A common idea is for Endor, frequently referred to as the forest moon, be the moon of the capital.
Not a bad idea, especially because that wouldn’t be all that hard to execute.
Reading R + L ≠ J theories
In terms of practically it’s the most obvious choice. However, the idea of an untouched sanctuary moon orbiting the capital of the Galaxy simply shatters my suspension of disbelief.
In terms of practically it’s the most obvious choice. However, the idea of an untouched sanctuary moon orbiting the capital of the Galaxy simply shatters my suspension of disbelief.
Giant national park?
Maybe the Empire eliminated this thousand year status and began turning it into a military fortification, and now the Ewoks aren’t used to contact with other species and desire rebellion.
Frankly I don’t even see why an untouched moon is so unbelievable.
Or even why it has to be completely untouched. It could just be less developed than the Coruscant Ecumenopolis.
Reading R + L ≠ J theories
I recall in one of the Star Wars books that there is an untouched portion of Coruscant. Endor could be repurposed as the untouched small part on Endor, where the shield generator would be hidden.
It makes sense for the Empire to hide their super important shield generator in a forested part of the planet where people don’t live or go to. I know the untouched part of coruscant was actually deforested before the OT but you would only know that if you read Catalyst.
So, perhaps the Death Star 2 is being built and they discovered this and decide the only way to survive is to freaking zerg rush the capital in a last ditch effort to win because if they finish the Death Star 2 then they believe that the war would essentially be over. I like the idea of putting the Luke-Vader fight being put on the same planet as the Rebels heading for the shield generator. And then instead of Luke pulling Vader out of the DS2 he’s trying to get out of the capital before the DS2 pieces fall onto the capital.
After being beaten and battered by prequel hate, I promise not to be that to the next generation.
Endor is a moon of Coruscant, perhaps a nature sanctuary since the planet is all city / industrial. The emperor does mention sanctuary moon.
On Coruscant you have a planet based weapon and the throne room.
The shield generator is on Endor, protecting Coruscant.
The space battle takes place over Coruscant.
This would fit the existing transitions, music and pace of the movie.
Completely cutting the Death Star would be interesting.
We don’t need any massive superweapon. Just having Coruscant be heavily armed is enough.
Completely cutting the Death Star would be interesting.
I was working on a fanedit like a year ago where there was only one Death Star, which wasn’t destroyed in ANH. It’s been bogged down and completely restarted from scratch a couple of times, but I haven’t completely thrown it away, if this is close enough.
Reading R + L ≠ J theories
Completely cutting the Death Star would be interesting.
I was working on a fanedit like a year ago where there was only one Death Star, which wasn’t destroyed in ANH. It’s been bogged down and completely restarted from scratch a couple of times, but I haven’t completely thrown it away, if this is close enough.
I think that’s the best way to go, honestly.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
My problem with Endor being a part of Coruscant is that you need to show that.
And the existing Coruscant footage only shows city or industrial areas.
You’d need 2 shots: one from orbit showing a forested area surrounded by city; another from a lower altitude showing the preserve’s border.
Perhaps those could be sourced from other movies?
On the surface:
https://i.imgur.com/mQtCvat_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium
From Orbit:
https://i.imgur.com/v30WwJf_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium
These are very rough, but I believe it would be possible.
I’ve decided long ago against one Death Star for the whole trilogy, because of how central the attack run is in ANH, versus the one in RotJ that’s so sidelined it’s given to Lando. Lando can just be in some generic space battle but Luke has to destroy the Death Star. Sure, he could simply damage it, but that wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying. I suggest giving Coruscant a Rogue One style planetary shield and having Han’s team deactivate it from Endor so Lando’s team can storm the capital by ship.
SkyAnakid said:
On the surface:
https://i.imgur.com/mQtCvat_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium
Good work!
The surface image works, I understand what I’m seeing right away (the orbital one is too generic).
Here’s a quick and dirty opening with Coruscant.
https://streamable.com/iitax
Now, regardless of what the shuttle flies over next, it must land on an hangar…
(Both the Endor+Coruscant and only Coruscant are good ideas, and there’s a lot to discuss regarding them.
Perhaps we could have separate threads for each?)
I don’t think it’s worth making separate threads.
The test clip looks good, but I would add a tad more grain to Coruscant.
Sure, eventually this would be done using 4K83. That one has image stabilization, essential for matting stuff.
Was thinking about the opening scene of Return of the Jedi today and remember, well, how dull it feels compared to some of the other openings in the franchise.
The Star Destroyer entering frame overhead feels uninspired, and just copying the opening of A New Hope without adding anything new. The reveal of the Second Death Star isn’t much of a reveal, either. We just pan down and it takes up a very small portion of the frame, feeling rather insignificant.
While I don’t want to suggest an entirely new opening, I did want to discuss possibilities about making the concept of this opening a little more interesting.
First of all, I always wondered why Darth Vader didn’t go to Endor in his Super Star Destroyer. Instead, he takes a regular destroyer with two others backing him up. Because the smaller one’s are faster? Why not show off the Super Star Destroyer? One option to consider could be to pan down to a wide shot of the Super Star Destroyer rather than Endor and the Death Star. Either Vader’s shuttle could already be leaving the Destroyer and heading toward the camera when we pan down, or you could alter the shot of the shuttle exiting the Star Destroyer hangar by removing Endor and the Death Star and recolor the Star Destroyer hull to more closely match the Super Star Destroyer.
