The Cutting Room Floor Page 9

Get out of the ship!

ANAKIN hides behind one of the Naboo fighters, ducking as large bolts whiz past and EXPLODE near him.

(Retained in film) PADME and the TWO JEDI destroy BATTLED DROIDS right and left. The QUEEN'S TROOPS also blast away at the DROIDS. PADME signals to her pilots.

PADME

Get to your ships!

The PILOTS run for the Naboo fighter craft stacked in the hangar bay. ONE OF THE PILOTS jumps into a fighter right above where ANAKIN is hiding.

FIGHTER PILOT

Better find a new hiding place, kid. I'm taking this ship.

The ship begins to levitate out of the hangar. BATTLE DROIDS fire at it as it falls in behind five other fighters. ARTOO whistles to ANAKIN from a second fighter not far away.

We previously reported that from the above picture, it could be deduced that Celia Imrie (the pilot in the picture) was the pilot who shooed Anakin from his hiding place.

Recently brought to our attention is another picture, evidently from the same scene, which lends more weight to the conclusion.

You will notice that Anakin is hiding behind some equipment, with an explosion on the left, as a pilot approaches the Naboo fighter. Additional similarities: The R2 unit is the same color, the lighting equipment is in the same place, and a crewmember is sweeping in the first picture just below the point where the explosion occurs in the second picture.

Cut From TRAILER A

Many of you were scouring the Internet for the latest Episode I information way back in October 1998, then the big news hit. As you recall, some secret source by the name of 'Non-Disclosure' had posted an accurate description of the teaser trailer, now affectionately called 'Trailer A.'

Well, one of the scenes described in there never made it into the released version of trailer A. Perhaps the CGI work wasn't completed in time, or the sequence was shot down altoghther. Here's the original description, and further down some specualtion on what it possibly may actually be:

SHOT 65: Looking just plain weird, like something from Dune, probably unfinished. Some organic-looking "altars" standing in the desert (they are all looking exactly the same) and many nomadic humanoids in light robes (their faces hidden) are squatting/kneeling in foreground, each of them holding a spear.

What could that possibly be? Remember, the trailer from which this description was written was black and white, and not completed. Here's some of our thoughts and specualtion on what happened:

Chances are, it was an unfinished shot or an animatic in the early trailer, probably a shot where the Gungan's are on the battlefield. Because it wasn't in color and an early animatic, it could have been Naboo as easily as Tatooine. The "organic looking altars" are possibly references for the droid army troop transports and tanks, and the "humans" in white robes with hoods and are actually references for the Gungan soldiers with their unusual heads and weapons. It's quite likely that the shot simply could not be completed in time for the release of the trailer, and ended up on the 'cutting room floor.'

(Thanks to Deepan and Brian for contributing)

UPDATE
We've just gotten this confirmation from the inside:

It had to have been an early animatic from the Gungan ground battle. So early, in fact that it had very little detail to it. I don't know what else it could be. I don't recall there ever being a planned scene with "organic-looking 'altars' standing in the desert... and many nomadic humanoids in light robes". Something like that wouldn't fit into the story anywhere.

So as much as we want it to be a look inside the Tusken Raider's culture, it's probably just an early Gungan shot.

UPDATE

Ger-Bil Jinn tell us this:

I'm still surprised that you still list Shot 65 from the Trailer A description as a cut scene, since it's clearly in Trailer A in that exact order described by the famous Trailer A description. Those altars are the massive Battle Droid transports, which I can see how they can be mistaken as altars in back and white and under a lower quality. Those foreground humanoids are the Gungans getting ready to face the Battle Droids.

Swamp Saber

If you clicked on the picture to access this page, you noticed a shot of Qui-Gon Jinn holding a waterlogged saber of Obi-Wan Kenobi. This was removed from the film and was the sequence just before Qui-Gon introduces Jar Jar to the young Padawan. We'll update with actual third draft text of this scene soon. Here's an update we just received:

OBI-WAN
"Sorry, Master. The swamp fried my lightsaber."

He pulled out his weapon. The business end was blackened and burned. Qui-Gon took it from him and gave it a curios inspection.

QUI-GON
'You forgot to turn off the power again, didn't you Obi-Wan?'

OBI-WAN
'It appears so, Master.'

QUI-GON
'It won't take long to recharge, but it will take some time to clean up. I trust you have learned your lesson, my young Padawan.'

OBI-WAN
'Yes, Master.'"

It starts from the time Obi-Wan is running from the STAPs just after they landed on Naboo. I have always questioned why didn't Obi Wan just turn around to fend the droids off. Well, according to the novel, Obi Wan fell into a small swamp or lake that had shorted out the crystals of his ignited lightsaber causing him to run for his life. After Qui-Gon destroys the droids, Qui-Gon asks him why didn't he do just that and fend them off, Obi-Wan embarrassingly tells Qui-Gon that his saber has shorted out after falling into the swamp. Qui-Gon basically reprimands Obi-Wan for his inexperience as a young Jedi and he has to learn such things. This would explain why Obi Wan is looking very wet just before meeting Jar Jar. This scene has really no relevance yet it would have been interesting to see.

Thanks to lakshivrak and Sarah for the additional info.

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