The original 1978 version of this film ran for almost 4 hours, and was shown over 2 nights in July of 1978. This version resembled the book much more than the current one does. Several scenes in the book, but are not in the current version ARE in the original 1978 cut, such as scenes involving the first day of school, a school bus, and mama getting fired because of Mr. Granger. After the first version was shown, the movie was heavilly edited down, removing all of Part one, exept for certain parts that were abruptly edited into Part 2. Small portions of some of the scenes in the first part (Little Man throwing a book on the ground, Mama putting paper over the inside cover of a textbook, the kids digging a trap for the bus to get stuck in, Mr. Morrison introducing himself) appear in a pre-title sequence, not unlike the kind of introduction for part 2 of a two part TV episode. Also, the final scene in Part one is kept, for it has much to do with the events of Part 2.
