logo Sign In

Clone Wars Trilogy (tv to movie edit) - previews available (* unfinished project *)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

This project has evolved somewhat since I embarked on it a few weeks ago. Initially I was hoping to create a single cohesive Clone Wars film that would fit between Episodes II & III and would answer the main questions of who created the Clone army, what happens to Ahsoka, what is the nature of the Anakin/Padme relationship, and why doesn’t Anakin trust the Jedi.

This turned out to be too much and so I’ve moved to making a trilogy that tries to meet those stated goals of ensuring that the questions raised in the prequel films are answered by the time ROTS has ended.

So the first film, which is fairly close to completion will consist of:

 

Crawl:

The Clone Wars

Like fire across the galaxy, the Clone Wars spread.
As more and more planets choose to join
Count Dooku’s Separatists it falls upon
the Jedi Knights to lead the newly formed
ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

While the Jedi are occupied fighting a war,
no one is left to keep the peace. Chaos and
crime spread, and the innocent become victims
in a lawless galaxy.

As the heat of war grows, so too grows the
prowess of the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker.
To prevent him from reaching his full potential
the Sith send the assassin Asajj Ventress to
strike down the young Jedi….

 

Anakin vs Ventress/Knighting Ceremony from 2003 Clone Wars
The Hidden Enemy(with the Clone arc cut)
Bombad Jedi(edited so that Padme is the sole hero)
The Movie (Christophsis battle/agreeing to train Ahsoka)
Senate Spy and Cloak of Darkness cut together
Landing at Point Rain/Weapons Factory/Legacy of Terror/Brain Invader (brain worms cut)
The film ends after the capture of Poggle and the burying of the Queen.
The scene where Sidious orders Dooku to kill Ventress plays after the credits.
&nbsp

Film 2 will (hopefully) consist of:
The opening battle of Nightsister
Pursuit of Peace/Senate Murders
The Citadel episodes
Overlords
and the Zygerian Slavery arc
Ventress waking up in the wreckage is End Credits scene
 

Film 3:
Onderon arc
Rise of Clovis Arc
Yoda’s mission
The Wrong Jedi arc
Dooku ordering Greivious to prepare his attack as End Credits scene.
 

The hardest thing about these edits is transitioning from one arc to the next because so much of the setup for episodes is relayed through the Narration rather than dialogue.
But that’s what I’ve got so far.
Overlords

 

Previews:

Film 1:
Crawl/Opening: https://vimeo.com/253478045 pass: crawl

2nd Ventress encounter v1: https://vimeo.com/253667416 pass: asajj

Author
Time

Not sure about the fact you wish to mix both very different tv series. smudger9 somewhat did that on his (sadly unfinished) movie-series, but it only was dialogue excerpts, not footage. So… good luck !

Author
Time

MalàStrana said:

Not sure about the fact you wish to mix both very different tv series. smudger9 somewhat did that on his (sadly unfinished) movie-series, but it only was dialogue excerpts, not footage. So… good luck !

They aren’t mixed so much as we start with one and end with the other. Visually yes it’s a bit weird, but it plays fine, especially since Obi-wan is the same throughout. Since they originally were planning on both series being in continuity with each other we never get a strong Grievous intro in TCW and having Obi-wan vouch for Anakin before the council is really important imo.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

What about releasing an edit that focuses on the Nightsisters and the Return of Maul? This would start the continuation of Smudger9’s saga.

Author
Time

That is an entirely separate project and not one I’m going to be taking on. I’ve got a few different SW edits in the works currently so finishing someone else’s work isn’t really my idea of time well spent.

Author
Time

LivJackell said:
They aren’t mixed so much as we start with one and end with the other.

That I totally agree with you. A few things aren’t consistent (Shaak Ti very young in CW and a General in TCW; Grievous badas in CW and more-ROTS oriented in TCW) but indeed it works. Visually I just think it might be hard to mix visually different series in one movie, but… if you think it can work go for it 😃

LivJackell said:
I’ve got a few different SW edits in the works currently so finishing someone else’s work isn’t really my idea of time well spent.

