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Community Focus Thread 2: Return of the Jedi — Page 2

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That mockup looks pretty good!

“That’s not how the Force works!”

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I posted the idea before, but I figure it might fit in here as well.

I think the Hallway scene from R1 would fit very well into ROTJ, because Vader seems to tame in the original.

“Vader! Hologram, now!”

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NeverarGreat said:

Boba in the doorway

Damn, Nev. Now I really want to make this idea work just so we could use this shot. 😂

And some new Boba lines from Morrison could definitely be added. I’ve also considered paying for a VA who can do a decent Jason Wingreen impression.

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JEDIT: I asked a question about how the 180-degree rule works in this case, but I clearly confused Nev’s still image here for RL’s Boba shot from his mockup. And trying to reword the question just made it worse, so I’m giving up on it.

“That’s not how the Force works!”

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Breaking it down, in the first shot Leia looks up and slightly to the left, as if she’s looking at something above and to the left of the camera.

In the flipped Boba shots, he slowly raises the gun but it is also pointing to the left, implying that he is aiming at something to the left of camera.

Putting them together, it feels like the camera is jumping from one side of the 180 degree line to the other. I will agree that it’s a bit unclear where the eyelines are supposed to be going and the camera is almost on that 180 degree line already.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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Okay, so it lines up when the shot is flipped in your mock-up, right?

I mean I don’t think it’s a big deal if it’s flipped. It was flipped in the theatrical version so I think keeping it flipped is fair game.

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Yes, I think the way it appears theatrically makes more sense, in terms of how it’s flipped. However, that’s just a still image mockup, I didn’t test it in motion.

I will say Boba’s placement in the theatrical shot makes it feel odd. In the original shot Boba is pointing his gun toward the side of the frame with less space, which is odd from a framing standpoint. I think in either case, flipped or unflipped, he would need to be reframed like he is in my mockup to point the gun toward the area of the frame with more space.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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That does make sense.

One thing I like about this idea is that it can be used in isolation, whether or not you restructured anything else in the Jabba sequence. And if you did keep Leia bringing in Chewbacca as a fake bounty hunter, all of the looks Boba gives Leia/Boushh during that scene could then be seen as Boba being suspicious and seeing through her disguise. So that night, he anticipated a rescue attempt. Plus, using the shot of Boba lowering his weapon, but playing it in reverse essentially creates a new shot, so you probably could use both versions of the shot without the reuse being super noticeable.

And I can understand people who preferred to remove Boba from the movie, but if he’s gonna be there, this could be a good alternative to actually add to his presence in the movie. And his death will be even more satisfying since he is the one responsible for foiling their escape.

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I think it’s a great idea, and the mockups really bring it to life. It fixes (or at least improves) a bunch of issues- the weirdness of Jabba’s whole posse hiding out of shot and Leia not noticing, Boba’s unnecessary presence, and his casual death.

Doing a bit more with Boba helps make the Jabba sequence bridge a bit better with the rest of the movie (and TESB which precedes it), since Boba in TESB was Vader’s agent and this movie has Vader seeking Luke be a major factor.

Perhaps that’s something worth emphasising, either in the crawl or via some other method? The idea that Boba’s there on Vader’s behalf, anticipating Luke because Han’s a known friend?

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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I don’t think Boba is important enough to explicitly mention in the crawl, but the idea that he is there anticipating that Luke will come to the rescue is interesting. Maybe give Boba new dialogue during the sail barge battle. He could tell Luke something like, “You’re lucky Vader wants you” or “You’re worth a fortune to Vader.”

Or during this new Boba scene he could say something about Vader wanting him. Something in the vein of, “I was expecting the Jedi. He’s worth a fortune to Vader.”

Either way, it is a good explanation for why he’s hanging around. Maybe he couldn’t convince Jabba to give Luke to him after he killed his Rancor, or maybe he knew Luke had something up his sleeve, but he took the first opportunity when hell broke loose to try and capture him.

Maybe when Boba first lands on the skiff, he could either say, something like, “Don’t move Jedi” or “Surrender”. Boba could try to get a shot off before Luke slices his blaster, or we could see that Boba tried to stun him but he either missed or Luke deflects it, but with how quick it is it might be hard to do that. The important thing is that we see Boba is trying to immobilize Luke rather than kill him.

Which works out well with what Boba tries to do next, which is tie him up. I was thinking it would be cool to add a yellow energy effect to the rope with some electric sounds to make it seem something that would be tough enough to restrain a Jedi, but that might be overkill.

