The deleted scenes of Star Wars

Luke and Biggs in deleted scenes from Star Wars

All film-makers leave footage on the cutting room floor. Star Wars was no exception, but naturally its deleted scenes have attracted a great deal of interest.

Many of those scenes remained in the comic books, novelization, radio series and elsewhere, which only served to make them more fascinating.

In the latest of my August recap posts (while I take time off and work on new material), I'd like to point readers to some previous articles on the subject.

In an eight-part post in 2015, I looked at the key deleted scenes from Star Wars:

• The original introduction to Luke Skywalker, as he watched the space battle above Tatooine. 
• Luke hanging out with his annoying friends at Anchorhead.
• Luke learning that Biggs intends to join the Rebellion. 
• C3PO taking the wheel of the landspeeder.
• The original cut of the Mos Eisley scenes and the appearance of Han Solo's girlfriend.
• The original Jabba the Hutt scene, with Declan Mulholland as a human Jabba.
• Darth Vader's conversation with a Death Star commander.
• And finally Luke's reunion with Biggs at the Rebel base.

I've written about a couple of these scenes on other occasions, too.

I'm fascinated with Biggs, because he represented a very 1970s image of coolness. But more importantly, he would have been one of several male role models the fatherless Luke is given to choose between in the original film. The others are Uncle Owen, Han Solo and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Meanwhile, the Jabba the Hutt post above is the most popular article on this site. In another piece on the same subject, I looked at the history of that scene, and found the official version of events to be somewhat unlikely.