I really enjoyed this edit, thank you Smudger. The chronological structuring helped a lot in my opinion, and certainly coming at it from the angle of “this is all there is, how does it best fit as a prequel” worked wonders. Of the edits I’ve watched so far, this has been the one that’s landed best for me, and should definitely be watched by anyone trying to find their standard Acolyte version for their collection. I’ve still got some more to try, but I can absolutely see this version working for a lot of people given the misgivings of the Acolyte I’ve seen generally.
There’s some minor trims I’ve considered, more from the perspective of wondering if they’d work. There’s two during Episode 5 that have always stuck out to me as concepts; first, a slight trim to the split-blade reveal to remove the initial split, so the action flows from Jecki’s attack > Qimir’s block stance > three impalements > Qimir’s face & split-saber reveal > reconstructing hilt. That might add more surprise to Jecki’s death, but still explain the split-saber concept as we see it being reconstructed.
The second is to trim out Qimir panicking trying to remove Pip from his back. I think he’d be more likely to realise the Umbra Moth attack is coming and simply prepare for for it, and deal with it, rather than panicking. He handles it fairly confidently otherwise.
Thanks so much for the review. The ambermoth attack on Qimir is a bit goofy. I’ll take a look at that and see if I can tighten it.
As for Qimir’s reveal, I have to say I hadn’t considered altering it as it was probably the coolest part of the whole series. I’ll take a look at what you suggest. I can definitely see the benefit of making Jecki’s death even more surprising.