GrandMaster88

FreezingTNT2 said:

When will you rewrite the other movies?

Over the next couple of weeks hopefully. Would love some feedback.

Hi everyone. I’ve not posted much on here before but thought I’d give my thoughts on the saga and what I would’ve done differently if I’d been allowed to.
I’m a huge fan of the originals and actually the prequels too. I saw TPM at the cinema when I was 11 and it blew my mind. I was there for the next two on opening day and loved both of them. Over the years my appreciation for the originals has grown beyond that of the prequels but I still love them. Empire has always been my favourite of the saga though.

As much as I enjoy the prequels, I do acknowledge there are a few problems and a few quite stupid plot holes. I’ve spent a bit of time thinking about how to fix these holes and marry the story up more with the OT. This is my idea for The Phantom Menace. I’ve tried to keep the overall plot the same but there are several big changes. Not sure if anyone will be at all interested but let me know what you think.

                                             STAR WARS
                                         THE PHANTOM MENACE

The Clone Wars are already raging and the seperatists are invading Alderaan (same as Naboo just with a different name). Count Dooku takes the place of Darth Sidious to preserve the surprise for later, though he does talk about his master to add threat to his words when talking to the nemoidians. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon go to The planet as in the original after the Nemoidian army invades to try and peacefully resolve the matter. They are not master and apprentice, Obi-Wan is a Jedi Knight in his 30s already having trained with Yoda years ago and he and Qui-Gon are close friends. Their costumes would look more like Luke’s in ROTJ too.
Alderaan is ruled by the King Bail and Queen Amidala Organa. She is older in my version and he basically takes the place of Sio Bibble in the story.
They meet Jar Jar who is a Gungan, but he’s not a slapstick character. He is a noble everyman, though still comedic, and completely out of his depth. The Gungans and the Alderaan people have been feuding for decades. Jar Jar is a lone voice of reason in the conflict and has become and outcast from his own kind because of his fraternising with humans. He helps the two Jedi anyway and takes them back to the Gungan city.
The scene with Boss Nass goes more or less as it does in the film, until the end when Boss Nass banishes Jar Jar for good for bringing humans to the Gungan city. The Gungan’s speech is more like an ancient Nobel tribe and Boss Nass insists that there will never be an alliance between them and the humans. He does however, believe in the force and has some respect for the Jedi. He agrees to give them a ship that will take them back to the main city and the royal palace. He then warns them never to return to his kingdom.
They make it through the planet core and rescue the Queen but not Bail. We meet Padme, who is a handmaiden to the queen and not the queen in disguise. They end up having to land on Tatooine after the hyperdrive is damaged, and land on the Lars moisture farm. Anakin is about 18 and Shmi is his mother. She married Cliegg Lars when Anakin was a Toddler but then Cliegg died a couple of years later. Owen is Anakin’s older step brother. Obi-Wan is the one who notices him first, and can sense the force in him. They still go to Mos Espa and end up betting with Watto on the pod race.
Anakin races pods for fun and offers to help them win money for the parts they need. Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon can sense the force is incredibly strong with him. Obi-Wan and Anakin get on really well and quickly become friends. Owen doesn’t like the Jedi and is uneasy with them sizing up Anakin. Once Anakin wins the pod race Obi-Wan is convinced he should be trained and offers Anakin the chance to go with him to the republic capital. Qui-Gon agrees that Anakin should be trained but reminds his friend that he is older than most Jedi apprentices. He also cautions Obi-Wan against training Anakin himself. Owen clearly doesn’t like the Jedi for trying to take Anakin away. Like the film, Anakin hesitates to leave his mother but she persuades him to go.
Darth Maul has still been tracking them all this time and there’s a duel in the desert between him and Qui-Gon as in the film.
The Coruscant scenes can all play out as they are. The only difference being Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both make a case for Anakin being trained but the council is still hesitant. Yoda is not part of the council. He is still the order’s grand master and wisest teacher. He is almost mythical. A legend amongst the Jedi and almost unheard of outside the order. Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Mace Windu are the only Jedi who have been taught directly by Yoda in the modern age of the Jedi.
Mace thinks it unwise to train Anakin and chastises Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon for bringing him with them without informing the council.
The senate won’t allow Alderaan to use republic clones until they have validated the claims that the Seperatists have invaded the planet. Palpatine is still manoeuvring things to suit his ends.
Amidala goes back to Alderaan and with the help of Jar Jar Binks they go back to the Gungan city. We actually see the city has been destroyed and there are a few bodies too. Jar Jar is devastated by the scene. They then hunt out the remaining Gungans and confront Boss Nass. He is a shadow of his former self. At first he is angered by the sight of humans, and attacks the queen. The Jedi stand ready to defend her, but then Padme, the hand maiden speaks up! She does manage to talk the Gungans round and display amazing skills for diplomacy and fellow feeling for the Gungans who have lost everything. She is clearly Leia’s mother!
The climax is the same as the original. Except Anakin is actually drafted into the Naboo navy and, rather than “oops”in his way through the battle, is a superb pilot. Going inside the droid control ship is a reckless move he makes against his commander’s orders, but it pays off. This mirrors more what his son will do years later. Also, as well as Amidala and Panaka capturing the viceroy in the throne room, they rescue Bail.
Qui-Gon dies and Darth Maul is beaten by Obi-Wan, though he doesn’t cut him in half at the waist. Obi-Wan cuts off his legs and he falls into the pit presumably dead.
The Jedi council still doesn’t think Anakin should be trained, but Obi-Wan takes it on himself to train him anyway. Bail Organa offers Obi-Wan sanctuary if he ever needs it in gratitude for helping free his people. Padme is offered the position of the new representative of Alderaan in the senate now Palpatine has become the new chancellor.
Finale is the same with the Naboo and Gungans declaring peace and celebrating freedom from separatist rule.

