The 1983 Version of Roger Rabbit, With Paul Reubens
 |
Years before the version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that we know and love, there was another version, scrapped by Disney in 1983 until Robert Zemeckis revived the concept, building on some of what had come before.
Now, footage from an old Disney Channel show called Disney Studio Showcase has emerged that shows some of the pencil tests and footage from the old version, including a Roger voiced by the Man Who Would Be Pee-wee, albeit still with the stammer that Charles Fleischer would one day make his own.
Had this version been made, Jessica Rabbit would probably have been the villain and not the toon-fetish we all know today, and Reubens might have focused on voice-over work to the detriment of that other bow-tied character he was working on as part of a stage show at the time. So we’re probably better off – but it’s fascinating to see what could have been.
via Cartoon Brew
About The Author
Luke Y. Thompson has been writing professionally about movies and pop-culture since 1999, and has also been an actor in some extremely cheap culty and horror movies you will probably never hear much about (he is nonetheless mostly proud of them, as he met his wife on one). As editor of The Robot's Voice since 2012, he can take the blame for the majority of the site's content, all of which he creates because he loves you very, very much. (Although he loves nachos more. Sorry.) Prior to TRV, Luke wrote for publications that include the New Times LA, Los Angeles CityBeat, E! Online, OC Weekly, Geekweek, GeekChicDaily, The L.A. Times, The Village Voice, LA Weekly, and Nerdist