For decades, it was a natural for movies to cut a lot of footage. Even the classic films had to leave bits on the cutting room floor. Usually, it’s for pacing because it just doesn’t work as well as hoped. It used to be that once those scenes were cut, that would be it, they’d never be seen again. But when DVDs came around, studios realized how adding these scenes as extras would be a major attraction. That was proven right as today, fans go wild checking these out. It is not only films who do this, tv shows do it as well, and it really drives fans crazy.
What’s telling is how many of these cut scenes come off so much better if they were in the movie itself. This isn’t about alternate endings of movies that would change things up. Or about films famous for being recut and dropping tons of stuff (such as Justice League). This is about movies and TV shows that have scenes so great that fans believe deleting them was a huge mistake. They fit better, they come off well, they fill in some plot points and they would have been great if kept.
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25 Grieving Han, The Last Jedi
Sometimes, a cut scene isn’t something huge or plot-altering. It’s a moment that may be small but can speak volumes. Such is the case for the latest Star Wars movie. The theatrical cut has Luke Skywalker dismissing Rey immediately before Chewie appears. When his friend does, he asks “where’s Han” and then the scene cuts. It seems that Luke barely acknowledges his friend’s death.
In the cut scene, however, there is a moment in which Luke is at his table, obviously overwhelmed by the loss of his long-time friend. It would then go from him looking down to Leia on her ship looking up, linking the twins in their grief. This would have been a great moment to bring more emotion to the film.
24 Ripley’s Daughter, Aliens
Here’s a case of a scene that’s small but would have played a major part for viewers. The sequel to the acclaimed sci-fi/horror film has Ripley being found in a stasis pod after being asleep for over 50 years. In this cut scene, Ripley learns her daughter, Amanda, died just three years earlier at the age of 67. Ripley is heartbroken, as she has basically missed her daughter’s entire life.
Sigourney Weaver has said mentioned that she has always hated that the scene was cut, because it explains why she is so attached to Newt. Ripley sees Newt as the daughter she couldn’t save before.
23 Riggs vs Sniper, Lethal Weapon
This deleted scene could have set a better tone for the movie. While on patrol, Riggs answers a call of a guy firing random shots at a school. With a cigarette in his mouth, Riggs marches right by other cops and walks into the yard, unheeding of the shots being fired at him. He then quite calmly takes down the shooter himself before walking off like nothing happened.
It shows Riggs not caring about his own life yet going above the call of duty to handle a threat. It would have been a great way to introduce him to the film.
22 Buford vs Strickland, Back to the Future III
In a deleted scene, Buford and his gang are racing to town when Strickland and his son confront them. Disarmed, Strickland is forced to ride off to keep his son safe. As he does, Tannen unfortunately passes. Dying, the sheriff tells his son to always remember one word: “Discipline.”
Robert Zemeckis explained on the DVD that the scene was cut as test audiences saw Buford as more a bumbling comic guy and not a monster killer.
21 Chandler’s Joke, Friends
At the airport, Chandler sees a sign on how you’re not supposed to joke about bombs and, of course, has to do so. He’s instantly carted off by security with Monica following. In an interrogation room, Chandler just keeps digging himself deeper with more jokes. The obsessive-compulsive Monica is then thrown by the security guys going through her carefully packed bag.
They’re finally let go with Monica getting a call from Joey on whether or not to go into her apartment for a gas leak. Monica sarcastically replies to just wait for it to blow up…and the security guys drag her and Chandler back into the room. While it’s obvious why it was dropped at the time, it shows the fun comedy that made the show such a hit.
20 Creating the Virus, Independence Day
In the deleted scene, David is being shown the captured alien ship at Area 51 with Dr. Okun explaining they removed the “gooey pods” and put in regular seats for the technicians. David (a top MIT genius) then accesses the ship’s system, and figures out the alien codes.
Thus, David already knows how the alien’s systems work and has figured their codes out. This allows him to create the virus quickly, and knows how to upload it into the mothership. Keeping this would have explained a huge plot hole and saved ID4 years of mockery.
19 Finn vs Phasma, The Last Jedi
An alternate scene shows the Finn and Phasma confrontation with a twist. Here, Finn is surrounded as Phasma runs him down as a weakling. Finn fires right back by pointing out how, in the previous movie, it just took a little threatening to get Phasma to shut down the shields on Starkiller Base and she’s nothing but a coward.
Phasma scoffs at that but then sees the troopers giving each other looks. She pulls out a gun to shoot her own men to keep her secret which gives Finn the chance to attack her. This time, after the “Scum”/”Rebel scum” line, Finn fires off a huge blaster which sends Phasma flying into a pit.
