10 Unused Star Wars Scenes That Would Have Changed Everything

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00:00Each lightsaber stroke and screaming tie fly by, every line of dialogue and swell of John

00:05Williams' score is etched into the minds of generations of devoted Star Wars fans.

00:10However, the Star Wars the world knows today could so easily have been very, very different

00:15as it goes. In fact, in some places, George Lucas' initial treatments for the series

00:20showed little relation to what ended up on screen down the road.

00:23So I am Gareth from What Culture Star Wars, and here are 10 unused Star Wars scenes that

00:28would have changed everything.

00:31Number 10, Director Krennic's Alternative Demise

00:33Orson Krennic is one of the finest villains the whole Star Wars series has to offer, an

00:39odious rear echelon bureaucrat who serves as Rogue One's antagonist. His end is a fitting

00:44one too, when his is obliterated along with a sizable chunk of the planet Scarif in a

00:49Death Star test-firing-slash-scorched-Earth operation authorized by Grand Moff Tarkin.

00:54But that wasn't the original fate the filmmakers had in mind for Director Krennic.

00:58In an unused scene, Krennic escaped the surface of Scarif and returned to the Death Star only

01:03to encounter Darth Vader, who promptly throttled him with the power of the Force for failing

01:08so spectacularly to defend the secrets of the Empire's superweapon. In the end, it was

01:13decided Krennic's escape from the fiery apocalypse on Scarif was a bit unlikely, and robbed him

01:18of the ironic death via the lasery Armageddon of the weapon he'd oversaw, but then sadly

01:23it also robbed the audience of another iconic Vader moment.

01:26Number 9. The Empire Strikes Back's Whomper Attack

01:29The Battle of Hoth is one of the finest set pieces you'll find in the entire series, with

01:34its frantic surface battle and panicky claustrophobic scenes below ground as the rebels evacuate

01:40the icy tunnel system. The first iterations of the sequence, however, added a whole subplot

01:44about a pack of Whompers held captive by the rebels. During the build-up to the battle,

01:49they are seen stalking the rebel soldiers, and C-3PO cheekily removes a warning sign so

01:53the Imperial troopers blunder into the Whomper's holding pen. An Imperial snowtrooper walks obliviously

01:59into the room and is then hilariously devoured off-screen to the bemusement of all, including

02:04a certain Darth Vader. The scenes were justifiably cut for pacing, because they messed with the

02:09urgency of the Imperial attack. The Whomper design in general is also arguably one of Star

02:13Wars' least inspiring, being nothing more than a big angry yeti, and the costumes were

02:18particularly ridiculous. With the scenes included, Hoth would have been a far less successful

02:23sequence, and the Whompers would have likely attained further notoriety in some corners as

02:27one of the original trilogy's worst ideas.

02:31Number 8. Grand Moff Jagerard vs. Darth Vader Return of the Jedi features the character

02:36Grand Moff Jagerard, the hapless Death Star commander whose primary purpose is to be utterly

02:41terrified by the knowledge the Emperor is coming to the battle station to cast a jaundiced evil

02:46eye over his progress. The original cuts of the movie featured an expanded role for Jagerard,

02:52including the Emperor ordering him to blow up Endor when the Death Star 2's shields go

02:55down. The most significant loss, however, was a scene where he encounters Darth Vader for

03:00a second time. Evidently having grown a bit of a spine since the opening scene, Jagerard refuses

03:05Darth Vader leave to enter the Emperor's throne room. Vader responds with his customary

03:09force choke, almost killing Jagerard until he explains the Emperor himself gave the order.

03:15The scene completely alters the power dynamic of the Empire. Darth Vader is a commanding,

03:19unquestioned force in Return of the Jedi, answering only to the Emperor. Jagerard's obstruction

03:24of Vader suggests the Imperial officers are on par with Vader, a situation much more in

03:29keeping with what we saw of the Death Star's commanders in A New Hope.

03:34Number 7. Senator Amidala argues against the Clone Army

03:37Senator Amidala and the various assassination attempts against her kick off the plot of Attack

03:42of the Clones. The reasons for wanting to kill her are made a lot clearer in a deleted scene,

03:47however, where she argues in the Senate against the proposal for a Grand Army of the Republic.

03:51Later revealed to be the Clone Army of the title, Amidala rails against the use of violence

03:56against the Separatist movement instead of diplomacy, and argues in favor of democracy

04:00and freedom. The scene was probably again cut for facing reasons and because there was too much

04:05political nonsense in the prequels anyway, but it does help confirm just what is going on during

04:10the over-complicated sequence of events surrounding Palpatine's rise to power. It also emphasizes the

04:15issue of why nobody honestly suspected Palpatine as the origin of the assassination attempts,

04:20since the scene confirms Amidala as a vocal opponent of Palpatine's policies.

04:24Number 6. The Force Awakens Stormtrooper Encounter

04:28A rather charming sequence cut from the Battle of Maz's Castle in The Force Awakens was presumably

04:33once more snipped for pacing reasons, which is a bit of a shame because it would have come equipped

04:38with everyone's favorite smuggler back to his quick-thinking best. Han, Finn, and Maz are

04:42confronted by dastardly stormtroopers in the basements of Maz's castle, and Han, in classic

04:47lovable rogue form, tries to talk his way out of it. He even refers to Finn's stormtrooper boots,

04:52filling in a missing plot point about how Han was able to guess Finn's ex-stormtrooper origins.

