The Rise of Skywalker: Untold (WIP) — Page 2

Raditz, I am trying to expand on Poe a bit more during the Kijimi section; but I like your idea about making it more explicit elsewhere too! I think there’s definitely room for having him be an inspirational figure elsewhere as well.

And Arabian, those are all definitely valid points. It kind of makes me reconsider that shot of him staring at the Starkiller beam firing, like maybe he’s feeling a bit regretful about everything behind that mask. I just don’t know if he needs a romantic arc in order to be redeemed; but I’ll keep mulling it over in the back of my mind. I really appreciate hearing another perspective on that part of the story, thank you!

EddieDean said:

Finally read through this, it sounds fantastic. Thoughts:

• Not important at all, but is Exegol supposed to be Moraband/Korriban? Wookiepedia doesn’t seem to make that link.
• I love the idea of using Kijimi to enhance the Luke’s inspiration subplot. Some new background voice chatter should be helpful there, like the finale’s "For Skywalker!"s. It’d be great to get graffiti, as people have suggested, maybe even explicitly showing Luke’s face or a stylised version of his facedown on Crait.
• The only change I’d prefer to avoid would be that I’d rather keep the Palpatine reveal early, so it hangs over the movie for longer.
• Well, that and maybe preserving Rey claiming the Skywalker legacy at the end. I think it makes sense for her to declare the identity that she’s worked so hard for.

This next thought might not quote belong here, but shifting the improved Mustafar Minute to the end of TLJ might do us some good. Ending TLJ with Rey shutting out Kylo, then the radio/whispers of ‘find me’ followed by Kylo raiding Mustafar and finding the Dark Power (unidentified) on Exegol means that offscreen time can be spent with the First Order collaborating with Palpatine to enhance their fleet. It would also parallel TFA nicely: TFA has the coda where Rey leaves the main plot to find her hope, and TLJ would have the code where Kylo Ren leaves the main plot to pursue a new power.

Thanks, Eddie! I really appreciate your insights, especially given your experience with your awesome Clone Wars edits!

Moraband, Korriban…not sure. I was mainly going off of Clone Wars since I just watched those episodes recently. It’s just kinda weird to me that they’d create another “Sith Planet” just for this film (like geez, how many do they need?), so I wanted to try untangling that knot a bit. I suppose, for what I was planning, it doesn’t really matter what the true Sith Planet is. (I was going to use one of those 3PO AI bots, so I guess whether or not it’s even included depends on how good it sounds.)

Graffiti on Kijimi would be awesome to add, but I don’t know how to 3D track elements into the film. If anyone wants to lend a hand with that, I would love to include it!

For Palpatine, I’d rather not go back to TLJ; my goal is to minimize him, not spread him out over more of the trilogy! I know, it’s a pretty radical plot change; maybe it won’t work in practice, but I promise, it’s really cool in my head! The way I envision it, basically, is that Palpatine feels less like his own character, and more like the symbolic manifestation of the darkness building within Rey. (It’s kind of like…you know in the Narnia films, how the White Witch keeps coming back to tempt the Pevensies? She’s in those sequels more for character reasons than plot reasons, and that’s how I want to treat the Palpster.) The Sith Fleet is the in-universe excuse for bringing him back, not the metatextual reason for why he adds value to the story.

I want the showdown with him to feel very personal for Rey, rather than Rey fighting him by default because she’s the only character with a lightsaber. And that’s why I’m going to such lengths to remove him from as much of the story as possible - because it should be Rey’s story. He never tried to kidnap her as a child, he didn’t have some grand plan to lure her to Exegol - she goes to Exegol to face her own demons. Palpatine’s plan is solely about launching the Sith Fleet, not about Rey. And if it’s so straightforward, I don’t think we need to dwell on it beyond that. (Ironically, by making the mechanics of his plot more surface-level, I’m trying to add a lot of symbolic/abstract depth to the characters.)

Again, it works in my head. We’ll find out (if I ever finish this) if it works in practice!

