Tales from the Far Side
If I had to cite an all-time favorite animated TV special, it'd be "Gary Larson's Tales from the Far Side," which aired as a Halloween special in 1994. Unfortunately, the special was only broadcast once and when it finally appeared on video/DVD (along with with "Tales from the Far Side II," which never aired in the USA), Larson added in two scripted but unfinished scenes and made some substantial alterations. Personally, I prefer the TV version cuz I think it flowed better (and I absolutely hate a few changes that were later made).
Directed by Marv Newland (anyone who's seen "Bambi Meets Godzilla" just once ought to recognize that name!) with music by Bill Frisell (which was later re-recorded and released on his 1996 album "Quartet,"), the special is basically a series of warped, unrelated vignettes. The usual cast of characters is here, from Bride of Frankencow being lynched by a mob to the Monster in the Closet to zombies on vacation to insects on a bumpy airplane watching the original "The Fly."
Although I've never seen them explicitly referred to as such, both the original "Tales from the Far Side" and 1997's "Tales from the Far Side II" have a TV pilot vibe. That would actually make sense since Larson's retirement from "The Far Side" comics came hot on the heels of the October 1994 broadcast of the original special. Shame that it never became a weekly show.
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ALTERNATE TV VERSION
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For those who've seen the video version, here's a list of the most significant changes. In other words, SPOILERS ahead! This version is not available on home video but there are copies floating around. Here's hoping it will be included if the DVD ever gets another release.
In the TV version, after the camera pulls back to reveal the snakes watching "The Bacon Bunch," there's a fade out to commercial. The next scene is the wolf's home movies. In the video version, the camera pans into the forest for another vignette featuring an African warrior and a big-headed American tourist. A follow-up scene with a group of carrots appears later in the home video version.
The audio mix during the egg scene is awfully different; the video version includes a radio announcer, the TV version does not. In the TV version, the scene depicting the next morning is edited differently and includes a much longer shot of the female egg screaming.
The "Old West" scene features the same narration in both versions. However, in the broadcast version the narration came at the top of the scene along with the words on-screen. In the video version, there's no writing and the narration plays over the scene.
Probably the most drastic change is the zombie "Dead Ranch" scene. In the video version, there's voice-over narration to make it seem like a travel infomercial. In the TV version, there's no narration whatsoever, some of the audio is a little different, and the hayride scene plays intact, featuring a crossover from the Bride of Frankenstein cow from the beginning of the special.
But unquestionably the weirdest change is to the ending. In the broadcast version, the "Bob's Monsters" truck was also stocked with exploding kids (from an earlier gag in the special). In the video version, the truck instead had garden rakes. Way to wreck a perfect ending.
In the TV version, the end credits begin rather randomly with a final shot of the aliens, the credits run 30 seconds and close with an animated Farworks, Inc. logo. In the video version, there's no aliens, the credits are stretched over 3 minutes, and it closes with a static Farworks logo.
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LINKS
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