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The Clone Wars: Refocused [COMPLETE] + Subtitles for season one! — Page 57

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That sounds great. An option could always be to put some of the unused episodes in a bonus season.

I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.

Star Wars has 3 eras: The eras are 1977-1983(pre Expanded Universe), (1983-2014) expanded universe, or (2014- now) Disney-bought version. Each are valid.

Important voice tool:
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1472151/action/topic#1472151

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JackNapier said:

That sounds great. An option could always be to put some of the unused episodes in a bonus season.

Yeah, absolutely. That’s long been the plan. All of those episodes I’m wanting to “cut out”, I’ll still be producing and making available.

I want there to be one ‘master’ version of the show, which is the tight, ‘complete’, best version of TCW, especially for the first-time viewer, or the Clone Wars skeptic.

And then I’ll produce all of those extra episodes - including fitting them properly into the chronology - for either people who know they like those episodes or who just have a bit more of a tolerance for quality, who just want more content even if it’s at the cost of breaking the flow a little.

I think it’s important to release the ‘core’, which turns TCW the anthology show into TCW:R the serial drama (in the vein of Bad Batch), first. That is one of the main missions of this project. But there’s no reason I can’t ultimately do both, and let people choose.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Depending on the editing timeline, for the parts where you’d want to incorporate RotS, it might be worth keeping an eye on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhzUubfvnDs

There’s obviously the big caveat that they seem to be doing just the battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and there’s no guarantee on when or if it’ll ever be completed, of course

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Huh! That’s interesting, and novel, but I think since we essentially switch back to live action for revenge of the sith, there’s no harm in live action for that scene. If they ever do the whole movie I’ll rethink… 😉

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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EddieDean said:

  • I don’t know how to present that finale. You could go RotS then SoM to best preserve SoM’s intensity. That’s the easy path. If you wanted to intercut them it’d become a hassle. There’re a lot of edits which combine the two into one super movie, of which I’ve only watched Delpheas’, but I think my preferred option would be to take a chronological intercutting of both and then turn them into ~5 individual episodes. Interested in ideas.

Personally I think the series finale is stronger on its own, I really like the feeling of isolation from being tied to Ahsoka’s perspective of events. I also like the feeling of dread seeing sprinkles of what happens off screen while being focused on Ahsoka, Maul and Mandalore. So watching the finale after episode III is not only the easiest path, but also the better one imo.

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Burbin said:

EddieDean said:

  • I don’t know how to present that finale. You could go RotS then SoM to best preserve SoM’s intensity. That’s the easy path. If you wanted to intercut them it’d become a hassle. There’re a lot of edits which combine the two into one super movie, of which I’ve only watched Delpheas’, but I think my preferred option would be to take a chronological intercutting of both and then turn them into ~5 individual episodes. Interested in ideas.

Personally I think the series finale is stronger on its own,

Definitely agree with this ^

I am no Jedi

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I’ve missed so much! It was good to read through your posts, and I’m glad to see the project still in motion. I’ll be back with more episode notes when I can!

I am sure there are others who suggested to focus along the lines of emphasising the villains in your Season 1, but thank you for the mention.

I’ll miss Bail from Christophsis, but it will make the episode flow better overall. The new ordering sounds good, and well thought out.

Renaming Strike at the Heart 2 to Future of the Force sounds good to me, to emphasise elements that will be picked up later in the Saga, as you say. Consider also, ‘Destiny of the Jedi’ for the title.

Resistance on Ryloth is a great title, an improvement over Blockade of Ryloth I think.

I eagerly await your cut of the remaining Ryloth episodes. Given Bad Batch, I’d say they fit in well with the continuity tier.

The follow up Ryloth episodes could be promoted to continuity, but I don’t think they need to be in the quality cut.

Visions is a good title, for your Assassin episode.

The new intro is fantastic! The ordering is great, and ending with Vader is chef’s kiss

Tales of the Lost Clones is a good title, but Tales of Captain Rex is also good, and the latter is perhaps more useful in signaling to the viewer the importance of the character throughout the show and beyond.

For the crawl kicker in S3E1, I’d suggest ‘the Republic needs more soldiers; the people need peace…’

Paja’s logo for CW03 is good, the revised spacing makes it fit well.

