[Gohaku]

Originally Posted by Jake

I know this is different from what you're talking about but it reminds me...

There was a brief period of time where 204 time stream split Sam & Max were either the villains of the season or of an episode, but I think that in the end it seemed too insider to do that, so it was cut. We were all happy to get that weird time continuity madness into the end of 305, but not everyone agreed.

I (or someone else from whom I stole the idea) had pitched at one point that in Season 3 you actually play as the Sam and Max who steal the time machine in 204, to see where they go and what they do, as an excuse to do a semi-reboot -- open the season in the final act of 204 with the UFO about to self destruct, then follow the other Sam & Max instead of "our" Sam & Max -- but that was also way too weird and niche.

I'm glad that at the end of the day, Season 3 ended up with a story that follows linearly from Season 2, but with a reasonably clean break from all of the baggage right at the start, but I would have loved to see more of weird alternate timeline Sam & Max.

Wow, the alternate Sam and Max were brought in fairly early on as potential plot ideas. Some people (not me) thought the ending felt tacked on. I felt that it was intentional! If the plot got that convoluted, as you mentioned, I would've wanted 10 episodes! But, as you stated, too weird and niche.

Now I appreciate the ending a lot more than I did before. So, the writing team wanted to incorporate that time paradox into the story somehow? Well I have to say, it 'worked', but it wasn't the neatest of endings. Or was that intentional too...?