I think the scene feels ‘edited’ when we have Tarkin joining Palpatine to gaze out the window and miming “I’ll leave you two to it” without the Death Star.
Yes, and I disagree. I think the scene feels forced with the Death Star in it. Like another fan-service-y reference to the OT. Tarkin is there, but being involved in that project surely has not been his only job. (I have not read the book “Tarkin” yet so I don’t know his official backstory.)
At some point, when I actually get around to it, I’m going to reinsert Coruscant into Hal’s then-latest edit (since the version with it doesn’t also have the Russian Vader scream and I liked that as well.)
…and also insert Hal’s (or L8wrtr’s) space battle over Naboo into Q2’s edit, but that’s off topic for this thread.