And for now we don’t know if he will eventually finish it. Not sure if he posted somewhere that he was done with fanediting (not here at least) or just taking a long break from it (his project was perhaps too super ambitious… 5 more tv-movies… huge amount of work !).

Author
Time

I’ve always favored story over visuals, so different animation doesn’t bother me too much. I’m interested.

Author
Time

It will be a bit visually weird, but after the first 15 minutes we are with the TCW until the end. It doesn’t throw me out of the experience nearly as much as say switching between animated & live-action might.

So I’m toying with having the middle arc after Ahsoka joins Anakin be the mission to Geonosis with Baris so that her character is setup before she betrays the Jedi and frames Ahsoka. If I do that though i’m not sure what to have Padme doing or if she should just wait till the third act.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I’ve decided which episodes I’ll drawing from to craft my story:

Bombad Jedi/Hidden Enemy (to intro Assajj and the captured Gunray plot)

Movie (Battle of Christophis/Meeting Ahsoka)

Senate Spy/Cloak of Darkness(To intro Clovis and continue Ventress as a threat)

Landing at Point Rain/Weapons Factory/Legacy of Terror/Brain Invaders (to intro Barris and establish her relationship with Ahsoka)

Heroes on Both Sides/Pursuit of Peace(for Grievous and Padme’s story)

Nightsisters (for Dooku trying to kill Asajj)

An Old Friend/Rise of Clovis/Crisis at the Heart(for Padme’s story and Anakin’s jealousy)

The Lost One/Voices/Destiny/Sacrifice (mostly to have Yoda meet Qui-gon’s ghost, resolve the Sifo-diyas mystery, and setting the tone for ROTS)

Sabotage/The Jedi Who Knew Too Much/To Catch a Jedi/The Wrong Jedi(for obvious reasons)

Minus closing credits and the openers of each episode this makes for about 8hrs and 20minutes that I’ve gotta cut down to feature film length. If as I work through this I find that Grievous cannot be meaningfully integrated into the story using TCW footage I’ll cut him entirely and possibly make the opening Anakin’s pursuit of and fight with Ventress on Yavin from CW’03

Author
Time

LivJackell said:

I’ve decided which episodes I’ll drawing from yo craft my story:

Bombad Jedi/Hidden Enemy (to intro Assajj and the captured Gunray plot)

Movie (Battle of Christophis/Meeting Ahsoka)

Senate Spy/Cloak of Darkness(To intro Clovis and continue Ventress as a threat)

Landing at Point Rain/Weapons Factory/Legacy of Terror/Brain Invaders (to intro Barris and establish her relationship with Ahsoka)

Heroes on Both Sides/Pursuit of Peace(for Grievous and Padme’s story)

Nightsisters (for Dooku trying to kill Asajj)

An Old Friend/Rise of Clovis/Crisis at the Heart(for Padme’s story and Anakin’s jealousy)

The Lost One/Voices/Destiny/Sacrifice (mostly to have Yoda meet Qui-gon’s ghost, resolve the Sifo-diyas mystery, and setting the tone for ROTS)

Sabotage/The Jedi Who Knew Too Much/To Catch a Jedi/The Wrong Jedi(for obvious reasons)

Minus closing credits and the openers of each episode this makes for about 8hrs and 20minutes that I’ve gotta cut down to feature film length. If as I work through this I find that Grievous cannot be meaningfully integrated into the story using TCW footage I’ll cut him entirely and possibly make the opening Anakin’s pursuit of and fight with Ventress on Yavin from CW’03

Why not include the Morris arc?

Author
Time

Because it is so disconnected from the larger Clone Wars story and doesn’t inform any actions taken by any characters later, except maybe Ahsoka. It’s a great story but as I need this to be a certain length I have to focus on the characters that are important to Anakin, Padme, & Ahsoka’s development. Which means Barris, Ventress, and Clovis.

Author
Time

Would you consider splitting it into two feature-length movies?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I might. But I really want this to be able to stand in as a middle chapter for those whose PT consists of AOTC & ROTS so I’m gonna try for that first.

