The Road Warror Alternate TV Version

[Monster Jungle X-Ray]

When The Road Warrior (MM2) first aired on NBC in the '80s the version they showed was markedly different than the theatrical/cable tv version. To show such a violent movie they had to cut a lot of scenes, and to make up for it they added footage to pad out the time. They used a good bit of footage that does not appear at all in the original, plus a different voice over at the beginning.

Now this was a common practice back then I believe to recut things for broadcast using footage from the cutting room floor. Does anyone else here remember this particular broadcast? I taped it when it came on, but sadly do not have that video tape anymore.

I specifically remember the big end chase scene had a lot more of Papagallo being chased by the marauders than before, and some changes in the soundtrack to accommodate it. It was weird as it made for a different movie experience, not better than the original cut by any means, but pleasantly different.

[akiratubo]

I recall that all the driving scenes were flipped so that the steering wheels were on the left.  To make people think the movie was happening in the United States?

[Monster Jungle X-Ray]

I recall that all the driving scenes were flipped so that the steering wheels were on the left.  To make people think the movie was happening in the United States?

That is entirely possible. Man I wish I still had that tape, but I must have gotten rid of it when I bought RW on laserdisc 

[dean]

Funny fact about the original Mad Max: people always talk about how violent it was, but it's all implied violence [they don't actually show a lot of it]

For example, Max's wife and kid get killed by bikers, but you don't actually see them get hit, yet the effect is that something violent happened and as such we think it's a violent film...

Can't remember all of Mad Max 2 but I think it's quite similar...

[The Burgomaster]

Funny fact about the original Mad Max: people always talk about how violent it was, but it's all implied violence [they don't actually show a lot of it]

For example, Max's wife and kid get killed by bikers, but you don't actually see them get hit, yet the effect is that something violent happened and as such we think it's a violent film...

Can't remember all of Mad Max 2 but I think it's quite similar...

No . . . the Road Warrior has considerably more on-screen violence than the original Mad Max.

[dean]

Yeah I know but I wanted people to think about how much they actually saw.

But when fingers and the like get lopped off, well yeah...

  

[Monster Jungle X-Ray]

Yeah I know but I wanted people to think about how much they actually saw.

But when fingers and the like get lopped off, well yeah...

   

That is sort of like the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre which has little actual blood shown despite many people swearing they remember it being completely brutal. For the most part implied violence, and mostly unseen supernatural happenings like in the Haunting are far more effective in my book, but sometimes you just want to see the Monster!

[BoyScoutKevin]

I believe I saw it, and if we are talking about the same one, then I hated it, because so much of the violence had been cut out for TV, and this after seeing the film in the theater and surviving. But, then I hate the way most films are cut for TV, and if I've seen a film in the theater, uncut, I won't watch it on TV, unless I know it is uncut as well.

[Monster Jungle X-Ray]

I believe I saw it, and if we are talking about the same one, then I hated it, because so much of the violence had been cut out for TV, and this after seeing the film in the theater and surviving. But, then I hate the way most films are cut for TV, and if I've seen a film in the theater, uncut, I won't watch it on TV, unless I know it is uncut as well.

Yes, it was definitely cut for example when Toadie tried to catch the boomerang it was made to look like he missed instead of getting his fingers cut off. I was mostly interested in seeing the alternate footage again.

[Jim H]

Yeah, I seem to recall seeing several movies on TV in the 80s and 90s that featured alternate footage to make up for cut violent scenes.  Years before the special edition of Aliens came out, I saw a TV version that included the sentry gun scene (it didn't have the other extra scenes though - just that one sequence).  I must have been like 6 years old when I saw that, and forever after I remembered the scene - and everyone thought I was making it up.  Then the special edition became widely available and I was proven right!  Huzzah.

[Monster Jungle X-Ray]

Yeah, I seem to recall seeing several movies on TV in the 80s and 90s that featured alternate footage to make up for cut violent scenes.  Years before the special edition of Aliens came out, I saw a TV version that included the sentry gun scene (it didn't have the other extra scenes though - just that one sequence).  I must have been like 6 years old when I saw that, and forever after I remembered the scene - and everyone thought I was making it up.  Then the special edition became widely available and I was proven right!  Huzzah.

Yes, I remember reading the novelization of Aliens and it included that sequence. At the time I thought that would have been awesome in the movie, glad to know that it actually existed.

[Jim H]

You haven't seen the special edition?  You really should.  The extra scenes really help out (except maybe the new opening...  I'm not so sure about its place), especially the extra information about Ripley's background, makes the subplot with Newt even better.