Writers rarely, if ever, craft a perfect story on their first try. They often go through several drafts, and sometimes the final product differs greatly from the original version. In the modern era, when stories are translated and updated from much older texts, not to mention adapted for TV shows and films, many details can be lost. And not just subtle details, but entire plotlines, characters, and much more.
10. Pinocchio killed Jiminy Cricket and then he was hanged.
The story of Pinocchio, a wooden doll who became a boy, was literally adapted for the screen dozens of times . The original story, titled "The Adventures of Pinocchio," was written in 1881 by Carlo Collodi as a serialized story. The book as a whole was published in 1883.
As with many fairy tales aimed at children from a bygone era, the original Pinocchio was a bit darker than today's version. For example, although the original featured a talking cricket, later named Jiminy, he wasn't actually the protagonist's friend. Instead, when the talking cricket decides to give Pinocchio an order, the puppet angrily throws a hammer at the beetle's head, killing him.
Pinocchio himself eventually dies in this story, at least briefly. After Gepetto is arrested for mistreating a puppet, Pinocchio meets a fox and a cat, who learn he has some gold, so they they hang it on a tree and steal it.
The Death of Pinocchio was supposed to put an end to the story , a little moral tale about the dangers of lying and disobedience, but his editor encouraged him to continue the story, so the Blue Fairy arrives and rescues him, and his adventures continue until, eventually, he ends up becoming a real boy.
9. Pazuzu from The Exorcist was called upon to fight the worst demons.
Pazuzu's name wasn't widely known before the film's release. «The Exorcist» 1973 . In this story, Pazuzu is a demon who possesses Linda Blair's character, ostensibly to punish the priest, Father Karras, for his lack of faith. He encountered the demon's imagery early in his life in Iraq, and it clearly showed an interest.
The author of the book «The Exorcist »" Pazuzu didn't just pick the name out of thin air. In real life, Pazuzu hailed from Mesopotamia, where he was the personification West Wind . He is the king of the wind demons and has two pairs of wings, a monstrous head, and a scorpion-like tail. But our modern understanding of what a demon is wasn't necessarily what it was for people between the 8th and 6th centuries BC, when Pazuzu was in his prime.
As demonic as he was, Pazuzu was also a curse for other, more malevolent spirits, such as Lamashtu. Invoking Pazuzu could protect you. from Lamashtu , who was believed to prey on pregnant women and newborns. In his own way, Pazuzu was an exorcist who kept a far worse demon at bay.
8. The One Ring was not the One Ring in the original The Hobbit.
Before «The Lord of the Rings» became a worldwide hit worth hundreds of millions of dollars, it was a modest series of children's books written by J.R.R. Tolkien. And before "« The Lord of the Rings» was just «The Hobbit» .
Initially «The Hobbit »" was published in 1937, and at the time it was a standalone book that Tolkien had no particular intention of expanding into a larger universe. Because of this, the original "Hobbit" actually differs from «"The Hobbit", which we know. As soon as Tolkien began to expand his story with "« The Lord of the Rings» , he had to rework «The Hobbit» , to make the story work. In particular, the One Ring and Gollum needed significant edits to make the story work.
Before the revision, the One Ring wasn't the One Ring at all. It was just a ring. It was magical, sure, but not in any significant way. Its owner was invisible, but that didn't matter much. When Bilbo met Gollum, Gollum was happy. put your magic ring to their little competition because it didn't really matter to him. He still uses the name Precious, But he's talking about himself, not the ring. After Bilbo wins the ring, their paths diverge, and Gollum doesn't seem to care one way or the other.
7. Sherlock Holmes was originally a cocaine addict
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is one of the greatest literary characters, who still lives on in new tales in print and on screen. His first appearance was in «A Study in Scarlet» in 1887, and his keen observation and intelligence made him an instant classic, as well as a model for the numerous fictional detectives that followed.
One of the major differences between the original Sherlock and what became of him was that Sherlock Holmes was originally cocaine addict . And not just a random drug addict, this man loved his cocaine . In the second Sherlock novel, The Sign of Four, published in 1890, the book actually begins with Watson annoyed that Sherlock is injecting drugs again. Holmes explicitly states that he uses cocaine, a 7% solution, and even offers it to Watson. This occurred after Watson remarked that he had observed Holmes injecting himself three times a day for "many months.".
While Watson disapproves, Holmes counters that while cocaine may be physically harmful, the mental effects are worth it because he finds it "extraordinarily stimulating and clearing of the mind.".
By 1904, Holmes was no longer a drug addict, as explained in the story "« The Adventure of the Three-Quarter Missing» . There we learn that Watson weaned him off drugs. This coincides with the period when cocaine, once used in all sorts of products, including Coca-Cola, was banned due to its harmful effects.
