Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Redux Ideas thread — Page 109

Wouldn’t it be Lando’s Palace? You could say it’s more of a Bespin theme but it’s become his leitmotif in other media like Rebels and Battlefront II.

Lando and the Rebels sounds nice, though probably not Williams-y enough since it’s not from a movie score.

The only thing we all agree is that Luke and Leia’s theme has nothing to do with that moment. Maybe Luke and Leia could be used to score Luke and Leia’s training flashback, or when Luke has Rey claim Leia’s lightsaber.

I really wish there was a way to add a kiss between Finn and Rose at the celebration.

How about a kiss between Finn and Poe when they embrace?

StarkillerAG said:

Not sure if I’d like that either. I’ve never really liked shipping in general. Two fictional characters hooking up just seems like a completely inconsequential thing to get all worked up about. There are far more important issues with this movie that should be focused on instead.

I get that. I was against it until Abrams made LGBTQ+ representation part of the marketing campaign, only for it to be two unnamed characters in the background of a wide shot.

They had incredible chemistry, and Oscar Isaac not only wanted the romance but played scenes up with that intention. Zorri was only put in the film to solidify that both characters were straight… which is kinda insulting. Of all the things to bog the film down with, shouting “no homo” with a pointless cameo for one of the director’s friends while selling the opposite idea to the public was just messed up. I’ve adjusted my cuts to help fix this.

My suggestion of the kiss was more about tying the film better with TLJ. As it stands, the way Rose is treated is rather jar jarring.

Anakin Starkiller said:

My suggestion of the kiss was more about tying the film better with TLJ. As it stands, the way Rose is treated is rather jar jarring.

I believe most fan-editors either edited the kiss out of TLJ or pretend it didn’t happen, and seeing as Rose’s basically been demoted to extra in TROS, a sudden kiss at the end is going to feel even more out of nowhere than the one on Crait. Now, about the Stormpilot shipping, I agree queerbaiting is indeed an issue, but not really among TROS’s biggest flaws (though if hints of attraction between Finn and Poe were made to be more consistent between the three movies I’d actually buy it as a “bonus”).

Well, in the other two edits, I toned down the Finn/Rey romance, since that goes nowhere. I didn’t cut the kiss with Rose, because she was initiating it, but I did cut down Rey heartbrokenly watching Finn tuck Rose in on the Falcon.

But I approached all three films trying to better set it up. I would love if someone adapted that last shot to a kiss, but it’s beyond my ability.

Beyond the sake of “shipping”, I think playing up the potential Finn/Poe chemistry would be a good way to recontextualize Finn’s “I never told you” subplot that is never really resolved.

• Have Finn call out to Poe instead of Rey in the sinking fields. “Poe, I never told you!”
• Rey asks Finn what he was going to tell him instead of her.
• When Finn and Poe are about to be executed, Poe asks, "So what were you going to tell me?"
• At the end, Poe gives Finn the flirty look instead of Zorri.

I’m sure more little hints could be added beyond these. And although we don’t get a kiss, and I think there is enough there for adults to understand, at least. Since we never see on screen Rey learning about Finn’s force sensitivity, I think implying instead that Finn has feelings for Poe could work as an interesting alternative that could actually have some semblance of a payoff.

I cut the needing to “tell something” moment, but I changed various other moments with them, and here’s how I ended it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DUXM3TIlAJKR8pH2sMwvhbrzjWZt6XwL/view?usp=sharing

Hal 9000 said:

What, like he was gonna say, “OMG we’re gonna die in sand, omg real quick, Rey, I’M GAY! hhurvvvldlejerjj” dies ?

Seems disjointed and extremely on the nose. I wouldn’t have cared if they took Finn and Poe in that direction but it’s hard to imagine a fan edit pulling it off without feeling fan-fic-y.

It’s simpler than you’d think. Most of their scenes together lean that way anyway, add their deleted scene in TLJ, cut down Zorri and Finn’s romance with Rey, and then change that ending scene.

