Hey, welcome to the Top Gun trivia page. There's so much stuff on here... Hopefully you'll have as much fun wading through it as I did gathering it and putting all of it here for you.
Let's start off simple. Jet-jock call signs, 'real' names, and actors who played them.
Pete0 "Maverick" Mitchell, played by Tom Cruise
Nick "Goose" Bradshaw, played by Anthony Edwards
Tom "Iceman" Kazansky1, played by Val Kilmer
Ron "Slider"2 Kerner, played by Rick Rossovich
Rick "Hollywood" Neven, played by Whip Hubley3
Woody "Wolfman" Calloway4, played by Barry Tubb
Mike "Viper"5 Metcalf, played by Tom Skerritt
Richard "Jester" Heatherly, played by Michael Ironside
Sam "Merlin" Wells6, played by Tim Robbins
And, on a related note, the Air Boss (played by Duke Stroud) is named "Jonson."7
Now let's get a little more in-depth. Next up is differences between the first script and the movie.
Goose and Maverick were supposed to have made the trip to Miramar together on Mav's bike. There's also a part in the script where Mav gets pulled over by a cop, and is then escorted to the NAS. This prompts Iceman's first line ("Uh-oh, a police escort. This one must be a real killer." and a wordless 'challenge' from Hollywood, which Goose accepts). I wish they'd kept this scene.
In the script, Iceman was described to look more like Hollywood and Hollywood was described like Iceman. Ice was supposed to be the dark-haired one, and Hollywood the blonde. Also, Wolfman was more like Slider.
The ACM video in the first meeting of the "Top Gun Class, Summer of '86" (that's a personal tag; it's just how I refer to them. Don't expect anyone but me to use it...) originally had a soundtrack that was meant to be overheard. It was a Doors album. As a Doors fan, I wish this had been kept.
During the first meeting of the Top Gun Class, it wasn't originally Maverick and Goose talking during Viper's lesson, it was Iceman and Hollywood.
"Ghost Riders" was originally the squadron's name, not just the call designation. I assume this was changed because there was a real Tomcat squadron in the U.S. Navy named "Ghost Riders."
The "Sorry to hear about Cougar; he was a good man." line was originally Slider's, not Iceman's.
The writers deleted a whole scene, which I refer to as the "Flaming Hooker Scene" because of the drinks they're downing. In this scene, Sundown tries to down a shot that's been lit aflame after seeing Ice, Slider and Goose do it effortlessly. He sets himself on fire. Another scene I wish they'd kept, just for the comedy of it.
Both "You're dangerous!" and "It's the way he flies - Ice cold. No mistakes. Wears you down. After enough time, you just get bored and frustrated, you do something stupid, and he's got you." were originally Hollywood's lines.
In the script, Maverick comes up with a story after chasing Charlie into the ladies' room. She walks out and leaves him there, but there are other women in the room at the time. She's left her lipstick, so Maverick picks it up and says to the other women "I'm here to talk about a new concept in cosmetics..."
Viper and Jester renamed Sundown and Flex "Fungus" and "Pork" as punishment for showing up late to class.
Maverick's flyby was originally supposed to be inverted. However, this is a technical impossibility with a Tomcat... Which is probably why the flyby was changed.
Viper's "Rules of Engagement" lecture was originally much less dramatic. And Jester, when asked if he'd want to fly with Maverick, answers "Yep" instead of "I don't know." This is the first scene I'm actually glad they changed.
The writers cut a whole simulator scene where Wolfman and Hollywood continually failed but Maverick flew off the simulator's map and crashed the computer. I wish they'd left this one - the reactions are pretty funny. Goose's and Hollywood's were the best. Hollywood's "I've died enough for one day, I'm done..." and Goose's "Mav! What'd you do? You broke it!" lines should have been kept. They also cut a scuba-diving scene, too, but that one was unimportant. However, considering they traded these for the test and the volleyball scene, I'm not too disappointed. (And, speaking of the test scene... Ever notice how, between shots, Slider and all his stuff move from one end of the table to the other?) There was a volleyball scene in the script, but the one in the movie was better.
