Why were these cut from Attack of the Clones?

I can't find the clips right now, but I remember seeing a deleted scene where a librarian was talking to Obi Wan about Dooku and his past.

Now, can SOMEONE please tell me what goes through someone's head to get rid of such a short and crucial scene?

Cutting out the fat is one thing but they ALSO cut out important scenes of Padme and her family (with a scene of her mom asking if she likes Anakin)

THESE SCENES EXPAND BOTH DOOKU AND PADME/ANAKIN. SO WHY WERE THEY CUT!

Ps. I'll update with a link. Unless someone else has one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

What can I say, George and Ben mucked up the editing of AOTC. They probably were afraid it would be "boring" after TPM backlash so they removed the important character development scenes and replaced them with the mini video game in the droid factory which everyone complains about anyway. But now they also complain about Padme's missing point of view. This is one of those decisions I find hard to defend.

 

because it would have slowed the pace right down.

AOTC is my favourite Star Wars movie, it's one of my fave movies in general.

BUT if those scenes were left in the movie would have dragged.

I'd much rather them fix the editing that was already in the movie (the duel for example) than put in something that wasn't really needed. I know a lot of people love the family scenes, but it didn't reveal anything really, it didn't move the relationship forward in any way.

I did like the deleted bedroom scene though, where Padme is talking about the aliens who could not adapt from their native planet. To me that is more pivotal than

Padme's sister: you like him

padme: nah- uh

Padme's sister: yes you do! ooooohhh

Padme: nah-huh!!

which we'd already seen.

 

Well, to be fair about the droid factory scene, I heard originally Padme and Anakin were immediately arrested once they landed on Geonosis and walked off the ship, which would be pretty anti-climatic if ya asked me.

 

Well yeah maybe they could've cut the factory's screentime or something.

 

True. C-3PO's scenes especially lol

 

I believe those Padme family scenes were cut because Lucas felt they slowed the pace of the film down too much. Personally, I think they're okay, but certainly not pivotal, and it makes Padme look a bit foolish for visiting her family while supposedly hiding from assassins.

The dialogue about Dooku with Jocasta was great, I wish that was kept. The Geonosian trial scenes were only interesting because that's the one time we get to see Padme and Dooku interact, and even then it's pretty short and not meaningful in the grand scheme. One scene I really wish was kept is in the novel, where everyone thinks Padme was killed in the bombing, but she suddenly comes out of nowhere and blindsides everyone with that bold speech in the Senate. I think only the speech part of it was filmed though, without that background.

 

True. They went from landing, walking in a hallway to…boom…arrested. And then from there right into the courtroom scene with Dooku.

George realized in the edit during postproduction he needed a transition scene with a bit more action between landing and the trial so the droid factory was it.

True Sith, that Padme speech before the senate in AOTC was actually shot in full. The screenplay was actually pretty good. It mentions how senators are upset the jedi can no protect them so they begin to demand an army. This sets up the army's creation later on and shows there was growing support for it.
But even the damned deleted scenes were edited for the blu ray(as well as left the scenes vfx unfinished unlike the TPM deleted scenes).
I'm not sure why they had to trim the deleted scenes but they did.
The bad editing for AOTC just never stopped, beginning to end.

 

I agree that these scenes should have been left in. I feel similar mistakes were made in ROTS... they really should have left some of the ROTS deleted scenes in as well. In ROTS it would have helped flesh out Padme's character quite a bit. (and it's not like they couldn't have cut stuff like the buzz droid junk to make time)

 

Padme definitely go the short end of the stick with cuts from both AoTC's and RoTS.

 

ShaneP Yeah, I've seen the Padme speech (and Mas Amedda's weird tongue), but that scene doesn't really convey what the novel and screenplay I think outlined, which was that everyone thought she was dead, and then she surprises them. It was cool in the novel anyway. Unfortunate we don't get to see a full version with all those details before Padme's speech onscreen.

As for ROTS, leaving out those Delegation of 2000 scenes with Padme was a much bigger issue than omitting the family scenes in AotC, I'd say.

 

Horribly, horribly edited film.

So much more potential.

 

Editing is mostly subjective. You can argue that some scenes should've been included (or should've been cut). I can have a different opinion.

But please, let's not fall into the trap of saying "such scene was cut to make space for such scene" (better known as "Padme's family scenes were cut to make space for the droid factory scene") because that's not what editing is about.

First of all, keep in mind that
1) None of the Star Wars films had a limited lenght (in fact, the Lord of the Rings started a trend of longer fantasy films during that time)
2) A scene is kept or cut based on the pacing of the movie. And that's the key factor to editing. Saying that Padme's family scenes being cut had anything to do with the droid factory been included is absurd, since they happen at different times in the movie.

I'll try to address why some scenes were (IMO) cut or included, and why I think they were good choices (other choices were also possible of course).

