ImperialFighter

Where Ivan’s edit is concerned, it doesn’t surprise me that he’s generated a certain appreciative following for his efforts…as there’s just so many out there who were very discontented with various aspects of THE LAST JEDI.

Personally, I’m not too keen on some of his proposed alterations…but that’s probably because I already have specific ideas of my own about how I’d prefer to re-edit the damned thing. 😉

A second live-action ‘Star Warsy’ show announced? Fine by me, and hopefully BOTH will be great!

As with every movie in the franchise since the Original Trilogy, I ended up discarding a lot of scenes when working out what would be my own ideal version of ROGUE ONE. However, there’s certainly plenty I like about it overall.

But when I first watched the movie, I remember really disliking the ‘Cassian Andor’ character initially, due to the way it involved him ‘back-shooting’ his injured informant within the first few minutes of being introduced to him. Personally, I’d have preferred my introduction to this particular main character to have been handled a little differently, so that I could have been rooting for him from the off…but I understand if others are content with his ruthless streak being front-and-centre from the very start of the movie. It’s not that I minded him being portrayed as a ruthless character when necessary, it’s just that I didn’t care for this new character for a good portion of the movie due to the way his very first scene was structured.

So although I appreciated his character a bit more as the movie progressed, I ended up removing that entire scene when working out my own ideal version - I much prefer to have Cassian’s first introduction as being the scene where he initially questions Jyn at the rebel base on Yavin 4, as all the relevant information a viewer needs about her father is covered in this scene anyway…and a first-time viewer would still feel that Cassian is capable of carrying out the order to kill him eventually I reckon.

Anyway, that’s just my own take, and I now like the character a whole lot more when he’s introduced this way, and I look forward to whatever earlier exploits this show brings. 😃

Gah, I never made this particular connection until I happened to be tweaking my ROGUE ONE cutlist today! - Just when I’d reached a point where I was finally able to blot out the horror of the ROTJ:SE’s ‘Jedi Rocks’ addition from my memory, I suddenly realised I will always be reminded of it whenever I watch this movie now, lol…

suspiciouscoffee said:

Didn’t Solo make him 190 years old just so he would be exactly 200 in ANH?

I just said ‘roughly around’ as I don’t know exactly how old he’s meant to be at this point…but he’s bound to have well over 100 years left in him one way or another, for filmic possibilities.

I’m calling it now - 'ol Lando will not survive this movie, but the Falcon will be safe for future use as a certain furry co-pilot takes full possession of it - with Rey as HIS new co-pilot companion. 😉

And as he’s roughly around the 200 year old mark according to various sources, and supposedly can live to around 400 years old, there should be plenty of potential adventures left in the old Wookiee for Disney to mine - especially if the next saga storyline is set in the future at some point.

darthrush said:

I saw an idea about Luke’s role in 9 being similar to what happens to Gandalf in the Two Towers, “I come back to you at the turn of the tide”. Honestly if the death was a misdirect, and he did some crazy force oneness to be able to come back to help, that would be amazing.

Hmmm, come to think of it…Rey only says that Luke is ‘GONE’, as opposed to being ‘DEAD’ - so I suppose if J.J. REALLY wanted to do the biggest bait and switch on us since Rian’s THE LAST JEDI movie, then he conceivably could! - because after it looked like Luke had survived his ‘astral Force-projection’ efforts, we only saw him ‘disappear’ after shots of him looking like he had regained his composure at that point…so maybe, just maybe, he DIDN’T actually become a ‘Force-ghost’ at this point after all…but was instead ‘Force-powerful’ enough to ‘physically transport himself’ to some OTHER place in the galaxy, in readiness to join up with the rebellion once again for the next movie…no X-wing necessary! 😃

Except…it’s unclear if it was ONLY his cloak that fell on the rock and drifted away (for ‘dramatic effect’ by the makers)…or if it was EVERYTHING that he was wearing at the time - in which case he would have technically ‘re-appeared’ in the buff wherever he ended up ‘transporting’ himself to, and should have just gone with what he was wearing at the time! - of course, he may have just ‘transported’ himself a short distance back to one of the hovels on the island at that point, where there’s some other robes for him to change into BEFORE he proceeds to raise his X-wing again, for his long journey ahead - I just hope none of those nice 'ol ‘caretaker’ ladies ended up seeing him in this sudden state of undress… 😉

Anyway, enough of this nonsense!, as I’m just glad to hear that Billy Dee Williams is getting another crack at some big screen shenanigans again, after all. I’d have ideally liked Lando to have been somehow involved onscreen with HAN and LEIA for these sequels, but at least he’s getting a chance to round things out a little. Now I just need to wait nervously to see if J.J. ends up killing him off (and CHEWIE too?) in this thing!

