So I’m mostly a clone wars newbie - I’ve seen a bit of the early stuff over the years and it’s just never grabbed me enough to watch the whole show - despite having it sitting started on Disney plus for whoever knows how long. So I thought this was a great opportunity to get a cliff notes version of some of the lore and characters, as it’s obviously going to be pretty foundational to the franchise going forward.
Me and my wife have been watching your edits over the last week or so, and I just wanted to offer my unfiltered thoughts and ramblings below. Overall, I want to say these are really fine edits and a great condensed way to watch the story - so please take any criticisms below as purely constructive - in the hopes of further refining what has obviously been a pretty intense labour of love.
We started in the middle (just couldn’t get around the early seasons stuff still), so apologies if we’ve missed anything important in the earlier films. Thoughts on what we’ve seen so far:
Mortis/witches - really strong. One minor nit-pick was the blade/thing that kills the daughter comes a little out of nowhere - maybe include an establishing scene for that? Otherwise very tightly done and the two gothic/otherworldly stories play off each other well.
Ventress/Maul and the Prison planet. Another strong follow up. Dark Side plot was really good, and kept me hooked through the whole ‘darkside’ trilogy. I did feel though Ventress’ turn was maybe a little sudden after the destruction of the nightsisters? Might have been nice to dwell on that for a bit longer, rather than skipping right into bounty hunting, though that might just be an issue with the source. On the other hand I felt the Anakin/obiwan etc plot dragged a little, with a few repetitive action sequences escaping and then being recaptured etc. It was still a very strong edit but could maybe be tightened up a little. The reintro of Savage late in the piece was likewise a little jarring - and there was a bit about dust being a clue to Maul’s location that didn’t seem to make sense in the new context - so that could either be cut or fleshed out in place of some of the Anakin/obiwan stuff?
Mando - a really good conclusion to the Maul/darkside arc. I thought the flashbacks worked well but they can sometimes be a little jarring, especially if you miss one of the captions or it doesn’t show up for a few seconds. Perhaps a transition or effect of some kind could be employed to give a bit of a visual cue to when we are in the past? I guess the easiest thing would be to make the flashbacks black and white or something but that might be going too far.
Wrong Jedi - probably the edit I had the most issues with - though I still enjoyed it for the most part. The opening with the Sifo dyas plot and the pykes interleaved with the bombing worked really well - I really enjoyed how you remixed the two briefing room scenes together? There was a little hiccup when ahsoka leaves the room but not enough to really throw it off. I did feel though that it was a bit unfortunate not to get the actual bombing of the temple on screen - it felt like we were missing something. The first part of Yoda communing with Quigon was quite effective, showing the growing cloud of the darkside within the Jedi council. I get the feeling though that this means we missed out on some council scenes from the Ahsoka plot line for continuity reasons - particularly her being expelled from the Jedi and feeling unsupported by the council. Her walking away from the Jedi at the end of the film (which is the emotional heart of the story) didn’t really feel earned without that sense of betrayal early on.
I felt the yoda plotline with his various trials could have been really cut down - it dragged on in the middle and I found the pseudo philosophising a bit disappointing and expository - this is the sources problem though, not yours. I would trim this to just what happens on dagobah and the sith planet if possible (the sith can be yodas real trial) - all we need to know is yoda entering a new world of the Force and confronting his demons that will eventually pay off during his exile. Keep the world of the Force a bit mysterious. There were some really jarring continuity issues/scene shifts in the final act - with palpatine in Asokas trial, on coruscant with Dooku and then also on the sith planet in yoda’s vision - and then back to the trial again? Anakin also flipped in and out of Yodas vision and hunting ventress/Bariss in real life - I know this technically works in terms of continuity but I found it a bit hard to keep track of honestly. I felt the Yoda plot should maybe have concluded earlier and then the final act is just Asoka?Anyway - thanks for reading! Overall I’ve really enjoyed your edits and I’m looking forward to checking out your seige of mandalore and rebels edits next!
Hey thanks for your thoughts!
Totally get you on the early seasons. I feel the same way.
Clone Wars 4-8 are actually my oldest edits. They were made in 2016 and have only been upscaled since. I’m pretty happy with 4-7. The flashback structure of 7 does still strike me as a bit experimental, but I think it works as is. I considered having no subtitle each time cos contextually I think it is clear but figured some people would need it.
Ep6 there’s no Ventress from the source missing. So sadly that’s what we’ve got to work with. I always want to stick with her POV more. She’s the best. As I’ve said, Dark Disciple not being animated is my biggest regret in CW. I actually already did cut a lot of the repetitive action and weaker humour in the Citadel arc. But it is very action focused with repetitive elements, yeah. It’s a good one though, and you get Tarkin for some depth while intercutting with Ventress. So I think it balances out.
Ep8… yeah I’ve dwelt on that a fair bit over the years. My biggest issue is Anakin being a bit too chill in some of his scenes with Yoda for someone grappling with Ahsoka being on the run. Palpatine in two simultaneous scenes at the end sounds like a weird oversight, as I cut several characters from that court scene for continuity. Will have to review that some point. There aren’t any cut council scenes I don’t think. And I cut the temple bombing episode for pacing. The film would have been near 3 hours. I don’t think it was needed.
And Yoda’s metaphysical journey is taste I think. Anything force lore stays with me. I loved it.
Hope you enjoy Rebels and Bad Batch. CW9 and Rebels are by far the ones I’m proudest of in this batch.