logo Sign In

TFA: A Gentle Restructure (Released)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Star Wars - Episode VII: The Force Awakens: Restructured V6

The following information and more can be found at FanEdit.org, home of the fan edits.

Running time is about 136 minutes.

Tagline: It’s another Death Star…
 
Synopsis: It’s the same Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens you fell in love with, only restructured slightly so that Starkiller Base does not fire until close to the end of the film.
During the battle over Starkiller Base, the stakes are no longer protecting the Resistance base, but preventing the destruction of the Republic Capitol. Even though they destroy the First Order’s superweapon, they fail to do so in time to save the day.
 
Intention: To move the destruction of the Hosnian system to the climax of the film, and and implement all the little things necessary to facilitate it seamlessly.
 
How does this restructuring help the film?
 
• The second act centers around the events of Maz’s castle and remains focused on the characters and their struggle to keep the First Order from finding the map to Luke. The First Order catching up to Han and Rey is sufficient motivation for Finn to decide not to leave, without the Hosnian system being destroyed.
• Starkiller Base firing upon the Hosnian system in the third act links it very closely to Kylo Ren’s resolution toward the dark side as he kills Han. Pairing these events magnifies each.
• Han taking a risk motivated by love for his son which brings about costly failure is a dark mirror of Vader doing the same in Return of the Jedi and ending up helping to save the galaxy.
• It alleviates the plot’s very close parallel with the original Star Wars.
• Starkiller Base is depicted as functioning in an intuitive way: it drains the nearby star (or “the Sun,” as Finn describes it), which covers it in darkness, and then fires on the Republic Capitol. Gone are the awkward questions about why the planet was still in daylight when it fired the first time during the second act, and whether the base is mobile.
• It avoids depicting the Hosnian system clearly visible to the naked eye, very large in the sky, from lightyears away. The official Lucasfilm canon answer is that Starkiller Base created a “space-time disruption,” an obvious bandaid answer to apologize for a wanton move on the filmmakers’ part. One wonders whether such intersystem spectacles are common in this world, because no one who witnessed the destruction had the slightest trouble identifying what was happening.
• It avoids raising the question of why the Resistance did not begin evacuating their base during the third act when they know they are the target. In the original Star Wars, the Death Star was looming overhead; here, there’s no obvious reason why they could not have fled.
 
This project was born of the emergent idea from all over the Internet after we all saw the film. Numerous people at OriginalTrilogy.com suggested this idea immediately after release.
See also William Gillis’ blog post which explains his rationale for desiring this change: https://humaniterations.net/2016/03/26/how-to-fix-the-force-awakens/
 
Other sources: Various sound effects from the Star Wars franchise

Special Thanks:
Everyone at OriginalTrilogy.com who contributed, including:
NeverarGreat (Visual and audio effects)
Sir Ridley (Visual and audio effects)
Jackpumpkinhead (Visual effects)
Sherman (Cover artwork)
MalàStrana (English and French subtitles)
Burbin (Visual effect, Spanish subtitles)
Octorox
Smithers
Chris Solo
Ben_danger
That_OT_Ruler
RogueLeader
Kexikus
Bingowings
Darthrush
ImperialFighter
Yuri_Kenobi
Littlev87
Tomo
Cheebo
DominicCobb
TK251
SkywalkerFan01
Rpvee
Scott109
DigMod
DuracellEnergizer
Sougouk
EddieDean
Willrow-Hood
ForceGhostRecon
Jack of All Trades
Vladius
Spiphisser
Marduk666
Chyron8472
HyperDown
Oojason
DougieP
Edezio Enk’or Valorum
Hardcore Legend
JawsTDS
Yotsuya
StarWarsFan Sweden
Valheru_84
KumoNin
SUP3RDeathStar
Jarbear
Bromeo
RogueLeader
AbramPT
Darth_ender
Possessed
YodaFan67
ChainsawAsh
Guilty
Ray_afraid
Anjohan
Tobar
Fishmanlee 
Krlozdac

Others:
William Gillis (Blogger who voiced the core idea for this project which appeared shortly after the film’s release)
Noodle_Finger (fan editor behind a prior TFA edit)

Special features:
Fan Editor’s Commentary
Chapter stops
Subtitles (English, Spanish, and French)

Cuts and Additions (V6 changes marked with asterisks):

Poe’s ladder retracts as he prepares to take off from Jakku (borrowed from NeverarGreat’s Starlight project)*

Removed the glow from Kylo Ren’s saber during a shot it is deactivated (borrowed from NeverarGreat’s Starlight project)*

As Finn mans the TIE fighter with Poe, trimmed firing upon fellow stormtroopers so soon after planning to escape. Now, he causes peripheral damage to prevent them from firing at him and takes aim at the command center. (Slightly shifted the placement of the film’s trademark Wilhelm scream in order to retain it.)

Removed Kylo Ren identifying Finn’s stormtrooper ID from memory.

