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DVD Extras and Deleted Scenes
Nov. 2nd, 2005 08:44 pmFirst, go check out this month's edition of http://www.sagajournal.com!
Despite a lengthy YM chat session last night, I squeezed in time to watch one of the featurettes about ROTS's stunts and all of the deleted scenes with intros. I also tried to access the Easter Egg by clicking on the THX icon and entering 1-1-3-8 to no avail. Grrr! 1-1-3-8 works on all of my other SW DVDs though you have to spend several frustrating moments to get it to do so.
"It's All For Real" was pretty good. Nick Gillard is a genius when it comes to this sort of thing; all the more a pity the snooty Oscars refuses to honor stunt coordinators. It was interesting to see that Hayden was the only actor who participated in test shots with the stunt guys to figure out how they're going to coordinate things. He keeps finding new and better ways to increase my respect for him. He needs to stop ;). Gillard insisted Samuel L. Jackson not wear a harness when flying out the "window", so Jackson spent an afternoon falling again and again into mats. Must be nice to get paid to do that! Another interesting tidbit was seeing how the fight between Sidious and Mace was changed because Lucas wanted more of Ian McDiarmid in the scene rather than a stunt dude. Needless to say girls, there's a lot of hot, sweaty action with Hayden and Ewan.
Ahh, now for the Deleted Scenes! Unlike 99% of fandom, I don't think every minute of SW ever filmed must be crammed into the movies. Of all of the deleted scenes I've seen from these films, including the Luke and Biggs gabfest on the Behind the Magic CD-ROM (remember that?), there are only a couple with a fair argument for being included, and those are the scenes at the Naberrie house from AOTC. In fact, I’m willing to bet some of that sequence will be in a future cut of the film, particularly since it makes Padme's story that much more poignant. Having watched all 6 deleted scenes along with Lucas's and the Ricker's intros, I have to say they were all justified in being cut. Not because they were bad. It's because the current cut of ROTS is darn near perfect as it is. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything because those deleted scenes weren't there.
The sequence with Grievous, Shaak-Ti, and wet Jedi had some good moments and some funny lines, not to mention wet Jedi, but was it necessary to the movie? Nah. The baseball signals were kind of humorous but they were so obvious, any halfwit could tell Obi and Anakin were up to something ;). The Jedi kaffeesklatsch with Yoda, Mace, and Obi-Wan had lines that were used in other scenes in the film and the scene was kept in the novel. The final edit of the film makes it clear none of them trusted Palpie, so again, it wasn't a big loss to cut this scene out. The sequence with Yoda landing on Dagobah was something McCallum did not want cut from the film and he still hopes it will be included in a future edition. (*Laughs at fanboys who call him a yesman.*) It looks great and like the scene where Yoda leaves Kashyyyk, it has an E.T. vibe to it. Yoda appears forlorn as he surveys his new retirement home. He's probably thinking, "Slimy mudhole this is." Heh heh. But I agree with Papa George…the end sequence had to focus on the Skywalkers, first the darker fates of Padme and Anakin, then the hope of Leia and Luke. It's perfection the way it is. The only way you can possibly squeeze in that Yoda scene is if you fit it in between the conference on the Tantive IV and the Tantive arriving on Naboo. Otherwise it breaks up the flow of the edit. For now, I'll consider it an appendix or a footnote to the film.
Now for the so-called Rebellion scenes. It's quite clear that Lucas figured out early on the film's focus had to be on the fall of the good guys and the rise of the bad guys, with the emphasis on Anakin's fall. According the Making of ROTS book, those scenes were cut in November 2003. So the Rebellion story thread was obviously never well-developed…why would they keep all hush-hush over opposing Palpie, then march on over to his office with a petition? Again, some of this survives in the novel but Lucas makes it clear in his intro that Padme wanted to trust Anakin with this info, not Obi-Wan. So there! I don't think these scenes would have added much to Padme's side of things and there wasn't any need in the end to show this kind of tension between her and Anakin. Some of it survives in the movie but the feeling of betrayal on Mustafar was more than adequate to spark Anakin's anger; it didn't need to be something brewing between them throughout the film. In fact, the way it happens in the final edit of the film makes a lot more sense. Anakin's sudden emotions are much more potent than slow-burning mistrust and resentment. And thank God there's no hint of Anakin believing there's monkey business between Padmé and Obi-Wan. Genevieve O'Reilly hit Mon Mothma perfectly and Padmé's peacock dress is awesome, but I think that the rise of the Rebellion is better suited for the upcoming t.v. show than for this movie.
