Second Opportunities

 

Pixar Animation Studios is a great animation company. They make great movies and short films that have beautiful animation, lovable characters, mature life lessons and those things still stick with us today. Not only are they good at making movies, but I do think they can make sequels too, they can expand on characters or give side characters more time to shine and  be just as amazing as their predecessors because of that, I usually get excited when I hear that they’re going to make a sequel, I’m looking forward to Inside Out 2 this year, we never saw what happens when one hits puberty in that universe, we got a hint near the end but nothing came from it, but now it will, which sounds interesting.  One of the great things that Pixar can do with their sequels (granted other companies can do that too) is that sometimes they can take an idea they wanted use in the first or previous movie and use it for the sequel. Sometimes, when you make a movie or story, you can come up with an idea that on paper might sound good, but once you pitch it to the filmmakers or read it over, you realize that idea or a scene might not work for the story for many reasons. Maybe it’s unnecessary, or because of pacing. However, if a certain idea doesn’t work, don’t be discouraged, instead of throwing it away, you can save it because you never know, if you make a sequel or another story, that idea could go there, I like to call them “second opportunities”. Pixar has done that with some of their sequels, and I’m going to talk about two of their sequels that took second opportunities, whether it was a deleted scene or an alternative plot element and those sequels are, Toy Story 2 and Finding Dory.

Toy Story 2

Toy Story 2 had two deleted scenes that were originally planned to be in the first movie but were scrapped for different reasons but they did find a home when they made the sequel.

The first deleted scene was opening with a Buzz Lightyear adventure. The first movie had different alternate openings, and here is one of them. The opening had a cartoon on television where Buzz Lightyear defeats the evil Emperor Zurg and saves a planet of orphans from being blown up. As soon as the cartoon ended, it shows Andy was watching it before he goes to play with Woody. The reason this scene was cut off was because with Andy enjoying the cartoon, we wouldn’t have believed that Woody was Andy’s favourite toy so we wouldn’t exactly feel for him when Andy started playing with Buzz more. So, they cut that scene out and replaced it with that rather adorable opening with Andy playing with Woody with You’ve Got A Friend In Me playing in the background, I’m sure we all remember doing that with our toys when we were kids, minus the song of course. While the Buzz Lightyear cartoon was cut, the idea became a second opportunity when Pixar made Toy Story 2, with a few changes, instead of a cartoon, it was a video game and Buzz failed to defeat Zurg, the latter then reveals that it was Rex playing the game, and he laments on never being able to defeat Zurg because of his little arms, this sets up the subplot of Rex wanting to defeat him once and for all, and that’s how the Buzz Lightyear Adventure opening found a home and became a second opportunity.

Another scene in Toy Story 2 that was intended to be in the first movie was a scene where Woody has a nightmare where Andy throws him away because of his ripped arm. The first movie was going to have a scene similar to this, except in this nightmare, it was his fear of being replaced by Buzz. The nightmare had Andy playing with Buzz, being impressed by his ability to glow in the dark, then he tried to see if Woody glowed, only to see that he doesn’t, he crossly declared that he doesn’t like him anymore and angrily tosses him in the trash and leaves in the moving van. Then, the worst happens, some cockroaches surround Woody and eat him alive! Yikes! The scene was cut off for many reasons, it was too dark, Woody seemed to paranoid of Buzz, Andy seemed too cruel even in a dream sequence and the filmmakers realized that Woody falling off the bed was enough of a signal that Woody was losing his “favourite toy” position to Buzz, so they cut the scene out and replaced it with the “Strange Things” sequence where Woody becomes second fiddle to Buzz and it makes us feel for him, even if he does end up making bad choices, more on that in the next page. While the nightmare sequence didn’t make the final cut, it became a second opportunity when Pixar was able to use that idea in Toy Story 2, with a few changes. Like I said before, instead of Woody’s fear of being replaced, it was him fearing Andy wouldn’t want to play with him because of his ripped arm and he was shelved before Andy left for Cowboy Camp. It does a fine job establishing Woody’s fears and gives him a reason to want to go to the museum with the Roundup Gang. The nightmare sequence was still scary (TV Tropes pointed out that Woody getting pulled into the trash can by broken arms is just like one getting pulled into a grave by bloody zombie hands) but thankfully not as scary as the original idea (the cockroach bit is just disturbing on so many levels) and it toned down the cruelty where in this sequence Andy seemed possessed when he told Woody he didn’t want to play with him anymore and even when he threw him away he looked sad, as sad as he was before he left for summer camp. And that’s how Woody’s nightmare found a home and became a second opportunity.

