Picking at "They Stole Max's Brain!"
I'd like to preface this post with a disclaimer of sorts: I've only dropped by these forums every once in a while, and though I haven't seen this topic discussed anywhere else, I still suspect that I might have overlooked something related to it. If that is the case (or if this subject is something the developers would prefer that I not bring up here), then I apologize.
Sometimes I like to look through the resource files of older adventure games to see if I can find some material that wasn't included in the final product. I've found lots of unused animations, backgrounds and speech clips in the resource files of many of Sierra On-Line's games,* and to my surprise, I found some particularly interesting lines of dialogue in the resource files of "They Stole Max's Brain!" with the aid of Bgbennyboy's Telltale Speech Extractor.
(Note: To keep this list from being even more verbally tedious than it already is, I'll describe my findings as if the incarnation of the game that they appear in actually exists instead of saying things like, "Item X was originally in location Y" and "You originally had to solve Puzzle 3 in order to talk to Character 8".)
-Flint Paper actually shows up in the cultists' cavern in the beginning of the game instead of just appearing in a flashback.
-The "A Brief History of Bad Ideas in Transportation" exhibit is complete rather than merely being advertised as a coming attraction. There is narration about it on the audio tour, and there are descriptions of its displays, one of which is a boat called "The Screaming Narwhal" ("Although eminently seaworthy, The Screaming Narwhal, a pirate ship of unknown origin, was infamous for its inability to travel anywhere without a map.").
-There is a third puzzle that has to be solved to dissolve the alliance between Papierwaite and Skun-ka'pe. From what I've pieced together from the dialogue, in order to solve it, you need to take the Enigma deodorant from Papierwaite's office, have Sammun-mak shapeshift into the Toxicodendron palinus (the prehistoric poison ivy, which must have originally had a picture of it on its sign, along with all the other plants in the display), rub the deodorant on Sammun-mak, then put the deodorant back where it originally was. After Papierwaite goes to his office to freshen up and returns to the planetarium, he starts hopping around and yelping in pain. Skun-ka'pe thinks that Papierwaite is mocking him by comparing him to the "bug-picking simians" of Earth, and Papierwaite accuses Skun-ka'pe and his minions of causing the museum to become infested with fleas.
-The rebels don't just give you the brain screw -- they can only tell you that it is in one of the city's gift vaults. Norrington tells Max which vault this is (the one that appears in the final game, conveniently enough), and you not only have to find a way inside it, but also find a way to get Sam to pick up the screw (since Sam refuses to take anything from Sammun-mak without a very good reason, and Max is currently a bit lacking in the appendage department). When you ask Sal about the brain screw, he says that it was removed from the Museum of Mostly Natural History and placed in the vault by Sammun-mak himself.
-The sign-spinning minion is still advertising a pet store in the alternate reality, only the pet store is now selling crocodiles. You can have Sam enter the store, but he just walks right back out again, remarking that the crocodiles really don't like Max (a little like the Radio Yurt gag).
-Two of the accessories of power are considerably different: The Ornament of Fealty is the Ear Stud of Fealty, the Medallion of Tithing is the Ring of Tithing (or alternately, the Brass Ring of Generosity). I can see why they were changed, since an ear stud and a ring would be more difficult to see.
-There are a few more 2D images that Max can shapeshift into in the alternate reality. One is them is a picture of a corn dog (probably from one of the boxes outside Stinky's Diner). That's right: Max can change into a corn dog. As you might guess, this causes a lot of confusion for Sammun-mak when Max defiles the corn dog pyramid in this shape. There's also an image of an object that nobody can identify -- after Max destroys the corn dog pyramid as this object, Sammun-mak has to explain what it is (an ornate sandal-tightening device called a meshkant).
*I found a tiny graphic that looks a lot like Max's head in the resource files of Torin's Passage (which features a pair of skunks named Sam and Max).
Sometimes I like to look through the resource files of older adventure games to see if I can find some material that wasn't included in the final product. I've found lots of unused animations, backgrounds and speech clips in the resource files of many of Sierra On-Line's games,* and to my surprise, I found some particularly interesting lines of dialogue in the resource files of "They Stole Max's Brain!" with the aid of Bgbennyboy's Telltale Speech Extractor.
(Note: To keep this list from being even more verbally tedious than it already is, I'll describe my findings as if the incarnation of the game that they appear in actually exists instead of saying things like, "Item X was originally in location Y" and "You originally had to solve Puzzle 3 in order to talk to Character 8".)
-Flint Paper actually shows up in the cultists' cavern in the beginning of the game instead of just appearing in a flashback.
-The "A Brief History of Bad Ideas in Transportation" exhibit is complete rather than merely being advertised as a coming attraction. There is narration about it on the audio tour, and there are descriptions of its displays, one of which is a boat called "The Screaming Narwhal" ("Although eminently seaworthy, The Screaming Narwhal, a pirate ship of unknown origin, was infamous for its inability to travel anywhere without a map.").