Despite a lengthy YM chat session last night, I squeezed in time to watch one of the featurettes about ROTS's stunts and all of the deleted scenes with intros. I also tried to access the Easter Egg by clicking on the THX icon and entering 1-1-3-8 to no avail. Grrr! 1-1-3-8 works on all of my other SW DVDs though you have to spend several frustrating moments to get it to do so.
"It's All For Real" was pretty good. Nick Gillard is a genius when it comes to this sort of thing; all the more a pity the snooty Oscars refuses to honor stunt coordinators. It was interesting to see that Hayden was the only actor who participated in test shots with the stunt guys to figure out how they're going to coordinate things. He keeps finding new and better ways to increase my respect for him. He needs to stop ;). Gillard insisted Samuel L. Jackson not wear a harness when flying out the "window", so Jackson spent an afternoon falling again and again into mats. Must be nice to get paid to do that! Another interesting tidbit was seeing how the fight between Sidious and Mace was changed because Lucas wanted more of Ian McDiarmid in the scene rather than a stunt dude. Needless to say girls, there's a lot of hot, sweaty action with Hayden and Ewan.
Ahh, now for the Deleted Scenes! Unlike 99% of fandom, I don't think every minute of SW ever filmed must be crammed into the movies. Of all of the deleted scenes I've seen from these films, including the Luke and Biggs gabfest on the Behind the Magic CD-ROM (remember that?), there are only a couple with a fair argument for being included, and those are the scenes at the Naberrie house from AOTC. In fact, I’m willing to bet some of that sequence will be in a future cut of the film, particularly since it makes Padme's story that much more poignant. Having watched all 6 deleted scenes along with Lucas's and the Ricker's intros, I have to say they were all justified in being cut. Not because they were bad. It's because the current cut of ROTS is darn near perfect as it is. I didn't feel like I missed out on anything because those deleted scenes weren't there.
The sequence with Grievous, Shaak-Ti, and wet Jedi had some good moments and some funny lines, not to mention wet Jedi, but was it necessary to the movie? Nah. The baseball signals were kind of humorous but they were so obvious, any halfwit could tell Obi and Anakin were up to something ;). The Jedi kaffeesklatsch with Yoda, Mace, and Obi-Wan had lines that were used in other scenes in the film and the scene was kept in the novel. The final edit of the film makes it clear none of them trusted Palpie, so again, it wasn't a big loss to cut this scene out. The sequence with Yoda landing on Dagobah was something McCallum did not want cut from the film and he still hopes it will be included in a future edition. (*Laughs at fanboys who call him a yesman.*) It looks great and like the scene where Yoda leaves Kashyyyk, it has an E.T. vibe to it. Yoda appears forlorn as he surveys his new retirement home. He's probably thinking, "Slimy mudhole this is." Heh heh. But I agree with Papa George…the end sequence had to focus on the Skywalkers, first the darker fates of Padme and Anakin, then the hope of Leia and Luke. It's perfection the way it is. The only way you can possibly squeeze in that Yoda scene is if you fit it in between the conference on the Tantive IV and the Tantive arriving on Naboo. Otherwise it breaks up the flow of the edit. For now, I'll consider it an appendix or a footnote to the film.
Now for the so-called Rebellion scenes. It's quite clear that Lucas figured out early on the film's focus had to be on the fall of the good guys and the rise of the bad guys, with the emphasis on Anakin's fall. According the Making of ROTS book, those scenes were cut in November 2003. So the Rebellion story thread was obviously never well-developed…why would they keep all hush-hush over opposing Palpie, then march on over to his office with a petition? Again, some of this survives in the novel but Lucas makes it clear in his intro that Padme wanted to trust Anakin with this info, not Obi-Wan. So there! I don't think these scenes would have added much to Padme's side of things and there wasn't any need in the end to show this kind of tension between her and Anakin. Some of it survives in the movie but the feeling of betrayal on Mustafar was more than adequate to spark Anakin's anger; it didn't need to be something brewing between them throughout the film. In fact, the way it happens in the final edit of the film makes a lot more sense. Anakin's sudden emotions are much more potent than slow-burning mistrust and resentment. And thank God there's no hint of Anakin believing there's monkey business between Padmé and Obi-Wan. Genevieve O'Reilly hit Mon Mothma perfectly and Padmé's peacock dress is awesome, but I think that the rise of the Rebellion is better suited for the upcoming t.v. show than for this movie.
