I think the best way to solve the lack of introduction is to keep Maz’s transmission and end the scene when Rose and Finn give each other that “look” after Maz implies that her and the code break have been intimate. Then cut straight to the radar blip, stolen ship etc. That way in can be implied that DJ is who they are looking for. It will also fit with expectations/ reality theme of the film…
+1 for lack of “slicer” term giving me a sad
I think the best way to solve the lack of introduction is to keep Maz’s transmission and end the scene when Rose and Finn give each other that “look” after Maz implies that her and the code break have been intimate. Then cut straight to the radar blip, stolen ship etc. That way in can be implied that DJ is who they are looking for. It will also fit with expectations/ reality theme of the film…
Yeah, I think meeting DJ for the first time on the stolen ship might not be too jarring after all.
For example, they left out how Rey got off the Supremacy entirely, and it doesn’t seem too out of place to never have addressed that. Kylo comes to and she’s just gone.
I’m also really looking forward to seeing TLJ again to see how much of Deus Ex BB-8 in the hangar can be removed…I’d really just like to have Finn “kill” Phasma (I don’t think she’s dead) and then have his next scene be the shuttle crashing on Crait.
It’s a shame the writers had to come up with the Canto Bight sequence. You’d think the Resistance, being a rebel group, would have their own slicers? The whole sequence just feels so tacked-on, and in a movie that, imo, ran for 30 minutes too long anyways. (Apologies to the people that liked it).
The Last Edit, opps I mean The Last Jedi.
First, allow at least a time space jump of a few months maybe a year past in between Ep. 7 and 8. It’ll solve the fanboys whining about the Mary Rey Sue complex.
Second, have a Han Solo funeral, with a cameo of Lando.
Remove Poe’s trolling Hux during the opening battle. Those insults jokes belong in a Disney MCU movie with StarLord not a Star Wars movie. How can we fear or respect the power of the villains after a scene like that?
I don’t mind the Mary Leia Poppins scene, but just to please the fanboys, show Luke doing the same thing during the final battle. To remove doubt that it can’t be done.
Do not kill Snoke, instead revel him to be Darth Plagueis and he mastermind and planned everything for Palpatine. As the First Order was to destroy the Jedi and stop the Chosen One, which he uses the dark side powers to create the false Prophet Anakin. Making Snoke Luke’s grandfather and Ren’s great granddad.
Ren and Rey’s team up attack on Snoke fails, as his guards protect him.
Rey has no parents, she IS the true Chosen One.
Remove the Casino planet scenes completely, have Rose be the hacker needed and have Maz lead the Rebels to find “DJ” for help. DJ will be the grown up version of Ezra Bridger. Del Tora’s character would have a bigger role as more soldiers to join the Rebels for Ep. 9.
Have Rey leave R2 on Ach To with Luke.
Re edit Luke raising his Xwing and leaving Ach To after sensing Leia near death.
Re edit Leia not Holdo commands the Rebel Cruiser to lightspeed thru the First Order.
Re edit Luke and Leia saying hi/goodbye as Luke’s force projection.
Re edit those Ren - Rey force skyping scenes as only voices not visuals.
Have Luke’s Xwing get shot down by Ren’s ship, when he gets to Crait for real, only for him to Mary Poppins to the ground while deflecting shots back at the At At’s destroying them and than have Luke use the force to dismantle Ren’s ship.
Have Rey and the Falcon pick up Luke, during his battle with Ren, after the Rebels retreat with the Silver Foxes.
No Cpt. Phasma, her character was wasted in both movies. Leave her dead in the garbage shoot on Starkiller Base.
No lame staple kid uses the force for the ending. That was cheesy bad.
The Last Edit, opps I mean The Last Jedi.
First, allow at least a time space jump of a few months maybe a year past in between Ep. 7 and 8. It’ll solve the fanboys whining about the Mary Rey Sue complex.
Second, have a Han Solo funeral, with a cameo of Lando.
Remove Poe’s trolling Hux during the opening battle. Those insults jokes belong in a Disney MCU movie with StarLord not a Star Wars movie. How can we fear or respect the power of the villains after a scene like that?
I don’t mind the Mary Leia Poppins scene, but just to please the fanboys, show Luke doing the same thing during the final battle. To remove doubt that it can’t be done.
Do not kill Snoke, instead revel him to be Darth Plagueis and he mastermind and planned everything for Palpatine. As the First Order was to destroy the Jedi and stop the Chosen One, which he uses the dark side powers to create the false Prophet Anakin. Making Snoke Luke’s grandfather and Ren’s great granddad.
