Do you have the original Star Wars on VHS when Lucas released it back in the late 80’s? Or his “Digitally Remastered” version that was released a few years later. Or even his “Directors Edited” version that was released on DVD a few years ago… you never saw this clip. Edited out of the original movie this scene flushed out the main charecter and leaves you wondering why Lucas edited it out. This isn’t a partially made scene or non-propped or CGId… this is a late edit from the release film.
This scene was to come right after Artoo-Detoo and Threepio have ejected from the Blockade Runner in their escape pod, and right before Princess Leia is led captive before Darth Vader. Luke zooms into Anchorhead in his landspeeder to tell his friends about the battle he’s seen. He is momentarily distracted when he finds that his best friend Biggs Darklighter has returned from the Academy, but then pulls them all outside to check out the battle. At this point the battle is over, so everyone thinks Luke is making it up.
Because it didn’t fit well with the rest of the film, George Lucas decided to cut this scene from the final version of Star Wars. This is the only time we ever actually see the characters of Deak, Windy, Camie and Fixer. This scene establishes Luke’s relationship to his peers, and how they feel towards him. It also gives a picture of what life is like for young people on Tatooine.
For years this scene remained unseen, with only a several still photos and references in the comic book and novel showing that it ever actually existed. Despite people’s claims that they had seen the footage in early prints of Star Wars, this scene was never shown to the public. The sound mix had never been completed, and the footage was not included in anything but rough editor’s cuts (such as the legendary Lost Cut). In 1998 at the San Diego Comic Con, mega-collector and Lucasfilm employee Steve Sansweet gave fans an incredible treat by showing the Biggs footage publicly for the first time. Later in 1998 with the inclusion of this footage on the Behind The Magic CD ROM, fans all over the world finally got to see what this scene looked like on film.
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Tags: Audio Visual, History, Interesting, Movie, Movies, Video
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