With Kalani, while the Rebels connection is a nice easter egg, it is a bit far off to be useful. A reference internal to the Clone Wars would be more effective, as you say. Maybe Cato Nemoidia, to link with your ‘Ahsoka’s Fall’ episode, would be good? If you can find the dialogue for it.

The Anakin/Qui-Gon dream in CW03 is an odd scene, for sure. I’m keen to see how you can make use of those lines for Mortis.

I like the idea of the original Mortis arc, but not the execution. I’m keen to see what you come up with for it. The Vader mask is a little much, and this vision so overtly details Anakin’s destiny that the Father then removes his memory of it, which undoes whatever foreboding was achieved by that scene. I wonder if by making that vision less overt, or the context of the scene less literal, the forced amnesia could be removed too?

I’m not sure if cutting all of the Mortis gods is necessary, but this arc is a difficult one to crack. There are some great moments there, like Ashoka’s scene with her future self, it’s just that the good parts don’t string together well.

If Mortis can be cut into something good, then I can see your ordering of Season 4 coming together well.

Yeah, Bounty could be demoted. Though it is great to see Ventress running with a crew before her part in Ahsoka’s Fall, it’s perhaps both not enough content to justify its inclusion and too much for what little character development we get here.

I don’t mind Citadel, it’s just too long for what it is. With Echo I feel it’s at least continuity tier. If you’re not happy with the episode, then I don’t think you should promote it to quality just because it’s relevant for Bad Batch. Or, are you keeping Citadel as quality in order to balance out the season as a whole?

For the Liberation of Maul, I wonder if it could be demoted to the continuity tier? I am keen to see it in the context of your Season 5, but suspect I’ll find the difference between animation and audio-comic too jarring. From just reading the comic, it seems to me an action packed but unnecessary addition, since the end of ‘Maul Rules Mandalore’ could be interpreted as a political assassination by Sidious, in order to weaken a dangerous rival. Maul being captured and then liberated feels like a digression, though I may have missed a plot detail somewhere. If ‘Liberation of Maul’ is demoted, this might free up the structure of your Season 5?

Looking over old episode titles again, I’m not sure if ‘Dissent on Umbara’ captures the arc as well as it could; consider instead, ‘Betrayal on Umbara’? Also, for ‘The Politics of War’, I like the title (it reminds me of the Clausewitz quote ‘war is a continuation of politics by other means’), but consider as possible alternatives: ‘A War of Words’ or ‘Senate at War’.

With Delpheas’ excellent take on the relation between the SOM arc and ROTS, I was persuaded that this relation is a problem, and that an edit like theirs is a workable solution. Though a combined edit might not be the best way for your project, dividing ROTS into the episodic form of Clone Wars would be an interesting approach, as you suggest. Definitely worth pursuing I think. Then, if the stylistic difference is too jarring, the animated and live action episodes could be separated, if you’re willing to forgo exact linear continuity in the timing of the episodes. This would also extend the episode count of your Season 5 way up, but since it’s the finale of the last season I think it’s a fine exception. Unless you want to split SOM & ROTS into a Season 6, and have Bad Batch be the Season 5 finale?

Also (since Burbin and sonofabindi would prefer to keep ROTS separate), having your finale episodes keep separate the ROTS and SOM content (if possible) would let viewers skip ROTS if they prefer.

How would you do a 12 episode Season 4 + SOM/ROTS finale? Would you drop the Ventress and Younglings episodes down a tier?

In terms of including ROTS, would you use the original film, or an edit like NFBisms (as Delpheas does)?

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I’ve had the chance to watch just a bit and look through the tracker again and here are some thoughts that I have.

I’m about halfway through your S1E0, and I must say I absolutely love how you’ve reordered the 03 Clone Wars. The earlier introduction of the villains’ training is fantastic. Having said that, the television aspect ratio feels out of place to me as I’m used to seeing the show remade with a traditional cinematic aspect ratio. Would that be something you would consider as you revisit your earlier seasons? I know you’ve said at one point in the thread you weren’t able to render with NJ’s sources, but I could probably take a crack at it if you’re interested in such a change.

For the film, I certainly agree the Hutt storyline is the weakest part and agree that it’s more or less just unusable. But I’m also really used to TCW starting off as a “film” in some way. I noticed on the tracker you have ?’s for future use of Cat & Mouse and Hidden Enemy. Any thoughts for using part of those to booster the front end more and have a single longer film to start (I apologize if this had been discussed earlier in the thread).