Ren and Rey’s team up attack on Snoke fails, as his guards protect him.
Rey has no parents, she IS the true Chosen One.
Remove the Casino planet scenes completely, have Rose be the hacker needed and have Maz lead the Rebels to find “DJ” for help. DJ will be the grown up version of Ezra Bridger. Del Tora’s character would have a bigger role as more soldiers to join the Rebels for Ep. 9.
Have Rey leave R2 on Ach To with Luke.
Re edit Luke raising his Xwing and leaving Ach To after sensing Leia near death.
Re edit Leia not Holdo commands the Rebel Cruiser to lightspeed thru the First Order.
Re edit Luke and Leia saying hi/goodbye as Luke’s force projection.
Re edit those Ren - Rey force skyping scenes as only voices not visuals.
Have Luke’s Xwing get shot down by Ren’s ship, when he gets to Crait for real, only for him to Mary Poppins to the ground while deflecting shots back at the At At’s destroying them and than have Luke use the force to dismantle Ren’s ship.
Have Rey and the Falcon pick up Luke, during his battle with Ren, after the Rebels retreat with the Silver Foxes.
No Cpt. Phasma, her character was wasted in both movies. Leave her dead in the garbage shoot on Starkiller Base.
No lame staple kid uses the force for the ending. That was cheesy bad.
I’m very curious how you hope to even remotely achieve half of these cuts.
I wonder how much of the schlocky stuff was Disney breathing down Johnson’s neck. The serious stuff feels more in line with his work, but the flat jokes, the children and the animals…that all screams Disney.
Those were my thoughts exactly! It really feels like he tried to make the movie he wanted to make but Disney corporate wouldn’t let him. Disney characters like Maz Kanata, the kids (you can be a jedi too, kids! just buy Disney products!), and the over-the-top cartoony/cutesy animals and creatures…that’s all Disney.
The Last Edit, opps I mean The Last Jedi.
First, allow at least a time space jump of a few months maybe a year past in between Ep. 7 and 8. It’ll solve the fanboys whining about the Mary Rey Sue complex.
Second, have a Han Solo funeral, with a cameo of Lando.
Remove Poe’s trolling Hux during the opening battle. Those insults jokes belong in a Disney MCU movie with StarLord not a Star Wars movie. How can we fear or respect the power of the villains after a scene like that?
I don’t mind the Mary Leia Poppins scene, but just to please the fanboys, show Luke doing the same thing during the final battle. To remove doubt that it can’t be done.
Do not kill Snoke, instead revel him to be Darth Plagueis and he mastermind and planned everything for Palpatine. As the First Order was to destroy the Jedi and stop the Chosen One, which he uses the dark side powers to create the false Prophet Anakin. Making Snoke Luke’s grandfather and Ren’s great granddad.
Ren and Rey’s team up attack on Snoke fails, as his guards protect him.
Rey has no parents, she IS the true Chosen One.
Remove the Casino planet scenes completely, have Rose be the hacker needed and have Maz lead the Rebels to find “DJ” for help. DJ will be the grown up version of Ezra Bridger. Del Tora’s character would have a bigger role as more soldiers to join the Rebels for Ep. 9.
Have Rey leave R2 on Ach To with Luke.
Re edit Luke raising his Xwing and leaving Ach To after sensing Leia near death.
Re edit Leia not Holdo commands the Rebel Cruiser to lightspeed thru the First Order.
Re edit Luke and Leia saying hi/goodbye as Luke’s force projection.
Re edit those Ren - Rey force skyping scenes as only voices not visuals.
Have Luke’s Xwing get shot down by Ren’s ship, when he gets to Crait for real, only for him to Mary Poppins to the ground while deflecting shots back at the At At’s destroying them and than have Luke use the force to dismantle Ren’s ship.
Have Rey and the Falcon pick up Luke, during his battle with Ren, after the Rebels retreat with the Silver Foxes.
No Cpt. Phasma, her character was wasted in both movies. Leave her dead in the garbage shoot on Starkiller Base.
No lame staple kid uses the force for the ending. That was cheesy bad.
That’s not how fan editing works!
…unless we go with my initial idea and collect a couple of hundred million dollars (from OT members, of course!) to reshoot the whole movie.
I know fan edit is nearly impossible, I just wish Rian had a better thought out story. 1 1/2 hr car chase Star Wars movie, Disney and the fanboys are retarded for supporting this b.s. The only way to get Disney to listen and care about the fans is if we stop paying to see their sub par movies, like The Last Jedi. Please do not pay to re-watch this abortion. Rotten Tomatoes is fake news, believe the fan critic ratings and boycott the movie, let Disney watch their profits drop.
