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[From Ryan Silva's Compendium of Lost Footage]

There is a Star Wars trilogy out there that you don't know of,no not the prequels but the many cut scenes and narratives which footage is locked away deep in the top secret vaults of LucasFilm. This page will act as the most comprehensive source of cut scene information outside Lucasfilm, covering lost and cut footage from all three of the Star Wars movies. Most of the sources of the following information is from the Star Wars Compendium of Lost Footage By Ryan Silva, you can download this for future reference (below)

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DOWNLOAD early drafts of each film to read lost scene dialogue..

One of the most widely known cut scenes is of Luke Skywalker and Biggs Darklighter on Tatooine. Luke is fixing a moisture vaporator with a droid, Treadwell, and sees the Star Destroyer attacking the Blockade Runner through his macrobinoculars. He goes to Anchohead to get Fixer and Camie to come see the battle, and finds Biggs there. I believe Fixer and Camie refer to Luke by the nickname "Wormie." The group move outside, but the battle is over. The scene cuts to where the two droids split up to search for settlements. Later, Biggs returns with Luke to the Vaporator where they talk some more. Biggs reveals that he is going to jump ship and join the rebellion. Luke runs into Biggs again before the Death Star battle, and more conversation was cut there. Here is a Quicktime Movie of A 'Biggs' Scene.

To explain why those scenes were cut, Lucas never intended to have those scenes. However, he was still a relatively new producer, and several people he trusted didn't like the fact that the main character, Luke, was not seen until 20 minutes into the movie. Lucas came up with the Biggs scenes to correct that. However, when he had the film done, it was over two hours, and Lucas wanted it under two hours. So he went back to the editing room, cut the Biggs scenes, and the movie was now under two hours. There was also some Biggs footage cut from the end, before the X-Wings take off to attack the Death Star. Biggs tells Red Leader that "Luke is the best bush pilot in the outer rim territories." Red Leader replies "I met your father once when I was just a boy, he was a great pilot. You'll do all right. If you've got half of your father's skill, you'll do better than all right." You can see this scene in the Making of Star Wars video and Some of this scene appeared in A NEW HOPE Special Edition

For a still, I have no real information on the next photo, but it speaks for itself. The second is a Stormtrooper on a Dewback from the Star Wars Storybook,again this idea was used in the Tatooine additions for STAR WARS: A new Hope special edition.

Here is a sound recording of the original scene with the Irish man who stood in as Jabba. ...And here is a quicktime movie of the scene.

Another widely known cut scene is of Han Solo meeting Jabba outside the Falcon in Docking Bay 94. As you should well know, Lucasfilm sucessfully restored,tweaked and inserted this scene in Star Wars Special Edition Which, the after effect can been seen on the right picture below. Originally, Lucas used an Irish, obese man in a fur costume to stand in as Jabba(see below left picture), saying his lines and doing his actions. Lucas wanted to use stop motion techniques to insert a Jabba over this actor, however due to time and money limitations Lucas called this off, removed the scene as he wasn't even sure that he would get the chance to produce episodes 5 and 6 (Empire & Jedi) and so inserting Jabba would not be necessary at this point of time. However Lucas DID make The Empire Strikes Back and the Return Of The Jedi and so it had always 'bugged' him that the scene never made it to the final cut, which is why it is back in the special editions and a CGI Jabba has been inserted.

The Empire Strikes Back possibly lost the most footage. There was a large subplot involving Wampas that was cut. The trailers for ESB showed C-3P0 taking a sign down from a wall - this was part of the cut Wampa subplot. (note - Much of this is quoted from Sci-Fi Universe #1.) The first indication that the wampa's are a threat to the rebel base on Hoth is when Solo comes across a Medical Droid and several rebels looking at a dead tauntaun. As the medical droid explains in nauseating detail how the creature was killed, Han asks impatiently, "What killed it?" One of the rebel officers answers, "Neck broken," at which point Han learns that Luke has not returned to base. (note that this still is from a trading card. It appears to be the medical droid looking at the tauntaun, but may be a publicity shot.) The picture on the right is a shot of the filming of that scene.

