Idea & Info: Episodes 1-9 into ONE cohesive Fanedit?

That sounds like a nice little game 😉
I think to make this work, you would have to put the focus of each trilogy on one character and cut everything else.

The PT-part would obviously focus on Anakin. Any PT-edit should work as a basis. If you want something more drastically you could cut down ROTS to a condensed 40 minute-movie and ad glimpses of AOTC to the beginning (something similar to the prologue in Lord of the Rings).

The OT-part should be about Luke and have only one Deathstar (change the ANH design with the unfinished one from ROTJ). I would cut the whole opening of ANH (everything happening on the Tantive IV and in the desert), until we meet Luke for the first time. (hell, maybe start Lukes arc with him being attacked by the Tusken-Raiders. Then I would continue with the original story, until they escape the Deathstar and cut straight to the battle of Hoth (obviously Luke would not be a leader of the Renegade-squadron). Ben’s “Luke, trust the Force” moment could be reinserted in the escape from the Deathstar, when they were attacked by the Tie-Fighters. The scene in which Obi-Wan tells Luke to go to Dagobah could maybe placed during the Battle of Hoth, after Lukes speeder crashed.
After the Battle of Hoth Luke visits Yoda and the plot surrounding Han, Leia, Chewie and 3PO would be cut or heavily trimmed down to its essence (maybe keep the emperor-hologramm scene). The whole Han being put in carbonite, would be cut. I would use the Scene of Lando visiting the crew in their cell and change Lando’s dialogue (unsure how), to imply that he is offering to help them escape. Then the escape sequence would play out (imply that Han is to weak to fight, because of the torture). After they escaped Cloud City, Luke will get his new hand, visit Dagobah and build his new lightsaber (use the deleted scene and add some plants to the cave). After this ROTJ would continue as usual, but without most of the Ewok and space battle part.

The ST-part may be the most difficult to think about in terms of restructuring the plot, because TROS doesn’t exist yet. Depending on this movie, this part should focus on either Ben or Rey (or both, who knows). So just cut out everything that does not support the story of them in any way.

One way I’ve noticed to condense movies is to have a narrator. So maybe having it be a story told by someone post TROS would work as long as the voice actor is good and the script is good

This sounds cool! But I honestly think the only way it would work would be to condense RotS, RotJ, and TRoS into one hour each, and sprinkle in a few shots of everything else as just little flashbacks and stuff.

I tried to edit the OT into a 3 in 1 movie, I consider it a failure.

For one, 3 in 1 prequel edits work because the prequels have a ton of filler, and the OT doesn’t really. There is a ton of stuff you could cut (the point of my 3 in 1 edit was to have one single Death Star, so obviously the Death Star attack in ANH could go), but not nearly as much. I couldn’t really get it shorter than 3h55, and I cheated by speeding it up from 23.976 FPS to 25 FPS.

Secondly, I felt like having the Jabba’s Palace sequence in the same movie as Han getting frozen in carbonite was… bad? It felt like backtracking, although I could also see it being like a chance to see more of the universe? In a meta way?

I don’t know. Don’t let this discourage you, rocknroll41’s idea especially seems promising. I’m just warning you it’ll definitely be hard to get to work.

@SWOTFAN25 You should look up The War of the Stars II - The Future in Motion, its on Youtube.
He used the Vader vs Luke fight in the cave on Dagobah.

Other than that, I got to say that using Luke to tie the chapters together sounds like an awesome idea. I am looking forward to see your edit.

SparkySywer said:

I tried to edit the OT into a 3 in 1 movie, I consider it a failure.

For one, 3 in 1 prequel edits work because the prequels have a ton of filler, and the OT doesn’t really. There is a ton of stuff you could cut (the point of my 3 in 1 edit was to have one single Death Star, so obviously the Death Star attack in ANH could go), but not nearly as much. I couldn’t really get it shorter than 3h55, and I cheated by speeding it up from 23.976 FPS to 25 FPS.

Secondly, I felt like having the Jabba’s Palace sequence in the same movie as Han getting frozen in carbonite was… bad? It felt like backtracking, although I could also see it being like a chance to see more of the universe? In a meta way?

I don’t know. Don’t let this discourage you, rocknroll41’s idea especially seems promising. I’m just warning you it’ll definitely be hard to get to work.

I think the best way to handle Han being frozen in carbonite is to cut this subplot.

Yet I am unsure on how to do so. The best way I see is to adjust the scene of Lando visiting Han, Leia, Chewie and 3PO in their cell, so it is hinted that he may help them and then dubb the dialogue of an imperial officer telling Vader that the prisoners escaped.
On bord of the falcon Han would rest, still suffering, because he was tortured by the Empire (use the scene of him laying down on the plank bed in the cell).