Calm down. I’ve hated nearly everything Star Wars related since 1997…I’m not going to tell other people they can’t like them. You didn’t like it…move on. A lot of people did.
"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas
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hmarkv, I would recommend you to edit your post so as to remove the tone (and a very specific word) that could be interpreted as insulting here.
And yeah Rotten Tomatoes is a lame review aggregator that’s got a curious influence these past few years. People shouldn’t read it. Besides, for old movies the reviews are refreshed with new ones, so RT doesn’t even have an “historic” value. For example Blade Runner (the original) is at 90%… it surely wasn’t even at 50% when the movie got released in 1982, so what’s the point of RT ? Basically: none. Even for TPM and AOTC: reviews in 1999 and 2002 were VERY GOOD. It wasn’t 55/66 % (it was higher), more like 75% for both. ROTS was something like 80%. TESB got mixed reviews on the other hand. Pretty sure it wasn’t 97% in 1980…
To remove most of the Canto Bight plot, just show the scene in full up until DJ leaves the cell, so we get his introduction. Then later, cut to Finn, Rose and DJ on the ship as we find out that DJ stole a ship in order to escape. This cuts out all of the unneeded chase scene and keeps the pacing a bit tighter.
Is it feasable to do so while keeping the child of the Force of the ending ?
Is it feasable to do so while keeping the child of the Force of the ending ?
See, that’s a tough one. I really like the ending with ‘broom boy’, as it really shows one of the main themes of the film: that the Force can be present in anyone, regardless of their bloodline. It would probably still work without the setup, just not as well. Maybe the scene in the stables could still be included somehow, just removing the beginning of the chase. I don’t think it would work very well though.
Another thing I’d wish to edit is the strange random lightsaber ignition sounds on the Graflex. When Rey ignites it while she’s practising on her own and when Luke ignites it on Crait). Possibly when she ignites it while fighting with Luke at night in the rain as well (I don’t quite remember that sound there).
As far as the humour goes, it was slightly jarring to me at first as well. But then I remember that Star Wars has always had cheesy goofy humour like this. Always. Since 1977. It was just in that era’s form. This isn’t “Marvel Universe humour”, it’s just this generation’s humour. This is a Star Wars for THIS generation. And it even made me laugh, jarring though it may have been at first.
Does it bother anyone else that they kept calling him a “code breaker” and never once used the word “slicer?”
He was never referred to as a “slicer” but DJ did use the phrase “…slice into their shields, blip bloppity bloop…” when they arrived at the scene.
The only saber ignition sound that I noticed was Luke’s on Crait and I was okay with it because it wasn’t even real.
For TFA, the sound was usually different from the other films, though consistent with itself. Odd. I just saw TLJ a third time and I just don’t remember the saber stuff well enough. I would recommend editing out ignition sounds that are distinct from how that saber sounded in. ROTS, ANH, ESB, or TFA. Especially sounds that are closely associated with other sabers. Exception being Crait, since if all other cases are correct, it’d just be another clue about what’s is going on.
The only saber ignition sound that I noticed was Luke’s on Crait and I was okay with it because it wasn’t even real.
For TFA, the sound was usually different from the other films, though consistent with itself. Odd. I just saw TLJ a third time and I just don’t remember the saber stuff well enough. I would recommend editing out ignition sounds that are distinct from how that saber sounded in. ROTS, ANH, ESB, or TFA. Especially sounds that are closely associated with other sabers. Exception being Crait, since if all other cases are correct, it’d just be another clue about what’s is going on.
From what I remember, I think the saber ignition sound in TFA is incorrect, at least when Finn first lights it up. The same sound is made in TLJ I believe.
On a side note, I think I might try and do a 3D replacement for Luke’s lightsaber at the end. To me it just doesn’t make any sense that his blue one would be the one he would project. I mean he hand built the green one and had it a lot longer than he had the blue. I may do some mock ups just to see if I can pull it off.
“You can’t polish a turd. But you can shape it to look like candy.”
The only saber ignition sound that I noticed was Luke’s on Crait and I was okay with it because it wasn’t even real.
For TFA, the sound was usually different from the other films, though consistent with itself. Odd. I just saw TLJ a third time and I just don’t remember the saber stuff well enough. I would recommend editing out ignition sounds that are distinct from how that saber sounded in. ROTS, ANH, ESB, or TFA. Especially sounds that are closely associated with other sabers. Exception being Crait, since if all other cases are correct, it’d just be another clue about what’s is going on.
