[[TheMovie Mask of Light]]'' animated film, and most of the game was later given canon status due to fan demand. The player character, christened Takua, became one of the franchise's main heroes. When the unfinished ''TLOMN'' leaked to the net in 2018, fans still agreed ''MNOG'' was better.

See also TheOtherMarty, {{Vaporware}}, DevelopmentHell, DummiedOut, MidDevelopmentGenreShift, UpliftedSideStory. Contrast with OffscreenMomentOfAwesome where a particularly grand moment is seemingly perfectly set up to happen but then isn't seen, and TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot for when they used an awesome idea in a less than ideal way. Occasionally something that was removed survives in another part of the series, then it is RefittedForSequel. If fans prefer the original idea or concept over the final product, then it's FanPreferredCutContent.

* Music/{{Miserable}}: Music/{{Lit}} originally wanted the video to be them performing the song in an arena in a manner similar to concert footage (they wanted something [[ExactWords "sexy" and "huge"]]). But then they received the treatment for the video, which had them performing the song on a giant woman in a bikini. At first the band thought it sounded kind of cheesy but they agreed to do it if they got Pamela Anderson to play the giantess. At the time they were shooting the episode of her show VIP where they were guest stars and had enjoyed working with her. Pamela Anderson was also a major sex symbol at the time, so they figured having her star as the giant woman would give the video more clout and make it come off as less cheesy. The next time they saw Pam the first thing she said was "Hey boys, I'm gonna be in your video" and the rest was history. Considering how well received the video was, it's safe to say that not going the concert footage route was the right choice.

* Prior to the end of the Cookie Jar TV block, [=CBS=] planned to re-brand the block "Team Toon" (likely because of the [=DHX=] Media takeover of Cookie Jar) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NlOIF6S9iA and even ran promos announcing the change]]. Alas, this didn't happen and they simply went with sourcing children's programming from soon-to-be-monopoly-holder Litton Entertainment when the rights agreement with [=DHX=] Media expired.

* Prior to the end of the Cookie Jar TV block, [=CBS=] planned to re-brand the block "Team Toon" (likely because of the [=DHX=] Media takeover of Cookie Jar) and even ran promos announcing the change. Alas, this didn't happen and they simply went with sourcing children's programming from soon-to-be-monopoly-holder Litton Entertainment when the rights agreement with [=DHX=] Media expired.

** A podcast interviewing Julianne Buescher, who puppeteered Denise, Kermit's new girlfriend in the ABC series ''Series/TheMuppets'', revealed that originally the character was intended as a demanding, highly sexualized GoldDigger. Already uncomfortable about the "mean-spiritedness" of the show, she pushed to make the character the sweet, slightly goofy version who actually appears.

*** In 2015, a similar campaign was used to promote ABC's ''Series/TheMuppets'', which has Kermit and Piggy broken up but [[WorkingWithTheEx still working together]].

* There are several ideas in the discussion thread of Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars, some of them did eventually come to fruition, others didn't, at some point, it was decided Andros and Enker would be in the Revenge of the Spark arc, ultimately, they didn't end up becoming part of Lucrezia's army.

* Tropers/DavidMorganMar wanted to feature Quercus, the assistant engineer of the starship ''Legacy'', in cyberspace in the Space theme of ''WebComic/IrregularWebcomic''. He even had a specific cyberspace avatar in mind for him -- a simple LEGO tree. However, [=DMM=] had none in possession, and he had trouble finding LEGO sets with trees. It took him until [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/3877.html No. 3877]], 2652 strips since his first appearance, to have Quercus finally appear in cyberspace[[note]]If you want to get technical, then [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/3871.html No. 3871]], 2646 strips since his first appearance, would be his actual first cyberspace appearance[[/note]], since by that time [=DMM=] had finally resorted to getting some trees from [=BrickLink=].
* When ''WebComic/AndShineHeavenNow'' ended, Erin Ptah did a segment on 'Storylines That Weren't', ideas she had considered for the comic that never made it in:

** A storyline where Pip experiments with his gender presentation [[spoiler: after becoming Seras's familiar.]] Likely dropped because Erin wished to move on to working full time on ''WebComic/ButImACatPerson'' after the spoilered event happened.