After Luke is found by Han and placed in the bacta tank, Luke mumbles, "Watch out...snow creatures...dangerous...Yoda...go to Yoda...only hope," prompting Han to Han comment that "the kid ran into something mean, and it wasn't the cold." Leia speculates that it may be one of the creatures, and that they'd better find out what attacked Luke. Han adds, "If this snowballs got nasty natives, they could be anywhere." The comics showed Luke with a Bacta mask of some sort; here is the comic panels and a photo of the fliming of Luke and the mask.

And indeed Hoth does have nasty neighbors, as R2D2 soon learns when he comes face-to-face with one of the snow creatures in a corridor. (note that this still is from a trading card. I think it is R2 in the corridor mentioned above, but it may be a publicity shot.)

From Ryan Silva's Star Wars Compendium of Lost Footage:
The drip, drip, drip of melting ice echoes throughout the long eerie corridor. A trooper walks by, followed at a short distance by Artoo, who rolls along whistling to himself. Behind him a Wampa Ice Monster suddenly appears from out of the wall and begins following the little droid. Up ahead Artoo sees several troopers begin to act rather strangely, pointing at him and yelling. This puzzles Artoo, and he stops for a moment to figure it out. Far in the distance, alarms begin to go off. Artoo comes to a conclusion, spins his head around and sees the Ice Monster staring down at him. The droid lets out a screech and races down the hall at full tilt ahead of the advancing monster.

A small troop of soldiers has gathered at the end of the hallway with weapons. Artoo races through the armed gathering as the creature screams and charges the troopers, laser bolts exploding around him. Artoo peeks from around a corner in time to see several troopers hurled against the walls like rag dolls. Two soldiers fire a laser bazooka at the monster and it is obscured by an enormous explosion.


The smoke clears. The silence is spooky. The Ice Monster stands seemingly dumbstruck. Artoo gives a short, worried beep. The creature topples over in a dead heap. A cheer goes up from Artoo and the troopers as they converge to inspect the fallen creature. A young CORPORAL pulls his com-link off his belt and speaks into it.

CORPORAL
We got it, sir, but there may be more.

young CORPORAL pulls his com-link off his belt and speaks into it. Later we learn that the snow creatures have been trapped in an area of the base utilizing a high frequency whistle, a tactic which
C-3P0 takes credit for.

After Luke is found and returned, and the face mask is taken off him, he and Leia talk a bit. They share a more passionate kiss than seen in the movie, and then Han, Chewie, and the droids arrive. You can see a bit of this in some ESB trailers. Here is a quicktime movie of a bit of it.

When the Imperial AT-AT blows up the power generators, Hobbie's snowspeeder shoots through the explosion and rams the AT-AT's head.


After the Imperial forces overtake the base, C-3P0 removes a warning sign from the area in which the creatures have been captured, and as a result, when the Stormtroopers enter, they are torn apart by the Wampas. Later, Vader passes by the doorway and comments, "Rebel troops?" to which a Stormtrooper responds. "I don't think so, sir."

Quicktime movie of C-3P0 tearing the sign down.

Additionally, several of the talkier Dagobah scenes were truncated - including those involving Luke's training under Yoda. For example, one of the many scenes of Yoda training Luke was of Yoda throwing a stick behind Luke. Luke parts the stick with his Lightsaber into several (maybe 4?) parts. Yoda says "If you were a real Jedi 8 Pieces would be there."

A lot of dialog was cut from Luke and Vader's fight on Bespin. For example, Luke: "I will not become a slave to the Dark Side of the Force." Furthermore, some fights were cut - in some ESB previews you can see a bit of fighting that was not in the final movie.

