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I was recently watching Star Wars: A New Hope on DVD with my grandson. Biggs Darklighter spoke to Luke in the hangar bay and I was asked "Who is he, grandpa?"

I explained he's the one who was with the girl in the cafeteria on Tatooine, they were teasing Luke about being a farmboy. I got a puzzled look because it wasn't on DVD.

I dragged out my VHS player and put in my old shop-bought A New Hope videotape from the 1980's - no such scene.

I then searched and found another tape of it that I'd recorded from television many years ago - no such scene.

I mentioned this to a lifelong friend, we'd went to see A New Hope original run as teenagers in the 1970's. He looked puzzled and said he hadn't seen this scene.

It's like a reverse Mandela Effect, I know I saw this cafeteria scene. Was there ever a version of Episode IV that showed it?

Danny Mc G
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    The other answers are fine, but here are a couple more things that you might like to know:

    • In the original theatrical version that you saw as a teenager, that scene in the hangar bay wasn't there either; the only mention of Biggs's name is when he dies, and you have no idea why Luke cares about him. It was restored in the first (1997) Special Edition.

    • Besides the novelization and the comics, the other early place where all of the Biggs scenes, even the one on Tatooine, did appear, is the radio drama. So if you're more auditory than visual, maybe that's where you -saw- heard it.

     – Toby Bartels Feb 03 '20 at 11:32
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    Danny, it's a ("well-known") deleted scene. You must have seen it somewhere! – Fattie Feb 04 '20 at 01:11
  • Just FTR you can (like anything) instantly find this deleted scene, and every detail about it, on the internet – Fattie Feb 04 '20 at 01:12
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    For what it's worth I've had the same thing happen with other scenes from all star wars films, including the newer trilogies. Older versions of the films are almost impossible to find. New DVDs always include the new edits. For instance, Star Wars IV now has a ton of CGI-incrusted extraterrestrial animals on Tatooine, that weren't there before. Also, the first human version of Jabba the Hutt has disappeared (he wasn't always a slug). When I saw Star Wars III in theater, there was a long dialogue seen where Palpatine and Dooku are discussing racism that has also disappeared. – Stef May 23 '22 at 12:39

7 Answers7

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There was an interactive DVD-ROM released on PC in 1998 called Star Wars - Behind the Magic that this, and a few of other deleted scenes, appeared on.

If you ever owned that, it's possible that this is where you saw it.

TheLethalCarrot
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PaulG
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    @PaulG yeah! That's it, I didn't own it but I remember now sitting in my friend's house a long time ago and four or five of us were crowding around a tiny monitor screen and totally nerding it – Danny Mc G Feb 02 '20 at 20:39
  • Also production stills appeared in at least one other place: The Star Wars Storybook – Todd Wilcox May 23 '22 at 12:25
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The scenes with Biggs, Cammie and Luke's other friends were included on (among others) the (2011) Complete Bluray edition, which is where you're most likely to have seen it since it was never included in a release version.

There is, however, the possibility that you saw it on one of the various bootlegged "despecialised" editions that have popped up on the internet (incorporating these scenes into A New Hope) or read the Official Novelisation or Comic Novelisation in which these scenes also appear.

