Mike Lowrey

Well...for those who have checked out the Still Photos gallery for ANH, you would have seen a few stills from this long talked about cut scene with Luke and Biggs on Tatooine discussing the above space battle between the Star Destroyer Devastator and Leia's ship Tantive IV. You had Luke in his farmer hat (of which they made a figurine of) and Biggs along with his wife or sister in his house.

But anyway, I'm glad that Lucas left this scene out for a couple reasons.

1) Pacing and editing. I just don't see where he could have spliced this in and make it look like it belonged.

2) Continuity. By introducing Luke there at the very beginning of the film like that would have destroyed the sense of "surprise" we get when we first meet him at the sandcrawler "droid sale" scene. In other words, the absolute coicindence that the Jawas would stop at the Skywalker farm and sell R2 and 3-PO to Luke would be just too much to swallow after seeing Luke first thing.

It would be almost as bad as springing the fact that Leia is Luke's sister later on in ROTJ.

What do you all think?

Oh don't get me wrong, I would have liked to see the complete scene in a deleted scene on the DVD, but I guess we can't have everything.

BTW, all through these years, I have always seem to have remembered other additional scenes or extension of scenes that aren't in the film. I know that the Christmas Special was supposed to have had some cut scenes from ANH, and I was wondering if that's where I remember them from.

One scene in particular was an extended scene there at the Mos Eisley docking port during the stormtrooper raid. Seems like there was more going on there.

Josh H

I agree. As with most deleted scenes, it was deleted for good reason.

bboisvert

I agree that the scene should have stayed cut. And I agree that they should have included it in its entirety -- along with other deleted scenes -- in a supplement.

But I'm not sure about your 'coincidence' comment. What is the coincidence? That Luke saw the space battle and then got the droids that had escaped?

I suppose that's a bit much... but it's certainly not too much to swallow when you consider the other coincidences that Lucas has left in and/or created. The fact that the droids end up with Luke at all is something I'm sure many will find a bit much -- given that his father constructed one of them and used the other as a co-pilot (or whatever) in the Clone Wars.

If an audience can get past that, they can probably accept any Luke/Biggs coincidences.

rennervision

Yeah, I agree bboisvert. That's like saying it's too much a coincidence in Pulp Fiction that Bruce Willis finds John Travolta in his bathroom. Movies can deal with multiple characters, and show parallel story arcs that are headed toward a key scene where they all finally meet. This has been happening in the movies for as long as I can remember.

But personally, I was disappointed this scene was not reinserted into the 1997 release. Luke's comment "Awww Biggs is right, I'm never going to get out of here." should pretty much generate a "Who?" response from those without prior knowledge of who Biggs was.

QuAcKeR

I would have liked to see them... they're nice additions to the SW Radio Drama and I've always wanted to actually see the footage.

calhoun07

I think it makes the "payoff" scene where he is reunited with Biggs at the end pointless, so yes, I think it should have been introduced back in the movie. Didn't Luke talk about going into town to spend time with his friends early in the movie? We should have seen that scene, and I don't think it would have messed with the continuity. As I pointed out in another thread, it's in the comic book adaptation and I believe in the novelization as well, and I feel they work well with the rest of the story in those settings. Why not in the actual movie?

darqleo

Yeah it was a "cute" scene

jeffkjoe

The deleted scenes will probably be included in the 6-disc Star Wars saga box set that will inevitably be released when Episode III finally comes to video.

You just know Lucas will squeeze one more ounce of juice out of that sponge.

nodeerforamonth

I think that scene is one of the most crucial of the added scenes!

Why? Think of how it was before it was included. Han is loading up his loot, abandoning the Rebels. He has words with Luke, who is pissed off at Han for leaving. The next scene has Luke being very happy, telling the tech "Not on your life. Me & this droid have been through alot together." when the tech asked Luke if he wants a new R2 unit.

Makes no sense. Why is Luke pissed at the end of one scene and happy at the next?

The added scene of Luke being pissed, being surprised by Biggs, then being happy totally makes sense when added in between the Han/Luke and the tech/Luke scenes.

Eplicon

I don't mind not having the earlier Biggs on Tatooine scene. When Luke -- unhappy about having to do farm chores for another year -- says to his uncle, "That's what you said when Biggs and Tank left," it implies they have been away quite some time. So the reunion in the hangar works on that regard. Biggs says, "It'll be like old times," again suggesting the passage of time.

I never really paid much mind about the transition between Luke being unhappy about Han's leaving and his chipper mood in the next scene. I just took it at him being eager to do a bunch of cool things that he hadn't been able to before.

JONA99

All the deleted scenes are included in their entirety on the "Star Wars: Behind the Magic" CD rom, which has been out for a few years now.

Best moments:

Han makes out with a girl at the cantina.

And Biggs actually pats Luke's ass! (Which I suppose explains the moustache)

We can only thank God that Lucas didn't re-insert them into the movie.

Fok

I don't mind that they weren't in the movie, I'm just keen to at least see them....hopefully in the future release.

bboisvert

In the Washington Post chat transcript (http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp...ling092104.htm), Van Ling muses that Lucas probably wants to 'clean up' the deleted scenes, finish the FX, etc. before including them on disc. Probably in 2007.

Seems like it's just speculation on his part, but it makes sense. Lucas 'finished' the deleted scenes for Episode I + II, so he probably wants to do it for IV-VI too. And I imagine that, with Episode III in production, there was a time crunch.

Iron_Giant

I loved the photo gallery. This was the 1st time I saw the cut Biggs sceen. I am very glad they cut it from the final version.

I believe Lucas, his wife and others re-edited the movie because the 1st time it was edited the pace was very slow and borring.

Lucas really put his heart and soul into these movies.

Class316

You can download this scene from the Internet, in movie form.