From what I remember, I think the saber ignition sound in TFA is incorrect, at least when Finn first lights it up. The same sound is made in TLJ I believe.
On a side note, I think I might try and do a 3D replacement for Luke’s lightsaber at the end. To me it just doesn’t make any sense that his blue one would be the one he would project. I mean he hand built the green one and had it a lot longer than he had the blue. I may do some mock ups just to see if I can pull it off.
I am anticipating to see what you can do very much.
Agreed, that’s a wish list thing for my own edit that I’m not sure I’d have the skill to pull off.
You don’t need to show Canto Bight, Rose, Laura Dern, Leia Poppins, the Code breaker, or Phasma if you cut the in-ship plot entirely.
What if the beginning of this movie was excised entirely?
Begin the film with an opening crawl informing us that the First Order has found the Resistance and chased them across the galaxy, Ren has completed his training with Snoke, and Snoke wants Leia alive in order to find the Last Jedi. Then go to the scene of Rey on the island and imply through those scenes that it is some time before we meet the rest of our heroes again.
You could cut out the Resistance escape and Poe’s hothead moves, Rose’s sister’s sacrifice, Snoke’s first scene with Ren, Finn waking up, Rose meeting Finn, all that. The first scene of the Resistance could be on Canto Bight. It would be assumed that Finn is on some secret mission with another member of the Resistance, and I think they even explain their mission while there (which was unnecessary in the film originally, but would make more sense here). We can assume that Finn and Rose have had a longer-term relationship than what we’ve seen, which might help with the awkward kiss at the end. And we already know that Poe is a hothead, so his first scene is somewhat superfluous anyway.
Is there anything that we simply can’t lose from the beginning of the Resistance plot? I have still only seen this once, so my memory is fuzzy.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
I like the idea of opening on Canto Bight. Would kind of mirror empire opening with Luke and Han on patrol.
The only problem would be it’d be a bit strange seeing Finn suddenly out of his coma from the last movie with no explanation.
I don’t know about that, there was no explanation for him waking up in this movie that I can remember.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
I don’t know about that, there was no explanation for him waking up in this movie that I can remember.
No but my point is we saw him wake up. Without physically seeing it happen it would need to be addressed somehow.
The ultimate fan edit: movie plays all the way through just about the same, except…
Finn wakes up at the very end; it was a bad dream! 😋
But hmm, opening on Canto… sounds pretty bold but still risky. Rearranging sounds so difficult to do because it seems like everything does weave in a way, despite feeling messy, still being connected in a sequence that can’t be changed too drastically.
The Rise of Failures
Thing of it is, opening on Canto might not even require rearranging the Resistance plot if nothing before that is essential information.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
(Long Post Warning)
I wanted to post my thoughts about TLJ here to hopefully give some ideas to editors, as I anxiously await your revised cuts! These are my issues with the movie; it really felt like Rian Johnson had utter contempt for every single established Star Wars trope. I am sure not everyone will agree with me on some of these, and probably the scope of some are too large to change, but perhaps there are some things that could still be done:
Rey’s parentage is a big one. To be dismissed out of hand after leading audiences to believe that this would be one of the most critical aspects of the trilogy, and with SW having established the relationship between force sensitivity and bloodlines, this was a terrible moment in the movie. I can only hope Kylo was lying or mistaken…
You CANNOT set up a character like Snoke without more explanation about who and what he is. Sorry, but you can’t, based on the literary archetype he represents, the path had already been set, the wheels are in motion. Someone as powerful or MORE powerful than the literal EMPEROR has been in hiding, watching and waiting, as events have played out for decades or or centuries or millennia? This is beyond intriguing! Rian Johnson claimed audiences knew nothing about Emperor Palpatine before the Original Trilogy. This is true, but there were not SEVEN movies in the SW universe that came before the OT when it was released to set up the films!
One of the things that bugged me the most was how the awesome and heroic character of Poe Dameron was reduced to an incompetent fool, sacrificing the Resistance’s entire bomber fleet for apparently no reason that had any impact on the story whatsoever, blabbing over unsecured communications about the evacuation to the planet, making him responsible for untold Resistance deaths. He gets demoted, dressed down, kept in the dark, and finally to add injury to insult, stunned unconscious by the person he most respects. I cannot say how disappointed I was in what Rian did to Poe’s character.
