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The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 316

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I for one like having Anakin admit the Tusken slaughter to Palpatine in a holo chat.

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Quick idea: paint out the droids during the birthing of Luke and Leia.
It’s the only time R2 and Yoda share a room, and gives some additional ‘plausible deniability’ to R2 about the finer details of Luke’s family tree.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Hal 9000 said:

Quick idea: paint out the droids during the birthing of Luke and Leia.
It’s the only time R2 and Yoda share a room, and gives some additional ‘plausible deniability’ to R2 about the finer details of Luke’s family tree.

Good idea!

Alternatively, you could have Bail wipe both of their memories by slightly changing his line to, “Have the…droids’ mind[s] wiped.” Maybe just cut to an insert of R2 to hide the dialogue change, cut to 3PO and replace R2’s laughing beeps with sad beeps. R2 has seen just as much as 3PO, and they can pull those memories out of either of them, so why not wipe them both and solve the problem that way?

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I like that R2 isn’t wiped. Goes back to the old idea that the whole saga is R2 recounting the story many years later. Plus, R2 withholding information has been a part of the character since before any retcons.

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I like that idea too, that R2 just tells the story of the Skywalker Saga very much later on.

But, I think that could’ve been addressed by just having some secondary comic/book/show story about them finding/restoring their lost memories somehow. Could make for a good adventure for Luke to go on after Return of the Jedi.

I guess in my mind, having both of their memories erased (at least during the OT) just solves those questions the PT-OT continuity raises.

But I guess the big three things R2 would know would be who Obi-Wan is, who Yoda is and that Luke & Leia are siblings. Like has been said before, revealing he knows Obi-Wan or Yoda to Luke isn’t really important to him, or just goes along with it. I guess that is why Hal’s idea is good, because then the biggest piece of information R2 knows, that Luke and Leia are siblings, would no longer be an issue.

I still think having both droids’ memories wiped (and possibly restored at a later point) is the the cleaner solution to a lot of the questions, but not having them witnessing Luke and Leia’s birth works both ways.

Don’t worry, Hal, one of us will fix this later! I think I’ll do this for my eventual edits now that you’ve brought it up.

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Meanwhile, I have Luke and Leia unrelated so I don’t have to deal with this.

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Something else I think is worth trying is making Solo Episode 2 and Rogue One Episode 3, thus allowing Episode 1’s Prequel 3-in-1 to go all out with changes.

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Making any film besides the actual Prequels part of the PT is a terrible idea IMO, but I know there are others who agree with you on the matter. I just think they’re too close to the OT in style and factions. I prefer the PT being its own era rather than just the OT’s prequel.

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No way it’ll sell for less than hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Reading R + L ≠ J theories

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I saw a while back that someone on these boards added Count Dooku to the funeral pyre scene in TPM. Could someone possibly mock-up Dooku being present during the Queen’s plea to the Senate, then when she proposes the Vote of No Confidence in the Chancellor, Dooku walks away. I’m hoping to include this is in my 3-1 prequel fan edit “The Fallen.”

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I’ve always liked the idea of Dooku being just a rogue Jedi, because it makes Dooku a more complex character. I think a big issue with that though is that it would contradict Dooku’s portrayal in the Clone Wars, for those who enjoy the show.

I kinda wish there was a way to have Dooku aligned with Sidious, but imply that maybe Dooku has joined the Sith with the intention of trying to destroy it from within. Like, maybe that was his motivation for joining Sidious initially and he thought he would be strong enough to resist the temptations of the dark side, but as the war goes on, we see Dooku becoming more and more cruel.

Some of the new canon material, like the recent Master and Apprentice novel, implies that Dooku believed he might be the Chosen One, so this would kind go along with that idea. In this way, Dooku’s conversation with Obi-Wan about wanting to destroy the Sith would actually be true.
Maybe if you were to cut/alter the portion of their conversation about the Trade Federation being betrayed by “the dark lord” and coming to Dooku for help, and maybe replace it with something that one could piece together about him finding the dark lord and joining him.