04:57We see both Han's winning princess-stealing smirk and his equally adorable flummoxness when

05:02things inevitably go wrong. Sadly, it all ended on the digital cutting room floor, though,

05:06so we're left to merely imagine how the veteran space dog Han had kept up with his fast-talking

05:11ways of old.

05:12Number 5. Toshi Station

05:14Remember when Luke whinged about going to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters?

05:19The station was the setting for a scene that kicked off an entire deleted subplot in A

05:23New Hope.

05:24Luke encounters his friend Biggs Darklighter, who is joining the same Imperial Flight Academy

05:29Luke envisages as his way off the dusty nowhere of Tatooine. Luke then confides in Biggs that

05:34he intends to jump ship and join the rebellion. Not only does this set up a link between Luke

05:38and Biggs later on, but it also helps explain one of A New Hope's most baffling gaps, how

05:43a teenage farm boy became a fighter pilot with apparently zero training.

05:47Biggs emphasizes here how Luke is the best bush pilot around, confirming the vague hints

05:53of Luke's flying skills in the film's final cut. The fact the scene is just two guys talking

05:57for a couple of minutes explains why it was cut out of an already sometimes sedate first

06:01portion of A New Hope, but it does help fill in some notable blanks all the same.

06:06Number 4. The Reunion

06:07The second slice of the Biggs subplot sees Luke encountering his old friend at Yavin 4,

06:13prior to the big showdown against the Death Star. It's a short scene that nevertheless confirms Biggs

06:17joined the Rebel Alliance as he promised, and explains why he's given a featured part in the

06:22final trench run assault. Perhaps most crucially, another pilot interrupts the boy's loving to say

06:28he fought with Luke's father, who was a great man. Of course, this little nugget would have thrown a

06:33massive spanner in the works of the whole, no, I am your father thing in one movie's time,

06:37and suggests strongly that Luke and Vader's familial connection wasn't actually on George

06:42Lucas' radar when he was crafting A New Hope. As minor as this scene is, it really could have

06:47changed everything, by potentially forcing the filmmakers to come up with a new twist for the

06:51final throwdown at Bespin, and changing the entire course of the movie series, Vader's character,

06:56and Luke's destiny.

06:58Number 3. Revenge of the Sith's Elevator Sequence

07:01Revenge of the Sith has its share of cheesy, peculiar, and illogical moments,

07:05but it would have had a hell of a lot more if this bonkers sequence had been included.

07:10The scenes in question focus on Anakin and Obi-Wan fighting, bumbling, and wisecracking

07:14their way through General Grievous' ship, and an eventual confrontation with the four-armed

07:18asthmatic cyborg. Firstly, there's the all-round absurdity which sees the two Jedi demonstrate an

07:23ability to perfectly mimic R2-D2's blooping, beeping machine speak, a skill that makes no sense and

07:29has never been referred to before. Also, on top of some more comedy mugging where they ultimately get

07:34cornered by an elevator full of battle droids, the duo witness Grievous executing Shark-T,

07:39a Jedi we've barely seen before and have no reason to care about. The two then escape that

07:44Grievous encounter after the sequence is Nadir, involving a bout of mustache-twiddling, sign

07:48language, to coordinate them running through the deck and fleeing. It's the absolute worst of the

07:53prequel's non-comedy and makes the pair look like sophomoric idiots.

07:572. The Rebellion Is Founded

08:00The prequel series boasts an awful lot of politics, but you knew that already, and if the original

08:05plotline had been followed, it would have included a whole mess more, yay! A whole subplot was cut

08:11out involving Senator Amidala, Bail Organa, and a young Mon Mothma concocting an opposition

08:16to Palpatine's increasingly oppressive policies. It's understandable why the scenes themselves

08:21ended up in the bin. They consist of characters sitting around talking for a bit, while Amidala

08:25exhibits increasingly outlandish hairstyles. Their absence, however, leaves out an important

08:30piece of Star Wars history never addressed openly, the foundation of the Rebellion that

08:34emerged to oppose Palpatine's new empire. The scenes imply that Mon Mothma, Bail Organa,

08:39and the other assaulted figures founded the Rebellion, turning their political conspiracy

08:43into a military insurgency. If the cutscenes have been a whole lot more, you know, interesting,

08:48that element of Star Wars might have survived intact, too.

08:52Number 1. The Opening to Return of the Jedi

08:55After its opening scene of Vader arriving at the Death Star 2, Return of the Jedi kicks

09:00off with R2-D2 and C-3PO trundling and waddling, respectively, towards the gates of Jabba's

09:05palace on Tatooine. They proceed to bumble their way towards an audience with the malevolent

09:10mafia slug. In the original cuts of the movie, though, this sequence was preceded by shots of

09:14Luke Skywalker preparing for his mission to rescue Han and Chewie by building a new lightsaber

09:19to replace the one he lost at Bespin, along with the hand holding it. As he broods in

09:24a cave near the palace, Darth Vader tries to contact him with the Force and convince him

09:28to join in overthrowing the Emperor. The scene would have helped explain what Luke's been

09:32up to since Bespin and shown him in an even darker mode, hooded and grim. It also reiterates

09:38Vader's motivation to make Luke into his apprentice, hinted at during his previous confrontation

09:43with Luke. The scene was fully filmed, but was still left out of the final cut, though.

09:47And that's our list of any other unused Star Wars scenes that would have changed everything.

09:52Let us know all about them in the comments section right down below, and do not forget

09:55to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you're at it. I've been Gareth

09:58from WhatCultureStarWars, may the Force be with you as always, thanks a lot for watching

10:01this video today, and hopefully I'll see you very very soon. Bye bye!

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