Here are rundowns of the cut scenes included on the DVD, plus screengrabs and remarks by myself. ;^)

1. Hova the Nurse Ant

This scene took place just before we saw Zoc for the first time, when he was harvesting fire crystals. The nurse ants are in the nursery catching pupas as they fall out of their eggs which are attached to the ceiling. Hova spends too much time on a single pupa, trying to determine its lot in life, as her supervisor (I assume) gets bogged down with the backup of newly-hatched pupas. At the end of the scene the pupa Hova holds cracks its neck from side to side and Hova remarks, "You know, you remind me of someone..." We then cut to the fire crystal scene, which as you might recall begins with a shot of Zoc cracking his neck from side to side.

Remarks: I guess this scene was cut for time, money, or perhaps to simply hasten the story along (the directors may have felt that introducing both Hova and Zoc individually was unnecessary). This scene also makes Hova look rather incompetant at her job, if you ask my opinion. Of course, it would have been the only scene where we actually see Hova doing her job...but I digress.

2. Fred and Noreen Pack

This scene took place just before the one where Noreen (that's Lucas' mom) found Lucas hiding behind the couch playing Frog Flyers. In the junior novellization, Fred (Lucas' dad) puts a pair of his Bermuda shorts on his head and goofs around - but in this partially-finished scene it's a leopard-print thong (I wish I were making this up). The doorbell rings and Fred (forgetting to take the undies off his head) announces he'll get it, but not before Tiffany manages to snap a picture of him on her camera phone.

Remarks: Likely cut for time, and because it wasn't entirely necessary.

3. Enter the Exterminator

(Continuation of above scene.) At the door is Stan Beals, who's evidently been there before and has returned despite Fred's insistance that they aren't interested in his services. Beals explains that he holds accounts for every house on the block but theirs (in which he uses the interesting phrase "This place sticks out like a dime in a goat's butt").

Remarks: This appears to have been cut practically at the last minute, as it is fully-animated and images from this scene were used on the movie's official site. I suppose introducing Beals this way was decided to be unnecessary and that having him just appear on the lawn later with Lucas was adequate; but I rather like it, personally. Oh well. (Of course, if they had kept this scene, they would have had to keep the one with the thong too, and perhaps that would have made the film run too long.)

3. Attack of the Wasps

This scene evidently used to be part of the one where the wasps attack to steal caterpillars. In here Fugax displays extreme bravery, leaping onto a wasp's back and actually biting off one of its wings, causing it to crash.

Remarks: Might have been cut because it made Fugax look less wimpy. I dunno.

4. Telepathy

This storyboarded scene shows how originally telepathy was going to be one of the ant powers Lucas would obtain by the end of the story. This bit occured at the beginning of the Honeydew Scene. In it, Hova is beginning to explain to Lucas about becoming an ant when Zoc telepathically interrupts her, telling her that ant ways are not for humans. She and Zoc, and then Kreela and Fugax, argue telepathically for a bit, wiggling their antennae, when Lucas (working on his fly exoskeleton glasses) breaks in with an impatient "Hey come on, human present. Talk with your mouths." Hova apologizes to him and Zoc leaves, disgusted.

Remarks: Almost certainly cut because they decided against giving Lucas telepathy.

5. Shag Carpet

This was originally scripted at the part where Lucas, Hova, Kreela, and Fugax enter the house and are confronted with the forest of shag carpet. Fugax, undaunted, plows into the shag and we hear a lot of muttering and mumbled threats directed at the carpet while the others wait. Finally he re-emerges, dusts off his hands and strolls past them back the way they came declaring, "Okay, let's go home." As the other two ants turn to follow him, Lucas looks up and spies the rose petals.

Remarks: I wish they had kept this! Oh well.

6. Angelfish

This lengthy scene was an addition to the hang-gliding scene in the final film. In here, the gang are hang-gliding on the rose petals when they pass over a vase of flowers which make Lucas sneeze, blowing him off-course. He falls into the aquarium and climbs onto his rose petal, only to have it eaten out from under him by several angelfish. They chase him to the bottom of the tank where Lucas takes refuge in the skeleton aquarium ornament before a bubble from the bubble-stone envelops him and takes him up the thermomenter where the bubble breaks and Lucas climbs out, declaring "I gotta remember to feed the fish!"

