10 Movie Scenes That Fans Tried To "Fix"
9. Jar Jar Dies During The Waterfall Deleted Scene - Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
The Edit
Mike J. Nichols' The Phantom Edit is one of the most famous fan edits of all time, a comprehensive re-tooling of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.
Nichols' cut severely reduces expository dialogue, political discussions, kid-friendly goofball humour, mentions of midi-chlorians and, yes, the presence of Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best).
But perhaps even more famous is a deleted scene which was reportedly also re-edited by Nichols, which depicts Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor), Qui-Gon, and Jar Jar escaping from their bongo moments before it's hurled over a waterfall.
This sneaky re-edit of the scene, however, never has Jar Jar escape from the bongo, causing him to fall to his death along with it, letting out a satisfyingly obnoxious death scream as he does so.
Did It Work?
While killing off a cutesy character like Jar Jar doesn't really suit the movie's tone at all - hence why it likely doesn't appear in the Phantom Edit proper - it is nevertheless an ingeniously seamless re-working of the deleted scene.
Jar Jar is cleverly re-inserted into the bongo when it careens over the side of the waterfall, and for many fans, there's an undeniably cathartic quality to seeing him annihilated so succinctly.
For what's essentially a fun gag, it's exceptionally well executed (pardon the pun).