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CUT SCENES

The Fight with the Fish-Boy

This is it, folks. The big one. The scene that really, really, really should have been left in the movie. The scene that makes fans wet their pants with desire to see it. As Willow is preparing to row out to the island of Fin Raziel, a strange boy emerges from the lake, warns Willow to stay away, then dives back into the water. Willow ignores the warning and visits the island. As he and Raziel are returning to the mainland, a ferocious storm blows up. The boy reappears, transforms into a monstrous fish, and attacks the boat. After a harrowing battle, Willow uses one of the magic acorns to turn the monster to stone. This scene was apparently cut to reduce the running time of the movie. NO, George. WRONG decision. It would have been well worth spending another ten minutes watching the movie in order to be able to see this scene. Besides providing a great deal of satisfaction to the fans, leaving this scene in would have wrapped up a couple of loose ends. The magic acorn that Willow throws at Bavmorda would have been his last one, something that is very necessary for the sake of dramatic tidiness. And there would have been a reason for Willow to have wet hair as he's introducing Raziel to the baby.

Late Script Excerpt

Madmartigan throws him a reckless wave and wanders off. ROOL: I am going to miss him. FRANJEAN: Me too. I enjoyed humiliating him. ROOL:Me too. Willow pushes the boat to the lake. BOY: What are you doing? Willow looks up. A golden-haired BOY is standing waist-deep in the water. Franjean and Rool immediately stand guard by Elora Danan. WILLOW: I'm borrowing this boat to go out to that island. BOY: The island is cursed. Don't go out there! WILLOW: Cursed? BOY: Beware of the lake. Queen Bavmorda's powers control the elements here. The boy dives into the lake and disappears. ROOL: Cherlindrea said nothing about a curse. WILLOW: I don't think we should go out there. Franjean elbows Rool out of the way. FRANJEAN: That was just an odd boy. Pay him no mind. Fin Raziel is a most powerful sorceress. You must take the wand to her. ROOL: She will save us. WILLOW: I don't want to take Elora out there. FRANJEAN:You're right! Leave her on shore. Franjean nudges Rool. They smile hopefully. ROOL:Oh yes! We will stay here with her. Willow looks nervously out at the island. [Willow leaves Elora with the brownies, rows to the island and converses with Raziel for several minutes.] RAZIEL: Cherlindrea! The prophecy was true then. The princess has been born? WILLOW: Yes -- and she needs you. A flock of birds screech and fly away. The wind begins to blow and the sky darkens. RAZIEL: Hide the wand! Bavmorda knows of your presence here. WILLOW: What about Elora Danan! RAZIEL: Hurry! Get in the boat! Get off this island right now! EXT. LAKE - DAY Willow holds onto Raziel as the raging storm pitches the boat. Suddenly Raziel points to the stern. A hand appears. The water boy begins to climb in. RAZIEL: Kill him! WILLOW: No! RAZIEL: Kill him! Willow hesitates but then grabs the oar and smashes the boy back into the lake. The boy surfaces like a dolphin. His shape CHANGES, becoming fish-like, diving and vanishing. Then: he attacks the boat! He is now a ferocious shark-like MONSTER. He chomps the boat and Willow bashes him with the oar. The monster pulls away with fishing nets in his mouth. The nets are also tangled around Willow's feet. Willow pulls out his dagger as the fishing nets yank him overboard. Underwater, Willow swirls behind the monster, until finally, he cuts himself free with his dagger. He surfaces and madly swims toward the pitching boat. The monstrous fish surfaces and charges after him. RAZIEL: Hurry, Willow! Hurry! Willow climbs aboard. The monster chomps at the boat. Willow digs out a magic acorn. But drops it! He fumbles in the leaking boat and finds it. The monster opens its jaws to devour Willow. Willow throws the acorn and the monster turns to stone and sinks into the lake. EXT. DESERTED FISHING VILLAGE - DAY The storm dies down as Willow struggles ashore, falling to his knees, coughing and spitting. INT. HUT - DAY Willow and Raziel look down at the baby. RAZIEL: It is Elora Danan. At last, sky and earth rejoin. Isn't she beautiful...