Regarding the Death Star, I wonder if it would be possible imply that the Death Star is completely covered in darkness, the sun being blocked by Endor maybe, and slowly reveal it as the sunlight exposes the surface. Maybe too much like Rogue One though? Maybe the Death Star itself is eclipsing the sun, and as the shuttle gets closer the sun breaks the horizon, similar to that shot of the Falcon escaping Bespin in ESB.
Another idea would be for the shuttle to come from around Endor, and have the Death Star slowly be revealed from behind the planet. Maybe one could rotoscope the shuttle interior shots to pull this idea off. Alternatively, you could also just pan down to a larger close-up of the Death Star to give its scale more justice (if HQ images of Death Star II are even available).
I think I would want to go with the approach where pre-existing elements could be used rather than having to use CGI that might not fit with the surrounding models/matte paintings.
Although I’m a little more iffy on this idea, I kind of think the music is also a little dull during this opening, and I wonder if a slight nod to the Death Star theme/motif or even the ANH Imperial motif could be implemented when we see the Death Star to make the opening feel a little more ominous. Like I said, I’m on the fence about messing with the soundtrack, but it could be worth messing with.
Anyway, wanted to get these ideas out there and see what you all thought could be done. Like I’ve said, I kind of think when it comes to changing the OT, less is more. The less that needs be changed but has the greatest effectiveness seems to be the sweet spot, but I would love to hear any ideas/opinions.
I would be interested to see if Ady would do something with his own opening for ROTJ:R, and this to me seems like the approach he would take.
These are all excellent suggestions.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
There are some VERY good visuals on Star Wars Battlefront II.
Would be hard to make them match the 1980’s effects but the detail is worth it. And very faithful to the original material I think.
Can someone here create this kind of video ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8bYvIRw7lY
A simple recreation of the movie sequences with game’s engine would be interesting.
I’ve been saying this since the first game came out!
A quick mock-up of Endor ground action using game footage from Youtube.
It would work if the “camera” was setup like in Jedi - stationary or slow pans, wide FOV.
I tried to use the most suitable takes.
I think you might get away with shots of vehicles rather than people with the right color grading and maybe adding grain, but I think any shots with character avatars wouldn’t really work. And it probably would be hard to get away with having a real forest shot next to a digital shot. Though you’re right, simulating the more stationary camera shots does help.
I think the best thing we’ll be getting is Ady’s eventually physical shoot in California. That, plus the recent mock-ups of Ewoks with blasters from the Battle for Endor, are probably be the best “extra footage” will have for the battle of Endor.
I wanted to layout an idea for some changes to the Sail Barge Assault in Return of the Jedi.
Mostly, the point is to make Boba Fett’s last appearance do a little more justice to the bounty hunter.
While Ady has hinted at a more definitive death for Boba in his own edit, I wanted to suggest some ideas that don’t radically change his fate.
I’ve mentioned some of this before in his ROTJ: Revisited thread, but I wanted to reiterate those ideas here as well as add a few others.
First of all, I think something that I hope Ady might add, and would make an awesome general addition, would be to add some saber cuts and possibly dismemberment to the guards Luke wildly swings at during the fight. The whole scene is still great fun, but when you watch it, Luke might as well just be swinging a bat at them!
Moving onto Boba, I think a few changes could really make this scene more tense, as well as make Boba look a bit more competent.
Starting off, as soon as Boba lands, a new blaster shot should be added right as he lands, which Luke barely manages to avoid before cutting Boba’s blaster. A quick shot and close call.
Next, while not exactly necessary, I think it could be effective to add some yellow energy to the rope Boba shoots at Luke in an attempt to disable him. As is, a thin rope seems pretty ineffective against someone wielding a lightsaber, so adding that little effect could make it seem a little more dangerous.
Here’s an example of what I’m suggesting, seen in this clip from Rebels, around the 1:25 mark. (Hoping the link works!)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iI-5belUgQ0
Third suggestion I wanted to throw out here is to reuse the shots of Luke’s hand getting shot on the sail barge to when Boba shoots at him right before Han hits his jet pack.
I feel like if anyone can get a shot off a Jedi, it should be Boba rather than a random thug. Just think it would be nice if Boba “almost” got him.
So basically, Boba shoots at Luke from the other skiff, you would rotoscope the close-up of Luke’s hand getting shot to match, then rotoscope the quick reaction shot of Luke reacting to it, then cut back to Han swinging the axe at Boba. Or something along those lines.
I feel like this way, it feels a lot more like a close call, Boba seems more competent and it feels more satisfying when Han takes him out. Speaking of which, I would also suggesting adding a bit more of a gap between Han saying “Where?” and hitting Boba, maybe adding a Chewbacca growl inbetween. This makes it a little more open to interpretation whether it was an accident, or Han asked “Where?”, Chewbacca said, “Behind you!”, then Han swings behind him. Not a big difference, but small enough to where people can interpret whichever way they prefer.
The only issue you’d run into with this idea would be that you wouldn’t see Luke’s damaged hand for the next several shots, it would take some work but you could add the damage to moments where that hand is in clear view.
But even in the theatrical version, you don’t really see the damage in any further shots after his hand gets damaged either, so I don’t think continuity should make or break this idea.
Beyond that, I think removing Boba’s screams and the Sarlaac burp would help too.
I think these changes would give us a little bit more cool Boba action that people back in ‘83 might have hoped for originally.
The biggest change would be having Luke getting shot by Boba, but I honestly think it would work in that moment.
That sounds awesome
To better set up the ST and make it feel less like it invalidates the OT, I’d remove the SE celebration montage, and add a scene of the remains of the Empire ominously retreating into the Unknown Regions.