And this idea works well with the idea of Boba shooting his hand, because that would clearly show that Boba is trying to immobilize Luke and take away his ability to fight back, rather than just shoot him in the back of the head and call it a day.

Either way, it does add a little more nuance to his presence in ROTJ and the entire first act. And while this idea is already there, this would make it clear that Boba’s greed was his downfall.

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I imagine it being like this:
In ESB, he’s doing all the stuff at Vader’s behest, whilst also wanting to get the bounty for Han to take him to Jabba- which Vader honours. But then in ROTJ, Vader’s still honouring the Han deal but that gives him bait for a Luke trap, so he rehires Boba and has him hang out there. So yeah, it’s gotta be a capture job. And Boba’s a bounty hunter, so I don’t think it removes from his character if he’s doing this for Vader.

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

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Agreed. I mean Boba has been associated with Vader since his earliest appearances. And since he successfully tracked Han Solo and Leia, it makes sense in-universe that he would hire him again to keep on the lookout for Luke.

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I completely love that mock-up, RL!!!
The premise of this thread sounds very interesting. Because of that, I wanted to brainstorm some ideas as well (though some were already suggested on other threads by other editors):
-Vader mentions Padme during his scene with Luke (through the line “Your mother once thought as you do”)
-When Vader lifts the Emperor, an slight “bone crack” sound effect can be heard (like in the novelization for ROTJ, where Vader breaks Palpatine’s back before throwing him)
-Add Palpatine’s spin scream from ROTS (or maybe his laugh) when his body explodes, in order to suggest that his essence left his body and went “somewhere else”
-Snoke’s voice lines from TFA teaser trailer could be added at the very end of the credits (similar to how Vader’s breathing was featured at the very end of the credits of TPM)

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Okay, crazy idea ahead.

My mind has been on the opening of ROTJ today, and the pros and cons of making various changes.

I guess it is not necessarily a problem, but when they originally cut the scene of Vader communing with Luke and Luke building his lightsaber in the Tatooine cave, they lost a natural segue from the Death Star/Vader plot to the Luke/Jabba’s Palace plot. I understand why they cut, because building up that mystery is part of the fun of the first act. Plus, it is cooler when Luke’s first appearance is his entrance into the palace, and then not seeing his brand new green lightsaber until it pops out of R2. Also, Vader’s “Luuuuuuuuke… Luuuuuuuke…” is a little cheesy, and even if you wanted to include it, the quality isn’t really that great. It is a cool scene, a really cool scene, but by including it, you may be giving away too much at the start of the film.

Other people have suggested putting the Emperor’s arrival at the head of the film. One positive to this is that it makes the beginning of the film a little more grandiose, and it establishes the battle for Luke’s soul, which is the heart of the film, in the very first scene. This scene would add some food for thought for the viewer as we see Luke’s darker side during Han’s rescue. On the other hand, you would lose a solid entrance for Vader himself, as well as building up to the Emperor showing up later in the film. “The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am” is a pretty cool line and it would kinda suck to lose it. Not to mention you would be cutting an entire scene out of the film.

So, I was thinking of alternate ways to better connect the opening scene with Vader to the rest of the first act Jabba sequence without removing that scene or ruining a lot of the mystery surrounding the rescue mission, and then this idea hit me:

Vader: The Emperor is not as forgiving as I am.

Vader walks away from the shocked officer and exits the hangar. Vader continues down a hallway and onto an elevator. We wipe to to Vader in his meditation chamber. His chair spins around to the face the view screen on the wall. It flickers with static and then reveals the helmeted face of Boba Fett. It appears he is within or outside Jabba’s palace.

Vader: Skywalker will come for Captain Solo. I want him alive, bounty hunter.

Boba Fett: As you wish.

The view screen flickers off and we wipe to Tatooine, where we see the droids approaching the palace.

This idea accomplishes a few things. First, we create a stronger narrative through line between the first scene with Vader on the Death Star and the entire Jabba sequence. It doesn’t take away from any of the mystery of the first act because Luke coming to rescue Han is established in the opening crawl. Plus, we’re adding a brand new scene rather than deleting anything. I think this is a clearer way to establish that Boba Fett is trying to capture Luke for Vader than to try and insert vague Boba dialogue that might just stick out. Also, Vader and Boba communicating through view screens is reminiscent of how they communicated with each other in the Holiday Special, so it is a funny little parallel to that. I’m pretty sure you can construct these lines with existing dialogue. Obviously Boba already says “As you wish” in ESB (So you can use Morrison or Wingreen). I know Vader says all of those words at some point but we’d have to play around to see if we can get it to sound natural. I know at the very least we can get him to say, “I want Skywalker alive, bounty hunter.”