-Droid factory scene.
First, this is not a scene that was shot in the last minute, as some think. In fact, it was shot during the first round of pick-ups (March-April 2001), much earlier than other important scenes (such as Anakin and Obi-Wan in the elevator, or Palpatine and Anakin talking).
Second, Anakin and Padme's arrival to Geonosis is the beginning of the last act of the film, the moment when everything really has to speed up towards the ending (the previous scene is the Senate scene, which is basically about "so now, we go to War!". In fact, this scene was moved up earlier than it was planned, which I believe affected the re-structuring of this section of the film).
As others have said, the original scene was rather anti-climatic: now, everyone is going to Geonosis, we're ready to get into action (the last action scene was the asteroid chase, more than 30 minutes earlier!) and.... they get arrested without a fight? And we get to an interesting-but-pacing-wise-wrong scene of Padme and Dooku talking? It just doesn't work.
The droid factory scene gives the movie the energy it needs at this point to signal the beginning of the final act -which is: War!

Oh, and about the droids. The original plan was to have 3PO and R2 waiting inside the ship during the whole climax. Exciting, eh?

Padme's family.
First of all, I have to say I don't like the scenes. I guess they're Ok, nice natural scenes, but I feel they just DON'T belong in a Star Wars movie. I think the Romeo&Juliette-inspired courtly love story works better in a Star Wars film than a nice family scene. Anakin and Padme were destined to fall in love. They're the doomed tragic-love heroes. That's a classical story. I don't find anything wrong with that.
But most importantly, it is important to remember the overal structure of the movie. The first 30 minutes happen in Coruscant, when the main plots are set, and a big action scene is included. Now, we enter the second section of the movie, which is rather slow and doesn't have any action. Basically, the movie has 1 hour to include: Naboo romance, Kamino mystery, Tatooine tragedy and Geonosis sneaking around. Except a brief action interlude (two Obi-Wan vs. Jango fights), there is no action here. I
t's easy to see that the movie can only devote 30 minutes to Naboo PLUS Kamino, before moving into the tragedy of Tatooine. That means, you have around 15 minutes to give to the Naboo love story. (which includes the actual journey to Naboo and the scenes at the capital). Can you really fit the family scenes in there?

Library scene.
Here, only a brief dialogue was cut, regarding Dooku. True, it COULD have been included, since it doesn't disturb the pacing. However, Lucas might have felt that discussing a character who doesn't appear until much much later in the film wasn't interesting at the moment. In fact, as this segment was cut, an entirely new scene was constructed (Dooku and Obi-Wan in Geonosis), in which more is revealed about Dooku, and is potentially more interesting at that moment. In this case, we CAN say that this was replaced by a longer scene.

Early Senate scene.
I quite like that scene, mainly for Padme's speech. However, once again we have a problem of pacing. The movie has a slow start and we inmediately get into politics. The thing that keeps it alive is the assassination threat. But I'm afraid the Senate scene PLUS the scene in Palpatine's office would've made the beginning of this movie (a Star Wars movie after all, don't forget!) unbearable for the audience.

 

I think you might need to listen to what Lucas has to say on the matter. Lucas is very clear that he has a self-imposed time limitation on his movies.

 

Interesting post oierem

I have to agree with only one kenobi just on the issue of movie-length time.
If Lucas had just made ROTS longer I think we could have had the original cut of Anakin's turn, and a generally deeper film. I love most of what he did with the PT, but that apparent self-imposed time limitation was so unnecessary. Star Wars fans are patient, you don't need everything coming at you that fast to retain interest.

 

I think evaluating the editing of a movie is very difficult when not being able to see the full movie (or at least the respective part of the movie) with the discussed scenes being put in again. Much like oierem said, you really can't just look at a scene and think it's good and then automatically make the conclusion that it also works in the context of the complete movie.

The scenes on Geonosis are a good example. While I was once holding another opinion, I'm now convinced that the interrogation and conviction scenes don't really have a place there. I do agree that once they head for Geonosis, the Senate accepted the army, Yoda would go to Kamino etc. all the signals were leading to action and excitement. That means I think it was right to delete those scenes and replace them with something more exciting, but I still hold the opinion that the ending is too action-heavy. Droid Factory, Arena animals, Jedi Battle, Clone Battle, Lightsaber battle. It's too much, taking too much time and they should have shortened them somehow.

About Padmé, I think her family scenes could have been incorporated into the movie but I really don't like the first scene. Doesn't fit Anakin and Padmé's love story at all, imo. It tries to make something obvious that's already apparent (Padmé being in love with Anakin) by turning her sister into an audience-like-character who annoyingly wants Padmé to admit something she's not yet ready to admit. Feels way too contemporary.
I do love the Bedroom Scene, though, which really highlights some of Padmé's core elements that went by some parts of the audience. However, that scene sadly can't be put in on its own. In relation to this, I still can't understand why they chose to cut the Actually I was hoping to have a family by now...My sisters have the most amazing, wondeful kids....but when the Queen asked me to serve as Senator, I couldn't refuse her....- part of the Naboo arival scene. Especially by cutting the family scenes, this would have been a great oppotunity to point out Padmé's conflict a lot clearer without spending too much time on it. Don't understand it.

I also like the Senate scene, especially as written in the script, but I'm not sure I'd work in the film. I definitely would have kept the longer dialogue about Dooku which is just good information about Dooku, giving him more flesh and keeping up the excitement of wanting to see this character finally as the movie unfolds.

All in all, regarding AOTC, I have more of an issue with how some scene that are in the film have been cut (either too long: final action; or too short: Arrival Scene, Dooku exposition...) than with the decision to cut some scenes altogether. ROTS is slightly different, as I'd really like to see the third Rebellion scene in the movie. I understand their motive to focus on Anakin in Episode III, which I think is right, but the third scene had a focus on Anakin while still giving Padmé some action and has been set up in the movie anyway. Anakin asking Padmé "to make a motion in the Senate, where that kind of a request belongs" is the perfect set-up. The scene may have been alluding a bit too much to Padmé's dubious "secret", but it works nonetheless and could have been fixed with a slight revision of the dialogue.



In conclusion, I do understand why many people complain about the editing of AOTC and ROTS and I agree with some ideas, but I feel the question is a lot more complex than many people seem to realize. Who knows how people would think if they had never seen the deleted scenes on DVD and BR....

@ShaneP
I also felt some of the deleted scenes have been horribly chopped up for the DVD release. The Padmé/Dooku interrogation scene, as another example, is much more interesting in complete in the script. The DVD version of that deleted scene seems to be cut down to a point where they wanted it to be pointless. If THAT was the version of the scene that was discussed to be in the movie, I'm even more in favor of having it be cut altogether.

 

When I said Lucas doesn't have a limited lenght time, I meant he doesn't have a lenght time imposed from outside. I know Lucas likes his movies short, fast and intense (and personally I like them that way. Amongst other things, it makes them more re-watchable!), but that's his choice. And that choice creates a structure that limits the number of scenes that can be included (for Clones, it's: 30 minutes of Courscatn, 30 minutes of Kamino/Naboo, 30 minutes of Geonosis/Tatooine, plus a big climax which is,indeed, a bit longer). But it's an artistic choice.
(and in any case, it's not an excat limitation. In fact, Clones is the longest Star Wars movie.)

Good post, as always!
Regarding the third Rebellion scene, for a while I too thought it should've been in the movie. It has a gorgeous sunset, it includes Palpatine and Anakin, and it's the only instance in which Padme and Palpatine interact (which offers a nice contrast to their relationship in Episode I).
However, without the previous scenes, it would feel a bit out of place, I think. And most importantly, I think this is a case of "one too much" in the Palpatine-Anakin storyline (which is the heart of the movie in the first half). Palpatine ONCE AGAIN makes insidious comments and Anakin ONCE AGAIN falls in... I just think it strikes the same chord that's been heard before. (In fact, I would have liked the scene better without the last segment).

 

That's because, as I mentioned in my post,they even botched the editing of the deleted scenes. They cut that first part out to put on the DVD.

 

No, they even admitted way back during the DVD release that they trimmed the deleted scenes for the package. This was different than what was done in the TPM package where with that films deleted scenes you could see existing theatrical cut footage transitioning into deleted scenes(the bongo waterfall escape is one example).

There was some really cool stuff that was cut out of even the deleted scenes.

So, in the case of AOTC, we even have deleted scenes of deleted scenes.

 

The movie's excellent without them. That's why.

 

Ugh, what a mess. It's not like everything in the deleted scenes we got was finished, either, so they might as well have released all of it.

 

Yes, unlike the TPM deleted scenes, they didn't even bother to finish the vfx. That's what I do like about the TPM DVD: George took the time and effort to give fans finished deleted scenes. Pretty cool.

 

I think you overestimate the average patience of a SW fan (even on these boards).
TFA's success indicates the audience prefers SW to be fun and uncomplicated.

Regarding AOTC: if Lucas was concerned about pacing, he should have trimmed or cut less important scenes, like the audience with the Queen. Padme's lines about wanting her own family should have been left in, if nothing else. Although I still think the family scenes are important because we actually see the family during the funeral in ROTS.

 

SW can be both, which is one of the great things about it. TFA has a much simpler plot and character dynamics to work with than ROTS, the latter of which possibly could've used some additional slower character development scenes.

 

From our standpoint, yes, from the general audience's? I don't think so, unfortunately.

For my part, I could go with the PT as a multi season miniseries, GOT style