Waterworld

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Waterworld

Directed by	Kevin Reynolds Kevin Costner (uncredited)
Produced by	Kevin Costner John Davis Charles Gordon Lawrence Gordon Andrew Licht
Written by	David Twohy Peter Rader (co-writer) Joss Whedon (rewrites)
Starring	Kevin Costner Dennis Hopper Jeanne Tripplehorn Tina Majorino Michael Jeter R.D. Call Gerard Murphy Jack Black
Music by	Mark Isham (original score) James Newton Howard
Cinematography	Dean Semler
Editing by	Peter Boyle
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 28, 1995
Running time	136 Mins Theatrical Version 177 Mins Director's Cut
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$175 million
Gross revenue	$264,218,220

Waterworld is a 1995 post-apocalyptic science fiction film. The film was directed by Kevin Reynolds and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it, was co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay. It was distributed by Universal Pictures.

The film release was accompanied by a tie-in novel and video game, and also two popular themed attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan based on the film, called Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular, which are both still running as of 2009.

Factions within the film

Atoll dwellers

After the doomsday event of flooding caused by global warming melting the ice caps and end of civilization, the ramshackle remnants of the human race who survived the deluge now live in large floating constructs made up of various rusty junk and grimy debris found floating on the ocean; these watery settlements are called atolls after the similar type of island which no longer exist. The dwellers of atolls are a nautical society, albeit a gritty, primitive and superstitious one, with a patriarchal structure.

Due to the extreme limitation of living space in the settlements, and also the sparse resources, the atoll elders limit the number of citizens to a steady and constant number, thus avoiding the issue of overpopulation. Occasionally, drifters are asked to mate with the women of the atolls to expand on the shallow gene pool of the inhabitants, in an attempt to avoid inbreeding and also a population bottleneck situation, meaning they are an exogamous society. However, the only time women are permitted to try for a child is when a citizen of the atoll dies, thus keeping the population number steady. Since there is no ground to bury the dead in, the dead are placed in a yellow brine pool, whereupon they are "recycled".

The atollers refer to anybody outside their atoll as "outwaters", and are very suspicious of them. On occasion, however, drifters are permitted entry in to the atolls, but only temporarily, and only if they can show the guards and/or enforcers they have something of value to trade with, such as food, plants, seeds, cigarettes, paper, dirt, and "hydro" (fresh water).

Drifters

Drifters ply the water in boats, yachts, catamarans, and trimarans. They have a rule whereby whenever two drifters come across each other, something "must be traded" between them, although as seen in the film many are driven by desperation to try and steal from each other. Drifters are almost always loners. As seen in the film, some drifters are driven insane by their long and seemingly endless solitude on the waves.

As well as speaking English as a common tongue, Drifters also speak in Hindi. Another language used on Waterworld is "Portu-Greek," which is an apparent amalgamation of Portugese and Greek used at some outlying trading posts.

Aquatic human mutants

Some humans have spent so long in aquatic environments that they developed/or were genetically engineered genetic mutations to their environment; they have webbed feet, which enable them to swim at inhumanly high speeds, and gills located behind the ears, which enable them to breathe underwater.

Mutants are able to keep ordinary humans from drowning underwater by transferring the oxygen to them via kiss of life. In the film, Old Gregor (Michael Jeter) refers to these gills as "isotropic gills", and functional as opposed to vestigial. They also have excellent vision underwater, and in addition to their speed and stealth, they are also very strong. They also have the sense of electroreception either above or below the water, being able to tell when it is about to rain, or when a storm is approaching. Their bodies are apparently very tough, being able to resist the intense water pressure at the ocean floor, and having explored much of the previous drowned civilization.

Old Gregor refers to these genetic mutants as Ichthyus Sapien (Latin for "knowing fish"), although it is unclear as to whether this is an established term for the mutants or one that Gregor simply made up. The other less educated atollers refer to them as "mute-o".

The protagonist and antihero of the film, the nameless Mariner (portrayed by Kevin Costner), is such a mutant, although no more mutants are seen in the film. However, from certain lines of dialogue in the film, it is clear there are more of his kind. The leader of the smokers, the Deacon (portrayed by Dennis Hopper), refers to the protagonist as a "guppy freak", and, in line with his quasi-religious nature, believes that no such "abominations" could exist in nature. It is stated that Ichthyus Sapien do not need to eat for days on end.

