SCENES WE WANT ON BLU-RAY 8: BERU'S KITCHEN CONVERSATION

With homely Beru Lars appearance in EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES cut down so savagely during the film's later post production editing (she has just one line in the finished film: "Hello"!) and followed by later re-shoots of material on Anakin and Padme, it would be nice if the upcoming Blu-rays could have Luke Skywalker's adopted mum to be's deleted scene with Padme, where, in the famous Homestead kitchen (painstakingly recreated by the films production designers to match the original environment conceived in 1976 by John Barry), she briefly talks about life on and outside of Tatooine...

"Would you like some blue milk?"

The Blu-ray Prequel deleted scenes for the new release total around 45 minutes, so that's probably 15 minutes for each film. A shame it all couldn't be longer, really, as there's at least 30 minutes of deleted scenes footage alone from ATTACK OF THE CLONES that is yet to be seen, with much of the final third of the film having been changed/re-worked/re-filmed in the post-production process.

MORE BLU-RAY STUFF...

In a nice and quiet alcove at Mos Eisley Cantina, Han and Jenny cuddle up and get ready to watch the STAR WARS Blu-rays!

Finally! A proper trailer for the Blu-ray Box set, with clips from deleted scenes and footage giving us a proper idea of the picture quality transfers (the above pic of the B/W alternate Cantina scene edit is greatly improved to what was seen all those years ago on CD-rom in 1997). From YAHOO, here: Star Wars: The Complete Saga - exclusive trailer | Movies Blog - Yahoo! Movies

Also, check out the Pod Race clip: Star Wars BLU-Ray Preview - The Phantom Menace Pod Doc - YouTube

And a recent feature on the Blu-ray blog: Star Wars: The Complete Saga Blu-ray preview with Holiday Special easter egg

A message from Darth Vader for AMAZON: Amazon.co.uk : Star Wars: The Complete Saga (Episodes I-VI) Ltd. Edition Film Cell

On the Prequels side of things, here's a taster of the Special Features Menus: STAR WARS - The Complete Saga auf Blu-ray: Sample Menü-Navigation (HD) - YouTube

Luke looks to the heavens waiting for his next Blu-ray post delivery!

DELETED SCENES GALORE COMING ON BLU-RAY!

A Treadwell droid watches Luke as he looks to the heavens in a classic deleted scene from STAR WARS.

Finally, LUCASFILM opens the vaults and shows us some of the Classic Trilogy Deleted Scenes goodies coming up on Blu-ray, and they're all the ones we want to see, as witnessed in this trailer: StarWars.com | Comic-Con 2011 Star Wars Blu-ray Deleted Scenes Teaser

Artoo escapes a carnage wielding Wampa in the caverns of Echo Base in EMPIRE.

Luke looks at the space battle overhead in STAR WARS.

Lando helps an injured Chewbacca to the Falcon in JEDI's famous Sandstorm sequence.

A shot of the Millennium Falcon and Princess Leia's Y-wing on Tatooine.

Luke conceals the damage to his mechanical hand in JEDI...

Luke makes his way to his X-wing during the Sandstorm.

A Mon Calamari pilot joins the Death Star II battle in JEDI

General Solo and his team come under Imperial attack in JEDI

The Bunker battle continues...

SCENES WE WANT ON BLU-RAY 6: JEDI TEMPLE TRAP!

With the phoney recall signal sent by Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader, designed to lure Jedi Knights back to Coruscant- and certain death- a Clone Trooper, disguised as a Jedi, gets ready for more killing. In a blue screen scene filmed at the FOX studios, Obi-Wan and Yoda had to navigate their way around some false Jedi so as to get into the Temple and change the signal, but in the end this sequence was deleted and then revised/re-filmed to become the rather cool action sequence where the pair swiftly take on Clone Troopers outside the Temple and Yoda delivers that awesome lightsaber throw, which, though now iconic, Lucas considered such a violent move for a distinguished Jedi like Yoda that he almost cut it!

SCENES WE WANT ON BLU-RAY 4: "THE LOST TWENTY"

We'd all seen the pictures before the release of EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, where, within the vast interior of the Jedi Temple Archives, Obi-Wan Kenobi looks on at a bust (one of many showing other historically important Jedi), bearing the visage of Count Dooku, leading to Librarian Jocastu Nu recounting to him (and the audience) how the ex-Jedi Master has become one of the few of a group, intriguingly known as "the Lost Twenty", to have deliberately departed the Jedi Order of their own free will due to differing viewpoints with the colleagues. Sadly, the fascinating scene, which revealed how Dooku's then recent departure had proved a bitter blow to the Council (soon further surprised by his becoming the leader of the ever-growing Separatist Forces against the Republic), disappointingly never making it into the final film.

Here's hoping for either a re-insertion of the footage into the film on Blu-ray or, at least, a welcome appearance in the Deleted Scenes section...

LANDO'S RETURN?

A classic image of Billy Dee Williams as he films a deleted Cloud City scene against blue screen for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

So, is something coming up on the STAR WARS front for Billy Dee Williams, who played our favourite Cloud City administrator, Baron Lando Calrissian?

