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Unusual Sequel Trilogy Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 21

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Yeah, I understand the rationale for Ben’s death, but I would still like to see a version where he lives for different reasons too. I think that would be a popular alternate ending for a lot of people.

Someone pointed out how as Ben is holding Rey’s dead body in his arms, he looks around the room as if he is hoping someone, anyone, is there to help. But no one ever shows up. It’s weird how the Force ghosts will talk to Rey but not to Ben.

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After watching this https://youtu.be/GErIPKjwuDg?t=2977 I was thinking about one of her ideas, and it’s a cool one. Basically Rey caused her parent’s spaceship to crash all those years ago when they left her.

This makes sense on a lot of levels, some explained by Jenny but since it gives her powerful Force sensitivity since birth, it makes more sense that these powers are the result of bloodline rather than a spontaneous arising of the Force in response to extraordinary circumstances. She even says that the Force has always been inside her. By showing her powers from a young age, there’s also good reason to accept her powers later on in the films. Finally, this makes sense of Kylo’s odd statement that Rey’s parents are buried on Jakku despite apparently leaving the planet.

So how would this be communicated in a fanedit?

I would keep Rey’s vision in TFA the same. The ship flies off and she cries out.

In TLJ, she has a vision under Luke’s island where she sees the image of her parent’s crashed spaceship - still salvageable, but with two bodies lying on the sand beside it. A shadow lies over them, as if a hooded figure is standing off screen.

In TROS, as Rey pulls the transport to her, she has a flashback of her parents leaving and her struggling to pull them back, causing an explosion in one engine and sending the ship falling out of the sky and over some distant dunes.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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Would you make her parents ship a different model than the ship we see in TFA? Since it is the same as Ochi’s?

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snooker said:

There was a massive missed opportunity to have R2 tell all the stories of their adventures to 3PO in the final scenes. Can you imagine how cute/heartbreaking that would be?? aaghh

It wouldn’t be impossible to insert 3PO and R2 into that last shot with Rey, or even have them wandering the desert themselves after the Rey bit (utilizing scenes from the original Star Wars could be fun here), and have 3PO ask the question, and R2 just beeps. 3PO responds with something like “Oh, my. How long ago?”, and R2 beeps again. “How old AM I?”

And have the conversation fade, with maybe a line from 3PO indicating R2 is recounting the podrace or some event from Episode I.

I actually just got chills thinking about that.

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Any chance we could add some Ben Solo dialogue to the film? Adam Driver’s done quite a few movies. I haven’t seen Marriage Story yet so I don’t know if he says anything appropriately sentimental in that film or if he just shouts, but there’s got to be something in one of his movies that we can dub over a reverse shot of Rey or something. I’ve never seen Girls either but I imagine he must have some kind of appropriate line in that series. Obviously he’ll have to remain silent during the approach to Exegol and the KoR fight since you can see his mouth (not that it would make much sense for him to talk to himself). I feel like the KoR should say SOMETHING - their leader has finally turned on them and apparently not one of them has anything to say about it - and thankfully they don’t have canon voices so we can have anyone we want dub them. The next few issues of the Rise of Kylo Ren ought to be out by March, so we’ll better understand their personalities and dynamic with Kylo.

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 (Edited)

Do you think Rey’s yellow lightsaber should be removed altogether from the final scene in this franchise? She has truly brought balance to the Force, Darth Sidious and his followers have been destroyed once and for all, the Skywalker bloodline is now extinct (no, Rey doesn’t count as a biological Skywalker), and tyranny has come to an end, so the Jedi have already served their purpose and now no longer have a reason to exist.

The unfortunate reality of the Star Wars prequel and Disney trilogies is that they will always be around. Forever. They will never go away. It can never be undone.

I also prefer to be referred to as “TNT”, not “Freezing”.

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FreezingTNT2 said:

Do you think Rey’s yellow lightsaber should be removed altogether from the final scene in this franchise? She has truly brought balance to the Force, Darth Sidious and his followers have been destroyed once and for all, the Skywalker bloodline is now extinct (no, Rey doesn’t count as a biological Skywalker), and tyranny has come to an end, so the Jedi have already served their purpose and now no longer have a reason to exist.

I think this is a fair question. If this is suppose to be an ultimate victory, then maybe. If you’re stressing that fascism and tyranny can rise when you least expect it and do-gooders have to remain vigilant, then maybe not.