Smokers

Pirates known commonly as "smokers" because of the smoke from oil-power machines, such as personal water craft and aeroplanes, which they make use of. They also apply great cultural significance to the smoking of cigarettes, even to the point of giving their children cigarettes, and trade in a brand of cigarettes referred to as "Black Death".

The smokers obtain many of their wares as marauders and by raiding the settlements of the featureless surface of Waterworld. Many smokers appear to be quite sadistic and revel in murder and carnage; often their reputation precedes them.

The base of the smokers is the rusted old carcass of an oil tanker, referred to as the Deez, which is revealed to be the Exxon Valdez in a brief shot. Although the tanker no longer has any functional engines, the smokers still have a large supply of crude oil aboard the tanker, and apparently a small oil refinery, as they are able to refine the crude oil into gasoline to power the jet skis and planes they make use of. The Deacon also mentions refining but states that they are running out of "the black stuff" and the "go-juice" rapidly, and that they only have "two lunars" (or months) left of it. The smokers have also hoarded large quantities of firearms, heavy artillery, ammunition, spam, paper, tobacco, cigarettes and whiskey aboard the tanker. The smokers move the tanker by use of thousands of oars that stick out of the barnacle-encrusted hull.

The captain of the tanker and also the leader of the smokers is looked up to as a messianic figure, as he has promised to lead the smokers to the mythical "dry land", and in line with this quasi-religious nature, he is referred to as "Deacon". The Deacon, or "Deac", has an intense hatred for anything of the old world, especially sails, instead preferring the mechanical machines, and believes that his aim to raid atolls is a "crusade". He teaches his men a philosophy of "take and ye shall receive." The smokers also worship a former historical captain of the tanker, Joseph Hazelwood, as "Saint Joe".

The Deacon's inner circle is well organized and includes a man with medical knowledge, and a man who follows the Deacon around with a ledger and a top hat who records everything which happens for posterity, and also informs the Deacon of various statistics he needs to know. The Deacon's lieutenant or second-in-command is a large and imposing man of Scandinavian descent, referred to as "the Nord", who is reminiscent of a viking. The Nord likes to be in the thick of the action and delights in murder, leading the raids on atolls and also posing as a spy for reconnaissance. Smokers refer to each other as "cousins".

The primary goal of the smokers in the film is to find an orphan girl named Enola (Tina Majorino), who as myth states came from the legendary "dry land", and has directions to it on a tattoo placed on her back. What the Deacon plans to do with "dry land" is unclear though. In the extended cut, the Deacon claims he wishes to create a "church of eternal growth" for the smokers.

Slavers

Although not seen in the film, slave traders are talked about and mentioned throughout. This would suggest that there is an active slave trade in Waterworld, although in the theatrical cut of the film this slave trade is little elaborated on, nor do we see what form this slave trade takes. In the extended cut of the film, it makes clear that the ruthless Mariner's initial intentions are to sell Helen and Enola to slave traders, but relents as he grows to know them.

Border outposts

Although there is no longer any land, certain areas of Waterworld are set out as clear territories for the various factions and groups who dwell on the waters surface. The borders of these territories are defined by the outposts on the outskirts of the territories. It appears they also act as trading outposts, repair shops and lighthouses. The outpost keepers speak in "Portu-Greek". Only one such outpost is seen in the film, in which the outpost keepers have been killed by the smokers who attempt to lay a trap for the Mariner at the outpost.

Plot summary

The setting of the film is the distant future, although no exact date is given. The polar ice caps have completely melted, and the sea level has risen many thousands of feet, covering all the land. An antihero known only as "the Mariner" (Kevin Costner), is a drifter who sails the Earth in his trimaran. He comes into an atoll seeking to trade his dirt, which is now a precious commodity. There, it is revealed that he is a mutant with webbed feet and gills, a new step in evolution to accommodate the changes in climate. The atollers, fearful of him, vote to "recycle" him by drowning him in a yellow sludge-like brine pool. At this moment, pirates known as "smokers" arrive in a raid on the atoll, as they have been tipped off by a smoker spy posing as a trader (Gerard Murphy), known as "the Nord".

