ThinkGeek.com is a glorious shopping site you’ve probably heard of before. They offer fully-licensed merchandise from geeky franchise favories like Star Trek, Doctor Who, Marvel, Game of Thrones, and of course Star Wars. Once in a while they send me a few items to check out and review on the site and I’m happy to oblige. Today’s bundle includes four items.
George Lucas has stated in many interviews that the heart of the Star Wars saga revolves around the relationship between a father and a son. He might not have had those roles clearly defined at the onset or writing, as evident in the old drafts of the script, but he eventually got his characters there. The role of the son eventually went to young Luke Skywalker, who went on to embark on his “Hero’s Journey” throughout the original trilogy of films. He starts out as a young boy, is thrown into adventure with a wizard-like mentor, defies the odds, pulls off the unexpected, and becomes a hero. The path was not an easy one, however.
Looking back, not much good can be said about Cloud City. It may be beautiful, but it’s a city of betrayal, darkness, and loss. Luke almost lost more than a hand there. Leia and Chewie almost lost more than Han there. R2-D2 almost lost more than his counterpart there. Not a fun place to visit.
It may be a slimy mud hole to some, but to Yoda it was home. This swampy, hidden planet was where Yoda fled and where he later trained the son of a fallen Jedi. Some argue that Luke’s Jedi training was much too fast in the film. Initially, there were more trials for Luke to endure. Let’s take a look at some of the deleted moments from the planet Dagobah.
The history of the planet Utapau goes all the way back to George Lucas’ original drafts of the first Star Wars film, way back in the early 1970’s. Fans like myself were very pleased to see the planet finally make it into a film after all those years. It went through many phases of development but ended up as a green and swampy planet where some important events take place.
Much like Tatooine, Mustafar was a seemingly insignificant planet, yet would be the location of galaxy-defining events. Drenched in deep reds and molten imagery, it provided the rich and hell-like backdrop needed for Anakin’s final fall into darkness. Here are some of the deleted scenes that revolve around this crimson planet.
You have to hand it to Palpatine. Organizing his own capture and rescue to reinforce his cover as a phantom menace to the galaxy was a stroke of pure evil genius. Poor Dooku probably thought so too until he had two lightsabers criss-crossing his neckline. I’m not sure that even Palpatine foresaw what a troublesome rescue it would be, however. What we saw in the finished film was a trimmed down version. Let’s take a look at some of the deleted/altered bits from the opening space battle to the big crash landing.
After a distressing message from Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin and Padmé decide to depart Tatooine and aid their friend. Unfortunately, this results in the two of them getting captured, put on trial, found guilty, and tied to execution posts right along with Obi-Wan. Ultimately, it’s Jedi Master Yoda that does the real rescuing here. The scenes on this page deal with Anakin and Padmé’s failed rescue attempt along with some of the surrounding events involving C-3PO and R2-D2.
In Episode II, Anakin mentions “aggressive negotiations” while telling a story to Padmé. When she inquires what that means, he replies, “Negotiations…with a lightsaber.”Many such negotiations took place in the film and many shots ended up trimmed or deleted from the final cut. Let’s take a look at some of them.
Five minutes into Attack of the Clones, one thing is perfectly clear. Someone is trying to kill Senator Amidala. Two major attempts to assassinate her are made early in the film. The second takes place in her Coruscant bedroom. The ensuing chase leads the Senator’s Jedi protectors through various areas of Coruscant, eventually ending up in an alley outside of a nightclub . Let’s take a look at some of the deleted/altered scenes involving this second attack and the events that follow.
Let’s face it. You can say what you want about The Phantom Menace, but you have to admit that Darth Maul was pure Sith genius. The only complaint that I’ve ever heard about him was that he just wasn’t in the film enough. Not to pour salt on the wounds, but he did have a few more scenes in the film that were eventually dropped. Sorry, Maul fans! Let’s take a look.
In the first few scenes of the film, Jedi ambassadors Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi arrive on a Federation ship for negotiations, but are instead attacked and need to flee the ship. Their transport has been destroyed, so they stow-away on some Federation landing ships and end up on the surface of Naboo. The Jedi need to regroup and hatch a plan. Qui-Gon finds an unlikely ally, while Obi-Wan crawls out of a swamp to try and find with his master. Here are a few things that didn’t make the final cut of the film.
New Hyperdrive? Check. Free slave who will grow up to be a Sith? Check. Step in icky icky goo? Check. Time to get off this dustbowl of a planet, but not without taking a few moments to say goodbye and clean up some loose ends. This page deals with departing that lovely yellow-orange planet we know and love: Tatooine.
