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The Lost “Star Wars” Opening Scenes

mentalfloss.com — Okay, so I ’m as big a Star Wars fan as the next guy, but this really threw me. This YouTube video shows a “lost” beginning to the original Star Wars movie, and it’s terrible. Apparently these scenes were cut due to “time restrictions,” and boy am I glad. This is one of the best examples I’ve seen of how editing makes a movie better.

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  • iching, on 01/04/2008, -0/+19Was that guy in the long scene ever in the movie again? Is he the same guy that was in the hanger scene much later in the movie, right before the death star attack?
    • RogerStrong, on 01/04/2008, -0/+26Yup. I had the comic when the movie came out in 1977. It had some of the scenes that were later cut: The scene with Luke seeing the space battle, the scene near the beginning with Biggs, and the scene with Han Solo and Jabba together at the Mos Eisley space port. Jabba was humanoid in the comics.
      • positron, on 01/04/2008, -0/+6Those scenes are also in the original novelization as well. Picked up the paperback at a garage sale a long time back.
    • RomulusX86, on 01/04/2008, -0/+33The robot at the beginning kind of looks like Wall-E.
    • ShugNinx21, on 01/04/2008, -1/+17Biggs was in the original theatrical release of the movie. His part was cut down to the point that you only see him for a short time in the death star battle. His scenes from the hangar were added in the Special Edition.

      yes, I'm a star wars nerd
    • inkswamp, on 01/04/2008, -1/+17I've seen these clips before and I always feel vaguely sorry for the actors doing the bit parts that were completely cut (unlike the guy playing Biggs who surfaces briefly at the end.) Given the phenomenon that Star Wars became, it must have absolutely sucked to know that your part was removed. I can't imagine what it was like to witness Star Wars fever hitting the planet and to know you almost were part of it.
      • innocentsinner, on 01/04/2008, -0/+18Dude inside the vader suit (David Prowse, I think) said all of Vader's lines, apparently not knowing they'd be dubbed over.
      • Fracture98, on 01/04/2008, -2/+13A least with the last three releases, they could brag that they had nothing to do with it...
      • davidave, on 01/04/2008, -3/+10it probably feels the same as it does for mark hamill to have only one notable acting role his entire career
        • mrdoogee, on 01/04/2008, -0/+8Perhaps only one notable acting role, but Hammill gets plenty of voice-over work. He has played the Joker in just about every animated Batman show since 1990, as well as numerous other characters in TV and even some anime.
        • fuzzynyanko, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Yeah, Hamil was a great Joker. The new one sounds like they mixed his vision with a WWE wrestler. Just awful
        • krakelohm, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3You mean Corvette Summer? http://akas.imdb.com/title/tt0077372/
    • Lynxpro, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Yes, it is the same actor who plays Biggs Darklighter later in the film during the Battle of Yavin.

      The actor was also briefly in *Batman Returns* in the flashback scenes as the father of the Penguin.
      • danajstrom, on 01/04/2008, -0/+5"The actor was also briefly in *Batman Returns* in the flashback scenes as the father of the Penguin."

        No, that was actually Paul Reubens - of Pee Wee Fame
        • Lynxpro, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Sorry...you beat me to the correction.

          He [Garrick Hagon, aka "Biggs"] was in the original Burton *Batman* film. Funny how he ended up in a minor role in *Batman* just as the actor who played "Porkins" also was in that film.

    • Kikinou, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1That's Biggs Darklighter.
  • warlord, on 01/04/2008, -1/+55These have been around for about 10 years since the special edition's came out, the luke voice over is from the radio drama. You can find them all on the Deleted Magic Dvd
    • gyrfalcon, on 01/04/2008, -18/+2Well they're not on the laser disk boxset, and I've never heard about them before... So shut up mr. smarty unless you're going to contribute something other than your all encompassing proprietary knowledge .
      • ceris, on 01/04/2008, -2/+10He DID contribute something. I'm going to hunt down the DVD. YOU shut up.
      • gummih, on 01/04/2008, -1/+4Worst - comment - EVER!
    • anachronaut, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4I highly recommend the radio dramas to any serious Star Wars fans out there who haven't heard them before. They're much more slowly paced than the movies (obviously), but you get so much more background and detail; the story is much, much more fully fleshed-out than in the movies. Yes, there are some boring parts (such as the Anchorhead scene with Biggs that was in the video linked in this Digg submission), but there's a lot of content that most Star Wars fans have probably missed out on entirely. The original movie's story is stretched out over 13 episodes -- that's 7 CDs worth of audio for Episode IV alone.
      • argonaut99, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1It's been a long time since I broke out that Behind the Magic CD set, but if I remember correctly, there is also a clip from RoTJ of the "gang" getting back to the Millennium Falcon after escaping Jabba and it is set in sandstorm (before they leave Tatooine). I don't remember any audio, I think it was video only.
    • Lynxpro, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1They've been out longer than that. CBS showed those clips first in 1982 when *Star Wars* made its broadcast television premiere. Mark Hamill "hosted" it as well. They also showed the Han Solo/Jabba the Hutt scene featuring the original Irish actor who played Jabba.
  • coltrane68, on 01/04/2008, -1/+12Man is that scene lame. And clearly unnecessary. All of those sentiments can be picked up later in the movie.

