I finally had some time to sit down and get a plan together with this edit. There is a great edit hidden in this series with a very strong core story. The side quests also have nothing to do with the core story, which makes them easy to ignore - there are no Omega’s Bow problems in this season!
Cone Conspiracy/Truth & Consequences and The Outpost plots work beautifully side-by-side and feed perfectly into the 3-part finale as the final act.
However, the challenge here is the Batch themselves, thanks mainly to Echo separating off midway through the season. Had he not separated I could have started the edit with the Batch already on Pabu and covered their separation from Cid in the crawl, but Echo’s absence on Pabu means that is a non-starter.
The solution I’ve come up with is to have the Batch working for Phee and opening the edit with Entombed, which of all the side quests its probably the best with a great India Jones vibe. Entombed can be intercut with Clone Conspiracy to set up Rex’s request for help. Entombed also ends with a reference to searching for another ancient item which can then feed into the start of the Pabu episode later.
As the Batch leave the entombed planet I’ll add in the Hunter/Echo conversation from EP1 about doing more to fight the empire, this sets up their response for Rex’s call for help and Echo’s separation from the Batch.
The Batch then join Rex in Truth and Consequences and I will intercut this episode with The Outpost to introduce crosshair.
The final scene of Truth and Consequences will lead into the final scene of The Outpost and then Hemlock’s arrival on Tantis from Metamorphosis. This gives enough time for Echo and The Batch to go their separate ways - the Batch will continue their treasure hunt with Phee from the start of Pabu and Echo will intercept the clone transport.
Crosshair’s escape and Echo returning the rescued clones to Coruscant are intercut with the Batch settling down on Pabu and then once Echo arrives on Pabu, the finale plays out in order.
This is a very basic first cut and it’s clocking in at 3h2mins. It should be very easy to edit it down to 2h45, which is a very similar running time to my season 1 edit.