Maybe when he almost kills Obi-Wan, you could have Dooku say “I’m sorry, Obi-Wan”.

And then in Revenge of the Sith, right before Anakin kills him, maybe Dooku could start trying to say something, like wait/stop/no/he is-, some variation of that.

I kind of like the idea of Dooku joining the dark side in the belief that it was a necessary evil, but being corrupted along the way. And it wouldn’t blatantly contradict the Clone Wars, because you could still keep his red lightsaber and him working with Sidious.

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RogueLeader said:

I’ve always liked the idea of Dooku being just a rogue Jedi, because it makes Dooku a more complex character. I think a big issue with that though is that it would contradict Dooku’s portrayal in the Clone Wars, for those who enjoy the show.

I kinda wish there was a way to have Dooku aligned with Sidious, but imply that maybe Dooku has joined the Sith with the intention of trying to destroy it from within. Like, maybe that was his motivation for joining Sidious initially and he thought he would be strong enough to resist the temptations of the dark side, but as the war goes on, we see Dooku becoming more and more cruel.

Some of the new canon material, like the recent Master and Apprentice novel, implies that Dooku believed he might be the Chosen One, so this would kind go along with that idea. In this way, Dooku’s conversation with Obi-Wan about wanting to destroy the Sith would actually be true.
Maybe if you were to cut/alter the portion of their conversation about the Trade Federation being betrayed by “the dark lord” and coming to Dooku for help, and maybe replace it with something that one could piece together about him finding the dark lord and joining him.

Maybe when he almost kills Obi-Wan, you could have Dooku say “I’m sorry, Obi-Wan”.

And then in Revenge of the Sith, right before Anakin kills him, maybe Dooku could start trying to say something, like wait/stop/no/he is-, some variation of that.

I kind of like the idea of Dooku joining the dark side in the belief that it was a necessary evil, but being corrupted along the way. And it wouldn’t blatantly contradict the Clone Wars, because you could still keep his red lightsaber and him working with Sidious.

This above is more or less how I intend to represent Dooku in my edit (though he won’t be a Sith). He’s aware of Palpatine, and his machinations, obviously certain things will have to be inferred due to the material available. I thought by adding Dooku to the Senate scene in TPM it draws a link between him and Palpatine, and the fact that he turns and walks away will show his disillusionment with the Senate.

He would be wielding a blue sabre in my edit.

On another note, I always felt Obi-Wan should be wielding Qui-Gon’s green blade at the start of Attack of the Clones.

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I agree it’d be cool for Obi-Wan to be using Qui-Gon’s saber to start out with in AOTC. It could be done pretty easily except for close-ups of the hilt while fighting with Jango on Kamino.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Hal 9000 said:

I agree it’d be cool for Obi-Wan to be using Qui-Gon’s saber to start out with in AOTC. It could be done pretty easily except for close-ups of the hilt while fighting with Jango on Kamino.

Maybe it could be implied somehow that he changed the hilt somewhat to fit his personal style.

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TK42-WAN said:

This above is more or less how I intend to represent Dooku in my edit (though he won’t be a Sith). He’s aware of Palpatine, and his machinations, obviously certain things will have to be inferred due to the material available. I thought by adding Dooku to the Senate scene in TPM it draws a link between him and Palpatine, and the fact that he turns and walks away will show his disillusionment with the Senate.

He would be wielding a blue sabre in my edit.

Yeah, that is cool. This has been a common idea and luckily it doesn’t require major changes (cutting some lines, a scene, and changing Dooku’s saber color). This totally works for a radical edit, but it does contradict any non-film material, like the Clone Wars show. I guess I’m trying to figure out a way to maintain some of that added depth, but not blatantly contradict other material.

If there was a way one could add a line for Dooku about having joined the Dark Lord or something along those lines, but still keep him saying “we can destroy the Sith”, might help get that idea across. I think even deleting/altering Dooku’s lines about the Viceroy coming to him for help could help with this idea a little. If anyone has any ideas regarding line alterations or other usable Christopher Lee lines that could help, I’d appreciate the input!