The smokers are searching for an orphan girl living there named Enola, who has what appears to be directions to dry land tattooed on her back.^[1] Her caretaker is Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn), the atoll's shopkeeper, and they plan to escape with Gregor (Michael Jeter), the atoll's expert on hydroelectric power and resident astrologer and inventor, in the hopes of finding dry land. Unfortunately, Gregor's escape method, a hot air balloon made of old rags, launches too early with him on it, leaving Helen and Enola stranded. Instead, they escape with the Mariner, who agrees to take them with him as they saved his life, but similarly seems ill-pleased with their company as he prefers solitude. Chasing them is "the Deacon" (Dennis Hopper), who is the captain of a derelict oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, and the leader of the smokers. He also wants to get to dry land, and has a number of skirmishes with the Mariner in his attempts to get Enola back.

Helen, convinced that dry land exists, demands to know where the Mariner finds his dirt. The Mariner, who can breathe underwater, puts her in a diving bell, and swims down to a sunken city on the ocean floor and grabs a handful of earth. While they are beneath the ocean's surface, the Deacon and his smokers board the boat and capture Enola. The Mariner and Helen escape as the Deacon burns the Mariner's boat. Since Helen cannot breathe underwater, the Mariner breathes for the both of them, resulting in a prolonged underwater kiss of life. They are later rescued by Gregor and he takes them to a new makeshift atoll where the survivors of the first atoll attack have regrouped.

Using a jetski, the Mariner chases down the Exxon Valdez and boards it. There, the Deacon is having a great celebration, during which he tosses gifts of cigarettes and spam to the crew of the tanker, proclaiming they have found the map to dry land. After they have all gone below the ship to row, the Mariner walks out onto the deck and threatens to drop a flare into the oil reserves unless the Deacon releases Enola. The Deacon, believing that the Mariner is bluffing, refuses. The Mariner drops the flare down into the oil reserves.

The ship explodes, and the Mariner escapes with Enola rescued by climbing a rope dropped by Gregor from his balloon. The Deacon, still alive, grabs the rope and tries to pull Enola. The Deacon loses his grip and falls into the water. Still alive, he pulls out his pistol and shoots at the balloon, hitting one of the lines, causing Enola to fall back into the sea. The Deacon and two other Smokers, all on jet skis, converge on Enola. The Mariner ties a rope around his ankle and bungee jumps down to grab Enola, pulling her out of the water as the three jet skis collide and explode.

Gregor figures out the map, translating the Oriental symbols using an old and tattered China Airlines magazine, and realises they are latitude and longitude coordinates and steers his balloon in that direction. The group indeed finds dry land, which turns out to be a portion of Mt. Everest, which is still above sea level. As Gregor, Enola, Helen and the others land on the island and find past traces of civilization, including the skeletons of Enola's parents, they begin to start civilization anew on the island, but the Mariner decides to leave. Enola, saddened to hear the Mariner leaving, asks why he must go. He explains that he doesn't belong on dry land, and that the ocean, his only home, calls out to him. He finds a new boat near the beach, and sails off. Enola and Helen look out to him drifting away, back to his old life.

Cast

Kevin Costner – The Mariner
Jeanne Tripplehorn – Helen
Tina Majorino – Enola
Dennis Hopper – The Deacon
Gerard Murphy - The Nord
Michael Jeter – Old Gregor
R.D. Call – Enforcer at the Atoll
John Toles-Bey - Ed, Smoker Plane Gunner
Robert Joy - Ledger Guy
John Fleck - Smoker Doctor
Kim Coates – Crazed Drifter
Sab Shimono – Elder of the Atoll
Leonardo Cimino - Elder of the Atoll
Jack Kehler – Banker
Rick Aviles – Gatesman at the Atoll
Sean Whalen – Bone
Lee Arenberg - Djeng
Robert LaSardo - Smitty
William Preston - Depth Gauge
Chris Douridas - Atoller
Jack Black - Smoker Plane Pilot (Uncredited)

Production

The film was the follow-up project to the last collaboration between Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds, who last worked together on Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. The film was co-written by David Twohy, who went on to also write G.I. Jane, Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. Twohy cited Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior as a major inspiration. The two films have the same director of photography, Dean Semler.

Gene Hackman, James Caan and Gary Oldman all turned down the role of the Deacon. Anna Paquin was the first choice to play Enola.^{[citation needed]}

Universal Pictures initially authorized a budget of $100 million, but ballooning production costs eventually ran to an estimated $175 million, a record sum for a film production at the time. Filming took place in a large artificial sea water enclosure similar to that used in the film Titanic two years later; it was located in the Pacific Ocean just off the coast of Hawaii. The production was hampered by the collapse of this multi-million dollar set during a hurricane. Additional filming also took place in Los Angeles, Huntington Beach, California, and Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California.

