Disney's The Fox and the Hound (my version)

Note!

Hi guys!

Before I upload the next chapter, here is something interesting that was supposed to happen in The Fox and the Hound film but it didn't

For those who read the history on the behind the scenes of the film will know what I'm talking about

But for those who don't know, the scene where Chief gets hit by the train but only survives with a broken leg

Chief was originally going to die in the film just like in Daniel P. Mannix's original novel in order to for Copper's motivation to turn against Tod and blames him for Chief's demise

The animators storyboard it
It was in the original script and he was animated dead

But Art Steven (who was one of the three directors of the film and the youngest one) demanded the young animators to let Chief live because it would traumatize the kid, they would get angry letters from parents and it's a Disney film where they don't kill beloved characters

But Ron Clements (who was an animator in the film before he directed some Disney films with John Musker) and the other younger animators argued,

"Chief has to die! The Picture doesn't work if he just break his LEG. Copper doesn't have enough motivation to hate the fox!"

But Art argued back,

"Geez! We have never killed a main character in a Disney film and we're not starting now!"

Ummm.....Bambi??

So the older animators were on Art's side to let Chief live much to the younger animators' frustration

Ollie Johnston (one of the legendary animators) animated Chief walking around with his cast leg

Randy Cartwright (the animator for Chief and adult Copper) reanimated Chief's eyes to open and close to show the audience that he's alive but injured

So I'm wondering about you guys

Should I let Chief live in order for him to see Lily's kindness and compassion toward him after the climax near the end?

Let me know in a comments! 😊