* ''WebComic/SleeplessDomain'':

* Music/{{Miserable}}: Music/{{Lit}} originally wanted the video to be them performing the song in an arena in a manner similar to concert footage (they wanted something "sexy" and "huge"). But then they received the treatment for the video, which had them performing the song on a giant woman in a bikini. At first the band thought it sounded kind of cheesy but they agreed to do it if they got Pamela Anderson to play the giantess. At the time they were shooting the episode of her show VIP where they were guest stars and had enjoyed working with her. Pamela Anderson was also a major sex symbol at the time, so they figured having her star as the giant woman would give the video more clout and make it come off as less cheesy. The next time they saw Pam the first thing she said was "Hey boys, I'm gonna be in your video" and the rest was history. Considering how well received the video was, it's safe to say that not going the concert footage route was the right choice.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' came about when Bill Watterson tried to submit a comic called ''The Doghouse'' to United Feature Syndicate. The strip's teenage protagonist had a younger brother (then named Marvin and having BlindingBangs) who carried around a stuffed tiger. Watterson was told that these two were the strongest characters, so he reworked the concept, got rejected by UFS and took it to Universal Press Syndicate instead.

** A podcast interviewing Julianne Buescher, who pupeteered Denise, Kermit's new girlfriend in the ABC series ''Series/TheMuppets'', revealed that originally the character was intended as a demanding, highly sexualized GoldDigger. Already uncomfortable about the "mean-spiritedness" of the show, she pushed to make the character the sweet, slightly goofy version who actually appears.

** The BMW 8-Series had a 550 HP version called "M8" considered, so that BMW would have a rival for the Ferrari 456GT. However, the car never ended up hitting production.

** The company wanted to release a mid-engined 4-seater coupe called "Espada" in 2008. The car was planned to be built using a stretched Gallardo spaceframe and mechanics, but never saw a release.

* Maybach cars were originally meant to have a biturbo V24 engine, displacing 15 litres and making about 1000 HP. Due to packaging issues and problems with designing a durable enough gearbox, the biturbo V12 from the Mercedes S600 and [=CL600=] was used instead.

** Between 2010 and 2014, the company worked on a roadster slotting below the Boxster, but the idea ended up getting abandoned.

** The [=LM001=] was a civilian adaptation of the Cheetah, a military prototype that had too high fuel consumption to be accepted, and might have not existed if the Cheetah got greenlit for army service.

** Later, the company was tooling with the idea of building a front-engined 4-door sedan, like the prototypical Estoque, but instead settled on developing an SUV, the Urus.

** The Mercedes CLS could have never seen production, if not for an executive seeing an employee-made drawing of "a Jaguar built by Mercedes" and deciding to put it into production.

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* ''WebVideo/TheBritishRailwayStories'':
** Originally, the series was to be thirty episodes long, with the final episode set in the modern day and focusing on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Peppercorn_Class_A1_60163_Tornado Tornado]].
** Episode 18 was originally intended to be called "Tale Of The Tay", and would have been about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tay_Bridge_disaster Tay Bridge collapse]] on December the 28th, 1879.

* Mini:
** The 2000s Mini reboot was originally meant to be a kei car-style microvan, before turning into a premium hatchback.
** In the 60s and 70s, British Leyland worked on a hatchback that would replace the original Mini. However, such a design had never reached production. Instead, a bigger hatchback was designed and released in 1980 as the Austin/MG Metro.

* Rover:

* Triumph planned to introduce a redesign of the TR7 in 1983. However, British Leyland decided to discontinue the Triumph brand altogether in 1983.
* An alternative design for the Austin Allegro was a large redesign of its predecessor, the 1100/1300. However, such a design never got into a production.
** The Allegro itself looked far better in the original concept drawings from designer Harris Mann. Unfortunately it's Italian looking lines and modernist nose style became much more rotund and frumpy in production.
* For some time, Peugeot was thinking about building a replacement of the 607, the 608. At some point, the car was even meant to share many mechanical components with the Ford RWD cars (e.g. Lincoln LS) - and the Ford 5.0 V8 would be the top of the line engine! However, in the late 2000s, Peugeot decided to cancel the idea of a 607 replacement.
* The Peugeot 309 was originally going to be sold as the Talbot Arizona, but the cancellation of the Talbot brand led to the change.
* In 2010, Lotus released 5 sports car concepts, intending to put them into production. Unfortunately, financial troubles made only one of the cars, the Elan, have any chance of getting a release, and this is because it would be a replacement to an existing model.