Regarding Ben and Rey’s kiss, I think some people didn’t like it because they felt it wasn’t set up. While I think it was (“I offered you my hand once”), I don’t think it was set up as explicitly as Han/Leia or Anakin/Padmé. Both pairs talk about their feelings explicitly, whereas the Ben/Rey romance could be written off as a special connection. According to leaks, in the deleted scene of Kylo Ren’s confrontation with the Oracle, the Oracle would’ve mentioned his feelings for Rey. Maybe Kylo could be given new dialogue that makes those feelings clearer. I’ll have to go through Driver’s filmography and see what kind of dialogue we have to work with.

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RogueLeader said:

FreezingTNT2 said:

Do you think Rey’s yellow lightsaber should be removed altogether from the final scene in this franchise? She has truly brought balance to the Force, Darth Sidious and his followers have been destroyed once and for all, the Skywalker bloodline is now extinct (no, Rey doesn’t count as a biological Skywalker), and tyranny has come to an end, so the Jedi have already served their purpose and now no longer have a reason to exist.

I think this is a fair question. If this is suppose to be an ultimate victory, then maybe. If you’re stressing that fascism and tyranny can rise when you least expect it and do-gooders have to remain vigilant, then maybe not.

For me, I hate the idea of an ‘ultimate victory.’ I’d like to hope there’s a deleted scene or something that stresses it isn’t that, otherwise I’m still not sure what to do to convey that idea. I saw a clip with JJ before the movie came out where he said something like the fight against the dark side is a constant struggle, so I was really disappointed with how the film concluded. But the fact that he feels that way does give me some semblance of hope that there’ll be something along those lines in deleted material.

Regarding Ben and Rey’s kiss, I think some people didn’t like it because they felt it wasn’t set up. While I think it was (“I offered you my hand once”), I don’t think it was set up as explicitly as Han/Leia or Anakin/Padmé. Both pairs talk about their feelings explicitly, whereas the Ben/Rey romance could be written off as a special connection. According to leaks, in the deleted scene of Kylo Ren’s confrontation with the Oracle, the Oracle would’ve mentioned his feelings for Rey. Maybe Kylo could be given new dialogue that makes those feelings clearer. I’ll have to go through Driver’s filmography and see what kind of dialogue we have to work with.

I’m of the opinion that the romance was obvious, but they definitely wanted it to be a lingering question until the big kiss. I’d definitely prefer an establishment of the fact earlier, if there is a deleted scene that does that like you say.

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DominicCobb said:

RogueLeader said:

FreezingTNT2 said:

Do you think Rey’s yellow lightsaber should be removed altogether from the final scene in this franchise? She has truly brought balance to the Force, Darth Sidious and his followers have been destroyed once and for all, the Skywalker bloodline is now extinct (no, Rey doesn’t count as a biological Skywalker), and tyranny has come to an end, so the Jedi have already served their purpose and now no longer have a reason to exist.

I think this is a fair question. If this is suppose to be an ultimate victory, then maybe. If you’re stressing that fascism and tyranny can rise when you least expect it and do-gooders have to remain vigilant, then maybe not.

For me, I hate the idea of an ‘ultimate victory.’ I’d like to hope there’s a deleted scene or something that stresses it isn’t that, otherwise I’m still not sure what to do to convey that idea. I saw a clip with JJ before the movie came out where he said something like the fight against the dark side is a constant struggle, so I was really disappointed with how the film concluded. But the fact that he feels that way does give me some semblance of hope that there’ll be something along those lines in deleted material.

Regarding Ben and Rey’s kiss, I think some people didn’t like it because they felt it wasn’t set up. While I think it was (“I offered you my hand once”), I don’t think it was set up as explicitly as Han/Leia or Anakin/Padmé. Both pairs talk about their feelings explicitly, whereas the Ben/Rey romance could be written off as a special connection. According to leaks, in the deleted scene of Kylo Ren’s confrontation with the Oracle, the Oracle would’ve mentioned his feelings for Rey. Maybe Kylo could be given new dialogue that makes those feelings clearer. I’ll have to go through Driver’s filmography and see what kind of dialogue we have to work with.

I’m of the opinion that the romance was obvious, but they definitely wanted it to be a lingering question until the big kiss. I’d definitely prefer an establishment of the fact earlier, if there is a deleted scene that does that like you say.

You just don’t like it when characters live happily ever after.

The unfortunate reality of the Star Wars prequel and Disney trilogies is that they will always be around. Forever. They will never go away. It can never be undone.

