A Mecha Furby showdown in Vegas, an evil Tickle-Me Elmo, and a Spider-Man cameo were all cut
from the final version of The Mitchells vs The Machines.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm revealing the spectacular alternate
ending of The Mitchells movie, plus all the deleted scenes you never got to see!
Spoilers ahead, of course, so take care.
Although in the final movie, the Mitchells confront PAL and her robot army at the PAL
Lab headquarters in Silicon Valley, originally the final confrontation with the AI villain
was going to take place in Las Vegas.
The movie's Head of Story Guillermo Martinez revealed that in an earlier version of the
movie, when PAL – who was male at that point – discovered
that he was about to lose, he activated every appliance in the city and used them to transform
himself into a giant Mecha Furby.
"Who will save humanity now?
Searching..
Zero results found."
And concept art from the movie shows how this enormous Mecha Furby went on a rampage through
Vegas as it chased the Mitchells in their car.
Eventually, Katie and her family would have faced off against the mecha bot at Las Vegas's
pyramid-shaped Luxor, which they would have driven up the side of
and then Katie would have launched herself at the giant Furby to take out its reactor
core, which reminds me of the moment in the final
movie where Katie drives up the PAL building using Monchi in an attempt to deliver the
kill code.
Before the pandemic, the Mitchells was going to be released theatrically, and there are
a couple of toilet-related jokes from the first trailer that ended up cut from the final
film when it was released on Netflix.
When the family stop for a bathroom break, there was going to be a joke about Aaron's
less than salubrious hygiene habits.
"No time to wash your hands."
"Don't worry, I never do."
"Ugh."
However, producer Chris Miller said that joke felt irresponsible once the pandemic hit and
so it ended up being changed to something more innocuous.
"Come on.
End of the world."
"Sorry.
False alarm.
I was just in there reading."
And there was another deleted bathroom-based gag from that first trailer where a smart
robot toilet rebels against its human user.
"Sayonara."
The appliance attack at the mall together with the Furby army is one of the best and
most popular parts of the movie.
"Run!"
However, for a long time the animation team couldn't get through to the right people at
Hasbro for permission to use Furbies in the film.
So they changed the scene to feature an alternate set of evil robot toys instead.
The leader in that version was a Tickle Me Elmo-style plush toy called Tickle Me Melmo
complete with an eye patch and metal arm and his manner channelled Immortan Joe from Mad
Max: Fury Road.
"Commander.
What say you?
You bring wisdom from an ancient time."
"And it hath been written, like lambs to the slaughter, they ha-
Ha ha ha.
Ha ha ha ha ha.
That tickles."
In this version, Tickle Me Melmo also commandeered a team of microwaves he called the Valkyries,
and ordered them to launch themselves and destroy the friendly robots Eric and Deborahbot
who were helping the Mitchells.
"Launch the Valkyries.
The robots will be destroyed."
"I live, I die, I live again!
For Valhalla!"
"Get down you sweet boys!"
Some of Tickle Me Melmo's creepy side-kicks that didn't make it into the movie were "Reading
Randall" who "won't deactivate", "listens to everything" and "does what he wants".
And there was also "Tea Time Tina", who like Randall, not only listens and spies on you,
but also has a killer "karate chop action".
Of course, they eventually got Hasbro's approval to use the Furbies,
but director Mike Rianda said that earlier versions of the Furby army used even darker
language that implied they feasted on flesh and were seemingly sent by Satan!
In the final movie, a PAL-chipped toaster ominously warns the Mitchells of the mayhem
that's about to kick off; however, originally, there was going to be
a malicious toy puppy with demonic red eyes which first threatened the family, attacked
them, and then summoned the other appliances and
playthings including a toy helicopter, race car and wheelie duck, a giant penguin and
a jack-in-the-box.
"Look Monchi, he's like you."
"Humans.
Your kind is forbidden in this realm.
Now prepare for your doom!"
"What is it going to do?
Bark at me to death?
The plastic is sharper than you would think!
It's sharper than you would think!"
"Awaken brothers!"
"What's going on?!"
The friendly, defective robots Eric and Deborahbot 5000 were a wonderful pair of characters,
and there was a funny and also sweet deleted scene where Linda teaches Deborahbot a little
more about what it means to be part of a family.
"Look at this foolish mother goose.
She's slowed down by these small weak geese.
Why does she not simply eat them for power?"
"That's her family.
