The following is an alternative version of my hypothetical "What if Carrie didn't 'snap' at the Prom following the prank?" thread - this time focusing on the timeline of the 1976 Carrie film and continuing into its 1999 sequel, The Rage: Carrie 2.
As before, it's something for you guys to ponder over, since a lot of people sympathise with Carrie and wish for her to get a happier ending, while the idea of her meeting her telekinetic half-sister from the 1999 sequel is something that I feel a fair few people would like to see.
- Returning to the Prom during the events of the 1976 film, Tommy Ross and Carrie White are both elected as Prom King and Prom Queen - due to Chris Hargensen and her friends rigging the vote as part of her revenge plan, with Chris and her boyfriend Billy Nolan hiding under the stage to await the moment they can dump the bucket of pig's blood on Carrie.
As in the original film, Sue Snell sneaks into the prom to watch Carrie and Tommy; happy to see them win Prom King and Queen before noticing the rope and bucket and then seeing Chris and Billy under the stage. Before she can act, she's grabbed by Miss Collins and thrown out as she believes that Sue has snuck in to cause trouble.
- In this situation, however, Tommy is left concerned by Sue's actions and starts looking around; aware of Carrie's status as a bullied outcast and wondering if something bad might be about to happen to her as a result.
In this situation, he sees the bucket moments before Chris pulls the rope; instinctively pushing Carrie out of the way to avoid it raining down on her, although this means he instead gets it all over him - with it notably getting into his eyes and leaving him blind to whats going on. With the crowd in stunned silence and Tommy unable to see, the bucket falls and hits him on the head - killing him by breaking his skull.
Unlike the laughter in the original version, however, the room is instead one of shock (since it wasn't Carrie who got the blood on her) and with Carrie crawling over to Tommy and trying in vain to wake him up.
- As several prom-goers and teachers run onto the stage to check on Tommy and try to resuscitate him, Miss Collins and some of the other prom-goers this time go to the back of the stage and are able to apprehend Chris and Billy before they can escape (them having realized their prank had gone wrong).
Seeing Chris as been the one responsible, Carrie is left furious but doesn't 'explode' like in the original; instead telekinetically slamming the doors shut when she notices Norma and some of the other prom-goers trying to leave (thus with the teachers apprehending the group as well as its realized that they're Chris' friends) before she goes over to the door that Sue is locked behind and opening it before grabbing Sue - demanding to know if she had something to do with this.
- However, Carrie calms down when she telepathically senses that not only did Sue have nothing to do with it, but that she was the one who asked Tommy to take her to the Prom as an act of kindness; Sue feeling Carrie prying through her mind and realizing that Carrie has powers as a result but remaining quiet about it for now.
Releasing her, Carrie lets Sue go to Tommy's side (despite Miss Collins' objections) so she can be with him and help to try waking him up, although it becomes clear to everyone that Tommy is dead after failed attempts to resuscitate him; both Carrie and Sue been left heartbroken over this.
- With Chris and Billy taken away by the Police for suspicion of manslaughter, Tommy taken away in an Ambulance - later pronounced dead officially - and the teachers taking down the names of Chris' friends who tried to leave after the incident (as well as Sue's name) before they'll launch a full investigation, Sue offers to drive Carrie home as the prom ends prematurely; the two young women both left in despair after what happened and bonding more over Tommy during the drive, although Sue leaves out the 'telepathy' situation for the time being.
- Arriving at Carrie's house, Sue accompanies her inside to make sure that Carrie is okay - which ends up saving her life when Margaret, having gone insane from believing that Carrie is a witch that must be killed, attempts to murder her own daughter. With Sue saving Carrie from the first attempt, Margaret attempts to kill Sue as well - with Carrie angrily reacting to this as she uses her Telekinesis to save Sue before both women flee back to Sue's house; Sue's mother calling the Police and with them arresting Margaret when she attempts to break in to the Snell's residence and injures Sue's father when he tries to disarm her.
- Following everything, Carrie takes up residence with the Snells for the time being as her mother is deemed mentally unstable and is sent to Arkham. Elsewhere, despite her dad's attempts to remove/lessen her sentence, Chris and Billy are both charged with manslaughter following the death of Tommy Ross, while Chris' friends who aided in the prank are all expelled and forced to retake the year again at other schools. Thankfully, Sue is found innocent of any wrongdoing regarding the prank, while Carrie's insistence on leniency due to Tommy been Sue's boyfriend and Sue saving her life later that night results in Sue only receiving a reprimand for her sneaking into the Prom.
