I do genuinely like that Luke throws the saber, echoing ROTJ’s saber toss in a meaningful way. I just don’t like the comic manner in which it was executed. I love the ‘alternate take’ seen in the bonus material, it’s just too bad we don’t have it framed in such a way as could actually be used seamlessly.
You’re right: the ‘alternate take’ of Luke throwing the lightsaber wouldn’t be seamless. But I honestly think it’s better to have it done in two shots than the one shot which appears comical. This remains the best version of it I’ve seen — better than dropping it, in my opinion. If you don’t do it, that’s fine, I’ll get over it, but I still won’t like it! Oh well.
One idea for sneaking in an honest “I have a bad feeling about this” would be to slip one in by 3PO (from offscreen) right before Leia tells him to wipe a nervous expression off his face, sourced from one of many times I’m sure Anthony Daniels has recorded the line in spinoff material. However, this would likely feel shoehorned in and undercut the existing nice joke.
This is actually an interesting idea, but one that I don’t really feel is necessary.
I just want to bring up one more scene that really bugs me: it’s when Rose’s sister (Paige) starts kicking the ladder to get the damn remote to drop the bombs. It bugs me so much because I’m just screaming at my TV, “JUST CLIMB BACK UP THE FREAKING LADDER!” It’s so long and drawn out, and it just bugs me.
It bugs me enough that I re-edited it and removed a couple of her kicks, so now it falls on the third kick. Also, I removed the part where the remote flies past her. Any thoughts here?
https://vimeo.com/271029259
password: fanedit