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Post #1192403

Author
EddieDean
Parent topic
A Collaborative Star Wars Saga Edit
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1192403/action/topic#1192403
Date created
5-Apr-2018, 6:55 AM

Pre-Edit: You really should call this project ‘FROM A CONSISTENT POINT OF VIEW’.

I think this is a really noble goal and totally agree that it’s worth creating an area for discussing issues which span the saga, rather than those which are limited to individual films. I think this kind of thread is very useful for solving issues like Leia’s memories of her mother, or the kind of popular issues which Snooker has mentioned, such as only Vader being Darth.

I think you have a couple of major challenges:

  • The more content you include, the more potential edits need to be made. And bear in mind, as the universe grows, more content is going to be important for more people, thus worthy of inclusion. Some people could take or leave Clone Wars, but it’s increasingly being respected as a major part of the canon. To give just one example, now that we know that it’s likely that Ahsoka (probably the most popular non-movie character) may appear in yet another TV show, people may want Clone Wars to be included in this. Do we then need to remove all instances of ‘Darth’ Tyrannus, all instances of Dooku being referred to as a former Jedi, do we need to rotoscope his lightsaber in all instances from the Clone Wars? (I’m not saying those are changes which need to be made, but those are all things which have been mentioned in prequel edits to solve that one particular issue some people have.) If we decide Y wings should be in their ‘naked’ OT design, what happens if they’re all over the live action series with their full prequel armour?
  • So, you need to define the scope. Expansion beyond the Skywalker saga and era probably (but not definitely!) will have a lesser impact - Rian Johnson’s trilogy and the trilogy by the Game of Thrones team will probably not impact this era. BUT, this third animated show, and/or newly announced live action show, and/or additional Anthology movies, could reinforce elements of canon you may otherwise wish to excise. The Kenobi anthology might have him not shut up about ‘Darth’ Maul. The live action series or Han Solo movie might talk about ‘Darth’ Sidious and keep showing his ridiculous EpIII face.
  • You’re also limited by certain sources. I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure the majority of people will consider Adywan’s OT edits to be the ideal version of the OT, or at least the base template, due to its quality colour and fixes like the Wampa, the arm that gets cut off in the cantina, etc etc. But what if people really object to certain fixes he’s made? What if they really hate his Yoda lips? What if they have a problem with his new footage for the changed Endor moon battles? Even then, I’d assume people wouldn’t want to go back and use other existing OT sources, would they?
  • How much handwaving do we allow? “From a certain point of view” Vader killed Anakin. “From a certain point of view” Leia remembers her mother. “From a certain point of view” Obi Wan never owned a Droid. “From a certain point of view” Yoda trained Obi Wan.

Now I’m not saying I have the answers here - I’m just putting the questions up for discussion. But for me, for what it’s worth, I’d argue as follows:

  • To reduce the need to make ever-increasing changes, and to keep the project futureproof, the canon is largely the canon. Jar Jar exists, and talks in that horrible voice. Dooku was a former Jedi, and is now Darth Tyrannus. Luke and Leia are seen at the end of Ep3, and known to be Vader’s children. Yoda is seen throughout the prequels and Clone Wars as a Jedi. Other darkiside force users use Force Lightning. Prequel ships are high tech. Holograms are inconsistent quality, and sometimes colour and sometimes all blue. We can’t avoid this. The Saga is the Saga now - not just supplements to the gravity of the Original Trilogy.
  • As for Scope, it should at least be movies and TV. You could argue only movies, and that’s fair enough. But increasingly the TV is more canon, and that’s likely to continue. You could argue to add non-adaptation books and comics too. But I think you get into an area of diminishing returns at that point. Personal example: I enjoy the Phasma comic well enough, but does that mean we need to keep the line about the trash compactor in EpVII too? I think that’s a step too far for something I find grating.
  • Regarding sources, once we have identified our core objectives, we should identify the sources to use. And, perhaps, let those sources inform our objectives in terms of minimising work/adherence to our goals. I strongly think the Adywan OT should be our core OT - give or take any easily doable edits to them that we choose to add on top, like (for example only) adding the Imperial March to Vader’s Tantive entrance, or perhaps fixing Leia’s mother in EpVI rather than EpIII. Similarly, it looks very likely that Hal9000(+collaborators)'s edits to EpVII will be a viable template there.
  • I think the issue of handwaving things as a “certain point of view” is what we really want to minimise, a core goal of this project. You should be able to watch without going ‘wait, her mum was dead last time I saw her, better check Wookieepedia’ or ‘I’m sure I’ve seen Obi Wan with loads of droids, plus he knew R2, better ask my nerdier friend’. Ultimately, we shouldn’t be providing answers to these awkward questions - we should be avoiding awkward questions in the first place.

Where individual edits have fixed individual movies and improved their quality, and trilogy edits have sought internal consistency and sometimes also extra consistency with the rest of the saga, generally the approach has been that you can replace any individual movie with any fanedit (or trilogy of fanedits) without a change.

But now, what we’re proposing here is a more radical approach, where all edits in this project are consistent with each other, rather than able to be individually popped out. To that end, once we’ve established this project’s principles, I propose we use some identifier where we can say ‘this edit is a part of the FROM A CONSISTENT POINT OF VIEW (or whatever) project’. CONPoV can then be the principles, rather than the edits. If you want to buy into the CONPoV idea then we can present an index of edits (and even original unedited versions) which comply with the project’s goals. Maybe we discover that the original ESB or Rogue One is already perfectly consistent. Maybe Adywan’s ANH already fixes that film’s consistency issues. Maybe we even give edits a CONPoV rating. Then we’ve identified the films which need further work, and direct our efforts. And it also allows for users to create their own alternative edits (if they want to) which are still CONPoV consistent. In fact, if that all sounds a bit much, I’d be more than happy to maintain a spreadsheet of the principles we settle on and the degree to which existing originals and edits adhere.