- Both Carrie and Sue attend Tommy's funeral and eventually graduate, with Sue now fully aware of Carrie's psychic powers (Carrie having shown her more of what she could do in the interim) and - with all that had happened - deciding to follow a career in counseling to try to prevent anything like this happening again; Carrie been persuaded by her to follow the same career path as her telepathy could prove incredibly useful in helping kids with their various issues and seeing potential problems before they occur.
As such, both Sue and Carrie successfully become counselors and both get a job at the new Bates High School; built to fit with more "modern" schooling while the old building is torn down. At some point after that, Margaret ultimately passes away in Arkham (Carrie having had supervised visits following Margaret's attempts to murder her), with Margaret sadly never re-connecting with her daughter beforehand as she holds onto her beliefs until the end, which leaves Carrie distraught.
- Since there was no "Black Prom" or widespread revelation of Carrie's telekinesis, Barbara Lang doesn't hide Ralph White's identity from her daughter, Rachel Lang, as there's no need to; only stating that he left when she was a child.
Sadly, Barbara's schizophrenia and religious belief that her daughter is possessed by a demon - due to Rachel's emerging telekinetic power as a child - results in Barbara been taken to Arkham while Rachel (along with her dog Walter) was placed into care, albeit with her foster parents Boyd and Emilyn both been neglectful towards her and with Boyd only doing it for financial reasons, since fostering Rachel gives them an extra $300 a month.
While Carrie does get a feeling of familiarity with Rachel during their few times of interaction before the events in 1999, it doesn't become clear until the day when Rachel's friend Lisa Parker attempts to end her own life; having lost her virginity after sleeping with Eric Stark - one of the school's football team - only for him to cruelly break up with her and tell Lisa that she meant nothing to him, as he and some of the other football players are only sleeping with certain girls for "points" (similar to the real-life Spur Posse).
- Sensing Lisa's distress, Carrie heads outside to see her preparing to jump off the roof and tries to talk her down; this been noticed by Rachel before she runs out to see her depressed friend indeed leap from the roof.
Seeing this (and as Carrie attempts to use her telekinesis to subtly slow Lisa's speed of descent), Rachel's telekinesis activates for the first time in years; blowing open all of the locker doors in one part of the school. This is sensed by Carrie and throws her off guard as a result; forcing her to use her telekinesis to more drastically and obviously in order to slow Lisa's descent - resulting in Lisa still hitting the car but been only injured and knocked unconscious, with Rachel confused as to how Lisa's speed decreased suddenly and guessing Carrie had something to do with it, but for now focusing on tending to her injured friend.
As Carrie calls Sue over a walkie-talkie to ring for an Ambulance and get the area clear after stating what had happened (revealing that Rachel saw her use "you-know-what"), Carrie takes Rachel to her office - with Sue seeing the end result of the lockers all been blown open and overseeing Lisa been taken to the hospital.
- As Carrie talks to Rachel in her office and gets out Rachel's file, she's shocked to see her father's name listed as Rachel's father. Combined with Rachel telekinetically knocking a cup off the desk in her distressed state, Carrie later visits Barbara at Arkham and is able to confirm that Ralph White is indeed both hers and Rachel's father; making them half-sisters.
With Barbara having recovered a lot from her time in Arkham as she's approaching the point where she'll be allowed to leave, she is more accepting of Carrie's display of telekinesis than Margaret was (Carrie explaining that it isn't demonic but rather a recessive trait that's passed down through the bloodlines with men been the "carriers" of the gene; having done some research into her own family history and learning of her Great-Grandmother Sadie Cochran also having telekinesis), with Barbara giving her blessing for Carrie to reveal their family connection to Rachel.
Sadly, Carrie still ends up leaving Arkham upset as when she asks about her father, Barbara admits that he never said anything about her; implying that Ralph indeed never cared about her.
- With Rachel in a better state of mind as Lisa is still alive (albeit recovering following her injuries - with one notably to her head), Carrie calls her in to talk; revealing the truth about them been half-sisters and that they both have telekinetic powers, with that been how Carrie was able to save Lisa's life.
So, with the two meeting and the revelation been made, how do you think this would play out?
= Would it still end tragically with Rachel rejecting Carrie's attempts to bond with her and still meeting her end at the "Black Party"?
= Would it improve things slightly and help make Carrie and Rachel's lives a bit better but otherwise only alter the story a bit?
= Would it improve things a lot, with Carrie and Rachel forming a genuine relationship as half-sisters and successfully bringing the actions of Mark, Eric and the other football players to justice (instead of them been able to get away with their actions until the "Black Party")?
= Would Carrie and Rachel both been alive and meeting provoke other changes, including the possible return of their father as the story's true main villain - especially if the name "Ralph White" was just another name used by a particular Stephen King villain?
Curious to see what you guys think.
