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Jar Jar's introduction was originally a
little more elaborate than we saw in the movie. In the
film, he just sort of appears in all the confusion,
grabbing on to Qui-Gon as he passes by him. According to
the Illustrated Screenplay, however, Jar Jar is enjoying
a nice morning meal before the ruckuss. This is further
supported by his small speech to Padmé later on aboard
the Queen's ship when he tells her about how the day
"...starten out pitty okeyday witda brisky morning
munchen."
An odd,
frog-like creature Gungan, JAR JAR BINKS, squats
holding a clam he has retrieved from the murky
swamp. The shell pops open. Jar Jar's great
tongue snaps out and grabs the clam, swallowing
it in one gulp. |
Jar Jar is
a friendly Gungan, as we all know but did you know that
he was originally supposed to hug and kiss Qui-Gon after
he saved Jar Jar from getting run over in the swamp?
There originally was a scene in the swamp where we see
Obi-Wan hiding in a Naboo lake. He has just left the
Federation ship he stowed away on and is getting ready to
meet up with Qui-Gon. His head comes up and in the
background you can see the Federation Troops readying for
the big invasion. Obi-Wan takes a few deep breaths and
submerges into the muddy water once again.
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Exterior:
Naboo Swamp - Twilight |
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- In
the distance, two STAPS burst out of the mist at
high speed, chasing OBI-WAN.
- QUI-GON:
I have no time for this now...
JAR JAR: Say
what?
- The
two STAPS barrel down on OBI-WAN.
- JAR
JAR: (cont'd)
Oh, nooooo! Weesa ganna....
- QUI-GON
throws JAR JAR into the mud.
- QUI-GON:
Stay down! His head
pops up.
JAR JAR: ...dieeee!
- The
two troops fire laser bolts at OBI-WAN. QUI-GON
deflects the bolts back, and the STAPS blow up.
One-two.
After Qui-Gon
uses his lightsaber to save Obi-Wan from
the STAPs, Qui-Gon scolds Obi-Wan
slightly, reinforcing the
Master/Apprentice relationship they have
together. Here's the scene as it reads in
the Illustrated Screenplay. In the film,
this takes place right before Jar Jar
pops up and Obi-Wan asks, "What's
this?" Read on:
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- OBI-WAN
is exhausted and tries to catch his breath.
- OBI-WAN:
Sorry, Master, the water fried
my weapon.
- OBI-WAN
pulls out his burnt laser sword handle. QUI-GON
inspects it, as JAR JAR pulls himself out of the
mud.
- QUI-GON:
You forgot to turn your power off
again, didn't you?
- OBI-WAN
nods sheepishly.
- QUI-GON:
(cont'd) It won't take long to
recharge, but this is a lesson I hope you've
learned, my young Padawan.
OBI-WAN: Yes,
Master.
JAR JAR: Yousa
sav-ed my again, hey?
OBI-WAN: What's
this?
QUI-GON: A
local. Let's go, before more of those droids show
up.
JAR JAR: Mure?
Mure did you spake??!?
- OBI-WAN
and QUI-GON start to run. JAR JAR tries to keep
up.
- JAR
JAR: (cont'd)
Ex-squeeze me, but da moto grande safe place
would be Otoh Gunga. Tis where I grew up...Tis
safe city.
- They
all stop.
- QUI-GON:
A city! (JAR JAR nods his head)
Can you take us there?
JAR JAR: Ahhh,
will...on second taut...no, not willy.
QUI-GON: No??!
JAR JAR: Iss
embarrissing, boot... My afrai my've bean
banished. My forgoten der Bosses would do
terrible tings to my. Terrible tings if my goen
back dare.
- A
PULSATING SOUND is heard in the distance.
- QUI-GON:
You hear that?
- JAR
JAR shakes his head yes.
- QUI-GON:
(cont'd) That's the sound of a
thousand terrible things heading this way...
OBI-WAN: When
they find us, they will crush us, grind us into
little pieces, then blast us into oblivion!
JAR JAR: Oh!
Yousa point is well seen. Dis way! Hurry!
- JAR
JAR turns and runs into the swamp.
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Here's
something interesting. In the film we see the Neimoidians
coming out their ship in the main square of Theed Plaza.
