Overdrawn At The Memory Bank: On The Cutting Room Floor

[artimus]

For those who don't know, Overdrawn At The Memory Bank is a 1983 film starring Raul Julia in his strangest role since M. Bison (Not that Street Fighter came first, that was his last role). The story, to sum it up, in a future run by a totalitarian government, Erim Fingal (Those who want to correct me are welcome) is an employee of mega-corporation Novicorp. In his doppling (implanting his mind in a VR animal, to be brief) procedure, is lost in a virtual network. With the help of Appalonia Jane and the antagonizing of "The Fat Man" (And don't get offended, that's what everyone seriously calls him.) Fingal must recover his mind to his body, while bringing Novicorp to its knees.

Those who are confused are welcome to be, because I never understood it fully, myself. But to simplify: Raul Julia loses his mind in a supercomputer, is antagonized by a fat man who runs the company he works for, and he cripples the company's finances and defeats the fat man. Anyway, during the course of these events, the Fat Man is searching for Fingal. I'd like to present a scene that didn't make it to the film, in which the Fat Man confronts one of his employees who has failed in his search for Fingal.



Jeffrey Pike was summoned to the boardroom. His boss, who he knew only as the Fat Man and through rumor, had called Jeffrey to report the status of the missing doppler. Unfortunately, Fingal had escape Jeffrey's eyes more than once, and the search was very much becoming hopeless. Jeffrey, upon arriving at the double-doors marking the entrance to the board room, and the office of his boss, Jeffrey exhaled. He grasped the door handles and, with a pull, the doors were open. The inside of the room was lit dimly, contrasting the bright fluorescents in the hallways of the building. He could barely make out two figures. The larger one moved what must be his hands to grasp an item in front of him, bringing it upward to its head with a loud crunching sound. The smaller man beside him stood motionless.

"Enter, Pike. Your report is expected." The smaller man grunted. Jeffrey almost felt like he had to struggle to hear the voice. By now, however, Jeffrey's eyes adjusted and he could make out the two. On Jeffrey's left was actually a tall man who, Jeffrey immediately thought, resembled Peter Cushing in a blue, three-piece suit. Next to him, sat a man who, even in his position, reached higher than any man. Of course, his gut reached horizontally similar. Now he understood why people called him "The Fat Man." Before, Jeffrey thought that it was just a moniker similar to old gangster movies. But the name was quite apt. The item he picked up was a chicken wing, which he messily consumed, seemingly unaware that Jeffrey had even entered.  "Speak, Pike." Peter Cushing spoke calmly.

"Yessir!" Jeffrey finally piped up quickly. "Er, We have been chasing the intruder known as Erim Fingal for the last 26 hours. After numerous encounters with him, I'm sorry to say that, well..." He stopped, worried concerned that the calm demeanor of his bosses may change in response to the bad news.

"Go on..." Spoke the tall man. Jeffrey assumed that he did all the talking.

"Well...We've been unable to detain the intruder."

After what felt like an hour, the taller man moved his hand upward and into his jacket pocket. Jeffrey thought that he would extract a gun, but thankfully it was only a tissue to wipe off a few crumbs that had spilled onto his shoulder. "I see. Quite unfortunate, wouldn't you say so, sir?" He directed his eyes to the Fat Man who continued his meal. After a second of no response, the tall man gazed back at Jeffrey. "Yes, I'd say it is. Pike," He spoke as calmly as ever, "surely you know of his moniker that's been spread around the company." Cushing didn't move or gesture, but Jeffrey knew that he was talking about the Fat Man.

"It's, as you can see, not a name taken lightly." Jeffrey agreed, but only swallowed nervously. The tall man took it as a sign of agreement and grinned. "Yes, well, you see all of this bad news, it's not healthy, you see. It's enough to make one lose one's appetite. The Fat Man does not like this." His voice began to rise. "It makes him quite angry, and when he is angry, the Fat Man eats to quell his rage. Now, today's dinner is enough for a good mood, but our cooks have not, I fear, prepared for the eventuality before man." With that, the large man next to Cushing threw down the bowl he had been chowing on. Indeed, there was no more food left, save scraps and crumbs on piled plates.

Cushing's voice became darker. "When the Fat Man is angry, he must eat. He must also eliminate what caused his anger." The Fat Man rose slowly. "Normally I dispose of what makes him angry, but as I said, we've not prepared our cooks for your failure, so I'm afraid that the Fat Man must eat." Jeffrey froze in fear. "The Fat Man is hungry, Mr. Pike. And when the Fat Man is hungry, the Fat Man eats!" He yelled as his boss lunged at Jeffrey faster than he would have given him credit for. As he was pinned down, before everything went black, he could have sworn that he heard Cushing say, "Ah, good, our first catch of the day."


End Notes: Yes, of course Cushing never said that line, it was an officer in Empire Strikes Back, but that's the kind of mistakes that end up on the cutting room floor. If this scene has offended any of you in any way, you can direct your complaints to the editors of Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. Thank you.

Edit: If anyone likes this, I might just be able to dig up some more deleted scenes. So, leave a comment if you've ever wondered what gets left out of your favorite movies and maybe even video games.