Un nished

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Introduction

Un nished creative work

Media
Literature
Drawings, paintings and sc…
Architecture, construction … Connected to: Death Novel Sculpture
Music
Film
Television From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Software
An un nished creative work is a painting, novel, musical composition, or
In law
other creative work, that has not been brought to a completed state. Its
See also creator may have chosen not to nish it, or may have been prevented from
References doing so by circumstances beyond control, such as death. Such pieces are
often the subject of speculation as to what the nished piece would have
External links
been like had the original creator completed the work. Sometimes artworks
are nished by others and released posthumously. Un nished works have
had profound in uences on their genres and have inspired others in their
own projects. The term can also refer to ongoing work which could
eventually be nished (i.e. the creator is still living) and is distinguishable
from "incomplete work", which can be a work that was nished but is no
longer in its complete form.

There are many reasons for work not being completed. Works are usually
stopped when their creator dies, although some, aware of their failing
health, make sure that they set up the project for completion. If the work
involves other people, such as a cast of actors or the subject of a portrait, it
may be halted because of their unavailability. Projects that are too grandiose An un nished portrait miniature of Oliver
Cromwell by Samuel Cooper.
might never have been nished, while others should be feasible but their
creator's continual unhappiness with them leads to abandonment.

Un nished works by popular authors and artists may still be made public, sometimes in the state they were in when
work was halted. Alternatively, another artist may nish the piece. In some elds work may appear un nished but are
actually nished, such as Donatello's "non nito" technique in sculpture.

Media
Literature
Many acclaimed authors have left work incomplete. Some such pieces have
been published posthumously, either in their incomplete state or after being
nished by somebody else.

It is the job of literary executors to take charge of the work of a writer after
the writer's death. They must often decide what to do with incomplete work,
using their own judgement if not given explicit instructions. In some cases,
this can lead to something happening to the work that was not originally
intended, such as the release of Franz Kafka's un nished writings by Max
Brod when Kafka had wished for them to be destroyed. These works have
become iconic in Western literature.[1] The posthumous publication of some
of Ernest Hemingway's un nished novels was met with controversy. Several
books were published, but it has been suggested that it is not within the
jurisdiction of Hemingway's relatives or publishers to determine whether
these works should be made available to the public. For example, scholars
often disapprovingly note that the version of The Garden of Eden published 2
by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1986, though not a revision of Hemingway's
original words, nonetheless omits two-thirds of the original manuscript.[2]

Novels can remain un nished because the author continually rewrites the
story. When enough material exists, someone else can compile and combine
the work, creating a nished story from several di erent drafts. Mark Twain's
The Mysterious Stranger was written in three di erent versions over a period Franz Kafka's un nished writings were released
of 20 years, none of which were completed. Twain biographer and literary after his death despite his wishes for them to
executor Albert Paine combined the stories and published his version six be destroyed.

years after Twain's death.[3] Similarly, J. R. R. Tolkien continuously rewrote The

Silmarillion throughout his lifetime; a de nitive version was still uncompiled
at the time of his death, with some sections very fragmented. His son,
Christopher Tolkien, invited fantasy ction writer Guy Gavriel Kay to
reconstruct some parts of the book, and they eventually published a nal
version in 1977.[4] In 1980, Christopher Tolkien published another
posthumous collection of his father's un nished work, appropriately entitled
Un nished Tales. Between 1982 and 1996, he published twelve volumes of
The History of Middle-earth, a substantial portion of which is un nished and
incomplete drafts. In 2007, Christopher Tolkien published another novel
from his father entitled The Children of Húrin. Like The Silmarillion,
Christopher assembled the novel from various incomplete drafts.