Other than that, I’ve just been slowly going back through the thread and trying to see the thought process behind the work so far. The attention to detail is fascinating man. Keep up the great work.

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Thanks very much! I’m hoping to get the next episode released this weekend. That should be the first of my polish pass through the series up to the new 2.x standard. The first couple of episodes - Tartakovsky, Christophsis, Malevolence, and then Ryloth - will take a little longer as I’ll be rethinking their plots a bit more, but the remainder of the existing ~30 episodes will be much more of a tightening than a re-edit, and then I’m back on with proper new stuff.

Glad you enjoyed the Tartakovsky episode. I won’t be making many changes to that, mainly just some dialogue trims to strengthen Obi-Wan’s opinion of Anakin.

That said, regarding Christophsis, I don’t want to make it any longer, and indeed I want to make it a little tighter. One of the pillars of my approach to this series edit is “Quality over length”, and I don’t want to artificially enlarge an episode to make it feel more cinematic. Cat & Mouse is fairly decent but focuses on the stealth ship, which I think raises too many questions this early in the show since it’s not seen again. It also delays our show’s focal protagonist (Ahsoka) and one of our season’s focal villains (Ventress). And Hidden Enemy had decent Ventress scenes, which I did include, but its other plot was the traitor clone. While decent, I didn’t want to have a traitor clone in focus so early in the show before we’ve got to know more of clone culture - though I did include that content in my season two clone individuality anthology episode.

The changes I think I’ll be making there though are some tightening of the start around the blockade and space battle situation, which is a bit muddy right now, and the partial or full removal of Bail, as much as I like his character. We’ll get through this episode fairly quickly - Ventress is there to distract/delay so that the Seppies can drop ground forces, then Ahsoka will join and help the Republic counterattack. It’s not a strong episode either way, so I think it’s best to get through it quickly rather than try to add to it.

I had considered merging Cat and Mouse and Hidden Enemy into a later ‘return to Christophsis’ episode too, where in context the traitor clone had leaked the stealth ship specs (to help explain why it doesn’t return), but ultimately still the stealth ship raises more questions than the value it gives us, and the Hidden Enemy stuff grouped with other clone focused stuff allowed me to produce a very strong little anthology which helps the viewer get used to clone variety and Rex, which was a useful focus going forward.

I did originally think I’d do something like Smudger and maybe mix my Christophsis episode with another (like the Domino Squad arc), but I think my recent reordering of the first season (not yet released) with a focus on how the season flows as a whole will go a long way towards making the beginning of the show more compelling and cohesive, much in the way a movie that hits many good connected beats would.

Regarding aspect ratio, it’s not something I’m really considering changing, mainly since the whole show is like that and if I’m changing the ratio I’m needing to think about framing in every scene. Plus, I think it’s something the viewer can accommodate quickly. I did consider using NumeralJoker’s sources initially - indeed they were the spark for this entire project since they presented each arc as a whole episode - but ultimately I found that I didn’t need the higher resolution because outputting any higher gave such little benefit relative to file size (looks great on my huge TV as it is, plus editing would have been slowed massively by using such large source files) and I didn’t think I needed the new colour timing, since to me it was relatively minor plus I could apply changes myself if needed.

Oh and Imhotep, I wanted to thank you once again for yet another wonderfully detailed post. This stuff is so so valuable to me in working on this project. I’d just had my second jab so I was full of the free trial of covid at the time, hence no reply, but it was a great read, and naturally I’ll be giving it lots of thought!

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Right, I’m actually properly editing now! I’ve made some good progress through my episode zero, Dark Force Rising. This takes the Muunilinst/Hypori plots from the Tartakovsky microseries, and the intention is to give background to Anakin/Ventress/Grievous in advance of TCW:R proper.