Yes that means losing a LOT of the Clone Wars narrative, but I think in end it will be worth it to have a simple, concise, easy to watch version of Ahsoka & Anakin’s story.

As such after watching more of the footage, I’ve decided to cut Grievous from the film entirely. In the grand scheme of things, outside of the 2003 series, he is a weak villain who doesn’t add much of anything to the mythos. Instead I’ll be starting with the Anakin/Ventress showdown, which gives me the opportunity to craft her as the central antagonist of the story.

Edit: So i’ve Actually managed to cut together a fairly cohesive story out of CW’03, The Hidden Enemy, Bombad Jedi, TCW Movie, Cloak of Darkness, Senate Spy, Landing At Point Rain Parts 1-3 and Brain Invaders.

Clone Wars ‘03: We start with Anakin vs Ventress, after he defeats her we cut to the Qui-gon/Ani visión and it proceeds from there until Anakin leaves Coruscant after being Knighted.

The Hidden Enemy: The Traitor Clone story has been cut, Ventress no longer addresses her remarks to Obi-wan, and the fight is edited slightly to feel like a rematch with Anakin.

Bombad Jedi: Padme rescues herself and Jar Jar literally does nothing. This is made possible by intercutting with Hidden Enemy. Gunray is captured and Ventress is sent to rescue him.

Clone Wars ‘08:
Everything but the battle for Christophsis is cut, ends with Anakin telling Yoda he’s happy to train Ahsoka and everyone leaving the planet.

Cloak of Darkness: This episode is mostly intact, just trimmed for length/suspense. Ahsoka no longer acts like she knows about fighting Ventress as this is her first encounter. Anything she says is inferred to be based on what Anakin told her.

Senate Spy: Intercutting with CoD above this episode is mostly cut for length and removing unnecessary bits.

Landing At Point Rain Part 1-3/Brain Invaders:
Again trimmed for length. The opening bit with Anakin & Ahsoka arriving on the bridge is edited for continuity with previous footage. The capture of Poggle is trimmed way down and the brain slugs removed. The scene of Ahsoka/Barriss in bed/mess hall is moved to before Poggle is captured and the arc ends with them all returning to Coruscant.

That concludes the first half of the film and is as far as I’ve gotten. But it works well, there is a coherent plot that can be followed and nothing requires any leaps of logic to explain how point A led to point B.

I’m toying with adding a “One Year Later” subtitle for the transition to Heroes on Both Sides, but I’m not sure.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I haven’t updated the OP yet to reflect this, but major project update:

After talking with my fiancée and my brother and thinking about film structure and effective story telling I’ve decided to make this a trilogy rather than a singular film. The first reason for this change being that I realized it wasn’t going to work thematically to say goodbye to Ahsoka in the same film that we are introduced to her in.
The second was that there are important character moments for Anakin and Ahsoka that inform their later decisions that I was leaving out.
The third reasons being pacing and leaving room for the story and audience to breathe.

So the first film, which is fairly close to completion will consist of:

Crawl:
Like fire across the galaxy, the Clone Wars spread. As more and more planets choose to join Count Dooku’s Separatists it falls upon the Jedi Knights to lead the newly formed ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.

While the Jedi are occupied fighting a war,
no one is left to keep the peace. Chaos and crime spread, and the innocent become victims in a lawless galaxy.

As the heat of war grows, so too grows the prowess of the Chosen One, Anakin Skywalker. Determined to prevent him from reaching his full potential Count Dooku sends the Sith assassin Asajj Ventress to strike down the young Jedi….

Anakin vs Ventress/Knighting Ceremony from 2003 Clone Wars
The Hidden Enemy(with the Clone arc cut)
Bombad Jedi(edited so that Padme is the sole hero)
The Movie (Christophsis battle/agreeing to train Ahsoka)
Senate Spy and Cloak of Darkness cut together
Landing at Point Rain/Weapons Factory/Legacy of Terror/Brain Invader (brain worms cut)
The film ends after the capture of Poggle and the burying of the Queen.
The scene where Sidious orders Dooku to kill Ventress plays after the credits.