The size of a project can be such that a piece of literature is never nished.
Geo rey Chaucer never completed The Canterbury Tales to the extensive
length that he originally intended. Chaucer had, however, already written
much of the work at the time of his death, and the Canterbury Tales are
considered to be a seminal work despite the un nished status.[5] English poet
Edmund Spenser originally intended The Faerie Queene to consist of 12 Mark Twain took 20 years to write three
books; even at its un nished state—6 books were published before versions of The Mysterious Stranger but he did
not nish any of them.
Spenser's death—it is the longest epic poem in the English language.[6]
Honoré de Balzac, the French novelist, completed nearly 100 pieces for his
novel sequence La Comédie humaine, but a planned 48 more were never nished.[7] Notes and plot outlines left behind
by an author may allow a successor to complete a novel or series of novels. Frank Herbert left behind extensive notes
related to his Dune universe, which led to son Brian Herbert and science ction author Kevin J. Anderson's completing
several prequels to the popular series.[8] Mervyn Peake, author of the Gormenghast novels, meant to write a complete
biography of the main character, Titus, but died after only completing three books in the series.

Some works are presented as separate sections, each written at di erent times. This can lead to a piece appearing
complete while the author actually intended for it to continue, or where other authors try to fake their own writing as
part of the work. The rst four cantos of Lord Byron's narrative poem Don Juan were written in 1818 and 1819, with a
further twelve completed and published before his death in 1824. Numerous "continuations" of the story had been
published by various publishing houses even between issues of the story, along with several fake conclusions. Byron
had intended to continue the story, as evidenced by the nd of the 17th canto after his death, but it is not clear how long
the poem would continue or how it would conclude. It is still regarded as one of his greatest achievements.[9] Charles
Dickens was writing The Mystery of Edwin Drood in monthly installments when he died, completing just six of the twelve
intended. The story surrounded the murder of the titular Edwin Drood; because the story was never nished, the
murderer was never revealed.[10] The book was still made into a lm and a musical, with the latter having the unusual
concept that the audience members vote for who they think is the murderer.[11]

Other famous un nished works of literature include Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlowe (a completion was
provided by George Chapman), the second part of Dead Souls by Gogol, Bouvard et Pécuchet by Gustave Flaubert, Weir of
Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Good Soldier Švejk by Jaroslav Hašek, Suite française by Irène Némirovsky,
Answered Prayers by Truman Capote, The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Uncertain Times by Richard Yates, Sanditon by
Jane Austen, Mount Analogue by René Daumal, The Pale King by David Foster Wallace, and The Final Un nished Voyage of
Jack Aubrey.

Science, theology, and philosophy

Religious works have also been left incomplete, leading to debates about the
possible missing content. Some theologians consider the Gospel of Mark, in
its existing form, incomplete; the text after 16:8 is probably not original, thus
creating speculation whether the author was arrested or died suddenly, or
whether the end of the gospel could have broken away from the rest of the
gospel as it was handed to the next person.[12] The Sunni Islamic classic
Qur'anic commentary, Mafatihu-l-Ghayb, better known as Tafseer Al-Kabeer
(Tafsir al-Kabir (al-Razi)) by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi was left un nished and it was
nished by either Qadi Shahab-ud-deen bin Khaleel al-Khauli, of Damascus
(died 639 AH) or Shaikh Najm-ud-deen Ahmad bin Al-Qamooli (died 777 AH)
as mentioned in Kashf-az-Zunoon. The Masnavi, the most famous poem in
Sunni Islamic Su poetry by Rumi was left un nished and it was later
nished by Mufti Ilahi Baksh Kandhlawi about ve hundred years after the
demise of Rumi. The Persian Bayán, a scripture from Bábism, was left
un nished when the Báb died. There have been some claims that the text
has been completed by other people, though the Báb stated that it would be
nished by [him] whom God shall make manifest.[13][14] St. Thomas Aquinas
abandoned his great work the Summa Theologica in 1273, citing a mystical St. Thomas Aquinas stopped work on his
experience during Mass. Its arguments for the existence of God continue to Summa Theologiae in 1273 after a mystical
exert in uence in philosophy and Christian theology more than 700 years experience.

later.[15] In Greek philosophy, Plato's Critias was un nished when Plato died at
age 80.

The most in uential document in computer science was John von Neumann's First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC, a 101-
page manuscript dating from 1946. Littered with ellipses and spaces for the eventual addition of further material, von
Neumann never completed it, as by that time its distribution had already in uenced an explosion in postwar computer
development. Its elaboration of the stored program concept and formalization of the logical design of computer
architecture—ideas not all of which were original to von Neumann but which he rst expressed in the mathematical
language he favoured—endure in the architectures of modern computer systems.[16]

Still in computer science, the seminal work on algorithms, The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth, has had
only the rst three of its seven planned volumes written.

