Star Wars Episode I: Cloak Of Deception (Released) — Page 60

I PM’d Ridley to see about that, but didn’t want to include the idea in the post in case it wasn’t possible.

That’s very George Lucas of you. So perhaps you should title them “[Special Editions]”. FYI, I think they’re great as is!

I’d feel good about having one alternate version of each prequel edit, catering to (and hedging against) unforeseeable developments in the ongoing Star Wars continuity. Not replacing the existing cuts, which to me will remain the ones I’d recommend and stand by.

Everyone would be presented with the ‘Main/Recommended’ and ‘More Canon Friendly’ presentations.

A glimpse into how conversations with myself can go:

Not sure why the image won’t load. It’s the Simpsons clip of Krusty interviewing Robert Frost, covering him with snow, and being told, “We discussed this, and I said no.”

Hal 9000 said:

A glimpse into how conversations with myself can go:

Not sure why the image won’t load. It’s the Simpsons clip of Krusty interviewing Robert Frost, covering him with snow, and being told, “We discussed this, and I said no.”

All right, having thought about it a bit more, here’s what I imagine for the ‘alternate’ set of edits as companions to my main edits.

• Original film titles, same crawls otherwise as main edits (ideally, if possible)

• Not sure whether to reinstate midichlorians! Current canon projects have seemed to dodge explicit mention of them, and even if one needed them for its story they would be probably be introduced there just fine

TPM:

• Reinstate the trip underwater to Otah Gungah and a few scenes that come with it which were only removed due to depending on it

• Reinstate Anakin being stated to be too old to be trained

AOTC:

• Reinstate Yoda with a lightsaber

ROTS:

• Existing alternate stuff about having Padme die would be part of this

• Reinstate youngling murder scene and a few references to it

• Reinstate Yoda vs Sidious and the explicit plan of Yoda and Obi-Wan to assassinate the two Sith (using the AI ‘Your mother once thought as you do’ line in ROTJ will help here)

In order to avoid having THREE versions of Episode III on offer (current/main version, alternate version, alternate stuff described above but Padme still lives on Alderaan), I could simply reinstate the youngling stuff into the main version as an update and have the fully alternate version in which Padme dies and Yoda fights Sidious.

Or, we could really just legitimately offer three cuts of Episode III to fit with anyone’s taste on these points:

• Padme lives, Yoda does not fight Sidious
• Padme dies, Yoda fights Sidious
• Padme lives, Yoda fights Sidious

All three would feature youngling murder, for the reason that a major canon project closely tied to the Skywalker Saga (The Kenobi show) makes central use of this story point.

Thoughts? Outrage?

Hal 9000 said:

Thoughts? Outrage?

I think midichlorians should stay out. I prefer the logic that anyone can use the force, just that some people are more destined to.

For Episode III, I am in this camp:

• Padme dies, Yoda fights Sidious

Otherwise, yes to all. ❤️

Hal 9000 said:

Original film titles, same crawls otherwise as main edits (ideally, if possible)

I’m sure someone could help make this happen. This link seems useful: https://digmodification.wordpress.com/ccc/

The updated crawls for Episodes II and III are perfect, but there is a small tweak I’d make to the crawl for Episode I: Cloak of Deception if it is going to be used for the “wider canon” edit, as there is a cheeky reference to “The Phantom Menace” in the updated crawl:

Episode I
THE PHANTOM MENACE

The Republic is in decay. After
centuries of peace under the
guardianship of the Jedi Order,
a menace lurks in the shadows
of the galaxy.
deception spreads throughout
the galaxy.

Attempting to capitalize on the
government’s complacency,
the greedy TRADE FEDERATION
has surrounded the small planet
of Naboo with a blockade of
deadly warships.

With the newly crowned Queen
desperate for help, the Supreme
Chancellor has secretly dispatched
two Jedi Knights to settle
the conflict…

Were you going to include the AotC youngling scene as well? I thought you mentioned it earlier but it’s not in this outline.

I wouldn’t need to, and would prefer not to. Dialogue in Ep1 is sufficient to seed the idea that there are very young Jedi trainees around. And the Ep2 youngling scene always felt silly to me, with their toddler lightsabers to put babies in extreme danger.

I’m in the midichlorian camp as well, a lot of cannon pointing to it as of late.

Toward the beginning of this project, I’d explored the possibility of replacing one word, and perhaps it can be done using AI.

That word is, “I’m [fixing] a droid, you wanna see? Come on, I’ll show you 3PO.”

EDIT: Also, there’s a line in Ep3 that would be good to replace as well. 3PO says, “I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business,” in reference to lines from TPM and AOTC about him never having flown and fearing starships. Not sure what could go there instead; the scene doesn’t have any other dialogue.

Another EDIT:

I’m sure the tools are out there at this point for this to be possible with AI or whatever. I’d love to be able to simply snip out Qui-Gon’s final two words of “train him,” so that Obi-Wan’s actions show earnest initiative and fit what ROTJ gives us about taking it upon himself to train him because he feels he would do well with it.

Hal 9000 said:

Toward the beginning of this project, I’d explored the possibility of replacing one word, and perhaps it can be done using AI.