Kevin Costner was on the set 157 days, working 6 days a week.^{[citation needed]} At one point, he nearly died when he got caught up in a squall while tied to the mast of his trimaran. Laird Hamilton, the famous big wave rider was Kevin Costner’s stunt double for many water scenes. Hamilton, who had been commuting to the set via jet-ski, was lost at sea when his jet-ski ran out of fuel between Maui and the Big Island. He drifted for many hours before being spotted by a Coast Guard plane and rescued; when the abandoned jet-ski washed up on shore on the island of Lanai, he went over to fetch it and drove it back home again. Stunt coordinator Norman Howell succumbed to decompression sickness during filming of an underwater scene and was rushed to a hospital in Honolulu by helicopter. He recovered fairly quickly from the potentially life-threatening sickness and returned to the set two days later.^{[citation needed]} Tina Majorino was nicknamed "Jellyfish Candy" by Costner after she was stung three different times by jellyfish during production.

Mark Isham's score was reportedly rejected by Costner because it was "too ethnic and bleak", contrasting the film's futuristic and adventurous tone;^[2] James Newton Howard was brought in to write the new score. Joss Whedon flew out to the set to do last minute rewrites on the script and later described it as "seven weeks of hell". ^[3]

There was one clear winner of the film's production: the state of Hawaii, which had more than $35 million dollars poured into its state economy as a result of the colossal film production.^[4]

Rumours abound that, after the filming ran notoriously over-budget, Kevin Costner fired Kevin Reynolds as director and shot the last few scenes himself. Other rumours suggest Reynolds was not fired, but simply walked off set with two weeks of filming left. Their previously acclaimed partnership ended with this film.

Box office and reception

Problems encountered during filming led to massive budget overrun, and it held the dubious distinction of being the most expensive film ever made at the time. Some critics dubbed it "Fishtar" and "Kevin's Gate" (references to the notorious flops Ishtar and Heaven's Gate). The film would have had to generate as much revenue as Jurassic Park, the biggest ever box office hit at the time, just to break even.

With a budget of $175 million, the film grossed a mere $88 million at the U.S. box office, which seemed to make it the all time box office bomb.^[5] Adjusted for inflation and expressed in 2006 dollars (USD), the budget for the movie was $231.6 million, and grossed $116.8 million at the U.S. box office.

The film however did much better overseas, with $176 million at the foreign box office (for a total of $264 million),^[6] and good VHS and later DVD sales.^[7]

Contemporary reviews for the film were mixed, and varied widely. Roger Ebert said of Waterworld: "The cost controversy aside, Waterworld is a decent futuristic action picture with some great sets, some intriguing ideas, and a few images that will stay with me. It could have been more, it could have been better, and it could have made me care about the characters. It's one of those marginal pictures you're not unhappy to have seen, but can't quite recommend."^[8] The film has, however, retained a small cult following in recent years.

After bringing some disappointing numbers in the U.S., the film was nominated for 4 Razzie Awards including Worst Picture, Worst Actor (Kevin Costner) and Worst Director, with Dennis Hopper winning the award as Worst Supporting Actor.

Novelization

A tie-in novel of the film was released to coincide with the movie's opening, which was written by Max Allan Collins and published by Arrow Books Ltd. The novelization goes into much greater detail regarding the world of the film, and closes many of the apparent plot holes therein.

Comic Books

A sequel comic book four issue mini-series titled Waterworld: Children of Leviathan was released by Acclaim Comics in 1997. Kevin Costner did not permit his likeness to be used for the comics, thus the Mariner looks uniquely original. In the story we learn a little about the Mariner's back-story as he gathers clues about where he came from and why he's different from others.

Extended cut

The initial filmed script ran at over five hours. The original director's cut of the film was trimmed and submitted to the studio at a length of around three hours. But most of it was then trimmed down again by the studio and Kevin Costner against the wishes of director Kevin Reynolds to a running length of 136 minutes, and Costner re-shot or re-edited some major plot points.

It wasn't until 1998 that the ABC network premiered Waterworld as a two-night event with an additional 40 minutes of footage that was never seen during its theatrical run. These additional scenes make for a more solid cohesion of the film and fill some previous plot holes. However, despite being much longer then the theatrical cut, the ABC cut was heavily edited for language, violence, action, some nudity. Some examples of this are:

the opening shot of the Mariner urinating;
the shot in which the Mariner shoots the gatesman of the atoll (Rick Aviles) through the foot with a harpoon gun;
Helen's undressing on the Mariner's triamaran;
the shot where the gunner of the smoker airplane is speared through the chest by the harpoon gun;
the shot where the Mariner crushes the smoker referred to as "Smitty" (Robert LaSardo) with a jet-ski.