They are on their way to the Palace and OOM-9 informs
them that he has captured the Queen. We never get to see
this ship of theirs completely. We can just see a leg and
some of the base as they come out. in this shot from the
Comic Adaptation, we get to see the whole ship and it
looks pretty nice. it would have been great to see it
landing in the plaza. |
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Sabé, the Queen's handmaiden, was
originally not the only decoy in Episode One. The Queen's
ship, according to the Episode 1 Insider's guide CD-ROM,
was also used as a decoy. Check out this passage:
In the revised
third draft, the Queen's starship actually lands
directly in one of the Royal Palace's courtyards. It
is surrounded by battle droids and a tank. However,
when droids led by a droid commando named 044 search
the starship, they find nothing. Evidently, the Queen
and her entourage abandoned the starship near Otoh
Gunga, then programmed the autopilot to fly to the
Royal Palace. Later, Nute reveals that the Trade
Federation forces have located the "life
pods" used by the Queen and her followers.
This is interesting
stuff. Perhaps some of you might remember a rumor long
before the film was released which I'll dub the
"Marie Celeste" rumor. According to some
sources on various websites, the Queen's Nubian chrome
ship was to be called the Marie Celeste. Someone
had actually researched this and found out that the Marie
Celeste (or Mary Celeste) was actually an old vessel
whose crew had mysteriously disappeared in 1872 without a
trace, leaving no indication as to why they left the
ship.
We know that in the film
the ship is never referred to by name, just make and
model. There is evidence, however, in the shooting script
that the ship was at one point referred to as the Marie
Celeste. The scene described above is also in the
shooting script and not only is Nute present in the scene
but Darth Maul as well. It is listed as:
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According to the Illustrated screenplay,
there was a short scene where Jar Jar swims back down to
Otoh Gunga in search of the Gungans after the trip back
home from Coruscant. In the film we only see him
returning and coming out of the water to report that the
city is deserted, but in the original drafts he actually
swam down and looked around. Here's the excerpt from the
Illustrated screenplay:
EXT. NABOO SWAMP - UNDERWATER - DAY (FX)
JAR JAR swims down into Bubble City.
INT. OTOH
GUNGA - CITY SQUARE
JAR JAR enters the main square of the bubble
city. He stands, stunned, in amazement and fear.
He is nervous and shaking.
Jar Jar
Ello! Where das everybody?
The plaza is
empty. He notices that many of the buildings are
shot up as if there had been a battle of some
kind.
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Sometime during the conception of
Amidala's plan to capture the Viceroy, Nute Gunray, this
shot falls into place. Here is a great shot of Ric Olié
in the greens of Naboo, awaiting his orders. It's from
the Episode 1 Insider's guide. |
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There was originally another
scene to take place in the Naboo Palace Throne room after
the capture of Nute Gunray. Many Battle Droids are firing
at the closed Throne Room door trying to get inside. This
scene is still intact in the novelization, as seen here:
Blaster shots hammered
into the door of the throne room in the palace at
Theed. Captain Panaka and the Naboo soldiers
spread out to either side in a defensive stance,
preparing a crossfire for the droids. Nute Gunray
wanted to move out of range, but the Queen was
still facing him, her blaster leveled at his
midsection, and he did not care to risk provoking
her into a hasty action. So he stood there with
the others of the Trade Council, frozen in place.
Then abruptly, everything went still.
All sound of weapons fire and droid movement
beyond the battered throne room doors ceased.
Captain Panaka looked at the Queen,
his dark face uncertain. "What's going
on?" he asked worriedly.
Amidala, her weapon pointed at Nute
Gunray, shook her head. "Try communications.
Activate the viewscreens."
Her head of security moved quickly to
do so. All eyes were on him as he slowly brought
the outer screens into focus. |
As you can see here,
Panaka brings up the viewscreens and then we cut over to
the plains where the battle is taking place. The strange
thing is we never cut back to the throne room to see what
happens! We go from the above scene, to the grassy plains
and Jar Jar, and then that's it. The book goes from there
to three days later where Obi-Wan and Yoda speak of
Anakin's training. I do know, however, that there was
originally another scene where Ric Olié reports to the
Queen and informs her that the battle is over. My guess
is that this is the scene right after Panaka brings up
the viewscreens. They probably see Ric on the monitor and
he talks to them. While I'm not sure of the dialogue from
this scene, there is a card from the Decipher CCG "Menace of Maul" set (Bravo
One is the card name) that has a quote from Ric Olié on
it and he says, "Mission Accomplished, Your
Highness." My guess is this is from that scene.
I don't think Decipher would make up lines so they must
have gotten an earlier draft of the script with many of
the cut scenes intact. There are some other quotes on
those cards that were not in the film either.
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