Regular AFICIONADO contributor Chris Baker sent me this intriguing info regarding his recent Phoenix Comic Con Q & A appearance:

A younger fan asked a Q of Billy -

"if he had ever made any or been offered any cameo's in the PT"

- Billy says "ahh, no"

They confer for a moment then his handler/assistant/manager further states that he has to look something up on the Internet but he would like to expand on (or add to) the answer for that fan's Q

A couple of Q's later (in his follow-up) the assistant states that "Sadly, we can't actually say anything because it's a confidentiality thing and it hasn't been announced yet .. But!, if you all keep your eyes on star wars .com you will get what I'm saying in about 30 days I'd imagine.”

Lando would only be in his teens with the onset of the Clone Wars, so might Billy be voicing the characters father in the animated series? Or even a new character? Interesting possibilities to think about. With the new Live Action TV series (when it happens) pretty much removed from the core characters of the six films, it's either THE CLONE WARS or perhaps Seth Green's new animated SW comedy series for LUCASFILM. Time will tell.

Regardless of who he plays, it's just nice to have another Classic Trilogy actor back in action within our favourite saga...

 

JEDI'S LOST MOMENTS...

As a hopefully nice little taster for tomorrow's exciting LUCASFILM announcement on the complete STAR WARS SAGA on Blu-ray, I thought readers might enjoy this fun little visual feature looking at the lost scenes/moments from REVENGE OF THE JEDI, as first seen in early trailers from 1982/83. Some of this footage, like the infamous Sandstorm, will hopefully make it into the new set....

Here's the link: JEDI'S LOST MOMENTS

AFICIONADO REVIEW: "STAR WARS BEGINS"

Complete at last! Jambe Davdar's STAR WARS BEGINS documentary

Rising star UK filmmaker and STAR WARS fan Jambe Davdar has finally completed his epic trio of behind the scenes commentary/ documentaries on the classic Original Trilogy movies. First there was the acclaimed BUILDING EMPIRE, then the equally successful RETURNING TO JEDI, and now, after four years hard work and research, STAR WARS BEGINS, built around my all-time favourite original STAR WARS movie, brings the information and entertainment cycle to a satisfying closure, bristling with great material that will delight fans of all ages everywhere, ranging from cut scenes (several of which have been painstakingly restored to the best quality possible-check out Luke's original introduction and his later scenes at Anchorhead with Biggs), behind the scenes photos, missing scene reconstructions (including some marvellous work on bringing to life the full sequence involving Harrison Ford and Declan Mulholland as Jabba the Hutt, a reconstruction of the original version of the STAR WARS title crawl from 1976 with Joe Johnston's STAR WARS logo, a look at Larry Cuba's innovative early computer graphics for the Death Star schematics, plus fine use of a MARVEL comic book to bring to life a cut scene used in the 1978 HOLIDAY SPECIAL), cleaned up audio and restored music, comparisons between the films many audio versions, a running info text and a few new surprises. Its worth its weight in gold just for the treasure trove of audio commentaries alone, which often brings to life the sheer difficulties the actors and technicians faced in the classic films ultimate realisation, and featuring nicely selected contributions from such rare notables as Sir Alec Guinness, Phil Brown, script/continuity person Ann Skinner, costume designer John Mollo, Harrison Ford, John Dykstra, and even one of the trumpet players from the 1977 London Symphony Orchestra who lent his expert abilities to the films unforgettable opening title sequences!

Here's the trailer for the exciting project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSMHMOf-DPk

We all have our own individual and deserving lists of what we want to see on any kind of STAR WARS related documentary, but I think you'll find that STAR WARS BEGINS, despite what I felt were a few little niggly omissions towards its final quarter (which I'm sure will be added to any future revised versions of the project), admirably captures all the best behind the scenes/deleted footage material currently available, and proves to be a well structured, highly enjoyable trip of nostalgia and information on the original 1977 film that makes it essential viewing when its fully released next month. You can see that a lot of time, energy, talent and love have gone into making this a special treat for fans that's not only a worthy continuance of Davdar's previous fine work but additionally acts as an effective and separately enjoyable work to the likes of other fan documentary projects like Garrett Gilchrist's few years back, and of a similar vein, DELETED MAGIC. If it hasn't already done so, STAR WARS BEGINS will surely attract the notice of a few LUCASFILM related people out there who will be impressed with Jambe's endeavours, finding that it acts as a very appetising starter to the main course of Blu-Ray releases out in September.

STAR WARS AFICIONADO RATING: 4.5 out of 5

To find out more about STAR WARS BEGINS, check out the link: http://buildingempire.blogspot.com/
and at TWITTER on: @jamieswb
To see BUILDING EMPIRE, RETURNING TO JEDI, and early sections of STAR WARS BEGINS on YOUTUBE, head to this link: http://www.youtube.com/user/jambedavdar

CLASSIC IMAGE: TO SLAY A JEDI!

