logo Sign In

Post #1465367

Author
EddieDean
Parent topic
The Clone Wars: Refocused [COMPLETE] + Subtitles for season one!
Link to post in topic
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1465367/action/topic#1465367
Date created
4-Jan-2022, 9:26 AM

It’s a decent idea, for the reasons you mention, but I think Christophsis is still the sensible first step.

Ahsoka is great, she’s the heart of this show, she’s now extremely popular, and her legacy is clearly really important to the current world of Star Wars releases. However, it’s worth remembering that Ahsoka was very unpopular on release - by design, so that audiences could see her growth. Also, Clone Wars was a new entry in a franchise which had never once mentioned Anakin having a padawan, especially a youngling (Vader’s secret apprentice being something very different). Because of both factors, the original show had to position her very carefully knowing that she was (1) unexpected (and possibly unwelcome because of that) and (2) at the beginning of her maturity (and for some, again unwelcome because of that). The show ultimately was justified in the way it introduced her, but it did put people off at first. So there’s already good sense to placing Christophsis before a solo adventure.

But also, I think one of the important audiences for this edit in particular is people who either never picked up Clone Wars because of its original (and ongoing) poor reviews, or people who checked out the original Clone Wars but gave up on it early because of the early poor quality, of which Ahsoka’s unwelcomeness was a factor for many. I’ve done what I can to minimise some of Ahsoka’s more abrasive traits whilst retaining a lot of the weaknesses she ultimately grows through, but I think I still need to make sure that Ahsoka is used carefully at first and not forced upon the new viewer, so she’s not overly highlighted at first and there’s lots of other interest and quality to keep audiences of this edit engaged until they grow to like her.

It’s for these reasons that I wanted to ensure the first season was strong, varied and interesting (Mandalorians, Domino Squad, Nightsisters, etc), and with Ahsoka’s appearances being as decent as I could make them (her care for Plo Koon, her boldness/rashness well applied with Luminara, her victory at Ryloth after her earlier failure, her competence and wisdom in the finale). But I wanted to do this with control and balance, hence moving a few scenes around to help explain her absences, so the early skeptic will find her present but not overwhelmingly in focus.

Additionally, while Cloak of Darkness is a decent-ish episode, it is one of the weaker ones in this season, which I think benefits from being made a bit more relevant to the ongoing plot (the hunt for Grievous) once we’re more invested in it. And having the three weakest episodes up front (Cloak, Christophsis, Malevolence) might be too much of an ask.

So yes, it’d be a good introduction to Ahsoka, but I think she’s better framed initially in context as a part of Anakin’s story through the Clone Wars, who grows quickly to the fore once the audience has warmed to her.