6. In the original stage version «The Wizard of Oz» Instead of Toto there was a cow.
Most of us know the story of The Wizard of Oz, and even if you're not a fan, you know there's a lion, a tin man, a scarecrow, and even a little dog named Toto. That's because of how popular the original Hollywood film was. But not everyone The Wizard of Oz followed this plan.
Before «The Wizard of Oz» starring Judy Garland was filmed in 1939, it was a novel by L. Frank Baum published in 1900. And between the two events, there was a Broadway musical in 1902. Neither of them is the story you'd recognize.
The stage show and subsequent silent film featured notable changes, such as replacing Toto with a cow. named Imogen . Dorothy went to Oz with her cow. It's said this was because the director didn't want to rely on a trained dog.
When Dorothy arrives in the land of Oz, she meets a madman among others , a tram conductor and an anarchist. Munchkins don't exist, and witches exist, but they don't do much. The Witch of the West is only mentioned, never seen.
5. There were no rats in the original Pied Piper story.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a legend that originates from the town of Hamelin, Germany, hundreds of years ago. It tells the story of a bagpiper hired to rid the town of rats, which he does. The town, a group of unsavory characters, decides not to pay him, so he uses his pipe to lure their children as well. This fits the dark aesthetic of many old legends and fairy tales, which appear light and sweet until they turn dark and grim.
In a much darker twist, if you follow the story back to its origins, you'll find some evidence that rats weren't originally there at all, and that this actually happened. The real town of Hamelin apparently chronicled its history as far back as In 1300 , when it was part of a stained-glass window in a church. According to written accounts of the long-lost window, in this version, a bagpiper appeared and 130 children disappeared.
So what really happened? Theories vary. from the story being a metaphor for some great tragedy, and the Piper being death, to him being a kind of recruiter leading the migration out of Germany.
4. Peter Pan may kill the Lost Boys
Like Pinocchio, Peter Pan is another beloved childhood character made popular by Walt Disney. In the story, Peter lives in Neverland, and while modern audiences may know it as a place where no one ages, that wasn't the case in the original. Peter remains young, while the Lost Boys age in the wrong place.
J.M. Barrie's original text, published in various forms in the early 1900s before finally being released as a single complete novel titled Peter and Wendy in 1911, acknowledged that the Lost Boys had grown up. Chapter five begins with a description of the Lost Boys searching for Peter and the pirates searching for the Lost Boys. It then describes how the number of boys fluctuates as some are killed and others grow too old, which is against the rules. The text states: "When they seem to be growing up, which is against the rules, Peter thins them out ».
The exact meaning of this is never established, but it seems like it can only mean that Peter sends them away or kills them. One from fan theories even suggested that Captain Hook's hostility stemmed from the fact that he was a lost boy who grew up, survived, and returned for revenge.
3. There were originally vampires in the room.
« Tommy Wiseau's "Room" is infamous for being One of the worst movies ever made, and beloved for it. Rumor has it it was almost even weirder than what we actually got.
According to Greg Sestero, another star of the film, one of Wiseau's first ideas was to show that his character was actually a vampire . It would have been really amazing with the scene where Johnny's car flew away would at night, because, you know, he's a vampire.
2. In the original myths, Medusa was always a monster
Medusa is one of the most famous creatures from Greek mythology, a Gorgon with snakes for hair who could turn anyone who saw her to stone. In the most famous version of the story, she was a beautiful mortal who was the lover of Poseidon/Neptune, who was later cursed by Minerva/Athena to become a monster no one could even look at. But it was version fairy tales Ovid , written many years after the original myth.
As one of the Gorgon sisters, Medusa was originally I've always been a monster , and not a mortal woman. Only later did she become mortal, and the two sisters were monsters, beautiful, not hideous, to make the whole story more tragic.
1. There is no balcony in Romeo and Juliet.
If you right now Google "Romeo and Juliet"« As an image search, you'll notice a common theme in many of the images. The scene depicted is often a famous scene on the balcony . Formally, this is Act II, Scene II, and one of the most quoted sections of the play. It features Romeo's speech, "But soft, what light comes through yonder window." In dozens, if not hundreds, of films and stage productions, he depicts Romeo in a garden and Juliet on a balcony above him. It's all quite ironic, since Shakespeare never wrote about a balcony.
It is noteworthy that the word "balcony" had never appeared in print before 20 years after Shakespeare wrote «Romeo and Juliet» . There were no balconies then. But they were in use when Thomas Otway's famous play "« The History and Fall of Gaius Marius"» , years after Shakespeare had fallen out of favor and his plays had never been performed.
Caius Marius was, for lack of a better term, a plagiarism. Otway stole entire scenes and dialogue from Shakespeare, and his balcony scene, which borrows heavily from Shakespeare, took place on a balcony. And the play was immensely popular, performed 30 times over a 30-year period, while Shakespeare had never performed it. Thus, for most people, the stage became closely associated with the balcony, because that's how they always imagined it.