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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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