The Curious Engineer

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Textual Variations

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Subscribe to learn why so many movies exist in multiple versions, and what this means for film history and culture. Also, some quality criticism. Click to read Textual Variations, by Mikhail Skoptsov, a Substack publication.

TV / film

’21’22’23’24’25’26
Posts
141 from 4 Mar 2021 to 24 Jul 2026
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now and then (5 in the last year)
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personal blog
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2026 4

  1. Unbecoming: The Lost and Obsolete Versions of 'Manhunter'
  2. The 'Backrooms' Prologue Proves Hollywood Hates Mystery
  3. Exposed: What Sony's Unmade "Sinister Six" Was Really About
  4. On TWBA, Yuki's Revenge and One-Film Supercuts of Two-Part Movies

2025 11

  1. Whole Bloody Affair Adds Big O-Ren Ishii Duel to 'Kill Bill'
  2. T.V. Digest #23 Reveals the Paid Tier
  3. Do we as viewers become more sensitive to screen violence over time?
  4. Servant Review Index
  5. Gunn’s Superman: Xenophobia, Misogyny, Moral Incoherence
  6. Is Remedy Making an Alan Wake spinoff about Mr. Door?
  7. T.V. News: Pledges, Hiatus, Wong Kar Wai Revisions
  8. On The Real Woman in Trouble of Lynch’s 'Inland Empire’
  9. Automation in Movie Theaters Gives Me the Creeps
  10. Reflections on Y2K and a Crappy Year on Substack
  11. T.V. Digest #21 Kicks off the Scrapbook line

2024 40

  1. Cutting Out Copyright: The Legally Gray Versions of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
  2. On the canceled extended version of "X-Men" (2000)
  3. The Sexy Alien, the Blair Witch and the Rejected Hunter
  4. Scrapbook #1: Venom 3, Podcasting, and the 'demise' of the Sony-Verse
  5. T.V. Digest #20 is Mostly about Film Revision. Mostly.
  6. Most 'Romulus' Limited VHS Preorders Went to eBay Scalpers
  7. Amazon Unearthed Rare Cuts of Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1&2
  8. Did Covid Cut Carnage Short? A ‘Venom 2’ Deep Dive
  9. A new and improved Film and TV Newsletter Directory
  10. Mikhail's TV Digest #19 Sums Up a Slow Period
  11. Why is this Michael Keaton thriller Censored on Amazon?
  12. Substack Now Has a Semi-Hidden ‘Film & TV’ Category
  13. A Guide to The Matrix Retrospective
  14. Mikhail's TV Digest #18 PLUS Alien 3 and Hobbit 2 Climax Similarities
  15. Alien Super 8 Digest Version has ironic alternate ending
  16. Will Paramount's "School Spirits" S2 capitalize on the Netflix Effect?
  17. 'Erased' TV Originals Return to Streaming, Nobody Cares
  18. The Best 'Rebel Moon' is a 5-hour remix of the Snyder and Netflix Cuts
  19. Mikhail's TV Digest #17: Two Months of Bi-Weekly Posts and Site News
  20. How ‘Glass’ Retcons ‘Unbreakable’ to Fit the Lore of ‘Split’
  21. Deciphering the Terminator TV Show's Biggest Mystery
  22. Why "Furiosa" Could Use an Extended Director's Cut
  23. How 'Mulholland Drive' Made Me A Film Scholar
  24. The Digest FINALLY Catches Up with #16
  25. The 'Fury Road' Practical Effects Myth Is Hurting 'Furiosa'
  26. 'Rebel Moon' Part 2 is an Underrated Gem
  27. Mikhail's TV Digest #15 Covers March and a bit of April
  28. Five Reasons to Watch "Slings & Arrows"
  29. I hated 'Big Bang Theory' but love 'Young Sheldon'
  30. New Deal Grants Students Hulu & Disney+ for Only $4/month
  31. Mikhail's Long-Delayed, More Fun Digest #14
  32. PG-13 Rebel Moon Shows Netflix Is Done Indulging Auteurs
  33. Villeneuve’s Dune Part 2 Climax Is as Rushed as Lynch’s
  34. Netflix's One Piece Got Its Female Characters Right
  35. 'Ordinary Joe' and the Paradox of Variation
  36. An Unexpected Slowdown and a Guest Post Request
  37. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Review Index
  38. The Good, Bad, and Mixed Changes of 'Faraway Downs'
  39. Why I miss the older 2022 Substack interface
  40. Bruce, Slashfilm, Versions, 2023