I also prefer to be referred to as “TNT”, not “Freezing”.

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NeverarGreat said:

Here’s how I might restructure the villain’s plan for the trilogy:

TFA

The crawl establishes that the First Order is intent on killing the last of the Jedi. This is the most important thing for them, though it is unclear why.

The Starkiller is multi-purpose. The interior has been hollowed out through mining to supply the ores necessary for the First Order/Palpatine’s fleet. After this it has been retrofitted as an experimental weapon by ambitious First Order leadership spearheaded by Hux. The fact that it was first used as a forge could be a mystery in TFA or only hinted at, but explained later on.

After Kor Sella is sent to the Senate the base begins charging, and everything from Restructured happens as planned except that the base is destroyed before it can fire like in the original. The Republic is not destroyed.

There are hints as to the true size of the hidden fleet and their provenance, perhaps placed into one of Rey’s visions or in Kylo’s interrogation of Poe.

TLJ

The crawl establishes that Kor Sella’s mission to the Senate has been a success and the Republic is in the process of relocating its fleet to D’Qar to bolster the Resistance forces.

However a Star Destroyer appears before the fleet is fully assembled and wipes out the planet (This uses footage from TROS and TFA). Only a few ships escape to join the Resistance, and these, we later learn, were tracked.

Cut to the island where Rey tries to convince Luke to join the fight. She doesn’t know that the Republic is gone, so doesn’t tell him that the First Order is on the verge of victory. Since Luke isn’t connected to the Force he can’t feel such a loss anyway.

Cut back to the Resistance base and Hux’s forces arrive to cut off their retreat. Cut the jokey attitude of the Resistance characters to match the grave knowledge that the Republic has been destroyed.

The film carries on much as before except that the final scene shows Kylo Ren finding Palpatine and his fleet instead of showing the Broom Boy scene.

TROS (or THE FINAL ORDER)

The crawl states that the First Order is moving quickly to gain control of the galaxy.

The first scene is Palpatine’s message to the galaxy. The full threat of his fleet is revealed.

Our heroes rush to find the Sith artifacts required to locate the Sith planet, etc.

The defeat of the First and Final Orders shows a montage of planets rejoicing, prefaced with Broom Boy relating Luke’s inspirational visage which reignited hope in the galaxy. This is bookended by him walking outside and seeing a First Order Star Destroyer broken and burning in the night sky above.

Rey visits the homestead. End Credits.

I’d like to see this.

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RogueLeader said:

FreezingTNT2 said:

Do you think Rey’s yellow lightsaber should be removed altogether from the final scene in this franchise? She has truly brought balance to the Force, Darth Sidious and his followers have been destroyed once and for all, the Skywalker bloodline is now extinct (no, Rey doesn’t count as a biological Skywalker), and tyranny has come to an end, so the Jedi have already served their purpose and now no longer have a reason to exist.

I think this is a fair question. If this is suppose to be an ultimate victory, then maybe. If you’re stressing that fascism and tyranny can rise when you least expect it and do-gooders have to remain vigilant, then maybe not.

Regarding Ben and Rey’s kiss, I think some people didn’t like it because they felt it wasn’t set up. While I think it was (“I offered you my hand once”), I don’t think it was set up as explicitly as Han/Leia or Anakin/Padmé. Both pairs talk about their feelings explicitly, whereas the Ben/Rey romance could be written off as a special connection. According to leaks, in the deleted scene of Kylo Ren’s confrontation with the Oracle, the Oracle would’ve mentioned his feelings for Rey. Maybe Kylo could be given new dialogue that makes those feelings clearer. I’ll have to go through Driver’s filmography and see what kind of dialogue we have to work with.

I think the new Jedi’s main focus would be to keep the balance rather than act as galactic police, they ignore all non-force related events and stick to maintaining balance. Her yellow blade becomes a key piece of balance (in the color spectrum it lies between red/orange and green/blue/purple).

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FreezingTNT2 said:

DominicCobb said:

RogueLeader said:

FreezingTNT2 said:

Do you think Rey’s yellow lightsaber should be removed altogether from the final scene in this franchise? She has truly brought balance to the Force, Darth Sidious and his followers have been destroyed once and for all, the Skywalker bloodline is now extinct (no, Rey doesn’t count as a biological Skywalker), and tyranny has come to an end, so the Jedi have already served their purpose and now no longer have a reason to exist.

