One of my conjugals managed to sneak in a dusty DVD so I snuck into the warden's office and here is what I saw....as I watched all 7 scenes on the 2nd DVD, I came up with several questions. The most important was why were these scenes deleted?

I viewed all 7 with and without commentary and honestly it still didn't answer my question. In the commentaries, Lucas et al. talk about how each scene may have been good but never moved the story along. They were shot, completed, then trashed...huh? They didn't move the story along, OK, but that's what the DVD is for. You have that much more space that you can actually insert the scenes and it wouldn't hurt the movie. Apologies in advance if I have "Jar Jar'd" the order of the scenes.

The 1st 2 scenes are extended Pod Race scenes: an extended introduction and extended lap 2. The scenes were deleted from the final film, but why not incorporate them back into the DVD? They were short and I don't think anyone would've thought anything of them. It's part of the race, who cares if it didn't move the story along? It would've been nice to see the droids pick up the smashed Pod pieces; just leave the scene in there.

The 3rd scene is the Waterfall scene: Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, & Jar Jar are in the bongo and emerge from underwater. Before they disembark, they notice that they're in a predicament: they're about to take a header over a waterfall. Qui-Gon shoots a little harpoon type gadget, he and Obi-Wan scamper out of the bongo and onto land, but poor Jar Jar, like the idiot he is, stumbles and falls into the water. The bongo then goes over the waterfall and is dashed to bits below. After watching it, I'm kinda glad this one was deleted; I blame it on Jar Jar. Then again, why not incorporate it back into the final film? (they interviewed the guy that made the digital effects for that scene and he worked his a$$ off, and it came out great) After the whole Jar Jar thing, the trio make their way into Theed and the camera pans up to the skyline showing the beautiful buildings that make up the kingdom of Naboo. That, in itself, was a great shot.

The 4th scene is the "Dawn before the Race: it's early morning and Anakin has fallen asleep by his Pod, no doubt after working tirelessly on it. Padme then wakes him up and I think the scene cuts there. Hmm, not much going on except what you see...

The 5th scene is the air taxi scene: our heroes along with the Queen arrive in Coruscant and are sped off to the senate in an air taxi - really nice scene as it shoes the hustle and bustle of Coruscant. This was reinstated so no complaints there.

The 6th scene is Anakin fighting with Greedo - does this really need an intro?? Anakin fighting Greedo - do you want me to say it again??!!? The shot is rather childish, but it is a typical kid fight - they haven't learned how to throw real punches yet - still, we see a young Anakin with a temper, and Greedo.....talk about making a connection with the OT.......

Finally the 7th scene (and my favorite) is "farewell to Jira": this shows Anakin and Qui-Gon as they are leaving Mos Espa and Anakin is saying bye to that dusty old woman with the achy bones. Then it becomes a great scene because they show the Sith droid following the duo and Qui-Gon slashes it with his lightsaber. I loved this scene because his reflexes are so fast that we barely see the lightsaber; we just see the droid on the ground split in 2. It also explains why they were running to the Queen's ship, which I've always wondered.....

Well, this came out longer than expected and I appreciate you sticking with me. I think that these scenes, regardless of how they played out or if they moved the story along or not, should've have been left in the final film. Yes it's Lucas' movie and he did with them what he pleased, but still, how about making the fans enjoy the DVD a little more? Many directors release a "director's cut" or "special editions", and I don't find too many people complaining. I'm sure no one would've complained in this case either. Go home tonight and watch the deleted scenes and tell me what you think.....oh, oh...warden's coming...gotta go...............