    To iching - I am pretty sure that Biggs was Luke's friend with whom he reconnected prior to the attack on the Death Star.
    • iching, on 01/04/2008, -0/+6Thanks, I thought it was.
      Boy did that actor's screen time get cut down
      to that of an extra, sorta of like wearing a red uniform in Star Trek
      who accompanies Kirk to a hostile planet.

      I hadn't seen this clip before and now I know why it wasn't included in the orginial. It wasn't on my DVD set that had extra stuff , but I'm still a big fan of star wars and enjoyed the clip.
    • Hobbes24, on 01/04/2008, -2/+3it's weird, but it actually gave me a vibe of a different movie, but about star wars. sort of like KOTOR...man, tha'd be sick.
  • annabegonia, on 01/04/2008, -0/+94The Force was strong with the editing team.
    • Wartyboskfapped, on 01/04/2008, -1/+9The 'Editing Team' was George Lucas himself, who did the work largely alone, right up until release.
    • da_bradler, on 01/04/2008, -1/+7From what I've heard they had to bring in a new editor near the end of star wars which is basically what saved it , they say the first cut of the movie was absolutely terrible.
  • HauntedTank, on 01/04/2008, -4/+29I was half expecting them to kiss at the end!
    • gyrfalcon, on 01/04/2008, -15/+1That would probably explain why the movies got gayer, and gayer.
    • Lynxpro, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Nah... the conversations between Luke, Vader, and the Emperor in ROTJ sound rather slash-ish in comparison....
  • Error601, on 01/04/2008, -0/+18I doubt that was ever intended to be an opening scene. Lucas based it on Flash Gordon which opens with the crawl followed by an action sequence. Even the music is somewhat similar:

    http://scifi.magnify.net/item/WGTKDP1GN6M1VZT7
    • KizardLing, on 01/04/2008, -1/+3This scene is in the novelization of the movie, so it could easily have been intended to be part of the movie.
  • BassMastr, on 01/04/2008, -1/+41Cool! I had never seen this before or heard about it! (Lame or not...unexpected original Star Wars = good)
  • canewediggit, on 01/04/2008, -4/+23further proof that luke was way gayer than 3po. "c'mon treadwell!"
  • Nodaki, on 01/04/2008, -0/+28Loved the cape.
    • ADWestCo, on 01/04/2008, -1/+8The cape was interesting, but what about Luke's Gilligan hat?
    • H0tKarl, on 01/04/2008, -2/+7It was fabulous.
  • spammishking, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCyPTM2FJgA
    Is there a better resolution of this out there?
  • Wartyboskfapped, on 01/04/2008, -2/+13This is hardly new or "lost" since the entire sequence was included on a Star Wars encyclopedia CD about 10 years ago.
    • MasterInsan0, on 01/04/2008, -5/+8Ahh...10 years ago. The time before Star Wars was ruined by old George "I've forgotten what made me good" Lucas, but unfortunately after the time where he mucked up the movies with his "original vision" of what the series was supposed to be like.

      I've always had a theory about Star Wars, and the past 10 years have only proven that theory to me: George Lucas didn't make Star Wars. Everyone else involved did. Had he been left alone, Lucas would have just made another ***** sci-fi flick.
      • Wartyboskfapped, on 01/04/2008, -7/+2Anyone who takes a bunch of campy sci fi movies that seriously has never been outside into the real world. Seriously.
        • Jak08, on 01/04/2008, -2/+0My World is the real real world. I know nothing of this real world you speak of.
      • ShugNinx21, on 01/04/2008, -1/+7Another "I didn't like the prequels, so now I will take away all the credit to George Lucas for making the Originals that I liked" people. Sorry to break it to you but Lucas was instrumental in making each and every one of the Star Wars movies including how good they were. You may not have liked the prequels, thats your choice, but to then say that Lucas had nothing to with the success and how good the original trilogy is is just idiotic.

        I suppose you take all the credit away from Francis Ford Coppola for Godfather 1 and 2 because 3 wasn't as good as well.
        • innocentsinner, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1George also did a lot of editing to his original trilogy that has ***** off fans of the movies.
        • ShugNinx21, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3True. I'm not a big fan of the Special Edition editions. I don't think they ruin it but they are definitely better without them in the original form. But that doesn't change the fact that he made the originals in their original form and they kick ass and Lucas was the primary factor in that.
      • jla1987, on 01/04/2008, -1/+3I hate to tell you, but not all of the prequels sucked. I think Episode III was one of the best out of the entire series and carried a lot of emotional punch compared to any of the originals. This is coming from a Star Wars fan from birth.
        • mywhitenoise, on 01/04/2008, -2/+1You're also 20, so you didn't get to experience it like some of the older fans.

