Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 11/21/02 Section: Arts & Entertainment

A much-awaited event, the DVD release of "Attack of the Clones" was met by long lines of devoted fans. They couldn't contain their enthusiasm for the release. Several of these fans had brought folding chairs, and we spoke about the release while "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" played on a laptop computer.

Sadly, I cannot defend the decision by George Lucas to disappoint his loyal fans. This DVD has outstanding graphic quality, with excellent sound including support for 5.1 surround. It's a two disk set with the movie on the first and additional features on the second. This second disk is what I must protest. In TV interviews and on countless web sites (including the official Star Wars site) there was a lot of talk about the deleted scenes. Specifically there was a five-minute long scene with Jedi Knights and clone troopers conducting a commando raid on Federation ships. There was also supposed to be a space battle where we see the Republic attacking the Federation starships. Nobody seems to know what happened to the great space battle scene, but the commando raid was printed, and it was cut. It was felt that it did not advance the story sufficiently. So where is this cut scene? Not on the DVD, that's for sure.

I expect that at sometime in the future, there will be a grand re-release of the "Clones" DVD with the 'missing' scenes. Everybody who already purchased this DVD will have to purchase it again if they want these new scenes. While this is similar to the "Fellowship of the Rings" re-release, at least that was announced in advance. I cannot accept what appears to be another grab for a few more bucks from a loyal fan base. I loved the movie; I loved the DVD; but dammit, George, it's all about the Benjamins, ain't it?

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