The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released) — Page 668

I’m sensing a pattern with me spending a lot of energy on blink and you’ll miss it shots.

If I need to make edits I can but here is the high res clip for now.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VorirravXQCUNYadlzaa-K9y9ZpMhRhc/view?usp=drive_link

That drawing for the ancient texts looks excellent, really great stuff! Should tie that idea together really nicely.

RogueLeader said:

If you mess with Jannah at all, JarJar, these were the changes I was considering for her if you’re looking for ideas:

Finn: I never knew there were more.
[Old Line] Jannah: Deserters? All of us here were stormtroopers.
[New Line V1] Jannah: All of us stormtroopers heard your story.
[New Line V2] Jannah: All of the stormtroopers here heard your story.

Jannah: We laid our weapons down.
Finn: All of you?
[Old Line] Jannah: The whole company.
[New Line] Jannah: Just like you.

I’d love something like this, if it can be integrated well. This stood out to me as a massive missed opportunity in the theater and I know many others felt the same. The new AI lines have a lot less crust, it’s impressive stuff. Kylo’s “You’re a ghost. In a rotting clone.” is just about seamless, for one. (Though I’m very much on team cut-the-clone-line. I’d still advocate for the older “rotting shell/husk” idea. I think the vat of Sheevs does enough.)

Honestly, though, I’m against the use of AI-generated performances in general-- especially for commercial use-- but tentatively speaking, non-profit fanedits like this feel like a unique use case to me. Especially with something that could use as much work as TROS. Still, I think it’s definitely wise to remain cautious.

But, at the risk of ignoring my own opinion, I’ve been thinking of an opportunity to tie a few story threads together with an extra line or two in the training flashback sequence.

“She was quick to learn in our training. But as we sparred, a shadow would pass over her. In the end, Leia felt she could better serve the galaxy through diplomacy, as our mother once did. She surrendered her saber to me and said that one day, it would be picked up again, by someone who would finish her journey.”

In juxtaposition with the shot of Leia kicking her brother in the gut and throwing him to the ground, this could imply a struggle with her own pull to the darkness, and their shared concerned look afterward takes on that subtext. This would add another dimension to her wanting to help Rey work through her inner struggle. (Maybe she even regrets her own decision to shy away from the Jedi Path. She learns from her failure and passes it on to her student! Themes!)

I’ve condensed things as much as I could, to avoid overcrowding the narration. Still, here’s the maximalist version, just in case it inspires any other ideas.

“She was quick to learn in our training. We’re our father’s children. For better and worse. As we sparred, a shadow would pass over her. In the end, Leia chose to serve through diplomacy, as our mother once did, and the parents that raised her. She surrendered her saber to me and said that one day, it would be picked up again, by someone who would finish her journey.”

The thought wass that this further emphasizes family legacy, including family of choice, which is significant to this movie in particular. However, including it all would make for too much computer and not enough actor, and most likely tip things into the uncanny and distracting-- just the sort of thing DZ-330 was talking about. Ah well.

(Clearly, the answer is to get Mark Hamill to read it all.)

Thanks for the notes! I probably won’t get to again until this weekend, at least, but I’ll look at getting closer to your mock-up.

VVPizza said:

But, at the risk of ignoring my own opinion, I’ve been thinking of an opportunity to tie a few story threads together with an extra line or two in the training flashback sequence.

“She was quick to learn in our training. But as we sparred, a shadow would pass over her. In the end, Leia felt she could better serve the galaxy through diplomacy, as our mother once did. She surrendered her saber to me and said that one day, it would be picked up again, by someone who would finish her journey.”

In juxtaposition with the shot of Leia kicking her brother in the gut and throwing him to the ground, this could imply a struggle with her own pull to the darkness, and their shared concerned look afterward takes on that subtext. This would add another dimension to her wanting to help Rey work through her inner struggle. (Maybe she even regrets her own decision to shy away from the Jedi Path. She learns from her failure and passes it on to her student! Themes!)

Well, I for one actually really like this idea. The fact that Leia has a purple lightsaber now shows that she and Luke really did try to get her darkness under control (Va Paad). But perhaps it just felt too overbearing for her.

Which would also explain why she ships off Ben to Luke because she discovers that same shadow is inside of him. And after that fails, she realizes that Rey needs somebody who understands her struggles to help her, not somebody who would whip out his lightsaber when he senses how much potential evil you can cause.

DZ-330 said:

JEDIT: Plus, it makes Leia look like an even shittier mom knowing the darkness her son is struggling with and pawning him off on someone else.

Yup, that would be the characteristic “every old hero has to fail in the new trilogy” the sequels are so fond of.

It also explains 2 other things:

1. The emotions on both of their faces in the flashback
2. As Burbin pointed out, Leia needs a reason why she wouldn’t simply tap into the Force and become a Jedi again once Luke wasn’t coming back. This is as good a reason as any.

Right, so it would go. “Because you’re a Palpatine. Leia struggled with the dark, too.” But then Rey’s responses to that would need to be cut because they don’t make much sense.

EDIT: NVM, both of Rey’s responses would make perfect sense. Because somebody who struggles with the dark was still willing to become a Jedi again and train her.

Nah, I think we could keep our current flashback dialog the same and just put in what I mentioned earlier to add another dimensional layer to it all.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

“Leia struggled with the dark, too.”

Can’t say that I like this, at all. It’s NEVER been even hinted in any of the movies. Feels way too fanfic-ish. Her inner conflict between following Luke’s path or her mother ideals is more than enough to justify that conflicted face IMHO.

Okay, that would be too much, I must admit now.

But DZ’s is REALLY good.

DZ-330 said:

Luke: “What are you most afraid of?”

Rey: “Myself.”

Luke: “Because you’re a Palpatine? Leia struggled with her bloodline too.”

Rey: “She didn’t tell me. She still trained me.”

Luke: “Because she saw your spirit, your heart. Rey, final lesson, some things are stronger than blood…”

---

What if it isn’t the “dark” that Leia struggled with, but her bloodline and relation to Vader (which is canon I may add)? I think it makes Luke’s final lesson hit a LOT harder too.

I would nix “She still trained me.”

Yup, remove that like all other versions of Ascendant.

To make it more clear, we could have him say: “Leia also struggled with family legacy.”

Here it is all laid out:

Luke: “What are you most afraid of?”

Rey: “Myself.”

Luke: “Because you’re a Palpatine? Leia also struggled with family legacy.”

Rey: “She didn’t tell me.”

Luke: “Rey, some things are stronger than blood…”

Or, to make it clearer still, it could be “Leia also struggled with infamous legacy.”

Damn, that’s pretty good.

I agree that it isn’t a particularly shocking revelation, but it is highly relevant to Rey. Leia basically lost her entire political career because of the revelation, and yet she still managed to do a lot of good by making the Resistance.