The Cutting Room Floor Page 4

More about Anakin's Foreshadowing Dream?

Another entire scene is where Anakin relates to Padme his dream where she was leading this tremendous army --definitely a foreshadowing device, definitely for TPM and possibly even for Episode II. Padme returns with something to the effect of, "I hope not, I hate fighting." Interesting look in to the next prequel, me thinks. The shot is sent in from Jania and is rumored to be the place where Anakin tells her about her dream.

Padme Kisses Anakin

Padme, before the pod race, kisses Annie on the cheek and tells him "you carry all our hopes". He responds--"I won't let you down." It may have been neat to see this transition from -- "can we trust our fate to a boy we hardly know" to this. Also, it was telling of her future feelings, although he was just a boy, someday she would change and fall in love with her. Again, not a huge deletion, but would have added a nice touch.

Valorum's Confrontation of Palpatine

There was a scene just after the "vote of no confidence" by Amidala in the Senate chambers where Valorum confronts Palpatine after Queen's speech. He talks about 'betrayal' and how he thought that Palpatine supported him in his position of leadership. Definitely points to what Palpatine will become very good at in future episodes: betrayal. Would have helped this scene, and added more depth to the shallow Valorum.

Jar Jar is a Clumsy Pilot

Originally Jar Jar was to pilot the Bongo and in the very earliest drafts of the script. Fortunately for all of us, this sequence was cut, including one where Jar Jar gets his butt caught on fire. I'm just happy to report that it never made it into the movie.

BBC Pod

Remember seeing that wild looking pod from the BBC special way back when? Yeah, the one that looked like a prototype pod racer or a cloud car but with 747 engines attached to it! Observant readers have asked where this shows up in the movie, but we thought it must have been discarded. All the designs were great and creative. One gone? No problem. Also, many think it was revised and still used as Sebulba's pod. So this one wasn't cut after all ...

I'm Not Afraid

"I'm not afraid." That would have been a fantastic line for little Anakin. Standing before the council facing his fears, he responds like we all know his future son Luke did as well. Ugh. Powerful stuff. According to insiders, it was in one of the early drafts of the script, but cut for unknown reasons.

Juggling Jar Jar

In the Jar Jar television commercial, we see him standing alone juggling several of Watto's shop items but this has vanished from the final print. We watched this fotage in Denver, and got a huge laugh out of it as well. Funny yes, but overkill. While a version of this scene still exists in the print, it's not the same one that has aired on TV and in Denver.

The Bongo and the Waterfall

A scene where their bongo submarine surfaces at Theed and nearly kills everyone by going over a waterfall was cut. It was an interesting sequence that must have been cut for sake of time. I can live with that. If you want to see what might have been, check out the Galoob Toy of the scene in question. Also, Ingo tells us he's seen short footage of the shooting of that particular scene on the German television channel Pro Sieben months ago as well.

Obi-Wan's Head Comes Out of the Swamp

The screenplay has QUI-GON or OBI-WAN's head emerging from muddy waters after escaping from the Droid Control Ship. This is some great imagery, and it is still intact in the movie reproduction in the Phantom Menace Video Game for the PC. We don't know how they made it down to the planet Naboo, but they did. Cool. I imagined the shot when I read the script long ago and fell in love with it. This clip is available in the Multimedia Section from an Omnibus special in the UK.

Another Maul Line

SarumanTheChef tells us that in the novelization, Darth Maul had another line that wasn't in the movie, and it was a great line too. While the Jedi and Maul are stuck inbetween the security barriers in the final duel, Maul tests his saber on the shield like in the movie, but after he looks at Qui-gon, he looks at Obi-wan and smiles, saying "Oh, don't worry, I'm coming for you too." Quite an interesting line, although it was never in the script.

Qui-Gon Takes a Dive

Paul says that according to www.starwars.com, Qui-Gon was originally intended to fall into the melting pit. "It was going to be Qui-Gon going over and hanging, and then coming back and having another fight, and then getting killed. But that seemed unnecessary. What we came up with was just more economical, and I think, really better for the audience."

Jedi Council Discussions

Stephen reminds us that in the new issue of the Star Wars Insider (#46), they briefly talk about the lost scenes of TPM and show a couple pictures, one is of Yaddle, Even Piell, and Saesee Tinn having a conversation. It would have been great to see the council in action, and not just get a chance to see only a few speak.