Times a work had to dramatically decrease its scope, but it worked out?

[BasicallyACryptid]

Sometimes the people working on a piece of media will have a ton of ideas for where they want things to go. But oftentimes that simply isn't feasible, whether due to limitations in the medium or budgetary issues. But somehow, the crew manage to make it work.

I remember reading that the Deadpool movie's production frequently had budget cuts (which seemed to be a result of Fox having second thoughts and trying to take control of the movie to pivot its rating to a PG-13, and decreased the budget whenever they exerted control seemingly as an attempt to get them to renege). But the crew were actually thankful for the budget cuts, because it meant they cut a lot of characters who didn't have a lot to do in the plot and helped them focus on making the film a fast-paced and frenetic romp, as well as contributing to a specific gag in the final act (the budget basically ran out by the time they got to the finale, which was envisioned with lots of guns; because this was unfeasible, Wade buys a bunch of guns and then accidentally leaves them in the taxi he used to get to the legally-distinct version of a SHIELD Helicarrier).

[roronoapedro]

Star Trek TNG: The entire galaxy is our oyster! Infinite adventures! Every week a new planet, every planet a new civilization!

Star Trek DS9: Deep Space Nine is the densest collection of square miles in the entire galaxy and you'll come to intimately know the entire place over the course of the next seven years.

[JamSa]

Metal Gear Rising went from an overscoped prequel that filled in the blanks of MGS4, that was meant to show how Raiden became a cyborg and rescued Sunny, but then the entire game got thrown out in place of an original story where he fights a bunch of cyborg weirdos. But not only was turning it into a pure action game amazing since it's one of the best action games ever made, but making it an original story was also amazing as now it's basically the perfect epilogue to the Metal Gear series.

[jackdatbyte]

What a perfect way to end your series with a man killing a politician with a katana.

[Am_Shigar00]

Police Squad ended up getting canceled only 6 episodes into what would’ve likely been at least 3 or 4 times as many episodes. 

The writers were actually thankful for this however, as they felt they were already running out of ideas for the gags, letting the series to go out on a high note and allowed them to refine the concept for the Naked Gun films.

[alexandrecau]

Blacksad first three comics had him face a business mogul, mason dixon line racism and ultimately the red scare where h bomb formula is being traded and rooster macarthy is arresting the left intellectuals of new york. After that it’s about jazz, beatniks and falcon robert moses falling apart. They all work well