That word is, “I’m [fixing] a droid, you wanna see? Come on, I’ll show you 3PO.”

EDIT: Also, there’s a line in Ep3 that would be good to replace as well. 3PO says, “I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business,” in reference to lines from TPM and AOTC about him never having flown and fearing starships. Not sure what could go there instead; the scene doesn’t have any other dialogue.

Another EDIT:

I’m sure the tools are out there at this point for this to be possible with AI or whatever. I’d love to be able to simply snip out Qui-Gon’s final two words of “train him,” so that Obi-Wan’s actions show earnest initiative and fit what ROTJ gives us about taking it upon himself to train him because he feels he would do well with it.

That sounds good. What is the surrounding context for 3PO’s ‘flying’ line?

If I was going to include midichlorians, I’d like to at least let it contribute to the ‘symbiosis’ theme of the movie, if the Otoh Gungah sequence is also back in.

EddieDean said:

Hal 9000 said:

Toward the beginning of this project, I’d explored the possibility of replacing one word, and perhaps it can be done using AI.

That word is, “I’m [fixing] a droid, you wanna see? Come on, I’ll show you 3PO.”

EDIT: Also, there’s a line in Ep3 that would be good to replace as well. 3PO says, “I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business,” in reference to lines from TPM and AOTC about him never having flown and fearing starships. Not sure what could go there instead; the scene doesn’t have any other dialogue.

Another EDIT:

I’m sure the tools are out there at this point for this to be possible with AI or whatever. I’d love to be able to simply snip out Qui-Gon’s final two words of “train him,” so that Obi-Wan’s actions show earnest initiative and fit what ROTJ gives us about taking it upon himself to train him because he feels he would do well with it.

That sounds good. What is the surrounding context for 3PO’s ‘flying’ line?

In my edit of Ep1, we replace “I can assure you they’ll never get me onto one of those dreadful starships.”

In Ep2, we replace “It’s just I’ve never flown before.”

In Ep3, I’d like to also replace “I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business.”

It happens as Padme is sitting down in her ship to depart for Mustafar.

For context on C-3PO:

Current Episode I edit: (before the podrace)

• “You’re quite right, space flight is perilous… I didn’t exactly leave my last starship assignment in one piece.”
• “Oh my, space travel sounds rather perilous. I can assure you, they will never get me onto one of those dreadful starships.”

Current Episode II edit: (leaving Tatooine)

• “For a mechanic, you seem to do an excessive amount of thinking.”
• “I’m not worried, R2. It’s just I’ve never flown before.”

New Episode III edit: (leaving for Mustafar), I’d suggest…

• “Miss Padmé, I’m certain Master Ani will be quite alright.”
• “Do you know? I believe I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business.”

Another thing that I don’t know how easy it would be to fix in Episode III, in your edit R2 was removed from the birth of the twins, but his reflection is still in the glass.

Wow those lines are just so much better even on their own

Okay, here’s where I am with the set of alternate edits for the PT. These are pitched as just a little less drastic in order to preserve maximal continuity with other works, with the main prequel edits continuing to be available and recommended. (Case in point: the Kenobi series making a major story point about Anakin killing younglings in the Temple, something I’d carefully omitted.)

For all three, Ridley is able to provide crawls with the original titles (and remove the title reference in my COD crawl).

I’ll also do away with the opening fan edit logos and add them to the end credits, like my ST edits do.

TPM:

• Not because I love it, but add back the trip underwater to Otah Gunga, trimming away the second section of the planet core sequence and the Sidious scene in between. This is half of the symbiosis theme of the movie, and so if midichlorians are in, this feels mandatory to include alongside.
• Add back a few scenes due to Otah Gunga being back: the submarine resurfacing, the talk of the treaty on the stairs, and a battle droid reporting searching for underwater villages. (I’ll continue to omit the scene in which Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan make amends on Naboo.)
• Add back a few mentions of Anakin explicitly being too old for Jedi training
• Add midichlorians back, including the blood test scene and exposition about them. This is the other symbiosis element to make up the theme.

AOTC:

• Add back Anakin’s line about attachment being forbidden.
• Add back two instances of the name Darth Tyrannus.
• Show Yoda and the younglings, ditch the landing platform deleted scene.
• Add back Yoda using a lightsaber against Dooku.

ROTS:

• Add back the youngling murder scenes, and a few references to it.
• Add back Yoda insisting on destroying the Sith, though Obi-Wan doesn’t essentially tell Padme he intends to kill him. (The line replacement for ROTJ, “Your mother once thought as you do” will come in handy, but there’s still a little more room than the theatrical to read hope into Obi-Wan’s actions here.)
• Add back the Yoda vs. Sidious duel.

Things that would be nice to have:

• New line for 3PO as he and Padme depart for Mustafar (Perhaps “I must say, flying feels much safer in a peaceful galaxy.”)
• AI line for Jake Lloyd, “I’m fixing a droid, you wanna see?”
• VFX to seamlessly trim away Qui-Gon’s very final words of, “train him.” (That way, Obi-Wan can truly take it upon himself to train Anakin.)

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I can get the 3PO line quite easily but I’d have to work a new thing together for little Annie.

He was also in Jingle All the Way a few years earlier if you needed to find more lines to train the AI model.