Graphic Novel Illustrations

Click on images to enlarge

Novelization Excerpt

Soon he was lost in the mist. "I'm going to miss him," Franjean said. "Me too," Rool said. "Teasing a Peck isn't the same as insulting a Daikini!" Willow unslung the papoose-basket and settled Elora safely on his lap. As the boat drifted farther out he fitted the oars into their locks. The lake was still quite shallow, and both brownies, Rool in the stern and Franjean in the bow, were gazing down through the limpid water at strange markings on the bottom. So preoccupied were they, and so busy was Willow struggling with the oversized oars, that none of them noticed a young boy appear suddenly out of the lake. "What are you doing?" the boy asked. Both brownies vanished in a flash, under the seats. Willow dropped the oars and reached for Elora. The boy was smiling radiantly. He was fair, and tanned, and blue-eyed. He stood waist-deep in the lake, his palms brushing its surface. "We're just borrowing this boat," Willow said. "To row out to the island. We'll return it. There was no one home. We thought..." "That island's cursed, didn't you know?" The boy kept smiling, blue eyes fixed on Willow. He brushed little ripples toward them. "Cursed?" Franjean's head appeared above the gunwale. "The legend says nothing about a curse." The boy laughed innocently. "Oh yes. All this lake is cursed. Queen Bavmorda's powers control all the elements here. Venture on it at your peril!" "Fin Raziel..." Willow began, but the boy was gone. Only a little whirlpool remained where he had been, sucking the ripples back into its vortex. They stared at this whirlpool. They stared at the island. Except for the very tops of its trees it was still dark and misty, although the rest of the lake was bathed in sun. "Odd," Franjean said. "Odd boy." "I don't think Elora should go out there," Willow said. "I don't think we should go out there," said Rool. "Aha! Idea!" Franjean held up a finger. "Of course you should go, Peck." "Of course," Rool agreed. "That's your mission, after all, to deliver Cherlindrea's wand to Fin Raziel. But you're right about the child. Crossing the lake might be, uh, rough." "Winds," Rool said, nodding. "You'll guard her?" "With our lives! Right, Rool?" "Right!" Reluctantly, Willow rowed the small craft back to the beach and carried Elora into the nearest hut with a sound roof. "Sleep well," he said, kissing her. "I won't be long, and they've promised to look after you." [Willow rows to the island and converses with Raziel for several paragraphs.] "Cherlindrea! Then the prophecy has come true? The Empress Elora has been born?" "Yes. She's here. On the shore. And she needs you, Fin Raziel." "Here!" The little creature howled a bitter cry of rage and fear. She scrambled onto Willow's shoulder and peered toward the shore, now invisible behind the clouds and spray of the wind-lashed lake. "Hide the wand! Bavmorda knows she's here! She'll destroy you if she can, and the child! Hurry! Into the boat! We must get off this island and into shore!" "But the lake! The storm!" Willow shouted over the howling wind. "Don't think! Trust me! Into the boat, quick!" She scampered across the shore and into the little craft, one paw beckoning Willow to hurry. He launched them out into the maelstrom. "Row for your life, Willow Ufgood! Row for the Empress!" With all his might, the little Nelwyn strained toward shore. "Oh Mims," he whimpered. "Ranon. Oh, Kiaya!" If he had had a free hand he would have taken his wife's braid from his pocket and pressed it to his lips, for he was certain he was doomed. Never, never would he cross that lashing strait and reach the mainland safely. Never again would he see his beloved family. "Kill him!" Fin Raziel shrieked suddenly. "Kill him!" "What?" They were in the middle of the lake, driven toward the falls by winds and towering waves. The mainland was invisible, the island had vanished. "Kill him!" Fin Raziel screamed again, pointing at the prow of the little boat. Willow turned. The boy he had seen earlier, in the shallow water at the village, was climbing over the gunwale. He was as radiant and as innocent-looking as ever, his face creased in a broad smile, his flaxen hair windblown. "What? But he's a child!" "No, no!" Raziel shrieked. "He's no child! Look!" The boy now had one foot in the boat, but it was not a foot. It was a webbed fin. And although he was still smiling, the smile revealed sharklike teeth. His innocent eyes had reddened with the lust for blood. Willow swung an oar and jabbed it as hard as he could into the middle of this creature. Laughing, it flipped into the churning lake, bobbed porpoiselike, and vanished. "Too late!" Fin raziel wailed, her voice tiny in the roar of the wind. Back the creature came! He was huge, now. His furry back foamed through the troughs of the waves. His eyes glowed red out of the depths of the lake. His jaws with their rows of glittering teeth, yawning open to engulf the boat, loosed a gagging stench of death and decay. Willow choked, tumbling back, seeing the front half of the boat vanish into the creature's maw. He had time only for one solid crack with the oar on the thing's snout, and then he was overboard and sinking, his legs tangled in the old fishnet and rope that bound him to the monster. So fast was the creature's downward rush that Willow's lungs were bursting before he found his knife and slashed himself free of the beast. He bobbed through the surface like a cork, sputtering and gasping. Huge waves rolled him over. Clinging to the wreckage of the boat, Fin Raziel shrieked unintelligible warnings, but Willow was too far gone to hear her properly. In fact, he heard nothing. All had gone silent for him. In silence the great breakers rolled over him. In silence the maw of the returning monster yawned open to gulp him down. And in silence, with the last of his meager strength, Willow groped into his pocket, fumbled out one of the magic acorns, and threw it. No force lay behind that throw. Had the monster not been rushing forward, the acorn would have fallen short. As is was, it looped up and dropped straight down his gullet. Sheer momentum carried the beast over Willow and a few feet farther. But the horrible hairy scales that brushed against the Nelwyn were not soft now, but rock-hard. The dreadful red eye was fixed forever in gemlike brilliance, and the jaws with their quartzite teeth would yawn through eternity. The acorn had done its work. Bavmorda's monstrous guardian had been turned to solid stone. And like a stone he sank. "Willow!" Fin Raziel was crying.  "Hold on!" He heard her voice like a glimmer of light in darkness. Reflexes kept him alive, kept him afloat, kept him paddling while breakers foamed over him. Reflexes opened his eyes at the sound of her voice, and drove him forward with his last energy to clutch the end of the oar shoved out from the ruined boat. Clinging to that oar and to the sound of Raziel's voice, Willow lost consciousness. He was not aware when the wind fell, when the waves subsided and the sky cleared. He was not aware when the hulk of the little boat to which he and Fin Raziel clung was drawn away from the precipice of the falls and borne on friendly currents to the beach, or when Franjean and Rool hurried anxiously down to drag him up on shore. The first thing Willow Ufgood knew after his defeat of the monster was the laughter of Elora and the delighted clapping of her small hands.

