The first scene is rather painful but the second is pretty decent. Both scenes serve to explain more what’s going on with Luke’s everyday life and the Empire vs. rebellion struggle.
I guess the right choice was made to leave them out, because I think part of what made Star Wars appealing is it just dropped you right in the middle of the action without explaining too much.
I remember that opening scene from the comic book - Luke watching the battle in the sky, and it also introduced Biggs (which helps explain how this buddy of his suddenly shows up at Rebel HQ with no real introduction).
I remeber a shot from that scene was used in the Star Wars Storybook from back in the 70s. Luke standing on Tattoine with Biggs.
I also remember listening to Public Radio’s Satr Wars Radio play which had a whole first chapter with Luke, Biggs, and some friends racing their T-16s through Beggar’s Canyon.
Yeah…that’s a lot better than the classic opening scene of Leia’s Blockade Runner being chased down by a Star Destroyer.
I think the movie is better off without it. When we meet Luke, you get the sense that all his friends have already left Tatooine and he’s stuck fixing his uncles whachamacallits. We’re much better off without seeing Luke’s buddies hanging out at their favorite cantina like a bunch of college students after graduation.
Besides, we get enough insight into Luke’s life on Tatooine. Obviously he knows Biggs from back home. Probably from when they used to bulls eye 2 meter long wamp rats in their T-16s.
Some screenshots appeared in the official storybook when it came out in '77. People, remembering those, would insist they saw those scenes in the movie, but they never did. That’s what Lucasfilm has always said…those scenes were never in the theaters.
No, they denied them being in the released film. And they weren’t. What people mis-remember are the images in the aforementioned storybook, the text in the novelisation, and hearing the scenes on the radio adaptation.