Revenge of the Sith (The New Canon Cut) [ON HOLD INDEFINITELY] — Page 18

I like all the extra dialogue in the opening scenes (apart from the added laugh when R2 appears during the ray shield trap). Having watched most of TCW very recently the two of them never shut up 😄, it’s constant banter in almost any situation. That fit well when you did your edit of the opening as if it were a TCW episode.

I’m ambivalent towards any of the Kashyyk stuff. If it wasn’t necessary for Yoda I wouldn’t even notice if it was dropped from the film. I’ve always felt it breaks the tone of the film up a bit too much.

By the point Anakin arrives late to the briefing wouldn’t Ahsoka already have captured Maul rather than just having arrived on Mandalore?

Leave out ‘What have I done?’, I think it’s right that the different voice can be interpreted as internal thoughts.

The added dialogue of ‘Luke’s Father Wanted Him To Have This, When He Was Old Enough’ is still quite difficult to hear. I can make most of it out but the transition from ‘how old were you when…’ to ‘I want to have our baby…’ is quite abrupt as the second line is much louder.

You already know my thoughts on Mustafar, any additions or removals you can make to make Padmé a character with agency and her own agenda is welcome.

I don’t know how much you want to be influenced by TCW episodes that never made it to production but series 6 and 7 and deleted arcs involving Yoda and the Bad Batch on Kashyyk so would indicate a Republic presence even before Kai-Adi and MAce agree they need to send an attack group there (maybe add ‘another’ attack group), the other was Padmé returning to Man Cala where she was basically working with the Quarren senator to act against Palpatine, leading into her Rise of the Rebellion’ stuff in your version of RotS. She’s already made her childhood friend Palps into an enemy which puts Anakin, retroactively, being pulled between Palps, Padmé, and the Jedi, meaning both Obi-Wan and Padmé are working off slightly different angles on Mustafar.

On the fence about: Fully removing the scene with Mace/Yoda/Obi-Wan.
I say don’t. The fact Yoda and Mace are happy to create a council within a council is reminiscent of Ahsoka’s trial where it was done with only 5 members and not the full lot, and also they are the main three who are following the whole Sidious and the origins of the clone army plot from TCW series 6.

On the fence about: Leaning towards keeping original “Don’t lecture me Obi-Wan” because I can definitely see how “You weren’t there” doesn’t work seamlessly.
I like both. The former plays into Anakins insecurities about not being a master and being Obi-Wan’s padawan and not his friend, but he latter works towards how isolated Anakin is feeling.

As for the colour grade, RotS has always been one of the best looking SW films that never got damaged as much as it got transferred between mediums. It has some issues where whites look tan and greys look blue and a lot of busy elements in places. I don’t think a full regrade would work for RotS, I think it’d have to be taken scene by scene to sort out. Comparer how blue the interior of the Invisible Hand is in RotS to the CIS ships in TCW and how busy the bridge looks compared to the ones in TCW.

How has your ideas for the ordering of the edit changed (if they’ve changed at all) since all four parts of the Clone Wars finale have been released?

I’d second the volume in the lightsaber-baby conversation. Those lines sound quieter to me than the rest of the conversation, but not by too much.

Also, this is a minor thing, but I still hear a bit of the Tusken Raiders’ cries during Anakin and Palpatine’s talk after Dooku’s death.

Have you done anything with Grevious’ line, “You fool! I’ve been trained in your ‘Jedi arts’ by Count Dooku!” given that he and Obi-Wan had many duels prior their fight on Utapau?

Watched this for the first time the other night and wanted to say how impressed I was with it and give a couple of suggestions to help it get even better.

Like another poster, I had a couple audio issues related to the Anakin/Padme scene discussing the lightsaber. I love the new dialogue, but it seems significantly quieter than the rest of the scene. Same goes for much of the added comm chatter in the opening battle. All great additions, but at times difficult to understand.

Basically everything that relates to Padme in this is fantastic. Padme’s story in ROTS never sat right with me. She was so assertive in the previous two films, but in III she seemed to take a back seat as all most of her scenes were removed from the final cut. Anakin and Padme felt more like themselves with your edits. Great work. Even the cringey dialogue about love blinding Anakin actually feels kind of cute when it is preceded by them joking around with. That being said, in your “anger management” edit, Anakin’s response is too quick. If possible, there should be more of a beat between Padme’s question and Anakin’s ‘It’s nothing.’

Additional time to breath could be useful throughout the edit actually. Many transitions feel a bit too rushed. I’m not sure if its a stylistic choice or a necessary by-product of the way you have had to cut certain scenes, but it was a bit jarring at times. For example, in the original cut of the film there is a far longer shot of the cityscape before we narrow in on Anakin and Padme on the balcony. In your cut the transition from Kashyyk into this scene removes most of that shot, but I think adding it back in would help the film feel less crowded. Speaking of transitions though, your fade to black after the opera scene was superb. It’s a great dramatic pause.

Finally, the final duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan felt far too silent. I know my opinion on this probably differs from most because I have come to love the silliness of the dialogue in ROTS, but I really missed having Anakin reply to Obi Wan with “I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over.” Having Anakin just stand there silently as Obi Wan speaks to him felt awkward. Without his replies to keep momentum going, the segment just goes on too long. But moreover, because of the edits you’ve made I actually think this line makes more sense than it does in the original cut. Originally Anakin’s “point of view” sounds totally absurd, but with the changes you have made to his motivations and the extra context of the clone wars, I think Anakin’s conclusion that the Jedi were attempting to overthrow the chancellor makes sense. The line is made far less silly when your edit shows Mace, Yoda, and Obi Wan explicitly consider arresting the chancellor.

