From a gigantic Panda Mei facing off with Mingzilla, to deleted 4*Town scenes, and a
rival red panda cousin, the original version of Pixar's Turning Red was going to be very
different.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan and in this video I'm revealing the alternate ending
of Turning Red and the incredible deleted scenes and storylines you never got to see!
Spoilers ahead, of course, so take care.
One of the most spectacular moments in Turning Red is when Ming's red panda form is finally
revealed.
She's huge!
I told you she was big!
That big?
Despite Panda Mei's tiny size in comparison, she's still able to knock Mingzilla out.
However, this final face-off was originally going to be quite different with a giant Red
Panda Mei going up against her mother in a Godzilla vs King Kong-style clash.
In the first draft of the story, Meilin's red panda grew and shrank in size depending
on how emotional she got; and the idea was that, by the very end, Mei
would get so angry with her mother that she'd become similarly gigantic.
What would have led to Mei's massive monster-sized emotions was, as in the final film, Ming utterly
humiliating her in front of her beloved boy band.
You are in big trouble young lady.
After already having embarrassed her daughter in front of her classmates at school and the
store.
The two ginormous pandas would have then gone on to fight in the streets of Toronto in an
epic kaiju-esque battle.
The problem, however, was that when the filmmakers presented their idea, there were lots of questions
about why Mei would grow to such a size, and coming up with consistent rules as to how
or why she'd grow to different sizes at different times ended up being too complicated and confusing.
In the end, the filmmakers decided to simplify Mei's transformation so that she simply poofed
into a single-sized panda regardless of the level of her emotions.
Which perhaps made Ming's transformation into the absolutely humungous Mingzilla even more
surprising given we'd only seen Mei's panda up until that point.
By the way, The Art of Turning Red book also has an interesting storyboard of another deleted
version of the ending where a helicopter news reporter can be seen reporting on the panda
showdown in the streets below, followed by a shot of Mingzilla grabbing Panda Meilin
and getting ready to spank her, possibly for the twerking show she put on.
Also in the book is a version of Mei's panda where she appears to have what's called "Fire
Fur", the ability to conjure fire whenever she's angry, which you can also see in this
concept art of Meizilla squaring off against her mother with fiery, red paws.
A little of this fiery design might have ended up in the look of Ming's panda with her spiky,
almost flame-like tail.
Turning Red director Domee Shi has said there were eight different versions of the story
before they settled on the final one.
And in another early draft, Ming was in fact pleased about Mei's ability to turn into a
red panda because "the panda was a good luck charm for the temple".
In this version, Ming turned Panda Mei into a tourist attraction for the shrine that she
could monetize by having her pose for pictures and put up with other stuff like being a therapy
red panda.
Some aspects of this did end up in the final film when, after the destruction of the Skydome,
Panda Mei uses her new-found fame to help raise funds for its reconstruction.
And, of course, in the main part of the movie Mei uses her panda at school to raise money
for tickets to see 4*Town.
According to Shi, the first version of the movie was really "kooky" and a "goofy […] screwball
kind of comedy" that featured a villain by the name of Benny Blacktooth.
Benny was a gangster in Chinatown who was trying to take over the temple when it started
running out of money.
But they later realised the story was getting far too complicated and veering away from
its core which was a fantastical tale about adolescence.
There's an interesting clip in the Turning Red trailer which didn't make it into the
final movie of Meilin and her friends marching through school with placards, a megaphone,
and a little drum, protesting environmental issues.
Disney's documentary about the making of the film also has footage of the girls falling
to the floor as part of the protest with the other students looking on.
Power to the people!
The Art of Turning Red book also has designs of Mei holding up banners that read "Respect
Your Mother Earth" and "Hens Should Be Free".
And there's another deleted scene of Mei watching TV with Miriam, Priya and Abby and then declaring
her sudden love for boy band 4*Town.
I didn't even like 4*Town last year, but now they're literally the greatest thing that
ever happened to me!
Another deleted storyline had Panda Mei officiating at a wedding.