Porgs. Okay, I get it, they are the new Ewoks (one of the few generally accepted poor choices made in the Original Trilogy) and meant to appeal to children. But I could have used at least one or two less scenes with them. Compared to the other issues covered in this post, they are a nitpick.
The casino scene. It was pointless and stalled the plot. The whole thing could have been chopped out. A captured imperial droid or some little-known on-ship hacker could have been tracked down to sneak onto the imperial ship. This actually would have been a better use for the nerdy, unassuming Rose character. Rian complained that taking time to reveal Snoke’s backstory would have ground the pacing to a halt, but the time in the casino did the same thing and added nothing to the story.
Complete disregard of Vader as a character after he had already been set up in TFA as a major influencer and inspiration to Kylo. After a few mean words from Snoke, Kylo smashes his helmet to pieces, symbolically smashing his obsessed Vader-like aspirations and everything that had been set up in the previous movie. Trying to delete Vader from a Skywalker-saga SW movie is like trying to delete Hitler from a WWII documentary. Can’t you wait until you get you start your own non-Skywalker SW trilogy, Rian?
General Hux was set up, almost literally, as a young ascendant Hitler in TFA. Now he is the butt of silly tone-deaf jokes? I thought Kathleen Kennedy was supposed to be supervising Rian?
Snoke’s comment about the Dark in Rey and the Light rising to meet it. This is an attempt to muddy the water and make things “grey”. Sorry, but SW is not (the amazing) Game of Thrones where every character is some shade of grey. SW, like Lord of the Rings before it, is more classically based in clearly defined good vs. evil, black and white, with central characters in conflict between the two sides but not symbolizing the embodiment of both simultaneously and equally, and not in a permanent state of vacillating between both sides.
As already mentioned by Mark Hamill, Rian did not do justice to Luke’s character. His wallowing self-pity was reminiscent of Anakin in Episodes II and III, which I think most fans can agree, is not a memory that should be dredged up. And his defeatism through most of the film was neither Jedi-like nor Luke-like.
Rey: gutsy move putting a female in the lead role of a SW film! But the right one. Great choice, she is amazing as a character and Daisy is a fantastic actor. Leia: In charge of the Reistance. Of course she is! Brilliant. Captain Phasma: Gwendolyn Christie is a genuine badass. Super-cool to not just have a female storm trooper, but to have the ULTIMATE storm trooper be female. Maz: Holy shit a female Yoda? Awesome! Rose: Great character if not the best actress. Very cool to add more ethnic diversity and also that she is not “gorgeous” by societal standards. Female fighter squadron leader at the film’s beginning: Of course. There should be women piloting fighters and in leadership roles. Female self-sacrificing bomber (Rose’s sister): Well done! Very emotional and heroic moment for a female Resistance fighter. Blonde Resistance Intern girl who helps Po: Sure, why not. Big-nosed Resistance Officer lady who, comments on things: Okay… Purple-haired kindergarten teacher who takes over command of Resistance when Leia is unconscious: You know what, sorry, sorry, I am profoundly sorry, but one female too many. This is a war movie, not “Sisterhood of the Traveling Resistance”. Am I a sexist is to think a WAR movie should have at least a few more main characters of the male gender? If you are trying to be diverse and inclusive, why not add some trans characters or gender-switching aliens or a gay relationship minor plot line, all of which I think could have been good choices.
Kylo, Yoda, and Luke all talked about destroying the past. I didn’t really mind this at all until I realized the second, much deeper meaning of this dialog was that Rian Johnson was ACTUALLY COMMENTING ABOUT THE PAST STAR WARS MOVIES THEMSELVES WITHIN THE MOVIE HE WAS COMMISSIONED TO DIRECT! He was literally talking about destroying all the Star Wars tropes that came before HIS movie.
In the OT, it was clear what the Empire represented and what the Rebellion represented. As things stand after Episodes VII and VIII… what the extant Republic, Resistance, and First Order represent and how they evolved into their current states, is far less clear, and therefore less emotionally involving.
The movie almost feels like Rian Johnson hates J.J. Abrams. “Oh you created Poe to be a hero, you think Snoke should be an important character, you want Rey’s bloodlines to be important, you probably wanted Luke to be a more heroic character, you wanted Vader’s presence to be felt through his inspiration of Kylo? Well I am going to kill the past because this is MY movie! Oh… And I bet you thought the Knights of Ren was a cool idea too. Well, fuck you about that too.”
I do think there is a good Star Wars movie in there somewhere utilizing TLJ footage as a rough cut.