I did cut the need to tell something, just because it’s never established what he needed to say. I kept the bickering before Hux rescues them, but I have Poe ask “Good luck, huh?” Before Finn says “You still on about that?”. A lot of the cuts are minor and simple, and because it’s not too on the nose prior to this end scene it works for the most part. I’m still tweaking the end scene to make it work, but it’s better to me than the alternatives that are underdeveloped or go headfirst into empty pools.

idir_hh said:

Official concept art of Rey and the force ghosts on Tatooine.
https://i.redd.it/pi5gekklb0551.jpg

this is great! like obi wan in hot, in the sky

I do think that Finn and Poe hooking up would’ve been the best, and most natural pairing out of anyone in this trilogy. Based on interviews (https://www.slashfilm.com/finn-and-poe-romance-in-star-wars/), it seems like some higher-ups shut down the idea of a romantic plot between Finn and Poe, and Oscar Isaac seems to think it’s because they were worried how a prominent same-sex relationship would be perceived. While that’s only one person’s account, it’s pretty believable, and no one else has spoken up to definitively shoot it down. Beyond that, everything is just conjecture. I have no idea if Zorri was included solely to confirm that Poe is straight, although I think it’s unlikely.

Still, it is pretty silly that Rey makes out with someone who murdered her mentor, tortured her, and killed tons of her friends, but two male characters (who have had a deep bond over this whole trilogy) hooking up is too risky. Star Wars has had some of the most unhealthy romantic pairings in film history. There’s incest, murder, torture, stalking, mass murder of children, fascism, I could go on. I think that’s why there’s a bit of a sting to Finn and Poe not pairing up, when so many truly horrific couples have been featured in SW before (I’m mainly talking about Anakin and Padmé here). It’s not just fan-service either, although the film has no shortage of that. Oscar Isaac and John Boyega have great chemistry and it felt like a natural progression of their relationship. With that being said, you can’t really make a satisfying Finn/Poe romance in a fan-edit. The time to implement that was while filming, in the editing stage there just isn’t enough material to make it work. There are plenty of things like that in this film, Finn/Poe is just one more.

I don’t actually recall LGBT stuff being a major part of the marketing campaign. I remember them mentioning it and news sites taking that and running with it, but I really don’t recall a great deal of focus on it from them.

Zorri doesn’t really serve any other purpose. She’s another “find the thing to find the thing” in the chain. She helps them find Babu Frik, who Poe theoretically already knows how to find (being that he got to the right town on the right planet and Babu’s workshop ain’t new). She also has the contrived medallion that the heroes have never needed to sneak aboard a ship before.

She’s used to reveal backstory for Poe, but it’s unnecessary. It doesn’t reveal secrets that make us or the other characters question anything we know about who he is now, or question if the characters can trust him. It’s thrown in as a joke that kinda contradicts the rest of the history we know of him.

She’s there for him to have a female love interest. The rest is added on so they can skip developing it. It’s also hamfisted to show his interest in her, and she doesn’t even return the interest.

It’s designed to make it clear in no uncertain terms that the characters the fans and cast have desired to be gay isn’t, and it was done to make sure the film could open well in China (Where Star Wars doesn’t make money anyway). They could have just not wedged an extra romance into an overstuffed movie, not confirming any romantic interest from the character. Instead they teased that there would be representation, knowing that people would interpret that as Poe (even without a romance with Finn), and then made it a background shot.

Abrams said he wanted LGBTQ+ people to see themselves in the movie, seeing myself as an unnamed backdrop that’s unable to share any time with my romantic interest besides a pandering kiss in the background of a wide shot is pretty insulting. He’s the one that made a decision out of spite, I simplified story threads that went nowhere (Rey & Finn Romance), cut a silly and tacked on relationship (Poe & Zorri), and further developed a relationship that was built in all three films (Finn & Poe).

StarkillerAG said:

I guess I just don’t understand where you’re getting this from. Like you said, Zorri is just intended to be another person who delivers important exposition, who just happens to have a pre-existing relationship with one of the characters. She wasn’t intended in any way to please China, especially given the fact that Star Wars doesn’t make any money in China anyways. The lesbian kiss was a dumb PR move, but not one that was intended to spite fans. Given how much JJ was playing safe with this movie, I doubt he would intentionally give a middle finger to any segment of the fanbase. If you don’t like Zorri’s role, that’s your opinion, but I don’t see how it was done to piss off fans.

Imagine it in the context of any other marginalised or underrepresented group. “We want to show that Black people live in the Star Wars universe.” Being said prior to the films, but there’s no Mace, Lando, Finn, or Jannah. There’s one Black man in the final shot of the movie. Imagine another character, a main character, wearing a helmet and being voiced by a Black actor being revealed to be a white man all along (kinda like Vader).

These things are insulting, even if they’re meant to be pandering and fan-pleasing. Zorri’s role in the film doesn’t change anything, she was added so that the very public talk about Poe being gay could be denied before the film was denied in China. Disney has tried to make Star Wars take off there, even though it was never going to work.