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18 Obi-Wan’s Lie, Return of the Jedi
The old laserdisc for ROTJ (not the DVD or Blu-Ray) had a scene that was long lost. In it, when Luke confronts Yoda about the truth, the Jedi Master says Obi-Wan wanted to tell Luke the truth but Yoda forbade it.
He felt it would stop Luke from ending Vader if he knew Vader was his father. It’s amazing that it wasn’t kept in as it explains some of the missteps of the Jedi and puts Obi-Wan’s “lie” in a new light.
17 Tywin and Pycelle, Game of Thrones
A deleted scene from season 3 would actually showcase that more as Pycelle meets the powerful Tywin at a beach. He does his usual babbling before Tywin snaps for him to knock it off. “Am I the only one who sees through this performance?”
After a pause, Pycelle straightens up and, speaking in a booming tone, admits even he can’t believe it works so well. He explains that he puts on the act to be seen as less threatening for his own survival. It adds a fun bit in season 4 as, when Pycelle is talking, Tywin is looking around in amazement at everyone else falling for this. While short, it would have been nice to show how Tywin knew the truth of this master player.
16 The Lost Twenty, Attack of the Clones
In this scene, Obi-Wan would be in the Jedi library seeing a bust of Dooku. A librarian would reveal he was one of “the Lost Twenty,” the Jedi who, for one reason or another, left the Order. She would also talk of his skills with a lightsaber and his political power. It’s a great bit of exposition to show why the Jedi had a hard time believing Dooku would fall to the Dark Side and help serve the film better.
15 Saruman’s Fall, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Peter Jackson put together the extended DVD version, and he made sure to include the scene he wanted. Here, Saruman has a confrontation with the heroes atop his tower, mocking them on the dangers to come. He ends up being literally stabbed in the back by the slimy Wormtongue and suffering an epic fall. It’s a far better fate that Jackson hated to cut as Lee loved filming it and would have been better in the theatrical version.
14 The Interrupted Honeymoon, The Flash
As soon as this scene hit online, fans of the CW series were asking why it wasn’t in the episode. After so many ups and downs, Barry Allen and Iris West are finally married and enjoying a honeymoon. The next episode would have opened with Ralph Dibny, the rather bumbling Elongated Man, deciding to use the super high-tech STAR Labs…to watch Netflix. He’s got popcorn as he hits some buttons only to set off an alarm indicating a huge danger is about to hit Central City.
In seconds, Barry and Iris show up, both in tropical clothing. Barry has to hold Iris back from throttling Ralph, screaming about him interrupting her honeymoon for this. Barry is just as angry, snapping “you know how hard it is to run across an ocean in flip-flops?”
13 Nero’s Escape, Star Trek 2009
A deleted scene explains to viewers, that Nero’s ship was damaged and his crew captured by the Klingons. We see Nero (now with a broken ear) enduring constant torture but refusing to talk. When he hears of reports he recognizes as a time portal about to open, Nero wipes out the guards and frees his crew, revealing he could have escaped any time he wanted. He was just waiting for the elder Spock to show up so he could make his revenge complete.
12 The Political Games, Revenge of the Sith
There are a number of cut scenes within the films. The first has Padme and Bail Organa meeting various senators who are concerned over how Palpatine is keeping so much power and doing away with various checks and balances. They’re joined by Mon Mothma who openly states that the Senate is basically powerless.
This leads to another scene of them presenting Palpatine with a list of hundreds of senators who feel strongly about this and he accepts it. Of course, every one of those senators ends up being arrested when Palpatine becomes Emperor. These scenes show a much stronger side of Padme fighting for the Republic while also laying the seeds of what will become the Rebellion.
11 Bronn’s Talk to Shae, Game of Thrones
After being sent away for her own safety in season 4, a heartbroken Shae talks to Bronn who does a speech on how the rich and powerful just use people like him and Shae and don’t even care about what happens to them.
He says she just has to “adapt to circumstances” to survive. Of course, Bronn has no idea how Shae will take his advice to strike at Tyrion later which makes this scene a great addition for how it sets up a later turn in the show.
10 Time Is Full Circle, The Terminator
However, another scene would have brought the time travel effects up even more. Sarah ends up destroying the Terminator by crushing him in a factory press she had stumbled onto. As Sarah is carted to the hospital, we see a pair of technicians finding the remains of the Terminator and intrigued by the high-tech circuitry.
The camera then pulls back to reveal the factory is called…Cyberdyne. In other words, the Terminator’s “death” basically set the road to creating Skynet and would be a great bit for the viewers to realize how time is full circle.