For Rey Skywalker, I think I less hate the actual declaration (especially with the different shot used in Ascendant), and more so just how clunky and awkward the setup is with “Rey WhooooOOOOOooo???” (I wonder if there’s a way to introduce “Rey Skywalker” more organically? Luke says “Never forget who you are.” Rey: “I’m a Jedi - Rey Skywalker.” Something like that.) Although part of me also thinks she shouldn’t have to declare herself a “Skywalker” in order to have value as a person. She should learn to accept that being a Nobody isn’t a bad thing - she can still be a good person and accomplish great things without being part of a legacy.

sherlockpotter said:

For Rey Skywalker, I think I less hate the actual declaration (especially with the different shot used in Ascendant), and more so just how clunky and awkward the setup is with “Rey WhooooOOOOOooo???” (I wonder if there’s a way to introduce “Rey Skywalker” more organically?

My own concept for this is:

Old Woman: There’s been nobody for so long. Who are you?
(Music swells, Rey stares at Force Ghosts)
Rey: Rey Skywalker.

Anakin Starkiller said:

I can’t help but feeling like calling this edit “Untold” implies you’re gonna be revealing more information to the viewer than the canon cut, leaving me scratching my head at the removal of Rey’s parentage. You sure you don’t want a different subtitle?

“Untold” simply means a story that hasn’t previously been told. This version of TROS hasn’t been told yet. The amount of information present is irrelevant; I could do a one-page adaptation of Dracula and it would still be a previously untold version of the story.

Trust me, I went back and forth on the name a lot! Still probably only about 75% convinced on it, honestly. But I like that there was sort of a double meaning, in my mind - I’m trying to “un-tell” the original story and remove the retcons, while also, as Cap said, telling my own version.

And it’s not just removing Rey’s parentage - it’s replacing that element with a new arc that focuses on her tipping towards the Dark Side. Plus new stuff to flesh out Kylo, exploring more of the wider galaxy, some new sequences, etc.

Nice, simple re-edit lol.

Hello! It’s been a full year since I first posted about this project, and I’m ashamed to say that I’ve been very lacking in my updates since then. Given how desperate I’m sure everyone is for news (this is THE most important Star Wars project of all time, I know), that’s a major flub on my part. I’ve never been very good with social media in general; but it’s something I hope to improve for this coming year.

However, just because I’ve disappeared from the public scene, does not mean I’ve abandoned the project - far from it! I’ve actually spent most of the past year chipping away at this edit in my free time. I’ve been splicing new lines of dialogue, building and testing new sequences, sourcing new audio, crafting LUTs, and I’ve even been dabbling with some VFX work, which is all new territory for me. Largely speaking, I’ve been trying to gather all of the pieces I’ll need to assemble this cut of the film, and I do have a lot of them ready at this point! Some of my early tests have been really exciting, and I am hoping to share some of them with you in the coming months.

I’ve also been incredibly lucky in another respect - several members of the community here have expressed a willingness to help me tackle some pieces of this puzzle that are beyond my abilities. I don’t want to name names just yet, because I don’t want to put any undue pressure or obligation on my collaborators; but I would like to express my sincere gratitude for their efforts and their support!

So, where do we go from here? What’s next? I’m still waiting for a few clips from others; but in the meantime, there are still lots of things to work on, lots of sequences to design…and of course, lots of audio to mix along the way! I will sincerely try to crawl out of my little hole more often, and post some actual updates as we move forward with this edit. I’m still not ready to commit to any set release date; but rest assured that the project is NOT abandoned, and that I’m still fully committed to seeing it through. And when we eventually get there, I hope that you’ll all agree it was worth the wait!

If you’ve read this far, thank you so much for taking an interest in this project. Live long and prosper!

Speaking as one who has seen a bit of what you’ve got in store, count me among those eagerly awaiting this endeavor 😉

Thanks for reminding me that you had your own personal TRoS edit in the pipeline, sherlock. I may be able to pair this with Starlight and Rekindled as the ideal Sequel Trilogy.

