Eddie, what you’ve done with this episode is brilliant. Watching it I couldn’t even remember what had been cut. It doesn’t necessarily feel like anything is missing.
Thanks so much! I’m really stoked that you enjoyed it. I was really hoping it would work for you guys.
First, some suggestions…
I’ll look into those.
- I can probably extend the opening out of hyperspace, I’m sure I can find the right audio.
- Likewise I can probably do a little more with the introduction to Daughter/Obi-Wan going to the altar. I deliberately put Qui-Gon’s “Trust in the force” late in the prior scene as if it’s slightly hanging over this one, but I don’t think that quite lands. I’ll see what I can source.
- I’ll also think about a clean introduction for Daughter in her conversation with Son.
- I’m not sure about changing lightsaber colours. I always found “Red=Dark” too on the nose, it’s not part of Star Wars’ original language. The death star laser was green, TIE fighter lasers were green, X-Wing lasers were red, force lightning was blue. It was only Vader’s lightsaber that was red originally, and later other Sith. Even in more modern content it’s not always used - the Nightsisters’ magics are green, for example. So I don’t feel like we always need to use that shorthand. (For the same reason, I wish Son didn’t use red lightning - in fact I’d be more inclined to change that to blue.) I also feel like Ahsoka’s not explicitly Sith here, so much as ‘corrupted by the dark’, which is a subtly different distinction. And I don’t have a problem with Son’s tower being green, for the same reason. That said, I also don’t know how to palette shift a single moving component, so I would be very interested to learn how to do that.
- I agree that the resurrection-to-awakening transition is a little too quick. I’ll see if I can let it breathe a little more.
I also was confused about how exactly you used the fireplace eyes shot of Ahsoka. Could you explain that a little more? I may have just missed it.
This relates to Ahsoka’s vision of her future self. I moved an extreme close-up shot of Ahsoka with fire in her eyes to match the dialogue where future-Ahsoka says “There’s a wildness to you little one. Seeds of the darkside planted by your master.” It’s subtle but cute.
I’m still trying to figure out the secret Qui-Gon line you’re referring to! I thought it might be “control your fear” before he sees his mother, but you mentioned that so I guess it isn’t it. Also, did you add something to that voice? Because at first it almost sounded like the Father. Which would raise some interesting questions. Is this a test from Qui-Gon, or from the Father, and Qui-Gon is simply guiding Anakin through the Father’s test? Or, is this all something Qui-Gon has put together to help them through what’s to come? Or, Qui-Gon just guided them to this place (a place he may have once visited himself) and let the Force take it from there? I may have just misheard the voice thing, but I like the mystery of it all.
Secret answer:
So you’ve kind of come round to the same curious implication via an unintended path! The secret line I’ve added is very subtle - at the very end, when Father says “You are the chosen one”, I had Qui-Gon deliver exactly the same line at the same time, so you’re actually hearing both voices. As if when Father accepts it, Qui-Gon’s getting his confirmation too. Is Qui-Gon the Father? Was Father Qui-Gon’s test made manifest? Is Qui-Gon puppeting this entire scenario? Or is he simply witnessing this as Father does? (As an aside, rather than having Father represent balance, as he more explicitly does in the original, I quite like implying here that he’s simply ‘The Force’, and his children are his aspects - the light side of the force, etc. Then his metaphorical death (which more literally happens when Vader kills Palpatine) is later followed by a movie which explicitly states “The Force (re)Awakens”.)
I don’t think this is what you were referencing, but before Anakin enters the Son’s lair, do you have Qui-Gon say, “Take only what you take with you.”? Kind of awkwardly worded but I think it works. Since to me, Qui-Gon’s not talking about what he’s physically carrying, but what he’s emotionally carrying. And this could imply that the darkness within him is what has corrupted Ahsoka, and not the Son. BUT, if the Son is simply a manifestation of Anakin’s own darkness anyway, it’s one in the same.
Yes, that’s the line. I had “-only what you take with you”, so had to use that line’s “take” twice to make a full sentence. I’d prefer a “bring”. (It maybe could become “Trust only what you take with you”?? Would tie in with the earlier line “Anakin will not be easy to deceive.”) It’s definitely the weakest of the added Qui-Gon lines, but your interpretation is what I was going for. I liked one interpretation that “what you take with you” includes the darkness within Ahsoka, since that comes from Anakin’s influence.
Speaking of which, I’m not sure how you interpreted the dagger metaphor, but I took it like this:
The dagger is a metaphor for self-sacrifice. I don’t think Obi-Wan understands this until he sees the Daughter jump in the way to save her father, and then sacrifice the rest of her life force to save Ahsoka. To me, this foreshadows Obi-Wan eventually sacrificing himself to not only save Luke, but transfer “hope” from himself to Luke. I think this is touched on with the “There is no hope” and “There’s always hope!” lines.
That’s absolutely valid! I think there are a lot of options here. For me-
The dagger is Obi-Wan training Anakin as Qui-Gon would have wanted. If Obi-Wan had done that, Ahsoka wouldn’t have inherited Anakin’s darkness (he first wants to use the dagger to “cut her free”). Then at the point where he throws it to Anakin (attempts to give Anakin the training he needs to overcome his darkness), his darkness (Ahsoka in this scenario, perhaps implying Anakin’s persistent attachment issues) catches it and hands it to the Son, representing Anakin’s full corruption. From therein, it represents Obi-Wan’s failiure and Anakin’s Vader persona - it kills the light, and then the balance, so that Anakin (himself, without the blade, redeemed from the dark) can finally kill the dark. (In the real-world scenario, Ahsoka ultimately managed to escape influencing Anakin to the dark, but his attachment to Padmé was the alternate attachment which still led him astray.)
I do wish there was a way to make it clearer that Obi-Wan is getting something from [the dagger] moment. Like, a close up of him observing what’s happening would be nice, but the only sort of close up is when he is shielding his face from the light. Like when the screen goes white, hear Obi-Wan say, “I… understand”, but that might be too on the nose.
That would be nice, but I think it’s best if our characters don’t fully understand what they’ve seen yet. Obi-Wan still needs to go through his failure and find inner peace before he is able to truly commune with Qui-Gon again. And the characters will still ultimately act out much of what they have seen today - it’s only Ahsoka who manages to sever herself from this implied fate. For example, I deliberately placed the most ‘explanatory’ Qui-Gon lines over Anakin sleeping/waking, so they can be remembered or forgotten by him at the viewer’s discretion.
That’s what I love about what you’ve done with this episode. These interpretations were arguably already there, but now they aren’t bogged down by all the other stuff with them trying to get off the planet and what not.
And I think the question of “Balance” benefits the most from what you’ve done with this episode. With the way it ends, there is clear analogy being made to the morality play the Mortis gods depict, and what Anakin eventually does to bring “balance” as George laid it out.
It’s funny, because I think this edit simultaneously simplifies the message, but also, through vagueness, increases the mystery. I could go on more about what I got from this episode but I’ll stop my long post for now. Great job, Eddie!
Exactly! Many of the metaphors were absolutely as written by George/Dave/Christian Taylor, but muddied by a lack of focus and an unnecessary need to hand the viewer too much. It should have been an episode that had people questioning it for years on forums afterwards, arguing about the interpretation of this or that line or action.
(Though, it is kind of fun trying to work out the “true” interpretation when the real answer is “I cobbled some of this together from nonsense”!)
One question though - how did you find the additional Qui-Gon lines? Ultimately a value-add?
Thanks so much for your analysis!