Ok well maybe this will shed some light on all this:
From Starlog #120, July 1987:
This issue was dedicated to the 10th anniversary of "Star Wars." In
it, there is an article by Roy Thomas entitled, "How I Learned to Stop
Worrying and Love 'Star Wars' (Within Limits)" (nice "Strangelove"
homage), which features his recollections of working on the "Star
Wars" comics for Marvel.
"...anyhow, soon Howard, Steve and I were sitting in the front row in
George's private screening room while the Hollywood heavies slouched
further back with George, and the rough cut began.
It opened with a 'crawl' of copy meant to suggest the old Flash
Gordon serials that had influenced the movie. But this was NOT the
crawl with which moviegoers are now familiar, nor was there any 'Long
ago, in a galaxy far, far away' lead-in. Rather, the crawl consisted
of totally different copy telling the movie's backstory. (If you want
to know what it said, all you have to do is pick up a back issue of
Marvel's "Star Wars" #1, since the caption there was taken from that
original crawl. George evidently had last-minute thoughts and changed
it just before the opening. In fact, one ILM worker told me that the
story was that, on opening day, George would probably be in the
projection booth at Mann's, pasting on some last bit of film.) [NOTE:
Original crawl text follows this entry.]
Original opening crawl as published in the Marvel adaption of "Star
Wars" #1:
"It is a period of CIVIL WAR in the galaxy. A brave Alliance of
UNDERGROUND FREEDOM FIGHTERS has challenged the tyranny and oppression
of the awesome GALACTIC EMPIRE. To crush the rebellion once and for
all, the EMPIRE is constructing a sinister new BATTLE STATION.
Powerful enough to destroy an entire planet, its COMPLETION will spell
CERTAIN DOOM for the champions of freedom. Striking from a fortress
hidden among the billion stars of the galaxy, REBEL SPACESHIPS have
won their first victory in a battle with the powerful IMPERIAL
STARFLEET. The Empire fears that ANOTHER defeat could bring a THOUSAND
MORE solar systems into the rebellion, and IMPERIAL CONTROL over the
galaxy would be LOST FOREVER."
Then in came the spaceships. Even in the rough cut and on a
relatively small screen, it was an impressive beginning, and I was
only moderately surprised months later at Mann's Chinese to hear the
shocked gasp of the audience when Big Ship came after Little Ship.
Next, the fight: stormtroopers vs. rebels. But there were no rays
zipping back and forth across the screen in San Anselmo. Just the
flicker of hand-drawn arrows on the film, to show where the FX would
go.
Soon, Darth Vader came on and began to speak--with a British
accent. (This was actor David Prowse's own voice, before James Earl
Jones' sepulchral tones were laid in.)
The movie went on. I noted with chagrin that one scene in the
script--between Luke and some childhood chums, near the beginning--had
been CUT, though it was currently being printed in the comic's first
issue. (And a few irate readers would later castigate us for inserting
things into 'George's Movie.')"
From Screen Superstar magazine #8, "Star Wars: the Full Story," 1977:
"His editors, including his wife, Marcia (Lucas' daughters had earlier
appeared in the film as Jawas), had put together a rough cut. With
Lucas they trimmed it down to preview size. And the previews were VERY
successful. Excitement spread at Twentieth, and through the movie
colony--Lucas had a winner!
But winner or not, Lucas still wasn't entirely satisfied. The
film ran for over two hours (123 minutes), and Lucas wanted maximum
audience turnover. Thus, the film had to be UNDER two hours, so back
went Lucas and the editors, and six minutes of Biggs Darklighter,
Luke's boyhood pal and fellow rebel pilot, were trashed. The film was
finished."
There. The previews were only shown in private to a select audience (fox & Marvel among them)and even when before Vaders voice and the crawl we all know was finished, including any laser FX and others, all the Biggs scenes were cut. No one would have seen these scenes at the cinema. If they did then they would have heard Dave Prowse's voice as Vader, and no one mentioned that. As you can see from the article the comic was out before the movie was even finished and the first version he saw was the final rough cut and was surprised that all the Biggs scenes were cut. he said he was surprised because they were in the script and not that he had already seen them. Marvel worked from a script to produce the comic and never saw the movie prior to doing the comic. Also, in the comic, Han never met Jabba but instead had a conversation with a different creature. If Jabba had been in the film and the Marvel guys had seen a cut of the film with him in surely he would have been a human?
The comic and the novel came out months before ANH was released at the cinema. Also how old were the people who say they saw these scenes in 1977? Its exactly the same as people who swear they saw some X-wings with blue stripes and that there was comlink chatter from blue squadron. It was in the novels, along with the double grappling throw, that was never in the movie at all.
It's all just an urban myth.
Vaderisnothayden said:
adywan said:
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?
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_scenes_cut_from_Star_Wars_Episode_V:_The_Empire_Strikes_Back
It looks like some of those scenes were filmed. They've got photos there of Luke manning a gun in the base, seemingly against wampas and a tauntaun dead in the base seemingly killed by wampas.
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
See here:
http://www.in70mm.com/news/2003/empire/index.htm
It sounds from that like the 70mm was the final version. That's the version they used for the SE I think. It has a few extra lines.
that shot of luke is just a publicity photo and wasn't to be part of the movie. the wampas attacked the base while Luke was recovering in the medical bay early in the movie (may have even been before Han found Luke, but i haven't got the original script or the novel at hand at the moment). The creature just didn't work and the idea was scrapped during filming, so although scenes were shot hoping that they could fix the wampa problem these scenes never made it into any released cut of the movie.
And only some audio differences were used from the 70mm for the SE. the 70mm wasn't the final version as Lucas ordered a few extra fx shots of the falcon at the end amongst others. The 70mm was the first version with the 35mm being the final version, prior to 1977
