10 TV Deleted Scenes That Would Have Improved Their Shows
6. Season VIII's Alternate Ending - Red Dwarf
With its alternate ending in place, Season 8 of Red Dwarf still isn't a patch on the first six, but at least the show's BBC era wouldn't have concluded on an eternally unresolved cliffhanger that has only created continuity problems.
Episode 8, 'Only the Good...' sees the Dwarfers left to die on the ship while a genetically-engineered virus dissolves it from within. The curtain begins to descend with doom impending and the Grim Reaper arrives to claim the souls of the main cast.
Right at the last second, Rimmer, now fulfilling his lifelong dream of captaining a spacecraft, kicks Death in the balls (or whatever the Grim Reaper keeps down there) and vows to fight on in the search for an antidote to the virus. Great cliffhanger. Shame it hasn't given the show an ounce of continuity over the years.
The alternate ending, which was filmed and removed from the final cut at the last minute, saw Rimmer save the day by memorising the antidote formula from the mirror universe, in a rare act of heroism. This wasn't necessarily a better ending per se, but at least it would have made sense in the context of future seasons.