Poor Jedi Master Shaak Ti, as played by the rather gorgeous actress/model Orli Shoshan, had a bit of a bad time of things in EPISODE III, actaully dying by foul, murderous means twice, and both times cut from the film-fortunately for fans, or unfortunately for Ti, one of her death scenes-the first from the cowardly General Grievous, shot in Australia in 2003- would eventually see the light of darkness on the EPISODE III DVD released at the end of 2005.

For more on Orli Shoshan, check out AFICIONADO's exclusive interview with the model/actress here:
http://www.starwarsaficionado.com/orlishoshan.html

BIG LIPS SINK HUTTS!

Jail-breaker Ziro the Hutt gets some quality time with his girlfriend Sy Snootles in THE HUNT FOR ZIRO.

With her great introductory musical opening number (deliberately reminiscent of Kate Capshaw’s ANYTHING GOES from INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM), and a now revealed relationship with Ziro the Hutt, Jabba the Hutt’s prized singer/entertainer Sy Snootles turned out to be one of the true stars of THE HUNT FOR ZIRO episode of THE CLONE WARS shown last night in the US. The episode was a fun, fast paced tale of intrigue and action, and was also a fine introduction to a more audience friendly version of rogue Jedi Quinlan Vos, whose Han Solo-ish attitudes worked well with Obi-Wan Kenobi by the book intelligence. And what about that superb fight with Vos and Kenobi against Cad Bane, eh? This was the kind of action Boba Fett should have had in the Classic Trilogy!

In celebration of lippy Sy’s return here’s a classic shot of her best live action visual incarnation from the original version of RETURN OF THE JEDI. With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.

And here’s a link to the MTV released pop video for the original 1983 JEDI song from Jabba’s Palace, LAPTI NEK, put together by John Williams and his son, which includes the film's Second Unit director David Tomblin's footage of Jabba, and his den of dangerous acolytes, that never made it into the finished film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iZFZRCCLIU

BEHIND THE SCENES - NO DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY!

When Jimmy Smits was announced as being cast as Bail Organa-adopted father to be in the STAR WARS Prequels with EPISODE II and III, I was very happy with the news. In my eyes and mind I saw him perfectly inhabiting the part-I imagined someone dark haired with a beard, slightly Mediterranean in appearance-suave but someone who looked like he was very intelligent and could be of strong social standing, tough but with nobility-and Smits certainly fit the bill in pretty much all those qualifications. In my opinion, Smits has become a very good actor in the last ten years-especially as hes gotten older, and more experienced. Bar his great performances in the Prequels (if still too underused for my liking), his acting is also worth checking out in Season Three of the TV series DEXTER, and in the final two seasons of the superb political drama, THE WEST WING.

Here's a great pic- a deleted scene which was cut for time reasons-from EPISODE III- showing Organa and his Alderaanian Royal/political attendants returned back to Coruscant where, accompanied by ORDER 66 Jedi Survivors Obi-Wan Kenobi and Master Yoda, they are stopped by security guards at the Senate landing bay-you'll have to imagine the background because it was only filmed against green screen, and, as of yet, has not been restored as a deleted scene to any DVD or Blu-ray releases.

CLASSIC IMAGE: GENERAL MADINE- (DELETED) MAN OF ACTION!

OFFICIALPIX have been opening up LUCASFILM's picture treasure vaults and recently put out this image of UK actor Dermot Crowley as General Madine, sat in his command chair on the top deck bridge of his Rebel warship from RETURN OF THE JEDI. Madine's scenes directing the epic space battle against Imperial forces over Endor, filmed by Richard Marquand and Lucas (with his second unit), were sadly all cut from the finished film, though thankfully lots of stills from the sequences were released for publicity on the filsm release in 1983 (including one great colour image used for the characters KENNER action figure card).

Will those scenes, and other classic lost moments, eventually make an appearance on the upcoming ultimate Blu-ray set of STAR WARS? Lets hope so.

BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE: HAT HUMOUR!

At FOX STUDIOS Australia in 2003, Natalie Portman has fun with costume designer Trisha Biggar whilst trying on a hat-part of a costume for her Delegation of 2000 meeting scene with Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). The eventual peacock-like costume she wears, with dreadlock-style hair, is a brilliant and distinctive creation, and involved in lots of promotional work for REVENGE OF THE SITH (including Drew Struzan's strangely disappointing poster art), as well as lots of promotional/costume reference photos (with a classic spread image in VANITY FAIR, shot by Annie Leibovitz), but the filmed tense scene itself is sadly cut from the film, and not seen by STAR WARS fans until the eventual 2005 DVD release.

BEHIND THE SCENES IMAGE: CHECKING PADME'S WARDROBE

Prior to filming of EPISODE III, Natalie Portman, watched by Lucas, poses as Padme inside her apartment set at FOX STUDIOS for one of her first set and costume lighting/reference tests, which also proves handy in checking the 2003 digital camera set-up being used. This particular costume would ultimately not appear in the film, though  some of this deleted material linked to the birth of the Rebel Alliance would be on the 2005 DVD release (but still minus a crucial conversation scene, between her and Obi-Wan about Anakin, that we REALLY want to see on DVD one day!)