I think this is a fair question. If this is suppose to be an ultimate victory, then maybe. If you’re stressing that fascism and tyranny can rise when you least expect it and do-gooders have to remain vigilant, then maybe not.

For me, I hate the idea of an ‘ultimate victory.’ I’d like to hope there’s a deleted scene or something that stresses it isn’t that, otherwise I’m still not sure what to do to convey that idea. I saw a clip with JJ before the movie came out where he said something like the fight against the dark side is a constant struggle, so I was really disappointed with how the film concluded. But the fact that he feels that way does give me some semblance of hope that there’ll be something along those lines in deleted material.

Regarding Ben and Rey’s kiss, I think some people didn’t like it because they felt it wasn’t set up. While I think it was (“I offered you my hand once”), I don’t think it was set up as explicitly as Han/Leia or Anakin/Padmé. Both pairs talk about their feelings explicitly, whereas the Ben/Rey romance could be written off as a special connection. According to leaks, in the deleted scene of Kylo Ren’s confrontation with the Oracle, the Oracle would’ve mentioned his feelings for Rey. Maybe Kylo could be given new dialogue that makes those feelings clearer. I’ll have to go through Driver’s filmography and see what kind of dialogue we have to work with.

I’m of the opinion that the romance was obvious, but they definitely wanted it to be a lingering question until the big kiss. I’d definitely prefer an establishment of the fact earlier, if there is a deleted scene that does that like you say.

You just don’t like it when characters live happily ever after.

I think his reasoning is more nuanced than that, man.

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 (Edited)

Here’s another wacky, radical idea no one asked for, so bear with me.

This is definitely radical in the sense that it would require to shoot new footage. Technically, maybe you wouldn’t have to, but it would add clarity by making the stakes more apparent.

So, in the film it is mentioned twice that the First Order is harvesting more children in order to man the new fleet, but based off what we see in the film, it appears that the fleet is preparing to invade the galaxy within what seems like a few days upon discovering it. How are they using these children exactly? I mean, it will still take years to train and indoctrinate them until adulthood, so my only guess is they mean it will bolster their future army, but bolstering their future army seems less important than the immenent invasion of the Sith Fleet. So, what if these two things could be tied together?

What if, out of desperation, the First Order is kidnapping children and “Lobot”-omizing them? Imagine children with those Lobot head implants manning the bridges of the Sith Star Destroyers, basically acting as living computers to help navigate them out of the Unknown Regions.

So now, the final mission changes from destroying the control tower that they’ll use to help navigate the ships out of the UR, to destroying the tower that is controlling the cybernetic implants on the children. After it is the destroyed, the children would “wake up”, and the Star Destroyers would be dead in the water.

Cons: Like I said, this would definitely require dialogue changes and additions, at the very least to the Resistance briefing and the final battle. I could see a benefit of inserting new characters into both the First Order meeting and the Resistance briefing. Secondly, if you wanted to show the kids you would have to create a few new shots. At least one costume, two to three kid actors, and at the very least a green screen. Luckily I have some younger cousins that I already know would be more than willing to do it, if it ever came to trying it out. But hey, this is the Radical redux thread!

Pros: To me, this could tie everything together really well, plus make for a more compelling final battle. Now their goal goes from “stopping the Star Destroyers” to “save the children”, which becomes challenging for our heroes since the children are on board the ships they want to destroy. Think of how wonderfully this would play into Finn’s arc as well, and add more reason for him and Jannah to work together on this mission. We never got a Stormtrooper rebellion, but this could be the next best thing to help bring Finn’s arc full circle.

Also, it ironically would parallel Episode I, where the objective of the final battle was to destroy the command ship that controlled the battle droids.

Obviously some shots of Star Destroyers being destroyed would need to be changed, but luckily many shots focus on the Resistance destroying the laser canons (not planet-killing laser cannons), rather than destroying the Destroyers entirely. So their actions could be reinterpreted as them disarming the ships rather than destroying them.

I’ll definitely have to wait until I go through the movie again to determine the overall feasibility, but this idea is really interesting to me.

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I like the angle you’re on right now RL, though it does seem outside the scope of a typical edit. The best part of this idea is that it has roots in all three ST movies from Finn’s background to the Broom Boy plot to Jannah and the child harvesting in TROS. Heck, it even goes back to one of the biggest unexplored plot threads of TPM - the child slavery that helped create Anakin and arguably the rest of the tragedies in the Saga.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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 (Edited)

I hadn’t even considered that last point! I think there is a lot to chew on with this idea.