All of these, and more, were omitted in the ABC cut, as the cut was to be shown on television whereby minors may see it. Swear words are replaced with less offensive words such as "toilet" and "slimeball." The picture quality of the ABC cut was also poorer than the theatrical cut.

Despite these heavy edits, this 177-minute version was praised by fans of the film for the previously-unseen footage it contained and was widely bootlegged, and increased in popularity over the years, as the extended cut was syndicated on stations like Bravo, USA, and AMC. However, most of these stations only included 20 to 30 minutes of the extra footage, and not the full 40 minutes or so of the extended ABC cut. Scenes were still missing, especially excluding the Mount Everest ending in some broadcasts. It wasn't shown in its entirety until the full ABC cut, with commercials, was finally seen on SCI FI. The SCI FI cut remains the most complete cut of the film to date.

After many petitions and pleas from Waterworld fans, Universal reissued it in November 2008 on DVD in a two-disc set. Despite being void of extras, except the theatrical trailer, this contained a new anamorphic widescreen transfer and the extended cut. Fans were disappointed to find that the extended cut, despite being in a widescreen format, was actually a transfer of the ABC cut, which was itself heavily edited for profanity and violence and had a poorer quality of picture, rather than the unedited and major restoration-cut that fans had hoped for.

There remains to be released a major restoration of the film which is not subject to heavy edits.

Additional scenes

The original cut of Waterworld contained many additional character developments, and contributed less confusion to the film. Most of these are included in the first broadcast on ABC and syndicated versions of the extended cut, but some scenes are missing or dropped to fill in a three-hour block with commercials during such broadcasts. This was the version that was syndicated, until the Sci-Fi Channel picked the rights to air the full cut. Here is a detailed highlight of what was added:

Prior to the Mariner's arrival at the atoll, an elderly drifter with long white hair and beard is shown outside the gates to the city, and wants to barter his hair for a small portion of hydro. The guards do not grant him entrance, as they say they already have enough traders, just as they do at first with the Mariner.

After the Mariner shows the guards of the atoll his gadgets and jar of dirt and is permitted entry, shots are added of the guards blasting the other drifters at the gates with giant water hoses, or perhaps fire hoses, to prevent them from also entering as the Mariner is let in.

A slightly longer version of the bank scene, where the Mariner grabs all the chits and leaves an amazed crowd.

The bar scene is much longer, and it begins with an additional moment of a barfly telling Helen how impressive the Mariner's dirt is. This includes a new shot of the Mariner approaching, and more footage of him buying more hydro. Plus, the Nord has more lines (speaking some lines in Norwegian). It is clearer that the Nord suspects the Mariner of being a mutant. Enola's tattoo is seen more clearly for a few more seconds.

When a family offers the Mariner their daughter, there is an additional line from an elder explaining that when a member of the atoll dies, they gain the social right to give birth to another family member, making the barter more clear.

A new scene where a trial on the Mariner is held. At a night meeting, an atoller shows some of the items they confiscated from the Mariner's ship, which are in fact various gadgets from the previous civilization, and gives a negative interpretation for each one, believing the Mariner to be a murderer and a Smoker spy. The atollers believe a yo yo is garotte wire, a ThighMaster to be a torture device, and a clarinet to be spy surveillance equipment. Helen defends the Mariner, knowing that he might know where Dryland is. Helen claims that they need to find Dryland fast, if it does indeed exist, as their atoll is dying, their way of life ending, and many other similar atolls have died out. The Mariner may be the only one capable of leading them to Dryland. But, the council ignores her pleas and decide the Mariner's fate. They also bay for the blood of Enola, as they have heard the rumour that the smokers are looking for her.

A bunch of kids menace the Mariner and tease him with a fish. However, this backfires, as he scares them off. This cuts into a scene where Gregor calculates the meaning of Enola's tattoo, but finds himself cornered again. Helen shows up, and there is more dialogue between the two, as Helen fears that the atollers may eventually set them all adrift.