Added the Falcon jumping to hyperspace after leaving Jakku, then being ripped from hyperspace soon after, along with removing a now-out-of-place line from Finn about “get[ting] out of this system.” (FX by NeverarGreat)

Trimmed Finn repeating, “cute boyfriend.”*

Removed Han’s somewhat kindly, “Come on outta there” to Finn and Rey while leaving the directional nod (thanks to NeverArGreat).

Removed Rey saving Finn from the rathtars, cutting from Finn’s line, “They look like that,” to Han and Chewie arriving at the door to the Falcon.

Removed General Hux from the first scene with Snoke, where he suggests using the weapon to destroy the Republic. (FX by Jackpumpkinhead to remove Hux walking offscreen during first shot)

Removed Finn’s comedic line about almost being killed several times by Chewie while tending to him on the Falcon (Mimicked DigModiFicaTion’s approach).

Removed the holochess game cameo (help from NeverArGreat and Burbin).

Removed Han describing the need for Maz to help them get a ‘clean ship.’ It doesn’t add anything, and their motives are already clear enough. (Idea from NeverArGreat)

Subtle rendition of the first part of the Emperor’s Theme has been added to the Imperial March as we see Vader’s shattered helmet (thanks to Sir Ridley).

Trimmed Maz’s journey across the table (borrowed from NeverarGreat’s Starlight project)*

Added two lines from the Emperor during Rey’s Force vision to very gently hint toward the revelations within Episode IX.

Repurposed excised footage from the rathtar sequence to depict Rey separated from Finn in her Force vision. (Thanks to NeverArGreat)
 
After Rey flees Maz’s castle after her Force vision, replaced the Hosnian system being destroyed in the sky with a Star Destroyer. Finn and Han now gaze up to see that the First Order has caught up with them, as they feared. Finn’s line to Han about the First Order has been changed, including a brief visual modification to his mouth. (FX by Sir Ridley and NeverarGreat)

Added a shot of the ship Finn is preparing to leave on, to imply Rey is planning to accompany him (borrowed from NeverarGreat’s Starlight project)*

Throughout the battle at Maz’s castle, applied a slight sunset color correction to harmonize the sunset lighting present before and afterward.

Audio from the trailer was used to add a sound effect to a TIE being shot down (turned out to be barely noticeable, but I did it anyway).

Slightly restructured Finn running after Rey (borrowed from NeverarGreat’s Starlight project)*
 
New deleted scene included of Leia discussing the Republic. The scene was originally intended for earlier in the film, and Leia’s prominent braid has been removed to match her scenes immediately prior and after. Audio has been redesigned to accompany a finished film, and the sequence retimed to accommodate it. (FX by Sir Ridley and NeverarGreat)

When Finn is introduced to Leia, removed mention of the Hosnian system’s destruction, though retained mention that Finn had worked on the base (thanks to FX work by NeverarGreat).
 
R2 now has a blinking light to indicate that he has begun searching for the map. (FX by NeverarGreat)
 
After Rey resists Kylo Ren’s mind probe, added the portion of the Snoke scene from earlier where General Hux suggests using the weapon to destroy the Republic. Kylo Ren’s face has been overlaid where his mask was for one shot, and a few shots from behind have had the back of his head replace his hood. (FX by Jackpumpkinhead and krlozdac)

Fixed two continuity errors introduced by the restructuring: Snoke is now seen rising from his seat in a new context rather than suddenly appearing upright, and his mouth no longer moves in a shot in which he is silent. (Thanks to NeverArGreat for the former.)
 
Moved General Hux’s impassioned speech to after Kylo Ren overreacts to Rey’s escape from her cell.
 
After the speech, the nearby Sun beings to be drained, as Hux and the troops gaze upon the stream being sucked into the planet. (Recolored to yellow-orange, and reversed so as to appear to be going down into the ground)
 
During the briefing scene at the Resistance base, removed Leia identifying their base as the Starkiller’s next target, Threepio lamenting the prior loss of the Republic fleet, and well as mention that the First Order is charging the weapon “again.”
 
Cleaned up the smoke and debris around the Starkiller weapon exhaust when the X-Wings approach. (FX by NeverarGreat)

During a brief cutaway to the Resistance base as Han and Chewie infiltrate the oscillator, removed Threepio’s line, “It would take a miracle to save us now.”

Removed Finn’s comedic moment of misunderstanding Han’s head nod while searching for Rey (Mimicked DigModiFicaTion’s approach).
 
