The Iron Giant, Rewritten: What If He Remembered Who Built Him?

A boy, a giant robot and the memory of a war among the stars.

The Iron Giant (1999) is one of the most beloved animated films ever made. REAL: it was directed by Brad Bird, who later made The Incredibles, and it flopped in theaters before becoming a classic on home video and TV.

So what if the Giant's past came back for him?

The Giant was a soldier

He didn't just fall from the sky. He was a commander in a robot army from another world, shot down and wiped of his memories. Hogarth hasn't found a lost robot. He's found a sleeping war machine.

The government has a secret

General Rogard has been hiding something: since World War II, the military has been studying crashed alien technology. Their result is Project Goliath, a giant human-piloted robot of their own.

Kent Mansley wants to pilot it

Mansley, the paranoid government agent, volunteers to pilot Goliath. He wants to prove that people can build a bigger, better machine than the Giant.

The final act

The Giant's memories return. He remembers his mission: he was sent to prepare Earth for an invasion. He refuses. Mansley attacks in Goliath, and the two giant robots face off on the coast of Maine. The Giant wins, but just barely.

The ending

Badly damaged and shutting down, the Giant uses the last of his power to send a warning into space: this planet is protected. Then he goes still. In the last shot, deep in the snow, a metal finger twitches.

What the original nails

The original's most powerful moment is the Giant choosing who he wants to be. When a missile is headed for the town, he flies up to stop it, saying the name of his hero, "Superman." Earlier, Hogarth taught him, "You are who you choose to be." The Giant was built as a weapon and chooses not to be one. It's one of the greatest anti-war messages in any family film.

What our version breaks

This is the big one. Our version replaces the Giant's sacrifice with a robot fight. Two giant robots fighting is exciting, but it says the answer to a weapon is a bigger weapon. The original says the opposite: the bravest thing a weapon can do is refuse to be one. And by making the Giant a soldier from the start, we turn his choice into a plot twist instead of the whole point.

The sacrifice is the lesson. Without it, The Iron Giant is just another robot movie.

The lesson

The most heroic act isn't winning a fight. It's choosing not to become what you were made to be, especially when what you were made to be is a weapon.

New episodes drop on YouTube first. Subscribe to Mr. Bray Labs so you never miss one.