Just a thought, but since this particular chapter is likely to be the final movie which features any of the original cast before the NEXT all-new trilogy (?) storyline begins, it’s gonna be interesting to see what the very LAST closing shot will be…

Personally, I’d love it to involve Threepio and Artoo heading off together towards a twin-sunset, as Threepio then says “Come along BB-8!”, and he then excitedly rolls into view behind them as Artoo beeps and whistles approvingly…before we fade to the ‘iris’ and end credits.

(of course, some of these droids may be back for the next storyline too, depending on what it involves)

And I’d be interest to hear any other suggestions/or preferences for what YOU think this final shot should feature.

DrDre said:

Who?

TOP men, of course.

Going back to my intention to re-introduce the FOX 'fanfare music and logo to kick off these ‘standalone’ movies for nostalgia’s sake for myself - well, I’ve now thought of a different ‘hybrid’ idea which I might use instead -

As the fanfare music begins to play out, I’d REPLACE the ‘20th Century Fox logo’ portion with the familiar receding STAR WARS title against a black starfield instead…before the usual transition to the ‘Lucasfilm logo’ portion for the rest of the fanfare, as we then get to the silent blue intro. wording.

I haven’t got time to organise an example clip, but here’s some pics to give an idea of how it would now look at the start of my intended new opening of SOLO for instance -

FOX ‘fanfare’ begins as we see…

FOX ‘fanfare’ ends as usual, then silence…

And we open on this planetary sunrise instead, before seeing Han and Chewie introduced as buddies soon after…

So seeing as I don’t intend to attach any form of full-blown, made up ‘scroll wording’ to these ‘standalones’ for myself, this should turn out to be just the kind of ‘Star Warsy’ intro. I’ve been looking for. 😃

(by the way paja - I notice that you seem to have mixed up your franchises in your thread title…) 😉

Anakin Starkiller said:

The problem is if you start there you skip the setup of Han and Q’ira’s relationship and Han meeting Chewie.

Speaking purely for myself, I’m content to leave those particular ‘backstories’ completely untold to have HAN and CHEWIE already seem to be an established partnership for the start of my own scenario. And I’d have felt this same way, even if there hadn’t been a raft of issues that bugged me during those initial 25 mins. or so.

For me, there’s more than enough ‘origin backstory’ being told during the rest of this movie’s adventure as it is - such as how HAN got his blaster / how HAN and CHEWIE first encountered LANDO / how HAN achieved the Kessel Run / how HAN won the Falcon / and even how HAN’S ‘dice’ end up hanging in the Falcon’s cockpit! 😃

Personally, I didn’t necessarily want to see a HAN SOLO movie where we got to see HOW he actually met CHEWIE for the first time too, especially as I wasn’t sure if I’d end up liking the scenario the makers came up with - as it turned out, I found it reasonably entertaining on my initial watch (albeit somewhat goofy at times), but afterwards I realised I wouldn’t miss it at all. However, the ‘initial meeting’ that was conceived is always there for those that wish to keep it, so you take your choice I guess.

And as far as leaving HAN and QI’RA’s past relationship unseen too, I’m equally content to keep that particular ‘backstory’ left open-ended too - in fact, I’m satisfied that it still comes across as if they haven’t met for quite a long time, and prefer how we’re uncertain what her character traits are when HAN comes across her in the service of the Crimson Dawn organisation. In my proposed scenario, she comes across as more of a mystery from HAN’s past instead, and we only get to know what she’s like (and capable of) from this point in the movie now.

Again, you take your choice I guess - but with this scenario, I reckon it helps with making 'MAUL’s appearance unnecessary enough to remove it…as due to the fact that she’s involved with an ‘underworld organisation’ right from the start when we are introduced to her now…it’s far easier to believe that she’s more akin to the way BECKETT describes her to HAN after all, and more than capable of deliberately choosing to leave him for her own path in the end.