          /is 22.
  • ikrit2006, on 01/04/2008, -1/+9Apparently someone hasn't read the Star Wars: A New Hope book, this is in it.
    • pkonink, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Or listened to the NPR radio dramas - which the audio in the first part of this video was lifted from.
  • BinaryDelt, on 01/04/2008, -1/+16"They're really going at it out there!"
  • sdellboy, on 01/04/2008, -1/+462.51: "You've been hanging around the Starfleet so long..."
    I always KNEW there was crossover!!

  • neio, on 01/04/2008, -6/+1It's better in than out I always say.
    • Fracture98, on 01/04/2008, -2/+2You've never been on a really serious bender, have you?
  • emcc24, on 01/04/2008, -1/+6After seeing the title I thought JJ Abrams had perhaps taken it too far.
    I guess all the capitalization and the long hiatus threw me.
  • litelbrown, on 01/04/2008, -1/+16the biggs and luke scene actually wasnt to bad, but everything before that conversation sucked.
  • joshua5, on 01/04/2008, -26/+2for the love of god when will you people get over star wars, the first movie came out 30 years ago!
    • banido, on 01/04/2008, -1/+11I find your lack of faith disturbing.
    • MasterInsan0, on 01/04/2008, -2/+2Right about......
      ....
      ...
      ..
      .
      now.
    • maehem, on 01/04/2008, -1/+2For the love of god... when will you get over Digg, so we can all go back to enjoying the internet?
    • Jak08, on 01/04/2008, -1/+3for the love of god when will you people get over life, the first installment came out 3 billion years ago!
  • Saoo, on 01/04/2008, -8/+12Luke sure sounds like a whiney little bitch at the beginning
    • SiNN4R, on 01/04/2008, -0/+12He sounds that way all the time.
    • H0tKarl, on 01/04/2008, -0/+7Yeah, at the beginning of his career. And the middle and end too.
    • ShugNinx21, on 01/04/2008, -0/+7"Aww, but Uncle Owen, I was gonna go to the Toshi Station to pick up some power converters!"
  • Pillage, on 01/04/2008, -0/+32where is the scene where he goes and gets power converters?
  • DannySpace, on 01/04/2008, -10/+4I can remember a time when this would have been a highlight in my life to view. I guess I'm just moved on...
    • Thumper13, on 01/04/2008, -1/+5well you are clearly superior to most of us. Please share your secret with us lower types.
    • Synn, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2...to Digg. So I guess you really haven't moved that far.
  • montezumamike, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4These scenes worked quite well in the radio drama, but would have been very, very bad for pacing in the movie.
  • zoziw, on 01/04/2008, -0/+10IIRC, that scene with Biggs was supposed to introduce Luke, not open the actual movie.
  • Treshnell, on 01/04/2008, -2/+28I thought that scene between Luke and Biggs was pretty good, actually...
    • JohnnyMexico, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1Yeah, I definitely liked that scene too - and it expands on the plot a lot more than the Jabba the Hutt scenes re-added (read: hacked) into the special edition New Hope released in the 90's.
  • mifan, on 01/04/2008, -4/+5Oh, for a moment there i thought Wall-E made it into Star Wars. :D

