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The legendary "Starkiller Ranch" Thread — Page 26

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Sounds great to me, DarthPreston.

Love the stuff at Anakin's house. This is very much like what I was thinking for this scene.

I like your ideas for the 3PO scene. As far as cutting away to break up the Tattooine stuff, maybe that's a good place to introduce Darth Maul. Either a scene with the two Neimoidians talking about deploying him, or a scene where they talk to him via hologram. Or the Sio Bibble scene is also a good option.

One thing I'd have to disagree with you on is the QG/Shmi conversation. For me, with a few trims, it's one of the best composed and best acted scenes in the movie. I'm not sure what you mean by it introducing a "subplot" that needs to be resolved. Maybe we can discuss it.

Everything else sounds really, really good. Thanks for taking the time to do it. I'd like to hear CC's and TJ's comments on it.

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Darthpreston, those are some awsome ideas! Good thinking!


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Darth Preston:

Slow Motion: I agree with your view on its use. We're not going Peter Jackson on the movies, we'll be using it to extend certain shots here and there. The goal is to make it look natural. If you can tell it's been slowed down the idea will be scrapped as it will stick out and detract from the scene in question. I like your suggestion of Anakin staring at Maul. I would like to make a connection between the characters some place as well, especially since we're continuing Maul's charcater into Grievous. We'll have to look over the available footage and see what we can come up with.


-Show the clip of them entering the house, anakin shaking the dust off and cut the clip right before "mom, mom i'm home". Add in an audio clip of shmi saying "anakin?" (from the "anakin its your bedtime" scene).

I like that, only I'd add Shmi's line after "Mom, I'm home." It would be a response to all these strangers in her home. Shmi's tone of voice works well here. This would set up the next line, an explanation ("These are my friends, mom.") As for everything else in this scene, I'd leave it the way it was in the original. The only thing I'd cut would be "I’m building a droid, wanna see?" Of course if we were to move the 3PO scene to later in the film more work would have to be done. If we can find an appropriate place for it later then sure, but it not then we should leave it be. Altering any 3PO dialogue is extremely easy as stated several times already in this thread. The trick is not to go overboard. Even though we have a lot to work with, many of his lines are fine as they are and should be left as such. Plus this gives Shmi a chance to get dinner ready.


When it gets to the point where anakin looks at qui-gon and says " your a jedi knight arn't you?" (add in a little bit of that "magical" sounding Star wars music)
-Take the shot of qui-gon looking up at him and use the "slow down" method so it appears that he's a little more shocked by the statement.

Yes, something akin to when Obi-Wan pulls back his hood in ANH, mystical chimes (perhaps even an altered version of that very cue. Extending Qui-Gon raising his head is a good idea too; we should definitely experiment with that. Other than that, the only alterations I'd make to the dinner scene would be cutting some dialogue for various reasons:
-Cut “Boom!”
-Cut “I can’t believe there’s still slavery in the galaxy.”
-Cut “I had a dream I was a Jedi. I came back here and freed all the slaves.”
-Cut Qui-Gon’s “Podracing” before he says “Greed can be a powerful ally.”

Regardless of the placing of the 3PO scene, I think all your suggestions are valid one and should be experimented with. But definitely cut “Oops!” and “I’m building a pod racer!”

I haven’t really thought this scene through completely, but maybe we should insert Sio Bibble’s scene with Nute before the Royal Ship receives the transmission. We can have the subtitles say they’re making him send it or they’ll kill his family or something. This would go before all of this, as Obi-Wan reports it to Qui-Gon after the dinner scene. Maul/Grievous' arrival would come after Qui-Gon's "Either way we're running out of time." This is a good dramatic place for it, as in the original the following scene was the Sith on Coruscant.

Qui-Gon's Deal with Watto:
Adding sound effects to the environment is a good idea, but if done here it would also needed to be done to the earlier scene in Watto's shop. Nothing too obtrusive, but enough to enhance the working nature of the store. Music experimentation is always welcome. As for Anakin, the only thing I'd cut would be "It wasn't my fault, really!" If there's anything else he does that's offensive I didn't notice it.


As qui-gon is ending his transmission with obi wan , it is halted after qui-gon says "a ship without a power supply isn't going to get us anywhere". End transmission. I feel that has a better flow than mentioning "theres something about this boy".......then hanging up in obiwans face right as he was onto a revelation.