2023 36

  1. Best of T.V. 2023 and Revisiting 'Home Alone 2'
  2. What’s the moment you realized movies can exist in different versions?
  3. How Slashfilm Plagiarized My Original Shyamalan Article
  4. Arrow Video buries 3-hour Bruce Lee documentary with unearthed footage
  5. Neo, Mann, Australia, Abyss
  6. Why So Cyan? On the digital modernization of 'The Abyss'
  7. Baz Luhrmann's 'Australia' Should've Ended in Tragedy
  8. Michael Mann Proves He's an Auteur by Continually Revising his movies
  9. How Neo’s Character Arc Reveals The Matrix Superpower System
  10. Max Originals, Schumer, Bloodline, Panther
  11. Black Panther Would Be Great if it Hadn’t Cut This Scene
  12. Revisio-News #3: The Overpriced Hellraiser 4 Workprint
  13. How to find Amy Schumer and other 'erased' Paramount+ Originals
  14. Why Removed HBO Max Originals Return in Other Formats
  15. Revisio-News Links and Dark Matters
  16. Revisio-News #2: ‘Dragonball Z Abridged’ Kinda Returns
  17. A wide-ranging interview with Joseph Mallozzi about 'Dark Matter'
  18. "Dark Matter" Is a Great Unfinished Space Opera
  19. Revisio-News #1: Ayer, Kaige, Snyder
  20. GOWR, Emotional Realism, Agents, Delta
  21. 3 Cool Paramount+ Originals I Saw While Flying Delta
  22. Emotional Realism vs. Plot Holes in Film & TV
  23. 'God of War Ragnarok' Rushes Through Too Much Story
  24. Apple Theaters, Saruman Notes
  25. Saruman Should've Never Been Cut from 'Return of the King'
  26. Thread: Are Movie Theaters Worth it when they Regularly Ruin the Movies?
  27. Apple TV Lets You Physically Save Your Digital Film Library
  28. Martin, Disappointments, DGA, Universal
  29. How 'Knock at the Cabin' broke up Shyamalan and Universal
  30. Did the DGA revoke 'Catchfire' director's pseudonym?
  31. "Servant" 2.07-2.08: A pair of disappointments
  32. How The Others Hinder Martin’s Progress on 'Winds of Winter'
  33. Why Hopper Cake Shot Cameron's Catalogs
  34. On FTNC and a Planned Break
  35. The Film & TV Newsletter Catalogs
  36. James Cameron's Best Cut is Always the Theatrical Cut

2022 34

  1. "Servant" 2.06: A mythology-heavy shot of "Espresso"
  2. Dennis Hopper v. Alan Smithee: The Rival Cuts of ‘Backtrack’
  3. "Servant" 2.05 goes back to old habits
  4. Doll brings pizza upgrade 2:00 Substack
  5. How to make a Table of Contents in Substack
  6. Servant 2.04: "2:00" goes for artful horror
  7. Apple gave me a free ‘Planes, Trains’ deleted scene upgrade
  8. Servant 2.03: 'Pizza' burns through plot with style.
  9. "Servant" 2.02: 'Spaceman' brings back the atmosphere
  10. "Servant" 2.01: "Doll" is a bit heavy on plot
  11. Chip Beheld DCEU Carnage
  12. A History of Warner's Failed DCEU Superhero Crossovers
  13. "Sarah Connor" 1.09: A great ad hoc finale
  14. "Sarah Connor" 1.08: A strong blend of elements
  15. Puzzle-Export-Finest-Vitaphone
  16. CUTs 1.05: Vitaphone and The Beginning of Sound Versions
  17. "Sarah Connor" 1.07: The season's finest
  18. CUTs 1.04: Export and Foreign Versions in the Silent Film Era
  19. "Sarah Connor" 1.06: A mind-bending puzzle film
  20. Metal-Sound-Mnemonic-Gambit-Exhibition
  21. CUTs 1.03: How Filmmakers Influenced Exhibition of Silent Films
  22. "Sarah Connor" 1.05: A return to form
  23. 'Johnny Mnemonic' B&W Cut Covertly Appeared on Itunes in 2021
  24. CUTs 1.02: Sound Performance and Silent Versions
  25. "Sarah Connor" 1.04: A mission-of-the-week with mixed results
  26. Sarah-Cuts-Evil-Monday-Pride
  27. CUTs Chapter 1.01: "Sound On"
  28. Review: "Sarah Connor," Episode 1.03
  29. Review: "Sarah Connor," Episode 1.02
  30. Welcome to "Cinema's Unstable Texts" (CUTs)
  31. Review: "Sarah Connor," Episode 1.01
  32. News Update (05/14/22)
  33. The Ending of “The Matrix” Changed Many Times Over
  34. A Deleted 'Matrix' Subplot Directly Contradicts Its Sequels

2021 16

  1. On the Many Cuts of "Dune" (1984)
  2. On the Unseen Alternate Endings of "Unbreakable" and "Glass"
  3. Why 'Glass' Is the First Great Movie of 2019
  4. 'Terminator' 1 & 2 Save Their Reveals for the Right Time
  5. In Defense of M. Night Shyamalan’s "Glass"
  6. VARIATIONS Issue № 3
  7. Paratexts and Inferred Versions
  8. Observations on Deleted Scenes
  9. Status Update (05/01/2021)
  10. VARIATIONS Issue № 2
  11. HBO Max Could Reissue... The Golden Compass
  12. Servant 2.10: A strong yet frustrating conclusion
  13. On the many cuts of Zack Snyder's 'Justice League'
  14. The origin and evolution of the "Director's Cut"
  15. VARIATIONS Issue № 1
  16. Welcome to Textual Variations!