Nigel Haslam writes:
I worked in the painting department for Richard Williams and witnessed
the
sad end of the original production, when Warners axed Dick from the
film
and took over completion through the then existing Completion Bond
Company.
I was told around that time, by various colleages, that once the
Completion
Bond people got their hands on the footage there were several different
options considered to finish it off (with a large focus being on how
quickly and cheaply it could be done).
One of the more interesting options, that unfortunately was never
followed
through (possibly because it wasn't the cheapest and possibly also
because
the head of CBC decided she had a better idea herself), was a very
interesting edit of the film made by Robert Zemekis, who was given all
the
existing footage and prompted to 'make a film out of that'.
Appparently Zemekis made a compelling story from the elements with very
little extra animation needed to support this new version of the story.
If this version exists somewhere it would be a great addition to the
legacy.