Anyway, these were just a couple of my thoughts. I really enjoy what you have done with this film. It’s amazing how much Hayden’s performance can be improved with the addition of just a few giggles. Can’t wait to see how this project develops in the wake of the Clone Wars finale.

I’m absolutely loving this edit! I just have a few issues.
Watching some of the clips again, I think Anakin’s “Whoa-hoho!” line (during the Battle of Coruscant scene when him and Obi-Wan are evading a group of missiles) felt weird. I don’t know if it was Matt Lanter’s voice, but all I know is that it didn’t sound like Hayden Christensen, so I couldn’t tell who exclaimed that line when I first watched the clip.
I know you’re trying to blend Matt with Hayden in more ways than one, but I just don’t think it works here.

I can’t seem to figure out what Anakin says after he jumps back into the elevator. (The line before Obi-Wan says, “Oh, it’s you!”) I guess you could either up the volume on it, or just cut it entirely. If you do the latter, I think the scene would be completely fine without it. You already have lots of good Obi and Anakin banter edited in, so getting rid of the line wouldn’t affect what you’re shooting for at all.

If you added laughter when R2 zooms into the hallway where Obi, Anakin, and the Chancellor are stuck in the ray shield, I can’t completely tell if it’s laughter upon first watching the scene. Since R2’s scream is so loud, and the fact that the whole banter/bit about patience is already being played for laughs (some people may chuckle and not even hear the added laugter) and the banter is akin to Anakin acting like a brother to Obi-Wan (essentially saying “Bro. R2 knows what he’s doing. Just trust him. He’ll be here in no time to set us free.”), I think the laughter should just be removed. The laughter doesn’t really add anything and almost just feels like a laugh track (and frankly, the laughter doesn’t make much sense in the moment since Anakin is being semi-serious towards Obi.) Just my opinion.

Anakin’s “Show’s over!” line when he fetches his lightsaber from Grevious could use a slight increase in volume.

Again, great stuff. I’d love to show this to a friend in place of the original Revenge of the Sith when I finish showing him all of Clone Wars!

It’s actually Hayden himself. xP

Oh wow. Haha. Did you get that line from another movie of his? I don’t know why it sounds just a tad bit off. I think it’s the quality of it and the fact it’s literally played right after another line of his. So you end up hearing the difference. And I think it sounds like the line fades in a little bit at the very beginning.
There’s something about it and I can’t put my finger on it. Don’t get me wrong… it’s a great line and honestly I changed my mind and love that you put it in the movie. It just sounds… different.

Anyways, do you have a link for the full cut so I can download it? Even if it’s a rough cut / not final at the moment.

NFBisms said:

Some more experimentation.

Tried some alternate dialogue instead of silent nodding to replace Yoda’s reused lines in the Windu/Obi/Yoda deleted scene
Not super sure about this but I prefer lines there to nothing. Anything to justify why we saw that minute long piece of a conversation.

Testing an alternate exchange in pre-duel sequence
As sure about this one as I was with “You weren’t there,” which isn’t much (probably more) - but I actually like the context this one creates more than that one - technical stuff aside. ¯\(ツ)/¯ (again, Padme shot credited to the wonderful snooker)

For the first one I think I preferred the nodding. Sometimes words aren’t needed. Both human actors have good enough body language that you can buy their contemplation of the treason they’re suggesting.

For the second one, I’d say it’s near perfect. The volume balancing of the new lines is good, the dialogue flows nicely, and it builds up to a lightsabres drawn fight, rather than starting off with Anakin massively aggressive.

One thing that I have an issue with in the original is Obi-Wan’s line ‘You have allowed this dark lord to twist your mind until now, until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy’. I think the second ‘until now’ is overly theatrical and not really in keeping with how short the other dialogue is. Even in the original, the phrases are short and to the point, but that line is just a bit over the top.

I enjoy the new exchange and I agree that “What did you tell her?” fits much better in tone than “YOU WEREN’T THERE” did previously. I didn’t notice last time that you VFX’d Obi-Wan so his saber ignites second; it’s nice and subtly done.

When Yoda says “War” it sounds a bit overtly sentence-mixy. Not sure if there’s another take you could use.

I think the JAT line “Face up to what you’ve done” sticks out. Maybe you could pitch it down a bit or something?

The new JAT line might sound a little bit more natural with a shorter span between “Anakin” and “Face up…”, but I agree it’s already pretty good the way it is now.

Personally I could go either way regarding the secret council scene. I feel the silent Yoda ending flows better, but the added line justifies his support for the idea, making Yoda seem more reluctant about it.

Can you send me a link so I can watch?

I absolutely love the full edit. Especially the beginning scene. The added dialogue and laughing just makes it better and makes Anakin’s fall to the dark side more tragic.
I have a nitpick though: In the balcony scene, in one of the added lines, “I mean he’s gotta learn how to stand up for himself and not be pushed around.”, the word “around” sounds like it’s being spoken by Owen Wilson. I like the whole dialogue about giving their son a lightsaber since it’s like a fan-added easter egg, but the word “around” takes me out of it and makes me notice it’s a dubbed line.

NFBisms said:

I gave that a shot, as well as maybe removing “Please”
I was always iffy on the JAT line myself, but it didn’t seem to matter to untrained ears which is how it made it this far. And so many choices I’ve made since have worked off of that line in particular working.

sade1212 said:
I didn’t notice last time that you VFX’d Obi-Wan so his saber ignites second; it’s nice and subtly done.

This is a really fantastic change. The only thing I would prefer would be swapping the order of “Don’t you turn against me” and “Your anger and your lust for power have already done that.” the pause between Anakin’s accusation that Obi-wan turned Padme against him and the following line feels a little clunky. It may work better if the second line is an interjection following Obi-wan’s response.