@HAL9000

I recently had the great pleasure of watching all your SW work in a 72-hour chronological marathon, culminating in my second screening of TROS.

1-3, HAL9k v6
3a – Coaxium Heist (great work here @DigiMod)
3b – Rogue One, HAL9k half-assed
4-6 – HARMY De-specialized
7-8 – Restructured v3 and Legendary v2, HAL9k

What a treat! I am forgiving to a fault where Star Wars is concerned (where my Ewok Adventure fans at?!), as long as the storytelling feels like “a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away”. Your work does just that. Following the themes and characters through the entire journey was so satisfying. Even enjoying Solo, for goodness sake, and appreciating an introduction to his character that resonated all the way through TLJ. The how’s and why’s we can endlessly debate, that’s precisely what the fandom should do. But the value of cutting away distracting story elements and contemporary cultural/sexual politics, simply to follow the “long ago, far away” principle, well, that re-kindles the spark of hope that even TROS might not be beyond saving. Even if I, personally, find the Palpatine storyline terribly disappointing, I’m hopeful that even the frenetic panicky mess of TROS might be tamed somewhat. Thank You, all of you here.
That said…Hoo boy…TROS

Already so many great thoughts offered here. @Stein offered some great specific thoughts about the places tone was adversely affected. His point about Maz Katana serving purely to interject explanatory dialog was a major distraction for me. And her prescient tone made me feel that I should expect the opening notes of “kiss the girl” “circle of life” or “can you feel the love tonight”.

When Leia walks away to give the last of herself to save Ben, CUT Maz out entirely. Also the shot immediately following where Leia is being led out by Lt. Connix. When we next see Leia, she is standing alone. Connix is not necessary.
Agree the Leia/Rose/Wexley exchange should be cut entirely. This was the one spot in the film where re-purposing Leia footage felt like a Bad Lip Reading joke. Terrible and pointless.

This brings me to an idea that’s been nagging at me. I don’t have anything like a comprehensive idea for a fanedit, but Leia’s death scene in particular serves as an anchor point. There’s already been discussion about the film lacking any kind of tension or stakes (Chewie death? Fixed . 3P0 wiped? Fixed. Zori Bliss blown up? Fixed, and Hey, Babu Frik!) JJ never dares let characters deal with consequences, or even sit with them for more than a few beats. Good thing nobody got an ouchy from Palpatine’s massive force lighting attack.
That same surface level rush diminishes Leia’s sacrifice and death. So here’s what I’ve been playing with.

—Leia uses the last of her strength to summon Ben’s memory of his father, Han. I’ve toyed with this, and I think in the hands of someone truly skilled it could work. I haven’t put too much thought into the follow-on effects of this structurally, but I really like the value it brings to Leia’s story. Interestingly, in seeing the film again, the fact that Ben’s exchange with Han is a replaying of the same in TFA, is reinforced by the fact that from the very beginning of the scene, there is no visible scarring on Ben’s face from his defeat by Rey (even though he’s got a hole in his doublet from Rey impaling him?). Ben is back at that same moment to make the opposite choice. It’s much more effective, in my mind, that Ben is pushed into that memory by Leia. So…

Leia’s first interruption in silhouette with “Ben” remains the same.
Cut his head turn, and instead jump to chest up medium zoom (the seas and wind are calm, he’s in another place). More of this shot might be used if some digital wizard might remove the damage to his doublet in the wider part of the zoom.
Cut back to shot of Leia laying down while holding Han’s medal (Han’s memory is a part of her plan)
Cut back to finish the zoom into Ben and we hear “Hey kid”. The scene plays out the same, only cutting the reference to Leia being dead. For that just cut from Ben saying “it’s too late” to Han shaking his head to say “Ben?”
Then, after their final exchange of “Dad?” … “I know”, instead of Ben turning to throw his saber into the sea, cut to Ben (still in the fight) close up shot of dropping his saber and we’re back into the action of Rey grabbing the saber and stabbing him and Leia’s hand dropping as the last of her energy is spent.
This end of scene for Ben, it seems to me, is no different narratively (as in, How does he ultimately get back to Exegol?) than what already exists in the TC.

On the question of Finn not following Rey in a skimmer, I couldn’t agree more with the desire to cut it entirely. The only question that immediately jumps to mind is some way to work in the story that’s told at the conclusion of the fight scene. Rey runs to steal Kylo’s Tie, and she flies away in a single panning shot that includes Finn and then the entrance of the Falcon to pick him up. The shot could be trimmed before Finn enters frame, but it’s sole value lies in Finn watching Rey leave, so they know they don’t need to pursue her/take them with her. At the very least, I think there’s value in simply using the shot of Finn in the death star interior and hearing the sounds of the saber fight, but cutting any subsequent interference with or even observing the fight itself until he pops into frame to watch Rey fly away. Of course, one might then desire some way of him knowing it was Rey who flew away in the Tie, unless that’s chalked up to his still budding force sensitivity. Ugh…what a mess.

One thing I would suggest in the leadup to the skimmer section though, would be a cut from Poe’s “What do you mean you haven’t seen her” right to the shot of the skimmer cresting the wave. The scene of them running to the ridge with binoculars and Jannah saying “She took a skimmer” is pointless. A cut to Rey is far more interesting.

Similar to cutting the Leia/Rose/Wexley scene, I think the Poe/Rose/Beaumont scene following the Death Cannon demonstration should go. If one is attempting to cut the Death Cannons, which I strongly favor, then the only exposition one might possibly miss is the news that Leia declared Poe Acting General. But I think that’s of minimal importance or might be worked in some other way. Far more effective would be a cut from Chewie keening after the loss of Leia to the scene of Leia under the sheet while Poe talks to her about not being sure if he’s ready for command. Which Lando inexplicably enters into. Chewie to dead Leia to Poe feels better to me. Maintains the tone, inserts silence to deal with Leia death instead of interjecting big boom planet destruction. Poe’s later “you made it” to Bliss can easily apply to her having made it off Kajimi period, without the planet having to be destroyed.

Another thing I’d love to see tweaked, Hux declaring himself the spy. I much prefer Pryde intuiting this and blasting him. I haven’t put a lot of thought into how this would work. If it turns out that Hux’s line has to stay, I think, at the very least, it would be better tonally if there’s a cut after Poe screams “What?”. Cut all the “I knew it” banter which makes the scene comical. But I think one could cut after the pan up to Hux’s face, right into Poe screaming “What?” and then right back to Hux “We don’t have much time”. Pretty sure that could work.

I’m still mulling over many thoughts, especially after seeing so many other great suggestions here.

I’m excited to see what this fanedit can be.