Valorum
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  • @DannyMcG - Well, it wasn't released by Lucasfilm until the 2011 Bluray. – Valorum Feb 02 '20 at 09:36
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    I've never seen some of these scenes. The ones with Biggs are rather interesting, thanks. – Hans Olo Feb 02 '20 at 10:04
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    Although the teasing at the cafetria was not in the 1977 version of the movie, it was in the novelization (which is based on an earlier version of the script). If you read the book acouple of times, maybe that's why that scene was so engrained into your memory. – Volker Landgraf Feb 02 '20 at 16:16
  • I did watch the movie in 1978 (when it came to cinema in Germany) and read the book about 1 or 2 years later. I immediately realised that the book hat a scene (the afforementioned teasing) that had not been in the movie. It was not until - after having read the book about a dozen times - I watched the movie a second time 10-12 years later that I realised other changes, especially in the battle of Yavin (re-coloring squadrons red --> gold and blue --> red, reducing the number of attempts to reach the target). – Volker Landgraf Feb 02 '20 at 16:23
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    I wonder whether the Motion Picture Academy gives an Oscar or maybe a Lifetime Achievement Award for the movie that was released in the most number of different versions? – Solomon Slow Feb 02 '20 at 18:36
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    @SolomonSlow, no, but the publishers give more money to Lucas the more of his ex-wife's contribution to the film is removed. – Valorum Feb 02 '20 at 19:06
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    That hat though – Todd Wilcox May 23 '22 at 12:31
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In addition to prior answers, another place one might have seen this (and perhaps the earliest) is in Marvel Comics Star Wars #1 (July 1977), with art by Howard Chaykin. Clearly this was based on an early cut of the movie including that scene. I similarly had this moment in my head for many years, thinking it was in the movie, before ever seeing the actual film footage.

Marvel Comics Star Wars #1 (July 1977): Biggs scene

Daniel R. Collins
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There was a Star Wars Storybook that was published in the late 1970s or early 1980s, and it showed a photo of Biggs and Luke meeting on Tatooine, along with a summary of that scene. Thanks to that book, for the longest time I thought that scene had been included in the theatrical run, but got cut whenever the movie was shown on TV. It wasn't until the late 1990s that I realized it was a deleted scene.

Star Wars Storybook at Wookieepedia

Wissenschaftler
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The scenes with Luke at the moisture evaporator looking up with binoculars at a space battle and also at Tosche station talking to Biggs, were included in prints that went to only about 12 theaters. I saw it myself in Louisville KY. opening night. I was 16 at the time and returned to see the same version several more times. A couple years later I saw it again at the same theater and noticed the first several minutes of the movie were missing. I have talked to others that also remember seeing the deleted scenes. This information used to be on the web, but has disappeared over time.

Joe
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    This extraordinary claim requires at least some level of proof other than that you're sure it happened. – Valorum Jun 27 '21 at 07:38
  • I told our children about it when they were growing up long before the scenes were released, they were amazed that everything I had described was exactly as seen on the footage released years later. By the way, I’ve never seen the comics, I didn’t even know about them. I also have classmates that were there opening week that also remember. Lucasfilm may officially deny it, but there were definitely a handful of the first early prints that included the footage. – Joe Jul 05 '21 at 14:09
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    I'm with Joe. I could describe those scenes in detail way before the internet. I saw it in Lima early in its run, and when I saw it again about a month later, those scenes were gone. – Scott Sakemiller Dec 05 '21 at 01:48
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I'm familiar with that scene from having watched this YouTube video, about how the movie was saved in the edit. (Link queued to the part I believe you've mentioned)

X Goodrich
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Daniel Collins, I fondly remember that illustrated Scholastic Star Wars book of the movie.

The Yavin hangar scene was included in a rough cut reportedly shown to Stephen Spielberg and Brian De Palma by George Lucas during post production. This version had certain issues with pacing of narrative structure, among other things. Marcia Lucas won an Oscar (best editor) for her significant work on the original theatrical release, of which the Biggs scenes at Toschi Station (?) and the Yavin hangar were dropped.

Images, and TV and 8mm footage did reach the public during this period though. I remember being introduced to Star Wars thanks to a friend of my Dad's, a work colleague showing off his 8mm film projector. He only had the scene where Uncle Owen purchases the Droids. I wonder if anyone saw leaked footage in this manner.

There were a lot of stills featured in magazines like Starlog, and cut footage such as original Jabba, Biggs, Luke watching the opening space battle from the ground etc. may have featured in televised special effects documentaries of the era.

The hype surrounding Star Wars was almost insane, and without the benefit of the internet, fans relied upon leakers, TV broadcasts, videotape and laser disc, magazines, postal fan clubs, and word of mouth for exciting and obscure crumbs of info.

Gaz
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