"Disney Double-Cross"

Chapter 6

Turbo asked Kirk if they could beam him to Game Central Station, and Scotty answered "yes" for him. Turbo thanked Kirk again, and after everyone shook hands Turbo stepped onto the transporter pad. "Energize" was the last thing he heard as his world dissolved again and his vision was now of the entrance to Game Central Station. Surge was there, watching the angry mob carrying the Disney characters approach the entrance to "Hero's Duty", at the far end of the outlet strip.

"Hey Surge,", he asked "Where is everyone going?"

"They're feeding the Disney people to the Cy-Bugs because they let you get killed in...OhMyGosh! Turbo! You're ALIVE!"

That last word got the attention of everyone, and heads swiveled to see Turbo, alive and well, being hugged by Surge!.

"Easy, Surge!", he wheezed out as a thundering herd of arcarde residents gathered around him. Ted and Teddy piled on him, as did Tamora and Vanellope.

"Easy...ooofff...you're really killing me!" he said .

They got off him and helped him to his feet as Ralph asked "How could you be alive? We saw you fly into the cola beacon and die?"

"You can thank the guys from 'Star Trek" for saving my life", he said.

Ralph looked at the game's entrance, then looked around the room. "They've been here as long as we have but no one's ever gone in there and no one's ever seen anyone from that game." He looked at Felix and Gene, and said "We're going to have to go there and give them a belated 'welcome' to the arcade."

Felix looked at Gene and said "Why can't we invite them to our 30th anniversary party?" Gene shrugged his shoulders and said "I can't think of why not."

While all of this was going on, the Disney people took advantage of the confusion to quietly slip out of the arcade. When their plug was pulled, someone yelled "Hey, they're getting away!", but Turbo said "Heck with them, let 'em go. They won't be back."

"Everyone into Tapper's, drinks are on me! It's time to celebrate!"

A cheer resounded through Game Central Station as the happy throng filtered into Tapper's. Happy to sad, back to happy again all in the space of a few minutes. Typical Disney ending.

When the film came out, Litwak held a screening in the arcade. Everyone gathered on the roof of the Nicelander's building except Ralph, Felix, Turbo, Ted, and Teddy. They were at Star Base 123 along with Kirk, Spock, Bones and Scotty.

Turbo cringed at his final scene, and sighed. "Nobody's ever going to want to play us again and we'll get unplugged." Turning to Ted and Teddy, he said "I'm sorry if I get us unplugged."

(breaking the fourth wall)

But you know, there are a lot of people out there, myself included, who didn't think Turbo was truly evil at heart and didn't like how the Disney folks treated him.

You see, Ralph was a 'bad guy', but he wasn't a 'bad' guy. Gene was never the jagoff he was in the movie. Turbo was never the jealous game-wrecker as he was depicted in the film.

So where exactly WAS this "Disney Double-Cross"? It's common in filmmaking to film several versions of one scene, either for ratings or dramatic effect. The scenes where Ralph and King Turbug fought were a good example. You see, one version borrowed from "Spider-Man 2", specifically the scene where Doc Ock had a moment of clarity and said "I will not die a monster!" to Peter Parker. In that version, Turbo released Ralph (ever wonder why he didn't fly down after Ralph broke free and attempt to prevent him from crashing into the Mentos?) after apologizing to Ralph for all the harm he'd done and telling him that he'd lead the Cy-Bugs into the beacon. In that version, the Disney techs were able to separate him from the Cy-Bug before they flew into the Mento stream, just as they'd done before.

But, they either didn't hear or chose to ignore a warning from Tamora. "Cy-Bugs are adaptive, and if you don't kill them outright you can't use the same method to kill them again." The Disney folks used the same Cy-Bug for all of the King Turbug scenes, and by the time of the final scene filming it had adapted to the point where it would take control of Turbo.

Back in the cutting room, the producers decided that if they used the "Doc Ock" scene it would make Turbo look like the hero when they wanted Ralph to be the hero.

In a letter they sent along with the coin payment, the director apologized and said that the movie wouldn't use the scene where Turbo almost died. The producers, on the other hand, had other ideas as outlined above. The "Doc Ock" scene is available in the "Deleted Scenes" section and will be restored in the "Director's Cut" DVD.

Contrary to Turbo's fears, Turbo-Time is more popular than ever, and once people found out that Litwak's Arcade was indeed a real place, travelled from all over the world to play the only remaining original Turbo-Time game. "Turbo-Tastic" went viral and is a ringtone on many a fan's smartphone.

And, after playing "Ricky Bobby" with a stuffed cougar in the back seat of his NASCAR racer and displaying "I want to go fast!" a few years prior, Kurt Busch dressed up as Turbo, put "Turbo-Time" on his car, and raced in the Daytona 500, finishing first.

What do you think his answer was when they asked him how he felt...?

The End.

Ride on, Turbo! I'll race you and Dale someday when it's my turn to cross over. Get used to looking at my back...

Thanks to Dixie Darlin for the inspiration from the many stories she's written.

Thanks to megabyte for the inspiration for the blooper reel.

I hope you all enjoyed the story.