I’ve been working through my notes, your feedback, and the suggestions for tightening Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship so it’s more in line with TCW. So far:

  • I’ve brought it all up to my TCW:R 2.0 standard in terms of presentation.
  • I’ve tidied up the transitions, and some frames which flashed white (in the original, but it was distracting). This includes fixing the shot I was never too happy with where Obi-Wan lands on the roof and the music cuts a bit too sharply.
  • I’m also listening to this all on my TV with soundbar so I can best affirm the audio mix.
  • I’ve cut out the young Anakin/Qui-Gon dream sequence, which never had a place anyway, but which might be additive to my Mortis and Yoda Quest episodes.
  • We now open on the scene in Palpatine’s chambers, establishing the plot, and I used Delpheas’ ideas and a few tweaks to sell the group’s confidence in Anakin. Now, Palpatine suggests including Anakin (“His exceptional skill will be quite useful”), Obi-Wan agrees (“Indeed”) and then Yoda does too (“True. With his master, a padawan’s place is. AND undeniably strong he has become.”) Palpatine then agrees (“Then it is decided.”)
  • I’ve reordered a little more of Muunilinst’s land and space battles, so that Anakin’s success in the air comes before Obi-Wan gets the Muun’s unconditional surrender, giving his skill a bit more weight. The air forces are just on mop-up when Anakin chooses to pursue Ventress. The whole flows a bit better now too, and is a bit more compelling.
  • Trimmed a “roger, roger”.
  • I’ve tightened up Anakin and Ventress flying over Obi-Wan, to make Anakin more responsible but still bold. Now, Obi-Wan says “Anakin, you’re supposed to be in space commanding our forces!” to which he immediately replies “Master, the battle here is more than won. [responding to settle Obi-Wan’s concerns and show he focused on the priority first] This is no droid pilot, and the force is with him. I can’t let him get away.” Obi-Wan warns him he’s being baited, but doesn’t order him to stay - Ventress is escaping so Anakin simply follows her very quickly.

Now, this is where I’ve stopped, and could do with some advice.

The scene in question is where Anakin and Ventress arrive on Yavin. Currently it plays as follows:

  1. Anakin arrives on Yavin
  2. Anakin explores the forest
  3. Anakin hears an explosion near his ship, and returns to it [[what is this?? there’s a burnt mark on the ground but no obvious target?? did the clones do this?? unclear]]
  4. The Clones sent by Obi-Wan land
  5. The Clones disembark, and Anakin and the Clones start a search
  6. The Clones get picked off one by one
  7. Anakin chases the last screaming clone back into the clearing
  8. The Clone ship explodes
  9. Anakin shouts “R4!” [[without really a reason to believe R4 is in trouble??]]
  10. Anakin’s ship (and R4) explode
  11. Anakin looks up from R4’s broken dome
  12. Ventress emerges

Now, You’ve got three options here:

  1. Keep it as is. Obi-Wan sent Clones after Anakin, and Ventress picks them off one by one before blowing up their ship a while later. This means Obi-Wan sent the Clones (less trusting/more protective of Anakin?) and Anakin’s got a good reason to be angry at her.
  2. Trim the scene of the Clones getting picked off in the woods. That’s quite a goofy scene, which is charming and Tartakovsky-like, but it does make Ventress more powerful than we see her again in TCW, in terms of picking up and throwing masses of people. Instead, you could have the Clone ship land, and as Anakin watches, it explodes before they even disembark. (There’s one Clone on the ground when it explodes, but I think you could just about work around that if you didn’t mind a few quick cuts here.)
  3. Trim the Clones altogether. Anakin lands and goes into the woods. His ship and R4 explode, which makes him run back to the clearing. This one’s very clean, though means that Obi-Wan didn’t send Anakin support (is that OK? It both makes Anakin a bit more reckless AND Obi-Wan a bit more trusting, or perhaps implies that Obi-Wan doesn’t have the means to track Anakin). It also means that Anakin’s mad at Ventress even though he didn’t just see her kill a squad. (Though he has been fighting her in the skies for an hour or so, so it’s pretty understandable that his blood’s boiling.) This would be most elegant, and also fixes those weird questions from the above list, if you guys think the Obi-Wan’s inaction and Anakin’s anger ramifications work.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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This looks great based on The Chosen One vs Asajj Ventress on Yavin IV. The spreadsheet hasn’t updated with the new episode that was going to release this weekend.

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Been re-watching these recently, up to S01E07 - keep up the great work - loving the deeper exploring of characters etc, everything just feels “bigger”. With these longer cuts to explore you will need to be vigilant ensuring which episodes you cut.

Love the work though, keep it up!