You’re right, it is outside the typical scope for a fan edit, but the more and more I think about it, the more I feel compelled to film new material for this movie. But I don’t think it is as impractical as it could be if we can think of clever and efficient ways to portray it. I was already planning to create new shots for TROS, and if any saga film deserves new material to improve it, it is arguably the film that is suppose to tie up this 40-year saga.

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RogueLeader said:

I think this is a fair question. If this is suppose to be an ultimate victory, then maybe. If you’re stressing that fascism and tyranny can rise when you least expect it and do-gooders have to remain vigilant, then maybe not.

I feel like the Last Jedi tried to make it the case where fascism and tyranny would rise up whenever you least expect it, but the Rise of Skywalker ditched that and was trying to say something along the lines of Palpatine or the Banite Sith were behind everything wrong in the galaxy. So… what to make of it?

Reading R + L ≠ J theories

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I’m sure this has already been mentioned somewhere, but adding Kylo finding Palpatine on Exogul as the final scene of TLJ seems like a good thing to do. Maybe play Palp’s broadcast at the start of THAT film, but only to Kylo Ren (even as a voice in his head, which would tie nicely to the “every voice in your head” line). And I think inserting audio clips of Han’s death scene into TLJ as if they’re sporadically being heard in Kylo Ren’s head (like right before he smashes his helmet, for example) would probably make revisiting the memory in TROS more impactful, and it could show that the Emperor hadn’t counted on one particular voice being in Ben’s head.

The wayfinder stuff should be cut, too. If there’s a way to seamlessly pull it off. In fact, the entire opening montage of TROS should probably be cut.

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 (Edited)

I have an idea for a future sequel trilogy edit: we don’t see Luke die at all in The Last Jedi, and we don’t really know whether he is alive or not until Rey has a pep talk with his Force ghost on Ahch-To in The Rise of Skywalker.

The unfortunate reality of the Star Wars prequel and Disney trilogies is that they will always be around. Forever. They will never go away. It can never be undone.

I also prefer to be referred to as “TNT”, not “Freezing”.

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FreezingTNT2 said:

I have an idea for a future sequel trilogy edit: we don’t see Luke die at all in The Last Jedi, and we don’t really know whether he is alive or not until Rey has a pep talk with his Force ghost on Ahch-To in The Rise of Skywalker.

What would this accomplish other than…
1). Diminish the impact of TLJ’s conclusion
2). Confuse the audience in TROS expecting Luke to still be alive

Maul- A Star Wars Story

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I really like the idea to remove the Deathstar aspect of SKB.
And based on his, what do you think about removing the second part of the map altogether.
The map the Resistance received from Lor san Tekka may be incomplete or damaged and on D’Qar Finn is lying to the Resistance, telling them that the FO has the missing information, because he just wants to save Rey.
And during Kylos interogation of Rey she has a vision of Ahch-To, which leads her there in the end and explains why the Resistance sent her as well.

“Vader! Hologram, now!”

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I’m not a faneditor myself, but I’m a big believer that a well crafted fan edit can make a bad movie good and a good movie great. The prequels are some of my favorite films thanks to the efforts of faneditors like Hal9000, q2, seciors, and l8wrtr to name but a few. I also think TLJ greatly benefited from poppasketti’s thoughtful edits.

Despite not being a faneditor, I will offer my two cents on TRoS and the sequel trilogy as a whole. I think a successful fanedit of TRoS and perhaps the entire trilogy is completely doable. The challenge with TRoS is that so many fanedits work primarily by being subtractive rather than additive, i.e., removing what you don’t like or doesn’t work and leaving the rest to shine.

But TRoS already plays out like a bad fanedit as Harmy pointed out in his review. It’s rushed and disjointed, and it feels like too much was cut out as it is. Nonetheless, I don’t think all hope is lost.

The main problems with TRoS are that it lacks thematic consistency with itself and the other films in the trilogy. Also problematic is the fact that the movie lacks internal logic, taken both as a single movie and as part of a trilogy. Lastly, it has a lot of plot contrivances which JJ Abrams is known for.

I’m not a fan of trying to add a bunch of new shots and effects as others are suggesting, unless they come from actual extended and deleted scenes belonging to the films. I believe “less is more” is the right approach. I’m also not a big fan is radically changing the director’s initial intent for the film. Reining in some of the director’s excesses, yes, but this is about honoring the director’s vision, not stomping all over it. I think a conservative and thoughtful approach is the best path.