Junior Novelization Excerpt

Madmartigan shrugged, waved, and went on his way. "I am going to miss him," Rool said sadly. "Me too." Franjean nodded. "I enjoyed humiliating him." Willow began to push the boat toward the lake. "What are you doing?" a voice asked. Willow looked up, startled. A golden-haired boy stood waist deep in the water in front of him. Franjean and Rool rushed to the baby's side, brandishing their spears. "I'm borrowing this boat to go out to that island," Willow said uncertainly to the boy. "The island is cursed," the boy warned. "Don't go out there!" "Cursed?" Willow repeated. "Beware of the lake," the boy said. "Queen Bavmorda's powers control the elements here." He dove back under the water and disappeared. "Cherlindrea said nothing about a curse," Rool murmured. "I don't think we should go out there." Willow shook his head. Franjean elbowed Rool aside. "That was just an odd boy. Pay him no mind. Fin Raziel is a most powerful sorceress. You must take the wand to her." "She will save us," Rool agreed. "I don't want to take Elora out there," Willow said. "You're right!" Franjean nodded eagerly. "Leave her on shore." "Oh yes!" Rool chimed. "We will stay here with her." Willow looked out at the island again, frowning with worry. At last he sighed and nodded. Willow carried Elora Danan to a hut and settled her inside it. "It's all right, Elora," he said. "Go to sleep. Nobody will find you here. I'll be back with Fin Raziel very soon." [Willow rows to the island and converses with Raziel for several paragraphs.] Raziel sprang onto his chest. "Cherlindrea!" she cried. "The prophecy was true, then. The princess has been born?" "Yes," Willow said, "and she needs you." A flock of birds rose from the tree, screeching, and flew off into the suddenly darkening sky. The wind began to rise, howling angrily. "Hide the wand!" Raziel commanded. "Bavmorda knows of your presence here." Willow gasped, turning back. "What about Elora Danan?" "Hurry!" Raziel ordered. "Get in the boat! We must leave this island right now!" Willow got them back into the water as quickly as he could. The waves tossed the small boat like a cork as the storm grew worse, and he clutched Raziel tightly against his chest to keep her safe. Suddenly she pointed a claw at the bow. He turned and saw a hand appear, and then a face. The golden-haired boy he had seen on the shore began to climb into the boat. "Kill him!" Raziel cried. "No!" Willow said, shocked. "Kill him!" she insisted. Willow hesitated a moment more, then grabbed up his oar and smashed the boy back into the lake. the boy surfaced again near the boat, leaping like a dolphin. His form began to change, becoming fishlike, as he dove and vanished again. He rose up once more - this time with monstrous jaws gaping. Willow bashed the fish beast with the oar and it pulled away again, with fishing nets trailing from its jaws. Too late Willow felt his feet jerk out from under him as the nets tangled around his ankles. He was dragged overboard and into the water. Willow swirled along in the buffeting wake of the monster, struggling until he could cut himself free with his dagger. He kicked his way to the surface and swam frantically back toward the pitching boat. He heard a roar as the monster surfaced and lunged after him. "Hurry, Willow!" Raziel cried. "Hurry!" Willow scrambled on board, gasping. The monster crunched wood behind him and drew back for another try. Willow dug into his pocket, pulling out a magic acorn...and dropped it. He fumbled desperately at the bottom of the leaking boat, found it again, and stood up - just as the monster's jaws opened, ready to swallow him down. He hurled the acorn into its gaping mouth. The monster turned to stone before his eyes and sank beneath the waves. Willow and Raziel barely made it to shore. Willow waded up the muddy bank at last and fell to his knees, coughing and spitting. He had to rest there a moment before he could get up and go to the hut where Elora Danan waited. He showed Raziel the baby, lying peacefully asleep.