    Oh well, hooray for the editing team!
  • mifan, on 01/04/2008, -9/+1For a moment there I thought Wall-E made it into Star Wars... :D
    • mifan, on 01/04/2008, -6/+0Ups... posting noob here... sry for double post :(
  • banido, on 01/04/2008, -3/+8My midichlorians are getting aggravated.
  • twertyto, on 01/04/2008, -5/+17Two words: Sexual Tension
  • schavira, on 01/04/2008, -0/+7"Take it easy buddy."
  • inkswamp, on 01/04/2008, -2/+3The site says these clips surfaced just over a year ago, but they've been floating around the Internet since before the release of Revenge of the Sith. There's actually a lot of this stuff out there. The most interesting one is the longer (and far worse) cut of the cantina scenes where you see Han Solo with some female companion prior to talking to Luke and Obi-Wan. It's amazing how much dialogue and minor stuff was trimmed from the cantina scenes and how much it drags by comparison to the version that made it into the film.
    • tman84, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2yeah now if we can only get a copy of the original cantina scene showing Han shooting first
    • Lynxpro, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Yeah, but re-adding 2 seconds of Han being shown with a lady in the cantina would just further add to his pimpness... Essentially that he's the type of guy that has a different lady at every space port he routinely travels to.
  • OBKenobi, on 01/04/2008, -4/+27Not as good as the lost "Drunken Chewbacca" rape scene of Princess Leia on board the Millennium Falcon.
  • Murrabbit, on 01/04/2008, -4/+7Awful dialog and wooding acting from the master, George Lucas? Say it ain't so!
  • bman784, on 01/04/2008, -1/+12They found a way to make Luke look like even more of a whiner.
  • antoniuk, on 01/04/2008, -11/+3More proof Lucas is a talentless hack
    • B3000, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1If Lucas is such a hack, you go make two series as influential, enduring and successful as Star Wars and Raiders then. Oh and start up a company that revolutionizes special effects while you are at it.
  • maehem, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3Sweet. I remember reading this scene in the book version when I was a kid.
    • mishaco, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3i recall the same thing . it was a picture story book . a picture with luke and biggs up on a ledge with a grappling hook and " macro binoculars " .
  • coppyrightmind, on 01/04/2008, -7/+0If Star Wars was a WWII propaganda film.
  • poorman04, on 01/04/2008, -1/+2I think this part was in the book.
  • Syric, on 01/04/2008, -0/+11I actually liked the scene with Biggs' farewell to Luke. I can see why it was cut, but on its own it really fleshes out their relationship. I mean most people have no idea who Biggs Darklighter even is, with the way the movie turned out.
    • TrnsltLife, on 01/04/2008, -0/+7Who?
    • fuzzynyanko, on 01/04/2008, -1/+1Wow. All that talk about getting drafted and joining the side against the government.
  • Skitals, on 01/04/2008, -1/+13"I'm quiet, I'm quiet! Listen to how quiet I am, you can barely hear me!"
    Worth it just for that line.
  • itsalwaysblue, on 01/04/2008, -1/+17Who's the girl that yanked Luke's Electrobinoculars away and then threw it back at him? And why did that turn me on?
    • ogremidget, on 01/04/2008, -0/+1How can you see out of those binoculars?
    • magiclava, on 01/04/2008, -0/+5Koo Stark... Her character was called Camie.
      Google image search will satisfy all your requirements.
    • Sinai, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2I like how they make extra sure that you can tell that he's that girl's bitch yet they're not romantically involved, all in the space of 15 seconds.
    • Lynxpro, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Koo Stark. Model/soft porn actress who supposedly had a relationship with Prince Andrew before Fergie came on the scene...

      Her character Camie was the main squeeze of "The Fixer".
  • OldGhosts, on 01/04/2008, -0/+7Is that Wall*e ?
  • aeck, on 01/04/2008, -0/+4I remember seeing some SW documentary, where a crew member talked about this. Apparently, a buddy director of George who saw a screening, said "Look! It's American Graffiti in space!" , which put George off a bit.
  • B3000, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Isn't there supposed to be an alternate cut of star wars that uses totally different angles and bits of footage? Some years ago I heard a rumor about such a thing being locked away in the vaults at Lucasfilm.
    • Lynxpro, on 01/04/2008, -0/+3The fan club magazine covered the alternative cut several years ago. The alternative cut also showed that not all of the pilots in the Rebel Fleet were white... which is something George Lucas took a lot of heat over even though they filmed much of the movie in the UK which was not known for having a very diverse acting community back then [as opposed to today].
  • ArkRaider1936, on 01/04/2008, -0/+18At least there was no Jar-Jar Binks.
  • ManOfTomorrow, on 01/04/2008, -2/+1"The Anchorhead Story of Star Wars refers to a subplot from the original script of Star Wars that involved Luke Skywalker on Tatooine."
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorhead_Story_of_S ...
    see the footage:
    http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/swcs/
  • lordmike, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2The Biggs and Luke scene are actually in the Star Wars story/picturebook that came out at the same time as the movie... I know, I had the book as a kid and was always confused why the scene was not in the movie. When the 1997 special edition boasted "extra scenes", many fans like me assumed that the missing biggs/luke scene form the book would be put back in... alas, that was not to be...
    • michaelcarey, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2Yes, I still have this book somewhere and can remember the picture of Biggs and Luke standing together in the book.
  • GREEDOnvrFIRED, on 01/04/2008, -0/+5"Apparently these scenes were cut due to “time restrictions,” and boy am I glad. This is one of the best examples I’ve seen of how editing makes a movie better."

    Apparently Lucas looked at the scenes and said "lose 'em." I doubt it had anything to do with time restrictions. And editing doesn't make a movie better. Editing is HOW you make a movie out of who knows how many dozens of hours of film.
  • Damien79, on 01/04/2008, -1/+3The direct video link, avoiding the crappy website link. (no its not rick roll)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCyPTM2FJgA
  • Hypomanic, on 01/04/2008, -3/+2The Biggs x Luke fangirls and fangays are gonna love this.
  • dwninjungleland, on 01/04/2008, -0/+2It's a trap!!!
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