The rst genuine historiographical work, the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, was undergoing a major
revision by the author at the time of his death, so di erent sections of it re ect a starkly contrasting general outlook on
Persian in uence in the events depicted.

Drawings, paintings and sculptures

Artists leave behind incomplete work for a variety of reasons. A piece may
not be completed if the subject becomes unavailable, such as in the
changing of a landscape or the death of a person being painted. Elizabeth
Shoumato 's Un nished Portrait of 32nd U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt
was started around noon on 12 April 1945 but left un nished when
Roosevelt died later that day. In other instances, outside circumstances can
prevent the execution of an otherwise " nished" artwork: Leonardo da Vinci
developed sketches and models for the 24-foot-tall (7.3 m) "Gran Cavallo"
horse statue but the bronze to cast the sculpture was diverted to make
cannons.[17] Five hundred years later, two full-size sculptures were completed
based on Leonardo's work.[18] Technically his The Last Supper is un nished. In
most pictures it shows a roof, but at Milan, where the painting lies, it shows
some Latin that is half done. Robert William Buss left un nished his most
famous painting, Dickens' Dream, just as Charles Dickens himself had left a Adoration of the Magi, an un nished painting by
Leonardo da Vinci.
novel half-complete at his death.

Depending on the medium involved, it can be di cult for another artist to

complete an un nished artwork without damaging it. Some artists
completed the paintings of their mentors, such as Giulio Romano is believed
to have done on Raphael's Trans guration,[19] and Titian on Giorgione's
Sleeping Venus.[20]

Instead of completing another artist's masterpiece, particularly when many

years have passed, un nished works frequently inspire others to create their
own version. Michelangelo left several un nished sculptures and paintings,
with sketches and partially completed paintings inspiring others.[21] If the
work is to be done on commission but is not nished it is commonly passed
Benjamin West's painting of the delegates to
on to another artist. Leonardo da Vinci's work on the Adoration of the Magi
the Treaty of Paris which ended the American
for the monastery of San Donato was halted when he left Florence for Milan. Revolutionary War. Out of shame for their
Still requiring an altarpiece, the monks employed Filippino Lippi to create country's defeat, the British delegates refused
one.[22] Both paintings now hang in the U zi gallery.[23] to pose and so the portrait was never nished.

Paintings are usually sketched on the canvas before work begins, and
sculptures are frequently planned using a maquette. These works-in-
progress can be as sought after as (or even more sought after than)
completed works by highly regarded artists because they help reveal the
process of creating a work of art. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, a sculptor from the
Baroque period, made his bozzetti (an Italian term for the prototype
sculpture) from wax or baked terracotta to show those that had
commissioned him how the nal piece was intended to look. Eleven of these
bozzetti were displayed in an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in
2004.[24] Some museums specialise in collections of maquettes, such as the
Museo dei Bozzetti in Pietrasanta, Italy.
Dickens' Dream, by Robert William Buss, begun
on the death of Charles Dickens in 1870, and
During the Renaissance, Donatello made sculptures that appeared
incomplete at the time of the painter's death in
un nished by only sculpting part of the block, leaving the gure appearing to
1875.
be stuck within the material. He called this technique "non nito", and it has
been used by several artists since then.[25]

In the age of mass media, incomplete work can reach an audience due to sheer demand for material by the artist. Tintin
and Alph-Art, the 24th comic in Hergé's popular The Adventures of Tintin series, was un nished at his death. Though he
had illustrated much of the book, several sketched panels remained in the nal scenes. The book was still published and
the story can be followed despite the incomplete artwork.

Architecture, construction and engineering

See also: Un nished building

Many construction or engineering projects have remained un nished at various stages of development. The work may
be nished as a blueprint or whiteprint and never be realised, or be abandoned during construction.

There are numerous un nished buildings that remain partially constructed in countries around the world, some of
which can be used in their incomplete state, while others remain as mere shells. An example of the latter is the
Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea. If nished, it would become the tallest hotel in the world and the seventh largest
building[26] but is uninhabitable and will not be completed due to the cost and the poor structural integrity.[27] Some
projects are intentionally left with an un nished appearance, particularly the follies of the late 16th to 18th century.

