Synopsis:

This is a fast paced version of A.I. The ending is changed and the event goes more along the way they do in the short story by Brian Aldiss.

Intentions:

Initially, this edit was started to develop a better ending for the film – at the same time, the faneditor discovered the original short story by Brian Aldiss that provided the basis of the film. So he decided to make the film more akin to the themes of the short story, in addition to changing the ending to better fit those concepts.

Change List:

Major Edits/Changes Change/Cuts: David’s Family & Monica aka “Mommy” In the original story, the Swinton family really didn’t give a damn about David: he was merely an object, a “toy” for them play with and use. The Monica character was more conflicted about her feelings for David than Henry (because David really did “love” his Mommy), but in the end, she continued to view him as an artificial mecha (never as a real child). For this Edit, I decided to remove any additional scenes/subplots that focused the story more on the Henry, Monica, and Martin characters instead of David: this was because I felt that once David finally “awakened” in the story (i.e., when he is imprinted onto Monica and became a true conscious entity), the film’s focus should be entirely on him and his quest to become real. Cuts: “Pool Party” + “Letters to Mommy” Scenes The Pool Scene was one of the major scenes that I hated from the original film, both from a narrative point of view (Martin hates David… OK, we get it now…) and from a logical perspective (so spinach can harm David, but not water? WTF?!). With the scene gone, the ending that I developed for the Edit (David “dying” in the ocean) is now plausible and understandable. The Letters Scene I was a little more hesitant on removing, because it was a scene from the original short story. However, Spielberg completely missed the point of it: in the short story, the focus of the scene was on David and his attempts to understand these feelings he had toward Monica; the film, however, he pulled the viewers focus entirely on Monica and her “dilemma” on what to do with David (also, the scene no longer had any context due to the Pool Party scene being removed). Changes/Cuts: Gigolo Joe Gigolo Joe never meets the murderer of his female client. Cuts: No Philosopher Robots I prefer it when a film’s philosophical concepts are presented either informally or as subtext – NOT when characters on screen go jabbering on and on about Humanity’s prejudices/intolerances and random crap like humans’ “Rite of Blood”. Also, I felt that only David (and to a lesser extent, Gigolo Joe) should be advanced enough to contemplate intellectual/emotive human concepts. Cuts: Professor Hobby A few minor cuts which dealt with Hobby and his son who had died (and who was the basis for David’s design) – the notion is still there, except now it’s just briefly implied (and doesn’t beat the viewers over the head with scenes of Hobby looking at his dead son’s photo). Changes/Cuts: The Ending This was the major reason I decided to do this edit, as I absolutely and completely HATE the ending of the original film. For me, having David finally realize the truth of his nature – that he can never be a real human, that he is a mere ‘product’ for humans to use and discard, and most importantly of all, that he will never gain the love of the one being that he loves above everything else (his “Mommy”) – and then choose to end his existence rather than continue to live a never-ending lie, that is what I believe the end of A.I. should have been. So we have the following changes: - No jump to 2000 years into the future - No aliens/robots (yes, they’re technically supposed to be advanced robots, but come on Spielberg, get more original with their design!) - No meeting the (fake) Blue Fairy - No one day together with (fake) “Mommy” - No going to sleep/being able to “dream” Change: End Credits For this, I switched the color scheme of the credits from “white text on a black background” to a “black text on a white background” scheme – the music for the credits was also changed from John William’s score to a song of my choice (which is listed at the start of the end credits).

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Special Thanks: