What happened to outtakes from the original Star Wars movie, since renamed Episode IV: A New Hope? No, we're not talking about that scene where the stormtrooper bangs his head on the door — that gaffe made it into the film, and became part of fan legend. We speak of the honest-to-goodness blooper reel, assembled for cast and crew after shooting has wrapped.

For years, Lucasfilm was unable to answer that question, or even confirm whether such a reel existed. Then its editor and author, J.W. Rinzler, uncovered the reel while trawling the archives for his "Making of" series. Rinzler screened the result for a small audience at Comic-Con — the first time it had been seen in 36 years.

Audience members were asked not to make video or audio recordings of the historic reel. [UPDATE 10/30: It was posted briefly on YouTube, but has since been taken down for a copyright claim.] Here are its highlights:

Harrison Ford (as Han Solo) fluffs the line, "Great shot kid, that was one in a million" after Luke blows up the Death Star. Ford proceeds to eat his headset mic.

A squad of stormtroopers blows open a door on the Death Star, but a piece of the set about three feet high remains. The stormtroopers attempt to hop over the board, tumbling on to the other side as if emerging from a clown car.

Alec Guinness (Ben Kenobi) gets whacked in the face by Chewbacca's arm in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon; Guinness proceeds to boggle his eyes and make faces at the camera.

Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) imperiously insisting that Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) "name the target" for the Death Star, then flubbing his line and collapsing into Fisher's arms.

Anthony Daniels (Threepio) struggling for several minutes to get to the top of a sand dune on Tatooine (ie. Tunisia), in a costume he could barely move in; Daniels falls over at the top.

Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) speaking a line cut from the final film, "Let's get some distance before that thing goes supernova," before pausing to ask George Lucas how he should pronounce "supernova."

An alien in the Mos Eisley Cantina repeatedly jabbing his middle digit into another alien's chest — until the digit bends back on itself. The alien looks at his deformed hand in horror.

Star Wars fans, what do you make of these additions to movie history? Let us know in the comments.

Image: Lucasfilm