Possibly… 😉

OutboundFlight said:

I like the idea of starting Solo at the heist. Everything before that was quite boring, now that I think about it.

I’d certainly call it ‘uneven’, as I thought there were plenty of entertaining moments during those initial 25 mins. or so. It’s just that even on my first viewing, I found that some of it was a bit too ‘clunky’ for my taste - and the same goes for several other moments during the rest of the movie too.

However, I was relieved that SOLO turned out better overall than I feared initially (in fact, I think some sequences are really great at times, and my younger family members seemed to have a good time throughout)…and I was satisfied that the actors managed to channel the younger HAN and LANDO characters quite well at times too (although they both had some goofy little moments which I’m hoping to remove)

And another little by-product of the leaner, less-‘jokey’ version I have in mind, is the fact that I won’t be fed up of seeing HAN’s ‘dice’ referenced so much now, by the time I see them in the final cockpit shot! 😃

Okay, as with earlier instalments, it’s been interesting to catch up with some of the differing viewpoints on SOLO and other recent SW entries here and on other sites. While some fans of the franchise firmly prefer to leave certain scenes wholly intact, others desperately wish to chop or alter them - so it merely comes down to what everyone prefers for themselves when it comes to these things, I guess - so with that being said, I thought some of you might be interested in a couple of things I’ve recently settled on for my own preference, concerning SOLO. I haven’t got time to go into my full cutlist intentions, but I’ll describe the BIGGEST one which would end up making it a better watch for myself -

I ended up seeing SOLO 3 times on the big screen with various family members, and while I found it a fun backstory with a feel-good vibe overall, there were certainly things I’d wish to alter for myself for any ‘Star Wars Viewing Marathon’ I may have in future - (spread out over several nights I might add, not one after the other! 😃 )

Firstly, due to the way I’ve chosen to amend the opening scenes for myself (which I’ll describe in detail below), I’ve decided to totally discard the ‘SOLO A Star Wars Story’ main title from this movie - and in addition to this, since I’m not particularly keen on the look of ROGUE ONE’s main title with it’s particular font and ‘moving’ starfield, I’ll be discarding it from my own cutlist for that movie too…so that both these ‘standalone’ movies kick off in the exact same way WITHOUT any kind of main title included - (and this would also remove the slight niggle for me that only one of these ‘standalones’ currently includes the ‘A Star Wars Story’ tagline in it’s title, while the other DOESN’T)

But despite my intention to do away with the main titles of these ‘standalone’ stories now, I don’t feel the need to including any full-blown new ‘scroll openings’ to replace them either. As long as there’s enough of a satisfying ‘Star Warsy’ opening vibe to these particular adventures, I’ll be content - so I’ve decided to revert to seeing and hearing the previously familiar 20th Century Fox logo and ‘fanfare’ music just before the classic blue wording silently appears…just as this clip shows - (best example I could find quickly, but it will do) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcF67oBklIo

(and now that it looks like Disney has Fox under it’s control, I’m even more content to include this particular intro. And since these are merely personal re-edits at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter HOW I choose to start these ‘Disney’ movies off for myself - although I’m still considering whether I’d prefer to use the ‘rainbow’ Lucasfilm logo, or the ‘silver’ one for these)

Okay, this then leads to the BIGGEST change I’d like to make to SOLO to make it a better watch for myself eventually, even though it involves some compromise -

I’m intending to totally discard the WHOLE original opening 25 mins. or so…to instead begin with an opening where HAN and CHEWIE are ALREADY buddies together! - with no specific ‘how they met’ scenario required, and where they already communicate WITHOUT any audience subtitles whatsoever! 😃

And while I really liked aspects of the discarded footage - such as the ‘speeder chase on Corellia’, and some of the initial interaction between HAN and BECKETT - there was also a heap of goofy moments during this opening 25 mins. which bothered me enough to make the compromise to lose them…so that ALL of the early issues I had a problem with, are eliminated.