There are many reasons for construction works being halted. Amongst others, they include a changing nancial climate,
unforeseen structural weaknesses, and a dramatic shift in the politics of a country. Work on the Palace of Soviets, a
project to construct the world's largest building in Moscow, was halted when the city was attacked during World War II.
[28]

Some buildings are in a cycle of near-perpetual construction, with work lasting for decades or even centuries. Antoni
Gaudí's Sagrada Família in Barcelona has been under construction since 1882. Work was delayed by the Spanish Civil
War, during which part of the original models were destroyed. After the restoration of these models, the works are still
in progress and the prevision is that the building will be nished in 2026. Today, even with portions of the basilica
incomplete, it is still the most popular tourist destination in Barcelona with 1.5 million visitors every year. Gaudí spent 40
years of his life overseeing the project and is buried in the crypt.[29] Also in Barcelona, construction on the Barcelona
Cathedral started in 1298, but its dome and central tower were only nished in 1913, 615 years later. Germany's
Cologne Cathedral took even longer to complete, from 1248 to 1880, a total of 632 years.[30]

It is not only buildings that have failed during the construction phase. In the
1920s, the White Star Line hired the shipbuilders Harland and Wol to build
the rst 1,000-foot-long (300 m) ocean liner, with the planned name of
Oceanic. However, a dispute between the companies and eventually the
Great Depression halted the construction, and eventually the portion of the
keel already constructed was broken up and used in building the smaller but
similar ship, the MV Britannic.[31] In the 1970s the Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin was out of use for ve years after its construction when the
connecting roads were not completed. In the 1980s, during the Iran–Iraq
War, Iraqi president Saddam Hussein commissioned the Babylon project.
The supergun design by Gerald Bull was never fully constructed after Bull's
assassination in March 1990.[32][33]

Many projects do not get to the construction phase and are halted during or
after planning. Ludwig II of Bavaria commissioned several designs for Castle
Falkenstein, with the fourth plan being vastly di erent from the rst. The rst
two designs were turned down, one because of costs and one because the
design displeased Ludwig, and the third designer withdrew from the project.
Construction of Cologne Cathedral took over
The fourth and nal plan was completed and some infrastructure was 600 years.
prepared for the site, but Ludwig died before construction work began. [34]

The Palace of Whitehall, at the time the largest palace in Europe, was mostly
destroyed by a re in 1698. Sir Christopher Wren, most famous for his role in rebuilding several churches after the Great
Fire of London in 1666, sketched a proposed replacement for a part of the palace, but nancial constraints prevented
construction.

Computer technology has allowed for 3D representations of projects to be

shown before they are built. In some cases the construction is never started
and the computer model is the nearest that anyone can ever get to seeing
the nished piece. For example, in 1999 Kent Larson's exhibition "Unbuilt
Ruins: Digital Interpretations of Eight Projects by Louis I. Kahn" showed
computer images of designs completed by noted architect Louis Kahn but
never built.[35] Computer simulations can also be used to create prototypes of
engineering projects and test them before they are actually made; this has
allowed the design process to be more successful and e cient.

Even without being constructed, many architectural designs and ideas have
had a lasting in uence. The Russian constructivism movement started in
1913[36] and was taught in the Bauhaus and other architecture schools,
leading to numerous architects integrating it into their style.[37][38]

Music
Classical music Sir Christopher Wren's 1698 sketch for a rebuilt
Palace of Whitehall.
See also: Un nished symphony and Composer tributes (classical music)

In the days of classical music all compositions were sketched on manuscripts – the technology to record music did not
exist. Often these manuscripts are roughly sketched, with drafting work scribbled over the top of the music, and have
been found in unordered piles. Many un nished symphonies have been pieced together from these original
manuscripts by other composers, after the original author's death, with some remaining incomplete until many decades
later. One of the most famous examples of un nished musical compositions is Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B
minor, or as it is more commonly known, The Un nished Symphony.[39] Another famous un nished classical piece is
Mozart's Requiem, famous in part because of the numerous myths and legends that surround its creation and in part
because of Mozart's prestige. At the time of his death, Mozart had fully orchestrated only the rst movement, leaving
nine further movements in varying states of completion. Franz Xaver Süssmayr, an acquaintance of Mozart, nished the
nine incomplete movements and wrote four more. Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 10 was incomplete, with only drafts,
sketches, and two mostly orchestrated movements existing at the composer's death. Several people have "completed" it
with varying degrees of success, the most notable of these being Deryck Cooke's "performing version of the draft."[40]