The most difficult challenge would be to add Han to the escape from Cloud City sequence.
Even though he would be unable to fight, because of the torture he experienced a few minutes ago.

Peter Pan said:

SparkySywer said:

I tried to edit the OT into a 3 in 1 movie, I consider it a failure.

For one, 3 in 1 prequel edits work because the prequels have a ton of filler, and the OT doesn’t really. There is a ton of stuff you could cut (the point of my 3 in 1 edit was to have one single Death Star, so obviously the Death Star attack in ANH could go), but not nearly as much. I couldn’t really get it shorter than 3h55, and I cheated by speeding it up from 23.976 FPS to 25 FPS.

Secondly, I felt like having the Jabba’s Palace sequence in the same movie as Han getting frozen in carbonite was… bad? It felt like backtracking, although I could also see it being like a chance to see more of the universe? In a meta way?

I don’t know. Don’t let this discourage you, rocknroll41’s idea especially seems promising. I’m just warning you it’ll definitely be hard to get to work.

I think the best way to handle Han being frozen in carbonite is to cut this subplot.

Yet I am unsure on how to do so. The best way I see is to adjust the scene of Lando visiting Han, Leia, Chewie and 3PO in their cell, so it is hinted that he may help them and then dubb the dialogue of an imperial officer telling Vader that the prisoners escaped.
On bord of the falcon Han would rest, still suffering, because he was tortured by the Empire (use the scene of him laying down on the plank bed in the cell).

The most difficult challenge would be to add Han to the escape from Cloud City sequence.
Even though he would be unable to fight, because of the torture he experienced a few minutes ago.

Sorry hit the wrong button, it’s definitely time to go and get some sleep 😉

SWOTFAN25 said:

Yes Peter Pan I am very much on board with you here. I had the exact same thought about A New Hope, replacing the design of the Death Star with the Death Star II, leaving its destruction for the end rather than having 2.

An idea I’ve been playing around with would be what if Luke’s force vision on dagobah was his actual duel with vader on Bespin, he ends up listening to Yoda and Ben deciding to stay and complete his training. This means he ends up staying on Dagobah while Lando/Leia/Chewie escape. But ultimatly this messes with the story so I’m still not sure. If the whole point is to tell the entire story through once cohesive narrative, what is the point if I mess with the story itself?

Having someone like Luke, Yoda, Obi-Wan, or hell even Threepio and Artoo narrate throughout the story is a very compelling idea. George I think even had the idea that the entire story is being told to us through Artoo’s perspective.

I might release a V1 of the edit with Episodes 1-8 before Rise of Skywalker comes out.
I’ve already got some ideas about the Sequel trilogy in mind, and also for transitioning between sagas.

I feel like one thing that would be really cool would be the binary sunset from ROTS fading into the binary sunset in ANH, and then having Luke alone at the Funeral Pyre fade into Luke alone on Ach-To Island. I really like the idea of Luke being the one bridging the 3 sagas together, and having the edit end with him in TLJ would be great.

Your idea of RotS sunset -> ANH sunset and then funeral pyre -> TFA Luke on the cliff sounds like the right way to go! Make the whole thing about the life of Luke. Maybe start it off with Padmé giving birth to him (like how Man of Steel starts with the birth of Kal-El) and end it with his death in TLJ for your v1 edit (followed by TRoS additions for your v2 edit).

Idk, just an idea.

So I tried mapping this all out in my head a little more… and now I honestly don’t think this is something that can be done. I think this can be considered legit impossible.

The closest thing I can see to this is maybe just a trailer highlighting the whole saga, similar to that “star wars always” trailer that topher grace did a few months back.

The biggest issue with a 1 in 9 edit is the scale. We will quickly get overwhelmed by all the stuff going on without a main character. Setting it around the Skywalker Family just won’t work in my opinion, because every hour you’d be swapping out main characters.

My solution to the 1 in 6 fanedit was relatively simple- set it around Vader. The introduction of the ST complicates this manner. We could frame it as “Vader’s legacy” but unless Anakin suddenly arrives and saves the day in Episode 9 it will feel terribly anticlimactic because Vader’s story ends in 6.

Therefore I agree that Luke should be the main character. A non-linear storyline is the best approach. We’d start with the Empire- not First Order, the old empire is still in power- burning of the Jakku Village, which immediately establishes the overarching plot: find the legendary Luke Skywalker to save the galaxy.

Warning this got out of hand
This segues perfectly into a title card to Luke’s birth. Immediately after his birth (and mother’s death), we’d cut to A New Hope for Ben’s talk with Luke. It is implied Obi-Wan raised Luke. Then Obi-Wan’s old droids reveal the message from the princess and off we go- A New Hope up to the Death Star escape.

Then to TFA where resistance spy Finn finds Rey and BB8. They escape to Han, who tells them “it’s true, all of it”.

