I have finally finished all 5 Books: incredible work, they are now actually something I will genuinely want to re-visit again and again in the future and I look forward to doing so (I had given up with the original material as was likely never going to rewatch the original series).
They are so good in fact that I have removed all stored recordings of the original series and your edits are the ones I am keeping. The original will be unwatchable after having seen yours!
Thank you so much and if you have future links for Book 3 oniwards I would love to receive links if you can find time.
Many thanks for all your efforts,
Tim.
Wow, Tim, thanks for the review! I will keep you in the loop for all the updated releases and for the completion of the saga.
I know this isn’t an idea you’ll be able to implement immediately since you just did a release, but I was watching For A Few Dollars More, and it had this great opening text
“Where life had no value, death, sometimes, had its price.
That is why the bounty killers appeared.”I feel like something like this, in the star wars blue text, would be awesome at the start of your first movie.
It’s a cool idea that reminds of The Clone Wars intros, but I’m not sure that would fit with the visual style I’m going for in these edits.
Acbagel, just wanted to say I love your new poster images, they remind of the 90’s novel book covers you used to see back in the day. They look great in Plex.
For sure! That’s exactly what I was aiming for with them and so many people have asked for Plex posters that it’s been worth putting the time into. Speaking of…
Book 3 Poster, Trailer, and Changelog time!
Changelog:
- Fixed a glimpse of frog lady where she shouldn’t have been seen
deagan said:
Another thing I noticed for this part, is that Boba says “I can’t see a thing!” entering the Sarlac pit, then immediately turns on the light of their ship. This felt a bit redundant and out-of-character, wouldn’t Boba the brooding and intelligent bounty hunter just turn on the light quietly?
“OMG, it’s so dark inside of this monster rnrn, omg!” turns on flashlight
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Haha fixed this sequence up to make more sense, bugged me too after reading your comment.
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Moved Boba’s two Sarlaac scenes to be closer together so it didn’t seem like he was there for hours/days.
Now onto Book 3 (I’m doing a hasty review through with fresh eyes): I know you want to keep Gideon’s presence high throughout the series, but I’d change his appearances in this one. You have him in two main sequences in this movie - the first being the Shadow Council scene (where we learn that the Imperial Remnants are coordinated, get some good context for wider plots including Thrawn, and have Gideon declare he wants to stamp out the Mandalorians), and the second being the tracker scene and Gideon talking about catching Mando and Grogu to continue their cloning.
I think both of these need a little shift, and will try to justify why. But firstly, let me address the fact that I don’t think we need Gideon to have a strong presence in this movie. Yes it’s nice to see him, and to keep him feeling like an overhanging threat. But, so long as each movie at least escalates that threat, I think that need is satisfied. Compare now to your current Book 5, where we don’t see Grogu in the movie until the very end, which leaves us on an interesting development. I think doing the same here would be fine - you still come away from this movie on a punchy note where the Gideon plot has escalated.
So, regarding the tracker plot, I know it’s used here currently to illustrate Gideon’s will and skill to hunt Grogu down. However, the plot about capturing Grogu and his clone relevance really doesn’t continue until your Book 4. I know you’re using it to make the Imperial presence on the Mon Calamari planet more of a trap, but to be honest I don’t think that quite sells, with the dialogue we have. I also don’t think it’s necessary - from Din’s perspective his whole storyline in this movie has been to find Mandalorians, something he finally does at the end. Personal stakes for Gideon don’t add much here (especially as the Imperial resistance is quite weak), so having them as a thorn in his side which helps ingratiate him to Bo Katan’s faction is plenty.
Secondly, regarding the Shadow Council plot, I think that would work better AFTER that Mandalorian-Imperial conflict, as the triggering act behind making Gideon then declare that the Mandalorians must be stamped out. That then leaves our episode on the nice punchy finale (Thrawn reveal, escalation and all), which leaves the threat now overhanging the future movies. It’s the Mandalorians directly striking at Imperials which makes it into a vendetta for Gideon. I would also, as some have suggested, trim the lines about requisitions, as they’ll take now three movies to pay off. (Boba and team have also destroyed the Imperial base on Nevarro, including Gideon’s clones, this movie, so he’s taken a double hit onscreen, further justifying his rage at the end.)
This way, you’d have a straightforward Din-Grogu adventure as they seek Mandalorians, with issues and false leads along the way (and nearly bumping into Boba again), with their actions ending up triggering an escalation of the conflict between Mandalorians and Imperials.
Then, in your Book 4, you could introduce “I’ve placed a tracker” and that subplot just after Mando leaves the planet with that ex-Imperial warlord. We know she’s got ties to Thrawn, and thus the Shadow Council, so it’s absolutely feasible that an Imperial spy could be operating there to report back to Gideon. The dialogue there would reinforce that Gideon wants Grogu - and then he’d strike immediately, on the very next planet, where Din finally meets Boba and the Imperials show up to kidnap Grogu. Again, I think that’s neater, and keeps each movie more focused. You could cut the two elements of the tracker scene around the one of Din on the Crest trying to get Grogu to grab the ball with the force.
A final note on moving the tracker scenes to the following movie - this new suggested ordering would now make more sense of the lines about Pershing’s cloning work being lost, since in this ordering, this discussion would follow the events of Din and co destroying the final Nevarro facility (including clones) the movie prior.
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I have implemented this whole idea. To summarize, the Shadow Council scene moved near the very end of the film, tracker scene moved to Book 4.
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I have updated the “Boba Shoots Din’s bike” scene according to the feedback surrounding the prior version. The consensus was: Make Boba more clearly shoot and watch Din, add a voice line from thug “Grab the armor”, and add a Boba scene explaining why he doesn’t rush in to attack Din. See this scene demo here
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Added a Din voice line, “This is why I don’t trust repair droids,” to explain why his landing gear fails again when trying to land on Trask, indicating that Pelli’s pit droids didn’t fix it properly.
As far as changes go- the ending seems rapid. This type of middle film could benefit from some Act 2 screenplay maneuvers. For example, at the end it would be great to see what each of the characters is doing, perhaps over a music montage. This is a BUILDER episode- so let’s see our characters build. Brainstorming here- something like showing Grogu play with the metal ball as music builds, briefly showcase Vance peaceful in the desert, Fennec and Boba (especially Boba) on his spaceship nodding, perhaps some happy Tuskens, INTERSPERSE THE BALL SPINNING AND MANDO LOOKS AT GROGU, Bo Katan on her new ship looking stoic, Cara Dune in her town…etc. Even an evil shot of Gideon would be good to include (he is building too). End with Grogu and Mando together. This film showed SO MANY CHARACTERS so a small musical denouement of “victory poses” can show the characters as “in progress” for what is about to come in the next Book 4.
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I have created this new “montage” ending to reflect this comment.
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Additionally, there are several other minor soundtrack and video transition updates for quality.
The film release will be tomorrow but for now…
