A few thoughts:
Aunt Harriet was a big part of the action in the first draft, uncharacteristically having more to do than Alfred. I like the idea of that, but I can see why the Greenway brass scrapped those sequences:
- Her judo throw in the teaser does seem like a stretch, but it would have been hilarious.
- Her car crash at the Wayne Manor gates in part 2—and the tease that it might have been fatal— seems a shade too dark. If the sequence hadn't been so impractical to shoot (read: expensive), I think they likely would've dialed back the extent of her injuries, so that she'd have been conscious but rattled behind the wheel.
The episode of Clock King shunning Gregory the tardy "Minute Man" was fun character development but nothing more, so I'm not surprised it was scrapped. It's interesting, however, in light of the later revision concerning Second Hand Three's confusion over the atomic energy directional control switch. Clock King as conceived in the first draft wouldn't have been so forgiving of the error.
It surprised me that the original target of the theft at Wayne Manor was Paul Revere silver and not pocket watches, which fit CK's m.o. so much better. I suppose Revere fit in with the original "Minute Men" motif (and, as a renowned silverSMITH, Revere even could have served as a fun red herring), but the silver remained in the Final Draft, even after the Minute Men were renamed Second Hands. In any case, the switch to watches in the revised final was a good call.
The addition of the Thelma Thymepiece angle, also in the final revision, was another definite improvement. Making the visit to the drive-in part of the Duo's legwork, rather than a coincidental stop-off, was a good choice. I suppose the original name of the establishment, "Howie's," was a sop to Horwitz. I can see why he might have asked for it to be changed, but I wonder where the new name "Dunbar's" came from.
I have a hunch Walter Slezak must have been cast between the initial draft and the first final, since Clock King gains a Teutonic penchant for calling his henchmen "dummkopfs" in the revision.
For the tag scene, I love the idea of Alfred replacing figures in the Wayne Manor clock with statuettes of Batman and Robin. That would have been fun if the actual prop had had mechanical figures. Probably much too complicated to execute on budget, but fun nonetheless.