* Packard's 1957 line was originally planned to have its own styling, but ended up being rebadged Studebakers, due to budget constraints.
* The [=McLaren=]-Mercedes partnership had 3 cars planned after the SLR: a mid-engined supercar, codenamed "P8", competing with the Ferrari F430 or Lamborghini Gallardo, a more powerful version of the P8, codenamed "P9" competing with the Ferrari 599 or Lamborghini Murcielago, and a completely different car, codenamed "P10" and replacing the SLR. However, the partnership ended up splitting, due to different visions on it, and only the P8 ended up hitting the market as the [=McLaren=] [=MP4=]-12C, and with [=McLaren=]'s own 3.8 twin-turbo engine, not the AMG 6.3, as originally planned.
* The Honda Fit/Jazz's name was meant to be "Fitta". There even were commercials and press photos showing the car with such badging, but the mockery by Scandinavian press (as "fitta" sounds similar to a few Scandinavian vulgar terms for female genitals) led to a name change.
* The Daewoo Matiz's design was drawn for the Fiat Seicento. However, Fiat turned the offer back, and instead, the design was bought by Daewoo, with a pair of rear doors added.
* The Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow's original nameplate was "Silver Mist". Fortunately, someone noticed that "mist" means "manure" in German, and the car was quickly renamed, with new badges fitted just before the debut.
* In order to turn the Rolls-Royce Phantom into "the ultimate luxury car", BMW was considering fitting it with a 9.0 V16 engine. However, such a car would be too expensive and complicated for production. The only prototypes known to the public were the ones starring in ''Film/JohnnyEnglishReborn''.
* In 2008, a start-up called Carbon Motors showed the E7, a prototypical purpose-built police car, powered by a more durable BMW straight-6 diesel and with special safety capabilities. The original production date target was 2012, but the car was first delayed, and then the company went bankrupt in 2013.
* In 1949, 6 working prototypes of the Taylor Aerocar, a flying car, were built. However, due to financial problems and a lack of a big enough target market, the car wasn't ultimately produced.
* The General Motors [=EV1=] could've given General Motors an environmental edge. Its dismantlement crippled the company's image, and allowed Toyota to get ahead of it.
* After a year sabbatical, Porsche were going to return to the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 2000 with a new prototype car, the LMP-2000, but the project was shelved after one car was built and being tested. The engine design was reused as part of the 2004 Carrera GT road car.
* And these examples are only the tip of the iceberg, as a typical car has about 10 different designs considered before the production car one gets chosen, and most of the aborted ones never see daylight.
* At one point near the end of the existence of the Plymouth brand, Chrysler Corporation was considering having the PT Cruiser sold as a Plymouth (this also fed speculation, with the already in-production Prowler, that Chrysler was planning on a [[{{Retraux}} retro-styling]] theme for their entry-level brand, only for Chrysler's eventual merger with Daimler Benz AG to set the stage for Plymouth's ultimate demise in 2001.
* And speaking of Chrysler's history, their AMC buyout killed several plans for that company's, [[JustForPun ahem, Alliance]] with Renault, most notably the French automaker's plans to export the Espace minivan to the United States. Considering Chrysler's staunch placement in the American minivan market, the prospect of another contender was probably too much for Chrysler to bear, and another factor in their buyout of AMC.

* The 2000s Mini reboot was originally meant to be a kei car-style microvan, before turning into a premium hatchback.
* In the 60s and 70s, British Leyland worked on a hatchback that would replace the original Mini. However, such a design had never reached production. Instead, a bigger hatchback was designed and released in 1980 as the Austin/MG Metro.
* Maybach cars were originally meant to have a biturbo V24 engine, displacing 15 litres and making about 1000 HP. Due to packaging issues and problems with deigning a durable enough gearbox, the biturbo V12 from the Mercedes S600 and CL600 was used instead.
* First design sketches for the 1993-2000 Mercedes C-Class depicted a car with a more rounded appearance.
* The Mercedes CLS could have never seen production, if not for an executive seeing an employee-made drawing of "a Jaguar built by Mercedes" and deciding to put it into production.
* 1962 Dodge midsizers were originally meant to be fullsize cars, but instead got downsized to compete with new GM A-body vehicles.
* Cadillac originally planned their 1967 models to have an [[http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-the-ohc-v12-engine-that-cadillac-almost-built/ OHC V12 engine.]]
* The 1980-2003 Fiat Panda was originally meant to be built on a streched platform of the 126.
** Its name was originally planned to be "Rustica", but someone pointed out that given Fiat's reputation for corrosion, a name containing the word "rust" shouldn't really be considered for any of the brand's products.
* The 2003-2012 Fiat Panda was planned to be an experimental lightweight low fuel consumption 5-seat small car, but ended up as a more traditional city car.
** Also, the vehicle's name was originally meant to be "Gingo", but the protests of Renault, makers of the Twingo, blocked the change.
* The 2007 Fiat 500's original designs depicted a 5-door car with styling similar to the VW New Beetle, but with a more toy-like appearance.
* Volkswagen could have not existed at all, if not for the British major Ivan Hirst reopening the KDF-Wagen factory after World War II and renaming the product to "Volkswagen Type 1", colloquially known as the Beetle.
* The VW Beetle's original replacement was a project codenamed "EA271", a mid-engined hatchback with the motor below the front seats, However, technical difficulties and the high projected cost of producing such a vehicle made the EA271 not enter production. Instead, the VW Golf/Rabbit debuted in 1975 as a Beetle replacement.
* Between 2010 and 2014 Porsche worked on a roadster slotting below the Boxster, but the idea ended up getting abandoned.
* The Porsche 928 was planned as a 911 replacement, but ended up being a more luxurious alternative to it.
* In the late 1980s, BMW was working on the idea of a V16-powered car. There even were a few prototypes of a 6.6 V16 7-Series built, based on the 750i and nicknamed "766i" or "Goldfish", but such an engine ended up being too complicated for a production car.
* The BMW 8-Series had a 550 HP version called "M8" considered, so that BMW would have a rival for the Ferrari 456GT. However, the car never ended up hitting production.
* In the mid-2000s BMW wanted to release a range of 3 crossovers being the middle ground between their wagons and the X [=SUVs=]. These vehicles were meant to be based on the 3-Series, 5-Series and 7-Series, respectively named V3, V5, and V7. The 7-Series-based vehicle never saw production, while the 3-series and 5-series-based ones morphed into the GT versions of these cars.
* Caterham tried to release a car based on the 2017 Renault Alpine, being in an alliance with the latter. Unfortunately, the British company did not have the money it took to design the new model and the car ended up existing only in the digital form and as clay models.
** The alliance also wanted to make a Caterham-branded subcompact and small crossover in order to get more appeal in the Asian markets. These vehicles never went further than the general idea.
* The Lamborghini LM001 was a civilian adaptation of the Cheetah, a military prototype that had too high fuel consumption to be accepted, and might had not existed if the Cheetah got greenlit for army service.
* Lamborghini wanted to release a mid-engined 4-seater coupe called "Espada" in 2008. The car was planned to be built using a stretched Gallardo spaceframe and mechanics, but never saw a release.
** Later, the company was tooling with the idea of building a front-engined 4-door sedan, like the prototypical Estoque, but instead settled on developing an SUV, the Urus.

