Star Wars fans know a lot about a galaxy far far away, but many have been shocked they never knew about this one deleted scene.
The first prequel film, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, is controversial enough among fans, but might have had even more notoriety if they'd left this scene in the final cut.
As Star Wars fans know, there are whole host of terrible things about this film, the introduction of Midi-chlorians, Jar Jar Binks, and a George Lucas special of bad dialogue.
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However in equal measures there are things that are fabulously cool, at least to kid me, like Darth Maul, the lightsaber choreography and Podracing.
It is in the famous Podracing scene with a young Anakin Skywalker that George Lucas and the writers put in quite a dark story for one of the contestants.
Prepare to gasp in horror and check out the scene below:
If you remember the scene well, contestants are fighting dirty and dropping like alien flies.
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Well, one of the contestants we do see die got a little bit more of a backstory in the deleted scene.
Racer Ratts Tyerell, the kind of a blue lizard looking alien, crashes and burns during the race, but before the contestants set off, in the deleted scene, the announcer introduces his family.
Super fan Jtimsuggs brought attention to this in a post on X on June 11 and remarked how he couldn’t believe it was initially green lit.
He wrote: “Still baffled that there is a deleted scene for The Phantom Menace where one alien’s wife and children come to support him during a Podrace, only for his speeder to crash and blow up horrifically.
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“They even mention that 'his wife just got out of the hospital'. LIKE GEORGE?!”
People in the comments section were equally stunned that the creators wanted to include such a dark turn of events.
“The saving grace of the prequels is that they are truly odd movies,” one user wrote.
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“George has this not-so-secret sadistic sense of humor. Droids scream bloody murder when they’re blown away. Aliens get annihilated for comedic effect. I always felt bad but also… entertained???” commented another.
“It's almost a sadistic gag. His family later goes on to found the Tyerell foundation and is instrumental in abolishing podracing,” a third wrote.
Well, I guess it really would have hammered home just how dangerous the sport is, so maybe it should have been included.
Topics: Star Wars, Film and TV