michaeldc said:

Hi all, while waiting impatiently for the blu-ray of Harmys most excellent DE, I got to work on some box artwork for the discs. I like the ones I’ve seen so far but I fancied giving it a go using the classic theatrical posters and I tried to keep it minimal (saving audio/despec/video information for an inlay) - I don’t know if anyone on here would like them but thought I would upload them in case.

I purposely left off most mentions of despecialized as to me these are the definitive editions of the movies in HD, nothing else comes close so this, for me, is just Star Wars, and nothing more. Does that make sense?

<span>https://www.dropbox.com/s/pzccty3u02e624j/SW-MC-BDArt.zip</span>

<span>That’s the link to full res versions I made. Enjoy!</span>

Wow! I Love these! The link wouldn’t take me to them though… would it be possible to redo the link or maybe dm them to me?

Gogogadget said:

a work in progress of sorts.

Looks awesome! Really want to print off some of these for my OT set at home!

Wow what a terrible movie!! It genuinely felt like a middle finger to the fans!! Sooooo disappointed with what they did to Luke! I have already started to rewrite it the way I would’ve done it. How could Everyone involved in this film have missed the mark so massively???

Bingowings said:

There have been edits with Mace not having purple or others (Dooku, Yoda etc) also having purple to take the uniqueness away from Mace's.

In my view PT era Jedi all had blue sabers and Luke is the first to go green.

I agree... All Jedi should have blue lightsabers... Even Luke! 

Jedi blue Sith red... Simple! 

 I'd love to see a fan edit of ROTJ where Luke's lightsaber is blue. It was originally intended to be so but they changed it because the colour of the blade got lost against the sky during the fight above the Sarlacc Pit. 

Are there any edits out there that made the change? 

Looks awesome man!! Always thought he should have a blue saber! 

Change "trilogy of books" to "trilogy of comic book mini-series", and I'll agree 110%. 

 Wow, it's been a while since I've been on here!! 

I like that idea!! Definitely! I'd love to see some drawings of generals Skywalker and Kenobi... ;)

I'd love to watch your trilogy!!! How can I get hold of them? :)

I've been thinking some more about this and, personally, if I were George Lucas, there are two major things I'd have done differently.

Firstly, I would have kept the first movie's title simply as STAR WARS. no added episode number later, the sequels are simply called THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI. 

Secondly, I would have told the stories of the prequels with a trilogy of books... That way, you get to know how and why Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side, you hear all about The Clone Wars, and you get to picture the characters however you want to. There aren't so many disappointments when the actors chosen don't match the images we've had in our heads for the characters. 

AND... For any newbies, or those who only watch the films... There are NO SPOILERS!!! :)

This solves the problem in my mind... I'll probably get blasted for saying it, but there you go.  If other films had to be made they could've been about another group of characters. Stand alone stories, completely unrelated to the STAR WARS TRILOGY... 

Just imagine the front covers of those books... Anakin and Obi-Wan shown as younger versions of Alec Guinness and Sebastian Shaw!! 

I think if Lucas had done this, instead of making them movies, he could have stayed truer to the original ideas he had and, therefore, he would have been able to tell a far better story, it could have been a true epic and even become one of the great sci-fi book series of all time!!!

I'me getting pretty overexcited thinking about this here... Lol

I'd have loved to see this though!!! I'd love to hear what you guys think... :)

Hi everyone… 😃

A friend of mine owns a VHS set of the original trilogy released in 2000 with the cover designs made to match the prequels and I have episodes I and II.

My friend has said I can have his OT set if I want it. I’m just wondering, if I added episode III on VHS to the collection, the whole saga on tape would be valuable as a collectors item and, if so, how valuable?

I’ve never seen the whole saga for sale anywhere like eBay. Does anyone know if that’s because they’re super rare (and valuable) or that there’s no demand at all for them?

Any info would be most helpful. 😃

May the force be with you all…

CWBorne said:

 

I there's also some possible validity in having a young Anakin in some ways resemble a young Sebastian Shaw: 

Definitely makes more sense than poor old Hayden...  :-/

The first actor who comes to mind is Christian. Bale...

Apart from rom looking simmilar enough to Sebastian Shaw, he's an amazing actor!!! He could definitely pull off anakin becoming Darth Vader.

DuracellEnergizer said:

GrandMaster88 said:

If you don't want spoilers for the original films, why not set them in a completely different era? Maybe a hundred years  or so in the past... A thousand even!!! The characters don't have to be at all related to those in the empire era and thus a whole new story can be told...