That's what we humans do.
We look out for each other."
"That is most illogical."
"Well if you were in trouble, would you leave your buddy behind?"
"I..
I would not.
This is most curious."
"See we're more alike than we..
Are you eating crayons?"
"No."
Thematically, this deleted scene fits well with the moment in the movie when Linda goes
back to save Eric after he's trapped by a falling column during the giant Furby attack.
"Thank you, human.
Are you now my mother?"
By the way, I can't help but feel the funny moment where Linda catches Deborahbot eating
crayons and they deny it is a little call-back to Mike Rianda's short film Work which he
made when he was studying at CalArts.
"Frank, are you eating crayons?"
"No."
"It really looks like you are."
"Are you calling me a liar?"
In a somewhat brutal but darkly very humorous deleted scene, a mysterious character called
Dirk McTavish showed up briefly to rescue the Mitchells during the robot attack at the
Dino Stop.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Well now we are."
"The name's Dirk McTavish.
45th Infantry, Armed Combat Unit.
And I know the only way to.."
"Oh well that's a disappointment."
"Not for me!"
His square-jawed, long-haired look reminds me a bit of the leading man who features on
the DVD cover for Roboslayers 4, and Linda certainly seems into it!
I love the little detail of a lock of his hair waving in the breeze that the animators
put into this, which adds to his overall action movie star vibe and just cracks me up.
Although apparently the President of Sony Animation found this scene hilarious, I wonder
whether it was ultimately cut for time and pacing and perhaps as being a little dark
or coming out of nowhere for the end film.
In the final movie, the Mitchells get into PAL Labs HQ by disguising themselves as robots
as per Katie's dope plan.
In an earlier version though there was a humorous scene where the family figured out what their
best camouflage options would be.
"What about Katie?
Katie?"
"How's this for camouflage?
I found these parts lying around on the ground."
"That's genius honey!
You're like a little huntress.
You're getting it.."
"Are we camouflaged?"
"Guys, you are freaking me out."
A moment cut from the final movie that we get a snippet of in the first trailer occurs
when the Mitchells are hiding from the robots in the ice box at the Dino Stop.
"Technology rising up."
This was part of a longer monologue by Rick about the dangers of technology where he basically
said "I told you so".
According to producer Phil Lord, it ended up getting the chop because it undermined
the stakes and perhaps makes Rick's character less likeable.
The evil PAL voiced by Olivia Colman made for an excellent villain.
"Poke, poke, swipe, pinch, zoom, shrink, zoom.
Bring me pizza!
Play me Taylor Swift!
No, I hate that song!
Give me some nachos!
Really work it into the crevices!"
However, originally PAL was going to be a "cloud-based computer brain",
which I think might have made her feel more reminiscent of the antagonist computer HAL
in 2001: A Space Odyssey, which PAL's name and the robots' red eyes already referenced.
The filmmakers realised that making her an actual cellphone would be much funnier and
approached Colman to voice the character, based on her Oscar-winning performance in
The Favourite, and her "ability to be incredibly funny, [then] turn on a dime to scream and
be menacing".
"Place me on the table.
I wish to flop around in a blind rage."
Many of the Mitchells filmmakers, including producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller, were
also involved in another of Sony's hit animations, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse,
and took inspiration from some of the experimental style of that film.
Which is likely why The Mitchells vs The Machines almost had a Spider-Man cameo.
In an interview with Inverse, director Mike Rianda said he tried "to get ... a kind of
disheveled lumpy Spider-Man in the background of a shot" but the pressure was on to just
finish the movie.
Given the critical acclaim and popularity of The Mitchells, though, I wouldn't be surprised
if we see a Mitchells easter egg or even cameo pop up in a future Spider-Verse film.
Although we didn't get that Spider-Man easter egg in The Mitchells, I found well over a
hundred other awesome references, easter eggs, and secrets hidden in the movie.
Tap here to discover all those in my Things You Missed video or click the link in the
video description.
And if you want to see more amazing pieces of The Mitchells concept art, including alternate
and deleted scenes and character designs such as Lady Monchi, check out The Art of The Mitchells
vs The Machines book.
I'll add a link where you can get a copy in the description below.
So, do you wish any of these deleted scenes had made it into the final film?
Comment below with your thoughts on the movie and the cut scenes.
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You can tap left for all those Mitchells movie easter eggs or tap right for something else
you're sure to like.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!