The attack on the Atoll is much longer, with more footage of the Atollers preparing for the assault (including the use of the sharp bills of swordfish as melee weapons), Gregor assembling the flying machine, a woman demanding they give Enola over to the Smokers and her death, and Gregor, trying to mount the flying machine, runs up the stairs and leaps onto it.

The Deacon arrives at the remains of the atoll, as Smokers are raiding the water supply and cutting down trees with chain saws. His record-keeper reports to him on the spoils of the raid, much to the disappointment of the Deacon, who feels that the previous attacks were more "worthy." When told the atoll contains no cigarettes or ammunition, the Deacon states that they are savages. He also states that his "crusade" is coming to an end, as there are barely any atolls left to plunder.

An added scene where the Deacon summarizes the origin of the world in a sermon, stating that the world was made as a ball of water by God and how mutations can't be possible as the concept of evolution is false, all whilst interrogating the two prisoners. The smokers say amen at the conclusion of the Deacon's sermon.

A shot of the Mariner fixing the bullet holes beneath the water line is followed by additional dialogue between him and Helen, and added footage of Enola exploring the lower deck of the Trimaran.

A scene where the Mariner makes some fresh hydro, and waters his plant. He explains that he doesn't make hydro out of seawater because it is harder on the filters. With some left, he gives it to Enola, after Helen asks for it, who in return thanks the Mariner with a hug. Enola also thanks him for not throwing her and Helen overboard to save his hydro. The Mariner responds by shoving Enola aside, and Helen warns Enola to stay away from him.

After the airplane assault, there is a much longer version of the Deacon and the Nord plotting to capture the Mariner, which includes more lines from Jack Black's character, the smoker airplane pilot, who is upset over the death of his friend, Ed the airplane gunner. He refers to Helen as "the atoll witch". It is also made clearer that the Deacon wants to capitalize the newfound land and convert it into a resort, and we see a drawing of it. (This scene was split into two parts, with the second half ending the first part of the ABC TV cut.)

Prior to the bizarre Drifter's arrival, a sequence is added where the Mariner is eating a tomato, with Helen and Enola watching in hunger.

The scene where the Mariner fishes is presented as a separate scene, where Helen teases him, saying that he "can't fish."

The scene where Helen and the Mariner talk by moonlight is much longer, with a CD player the Mariner has repaired to working order playing jazz music in the background. Helen explains that she isn't Enola's mother, and how she found Enola in a basket floating on the waves. The basket was also filled with dirt far darker and richer then any she had seen before, and so she believes Enola must have come from "Dryland", along with this dirt. The other atollers wanted to shove Enola back out to sea as they wouldn't allow for another citizen, but in her compassion Helen promised the elders that she would raise Enola as her own and forfeit the right to have her own child instead. The Mariner doesn't understand this, and says that his only ever friend is his boat, which will never lie to him, or cut his throat when he is asleep. Helen says she pities him, so the Mariner looks up the meaning of the word in an issue of National Geographic magazine, where the definition of pity is given as the name of a bushman, leaving the Mariner even more confused.

After the scene at the border outpost where the Mariner was shot, it is made clear that the place the Mariner was heading was a slaver colony, and that his plan was to sell Helen and Enola to them. Helen realizes this, and tells the Mariner there is nothing human about him, and he should have been killed at birth. The Mariner responds by saying "they tried".

After finding Enola, the Nord presents the Deacon with the Mariner's National Geographic issues, and they all marvel at the pictures of Dryland.

The scene where the Deacon talks to Enola is longer, as he explains that the smokers are growing in number and that he needs more land in order to continue his development, with what he calls his "church of eternal growth", and also his desire to make roads and highways. Enola suggests "making" fewer people and limiting the population to a steady number like in the atolls. (This would have caused controversy with various religions, and is possibly why this scene got cut.) The scene also ends with the Deacon ordering Enola chained up, while she screams that the Mariner will come to save her.

A scene is deleted and moved to a later spot, where the Mariner is looking over the remains of his ship, and finally realizes that Enola may know where Dryland is. Instead, a scene is inserted where Helen claims she can't go any further, but the Mariner won't quit. It then cuts to a shot of Gregor's ship flying in the clouds, following the smoke, and discovering the two, explaining how he found them.

About 4–5 minutes of footage is restored, where the group joins the New Atoll, and Helen is having a hard time convincing them to save Enola. The Mariner doesn't want to save her, and returns to the Trimaran wreckage. There, he sees Enola's drawings, and compares them to a National Geographic issue. He finally realizes that she does know where Dryland is. He returns to the New Atoll to find two Smokers terrorizing the group. He dispatches them, lights one of the jet-skis on fire, which creates a fire trail leading to the Deez. This explains how he managed to get a jet-ski and locate the Deez in the theatrical cut of the film.

