The biggest mistake this movie made was................


Killing off Wolff's girlfriend, the female-android Chalmers near the beginning. She was so beautiful & sexy she should have stayed in the film right to the end. She was a great character and the script writers could have written a decent love triangle between Chalmers, Nikki & Wolff. With Chalmers sort of "cat-fighting" with Nikki for Wolff's attention. The chemistry would have been amazing and would have definitely saved this movie from bombing.

It was a great shame as Chalmers was a great character, delivered (way too) briefly by a great actress :(

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No6

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The original script was somewhat different, but the studios changed a lot during the first few weeks of production.

But then, if Chalmers had survived, they'd have gone straight in, got the girls, got out and both Ringwald and Hudson's careers would have suffered as their characters would not have been neccesary.
It was because of this film that Ernie Hudson landed his role in Ghostbusters.

But yes, I also greatly mourn Chalmers!!



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I'm pretty sute a decent scriptwriter could have allowed both Chalmers to live and still allow the inclusion of those characters you mentioned. The presence of Chalmers could have allowed some levity & charm to the story. Without her I felt the movie had too much bickering between the two lead characters that drained the movie of any dynamic between them. I felt that character of Chalmers was one of the most original elements the movie had. They should have kept her in it to the end. And I think mostly everyone who has seen Spacehunter would agree with me on this

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No6

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Yes, a decent writer could and would have, but you forget two things:

1/. The film was redirected to become a kid/teen centric one and neccesitated Niki joining in.

2/. The studio held the purse strings on this. Not the producer, director or screenwriters. This one aspect accounted for several disastrous decisions that spoiled the film.



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I don't see how extending Chalmer's role from a cameo to a supporting player would have affected the kid/teen centric inclusion of Nikki, nor would it have cost any serious drain on film's budget. Even anything it would have enhanced the film's dynamic.

Her early death sounds & subsequent removal from the film just looks it was a result of bad script-writing rather than studio interference. One thing's for sure the expansion of the character Chalmer's role in the movie could have certainly saved it. And I think nearly everyone here on this board would agree with me.

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No6

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Chalmers presence means Wolff doesn't have to rely on Niki for direction and doesn't have to go back in to the Graveyard to rescue her. That immediately eliminates Niki's purpose and makes it a more adult film.

Say what you like about what might have been - The studio holds the budget and what they say goes.
The film was originally centred around character development, with a 4mil budget. The studio demanded it be changed to 3D and released a week before Return Of The Jedi, increasing the budget to 12 and then 16mil. Jean LeFleur was unwilling/unable to bend to this, so they fired him and replaced him with Lamont Johnson 2 weeks into filming.
The budget holder always has final say on films like this.


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