On another note, I always felt Obi-Wan should be wielding Qui-Gon’s green blade at the start of Attack of the Clones.

This would be a cool idea too. Anakin and Obi’s Episode 2 sabers really could be any color since they end up losing both of them by the end of the movie.

Alternatively, I’ve always liked the idea that Luke uses Qui-Gon’s saber that Obi-Wan kept to build his green lightsaber. You could imply this by changing the ignition sound of Qui-Gon’s saber in TPM to the sound Luke’s makes in ROTJ.
If one were to also reinsert the scene of Luke building his saber in ROTJ, maybe someone could insert a brand new shot of Qui-Gon’s dismantled saber on the ground.

Another idea I wanted to discuss, and I believe this has been done in some edits before, is the idea of removing all of the Darth Sidious scenes in The Phantom Menace. I think there are some pros to this idea. One, it keeps the Sith more mysterious, because the only Sith we’ll ever see is Darth Maul. It allows the question Mace poses at the end, “But which was destroyed? The master, or the apprentice?”

It also allows Dooku’s exposition to Obi-Wan in AOTC be a little more revealing since that information wouldn’t be as obvious in TPM. At that point we wouldn’t know if Dooku was lying or if he was the “master” during the events of TPM. Then at the end of AOTC, the persona of Darth Sidious appears on screen for the first time and we realize Dooku was telling the truth.

It also would parallel A New Hope, since the Emperor is mentioned but never seen. In this version of TPM, we may hear reference to a Sith Master and feel his influence, but we would never see the Sidious persona.

Obviously there would be some cons, but I’m wondering if people think the film would be worse off without those scenes.
Do you think we would lose context that would make the film more confusing? I just think it would be interesting if we knew just about as much as our protagonists know.

If necessary, you could replace Sidious in some of those scenes with Darth Maul, and either add new VO or use existing dialogue from the film or of Sam Witwer voicing Maul. This would be a lot more work, but you would be giving Maul more to do in the film, though.

What do you guys think?

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Removing Sidious is an idea I’ve considered too. And I think it’s actually been done? Seciors I think?

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You’re right. It is his Episode I: Return of the Sith edit. I’m sure it isn’t the only one either. So unless there were any issues with that edit that probably proves that it could work.

Another thing this reminds me of, I think if/when I eventually do edits of the saga films, something I would really like to try and do is keep the runtime at 2 hours. A lot of prequels edits sit at 90 minutes or even less, and I’m sure there better films for it, but I guess I don’t want them to feel too short.

I guess that just might be a rule I want to follow, so it inevitably will force me to cut only the most egregious things. So at least my case I may have to keep those scenes in order to remove other bits and pieces to maintain a 2-hour runtime. Unless I kept the bulk of those scenes and somehow swapped out Sidious with Maul.

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I experimented with removing Sidious from Episode I but reverted back from making that change for V1 of ‘Cloak of Deception’.
For one thing, it cuts a considerable amount of runtime and, like Seciors’ edit, makes the resultant film rather short. It does, however, work well when viewing the saga chronologically, allowing for the viewer to potentially be in a position to look back and recognize what has been going on in secret all along. Within the world of just this movie, before progressing on, Palpatine reads as an opportunistic politician, with no ‘evil lizard man’ aspect apparent.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Interesting! I didn’t know you had played around with that.
So basically it does add a bit of mystery/surprise by removing those scenes, but you’re losing a lot of runtime. I think it is about 3-4 minutes altogether for the Sidious scenes.

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The Emperor should be a hologram when declaring the Republic is now an Empire. I like the idea from the original ANH adaptation (I think), about the Emperor locking himself way from the masses. It would also show the Senate how “dangerous” the Jedi are. I feel he shouldn’t be seen in the flesh again after the Jedi attack, except when with Anakin/Vader.

It would be cool to see Star Destroyers added to the skies on Coruscant, really emphasising the miliary presence.

I’d love to see a mock up of the Jedi Temple with greenery and vines growing over it.