So after that initial Fox fanfare and blue intro. wording I showed above…my NEW opening scene would instead begin with the ‘planetary sunrise’ shot to kick things off / followed by a ship flying through clouds over snowy mountains / followed by the first new introduction of HAN (a close-up of him silently looking out) **/ followed by a shot of passing through clouds / followed by the first new introduction of CHEWIE as he climbs down the ship’s gantry to join HAN in a short conversation where HAN’s first words are now “Thanks for helping me get outta there”…as he then tells him “No, they only took you 'cos of me”, before then saying “Hey, I got us a real sweet deal here, we do this one job with them, we make some real money, and then we’re free…when was the last time you could say that?” (luckily, the next bit where HAN asks what CHEWIE’s name is, and about wanting to give him a ‘nickname’, can easily be removed to make this all work properly at this point - and this particular sequence happens to have some effectively understated music that I like too, to ease us into these new opening proceedings) - we then get the first new introduction of BECKETT and his cohorts soon after this - firstly ‘scouting out’ the heist, and then around the campfire, before getting onto the actual ‘monorail heist’ action itself - personally, I reckon this is one of the best action sequences out of any Star Wars movie yet, and I’m more than happy to get to it much sooner, for a more exciting opening to the movie overall, for myself. And again, some of the excellent music heard during this sequence would end up giving this whole new opening a more atmospheric tone overall.

And of course, after HAN has already mentioned to the others (during the earlier campfire scene) that he’s hoping to ‘go back’ for a certain girl someday, we’d eventually get to have the first new introduction of QI’RA when he encounters her aboard DRYDEN VOS’s black ship later on - and this is a nicely mysterious first onscreen meeting with her which I prefer too, as it very soon becomes apparent that there’s a lot that HAN doesn’t know about her since they last saw each other - and the removal of their early scenes together also helps to keep their ‘romantic inclinations’ for each other much more of a low-key slow-burn throughout the rest of the movie for me now…so that the first time they truly embrace will be just after QI’RA has dispatched DRYDEN VOS to save HAN nearer the end of the movie.

So yes, that means I’m intending to DISCARD their whole ‘kiss-a-rama’ scene inside Lando’s ‘cape closet’ too! 😃

(And although I’m sure that others will absolutely love that whole scene, I’m aiming for a less ‘jokey’ tone overall for this adventure in general. I reckon there’s already plenty of fun moments to do with Lando’s portrayal to go around, without the need to see his extensive ‘collection of cape-hangers’ and ‘vanity mirror’ (which veered things into ‘parody’ territory for me) - and removing this scene helps my objective for a much more restrained dynamic between HAN and QI’RA throughout this for myself)

So finally, we get to the ‘MAUL’ appearance…but as I want to include my own heavily-edited versions of the prequel trilogy as a ‘flashback storyline’ placed in-between the original and sequel trilogies, his ‘robo-legs’ cameo in SOLO unfortunately jars with that! - especially since I didn’t watch the spin-off Clone Wars animated show, and consider his live-action torso-chopped demise in TPM as being FATAL. So I’m content to be one of those who intends to re-structure things so that QI’RA ends up DELIBERATELY choosing to fly off on her own path without HAN, albeit she looks ‘wistfully’ down at what ‘might’ have been between them now…

And thankfully, the shots of QI’RA ‘looking over at the jewels’ / ‘slowly contemplating DRYDEN VOS’s ring as she removes it’ / and her ‘wistful last look’ are all really helpful in selling this alternative scenario reasonably well - in fact, if I don’t want to think of her as just choosing to ‘take charge’ of the entire Crimson Dawn organisation herself, I can alternatively just ‘imagine’ that she is STILL answerable to ‘someone she fears’ instead, who we DON’T get to see! - either way, I can live with this alteration as an alternative bittersweet resolution for her character for my version, as a way of discarding ‘MAUL’ in this.

(but on the other hand…if Disney/Lucasfilm end up including him again in a potential SOLO sequel or other ‘standalone’ movie in future, then I’ll just have to accept his ‘miraculous survival’ after all, and would include his appearance at this point too)

liambrazier said:

It’s in a major key and has been used ‘in-universe’ just like this in Rebels, for what it’s worth.

I’ve never actually watched that particular SW spin-off or THE CLONE WARS series either (and never will), as their animation styles just happened to put me off bothering with them from the beginning - so that ended up making Maul’s re-appearance in SOLO quite frustrating for me overall…considering his torso was actually cut in two the last time I saw him in TPM, and not just his legs. Gah.

