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sunnyskywalker...but why are we running?
The first time I saw The Phantom Menace, the scene where Darth Maul attacks Qui-Gon and Anakin really threw me. They obviously didn't know he was coming up behind them until the last second, so why were they running? In the desert, in the middle of the day?
The deleted scene on the DVD answered that question--Qui-Gon knew they were in trouble because of the probe droid--but raised another: why wasn't the bit with the probe droid included in the movie? This isn't a complaint, exactly; it's more an admission of bafflement. The probe droid seems important to me, for clarity if nothing else. I think the commentary said something about the Jira part not being necessary, and I understand and support that cut, but the probe droid bit can be easily separated from the Jira bit. It fits in very nicely into the sequence. I think it increases the tension, since you get those extra few seconds for the "uh-oh" to really sink in and aren't distracted by the "huh?" moment. It's also very, very short, so it doesn't drag down the story. If someone really wanted to keep every possible second off the running time, they could cut the bit where Jar Jar watches the eopie pass gas make up for adding this back in. I'd say that's a lot less important to the plot, characters, themes... well, to everything. So, why was this minuscule, yet quite helpful, scene cut? Is George saving it for the Super-Special Eight-Disc Edition?
If there is a Phantom Menace: The Special Edition (and there probably will be), this is on my top five list of desired alterations. Because I'm weird like that sometimes.
The first time I saw The Phantom Menace, the scene where Darth Maul attacks Qui-Gon and Anakin really threw me. They obviously didn't know he was coming up behind them until the last second, so why were they running? In the desert, in the middle of the day?
The deleted scene on the DVD answered that question--Qui-Gon knew they were in trouble because of the probe droid--but raised another: why wasn't the bit with the probe droid included in the movie? This isn't a complaint, exactly; it's more an admission of bafflement. The probe droid seems important to me, for clarity if nothing else. I think the commentary said something about the Jira part not being necessary, and I understand and support that cut, but the probe droid bit can be easily separated from the Jira bit. It fits in very nicely into the sequence. I think it increases the tension, since you get those extra few seconds for the "uh-oh" to really sink in and aren't distracted by the "huh?" moment. It's also very, very short, so it doesn't drag down the story. If someone really wanted to keep every possible second off the running time, they could cut the bit where Jar Jar watches the eopie pass gas make up for adding this back in. I'd say that's a lot less important to the plot, characters, themes... well, to everything. So, why was this minuscule, yet quite helpful, scene cut? Is George saving it for the Super-Special Eight-Disc Edition?
If there is a Phantom Menace: The Special Edition (and there probably will be), this is on my top five list of desired alterations. Because I'm weird like that sometimes.