Hunter6 said:
Yes, there was an Extended original cut of first film which was about 15 or 20 minutes longer and yes, a little group of theaters showed it, but not long. It was pulled after two showings on opening today. Lucas has turned this little thing into an urban legend. Some of the Usenet posters are telling the truth. No one could have seen it many times because they all were pulled. It also was missing some effects and the lightsaber effects were odd. It was not the greatest way to see star wars for the first. The only good thing about it is Vader use more force powers and acts more cocky in the original cut. I think one day Lucas will add some of these back in some type of new SE.
the Marvel comic adaption of Star Wars shows visual details that are only in the original cut. Which make me think the people who work on the Marvel comic adaption of Star Wars saw this cut of the film because the comic visual matches those scenes. How did the artists of the Marvel comic draw things just like how they are in the deleted scenes if they did not see a type of original cut of the film. The screenplay would not show how the actors stood and moved in those scenes.
This is one Urban Legend which is real.
hell, one day in the future Lucas may try to make it seem like the OOT was all in people's heads too and that the SE versions were the original ones.
The Marvel comics didn't see an early cut of the film at all. They were given the script (or draft of the novel)and many, many, if not all, of the publicity & on set stills taken to work with. Comic artists of the 70's were given still material to work with and that's it. Just look at many of the comic adaptation pics and you'll see that there are so many that look exactly like the publicity stills and not from the movie.They would have worked on the comic many months in advance of its release and well before any final cut of the movie which is why the cut scenes appear. Don't forget that they were working on star wars right up until the last minute. Its just an urban legend that isn't true. How many people have said that they saw luke throw the grappling hook twice, with the first time missing its target? Hasn't this already been debunked because it was never even filmed? So how the hell could they have seen it? It was the same with ESB when people swore that they saw the Wampa drag Luke off and attack the rebel base. Yet again they scrapped that idea during filming so how the hell would it end up finished in a theatre showing?
People remember many things because they saw it in the comic books, heard or read someone else mention it or read it in the novels.
There was only one cut of ANH but with different soundtracks. thats the only difference in that movie. Remember that Star Wars wasn't really favoured by the movie studio and Lucas would not have had the money (and Fox certainly wouldn't ahve given him and more) to be able to do any more than one finished print of the movie for replication and distribution. And the "Lost Cut" exists only in Black & white form in Lucas' vaults. A colour print was supposedly never done and had the world war 2 footage instead of FX. Check the deleted scenes on behind the magic. Its all on set audio. No dubbing work had been done. If these scenes had been originally in this pulled version they would have had the finished audio.
ESB was a different thing all together. The 70mm version and the 35mm were different, with the 70mm version being slightly shorter. The 35mm was the final cut, with a few extra shots and some differing fx, audio and wipes. This i saw, along with many other people and has been documented. Strangely enough, if you think about it, the 70mm version is actually the original, with the 35mm which we all know and love is actually a special edition. lol
Here is an article i found on the net:
A controversy “Star Wars” has generated over the years is whether or not any scenes were added to or deleted from the film after the initial batch of prints were released to theatres. Many fans insist changes were made, all of which Lucasfilm representatives have denied in print and at many science-fiction and comic book conventions. Fan recollections vary wildly and range from additional scenes featuring Luke Skywalker and friend Biggs Darklighter, to an encounter with Jabba the Hutt, to a brief bit with Chewbacca not scaring off the Death Star's Mouse Robot, to a single shot of Luke throwing his grappling hook and missing before throwing a second time successfully so he and Princess Leia could swing across the Death Star chasm.
While there is no doubt that the Jabba the Hutt scene and three scenes set on Tatooine early in the movie featuring Luke (two of which included Biggs) were deleted before the release, “The Unauthorized Star Wars Compendium” includes a claim that the Luke-Biggs reunion scene in the Rebel Hanger appeared in the original 1977 prints, only to be deleted for the 1979 re-release, then re-instated for the 1997 Special Edition. (The author of “The Unauthorized Star Wars Compendium” declined to be interviewed for this article.)
Deleted Scene – Luke Reunited With BiggsMemory can be a strange thing, and while it has been difficult to confirm changes made to the film, an explanation for fans’ recollections of seeing things can be traced to the movie's assortment of tie-in publications and merchandise. For example, the Ballantine novel, the Marvel comic book adaptation, the Topps bubblegum card series, the documentary “The Making Of Star Wars,” and the books “The Star Wars Storybook” and “The Art Of Star Wars” all featured text, photos, footage, or cartoon renditions of scenes scripted and/or shot. Combined with the lack of availability of a (legal) version of “Star Wars” on home video formats until five years following the original theatrical release, one can see how anyone with a vivid imagination can convince themselves that they saw footage that may have never appeared in a theatrical presentation of the movie.