Personally, I’m glad that the rumoured full-on ‘comedy’ take by Lord/Miller was abandoned…and despite it’s troubled history, I found Ron Howard’s entry to be a fun entry overall.

However, there’s certainly a few ‘humourous’ moments and dubious lines of dialogue that I’d like to trim for myself here and there, and some of them have been mentioned already. As was seen with the divisive THE LAST JEDI, ‘humour’ can be a subjective, individual thing, and it would be interesting to know what particular bits of the Lord/Miller version were retained.

Like some here, I’d prefer to chop the way Han gets his ‘surname’ from a random Imperial official for instance…but there’s a truly eye-rolling moment that hasn’t been brought up yet which actually ‘broke the fourth wall’ for me just before that point in the movie -

…the large monitor in the background of that busy area which is showing Imperial ‘recruitment’ footage of it’s fleet…is playing John William’s EMPIRE STRIKES BACK ‘Imperial March’ music to accompany it!

Now I can see how this sort of thing might seem ‘quite funny’ to some, but it completely ‘took me out’ of the movie at that point, and I wonder if that was one of the scenes that Lord/Miller worked on? It might only be brief, but I’m disappointed it was included in this way.

I suppose that if you happen to be a ‘SW newbie’ who was to see the SOLO movie BEFORE going on to eventually watch ESB for the first time one day, that it probably wouldn’t matter…but for the likes of me, to reference the original score from ESB just came across as an ‘in-joke’ too far. Either way, it will be gone from my own version. 😉

However, despite my own quibbles about certain aspects of SOLO, I know that when I go see it again with some younger family members this weekend, that they will find plenty to like about it too.

DigMod said:

Well Yoda hit Luke on the forhead with his cane in TLJ signifying that force ghosts are some sort of physical beings, so Luke could come back and influence anything now…

Good point Dig.

And as that cane was real, then it’s possible for ‘Forceghost’ Luke to wield an actual lightsaber come Episode IX…so there’s nothing to stop him kicking ass with it either. And it’s possible for his sidekick Yoda to be able to do the same in that case…so we could get TWO green lightsabers taking on the bad 'uns if J.J. wishes it…

However, it’s more likely we’ll just get a brief ‘cameo’ of Luke giving a few ‘words of encouragement’ to Rey in the next instalment. 😉

RyanG. said:

Is anyone interested in part 9 at all at this point?

Definately…as I’m interested to see how J.J. copes with rounding out Rian’s various turn of events…

There’s the whole ‘Leia’ conundrum for him to resolve of course, but there’s plenty of other potential things I’m curious about at this point too -

Will Luke return with a ‘blue aura’ around him? Will he be able to physically influence real events, ala Yoda being able to induce actual lightning above Luke’s island? Will Luke even return at all? Will Yoda make another appearance for that matter?

Will Rey ever get around to studying those Jedi journals she pinched?

Will wannabe badass Kylo be ‘redeemed’ and ‘turned back’ to the Light Side? (I’m hoping not, to be honest) Or will he be satisfyingly offed by the disgruntled wannabe badass Hux instead? Will the ‘Knights of Ren’ all start clapping and nod approvingly? Will the ‘Knights of Ren’ even be referenced again?

Will the independent DJ make a return appearance and truly ‘side’ with the ‘good guys’ this time?

Will Finn run away with Poe to avoid his current Rey/Rose romantic complications?

Will Chewie’s porg buddy remain part of the crew?

But mainly I’m interested to see if I will end up wanting to re-edit as much of Episode IX as I do with THE LAST JEDI. 😉

(and good to see your cutlist added to your 1st post now RyanG)

I’ve managed to resist most of the latest clips and trailers and other reveals, and I’m departing this thread at this point.

However, I decided to peek at this 360 degree snippet of the gambling scene I came across yesterday. It reveals a LOT of the creatures involved in it (some are pretty big it seems), so I’ll leave it here for anyone that wants to check them out -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnJqQfYRTEo

darthrush said:

Withholding some juicy secrets I see… 😉

In this instance, it was just a mundane, non-editing-related suggestion darthrush.

However, I am indeed withholding plenty of juicy secrets for a future time, unrelated to this edit… 😉

Welcome aboard Ivan. PM sent.