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Sorry that it’s been so long since I’ve output something guys. I’m not managing your expectations well - nor my own - and have found less time lately than I was expecting.

That said, I’ve got a good chunk further through s01e00 Dark Force Rising today. I ended up making far more changes than I anticipated.

I went for my option 3 above, as it’s a lot cleaner. Anakin lands, Ventress sabotages his escape, Anakin’s angry, they fight. No clones on Yavin.

I’ve got two small audio enhancements to make that rearrangement work, then two simple trims elsewhere, to have this finished off.

I’m sure you’ll all enjoy the final result, I’m just sorry it’s taken so long!

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Came to check the forums and see that Ep00 v2 is almost out? That’s really awesome to hear man 😄

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(RE)RELEASED - s01e00 - DARK FORCE RISING (v2.0)

  • RELEASE VERSION, now brought up to my more polished 2.0 standard.
  • Our special ‘episode zero’.
  • Comprising the Muunilinst, Yavin and Hypori arcs from the Tartakovsky Microseries.
  • Source video is Numeraljoker’s upscaled version, used with permission and credited.
  • Running 51 minutes.
  • DOWNLOAD LINK is in the tracker spreadsheet, PM me for access.
  • Note: It’s recommended that you download this before watching, rather than streaming it directly from Google Drive.

The microseries is great, but features characterisation that doesn’t quite align with TCW’s refinements of the characters. It’s also something of an anthology, with quite a few side plots (which I cut here, but you’ll optionally see later in my show). I focused on the characters and elements which best support and enhance the remainder of my Clone Wars: Refocused show, so that this can be viewed as a pretty necessary episode zero. This episode doesn’t feature the TCW:R opening text that the other episodes in my edit will use, instead allowing a hybrid incorporating the microseries’ initial narration to lead us in.

Noteworthy changes:

  • The episode is titled ‘Dark Force Rising’, as a bunch of ‘dark forces’ rise: The Clone Army is the Republic’s Dark Force, Anakin is drawn to the darkside in his battle with Ventress, and of course Palpatine’s dark plan is coming to fruition, causing the whole force to fall out of balance towards the dark.
  • Anakin is a major focus, highlighting his strength, relationship with Palpatine, and hints at his darkness, and with far more faith from Obi-Wan bringing their relationship far closer to how it appears in TCW proper. (Thanks Delpheas for a lot of the inspiration here.)
  • Dooku’s machinations are the secondary focus. We see him train Ventress (far earlier, for balance, focus and story flow) then send her to challenge Anakin, then we see him train Grievous (from the second part of this microseries) then send him to Hypori to kill Jedi and spread fear (as Dooku taught Grievous in their sparring session).
  • The remaining focus is on showing at least some clone competency, focusing on their training and hardware, and the elements we’ll see later in TCW. I tended towards favouring the more grounded action, like we see outside of Tartakovsky’s eccentricities.
  • The whole is quite radically reshaped, so that it flows nicely and feels more like a single narrative, with the Republic reacting to Dooku’s bold moves. We intercut both a little more and a little less in places as felt appropriate and natural.
  • The clones no longer follow Anakin to Yavin, with the scenes there reworked so that Ventress simply removes his escape, forcing their conflict. Obi-Wan doesn’t send the clones - partially due to having to wrap up matters on Muunilinst, and partially due to trusting Anakin despite his (now reduced) disobedience, which is more in line with his later trust.
  • I moved the shot of Yoda having an “oh shit” meditation moment to right after Anakin’s just completed his rage-fueled attack on Ventress. Now in context, he’s reacting to feeling the darkness rise in Anakin. A viewer could choose to imply that it’s this feeling which compels him to agree to Knight Anakin and later grant him a Padawan, in the hopes of keeping him on the right path.
  • No Dirge/Lancers, since they’re not referenced in TCW again and feel aesthetically very different.
  • No TPM Anakin/Qui-Gon vision, since it had no place here and I’ll use some of its dialogue in other episodes.
  • No Dantooine/Ilium/Mon Cala, because they distract from the core narrative. (These have been included in a ‘Tales from the Clone Wars’ bonus episode, s03e00.)
  • No Nelvaan or kidnapping of Palpatine, because they are set later in the war. (I may eventually turn these into later bonus episodes.)