I think the a good fanedit of the three sequel trilogy films should include five overarching goals:

First, the films simply need to fit better with each other. TLJ tries to undo what was established in TFA, and TRoS in turn tries to undo what was established in TLJ. We need a trilogy that smooths this out so everything flows together. There is a lot in TRoS that probably needs to be foreshadowed in TFA (primarily that Palpatine lives), and conversely, there’s a lot set up in TFA that doesn’t go anywhere and needs to be dropped (her force vision is particularly problematic because it hints heavily at her coming from noble Jedi lineage, likely a Kenobi or a Skywalker). I don’t think there is anything wrong with strongly implying that Rey is a Palpatine right from the outset, and it should be clear that Kylo Ren is lying or not telling the whole truth when he tells her she’s a nobody. Let’s cut to the chase: Rey isn’t afraid that she’s a nobody; she’s afraid she’s pure evil.

Second, character motivations need to be streamlined and clarified, especially in TRoS. It needs to be clearer what these characters want and what they’re doing to get it. God only knows what Palpatine wanted in TRoS. First he wants Kylo to kill Rey. Then he wants Rey to kill him. Then he just wants to suck the life force out of both Rey and Kylo. And then Rey does kill him, but apparently it’s a good thing??? I mean, what the hell?

Third, there’s also thematic inconsistences both within and among the films that need to be corrected. For example, in TLJ when Finn tries to sacrifice himself for the greater good=bad. Yet, even Holdo does the exact same thing=good. Seriously??? More problematic, however, is Force healing, and especially Force reviving. Bringing people back to life using the Force is a SITH endeavor, people! RoTS not only dealt extensively with this, but Palpatine even alludes to it again in TRoS. On the other hand, the Jedi way is to accept when a person is dead and be at peace with it. When Ben revives Rey, he is acting like a Sith would! The act is not redemptive at all. Not to mention all this force healing is Deus Ex Machina overload. It also lowers the stakes: “No one’s ever really gone” when you can just force heal people back into existence.

Fourth, there are a ton of plotholes throughout but especially in TRoS that need to be resolved. So much of it just doesn’t make any damn sense. There are also a lot of contrivances (which Abrams is known for). Abrams does this to artificially raise the stakes, but it never pays off. Chewie’s dead, except he’s not. 3PO gets his mind wiped, except it’s soon fully restored. Kylo is mortally wounded, only to be healed, even though “THAT’S NOT HOW THE FORCE WORKS!” Rey is killed, only to come back to life. Nothing carries any real weight in this film. Also, the Star Destroyers having Death Star technology is completely unnecessary and stupid. A huge fleet of Star Destroyers without death star tech is still scary as hell.

Fifth, a good fanedit tries to bring to the fore what is actually good about a film. For all three films, the themes relating to identity and legacy are interesting and compelling and ultimately what the ST is all about. A competent fan edit wouldn’t obscure this but rather shed more light on it. The relationship between Kylo and Rey was always interesting (although I will say that the kiss at the end is a little much…“Reylo” should not be a thing. In Rey’s eyes, more or less, Kylo is just the guy who murdered Han Solo. She should always despise him at least a little bit).

So, to recap:

  1. Properly set up key events in later films early on, esp. Rey is a Palpatine and that Palpatine may be alive. Also, downplay or excise set up that didn’t go anywhere, ex. Knights of Ren.
  2. Make character motivations clearer and less muddied, esp. Palpatine. Also, who is Snoke, and what does he want? What is the First Order, and what does it want? Etc.
  3. Make sure themes are consistent and don’t contradict each other, ex. bringing people back to life opposes Jedi values and so is a huge contradiction.
  4. Remove plotholes where possible (and leave them alone when removing them would prove too much a hassle) and eliminate contrivances that don’t actually raise the stakes, ex. Star Destroyers with Death Star tech.
  5. Emphasize what’s already good about the sequel films.

In practice I think this means radically rearranging all three films so that you might have parts of TRoS in TFA and TLJ. Or, likewise, parts of TLJ in TFA and TRoS. For example, perhaps it would be helpful for Luke to overcome his cynicism earlier, or to have Snoke die only after we find out Palatine is still alive. I might make some rough edits just as proof of concept that it can be done (again, I am not a fan editor), but for now these are just my general ideas on how this could be achieved.