Just a quick mention that Movie-Screencaps has added TLJ to it’s extensive screenshot library recently. I’ve always found it helpful for locating various scenes and shots at a glance, when working out potential SW cutlists for myself, and it may be useful for others around here too.

So here’s the link to it’s SW section - https://starwarsscreencaps.com

darthrush said:

ImperialFighter said:

darthrush said:

No no, you would use his dark costume sequence for the whole Crait related stuff. Think of it this way for Crait:

Kylo Slices Through Luke, Puts Saber through him in awe, we then CUT to Luke in his dark costume, focusing with the force, then we CUT back to Kylo, “See ya round kid”, then we show his eyes open when he is still in his dark costume.

So the whole Crait scene would be with his dark costume. Then when we see him move the Raddus, we at some point cut to him floating above the rock in his white robes, focusing on the force, and then once the ship gets sent into the Supremacy, you cut to his eyes opening when he is in his white robes, and him falling to the ground.

Then you can end the film with him looking at the sunset (whether he dies or not is up to the editor).

Ah, thanks for clarifying that darthrush, as I initially thought you intended to run the scenes closer together. I guess you’re thinking of cutting to other footage IN-BETWEEN his Crait antics and his Raddus antics instead, which allows time for him to have had a change of robes at some point. Could be an interesting scenario.

Sorry to hi-jack your thread RyanG, and good luck with your edit.

darthrush said:

And you could even switch it up so that you use the Luke contacting Leia scene for his Crait projection, have Luke live, then you show him hovering above the rock when he is moving the Raddus, and THEN he stares at the binary sunset to end the film.

Sadly darthrush, Luke is wearing his dark costume in that scene where he ‘makes contact’ with Leia from his island - so that would be quite jarring if it’s mixed with his white robed scenes in this way.

Good stuff oojason. I checked out the original Japanese poster from your link, and like that fan version of it better than the official U.K. poster above it - and is that an ‘arm sling’ Lando is wearing?

I initially liked this particular artwork best (click on it to magnify) - www.jedinews.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/solo-film-poster.jpg , but that Japanese version is pretty good too.

Anyway, I caught this neat ‘Renault’ tie-in for the first time during the ad breaks in the U.K. today. Although there’s no sign of ‘Solo’ himself, It gives a good idea of how the ‘hoverbikes’ look and move if anyone wants to see them in action -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2qgtaUgvFk

Anchorhead said:

Looks like a fun movie alright. I’ll be there for sure. The shot of Han & Chewie standing below the cockpit of the Falcon, looking up at it, has been my favorite shot in the teaser and now the trailer.

Interestingly, it’s only ‘Han’ looking up at it in the teaser…but the same shot has included ‘Chewie’ this time around.

(lovin’ the new look of the moderator characters and emoticons by the way) 😃

DominicCobb said:

Did you just say Lando has bad hair?

…and a suspect taste in shirts too.

“I’ve got a really good feeling about this” - okay, this spin on the usual over-used phrase sold me…now as long as we don’t hear ANYONE mutter it the other way round during this, I’m good. 😉

I decided to break my current rule of only watching the first trailer of a STAR WARS movie nowadays, as I wanted a better feel of how this particular ‘standalone’ had turned out overall. And I’m glad I did, as I’m a LOT more optimistic about the chances that it’s going to be a fun entry now.

Sure, there’s a few little things that niggle me - the Falcon paintjob that reminds me of the ‘Slave I’ revamp in AOTC…it’s ultra-clean interior compared to how it ended up in ANH (Han and Chewie sure let standards slide over the years)…the fact that it’s corridor lights are WHITE instead of GREEN…and that there’s yet ANOTHER style of ‘dish’ on top…and then there’s Donald Glover’s and Woody Harrelson’s bad hair days…which look good compared to Thandie Newton’s ridiculous ‘afro’ wig! - but overall, I’m fully onboard for this latest adventure now.

The music (and the 2nd shot’s scurrying ‘space rat’!) set a really good tone for me this time around, and it’s looks like there’s gonna be some fine-looking shots in this - especially during the ‘monorail’ sequence.

As with ROGUE ONE, I’m gonna miss the iconic John Williams main theme and scroll, but hopefully a good time will be had throughout this.