Immediately after Kylo Ren kills Han, the Starkiller fires and destroys the Hosnian system, as Leia senses it through the Force. (Some FX by Sir Ridley and NeverarGreat; V6 uses a shot from Starlight to remove an extra casually walking by during Leia’s reaction shot)*
 
As Finn and Rey start to head outside the oscillator, cut to Snoke and Hux planning to destroy the Resistance. (FX by Sir Ridley)

First Order technician redubbed to state the weapon will be fully “re”-charged in 30 seconds. (Voice from AbramPT)

Chewie has been cropped out of a shot of him walking past Leia. (Crop and image enhancement by Sir Ridley)

Extended the shot of R2 waking up, to allow him to finish searching his backup data. (FX by NeverarGreat)

Added a cloaked binary beacon from TLJ next to Finn (borrowed from NeverarGreat’s Starlight project)*

Color corrected Ach-to to bring it a little closer to the corresponding scene’s lighting and weather conditions in The Last Jedi.

Added a few subtle porg sounds to the background, replacing two native bird sounds.

The final shot of the film has been stabilized. (FX by NeverarGreat)

My stance on revising fan edits.

Author
Time

I love the movie as is, but I’m potentially interested in this. It does sound like an improvement.

Author
Time

This was the only aspect that really bothered me. There were other little things but as soon as I saw TFA, as much as I enjoyed it, I started thinking that I hoped someone would make a fan edit that does exactly what you are describing. I agree the movie would have been so much better. They succeed in destroying SKB but not before The First Order destroy Hosnian Prime. I’m looking forward to following this project.

To contribute to The Starchaser 3D project, please pm for details

Author
Time

Yeah, my biggest complaint about the movie was the whole Starkiller Base thing. That’s what made me make the connection to A New Hope 2.0. But moving the destruction to after Han’s death is actually a really smart idea that would improve the movie by a ton. I’m thinking of putting it in my edit.

~The original trilogy is my life… kind of~

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Not that this really needs to be said, because we all know it: This was not my idea! I just want to see an edit that pretty much does this and leaves the rest of the film as is. (And to work together to perfect the approach so it’ll be available to others.)

My stance on revising fan edits.

Author
Time

here is my newly updated version of the tie approach based on input from users here. let me know what you all think

https://youtu.be/y9ORxVHXeVg

“You can’t polish a turd. But you can shape it to look like candy.”

Author
Time

From the other thread, here’s what I have so far for the scene. The line is, “It’s the First Order, they’ve done it.” I scoured the film and couldn’t find anything to replace the second part of the line, but it doesn’t sound that odd. He just sounds a little weird, like, “Now they’ve really done it!”
https://vimeo.com/165767941

My stance on revising fan edits.

Author
Time

That test looks great Jack! I think that is definitely usable. I think they could be smaller/closer to the Star Destroyer, but I think it is good the way it is too. Any closer would be too close, but I like it now too!

Also Hal, about the “they’ve done it” line. I think it works that way, it’ll definitely do. I think we could still look for alternatives though just in case someone finds something better.

Author
Time

Maybe there’s a line or two from the upcoming Lego Star Wars Force Awakens game. I know Boyega recorded dialog specifically for the game.

To contribute to The Starchaser 3D project, please pm for details

Author
Time

Really looks great now! I would have placed them even further away but it’ good as it is too. I think there should be more TIEs though, the fleet in your shots seems quite small compared to what we see later in the Rey scene. And I would maybe try and make them a little brighter. I don’t know if that makes any sense but I feel like it could look better.

Author
Time

Nice work! Now we just need Finn to say something different. The only thing I don’t like is their reactions a little over dramatic, in my opinion. But hey, the magic of editing can fix that.

~The original trilogy is my life… kind of~

Author
Time

They do face death or imprisonment and the possible destruction of an outpost hundreds of years old. I think the reaction is fine.
Imagine the reaction the people of the Spanish mainland would have is someone dropped a small nuke on Gibraltar.

Author
Time

And Finn and Han know that Luke is in danger if they come for the map.
I think this works well for that hypothetical audience who hasn’t seen the film and doesn’t suspect anything.

My stance on revising fan edits.

Author
Time

This could be fantastic! And as long as you’ve got something to do with it, Hal, I know it’s gonna be top quality! Good luck! 😃

Author
Time

Kexikus said:

Really looks great now! I would have placed them even further away but it’ good as it is too. I think there should be more TIEs though, the fleet in your shots seems quite small compared to what we see later in the Rey scene. And I would maybe try and make them a little brighter. I don’t know if that makes any sense but I feel like it could look better.

it seems as though everyone wants to see them further away, which i may try, idk. as far as there not being enough in the fleet, i think you are wrong. if you re-examine the shot where rey sees the fleet, we really dont see that many ties. besides, why would you send a huge fleet of ties to take our one little castle of seemingly unknowing and off guard bar patrons, and the same applies to the trooper transports. at least thats the way i see it. i will try making them “brighter”. i did try to give them a bit of a sky color tint so as to seem like they are in the distance somewhat.

“You can’t polish a turd. But you can shape it to look like candy.”

Author
Time

okay, so i have played around with this slightly and this is what the clips look like currently. if you all think that this looks good enough to be the final version then i will upload a video version. but for now pix are all you get 😉

Finn’s View:
alt text

Han’s View:
alt text

“You can’t polish a turd. But you can shape it to look like candy.”