Willow Storybook Excerpt

[The strange boy does not appear in this version, but the storm does.] Willow, trying hard to hide his dismay, showed her Cherlindrea's wand and told her of Elora Danan. As he spoke, a flock of birds screeched through the sky. The wind began to howl. The sky darkened with thunderclouds. "Hide the wand!" cried Raziel. "Bavmorda knows of your presence here! We must leave this island immediately!" Willow quickly carried the little possum to the boat, then pushed off into the stormy waves. Though the storm died down as soon as they reached the opposite shore, Willow's troubles were far from over. As soon as he and Raziel landed on the bank, they were surrounded by Nockmaar soldiers on horseback.

The Making of Willow TV Documentary

Around the time the movie was released, a half-hour documentary about the making of the movie was shown on television. The documentary provided a brief glimpse of Willow in the boat, water being blown around for the storm, and the activities of the film crew. Here are some screen caps taken from this footage:

Click on images to enlarge

Cast Report

[From the Warwick Davis interview in Starlog #133:] Back at the island with Fin Raziel as a possum, the trouble begins when Willow gets into his boat and a storm blows up. "When we were shooting it, we had a helicopter hovering overhead to make the wind, and make the water go all rough. That was really scary, because the helicopter was about 20 feet above us, really loud. The possum was scared stiff. "So then, we start to row off over the lake. The camera was on another boat. This boat I'm rowing, though, they designed just to float! You couldn't row it because the oars were all bent like bits of old wood. I don't think they had designed it for anyone to actually use, and I'm trying to row this thing. It was very difficult, but they said it looked good." A scene cut from the film, in which an enchanted boy turns into a fish and confronts Willow in the boat, required a visit to the filming tank at England's Pinewood Studios. "I had to work with diving gear and aqualungs. I would go under, take the [breathing] equipment out, do the fighting with the fish, and then I would go up to the surface. We had signals worked out: I would [indicate], and somebody would come in and take me out. I would do it for as long as I could. I was managing longer than they expected I would. "Sometimes, it was quite frightening, because I was tied up to the fish and I couldn't get out. It was fun, I enjoyed that bit more than I thought I would, but I was dreading it at the beginning." The fish was a "mechanical, hydraulic fish. On the side, they had about three people, with leads," he reveals. "They did the finish of that scene in New Zealand, where the boat's on the shore, with the mountains behind. I had to get out, be exhausted and fall down--and it was freezing. I had a wet suit on. After the scene, I went, 'Haaa! because the water had all gone into my boots, and I couldn't feel my feet, it was so cold. I was carrying this possum as well: I fell over, and it was supposed to jump off and run away. But, it trod in the water, leapt back on my shoulder and wouldn't get off, it was so cold."