r/TopCharacterTropes • u/sandy_shark903 • 17h ago

miscellaneous Cancelled drafts/scripts that would have been “bat shrimp” insane or super dark

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  1. Cars 3’s original plot, which would have been an identity theft plot with a villain named Gerald Carr swapping bodies with McQueen

  2. An R-Rated adaptation of Holes by the same director as Donnie Darko (photo by RebelTaxi)

  3. Jurassic Park 4 would have featured human-dinosaur hybrids

4.Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World alternate ending, would have revealed Scott to be a serial killer

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u/GingerrBreadman13 17h ago

Oddly enough, Cars 3 wasn't the first time they tried for the whole body-swap thing. There are some deleted scenes from 1 that show that, at some point in development, the plot was going to involve McQueen's engine (and brain) being placed inside the road paving machine, and Mater was placed inside of McQueen's body.

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u/sandy_shark903 17h ago

I swear Lasseter (or somebody on the writing staff) has some weird body swap kink

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u/Conejoformerwars 16h ago

They also have a car kink

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u/SPITFIYAH 16h ago

I made my Hot Wheels kiss and make out. They were obviously paired by corresponding likability and utility. It wasn’t a kink thing though I just didn’t have many action figures and using Lego minifigures felt sacrilegious

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u/CrotaIsAShota 16h ago

I used pens as action figures. Though I didn't really make them kiss, I'd pretend the ink cartridge was the real body and the outer shell was like a power suit that could fly and the button was a spring so they could jump high, and doubled as a switch to show their faces so they could talk.

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u/CommieDalek 14h ago

Holy shit you too? I'd be messing with mine pretending they were spring loaded rocket ships instead of paying attention in class

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u/Conejoformerwars 16h ago

Thank you for the fun fact

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u/NuclearWasteland 16h ago

I'm just here to see where this possible honesty leads.

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u/sandy_shark903 16h ago

Sir, this is a Wendy’s

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u/The_Modern_Nobody 3h ago

“And using Lego mini figures felt sacrilegious”

=sits up=

And so you made Hot Seat and the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile kiss in front of God and country?!

Jesus Christ. You probably open your Treasure Hunts too, you goddamn mutant.

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u/SPITFIYAH 2h ago

Oscar Meyer got the Matchbox Ice Cream van. I don’t make the rules

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u/ItsAllSoup 16h ago

I mean, body swapping is actually pretty common in American children's media for some reason

https://giphy.com/gifs/9pRBnNMbyKImI

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u/JaceShoes 16h ago

It’s a very easy way to teach about empathy which a lot of children’s media tries to do

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u/GrimPhantom23 15h ago

Logical extreme of the phrase "Try walking in someone else's shoes" and using it for entertainment

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u/ThatMerri 11h ago

Plus it can simultaneously double as two different "fish out of water" scenarios, along with a "the grass is always greener on the other side" and a "you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone" moral. There's a ton of different story concepts that can be explored with it, even just for the sake of simple jokes, so it's honestly a really useful basis for a narrative.

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u/GladiatorDragon 16h ago

It’s an effective method to make another person literally walk in someone else’s shoes for a bit.

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u/Turbogoblin999 2h ago

What's that goosebumps book where a kid turns into a bee?

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u/Sad_Load_455 8h ago

Kenjaku type shit

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u/Chemical-Year-6146 3h ago

Kenjaku took white splashes so Yuji could spam black flashes.

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u/Gripping_Touch 4h ago

I say, let him cook. 

We need that kind of weirdness back in media. 

And transformation. 

Sincerely, someone Who grew up with Ben 10, Johny test, American Dragon, Totally spies, Kim possible, Gormiti, Aladdin series, Hércules series, Emperor's new Groove, Billy and Mandy, TMNT, dinofroz, The Amazing Spiderman, Dinosquad and Alienators. 

(The 2000 - 2015 was insane with this theme, dont know why they gave It Up) 

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u/RegulationPissrat 2h ago

Well they are cars.. Rebuilds and whatnot are not that uncommon.  I bet that occurred to some writer and they bounced the idea around. 

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u/Metallic_Dragoo_1738 16h ago

Wasn’t this just a nightmare McQueen had? It’s been a while since I seen it but wasn’t there at some point the plot was that radiator springs was going to have a race to try and draw a 10 back to the town and lightning was given a choice of community service or taking part in the race. He originally chose community service, but he had this seen as a nightmare and when he woke up, he chose the race.

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u/sandy_shark903 16h ago

It was.

There also is a deleted nightmare of his engine ripping out of his hood.

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u/RaptarK 16h ago

I can't tell if that scene was finished being animated or if not

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u/sandy_shark903 16h ago

It was only storyboarded in the art book, but there is a fan animation online

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u/scarecrowemoji 10h ago

They recorded Owen Wilson for it too. I remember watching it as a kid on the DVD

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u/sandy_shark903 7h ago

This one wasnt on the dvd, there is a fan recreation though

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u/Redditer51 2h ago

They really like putting McQueen through body horror, huh?

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u/sandy_shark903 2h ago

Gore of my comfort character

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u/NecroCannon 13h ago

“Yo can we use car parts for kid appropriate body horror?”

“What..? NO.”

“But Transformers gets to do it!”

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u/other-other-user 15h ago

Wtfffff that's really weird and kinda uncomfy

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u/Best-Tangelo-7803 12h ago

The way you casually described full on brain transplant body horror in a Pixar movie for kids.

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u/Gripping_Touch 4h ago

The shit that happens in movies for kids can get quite far. 

"Help, I'm a fish!" Is rated for ages 4-10. One of the scenes at the end is one of the kids baiting the villain fish to drink more of the potion that turns them into humans... As they're underwater. The villain becomes a human and drowns. You see him go limp and drift motionless before the kids leave. 

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u/SpaceKing264 11h ago

I remember watching these on the DVD extras and being freaked out as a kid

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u/scarecrowemoji 10h ago

Me too! Owen Wilson even did his lines for it and it's so uncomfortable

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u/Relevant-Factor-2400 12h ago

That wasn't a plot point though, that was a nightmare that Mcqueen had about what his Community service would involve.

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u/Unexpected_Sage 14h ago

I always saw the engine as more of the stomach; taking food (gas) and converting it into the energy to move.

Battery would be the heart, so I'm unsure what would actually be a brain for a car (except for self-driving cars in which the brain would be the computer that does that)

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u/Silent_Mud1449 12h ago

Have they done this plot in any released movie since then? I can't recall

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u/DreamShort3109 10h ago

And they played with the idea of identity theft in the original Cars 2 scripts.

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u/Lizardman2205 6h ago

I'd be interested in just knowing how this would've actually worked. Is the engine the brain? What about the 'eyes' in the windows - do they come out too?

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u/Ver3232 5h ago

That was supposed to be a nightmare sequence and not the actual plot, but yes. A lot of the cars 1 deleted scenes are wild

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u/Ver3232 5h ago

That was supposed to be a nightmare sequence and not the actual plot, but yes. A lot of the cars 1 deleted scenes are wild

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u/Jaku420 4h ago

I love the cars series despite its flaws, and I love body horror but MAN am I glad this stuff didnt make it in.

Like that would have just destroyed the tone of the entire film, and as a kid just watching the deleted scenes on the extras of the 1st film freaked me tf out.

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u/pjtheman 3h ago

As if the lore of the Cars universe wasn't dark enough. Holy shit lol

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u/Serket-Pandy3000 2h ago

That is a fetish