The Worst Deleted Scene in Star Wars History
Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 6:24 am
No matter how good a writer you are there are always going to be scenes that are left on the cutting room floor. Most of the time there's a reason these scenes are deleted, be it pacing, it was unneeded because another scene did something similar and was better or because not having the scene added to the story somehow 9 times out of 10 this scene being removed was a good thing.
Then sometimes you get a scenes that were MUCH better then what we got in the film proper and really should have stayed in the film instead of what we got. A good example of this is the scenes from Attack of the Clones with Padme's family and her childhood home. While you could argue that moments like their first kiss and the scene where Padme told Anakin that they could never be together are important to their romantic arc even with the awkward and terribly corny dialogue.
However, the meadow scene and the dinner scene were most certainly NOT needed and really should have been cut from the film altogether with the deleted scenes with her family remaining as they are, lets be honest, MUCH better then the meadow scene.
While the scene with her family doesn't add much in terms of plot or character it's still better then what we got. By contrast the other deleted scenes in the Prequels I get why they were cut and we didn't really lose much by their exclusion. Same thing goes from the Original Trilogy and the Disney Sequel Trilogy... Except for one notable exception The Last Jedi where most of the deleted scenes REALLY should have stayed in the movie instead of what we actually got like Finn's original confrontation with Phasma, the Elevator scene with Finn and the Storm Troopers, Luke and Leia showing them actually moaning Han's loss and most damning of all, The Lie.
If you saw the movie or had to spend time analyzing it for a review (hi) you might have noticed that despite Luke saying he will teach Rey three lessons we only see him teaching her two and while Rey isn't exactly thrilled about Luke's "Lessons" she's not overly annoyed at him either and nothing suggests that she's getting angry with him enough to outright attack him to defend the honor of a mass murderer. That's because the third lesson which, is a scene that for me again highlights that Rian Johnson didn't really understand Star Wars.
The scene in question Luke has Rey telling Rey to not go and stop a village from being raided and that she should just let the raiders raid the place because (deep, beleaguered sigh) that's what a Jedi would do... I hate this argument for the same reason I hated the same argument in The Legend of Korra Season 2 where Unalaq tells Korra that she should not interfere with his dictatorial rule because the Avatar is suppose to remain neutral in conflict, it's a contrived conflict that goes against what we've seen in the series itself.
The Avatar and Jedi are PEACE KEEPERS, they don't set out to cause problems they work to resolve them. Sometimes that can be done without ever hurting anyone and sometimes that requires them to pick a side and take on those who are using their power to hurt those weaker than them. In Star Wars the first anyone ever even heard of a Jedi it was someone asking them to get involved in a galatic war and the Jedi in question decided to get involved without any hesitation. And if you go by the movies in chronological order the first time we see a Jedi they're ALREADY getting involved in a conflict and stay involved until the conflict is resolved.
This scene further shows Johnson's interpretation of the Jedi, that they are ineffective, that they do more harm then good and while were going to learn that Luke is just being an utter twat here the way the scene is presented frames it as if Luke is speaking the truth and since that ties the whole idea to let the past die it further cements that Luke is being at least somewhat serious.
These might very well have been why this scene was deleted but here's why I see this as the worst overall deleted scene in Star Wars history and it's tied into why I call it the Lie instead of Rey's Third Lesson and that reason is, Luke is F#cking lying.
Yeah, there are no raiders the villagers are just throwing a party and Luke comes in after Rey sees that everything is fine with a smile on his face. Rey then, understandably, walks out while glaring at Luke and Luke looks guilty because it's clear that he finally took things one step to far.
And this is annoying because it explains EVERYTHING that follows. Rey now falling for Kylo is because Luke just lied to her about letting people die so she's now vulnerable and more easy to manipulate which is why Snoke choose this moment to have her little chat with Kylo. It explains why Rey is so angry with Luke as him lying about letting people die and basically laughing at her is something that is so mean spirited and Gandhi would have wanted to punch Luke. And it explains why Luke decided to open up to the Force as he realized he took things to far and wanted to connect to someone he was close to hence why him sensing Leia is so important.
And most importantly this scene is actually about Rey. For most of the film, and this is counting the other deleted scenes, Rey has been a secondary player in the story with almost all her screen time being about Luke and Kylo. This scene changes the nature of the scenes the other two lessons which gave very for Rey to do and here she starts to move away from Luke, both literally and figuratively, whereas before she kept trying to get him to join the fight. This scene gives Rey a relatable reaction to a rather horrible and overall tasteless joke just because Luke wanted to troll her.
And that's why I see this the worst deleted scene in Star Wars, I don't actually like the scene on it's own as it further emphasis that Johnson didn't understand Luke or the Jedi and yet it's the most important moment for Rey's character in the film that is actually about her instead of being about Luke and Kylo Ren. It's really a no win scenario when you get right down to it, it's needed for the plot to make sense because without it Rey just decides to take the word of someone she has no reason to trust over someone who's not actually done anything wrong to Rey personally because said person (who we know already killed everyone who wouldn't join him when he went to the Dark Side) as nice to her.