When Vader tells Luke he's his father, Luke jumps off the platform. The Children's Storybook and the ESB Storybook make reference to Vader then showing Luke the power of the Dark Side - he holds out his hand and a great wind catches Luke and lifts him back up the shaft. Vader gestures again, and the wind ceases, and Luke falls again. You can see a bit of this in the ESB trailers - there seems to be a shot of Vader lifting Luke up, and then dropping him again - but it is a close up of Vader gesturing, so it could be another shot altogether - but it looks like two shots from this scene...

A lot of the Leia/Solo relationship was downplayed in the final cut. There was a lot more interaction between the two in the original filming.
Another example quote:

HAN: Spare me please! Don't tell me about the Rebellion again. It's all you think about. You're as cold as this planet.

LEIA: And you think you're the one to apply some heat?

HAN: Sure...if I were interested. But I don't think it'd be much fun.

The scripted version of Han's farewell to Leia was different as well. Leia says to Han before he is frozen in Carbonite "I love you. I couldn't tell you before, but it's true." to which Solo responds, "Just remember that, 'cause I'll be back." Harrison Ford came up with the line used - "I know." to Leia's plaintive cry of "I love you."

From the Lost Scenes Compendium comes this bit:
In the ESB trailers, there is an additional shot or two of Lando looking around as he moves UP the falcon's airlock to get Luke. (Basically, this implies that there is an additional area that is filled with white light just prior to the outside hatch opening. In this sequence (starting with the added footage,) The inside airlock opens up to a very bright room that Lan starts to look around in. (FYI, in case I am loosing you, this is the rou elevator that he rides through to get to the top of the falcon.) Anyway, then you get a shot (as seen in the film) of Lando's head appearing out of hole in the top of the falcon. His head is surrounded with light coming fom below... This implies that the bright room was sort of a decontamination sequence (guess) before exiting the falcon.

Not as much was cut from ROTJ. The earliest scene cut was of Vader contacting Luke telepathically from the new Death Star, as he did at the end of Empire. Luke was in Obi-Wan Kenobi's hut, building a new Lightsaber - the one he put into R2-D2. After Luke breaks contact, he sends the droids off to Jabba.

In the Rancor pit, Luke uses the Force to jump up and grab the grating. Members of Jabba's court step on his hands and he falls back into the pit.

While Jabba's sail barge is en route to the Sarlac pit, C3-PO acts as translator for Ree-Yees and Yak Face, two of the creatures from Jabba's palace. The two are arguing, as the argument heats up they begin exchanging insults. Salicious Crumb is sitting beside Yak Face and repeating everything Yak Face is saying to Ree-Yees. Ree-Yees becomes infuriated and punches Yak Face in the snout at which point 3PO sneaks away.

This scene can be found in Chapter 2 pages 39-40 of the Return Of The Jedi novel. In the novel Ree-Yees is arguing with a different alien, not Yak Face. A color still from this scene can be found on the second page of photos in the Return Of The Jedi novel (1st printing). The still can also be found in the booklet that was included with the original Polygram soundtrack for Return Of The Jedi (record and CD only, not the tape.

A major scene dropped was the Dune Sea rendezvous, after the destruction of Jabba's Sail Barge. It occurs during a violent sandstorm, for which Fuller's earth was blown by fans to simulate the harsh desert conditions but poor cinematography meant the scene was deleted. An alternate explanation for the cut was that sand gummed up the cameras. I was never sure what "poor cinematography" meant.

A quote from it:

DOWNLOAD a movie of the sandstorm scene.

The dialog established that Luke would be returning to Dagobah while Han, Chewbacca, Lando and Leia would regroup with the fleet. Before boarding the Falcon, Solo thanks Luke for rescuing him -

Han also thanks Lando, to which Lando replies, "Figured if I left you frozen like that you'd just give me bad luck the rest of my life, so I might as well get you unfrozen sooner or later.: which prompts Leia to add, "He means 'You're Welcome.'"