Some compositions are nished "in the style of" the original composer, with
someone who is highly familiar with the work adopting the same writing
style and continuing the musical tone. Johann Sebastian Bach's The Art of
Fugue, which was broken o abruptly during Contrapunctus XIV, probably
shortly before the death of the composer, was rst published in the mid 18th
century. Many reconstructions have been written, but in 1991 Zoltán Göncz
used the form of a permutation fugue to make a strong argument as to the
structure of the Fugue to come.[41] (See external links.) Sir Edward Elgar was
composing a Symphony No. 3 at the time of his death and left 130 pages of
J. S. Bach's The Art of Fugue breaks o abruptly
sketches. These sketches were put into a reasonable order, orchestrated in during Contrapunctus XIV.
the style of Elgar, and elaborated by Anthony Payne. Payne's reconstruction
has been played numerous times to great acclaim.[42]

Some works, deemed complete by the composer, are nonetheless augmented for non-musical reasons. In May 2000
composer Colin Matthews premiered his "completion" of Gustav Holst's The Planets, whereby he composed a piece for
the ninth planet Pluto, giving it the name "Pluto, The Renewer". When Holst had written the original piece Pluto had not
been discovered, and this addition therefore updated the suite and completed the eight movements that represented
the planets of the solar system (Earth was never included) some 80 years after it was originally performed.[43] In August
2006 Pluto was o cially demoted to a dwarf planet, meaning that Holst's original work now more accurately represents
the solar system.[44]

Some extremely famous 20th century operas have been left incomplete at their composers' deaths. Giacomo Puccini left
the nale of Turandot un nished and the missing music had to be provided by Franco Alfano for the premiere in 1926.
Recently, Luciano Berio composed an alternative ending. Alban Berg had only nished the rst two acts of his opera Lulu
at the time of his death in 1935. Due to objections from his widow it was not until 1979 that a full version was
performed, with music for the nal act devised by Friedrich Cerha using Berg's sketches.[45]

Other musical works which are un nished but performable, are simply given in their incomplete state. Schubert's
symphony is the most famous, but Anton Bruckner's Ninth Symphony is performed without a nale, and in Karl
Amadeus Hartmann's Gesangsszene, the nal words of Jean Giraudoux's text, left unset at the composer's death, are
simply spoken by the soloist.

Some other well-known examples of un nished works completed by other hands include:

Béla Bartók's Viola Concerto, completed by Tibor Serly and others

Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 10, completed by Barry Cooper
Alexander Borodin's opera Prince Igor, completed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Glazunov
Ernest Chausson's String Quartet, completed by Vincent d'Indy
Claude Debussy's opera Rodrigue et Chimène, completed by Edison Denisov
Gaetano Donizetti's opera Le duc d'Albe, completed by Matteo Salvi
Manuel de Falla's opera Atlántida, completed by Ernesto Hal ter
Fromental Halévy's opera Noé, completed by Georges Bizet
Charles Ives' Universe Symphony, completed by various composers, including Larry Austin
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, completed in various versions, among which are those by Robert
D. Levin and Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs
Modest Mussorgsky's opera The Fair at Sorochyntsi, completed in various versions by César Cui, Nikolai Tcherepnin,
Vissarion Shebalin and Emil Cooper
Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina, completed in versions by Rimsky-Korsakov; Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky
working together; and Dmitri Shostakovich
Mussorgsky's opera Zhenitba, completed in various versions, including Rimsky-Korsakov, Aleksandr Gauk, Mikhail
Ippolitov-Ivanov, Alexander Tcherepnin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky and Vyacheslav Nagovitsyn
Sergei Proko ev's opera Maddalena, completed by Edward Downes
Giacomo Puccini's opera La rondine, completed by Lorenzo Ferrero
Ottorino Respighi's opera Lucrezia, completed by Elsa Respighi
Arnold Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron, third act written but never set to music
Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 7, 8, and 10, completed by Brian Newbould
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9, completed in various versions by William Carragan, Nicola Samale, Giuseppe
Mazzuca, John A. Phillips, and Benjamin-Gunnar Cohrs working together, and Gerd Schaller.
Alexander Scriabin's Mysterium, of which the Prefatory Action was completed by Alexander Nemtin
♭
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3 in E , completed by Sergei Taneyev
♭
This work was originally intended to be a Symphony in E ; it would have been his 6th symphony had he not
abandoned it (the work now known as his Symphony No. 6 in B minor, (Pathétique) is a completely di erent work).
Tchaikovsky converted his sketches into a piano concerto, and in that form it was completed by Taneyev. However,
Semyon Bogatyrev took the original sketches and completed the symphony Tchaikovsky had rst planned,
publishing it as Tchaikovsky's "Symphony No. 7".