Then sometimes you get a scenes that were MUCH better then what we got in the film proper and really should have stayed in the film instead of what we got. A good example of this is the scenes from Attack of the Clones with Padme's family and her childhood home. While you could argue that moments like their first kiss and the scene where Padme told Anakin that they could never be together are important to their romantic arc even with the awkward and terribly corny dialogue.
However, the meadow scene and the dinner scene were most certainly NOT needed and really should have been cut from the film altogether with the deleted scenes with her family remaining as they are, lets be honest, MUCH better then the meadow scene.
While the scene with her family doesn't add much in terms of plot or character it's still better then what we got. By contrast the other deleted scenes in the Prequels I get why they were cut and we didn't really lose much by their exclusion. Same thing goes from the Original Trilogy and the Disney Sequel Trilogy... Except for one notable exception The Last Jedi where most of the deleted scenes REALLY should have stayed in the movie instead of what we actually got like Finn's original confrontation with Phasma, the Elevator scene with Finn and the Storm Troopers, Luke and Leia showing them actually moaning Han's loss and most damning of all, The Lie.
If you saw the movie or had to spend time analyzing it for a review (hi) you might have noticed that despite Luke saying he will teach Rey three lessons we only see him teaching her two and while Rey isn't exactly thrilled about Luke's "Lessons" she's not overly annoyed at him either and nothing suggests that she's getting angry with him enough to outright attack him to defend the honor of a mass murderer. That's because the third lesson which, is a scene that for me again highlights that Rian Johnson didn't really understand Star Wars.
The scene in question Luke has Rey telling Rey to not go and stop a village from being raided and that she should just let the raiders raid the place because (deep, beleaguered sigh) that's what a Jedi would do... I hate this argument for the same reason I hated the same argument in The Legend of Korra Season 2 where Unalaq tells Korra that she should not interfere with his dictatorial rule because the Avatar is suppose to remain neutral in conflict, it's a contrived conflict that goes against what we've seen in the series itself.
The Avatar and Jedi are PEACE KEEPERS, they don't set out to cause problems they work to resolve them. Sometimes that can be done without ever hurting anyone and sometimes that requires them to pick a side and take on those who are using their power to hurt those weaker than them. In Star Wars the first anyone ever even heard of a Jedi it was someone asking them to get involved in a galatic war and the Jedi in question decided to get involved without any hesitation. And if you go by the movies in chronological order the first time we see a Jedi they're ALREADY getting involved in a conflict and stay involved until the conflict is resolved.
This scene further shows Johnson's interpretation of the Jedi, that they are ineffective, that they do more harm then good and while were going to learn that Luke is just being an utter twat here the way the scene is presented frames it as if Luke is speaking the truth and since that ties the whole idea to let the past die it further cements that Luke is being at least somewhat serious.
These might very well have been why this scene was deleted but here's why I see this as the worst overall deleted scene in Star Wars history and it's tied into why I call it the Lie instead of Rey's Third Lesson and that reason is, Luke is F#cking lying.
Yeah, there are no raiders the villagers are just throwing a party and Luke comes in after Rey sees that everything is fine with a smile on his face. Rey then, understandably, walks out while glaring at Luke and Luke looks guilty because it's clear that he finally took things one step to far.
And this is annoying because it explains EVERYTHING that follows. Rey now falling for Kylo is because Luke just lied to her about letting people die so she's now vulnerable and more easy to manipulate which is why Snoke choose this moment to have her little chat with Kylo. It explains why Rey is so angry with Luke as him lying about letting people die and basically laughing at her is something that is so mean spirited and Gandhi would have wanted to punch Luke. And it explains why Luke decided to open up to the Force as he realized he took things to far and wanted to connect to someone he was close to hence why him sensing Leia is so important.
And most importantly this scene is actually about Rey. For most of the film, and this is counting the other deleted scenes, Rey has been a secondary player in the story with almost all her screen time being about Luke and Kylo. This scene changes the nature of the scenes the other two lessons which gave very for Rey to do and here she starts to move away from Luke, both literally and figuratively, whereas before she kept trying to get him to join the fight. This scene gives Rey a relatable reaction to a rather horrible and overall tasteless joke just because Luke wanted to troll her.
And that's why I see this the worst deleted scene in Star Wars, I don't actually like the scene on it's own as it further emphasis that Johnson didn't understand Luke or the Jedi and yet it's the most important moment for Rey's character in the film that is actually about her instead of being about Luke and Kylo Ren. It's really a no win scenario when you get right down to it, it's needed for the plot to make sense because without it Rey just decides to take the word of someone she has no reason to trust over someone who's not actually done anything wrong to Rey personally because said person (who we know already killed everyone who wouldn't join him when he went to the Dark Side) as nice to her.