Since that was cut, a new scene of Luke in his X-Wing was shot to explain that Luke was returning to Dagobah.

A whole lot of dialog was cut from Obi-Wan Kenobi's discussion with Luke when Obi-Wan told Luke t hat Leia was his sister. The quote I have is quite unwieldy, but very interesting - "When your father left, he didn't know your mother was pregnant", Obi-Wan tells Luke. "Your mother and I knew he would find out eventually, but we wanted to keep you both as safe as possible, for as long as possible. So I took you to live with my brother Owen on Tatooine... and your mother took Leia to live as the daughter of Senator Organa, on Alderaan. The Organa household was high-born and politically quite powerful in that system. Leia became a princess by virtue of lineage...no one knew she had been adopted, of course. But it was a title without real power, since Alderaan had long been a democracy. Even so, the family continued to be politically powerful, and Leia, following in her foster father's path, became a senator as well. That's not all she became, of course...she became a leader of her cell in the Alliance against the corrupt empire. And because she had diplomatic immunity, she was a vital link for getting information to the rebel cause. That's what s he was doing when when her path crossed yours...for her foster parents had always told her to contact me on Tatooine, if her troubles became desparate." -Sci-Fi Universe #1, p55

Download a early draft of ROTJ for the cut scene.

Vader chokes two of the Emperor's Guards when they try to deny him entrance to the Emperor's throne room. This scene was dropped largely because it was felt that the Vader choking gag had grown tired after ESB. According to the Lost Scenes Compendium, "Vader attacks them much more ferociously than his previous efforts."

Here's a few neat tidbit from the Star Wars Compendium of Lost Scenes:
In ROTJ, when everyone is brought to the Ewok village, R2-D2 is untied throughout the sequence where Luke is convincing 3PO to tell the Ewoks to release everyone. If you look at the letterboxed transfers you will see that while 3PO is floating above the Ewoks, R2D2 is untied and spinning his head in various shots. THEN he is cut free by Pabloo with everyone else...

Actually, this isn't an actual blooper, but rather a juxtaposition of footage to cover the removal of a scene. Originally 3PO is able to get R2 untied immediately upon arrival at the village. So, since the scene was cut, thejust placed the R2 release scene with everyone elses release.

Next, remember what happened to the last scout trooper (biker scout) guarding the entrance to the shield generator? He was captured by a group of Rebel commandos. Look closely at the commando with the beard. Remember his face. First look in the background when the group moves into the secret passage into the shield generator. You can see the commando starting to get undressed (taking his helmet off, actually.) Now fast forward to when Han and the group walk outside and see all of the Imperial troops surrounding them. Now look to the left side of the screen. You will see, under guard, the bearded commando in scout trooper outfit with the face shield up.

Also commonly known is that Lando Calrissian was originally supposed to die in the Death Star explosion. Lucas changed the ending to make the film more upbeat, Download a early draft of ROTJ for the cut scene for Lando's death. There is a clue to this cut scene left in the final cut - before Solo leaves for Endor, he looks at the Falcon and says "I have a funny feeling I'm never going to see her again." This was never filmed, though, it is just a neat sidebar. In SW Galaxy #4, Billy Dee Williams, when asked about this, responded that he didn't even know about it - so it must have been cut before he ever got a script. There was supposedly a third ending idea as well, in which Han and Leia got married. Again, it was never filmed, or even scripted as far as I know.

So where can YOU see any of this footage? Well, it has not been released in any form so you can't really see much. You can see tidbits here and there - you can see quick glimpses of some it in trailers for the movies, if you can get the Laserdisc versions or the Star Wars Compendium (a videotape, no relation to Ryan Silva's Compendium), which appears to have the Laserdisc stuff copied onto videotape. Some of the 'Making of..." specials have bits of cut footage in them. Finally, check out the the Star Wars Compendium of Lost Footage by Ryan Silva for places that you can see remains of these cut scenes in the released movies.