The writers also cut a sub plot about Wolfman attempting to avoid one of the mechanics, Coogan, who wanted to kill him.
This section is by no means done. When I have more free time to comb the script, I'll add more of the discrepancies I find.
Now, who wants to get into the soundtrack?
Basics first: The track listing.
"Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins
"Mighty Wings" by Cheap Trick
"Playin' With the Boys" by Kenny Loggins
"Lead Me On" by Teena Marie
"Take My Breath Away" by Berlin
"Hot Summer Nights" by Miami Sound Machine
"Heaven in Your Eyes" by Loverboy
"Through the Fire" by Larry Greene
"Destination Unknown" by Marietta
"Top Gun Anthem" by Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Stevens
"(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding
"Memories" by Harold Faltermeyer
"Great Balls of Fire" by Jerry Lee Lewis
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" by The Righteous Brothers
"Playin' With the Boys (12" Remix)" by Kenny Loggins
The last five listed here are only available on the 1999 Expanded Edition of the soundtrack. "Through the Fire" doesn't appear at all in the movie, as far as I can tell (and this is after over 200 times watching. If you can find it, please point it out to me...). The 12" remix of "Playin' With the Boys" is in the same category. "Mighty Wings" only appears in its instrumental form until the end credits roll.
Two songs were included in the movie but not released on the soundtrack. "Radar Radio," by Giorgio Moroder and Joe Pizzulo, is the first. It's playing on the jukebox at the end of the movie before Charlie selects "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling." The second song is "Good-bye, Goose," another Faltermeyer instrumental, which plays as Maverick first gets back into the cockpit after Goose's death.
The character-performed versions of "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" and "Great Balls of Fire" have never been officially released, although there are a few websites that have ripped parts of the performances directly from the movie and posted them as .wav files available for download.
Six singles were released from the soundtrack (of course, this is not counting the ones that were singles before): "Danger Zone," "Mighty Wings," "Top Gun Anthem," "Heaven in Your Eyes," "Playin' With the Boys," and "Take My Breath Away." [Videos for five of the singles can be found on YouTube; the only one missing is "Mighty Wings." If there was ever an official video released for this one, I'm not aware of it.] "Take My Breath Away" reached number one on the pop charts when it was released, and has since been covered twice (once by Jessica Simpson -- I wish this version would drop off the face of the Earth -- and once for a Paramount home video commercial; I don't know the artist for this cover). "Danger Zone" made it as far as number two, and "Heaven in Your Eyes" stalled at 12.
Judas Priest were asked to contribute the song "Reckless" to the soundtrack, but decided not to because they thought the movie would flop.
Bryan Adams refused to let the song "Only the Strong Survive" appear on the soundtrack because of his strong anti-war sentiments -- he feared the movie 'glorified' war.
Originally, Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." was supposed to be on the soundtrack, but Paramount was unable to get rights to the song.
Tom Whitlock, who is credited with a great deal of writing on the soundtrack, was actually Giorgio Moroder's Ferarri mechanic.
0Pete Mitchell was originally Evan Mitchell in an early draft of the script; this name change (and Viper's call sign) are a tribute to Pete "Viper" Pettigrew. And this is footnote zero for a reason -- my sheer hatred of Maverick prevents me from giving him an actual number, even a negative one.
1Yes, it is spelled with a "y." Turn on your captions! (My pet peeve is people who spell Ice's last name with an "i.")
2Did you know "Slider" is Navy slang for "hamburger?"
3Totally unrelated: Whip Hubley was Kurt Russell's brother in law for a while...
4This name took us ages to find. Seriously. It took us almost a year before we came across this one. The epipany was so significant, I can even tell you the date -- January 16, 2006.
5Perry, Charlie's date at the O Club in the beginning of the movie, is played by the 'real' Viper, Pete Pettigrew, who served as a technical advisor to the film.
6Originally, the character was named Walter "Wizard" Merlin.
7The air boss has more history than most of the characters -- we at least know one of his prior assignments. He served on the Kitty Hawk before coming to Top Gun.
Take me back to Top Gun!