Carl Maria von Weber's opera Die drei Pintos, completed by Gustav Mahler

Peter Schickele parodied the concept in his "Unbegun Symphony," which contains only movements III and IV because, as
Schickele put it, "I was born too late to write the rst two movements."

Modern recordings
Since recording equipment has been an integral part of writing music it has been possible to use the original master
tapes and demos to construct a song from the parts that had already been completed. Many demos are released
o cially if the artist has been unable (or unwilling) to complete it, or made available as a bootleg recording. The
continued popularity of the Beatles led to "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" being released in the mid-1990s after the
band members pieced together incomplete recordings by the deceased John Lennon.[46] Both songs reached the top ve
in the British singles chart.

The Beach Boys' Smile is considered the most legendary unreleased album in
the history of popular music.[47][48] Recorded in 1966 and 1967, Smile was to
be the followup to the album Pet Sounds (1966), but due to a plethora of
reasons including project leader Brian Wilson's deteriorating mental health
and increased friction among the band members, the band abandoned the
project after completing numerous recordings slated for the project. In 2004,
Wilson and writing partner Van Dyke Parks went into the studio, and newly
recorded the material and released it as a completed solo album. That
album was used as a template to construct a version of the Beach Boys
album from the original Smile Sessions in 2011.
Brian Wilson performing Smile as a solo artist in
Other famous un nished rock albums include the Beatles' Get Back, The 2005
Who's rock opera Lifehouse, Bob Dylan's The Basement Tapes, and Jimi
Hendrix's First Rays of the New Rising Sun.[49] All have been released, in whole or part, in various posthumous forms in the
ensuing years,[49] Lifehouse being another case of using demos in order to present a completed work.

Several artists have found that some of their studio work have been leaked onto the Internet before their album has
been completed. System of a Down's 2002 follow-up to Toxicity, untitled at the time, was leaked onto the Internet as MP3
les. When the album was released under the title Steal This Album! the songs were signi cantly di erent from the work-
in-progress, with di erent titles, lyrics and even melodies. There were some reports that the changes were a direct
result of negative feedback about the leaked material.[50]

Some artists will try to ensure that their work is completed (as much as possible) before their health prevents them from
continuing. Johnny Cash, aware of his failing health, made sure that he recorded the vocals for 60 more songs, with the
music being completed after his death. These songs were compiled by producer Rick Rubin and released as American V:
A Hundred Highways and American VI.[51] However, not all artists get the chance to complete their work before their death,
and the recordings that are made public may be somewhat di erent from what had originally been intended.[original research?]
From a Basement on the Hill by Elliott Smith was released posthumously in 2004 with comments from the initial album
producer saying that "[t]he record he would have delivered would [have] had more songs, would have had di erent
mixes and [been] a little more in your face".[52]

Richard Carpenter released several tracks decades after his sister Karen died in 1983, leaving a multitude of un nished
work. One track, released on the "Interpretations" album in the mid-nineties, included Karen's lead vocal for the song
"Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" which had previously been recorded and released by Barry Manilow. The lead had been
lost for years on a mislabelled tape. Strings, piano, and backup singers were added to the sound of Karen's lead vocal,
while Richard left the sound of her turning the lead sheet over in the nished product. Another track was Karen's cover
"The Rainbow Connection", which had been written by Kenny Ascher and Paul Williams for Jim Henson to sing as Kermit
the Frog in The Muppet Movie (1979). Recording it only a year later, Richard claims that Karen just did not like the song
and that was why it was omitted from their 1981 album, Made In America. A toy piano, choir, and strings were added
against Karen's vocals. The song was released in 2001 on the album As Time Goes By.[citation needed]