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According to the artist, this early concept art shows a Chinese mafia wedding which I
think means it was part of the Benny Blacktooth gangster storyline.
This makes sense given all the dark-suited types hanging around the banquet hall.
It's curious that despite the elaborate setup there's no guests, and it looks like there
are some beads of sweat on Mei's forehead, like she's especially nervous, plus the bride
does not look happy at all.
Another intriguing detail is the two merfolk in tanks on either side of the bride and groom.
In another iteration of the story, there was a rivalry and "generational family feud" between
the Lees and Mei's cousin and aunt who could both also turn into pandas.
In that version, Grandma also died and Mei met her extended family at the funeral.
That storyline was scrapped because it ended up becoming too plot-focused and complex,
rather than centring on the experience of a young girl growing up.
Although we did, of course, see Meilin's drawings of Devon in her notebook, there's several
other pages we never got to see when Mei ripped them up after her mum embarrassed her at the
Daisy Mart.
Pixar, however, have released the sketches from the whole notebook online which reveal
extras pages such as one with Devon as a centaur, possibly a nod to Onward, and another of Mei
and her three friends dressed like the protagonists from the hit anime series Sailor Moon.
Domee Shi has talked about the influence of Sailor Moon on Turning Red including "the
pastels and the dreaminess […] of the nightscapes".
And some early concept art reveals some more deleted Sailor Moon easter eggs such this
one on the wall of Mei's bedroom.
There's also Luigi and Toad from the Super Mario franchise in this pic which didn't make
it into the final movie.
Another interesting detail in this early concept art is that Mei's name was originally Fei.
I've not seen an official explanation given for the name change, but it's quite possible
it was altered to avoid repeating the name of the protagonist, Fei Fei, from Netflix's
animated feature Over The Moon, which was released in 2020.
The title of the movie "Turning Red" has numerous layers of meaning referring both to Mei's
literal discovery that she can transform into a red panda;
a metaphor also for an adolescent girl getting her period for the first time.
Did the red peony bloom?
No!
Maybe?
(GASPS) And the sense of shame and embarrassment that
Mei feels whenever her overbearing mother intervenes in her life outside home, and her
anger and rebellion against that.
Plus, Red is a lucky color.
However, as revealed in the Disney+ documentary, there were a lot of different titles also
considered for the story.
Many of these were intriguing puns such as Notorious R.P.G.
(Red Panda Girl), a play on one of rapper Biggie Smalls' stage names, The Notorious
B.I.G.; My Neighbor Toronto, a reference to Studio
Ghibli's My Neighbour Totoro; P.M.S.
(Panda Mayhem Story), with PMS also standing for premenstrual syndrome, and Mayhem also
possibly being a play on Mei's name; Red and Redder is likely a nod to the movie
Dumb and Dumber; Red to Me probably refers to the expression
"Dead To Me", coincidentally also the title of an awesome Netflix series;
and these ones here are another example of Mei's original name Fei.
Some other fun deleted scenes in The Art of Turning Red book include this one of Mei in
her den under the bed relaxing to music; Red Panda Mei and friends reading in a store
or library; in this scene we see that Mei's favourite
boy band was called "Boyz In Streets", likely a mashup of Boyz 2 Men and the Backstreet
Boys; there also was a scene of Ming and Mei crying
while watching a movie or TV show; and this piece makes me wonder whether Mei
had a baby sibling in another version; and then there was an extra A113 easter egg
in the Skydome stadium that wasn't in the final film.
There's even more amazing concept art from the movie in The Art of Turning Red book,
so I'll add a link below for where you can get the book with free shipping worldwide.
I really loved the finished film, but do you wish any of these scenes or alternate storylines
had been included?
Let me know in the comments below.
Next, tap left to discover all the secret symbolism and clues to the ending hidden in
Turning Red and if you enjoyed this video, then do leave a thumbs-up, I really appreciate
it.
Thanks for enjoying this movie with me and hope you have a marvellous movie-loving week!
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!