In the above added footage, it is made clearer that a pole shift has occurred in the planet, turning the world upside down.

After crashing into the smoker referred to as "Smitty" (Robert LaSardo) with a jet-ski while docking inside the Deez, two Smokers appear and menace the Mariner for a moment. They then change tune and congratulate the Mariner for killing Smitty, seeing how annoyed they were with Smitty, and not realizing the Mariner isn't a smoker like them (this may be because the Mariner is wearing goggles he took off Horse, a smoker he drowned in the water.) One of these smokers, Djeng, celebrates that, due to the fact Smitty is dead, he is now in charge of the lower decks of the Deez. Djeng is played by Lee Arenberg, who later went on to have a large part in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.

As the Mariner is climbing up the inside of the Deez, there is an added sequence whereby the Mariner notices a loudspeaker playing the Deacon's speech, as the Deacon is talking about settling, building on and capitalizing on "Dryland". The Mariner is startled for a moment, not knowing what the speaker is, and thinking thr Deacon is in close proximity. Realizing the speaker is the source of the voice, the Mariner responds by hacking it to pieces with a machete.

Before telling the two Smokers to drive into Enola, the Deacon yells, "If I can't have Dryland, no one will!!!"

After rescuing Enola, Gregor reveals a map he discovered, which he uses to direct the airship to Dryland, also with the use of a sextant.

There is much more dialogue in the final scene. Before the Mariner leaves, the enforcer shakes the Mariner's hand, saying that is all he has, and the Mariner replies "it is enough". Gregor gives the Mariner dirt, and says don't trade it all at once at another atoll, and then says maybe he should, and then come back for more dirt. Helen pleads with the Mariner to stay, but he refuses, saying he doesn't belong on land. When Helen asks what the Mariner is looking for out at sea, the Mariner says he wants to look for more of his kind, because Gregor said it is likely there is more mutants out at sea. He also says that Helen is responsible for finding Dryland, because she never gave up hope. If he finds any other humans at sea, he will tell them about Helen and her story of courage, and where to find Dryland. Helen's gift to the Mariner is not something he can trade with, which the Mariner states would be the first such free thing in Waterworld. She gives him a name, "Ulysses", because, like the legendary warrior, she hopes he will one days return to them from his wanderings out at sea. The Mariner states that it is a good name.

In the original ending, while watching the Mariner leave from a hill, Helen and Enola uncover a worn plaque that reveals Dryland to be the summit of Mount Everest. This is the very same plaque laid down by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953, the first time the summit was reached. This ending to Waterworld was only seen once during its 1998 broadcast premiere on ABC. It was cut from other syndicated airings, until the Sci-Fi Channel restored it, when they aired the full cut.

Universal Studios Theme Parks

Main article: Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular

There is currently a show at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Japan based on the film. It takes place immediately after the movie, where Helen returns to the Atoll with proof of dry land, only to find her followed by the Deacon, who survived the events of the movie. The Mariner arrives immediately after him, however, and defeats the Deacon and takes Helen back to dry land while the Atoll explodes.

Video game

The Waterworld video game based on the movie was released on Super Nintendo, Virtual Boy and PC. While the Super Nintendo and Virtual Boy version were released by Ocean Software, the PC version was released by Interplay. The game received negative reviews as well as the Virtual Boy Game being marked as the worst Virtual Boy game ever released out of the 22 games in its short life.

Gottlieb Amusements (Premier) release a pinball machine in 1995 that is based on the movie.^[9]

References

External links

Preceded by Apollo 13	Box office number-one films of 1995 (USA) July 30, 1995 – August 6, 1995	Succeeded by Dangerous Minds

Preceded by Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home	Box office number-one films of 1995 (UK) August 13, 1995 – August 20, 1995	Succeeded by Die Hard with a Vengeance

v • d • e Films directed by Kevin Reynolds

Fandango (1985) · The Beast (1988) · Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) · Rapa Nui (1994) · Waterworld (1995) · One Eight Seven (1997) · The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) · Tristan & Isolde (2006)

Hidden categories: NPOV disputes from January 2009 | All NPOV disputes | Articles that may contain original research from January 2009 | All articles that may contain original research | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements from December 2008

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