Another Pixar sequel took an idea from it’s predecessor and used it for this movie, however this time, instead of a scene, it’s a plot element and that sequel is Finding Dory. I’m going to explain this one, a bit differently, this time in reverse.

 

Finding Dory

Finding Dory originally started with Dory’s life with her parents, then they would show how she got lost and how she grew up before she bumped into Marlin. This idea didn’t work because they realized they were telling too much, showing it all in the beginning would make things less surprising, so director Andrew Stanton decided to show Dory’s past and eventually show how she got lost through a series of flashbacks. The irony of it is, the same thing happened when Pixar worked on Finding Nemo, except it was the other way around.

Finding Nemo originally opened with Nemo waking his father, excited that it was his first day at school, instead of the tragic opening we all know and love. We were originally going to see Marlin’s life with his wife, leading up to the tragedy through a series of flashbacks. The flashbacks showed how Marlin met Coral, the two finding their new home, Coral being pregnant and Marlin feeling nervous about being a father, Marlin and Coral looking at their eggs in the grotto and then, the tragedy where Coral and almost all of the eggs get eaten by a barracuda, leaving a heartbroken and traumatized Marlin all alone until he discovers that only one egg managed to survive, he picks it up in his fins, promises to never let anything happen to him and names the egg, Nemo in memory of his wife’s wishes. When the filmmakers pitched the story with that idea, there was only one problem, the audience didn’t like Marlin, he seemed too much of a nervous nelly and with the audience not understanding why he was like this made it hard to sympathise with him, and since the final flashback was to take place near the end, it would be too little, too late and that would hurt the movie. If your audience doesn’t like or sympathizes with the protagonist, then you’re doing something wrong. Plus, if they kept it, they would be telling 3 stories, I think we can agree that Marlin and Dory’s adventures in the ocean and Nemo’s subplot with the Tank Gang is enough. So to fix that problem, Pixar took some of the flashbacks and put them into the opening, showing Marlin and Coral admiring their new home, watching over the eggs and then the barracuda attack and Marlin finding and vowing to protect and take care of Baby Nemo and cue the title. This opening made a huge difference, Marlin was still the same character he was but by showing the opening, audiences sympathized with Marlin and he became one of Pixar’s most loveable protagonists and fathers, not to mention underrated protagonist, (it baffles me that he doesn’t get as much attention as some of the other characters even in merchandise). So, the flashback plot element might not have worked in Finding Nemo, but when Pixar and Andrew Stanton made Finding Dory, they turned that plot element into a second opportunity when working on it. We got flashbacks showing Dory’s childhood from the times she spent with her parents, the values they taught her like how to find another way and how to just keep swimming, a song Dory carried throughout her life and finally how she got separated from her parents and how she ended up lost in the first place. These flashbacks worked well, not only did they move the plot forward and expand on Dory’s character, but it was perfectly fitting for a character with short term memory loss than a character with PTSD. Not to mention, the flashbacks are both cute and emotional. That my dears, is how the flashbacks element found a home in Finding Dory and became a second opportunity.

In conclusion, Pixar being able to use ideas they wanted to use in their predecessors with a few changes in their sequels, turning them into second opportunities, is another great example of how great they are at storytelling and how they can inspire a lot of authors, writers and screenwriters too! If you ever have an idea for a story that might not work out, don’t throw it away, save it because you never know if you make another story or a sequel, that idea could find a home there. Sometimes they could, sometimes, they might not, but when they do, they can be excellent additions to a great story and be excellent second opportunities!!