Sorry to be so late to catch up to the conversation! I’ll try to weigh in on some of the topics being discussed.

THE MATRIX SHOT

I know there’s a split here, but it seems many are happy with it and it never bothered me. I’ll ask some family, though, and see what they think before making a final decision!

“SOLD FOR DRINKING MONEY”

This line may be strange considering TROS, but I also think it still works.

For one, pacing-wise it’s fantastic, as Kylo pours on the pain building up to his proposal:
-Your parents were no one.
-They dispassionately sold you.
-You have no place here.
-You’re no one…but not to me.
-Join me…

It just flows so well, and the specific details, whether true or not, anchor it in reality, making his argument to Rey all the more persuasive. It almost convinced me at first, and made me wonder whether she would (or should) take his hand.

As to whether it’s true or not, I think even before TROS, I heard arguments that this story could be falsely planted by Snoke as part of his mind-linking, as one of his efforts to turn Rey. If this argument worked before TROS, I feel like it would still apply after.

“SEE YA AROUND, KID”

I love this moment. It’s Luke’s last line of the movie, the delivery is perfect, and it really caps off the climax of The Last Jedi. While it may be hinting at something that never came to be, it could just as easily be his way of showing up Kylo a little bit. At worst, it’s an unfortunate but minor discontinuity, similar to “There is another…” from ESB. (That line was never really paid off when they changed it to refer to Leia, other than Vader using it to taunt Luke.) Regardless, I don’t think I’d ever be able to watch TLJ without “See ya around, kid.” It’s just too good!

MORE OVERT PALPATINE HINTS

I appreciate the back and forth on this topic, and idir_hh does a good job articulating his/her point, but I agree with the others. Subtlety works better for me here, as Palpatine is only behind the scenes at this point. Bringing him too much to the fore in TFA and TLJ would likely damage those films by distracting from their main stories. The clues should be there to debate, but, in my opinion, it’s important to hold off on any significant reveal until the plot of TLJ is resolved.

It would be interesting to see a radical edit of the sequel trilogy that plays up Palpatine from the start. As others have said, though, this project is only a slightly less conservative edit of Hal’s TLJ:Legendary. I really just wanted to remove two or three things that took me out of the movie every time I watched it, and it grew a little from there.

Yeah, Hal added the scream during the BB8T-ST, but for this edit that scene has always been cut. But, and interesting how this dovetails back, isn’t there a distorted wilhelm scream during the Matrix slomo shot? I remember when Hal first hid his in the movie I thought I heard it during the Matrix shot. There’s definitely some strange wilhelm-like noise.

TNT, I generally defer to John Williams’ music choices, and I’m okay with however he wants to end the title crawl. There are some moments I wish we had (“The Jedi Steps” never really got a full orchestral cue, except in the trailer, which isn’t as good as it would’ve been if Williams himself had composed it), but I’m happy with the music overall.

It isn’t the slow mo shot, but during Kylo’s first swing, when it briefly cuts to Kylo’s reaction.

Also, I like to think of the opening flute as a motif for the beginning of a “Star War”. In ANH, the movie starts at the beginning of the civil war basically, right after the rebels first victory and their subsequent escape.

In TLJ, we follow up the immediate aftermath of the first real battle of the war, the attack on Starkiller Base, and then the movie starts with the subsequent escape of the Resistance.

What I think would be rather fitting is if the flute motif was added to Attack of the Clones, and we hear it after the Battle of Geonosis, the first battle of the war, specifically when Dooku’s ship is escaping the planet.

hey poppasketti, have you seen the edit Chase Adam’s is doing with changing the “parking on the beach” scene in Canto Bite to something less comical. Is this something you would consider for the V3 if the change looks good?

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Fixing-The-Last-Jedis-COMEDY-OF-ERRORS/id/72568

Technically there is a wilhelm scream, but just not one in the traditional sense. Speaking of which, did you guys hear one in TROS?

RL, thanks for the correction, it’s that first swing. That is a Wilhelm scream, right?

The thing about the hanger explosion is it’s kind of a terrifying moment for Poe and that resistance pilot we see die. I’m not sure it would feel appropriate there. Hal has it in the perfect spot in his edit, but I cut that scene.

Since it’s there, anyway (I think), I don’t really feel strongly that we need another one. I’m open to it, though, if if we really need one!

stevepaynter, I’m watching that thread, but I don’t know how much can really be done with that. We’ll see!

Would a wilhelm integrate both tonally and from an AV perspective with any of the resistance skimmer/speeders getting shot down on Crait?

I feel like putting a wilhelm scream over the ‘godspeed rebels’ guy takes some of the desperation away from the scene.

^ I agree. I think it makes the most sense being a stormtrooper (how Hal has it) as part of general action, not major drama.

It is strange that there seems to be some debate (from a quick google search) over whether Kylo’s saber swing is some form of the Wilhelm scream. It sounds like a distorted version of it to me, but the sound editor apparently says they decided not to use it anymore.

Really? I mean it definitely sounds like it. I would say a perfect place to put it would be during the father chase, but you cut that, didn’t you?

And you cut BB-8 on the AT-ST too, right?

It would definitely be better to put it over a moment of levity, rather than a scene that is meant to be taken kind of seriously.