Just had a readthrough of your proposed changes, and they’re really excellent. Had a couple of ideas:

• You mentioned not having Finn, Poe, and Chewie getting captured a second time on Kylo’s ship, and minimising Hux. If you’re going to do this, you could have Pryde kill Hux for being a spy soon after the audience learns about the leaked info (very early in the movie), signifying the old First Order getting largely replaced by the new Final Order fleet.
• Rey’s Kylo bedroom dagger vision could include a shot from around ROTJ timeframe showing the wayfinder sitting on the throne next to Palpatine, so long as the shot doesn’t look too borrowed from ROTJ.

Thank you, guys; I really appreciate the support!

Eddie, I love your ideas! My original plan with Hux was to not kill him at all, and instead integrate him into the final battle with some pre-existing footage. Of course, your idea would prevent the audience from recognizing the old shots, which would be a good thing. Maybe something with Pryde killing Hux as part of a coup? Definitely worth exploring!

As for the dagger vision, I was actually already planning on using some ROTJ footage! (Kind of like the vision is telling Rey, “It’s on the Death Star, here’s what happened to the Death Star, now get going.”) But I love the idea of incorporating the Wayfinder itself into those shots! I can totally see it already. Just gotta practice some rotoscoping! Thank you!

To be honest, I’m not really sure how I’d be able to keep Ben alive. Like, sure, I could remove the shot of him keeling over; but without any more footage after that, I don’t think the movie would feel complete. That said, I think Movies Remastered might be doing something with keeping Kylo alive - I know he’s floated the idea before, at least - so you may want to look into his work if you’re interested in exploring that angle for the film!

As for the Reylo romance, I think I’m still leaning towards removing it, yes. But the way I have it mapped out, I still want to emphasize their connection and their relationship; I just won’t make that relationship explicitly romantic. I think it’s sort of a “best of both worlds” situation: people like me, who don’t see a romantic connection between them, don’t have an awkward kiss shoved into the film at the last minute; and people like you, who do see it that way, can infer that the romance is there - they just weren’t able to physically act on it before Kylo dies.

szopman said:

sherlockpotter said:

To be honest, I’m not really sure how I’d be able to keep Ben alive. Like, sure, I could remove the shot of him keeling over; but without any more footage after that, I don’t think the movie would feel complete. That said, I think Movies Remastered might be doing something with keeping Kylo alive - I know he’s floated the idea before, at least - so you may want to look into his work if you’re interested in exploring that angle for the film!

As for the Reylo romance, I think I’m still leaning towards removing it, yes. But the way I have it mapped out, I still want to emphasize their connection and their relationship; I just won’t make that relationship explicitly romantic. I think it’s sort of a “best of both worlds” situation: people like me, who don’t see a romantic connection between them, don’t have an awkward kiss shoved into the film at the last minute; and people like you, who do see it that way, can infer that the romance is there - they just weren’t able to physically act on it before Kylo dies.

I always thought the only way to keep Kylo alive would be to cut him completely from the big Exegol showdown and move his scene with “Han” to the end of the movie (an open, bitter-sweat ending). It could be the last scene of the movie.

It’s like, he came back to the light, but where can he go now? How will he redeem himself?
I believe it’s way better than what we got in the movie (basically Vader 2.0).

Honestly I think it would work if the scene of Kylo bringing Rey back to life ends right after their kiss. Have the music swell and make a new shot of the X-wing and the TIE-fighter (or alternate ship) lifting off of Exegol. They fly together until they approach the victorious Resistance fleet and then Kylo’s ship peels off and disappears into the roiling clouds as Rey rejoins the fleet.

In other words, picture the ROTJ scene that transitions from Jabba’s sail barge exploding to our hero’s ships in space.

RogueLeader said:

Might not be what you have in mind, but this was what I kind of imagined how someone could depict Ben surviving.

Loving these test images! I can barely tell it’s edited.