“…many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.”
And thus, my edit begins with Obi Wan meeting Luke as he is out looking for R2 and attacked by the Tusken Raiders. Luke mentions the name Obi Wan, causing Obi Wan to have a flood of memories from days long past.
Once they vacate the area and head back to Obi Wan’s hut, Luke and Obi Wan’s conversations lead us into the prequel trilogy.
My edit is different from other PT edits in that older Obi Wan is used to bookend and bridge the stories of the 3 movies together. Luke asking Obi Wan certain questions causes Obi Wan to reflect back on what happened that has led him here to this point where he meets the boy he’s watched over for so long while also unbeknownst to him, getting ready to embark on his final adventure.
The cut list is very extensive, but here are the highlights:
-Edit opens with Luke getting attacked by Tusken Raiders and Obi Wan scaring them off
-Luke asks about Obi Wan and we briefly cutaway to footage of Obi Wan from each of the PT while music from the scene plays on
-Luke and Obi Wan are the hut (using DeSpecialized footage) and Luke asks Obi Wan about fighting in the Clone Wars and as Obi Wan says “yes I was a jedi like your father” we cut to the Maul vs Qui-Gon vs Obi Wan fight
-Once the fight is over, we cut back to older Obi Wan. When Obi Wan starts talking about Anakin, he says he was a cunning warrior, the best starfighter in the galaxy, and we fade out as he says “and he was a good friend”
-“A long time ago in a galaxy far away” appears on the screen with music accompanying the transition and we flash our title and opening text
-Attack of the Clones begins with the assassination attempt as they arrive in Coruscant.
*there are A LOT of cuts from here, so I’m going to summarize
-NO chosen one plot point
-Jar Jar will be seen here and there, but never heard
-Anakin and Padme knew each other as kids, but that’s it.
-The night time assassination attempt will be the probe shooting at Padme, no insects
-The chase will be MUCH shorter and less over the top
-Anakin and Padme leave for Naboo and have the conversation about jedi’s not having attachments.
-Obi Wan investigates the poison dart in deleted scene and then heads to the archives followed by talking with Mace and finally leaving for Kamino
-Anakin and Padme arrive, talk with the queen there and then visit her family. No chastising him in front of the queen.
-Obi Wan arrives on Kamino, learns about the clone army, meets Jango and reports to the council followed by them dueling and beginning the chase to Geonosis
-Anakin and Padme have a picnic in the field, followed by dinner and then the shot of them getting off of the boat and her talking about swimming to an island has been converted into a nighttime scene.
-No hatred of sand dialogue
-Anakin runs his fingers on Padme’s back, but that’s it. No kiss here. Just the start of something brewing between them.
-Anakin has his nightmare about his mother and is meditating the next morning. While he’s meditating, we have a flashback to him saying goodbye to his mother from The Phantom Menace and they talk about whether they will see each other again as he leaves to be a jedi.
-Padme comes out, they talk about going to Tatooine and after she says she’s going with him, we end scene there, cutting Anakin being overly apologetic that he has to go rescue his mother.
-Obi Wan arrives at Geonosis and listens in on Count Dooku’s meeting
-Anakin arrives home (without meeting 3P0) and finds out his mother has been kidnapped. He sets out to find her. Anakin arrives at the Tusken camp, gets his mother and kills some Tuskens.
-Obi Wan sends the message to Anakin after finding out he’s on Tattoine
-Anakin arrives home with his mother’s body and he talks with Padme, but doesn’t do the “not just the men, but the women and children” line. He’s angry that he couldn’t save her and that he lost his cool. Padme comforts him.
-Anakin’s mom’s funeral without dialogue from her husband. Anakin swears he won’t fail again and then we jump to receiving Obi Wan’s message
-Padme says they’re going and Anakin happily agrees
-Chancellor is given power, but Jar Jar is not part of it
-Obi Wan speaks with Count Dooku. No mention of Qui Gon.
-Anakin and Padme arrive on Geonosis, she wants to go the diplomatic route so we cut to the deleted scene of them sitting down with Count Dooku
-Pre-arena conversation is just Padme saying she’s not afraid to die and that she loves Anakin. Now we have our first kiss!
-Arena battle is tightened up a bit before Mace and crew gets there
-After Yoda and the clones arrive to rescue the jedi, they take off and so does Count Dooku
-They chase Count Dooku, Padme doesn’t fall from the ship, they arrive and jump off as Dooku makes his big escape.
-No Count Dooku dual, Anakin doesn’t lose his hand, Yoda’s big moment was showing up with the clone army.
-Count Dooku meets with Palpatine, Obi Wan talks with Mace, we have a longer montage of the clone wars getting started and using lots of cut footage from the Geonosis battle and other battle footage from Revenge of the Sith
-Anakin and Padme marry
-We come back to older Obi Wan and he gives Luke his father’s lightsaber.
-Luke asks “how did my father die?” We hold on Obi Wan and then cut to Revenge of the Sith with Obi Wan and Anakin rescuing the chancellor from Dooku
-No buzz droids and no emphasis on R2.
-No “siths are our speciality” and no reference to Anakin losing his hand.
-Obi Wan is thrown during the fight, but Dooku doesn’t bring down the platform
-Anakin decapitates Dooku without hesitation
-After Palpatine is freed, we jump to Coruscant.
-Grievous will not be featured in this edit
-Anakin learns of the baby and it mostly plays out the same from there with minor edits here and there
-No “it’s unfair” stuff with the council
-insert deleted scene with the senators talking of a rebellion
-No midichlorians
-Palpatine doesn’t twirl as he lunges towards the jedi members there to arrest him
-After killing Mace, Anakin doesn’t ask what has he done. He immediately pledges himself to the emperor
-During Order 66, we will see Yoda kill the 2 troopers who are about to take him out because we should see him wield a lightsaber at least once IMO
-Obi Wan talks with Padme and I cut it so that Padme accepts Obi Wan’s help and doesn’t turn him away
-Cut a few lines from Padme as she talks with Anakin for the last time just because the dialogue wasn’t working well in some ways
-Cut Anakin saying “we’ll see about that” before the final duel begins.
-Anakin vs. Obi Wan is 95% of the entire fight without cutting away (I just cut out the I kick you and you kick me on the table part of the fight).
-No “it’s over I have the high ground” line
-A few cuts here and there and Padme dies, but it’s never explicitly said why. We can assume it was the encounter she had with Anakin as he was choking her
-Once Vader is raised from the table, we cut back to old Obi Wan
-Obi Wan tells Luke Vader killed his father
-After their exchange, we cut back to Bail, Obi Wan and Yoda discussing separating the babies
-Bail leaves, Yoda asks Obi Wan to stay and they discuss more training, but leaving out mention of Qui Gon
-The ending is a montage using the music It’s Over Now from the REBELS Season 2 finale. The montage starts with Padme’s funeral, followed by Yoda arriving on Dagobah, then Bail arriving to Alderaan and finally Obi Wan on Tatooine. The last shot will be of Obi Wan walking away instead of the binary sunset.
Here is a clip of the opening 9ish minutes: https://streamable.com/byxda
At the moment, my title is The Dark Side Rises, but I’m open to suggestions.