Then cut back to Luke on Hoth. He gets attacked by the Wampa and receives the vision for Dagobagh. Luke leaves the rebels before the Battle of Hoth, which makes him feels selfish. When he learns they’ve been captured after a defeat at Hoth, he blames himself and goes to Cloud City to rescue them.

The Vader reveal further complicates the plot. We get a 1-minute supercut of the Prequel Trilogy.

Meanwhile in the Sequel Trilogy, the Falcon lands on Takodona and Rey gets the lightsaber. She runs away and is captured by Kylo. We quickly establish Starkiller Base… “the latest death star” (in this edit, death stars never stopped getting built, like nuclear warheads).

Luke surrenders himself to Vader, and we have the finale of ROTJ from purely their perspective. The catch is the Emperor somehow survives, which explains why the Empire has survived up to this point. Snoke = Palpatine.

The resistance mounts an attack but fail. Starkiller blows up D’Qar, with only Leia and a few ships remaining. Kylo reveals he is Ben and kills Han. Rey takes up the lightsaber and fends off against Ren.

At the resistance ship, the rebels complete the map and Rey flies out to find Luke. The first half (more like first 2/3 rds) ends with TFA’s cliffhanger.

INTERMISSION

Now in TLJ land, Luke refuses the lightsaber. Very condensed TLJ- mainly concerns Rey and Luke with some cuts to the resistance being chased.

To prove his point that the Jedi suck, Luke flash backs to the Prequel Trilogy once again. This time we get a reasonable amount of time dedicated to the flaws of the Jedi during their “prime” and we begin to see his point of view. We also better understand his reasoning for attacking Kylo.

Rey leaves and Kylo reveals Palpatine has indeed survived the events of ROTJ. We either use ROTJ footage or TLJ footage to show Kylo eliminating the emperor and crowning himself the new ruler.

The conclusion of the film is on Crait, where the rebel alliance is to make a final stand. This has to be a defining moment for a bloated movie- so the R2D2 nostalgia scene is moved here to right after Luke’s lesson with Yoda. Then Luke outsmarts Kylo, and does little speech overlaid by the Canto Bight kid. Knowing his mission will be completed by Rey and the future generations, he becomes one with the force.

Whew this is tough

@SWOTFAN25 I actually gave it a little more thought last night, and I think I figured out a way to do it… but there are two exceptions:

1. It would basically just be most of RotS combined with most of the last act of RotJ, with just little flashbacks and flashforwards of everything else (including TRoS).

2. It would just really be about the fall and redemption of Anakin, more so than a story about all three generations of the Skywalker family.

I can reply again with additional details of how exactly I would go about doing this… but I’ll wait for your reply first, cause I wanna make sure this is an angle you’re actually interested in, before I commit to elaborating on it.

Hey SWOTFAN25, I thought about your idea of building the plot around Luke and using him to connect the eras.

Maybe you could start the movie with Padme telling Anakin that she is pregnant (and maybe add a Fellowship of the Ring like prologue), then focus the narrative on her and cut the Mustafar fight out.
Maybe the “Seeds of the Rebellion” plot could be used here, although the turn of Anakin (from Padme’s perspective) should be focused.
After her death and the Tatooine-Sunset-Morph, which sounds amazing, the plot of ANH would continue as normal and you could add Flashbacks of the Mustafar fight to the Obi-Wan vs Vader fight from ANH.

Anakins turn from his point of view could be added in-between ESB and ROTJ to avoid the Han-in-carbonite problem (just let the rebels save him offscreen and show flashbacks to the Prequels).

Peter Pan said:

SparkySywer said:

I tried to edit the OT into a 3 in 1 movie, I consider it a failure.

For one, 3 in 1 prequel edits work because the prequels have a ton of filler, and the OT doesn’t really. There is a ton of stuff you could cut (the point of my 3 in 1 edit was to have one single Death Star, so obviously the Death Star attack in ANH could go), but not nearly as much. I couldn’t really get it shorter than 3h55, and I cheated by speeding it up from 23.976 FPS to 25 FPS.

Secondly, I felt like having the Jabba’s Palace sequence in the same movie as Han getting frozen in carbonite was… bad? It felt like backtracking, although I could also see it being like a chance to see more of the universe? In a meta way?

I don’t know. Don’t let this discourage you, rocknroll41’s idea especially seems promising. I’m just warning you it’ll definitely be hard to get to work.

I think the best way to handle Han being frozen in carbonite is to cut this subplot.

Yet I am unsure on how to do so. The best way I see is to adjust the scene of Lando visiting Han, Leia, Chewie and 3PO in their cell, so it is hinted that he may help them and then dubb the dialogue of an imperial officer telling Vader that the prisoners escaped.
On bord of the falcon Han would rest, still suffering, because he was tortured by the Empire (use the scene of him laying down on the plank bed in the cell).