Remarks: While I'm sure this scene would have been great eye-candy, I'm glad it was axed. It was way too long and halted the plot.

7. The Last Wizard

This scene is a flashback to Zoc's childhood, and I'm not positive where it would have been placed had it been used in the final film. Little Zoc, on instructions from an old wizard ant, climbs a flower to gather nectar for a potion while four other students watch (here we get the origin of the line "Impossible? A wizard knows no such word!" - it is uttered by the old wizard when Zoc complains he can't climb the flower). When Zoc reaches the top he spies Stan Beals approaching with his sprayer. A cloud of poison washes over the ground, missing Zoc who's safe on top of the flower. Below, he hears the screams of his master and fellow students as well as dozens of others as they die.

Remarks: This scene would have explained several things and it was a shame it was cut. It would have explained Hova's remark to Lucas that Zoc has anger issues with humans, and it would explain why Zoc is not only the only wizard but why - if he truly was meant to be the only wizard - he doesn't appear to be entirely sure how to do everything he probably should, as the colony's only wizard. If he was but a child when all the other experienced wizards, as well as all the other students, were killed by Beals, then that would tell us that he managed, all on his own, to become as powerful as he is today, and that might make the viewer appreciate his character more (I know I do, after having viewed this scene). This scene would also remind us that ants don't live as long as humans, explaining how Beals could be so "ancient" to the ants as to have attained a demi-god-like status with them. The scene may have been cut for being too dark for young audiences.

8. Vegas

In the original script Fred and Noreen are vacationing in Vegas rather than Puerto Vallarta. Fred and Noreen come out of a live show in Vegas and Fred, who's having a wonderful time, doesn't notice that Noreen seems moody and preoccupied until he looks at a tourist photo they took together earlier. He tells her to go ahead and call Lucas if she's worried about him. Meanwhile Mommo is crouched on her bed examining the carpet with binoculars looking for Tiny Lucas when the phone rings. To avoid stepping on the ground Mommo snags the phone receiver with an umbrella and, assuming its the FBI, starts yelling at them to not hang up on her this time. Noreen interrupts her and asks how the kids are. Putting a plate of sugar on the floor Mommo tells her that they're fine, not abducted by aliens, and not shrunk to the size of ants. Noreen asks to talk to Lucas and Mommo pretends to be him briefly and quickly ends the conversation.

Remarks: Of course they couldn't have kept this scene as-is since the Nickles were switched to vacationing in Puerto Vallarta; but it would have been kind of fun if they had rescripted it and made it anyways. Oh well.

9. Beals-A-Bug

I believe this took place right after Lucas was shown the images of the Ant Mother and the Cloud Breather. An ant (I think its Zoc but its hard to tell as this scene is just in storyboard form) says to the Ant Mother "Mother give me strength" and the scene dissolves into an overhead shot of the shabby Beals-A-Bug office with the Ant-Mother-like fibreglass figure in front of it. Cut to the inside where a fly flies through the smoke-filled room and onto a pile of sugar on a desk. Beals appears out of the gloom and pounces on it, then calls to his secretary Lilith for coffee (who answers back "Sure, Stanley."). Beals holds the fly under a magnifying lamp, removes its wings, and puts them in a cigar box labelled WINGS which is absolutely filled with fly wings. Lilith comes in with the coffee and remarks "Sweet, you caught one." Beals mutters about how alone insects are powerless, but they outnumber humans ten million to one. He picks up some fly wings out of the box, crumbles them up, and puts them in his coffee, calling insects a disease. Lilith counters with the argument that insects are very beneficial creatures before Beals yells at her to stop watching "that darned public television!" Lilith aplogizes and dumps Beals' schedule book in front of him. He looks in it at Lucas Nickle's name and tells "Lucas" not to worry, that he knows how to handle pests.

Remarks: Lilith seems like a really cool character and its a shame she was cut from the film - but I suppose it was just as well, if this was her only scene. I mean I know that if they had kept this scene I'd be complaining right now that they didn't use Lilith enough! Besides that, the fly wing thing is just way too over the top - they seemed to have perhaps replaced Beals' psychosis as depicted here with bad hygiene and a weird overzealousness for his job. I don't know which version of him is worse, really. I think Giamatti deserved a character with more depth than either of these versions, but that's just my opinion. I get the feeling that they didn't want the audience to see the exterminator character as a real human being anyways.

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