One downside would be reusing ESB footage, but ROTJ already uses ANH footage, and we could flip shots or something if necessary to make it feel a little different. Maybe it wouldn’t work but I think it would be worth playing around with. It doesn’t solve all of the issues with the first act, but it kills two birds with one stone by 1) better connecting the opening scene with the rest of the Jabba sequence, and 2) adding to the Boba Fett changes that we’ve already discussed.

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ROTJ also reuses TESB footage. The X-Wing shot right before we wipe to the Emperor’s arrival is from Empire.

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EddieDean said:

Nailed it. Absolutely that.

Thanks, Eddie! Maybe this “Boba Overhaul” could be one of the major contributions that comes out of this focus month!

Omni said:

ROTJ also reuses TESB footage. The X-Wing shot right before we wipe to the Emperor’s arrival is from Empire.

You’re totally right, Omni! Completely forgot about that. Thanks for bringing that up!

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Official name now. Hahaha.

What I like about these ideas is that it not only benefits Boba’s characterization, but I think it could benefit the plot in general without really taking away from the move as-is. Even the scene change I suggested of Boba catching Han and Leia, you could actually keep that whole scene, and just have Boba be the first person they see/hear before Jabba starts laughing and reveals himself. Boba’s presence there could just imply that Boba was the one who tipped off Jabba. You could even have Jabba say, “Good job, Fett!” since his first line in that scene isn’t subtitled, I believe.

But, it could still be trimmed for pacing if you wanted it to be.

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Lots of good ideas, RL! It’s becoming clear that Boba Fett is the key to all this…if we can get him working.

The nice thing about the Vader to Boba segue is that any scene set on Tatooine would work there, such as the dance number. You could just have the shot from the Special Edition of Boba entering the party sometime during the song to imply that he just got off the phone with his boss. Heck, just replace the existing shot of him in Lapti Nek and call it a day 😉

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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RogueLeader said:

Official name now. Hahaha.

What I like about these ideas is that it not only benefits Boba’s characterization, but I think it could benefit the plot in general without really taking away from the move as-is. Even the scene change I suggested of Boba catching Han and Leia, you could actually Lee that whole scene, and just have Boba be the first person they see/hear before Jabba starts laughing and reveals himself. Boba’s presence there could just imply that Boba was the one who tipped off Jabba. You could even have Jabba say, “Good job, Fett!” since his first line in that scene isn’t subtitled, I believe.

But, it could still be trimmed for pacing if you wanted it to be.

Great ideas in this thread, and I LOVE the Han/Leia caught by Boba, cut to the cell. But something in here that you wrote got me thinking. What if we held on Boba for just a moment or two longer, and had a quick burst of Jabba’s laughter that echoes into that cut scene in the cell? That tells us that Boba tipped off Jabba, and Boba has basically sold Han/Leia in just a few seconds.

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That is a great idea, Nev! And like you said, it works really any way you want to start the Tatooine sequence. And that especially would be a very natural way to flow into it.

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arabian said:

RogueLeader said:

Official name now. Hahaha.

What I like about these ideas is that it not only benefits Boba’s characterization, but I think it could benefit the plot in general without really taking away from the move as-is. Even the scene change I suggested of Boba catching Han and Leia, you could actually Lee that whole scene, and just have Boba be the first person they see/hear before Jabba starts laughing and reveals himself. Boba’s presence there could just imply that Boba was the one who tipped off Jabba. You could even have Jabba say, “Good job, Fett!” since his first line in that scene isn’t subtitled, I believe.

But, it could still be trimmed for pacing if you wanted it to be.

Great ideas in this thread, and I LOVE the Han/Leia caught by Boba, cut to the cell. But something in here that you wrote got me thinking. What if we held on Boba for just a moment or two longer, and had a quick burst of Jabba’slaughter that echoes into that cut scene in the cell? That tells us that Boba tipped off Jabba, and Boba has basically sold Han/Leia in just a few seconds.

This would work well too arabian! Will have to play around with the capture scene. I’m gonna see about putting that Vader line together too. We also need to find a good image of Boba and a background to use for the view screen.

Nev, maybe you could share that background you made for the capture scene?

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RogueLeader said:

Nev, maybe you could share that background you made for the capture scene?

Gladly! However, it is cobbled from bits of 4K83 since I don’t have any other version on hand. If you had a more detailed source to share I would be happy to do a more polished job.

The shots I used were several frames from where Leia sneaks down the entrance stairs plus the shot where Leia pulls Han to his feet (for the curtain in the background).

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)