The Cutting Room Floor Page 8

Returning to Base

Quite a big cut scene from the end of the movie is after Anakin destroys the Droid Control Ship, all the N-1's go back to Naboo and land in the hangar. Here's the excerpt from the ISP:

"EXT. THEED--CENTRAL HANGAR--DAY

ANAKIN and ARTOO follow the squad of yellow Naboo starfighters into the main hangar.

INT. THEED--CENTRAL HANGAR--DAY

RIC OLIE and the OTHER PILOTS gather around as they exit their ships.

BRAVO TWO: He flew into the hold, behind the deflector shield and blew the main reactor...

BRAVO THREE: Amazing...They don't teach that at the academy.

ANAKIN's ship skids to a stop behind the other Naboo starfighters. RIC OLIE, BRAVO TWO, the OTHER PILOTS, and GROUND CREW rush to his ship.

RIC OLIE: We're all accounted for. Who flew that ship?

ANAKIN sheepishly opens the cockpit and stands up. All the PILOTS stare in amazement.

ANAKIN: I'm not going to get in trouble, am I?

ARTOO beeps. Oh. Oh.

This is one of those subjective cut scenes that we're just going to have to trust Lucas on. It seems like it would have emphasized and explained Anakin's great skill as both a pilot and a force user. And, the reference to 'the academy' was a nice touch.

Coming out of the Swamp

Here's a small difference from the novel and the movie. Not a big deal, but interesting none the less. "Then the Gungan army surfaced in a rippling of murky water and a stream of bubbles, lop-eared heads popping up like corks, first one, then another, and finally hundreds and eventually thousands." Instead we get the Gungan mounted on Kaadu coming out of the mist, which I have to admit, really gave me chills in Trailer A. Sure the swamp appearence would have made a wonderful visual, but probably more of technical nightmare than its worth.

Maul's Hologram

How about the scene where Darth Maul and Sidious are talking on the balcony on Coruscant, the HOLOGRAM of Maul fizzles out. . . sounded so cool.

Walking up Stairs

Hey -- didn't we read that we were supposed to see R2 walking up some stairs? There was only one scene where it seemed he would was when Qui-Gon and Watto headed outside to discuss the hyperdrive parts he needed, and R2 followed - the three of the had to walk (and fly) up some steps to the outdoors, and R2 is shown at the base of the steps about to walk up, and then the scene cuts. Cutting room floor? Or more problems with the radio-controlled R2 units?

The Blockade is Gone: Part 2

Here's another tidbit about the reasons the bulk of the Trade Federation ships were gone near the end of TPM. I hear the reason it was cut is because a backstory with Sidious (backstory meaning that it's an unseen almost irrelevant plotpoint), is that they had to clear up all the battleships to make a good impression for when the senate sent a delegate or whatever word they used to further inspect the situation. By this time, it would be expected that Amidala had returned and would sign the treaty. (Since Sidious knew she was headed back there, he had send away the battleships to cover his tracks.) Interesting.

Combing Throught the Wreckage

Also, many have pointed out many cut-scenes from the TPM video games. Here's one cool one: There is a rather extended pod race sequence and a scene from the movie showing droids being dropped off to salvage the remains of Gasgano's pod racer, with Gasgano putting a couple of his multiple hands to his head. Sweet sequence.

Qui-Gon vs. the Sea Monsters

The action figure of QUI-GON includes a spear. No one believes this was ever intended to be in the film, and we've had no reports of it in production either. It's just one of those extended action figures, based loosely around the movie. Good.

General Ceel = Captain Tarpals

The Gungan General Ceel was originally supposed to interact with Jar-Jar in the final battle scene. However, the Gungan at the end is quite clearly Captain Tarpals, seen earlier in the movie. I'm pretty sure of this, as they sound exactly the same, they look the same, and they both have the same attitudes towards Jar-Jar, so I quess Lucas decided to put Tarpals in instead of Ceel. Also, add that to the fact that originally a General Ceel action figure was planned but was canceled in favor of Captain Tarpals.

Maul vs. Obi-Wan on Tatooine

Also, it was noticed in the illustrated screenplay, there are storyboard drawings of Darth Maul fighting Obi-Wan in the desert, so maybe originaly both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were supposed to fight him? or Lucas wasn't sure who would fight who? Interesting, and we just thought that was a promotional picture in Vanity Fair. We'll keep working on that one. Here's a brief update as well, courtesy of Michael:

In the first few drafts of the screenplay it was OBI-WAN who went into the Tatooine marketplace, not QUI-GON, as he hadn't been introduced into the story yet (as he first appeared on Coruscant). So in that sith encounter in the desert it was OBI-WAN who fought Maul. But that still does not explain why they made storyboards. They may have just made rough ones in very early production for Lucas so he could see what the sequence would look like.

Taxi Sequence through Corusant

Lastly, 'The Making of The Phantom Menace' book has a few things that point to a scene that was shot on the first day, but not used in the film. There is one page that has the call sheet for the first day, saying which people would be on set and which scene would be shot. The scenes that they shot included a scene where the crew has just arrived on Coruscant and is on the landing platform. It is assumed it would be after the Qui-Gon's line to Vallorum saying that he needed to talk to the Council. Anyway, it's a scene where they all load onto a Coruscant Taxi. More detail pointing to this lost scene can be found in the section with all the production art, where it shows a black and white drawing of a Taxi pulled up to the side of a platform and people stepping into it. I thought it would have been a cool scene, maybe even cooler if it showed them flying through the city a bit more. Here's another pic now as well from the Insider's Guide:

Trade Fedearation Symbol

Astute readers will remember seeing a picture of an ATT well before the release of TPM and also in the Insider's Guide that had a small red symbol on it's side. The Guide makes a careful notation to mention it is NOT in the final cut of the film, but gives no reason. So, add this to the list of things that could have been in the movie but were cut.

Cut Pilot Scene

Just after the pilots return to Naboo after Anakin destroys the Trade Federation Droid Control Ship, there was a scene (mentioned previously in this guide) where the pilots all come over to Anakin's ship to see who was the pilot that gave them the victory. Well, this one's not confirmed, but I believe that this shot from the Insider's Guide is of that very scene, although it never did make it into the movie.

Ric Olie's COMMTECH

Many of the first wave figures have COMMTECH lines that would indicate cur scenes. Another intersting one was Ric Olie's command "to go for the receptors" or something like that. Most likely a tactic for defeating the droid control ship, we would presume. Thanks to Mdwarshal for the heads up there.

Fode and Beed

Originally, the Pod Race announcer was going to be the creature pictured here, and this was filmed for the movie. Eventually, the character was dropped in favor of the CGI creature that now graces the film.

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