Film 2 will (hopefully) consist of:
The opening battle of Nightsister
Pursuit of Peace/Senate Murders
The Citadel episodes
Overlords
and the Zygerian Slavery arc
Ventress waking up in the wreckage is End Credits scene

Film 3:
Onderon arc
Rise of Clovis Arc
Yoda’s mission
The Wrong Jedi arc
Dooku ordering Greivious to prepare his attack as End Credits scene.

The hardest thing about these edits is transitioning from one arc to the next because so much of the setup for episodes is relayed through the Narration rather than dialogue.
But that’s what I’ve got so far.
Overlords

Author
Time

Happy to hear this. With the added breathing room, are you considering adding General Grievous’s introduction back in? While he’s a weak character, I always hated his sudden existence in ROTS and would love to watch home actually properly introduced in an interesting interquel trilogy.

Author
Time

I thought about it, but no. I still don’t really have room for him as things are currently planned. His first appearance in my trilogy will be at the very end of the third film.

Author
Time

MalàStrana said:

Not sure about the fact you wish to mix both very different tv series. smudger9 somewhat did that on his (sadly unfinished) movie-series, but it only was dialogue excerpts, not footage. So… good luck !

You can do this for explosions and droids marching but not for characters

Author
Time

You can decide for yourself if it works. I think it does. :p

Author
Time
 (Edited)

OP has been updated to reflect project changes and now includes link to first preview.

Crawl/Opening: https://vimeo.com/253478045 pass: crawl

It was my first attempt at making a crawl using Blender and DigModiFication’s guide so I have to redo it, but mostly at the moment I’m trying to get the timing of the crawl matched to the music without having to speed up or slow down either one too much.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

LivJackell said:

OP has been updated to reflect project changes and now includes link to first preview.

Crawl/Opening: https://vimeo.com/253478045 pass: crawl

It was my first attempt at making a crawl using Blender and DigModiFication’s guide so I have to redo it, but mostly at the moment I’m trying to get the timing of the crawl matched to the music without having to speed up or slow down either one too much.

Why use the clone wars crawl theme use the traditional star wars crawl theme.

Author
Time

I may do an alternate version, but since this is a Clone Wars edit, and I happen to really like the “Galaxy Divided” score I’n gonna use it.

On another note, I’m Gonna be attempting to edit the Ventress/Anakin/Obi-wan encounter from “Hidden Enemy” with dialogue from the “Rancor Pit” deleted scene from the film, as these lines center Anakin’s past with her, rather than the weird flirting with Obi-wan. Making it clearer she’s back to try and kill Anakin.

Author
Time

I like the sound of this. I have fond memories of the microseries and never got into TCW. I like the idea of incorporating the two in one direction only, and focusing on how TCW can closely tie in with the existing PT rather than following all its own rabbit holes. For bonus points it wouldn’t even feature Ahsoka at all!

My stance on revising fan edits.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Hal 9000 said:

I like the sound of this. I have fond memories of the microseries and never got into TCW. I like the idea of incorporating the two in one direction only, and focusing on how TCW can closely tie in with the existing PT rather than following all its own rabbit holes. For bonus points it wouldn’t even feature Ahsoka at all!

Seeing as Ahsoka is my favorite character in all SW she won’t be getting cut. But I am going to be featuring her stronger storylines.

Honestly I was inspired to do this after watching your trilogy and reading the thread for the ROTS New Canon Cut, so I’m very intent on keeping it focused on depicting what fits the best nestled between 2&3 while of course informing Anakin’s ROTS choices.

By the end of this week I think I’ll have a preview version available for those interested and willing to provide feedback.

EDIT:

New preview,
2nd Ventress enounter: https://vimeo.com/253667416 pass: asajj

This is still a rough bit. I just got the soundtrack so I’m gonna be re-scoring bits of the scene, and I have to figure out what I want to do about Anakin saying “Ventress” but without mouth movement, and I have no idea what to do about the lipsyncing for Ventress’s first line.