9 Cap has to Adjust to Modern Times, The Avengers
In the audio commentary, Joss Whedon said he hated to cut this scene from The Avengers. However, it just felt rough in pacing as he wanted to get Cap right into the action. Yet this sequence shows how Steve Rogers is adjusting to a world that’s moved 70 years without him.
Steve wanders around New York, obviously amazed at it all and then hits it off with a waitress at a diner. This would lead to Stan Lee making a cameo urging Cap to “ask her out.” The whole scene captures the “man out of time” aspect.
8 Effie’s Makeover, The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1
In a deleted scene, she shows the connection she has with Katniss. She shoos people away to do Katniss’ makeup herself for a propaganda film. She says she needs to make this work, “you, me…and Cinna,” citing the late stylist who helped Katniss in the earlier movies. It’s a great moment that shows the connection the two have and that under all that glitz, Effie truly likes Katniss and wants to help in her own way.
7 Hitting the Mall, X-Men Apocalypse
There are some complaints about the latest movie in the X-Men franchise being too overblown and too many characters. However, it’s notable that cut out was a softer bit that showcases the fact these mutants are still basically kids. Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Nightcrawler decide to hit the mall, accompanied by young Jubilee. It perfectly captures the ‘80s vibe, starting off with “Safety Dance” playing in the background. Nightcrawler is astounded by it all as they hit an old-fashioned arcade with fun bits like Crawler using his tail to play two controllers at once.
There’s also a bit of them buying records (with one showing popular singing X-Man Dazzler) and even some breakdancing. It would have been a fun addition to show them more relaxed before the main action cut in and the actors shining well in it.
6 Bill vs Black Dynamite, Kill Bill Vol 2
Among the multiple deleted scenes was a scene where the Bride remembers how she and Bill took a trip to China. They’re met by a man (Michael Jai White) who wants revenge for Bill slaying his master. Bill easily takes down the man’s four aides and then engages in a wild sword battle.
It’s shot like a cheesy 1970’s kung-fu movie complete with a badly dubbed accent for White. While it was cut for pacing, it does showcase David Carradine looking terrific and shows Bill’s skills which makes him more of a threat for the Bride.
5 Unkar’s Arm, The Force Awakens
In a scene showcased on the Blu-Ray, while at Maz’s castle, Rey is surprised to find Unkar has followed her. He explains he had a beacon on the Falcon and tracked them down and demands “his” ship back. Rey tries to use a blaster but he mocks her on how “the safety is on.”
However, Chewbacca takes exception to his new friend being mistreated. Showing his lack of intelligence, Unkar actually mocks Chewbacca and shoves him. The next thing we know, Unkar’s arm is literally flying across the room to land on a table. It’s a great bit to show how protective Chewie is of his friends and closes out this jerk character a lot better.
4 Walt’s Train Lesson, Breaking Bad
A deleted scene has Walt doing a big speech talking of the history of great train robberies that were famous for getting a few thousand dollars. He then states how this robbery is going to be bigger than all those combined. It’s short but a terrific bit showing the obvious joy Walt has in his criminal life that drove him on and made the show a dark but intriguing ride for viewers.
3 Loki’s Coronation, Thor: The Dark World
In Thor The Dark World we see Loki being coronated King of Asgard. He’s all smiles as he marches out, the crowds applauding and cheering him on. His mother beams with pride and even the Warriors Three accept him as he takes the throne, embracing his destiny. To top it all off, he would then be worthy to hold Mjolnir over his head.
It would then reveal it was just a dream of Loki’s before he’s going to be sentenced by Odin. However, it showcases his desire and how he just wanted to be loved and accepted. It also smartly foreshadows how he takes on Odin’s appearance to become ruler later in the film.
2 The Happy Mother Ending, How I Met Your Mother
Many fans hated the original ending, which is why they much prefer the official alternate ending the show-runners had which has Ted and Tracy meeting in rain under an umbrella. They look at each other, feeling a connection and the older Ted states “and that’s how I met your mother.” It then just has a bit of the cast over the years and ends. No illness, no Barney/Robin break up, ending with the story of how the mother was the point which fans would much prefer over the aired version.
1 Dudley Apologizes, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part I
As the film begins, the Dursleys are getting out of town as Harry gets ready for the final confrontation with Voldemort. Dudley comes over, extending a hand and basically apologizes to Harry for all the bad stuff he’s put him through.
It’s a great moment. Dudley admits his horrible behavior and explains that he is truly sorry for all the years of friendship lost between them. Harry is thrown, realizing he misjudged his cousin all this time. It shows great emotion from both actors.
Sources: IMDB.com, BuzzFeed, io9.com
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