The most difficult challenge would be to add Han to the escape from Cloud City sequence.
Even though he would be unable to fight, because of the torture he experienced a few minutes ago.

I also have a slight feeling a very skilled editor could change the ending to RotJ to have Han be killed in the freezing process. This is probably easier, though.

The problem is you’d then lose the awesome Han-Kylo confrontation in 7.

Yeah, I think I might have gotten carried away, then.

Although it is tempting to show the story from Luke’s point of view, it’s impossible to do this for the prequels. Therefore, I propose making Yoda the true viewpoint in the story with Luke as the student he views from afar:

Open with Luke seeing a battle in the sky. He goes to see his friends and talk with Biggs, then returns home. The footage begins blurry and indistinct, almost dreamlike, but gets sharper and clearer as the scene progresses. The next day, a sandcrawler arrives with two droids. Luke cleans them and discovers a mysterious transmission. He tells his uncle about it, saying that it might belong to Old Ben, but his uncle dismisses it. Luke goes to contemplate his choices at the sunset.
Two Jedi stare out at the city at sunset. Inside the temple, the Jedi council tests Anakin on his abilities and feelings. Yoda explains that he senses much fear in Anakin, stemming from his fear of losing his mother. Transition to the Naboo palace at sunset, which has been made to look like another part of the Jedi temple, and Yoda declares that Obi-wan is a Jedi Knight and that Anakin will be one as well.
That night, Luke finds R2 has left and can do nothing else until morning.
Cut to the homestead in the daytime. Owen and Beru greet Anakin, and Clieg Lars informs him of his mother’s disappearance. Anakin kisses Padme goodbye and speeds off in search of her.
Cut to Luke searching the desert for R2. He finds the droid and Ben, who tells him all about the Jedi.
Obi-wan voices his concern to Mace and Yoda about Anakin’s abilities, and his emotional connection with Padme. They urge him to trust the boy.
Luke sees the wreckage of the sandcrawler and the burning homestead.
Yoda senses Anakin’s pain, and we see Anakin returning to the homestead with his mother, who is then buried.
Luke makes his decision to become a Jedi like his father.
Amid Anakin’s desolation, R2 arrives with the distress call. Anakin and Padme decide to rescue Obi-wan, the person Anakin considers to be like his father. The ship leaves Tatooine
The Falcon blasts off from Tatooine into Hyperspace.
Anakin and Padme confess their love, are brought into the arena, and Obi-wan jokes about the rescue attempt. The Jedi intervene in the games and Yoda arrives with the clones. Dooku reveals the existence of the Death Star.
Obi-wan senses a disturbance in the Force, Luke takes his first step into a larger world.
Obi-wan remarks on the victory of the clones, but Yoda says otherwise. The Senators watch the ships depart, the beginning of the Empire. Anakin and Padme are married.
In space, Imperial ships gather. Vader is summoned, and sees the rebel base on Hoth.
Luke collapses in the snow, and sees a vision of Obi-wan telling him to go to Yoda.
He leaves immediately and finds Yoda, but in the meantime his friends must flee Hoth.
Luke senses that his friends are in danger, but can do nothing.
Anakin has a dream of Padme dying in childbirth.
Luke faces the Dark Side Tree.
Anakin has visions of the future, but Yoda cautions him against acting on them.
Luke decides to leave. Yoda cannot dissuade him.
Anakin sits in the Jedi council chambers, torn between the Jedi and love.
Luke faces Vader alone. He fails, but he is rescued on the Falcon. They escape Cloud City.
Here follow several scenes of Episode 3, starting with Anakin comforting Padme after the Temple massacre. Obi-wan enters to discover where he has gone, and we see Vader killing the separatist leaders. Padme confronts him, then Obi-wan. Yoda waits on the asteroid awaiting news, and Bail arrives telling him of Obi-wan’s arrival.
Luke returns to Dagobah, and Yoda tells him all about the mission ahead. He dies.
After this there are some flashes, distorted voices, strange noises. The image of a throne room appears, a door opens. Luke and Vader meet the Emperor on the only Death Star to be introduced in this edit. Their confrontation leads to the death of Vader and the Emperor, but as Luke stares into the funeral pyre, Yoda’s words echo – ‘Pass on what you have learned’.
There is a vision of a temple, Luke confronting a student, the temple in ruins, Luke hiding on an island. There is darkness, but then Rey comes to Luke’s door, bearing his old lightsaber. Some of the scenes from the island in TLJ are played here, and eventually Yoda appears to Luke to give him one final lesson. Luke then becomes a legend, dying in front of the binary sunset.

Wow, NeverarGreat really impressive how you used Star Wars symmetries to link the two timelines. On paper it looks epic, especially because it underlines these similarities (it rhymes!), I’m curious on how it would work in motion.