* The 1964 Ford Mustang was originally meant to be a 2-seat roadster with a rear-mounted V4 engine.
* In the '80s, Ford decided that the 4th generation Mustang would be a Mazda 626-based FWD coupe. Instead, due to public outcry, the 4th generation Mustang was an RWD car, and the FWD coupe was released as the Ford Probe, slotting below the Mustang.
* Early prototypes of the Ford Pinto envisioned it as a highly safe car. However, the production version had many of the safety features removed.
* The Mercury Comet was designed as an addition to the Edsel lineup, but the cancellation of the latter brand got it put in the Mercury lineup in the last second.
* The 3rd generation Ford Focus had a Mercury counterpart, called "Tracer", originally being developed alongside, but the 2010 discontinuation of the Mercury brand led to the cancellation of the Tracer.
* Rover originally planned to introduce a model called "55" in 2003. The car would have been an RWD compact/midsize sedan, competing against the BMW 3-Series. However, it had to be shelved, due to financial problems.
* In the mid-80s, MG Rover worked on an aluminium-bodied 3-cylinder small car that would replace the Metro, but it was deemed too ambitious, and the more conventional Metro stayed on sale.
* The 2nd generation Rover 400 was being designed as an all-new car. Instead, financial troubles led to the final version being just a Honda Concerto with different badging.
* During the pre-order stage, the Jaguar XJ220 was advertised as having a naturally aspirated 542 HP V12 engine, based on the one used in the XJS and XJ12. However, due to yet unknown reasons, the final version delivered to customers ended up getting a 510 HP version of the 3.5 twin turbo V6 from the MG Metro 6R4 rally car.
* In 2010, Jaguar showed the C-X75 concept, a turbine-engined hypercar. A year later, the turbine engine concept was shelved, due to too high [=CO2=] emissions, and replaced with a hybrid 1.6 powertrain, making 888 HP. Unfortunately, that was also cancelled, because of a lack of a big enough target market.
* The Jaguar XJS was originally meant to be mid-engined. A styling cue left over from the original design is the C-pillar shape, made to accommodate vents for an engine behind the seats.
** The same car also had a Daimler version considered in the 1980s, colloquially called the Daimler-S and having normal-styled C-pillars, but it did not reach production.
* Rover was thinking of introducing a mid-engined sports car with their V8 for 1973. Unfortunately, that idea was cancelled to avoid competition with Jaguar, which was planning to make the XJS such a car, as described above.

* The Chevrolet Vega, notorious for its shoddy materials, was originally envisioned as being built out of higher-quality stuff.

* TheWikiRule: It has an English-language wiki [[https://boboiboy.fandom.com/wiki/BoBoiBoy_Wiki here]].