The episode is now wrapped in (most of) my usual TCW:Refocused trappings, the first of the ‘2.0’ versions. It has a variant ‘Clone Wars’ microseries logo and a slightly alternative approach to the end credits, hopefully straddling the middle ground between being part of TCW:R and respecting that the source content was its own thing.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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This sounds great! Can’t wait to check it out.

I definitely think Palpatine’s kidnapping would work as a great bonus episode.

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Love to have your feedback when you do!

Yeah, Nelvaan and Palpatine’s kidnapping really are quite secondary to the plot of TCW, so a far lower (and thus later) priority. And more likely I’ll be just presenting those scenes in order, rather than anything fancy.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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I just finished the newest Dark force rising 2.0, I must say that its far superior to the previous iteration. I don’t have a ton of feedback, but I very much enjoyed it. It flows really well overall, and the relationship with the craacters seems much closer to current cannon/TCW.

Great work!

“You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view” — Obi-Wan Kenobi

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Right, just done a bit of extra thinking on the structure of my last couple of seasons. A bit of shifting I think really tightens up the whole of TCW into neat, digestible, thematic arcs.

  • SEASON ONE: “Conflicts erupt in the early days of the Clone Wars.” Focus on the bad guys’ initial strikes, and the Anakin/Ahsoka relationship. This set of ten episodes is nice and tight, as previously discussed.
  • SEASON TWO: “The Clone Wars spread chaos and instability across the galaxy.” Focus on the scum and villainy emerging as the war becomes a long war. We don’t see the Separatists much until the finale. (Also, I realised I have to rename my Boba Fett episode to ‘Like Father, Like Clone’.) This set of nine episodes is also fairly tight. It does have a space for one more, and while I don’t want to force it to be ten episodes, that one more could maybe be:
    • Nothing, because it already works just fine.
    • My ‘Return to Ryloth’ episode, where Obi-Wan and Mace deal with Cham Syndulla and Orn Free Taa. These are all, however, secondary characters, in a plot that’s not amazing, in a season that’s already a little light on our main characters.
    • Zillo Beast. I’d want to remove certain elements like Palpatine’s scheming and the ion bomb (which, other than releasing the Zillo Beast, is a great weapon that they really should use again but don’t), but this is a big silly romp with all our main characters that’s a fan favourite. If it has good Anakin/Ahsoka stuff then it’s a strong frontrunner as we need that at this point in the season.
    • I don’t think I want to use Lightsaber Lost or Assassin (both quite redundant and now butchered for parts), nor Grievous Intrigue (and its follow-up from The Deserter) because it’s not a main character story (though there may be something that can be done to merge Grievous Intrigue with the lovely crash from Jedi Crash). There’s nothing else I’d really consider from the episodes with Ahsoka’s original model.
  • SEASON THREE: “Shades of grey emerge as the Clone Wars grow more complex.” Focus on the war escalating and testing our characters, and a lot of temptation. We return to quite a lot of Separatist plots. I had said on the previous page that I needed to reinstate Citadel to balance out the season, but actually I’ll use Kadavo instead. I like Kadavo a lot more, and it also fits well with the shades of grey theme. (Citadel will have to be a bonus episode.)
  • SEASON FOUR: “Conspiracies abound as the Clone Wars spin out of control.” Focus on unpredictable events and mystery. We don’t see much war, but we feel its effects very strongly. This structure now differs from my original plans. It’ll now be ten episodes, NOT NECESSARILY IN THIS ORDER, OR WITH THESE NAMES:
    • SHADES OF REASON, where Maul takes Mandalore. Opening on Maul, not our main characters, emphasises his ascension and the focus on the Mauldalore plotline.
    • MORTIS, now a dark herald of what’s to come.
    • THE LAWLESS, where Maul rules Mandalore and Palpatine cleans house. I’ll probably put this a little later.
    • AHSOKA’S FALL (two parter), which, you know.
    • SCIPIO, which follows Ahsoka’s fall, and incorporates the ‘fireside chat’ to emphasise Anakin’s dark actions here as related to Ahsoka’s Fall
    • ORDER 66, our fourth and final ‘just clones’ episode, neatly bringing Rex’s journey to where it needs to be for the finale.
    • SIFO-DYAS, where Yoda and Mace learn how fucked the whole situation probably is.
    • SON OF DATHOMIR, closing the Nightsisters plotline, and putting Maul back on the board.
    • YODA’S QUEST, a nice dark study of the mysteries behind the war, and more. Probably a nice finale too.
  • That fourth season is now not just light on Ahsoka but also light on Anakin, but that’s OK. We’re in the endgame now, and all of that stuff is tight. It’s almost like the fall of Ahsoka is the show pulling the handbrake and going into an uncontrolled slide. You don’t know what you’re going to get as the focus shifts, but it’s all great. I’m glad this batch doesn’t include the Ventress/Boba episode, which is too weak, nor the Younglings/Ahsoka episode, which is redundant this late in Ahsoka’s story and not dark enough for this point in the war.
  • SEASON FIVE: “Darkness falls on the galaxy as the Clone Wars draw to a close.” The fifth season changing structure is what enabled me to redesign the fourth. Realising that Revenge of the Sith is a vital part of the Clone Wars journey, means that the final season will be about eight episodes worth of volume, and lets me shift some other fifth season episodes backwards into the fourth. The fifth now is:
    • MARTEZ SISTERS gives us the welcome return to Ahsoka after a long absence, and sets up the season’s plot. Edited more tightly, this’ll be far more fun than it originally was, and be a fine premiere (since Ahsoka is our MAIN main character).
    • BAD BATCH (two episodes) gives us our final Anakin/Obi-Wan/Rex/Padmé content before the finale(s). This is technically your fifth ‘mostly just clones’ episode too, if you like. I’m quite pleased with how that’s all ended up.
    • REVENGE OF THE SITH is our penultimate arc (and is about three or four episodes long by volume)
    • THE SIEGE OF MANDALORE is our conclusion (and is two or three episodes long)
  • For the Revenge of the Sith / Siege of Mandalore overlap, I’ll give the viewer two options.
    • Option 1) Watch RotS (one movie) then Siege of Mandalore (two episodes)
    • Option 2) Watch a chronological intercutting of RotS / SoM I’ll produce as 6/7 episodes.