Then you wouldn't be writing prequels to the OT, you'd be writing Tales of the Jedi or Knights of the Old Republic-type storylines.

 See above post... :)

Well... That was kind of my point... I don't think the O.T. really needs prequels. Not directly related to them anyway. I makes more sense to me to keep the Star Wras Trilogy as, just that, THE trilogy. You're not bogged down by having to tie everything up and dealing with expectations from fans that way. Stand alone films could tell amazing stories and keep the feel of the original movie a lot more.

If Darth Vader's backstory has to be told however, here are a few changes I would make.

Firstly, the prophecy should be axed. It is never fully resolved, mainly because Lucas didn't know he would make prequels when he did ROTJ.

I also think Yoda needs to go... Not just the lightsaber duels, everything!!! He is mentioned by Obi Wan, such as when he's training Anakin and after Anakin's fall to the dark side. But other than that he doesn't feature at all until Empire. It's just better pay off for the character.

As for the whole "I am your father!!  Bit... The best way, in my mind, to keep this a surprise is to have it seem as though Anakin dies when Obi Wan defeats him on Mustafa. The emperor and his storm troopers could find his charred remains and say something like "there's no way he'll survive injuries like that..." Or something!! Lol 

Also, Anakin is never named Darth Vader, you see him killing some of the Jedi and you know he's become evil, but his name doesn't change and you assume he's dead by the end of episode III. Darth Vader emerges as the Jedi hunter right toward the end of the film, but we still don't actually see him. Maybe we see Obi Wan in hiding and he overhears a news report, or even people talking about "the Emperor's new bulldog hunting down more jedi..." That's the first time we hear his name but we never see him in the armour in the P.T. That way, when he enters Leia's ship at the beginning of STAR WARS we're still not 100% sure who he is.

Well... Those are a few thoughts anyway... I have more if anyone's interested in hearing them... :)

If you don't want spoilers for the original films, why not set them in a completely different era? Maybe a hundred years  or so in the past... A thousand even!!! The characters don't have to be at all related to those in the empire era and thus a whole new story can be told...

You could even make them stand alone films rather than a trilogy too... Each telling a different part of galactic history. That way the original films would forever retain the title of "THE STAR WARS TRILOGY!!!"

To quote Obi-Wan... "For over a thousand generations the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old republic..."  Not much said, but more is told in those few words than the whole of the prequal trilogy. Just think of the stories that could be told there!!!

I don't mind the prequels... I grew up with them, and if you watch them as three films they do work as a story... Kind of... But if you try to watch all six there are just too many massive plot holes. Like the fulfilment of the prophecy, both Darth Vader AND Owen not recognising C-3PO, Leia remembering her mother even though Padme dies seconds after the twins are born... you get the idea...

I think, if it has to be told, the story of Anakin's fall to the dark side can be told in one really tight, well made movie. Look at The Dark Knight. An excellent story of a good man succumbing to darkness and ultimately paying the price. You could definitely tell Anakin's story in simmilar fashion.

On the other hand, all we needed to know about Anakin was pretty much revealed in the old films. The back story was, simply that... BACK STORY!!!

Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, are a complete and brilliant story. If George Lucas wanted to make more films then he should have set them in a different era, rather than trying to tamper with such a classic story!!! (Deep breaths...)

This is all just my humble opinion of course... And I would actually love to contribute some ideas for a re-telling of Anakin's story... :)

Hi there... I'm new to the O.T. community so am excited to share my first Star Wars experience...

I was always aware of Star Wars. But I didn't really take an interest until my brother took me to see The Phantom Menace at our local cinema in 1999. I was only 11 and by the time the Jedi had reached Amidala I was hooked!!!

A few weeks later a friend of my sister leant me the special editions  from 1997 on VHS. I quickly realised that these were even better and, as my sister lost contact the the guy who leant me the videos, I still have them now!! 

Several months after that, I found the unaltered versions while staying at my uncle's house. He had the definitive collection on laserdisc and I was blown away all over again by the original films.

Next came The Phantom Menace full screen VHS... I still have this too.

2002, aged 14, I saw Attack Of The Clones the day it was released. Again, my brother and I went together and I loved it!! My mum bought me the fullscreen VHS the day it was released and yes I still own it...

Revenge Of The Sith, was the biggest thrill for me... Purely because my uncle, who's laserdiscs I had watched almost every time I visited since finding them, managed to get us tickets for the UK premiere. I sat in the theatre and again was blown away!!! An extra bonus was snagging a few autographs and meeting Jeremy Bullock in the toilets...!!! =0

Pre-ordered the DVD and got it delivered a day early!!! :)

I now have the whole saga on DVD, blu-ray and (with the exception of ROTS) VHS...

Well there you have it... I will say that my love of the prequels has died somewhat in the last couple of years. I'm not a hater, but they certainly lack the magic of the originals. And there are some major plot wholes if you try to watch all six in order...I've also, ALWAYS preferred the unaltered versions of the classic trilogy. Here's hoping they release them on blu-ray in the build up to episode VII... 

:)