CT Why restore one Biggs scene, but not the other?

Tank’s out there somewhere. Star Wars most mysterious emigré.

 

I just watched the scene in the movie. It does indeed sound like Luke says "that's what you said when Biggs and Tank left". So I think that solves that question. As for what happened to him, I don't see how it matters. It's simply one friend from Luke's past who left. As far as the movies and story are concerned, he doesn't need a background or "ending". As in real life, friends appear and disappear, without having a major impact on our lives.
Biggs happened to join the Rebellion, that's why his character was more important. For all we know, Tank may have been killed trying to find a ship in Mos Eisley, or simply moved to another planet and had a family there. It's not important.

 

I think the lack of information just adds to his mysterious persona.

 

IIRC, there was a scene in BoBF at the Tosche Station. Who was in there? Or am I misremembering? BoBF was pretty forgettable.

 

You are correct - the two people in that scene were Camie and Fixer.

 

I bet Tank was the funny one, you know - a big character.

 

There was a whole comic about "Tank" in Legends era EU.

https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/14-371/Star-Wars-Rebellion-Volume-1--My-Brother-My-Enemy-TPB

 

That sounds like a really interesting story actually!!

 

I like getting the extra scene in the Special Edition. I don't like that they cut the line out about Red Leader in that scene mentioning flying with Anakin. It still lines up with Anakin's age for Red Leader to have flown alongside him in the Republic.
As for the Biggs scenes on Tatooine, most of the dialogue is even more cringe than any of the worst pieces of dialogue in ANH. And the scenes kill the pace of the film and keep cutting away from the droids.

 

I really like the restored Biggs scenes but the Yavin scene fits right into the Rebel base whereas the Tatooine scenes are a little unpolished and clunky to fit in the current state they are in. I can understand why only one made the special edition. I think there are fan edits that include them. I personally love the scene where Luke sees the space chase from the planet

 

But we didn't see non clones flying with the Jedi in the PT. In 1976, that was the case. In 1996, Lucas changed his mind.

 

I think the problem is that it opens a lot of questions if Red Leader knew that Anakin had kids.
in reality the Anakin he's talking about is the original-non-Vader-Anakin.

 

Yes and no. It still doesn't mean that Jedi had families, but at best it could be interpreted that Red Leader just didn't know that Anakin had a child. Or that the Skywalker name was not uncommon. They flew together, but that doesn't make them totally sociable.

 

Oh ****, how did I not notice this thread until now?

So the majority of the early Tatooine scenes that were cut are certainly an interesting look into the movie's development, and others have already mentioned that had they been included, we'd have had a very different feeling movie - and one that I think would feel like a bit of a slog to get through the opening act

On paper, I like the idea of introducing us to Luke as this random kid watching the space battle from the surface and talking with his friends about it. They make for fun deleted scenes, certainly, but I think it was the right decision to remove them. Luke's entrance as it was in the finished product works out much better. Music kicks in, you hear Beru calling his name and runs over, and you somehow just get this feeling "Oh, that's the main character, not the funny robots we've been following for 20 minutes"

As for the Biggs scene that was restored - I'm all for it. Like others have said, Biggs is name dropped a couple times before, but honestly, I don't think that's something I paid much mind to as a kid, nor do I imagine a lot of moviegoers would remember that name by the time Biggs's scene does come up. It just works really well even without the other scenes that were meant to be its setup. It's unobtrusive, it isn't 90% a repeat of info we already get in another scene, it doesn't harm the pacing right before the final battle, and makes it that much more personal. There's enough in that scene to realize "Oh, these two were friends and now they're meeting back up again. I sure hope mustache dude survives!"

 

We know GL didn't cast anyone to play Tank, right?

So who could've been cast? Bill Murray, John Belushi, Richard Pryor???

 

I can kind of see Lucas's point of view regarding not wanting "inferior" versions of "his" work. I mean all movies have deleted scenes that are never seen or only released in poor quality, in his mind, the movies were released before they were finished to what he wanted. I still don't agree, but I can see the point of the view.

What I don't get is why he went out of the way to edit that one scene in Attack of the Clones for seemingly no other reason than to mess up the score and make the scene make less sense. Instead of Dooku escaping just in the nick of time as Yoda saves Anakin and Obi-Wan and Padme arrives. We watch Yoda slowly pick up the cane and Anakin and Obi-Wan's reaction while Dooku just, waits to the take off? Yoda's reaction in the original made more sense because it was after Dooku just escaped, but now he's looking all solemn while he's still right next him in the ship. The door just closed, but he still has a lightsaber and the force and doesn't at least try to do something? This and the Greedo scene are one of the most confusing changes I don't get (Han who isn't even entirely a good person isn't justified shooting a guy holding him at gun point who literally said he's going to shoot him? Yet in Return of the Jedi, fully enlightened Jedi Luke chokes guards, force grabs a gun and tries to shoot Jabba in the face because he said no to his deal and that was just okay? Luke didn't know he was standing over a trap door to a Rancor pit, they was no attempt being made on his life to his knowledge.).

 

Threepio does get out the words "Master Luke - you're standing on-". Also Jabba says "I shall enjoy watching you die" immediately after "there will be no bargain".

 

IIRC I was aware of Star Wars before I even saw the film based on word of mouth at school and seeing clips on the TV. But I didn't see the original on the cinema and had to wait until it premiered on TV in the UK, so I actually think I saw Empire at the cinema before I saw SW. But I was well aware of the entire story for the original because I badgered my mum in to buying me the story of book, the Marvel adaptation, the novelisation and the comics too, but without checking I'm sure they had Biggs in them from the early parts of the film.

But my point is that I was well aware of their friendship and his cut appearances in the movie back in the lates 70's / early 80's. Which thinking back is weird because Biggs with Luke images were being released by Lucasfilm to the press, so how late a decision was it to cut him?

 

The 1997 SE Trilogy was a missed opportunity to present true extended cuts of the films; using original material, not newly-shot and CGI-created scenes.

I was disappointed with the 1997 SE Trilogy. I would have liked to have seen a lot more deleted scenes restored. I was hoping the Biggs Tatooine scenes would finally be unveiled - something truly special for the film’s twentieth anniversary …

 

We all thought that was possible. But the thing is that unless you understand how editing works, simply inserting scenes in that were cut will be detrimental. James Cameron inserted scenes that he didn't want to cut out of certain films, but left others alone. Because Lucas went to film school, he has a view of editing that differs from Cameron, who was a true amateur.

 

It didn’t stop him from reintroducing the Jabba scene - which did nothing but basically repeat Greedo’s dialogue and ruin the reveal of the Falcon.

Most of the changes made to the SE Trilogy did nothing to improve the films. Imo, only the Biggs scene in the hangar was worth reinstating.

 

The Anchorhead scenes were never seriously meant to be used, whereas the Jabba and the Biggs scenes were.

 

Then why go to all the trouble and cost of flying Garrick Hagon, Jay Benedict, Koo Stark and the old woman who shouts at Luke, all the way to Tunisia?

 

Lucas's friends convinced him to introduce Luke sooner, because it came across like "THX 1138" and so he did. He filmed the sequence on the off chance that they were right and he was wrong. Turns out that he was right. It slowed the film down and came across like "American Graffiti".