Haha, thanks. I was planning on being productive tonight but that didn’t happen!
Yeah, it definitely requires a lot more work, but the groundwork has already been laid down by Restructured, at least.
And if we went with the Star Forge idea, it would require a little less fx work (or an equal amount if you have to generate those Star Destroyer shots), but more dialogue regarding Starkiller could be kept. The Resistance Base discussion would still be heavily trimmed, but a little less so than if Starkiller was a regular planet.
If you just tried to cut out every instance of them saying “weapon”, “laser cannon”, “Death Star”, “gun”, you would be left with something usable.
If you kept their mission of destroying the base, their mission becomes a little more unfocused (find the map AND, ironically, destroy the planet). You could keep the layout the same, but just swap out Starkiller Weapon with Starkiller Factory, but that would defeat the purpose of wanting to keep it focused on Luke.
And you’re right, having crazy tech in Star Wars is definitely a part of its style, but the craziest thing Empire Strikes Back had was the Super Star Destroyer, and in this version TFA would still have the First Order Dreadnoughts.
I mean if you did the Star Forge idea, would you have Phasma lower the shields and give them the map? Or just have no planetary shields?
Like I said, I think making Starkiller a Star Forge alone would still be a worthy idea to try and implement. I would at least see if it is possible to have the third act still focus on the McGuffin if possible too though.