-There is a third puzzle that has to be solved to dissolve the alliance between Papierwaite and Skun-ka'pe. From what I've pieced together from the dialogue, in order to solve it, you need to take the Enigma deodorant from Papierwaite's office, have Sammun-mak shapeshift into the Toxicodendron palinus (the prehistoric poison ivy, which must have originally had a picture of it on its sign, along with all the other plants in the display), rub the deodorant on Sammun-mak, then put the deodorant back where it originally was. After Papierwaite goes to his office to freshen up and returns to the planetarium, he starts hopping around and yelping in pain. Skun-ka'pe thinks that Papierwaite is mocking him by comparing him to the "bug-picking simians" of Earth, and Papierwaite accuses Skun-ka'pe and his minions of causing the museum to become infested with fleas.
-The rebels don't just give you the brain screw -- they can only tell you that it is in one of the city's gift vaults. Norrington tells Max which vault this is (the one that appears in the final game, conveniently enough), and you not only have to find a way inside it, but also find a way to get Sam to pick up the screw (since Sam refuses to take anything from Sammun-mak without a very good reason, and Max is currently a bit lacking in the appendage department). When you ask Sal about the brain screw, he says that it was removed from the Museum of Mostly Natural History and placed in the vault by Sammun-mak himself.
-The sign-spinning minion is still advertising a pet store in the alternate reality, only the pet store is now selling crocodiles. You can have Sam enter the store, but he just walks right back out again, remarking that the crocodiles really don't like Max (a little like the Radio Yurt gag).
-Two of the accessories of power are considerably different: The Ornament of Fealty is the Ear Stud of Fealty, the Medallion of Tithing is the Ring of Tithing (or alternately, the Brass Ring of Generosity). I can see why they were changed, since an ear stud and a ring would be more difficult to see.
-There are a few more 2D images that Max can shapeshift into in the alternate reality. One is them is a picture of a corn dog (probably from one of the boxes outside Stinky's Diner). That's right: Max can change into a corn dog. As you might guess, this causes a lot of confusion for Sammun-mak when Max defiles the corn dog pyramid in this shape. There's also an image of an object that nobody can identify -- after Max destroys the corn dog pyramid as this object, Sammun-mak has to explain what it is (an ornate sandal-tightening device called a meshkant).
*I found a tiny graphic that looks a lot like Max's head in the resource files of Torin's Passage (which features a pair of skunks named Sam and Max).
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
Is it somewhat morbid that I was actually curious about that 'Bad Ideas in Transportation' exhibit? (aka, thanks for sharing the info. :P )
In all honesty, adding to the list of complications if the following ever happened, I think Max would have attempted to devour himself from the inside-out if he ever became a corn dog.
It's okay, Telltale, I got my answer.
People like the Three Tasks cliché, though. I remember I was weirdened out when I solved the entire thing in two subpuzzles.
More puzzles (and humour) would have definitely helped 303, season 3's worst ep.
Well, they could have cut it out because of time and budget constraints which, if so, is a damn shame. I really wish Telltale could make a Director's Cut version of "The Devil's Playhouse," with 301's Alternate Reality Game, the extra puzzles in 303, and 305's music themed puzzles intact. I'd pay an extra ten bucks for that.
Time and budget I can understand. But cutting it simply because they don't want three puzzles is just ridiculous.
A director's cut would be pretty cool, they Jake said that the bits of music dialog from 305 were from something that's not 305.
I would still love to know what they're from, though. "Something that's not the game" is a bit too vague for my tastes.
I suspect it had something to do with the Alternate Reality game that the Nutrition Specs were supposed to come from.
I see why they cut that. Making Flint actually give Sam advice makes it seem like he 'caused' Sam's freakout or that Sam's personality flip is conscious acting rather than his ~HIDDEN DARK SIDE!!!!~, which isn't as a) dramatic or b) hilarious.
Aw
I can understand why they changed that, but somehow I imagine Sam would not enjoy getting sharp objects forced through his ear, although his loyalty to Sammun-Mak would make him cheerfully endure the misery. I'm imagining something like Max's response to his horrible tattoo in the comics, only with more brainwashed smiling.
.../r/ing audio of this. Max not only being a corn dog but defiling a corn dog pyramid as a corn dog is way too paradoxical for me to imagine.
This wasn't the 'mystery object' in the museum, was it? The one Sam kept coming up with alternate justifications for? Neanderthal nose-hair clippers or what have you?
Will you let us know about anything else you find? (Be it from Sam and Max or any of Telltale's other games.)
All righty -- I tried to include all of the relevant lines in the following MP3s:
Max's reaction to changing into a corn dog (I'm not 100% certain that the last two lines were meant to follow the first-- that's just the order they were in.)
Max defiles the corn dog pyramid (1)
Max defiles the corn dog pyramid (2)
Sammun-mak's reaction to his pyramid's destruction (notice that he stops using the royal "we" in his last line)
You know...now that you mention it, I think you just might be right. I never thought of that thing while I was trying to figure out what the meshkant was and where it appeared, but that mystery object does seem to be the most likely candidate.
If I find something particularly noteworthy, I probably will. So far, I haven't found any large batches of unused lines in the other episodes of The Devil's Playhouse, but I'll keep searching them (and the rest of the Telltale games I own) whenever I have time to waste.
Thanks for getting back to me. The clips are great/disturbing. ♥
Wow, the episode could have been better with those left in. Great find.