Film
Films may not be completed for several reasons, with some being shelved
during di erent stages of the production. Arrive Alive was scrapped after a
week of lming when the comedy was not living up to the screenplay.
Shelving a lm without it ever being released can be very expensive for the
studios, with Arrive Alive costing $7 million.

With so many people involved in lmmaking it is very possible for a lm to

remain incomplete because of an injury or death. While a member of the
crew (even a producer or director) can often be replaced, it is much more
di cult to change to a di erent actor if many of the scenes have already
been lmed. For example, Dark Blood was cancelled halfway through lming
due to the death of its star River Phoenix; however, the lm premiered to a
private guest audience on September 27, 2012 at the Netherlands Film
Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands. Some lms have been completed despite
such problems. A famous example is Bruce Lee's Game of Death; Lee died
during the lming and the rest of the lming was nished by Tai Chung Kim,
a Lee look-alike; and Yuen Biao, a then-stunt actor who later became a
TV/movie actor. His son, Brandon Lee, also su ered from the same fate: he
Orson Welles left behind numerous un nished
died after lming most of The Crow, but the remaining scenes were played by
lms.
stunt double Chad Stahelski with Lee's face digitally composited onto the
double.[53]

Continued delays can prevent a lm from ever being completed. Something's Got to Give was a 1962 lm with a di cult
production history, which included the ring of leading lady Marilyn Monroe. She was later rehired but died before
lming started; without the delay the lm might have been completed.[54]

In Orson Welles' lifetime his un nished lms became legendary. For decades he worked on a version of Don Quixote, and
he claimed that the lm could be nished despite the deaths of his two leading actors.[55] Citizen Kane remains one of the
only lms that was released as Welles intended, with most of his other lms remaining incomplete or being changed by
the studios. His death on 10 October 1985 came while he was working on The Other Side of the Wind and The Dreamers,
the former being completed.[56]

Animated lms, though less vulnerable to problems such as the death of an actor, can still fail to be completed. The Thief
and the Cobbler was a twenty-six-year animated lm project by Richard Williams which was taken away from him and
completed by Fred Calvert.[57] The workprint of the original lm became available as a bootleg, and there have been
several attempts to restore the lm, most notably Garrett Gilchrist's "Recobbled" cut. The 1978 animated adaptation of
The Lord of the Rings was not viewed by the studio as enough of a commercial success to warrant the funding of a sequel,
thus not completing the story from the original trilogy of books.[58]

Television
Consisting of many episodes that are grouped together in seasons or series, a long-form television show that intends to
tell a continuous, long story can be cancelled for any reason before it broadcasts all of its planned episodes and resolves
all story arcs and its central premise. This can happen even before, or as the series is getting started. In most cases, to
get a series on the air, its creators must typically produce a pilot episode to convince a television network to pick up and
support it.[citation needed] There is no guarantee that the pilot will air, the network holds the nal say on whether the series
will go forward and there is also a chance that the network can cancel the series just after it airs roughly half of its rst
season and issue a mid-season replacement that would air instead of the second half of episodes. If a series fails to
start, it would technically be un nished in the sense that substantial e ort was put into developing it and much more
work could have been done on it had it actually been able to begin.