There we go. Five seasons. Pretty much bang on ten episodes each, without having to force it. Tight, thematic seasons that flow right, and fit into and develop the wider war. A balance of characters each season, and tight character development per season. The best plotlines set up early and constantly developed throughout. Optional bonus episodes. I think this is it.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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This sounds fantastic. As for season 2, I would say either keeping it as is or Ryloth (for continuity - but as you say, it doesn’t add a LOT so I think you should err on the side of adding nothing)

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Can’t Wait for Seasons 4 and 5, keep up the great work!

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 (Edited)

This is very much a side thing and way lower priority than anything else, but I’ve also been playing with the idea of turning both Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones into TV-length episodes as a season zero. So essentially this show would emcompass the entirety of the prequel era, as an accessible mixed-media episodic show, that was consistent with (and additive to) canon, but focusing on telling the highest quality coherent story.

The huge advantage of this approach is that chopping into episodes and maintaining my opening text means that I can keep certain plot points offscreen and recontextualise and clarify more of the movie content, and allow us to focus only on the best and most necessary content.

That said, I’d fit all of that around the existing show, rather than the other way around. I don’t want that to be mandatory, and I’d far prefer if my TCW:R allows the viewer to slot in their preferred versions of the movies.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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01x00 was always my least favorite of your episodes, but I must say that it is vastly improved.

If there was one Chang I’d still suggest, it would be cutting the Grievous and Dooku introduction, since it’s very similar to what we already saw with Ventress and doesn’t actually explain Grievous. Let him simply appear in the battle, directing the droids and fighting Jedi. That tells you all you really need to know at this point.

Bottom Line = well done. I can’t wait for the other revisions!

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I totally respect that perspective, it’s certainly the least important scene of the episode.

The reason I think it’s worth keeping (in that position) is twofold:

  • Firstly but leastly, because it shows Grievous being “trained in your Jedi arts by Count Dooku”
  • Secondly and mostly, because in it, Dooku tells Grievous to use fear, to break the enemy before he engages them. And then, on Hypori, that’s exactly what Grievous does, to great effect. Now, Grievous did that because he was taught to, making him the well-trained warrior, and more importantly, Dooku is the calculating, smart, tactical commander. I think this pair of scenes is additive to both characters.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus