Red Leader's removed dialogue...I don't get it, it fits!

As many of you are no doubt aware, when the "Biggs" scene in the Massassi hangar was reincorporated back into ANH, it was edited with a digital "wipe" when a pilot goes past the camera, thereby removing part of Red Leader's original dialogue.

I often wondered, why was this removed? Word at the time ( 1997 ) suggested that Lucas didn't want to be bound by any continuity suggesting that a young Red Leader met Anakin Skywalker, which might have been plausible enough when the detailed story of the prequels was not yet set in stone.

But now, just as I thought then, why does this matter? Anakin was indeed a starfighter pilot as seen in the Clone Wars cartoon and Revenge of the Sith...what is there to contradict?

Here is the original scene as scripted, in ANH...
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Red Leader, a rugged handsome man in his forties, comes up behind Luke and Biggs. He has the confident smile of a born leader.

RED LEADER: Are you...Luke Skywalker? Have you been checked out on the Incom T-sixty-five?

BIGGS: Sir, Luke is the best bushpilot in the outer rim territories.

Red Leader pats Luke on the back as they stop in front of his fighter.

RED LEADER: I met your father once when I was just a boy, he was a great pilot. You'll do all right. If you've got half of your father's skill, you'll do better than all right.

LUKE: Thank you, sir. I'll try.

Red Leader hurries to his own ship.

 

It's possible that if it was left in, people would make too much out of it...


...like calling it a 'plothole' if the PT didn't include a scene to corroborate it.

 

When has that stopped Lucas?

 

I've often wondered this myself. I'd like it if it was added back in. Maybe it was just to not give any people ideas about what might happen in Revenge of the Sith? Maybe more things will be restored to the originals now that all of the movies are completed.

 

I'm glad he cut it. Do people in SW know that Anakin Skywalker is Lord Vader? If people start asking questions about it, Luke could be in trouble.

 

I think the general consensus on Anakin Skywalker among the general public is that he's dead (died with the jedi perhaps, which is probaly true one some level). Besides Obi-Wan, Yoda, the Emperor and some select Imperial staff, everyone else probably just thinks Darth Vader is a different guy.

 

I don't get it...where does Red Leader make an assumption that Darth Vader is the same person as Anakin Skywalker?

I always figured that Anakin was well-known to the galaxy at large, for being a hero in the Clone Wars ( shown explicitly in the RotS novelization ), but that nearly everyone ( aside from key movie characters : Obi-Wan, Yoda etc. ) doesn't know he's Vader.

All Luke had to do was tell somebody on the base that his father was a hero in the Clone Wars, and then this would filter down to Red Leader and he makes the connection that Luke must be Anakin's son. Simple as that.

 

I think the real problem is that red leader and Anakin are of the same age, while the dialogue implies that Anakin is much older.

 

"Red Leader, a rugged handsome man in his forties"

Red Leader is even older than Anakin, then. Anakin would be about 42 (give or take) and even if "in his forties" means he's just 41, he still couldn't have seen Anakin as a real pilot. Except maybe at the Boonta Eve (omg, is Read Leader Kitster!? ). But does that count?

But then again, Red Leader is not handsome, so maybe he's not over 40 either

 

Red Leader looked more like he was in his late 40s or early 50s; definitely older than Anakin is. However, that dialogue he posted isn't exactly how it showed up in the movie. In the movie it was more along the lines of "I knew your father/I flew with your father. He was the greatest pilot in the galaxy." It didn't specify age or anything like that. Red Leader may have been some type of soldier in the Clone Wars and fought with Anakin on one occasion.

 

IMO age has nothing to do with it. You can only 'know' people who are the same age as you?

 

TwilekJedi and Ogmios, you make agood point; I hadn't considered the age factor, and that must be the reason for the removed line.

However, it could still fit!

Let's say Red Leader is 40 in ANH, and he met Anakin at the age of 15, three years before Attack of the Clones, when Anakin probably flew as a pilot a bit more commonly than when he was younger in his apprenticeship.

Oh well. I'm just trying to rationalize here. I enjoy these movies so much more when whatever little scrap of a scene is put back in.

 

I don't think those lines would have fit in light of TPM, AOTC and ROTS. I was under the impresion no one except Yoda, Obi-wan, Beru and Owen knew that Luke was Anakin's son. If everyone knew, shouldn't Darth Vader have found Luke earlier?

 

I explained this above. I think that Red Leader just made the connection on his own, based on Luke's last name.

Darth Vader didn't find Luke earlier because...he didn't know he had a son.

 

If one of the leaders of the Rebellion knew Luke was Anakin's son from simply hearing his name then everyone in the galaxy would be able to figure out Luke is Anakin's son. People say that Luke didn't need to change his name because Skywalker might be a common last name, well, then Red Leader wouldn't be able to figure out Luke is Anakin's son either.

 

Well, Red Leader would know because he personally met Anakin. And then guess what happened? He died.

People at a certain age wouldn't know of Anakin Skywalker, hero of the Clone Wars. And most of the oldies ( who might know of Anakin ) at Massassi Base, like Red Leader, get killed during the Battle of Yavin.