At the end of a season, a television series is cancelled if its network does not order any future seasons to follow, and
would thus be un nished if it does not resolve all of its planned story arcs and central premise by that time. In such
situation, the series' creators may make a passionate bid to keep the series going by intentionally ending the current
season nale on a cli hanger to give fans the impression that the series' overarching story hasn't been resolved and/or
there are much more stories to tell, as well as emphasize that it would not make sense to discontinue it.[citation needed]
Unfortunately, this tactic does not always succeed,[59] and can potentially produce an exacerbating bout of
disappointment if the series is nevertheless cancelled and left truly un nished - a fate that befell the short-lived, two-
season Marvel's Iron Fist.[60] Alternatively, the creators of a series put in a similar predicament may choose to design the
season nale to function like a series nale so as to bring a sense of closure if the series is indeed cancelled and
prevented from fully accomplishing its goals.[citation needed]

Not all un nished television series stay that way forever, and some may be revived for various reasons and ultimately
given a proper ending.[citation needed] Two ubiquitous examples of un nished series that were nally completed years after
they were cancelled were Samurai Jack and the 2008 3D Star Wars: The Clone Wars, two animated series that ran for
several seasons on Cartoon Network before being cancelled without having a proper ending in place. Samurai Jack was
cancelled in 2004 after four seasons without a conclusive resolution to its central plot,[61] which Adult Swim eventually
provided when it revived the series for a fth and nal season in 2017.[62] Clone Wars was cancelled in 2013 partway
through its planned run in favor of other Star Wars projects headed by Disney after it acquired Lucas lm a year prior.[63]
The series would remain un nished for years until Disney and Lucas lm decided to revive and nally nish it with one
nal season, set to be exclusively released on Disney+ when it launches in 2019.[64] Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th
Ghost was commissioned to resolve a plot hole in the relatively obscure mid-1980s Saturday morning cartoon The 13
Ghosts of Scooby-Doo.[65]

Software
Computer software, particularly games, are sometimes cancelled quite far into their development. Occasionally they are
demonstrated to the press so that previews can be written but are never completed or published. Amen: The Awakening
had an extensive preview written in the magazine PC Paradox in 1999, including numerous screenshots, which generated
a lot of interest in the project. However, it was cancelled the following year.[66] Due to continued interest in a game, some
are eventually made available in their un nished state. Combat 2, the sequel to the 1977 Atari VCS-bundled game
Combat, was never completed, but many years later, at the 2001 Classic Gaming Expo, 200 copies of the un nished
game were sold after a company created a box and manual.[67]

Software undergoes a testing phase that helps to eliminate problems before it is released; however, beta testing is a
form of testing where the software is open to the public (usually limited to a set number of people or organisations) but
is still essentially un nished. This is often an important part of the development of a software package.

If a piece of software is becoming overly delayed the developer may just release the program despite the presence of a
few bugs. The Internet has allowed patches to be deployed that x these bugs, but before such technology was available
the problems could not be xed after the game was published. Even with this, a game with too many bugs when it is
made public will receive very poor reviews that will undoubtedly a ect sales. For example, 2002's Destroyer Command
received some very positive reviews about many aspects of the game but was criticised for the number of glitches it
contained that, given a lengthier software testing phase, should have been xed.[68] Some developers choose to disable
certain features in order to release the game on time, especially if a project has seen an amount of feature creep. One
such title was Cinemaware's Defender of the Crown, which was released before all the features were completed when the
company was faced with a strict deadline and the loss of two programmers.[69]

In law
Un nished work is often covered by the copyright laws of the country of origin. The United States have taken the step of
creating a law which speci cally mentions ongoing work, whereby work which is in progress but will in the future be
completed can be covered by copyright. On 27 April 2005 the "Artist's Rights and Theft Prevention Act", a subpart of the
Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, was signed into U.S. law. This act allows for organisations or individuals to
apply for copyright protection on un nished commercial products, such as software, lms, and other visual or audible
media.[70] For example, a photographer can preregister a photograph by giving a written description of what the nal
piece (or collection thereof) will look like before the work is nished.[71]

In copyright law, an artistic creation that includes major, basic copyrighted aspects of an original, previously created rst
work is known as a 'derivative work'. This holds for all kinds of work, including those that have never o cially been
published. The rights of the rst work's originator must be granted to the secondary work for it to be rightfully called a
'derivative work'. If no copyright permission is granted from the originator, it is instead called a 'copy'. Upon completion
of the new piece both parties hold a joint copyright status, with both having to agree to any publications. When the
copyright has lapsed for the original work the second artist fully owns the copyright for their work, but cannot stop
distribution of the original piece or another artist from completing the work in their own way. However, such copyrights
can only be granted if the work shows signi cant new creative content.[72][73]

See also

References

External links

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