I never thought about it this way. That is more of a "Captain's Log" way to say things than a conversation. I suppose it should go. I don't think that line would meld into the talk in the desert though. But I totally agree that scene needs to be reworked, as Obi-Wan is just disrespectful. Also, certain shot will need to be flipped to account for Obi-Wan's braid being on the wrong side.

Qui-Gon/Shmi scene: It has been suggested this be moved to later when Anakin leaves home. If so some of the dialogue would have to be altered. Thoughts? (I think it’s fine where it is.) Other than that I think it's a wonderful scene with no editing required. Cutting out midichlorines doesn't make it necessary to cut out the virgin birth. Something has to be especially special about Anakin to make him the Chosen One, something that I think was lost in MagnoliaFan's version when cutting this plotpoint.

I like 3PO and R2’s quips about Jar-Jar, but for the good of the scene we should probably cut them, starting the “activating the pod” scene with Kister saying “You don’t even know if this thing’s gonna run!” Then it would continue as per the original version.

The Pod Race is something to come back to, agreed.

-After the podrace we have the scene with watto and quigon, which is pretty good all the way through. I don't really have any problems. Adding some music to the scene will put some character into it. I'll look at it again and see if there is any dialouge that can be trimmed down.

No dialogue trimming, but definitely some music. MagnoliaFan added some of Jabba's theme when Qui-Gon mentions the Hutts. That's what we want to go for.

-When quigon is going back with anakin to their house I would cut out the dialouge they have "these are yours"...."YES!". Just music and the image of him handing the boy his prize.

Good idea. I'm on the fence as to whether the Greedo fight should be re-inserted.

Freedom scene:
Cut:
-“Did you here that?”
-”Now you can make your dreams come true, Ani. You’re free.”
-”You mean I get to go with you, in your starship?” (if we can cut it)
-”Yipee!”
-”You’re coming with us aren’t you mom? (accompanying shot and Qui-Gon reaction)
The 3PO goodbye scene definitely needs work. Thoughts?
Cut:
-“Yes…I guess.”
-”Then we will se each other again.”
-”I will come back and free you mom, I promise.”

Re-insert deleted probe droid scene (just the part after Jira). Then comes the Maul/Probe Droid scene. Cut “Qui-Gon sir wait, I’m tired!” In the ship cut:
-“What are we going to do about it?”
-”We should be patient.”
-”You’re a Jedi too?”
There was the idea of playing “Pleased to meet you” over the ship leaving Tatooine (because of the goofy visuals). Thoughts?

I have sent the Master List to ID and TJ. Just so everyone is in the know, much of the opening has been revamped, as many of the ideas we were trying for just didn't translate well when edited together. Our goal here at Starkiller Ranch is to present the best possible version of Star Wars, and that's what we intend to do.
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I'm loving these ideas. Let me throw out an alternate regarding the 3-PO scenes. What if we cut him out almost entirely. Except for the very last scene of Anakin saying goodbye. I say the rest is totally unnecessary. His introduction, painting the pod, on the sidelines at the race, all of that. It doesn't serve to serve the plot at all. It is meant to 1. Introduce 3PO's character and 2. show Anakin's skills at building stuff. We don't need 3PO around to show that Anakin has good building skills, the pod racer fulfills that. So we keep Anakin's hauling Padme off to show her 3PO, but don't go in the room. Cut him out of every shot possible except for the end. This would lose the Official Meeting of R2 and 3PO until episode 2 but it could be worth it. Or if it would be too jolting to see 3PO at the very end of the Mos Espa stuff all of a sudden, maybe you could have Anakin uncover 3PO when showing him to Padme, and then cut the scene before he gets switched on.
This would also go a long way to fixing 3PO's and R2's 'buddy-buddy' attitude and then their bickering in Episode 2.
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Sluggo, those are some good ideas. Something about 3PO's scenes just don't feel right, he is too friendly and nothing like he was in the OT. I think that be cool if it would work, I guess we will find out.


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DP --

Glad you can take up the slack -- good ideas!

I am not around to flesh out my own right now-- but many of them are peppered through the thread already so don't toss them out without reading them first (or whatever)

For my money, this sequence is exactly as you said -- the first real slow part. The reason is, I believe, there is no threat, no sense of where we're going, or how it connects. That's why I want to bring in Maul as soon as possible and let him begin his threatening hunt.

I too want to get to dinner asap. Cut the threepio meeting until after dinner. Then have Maul arrive-- using the darkness in his shots to match with the sandstorm.

That allows us to pepper in his probe droids earlier and raise tension.

I also want to cut out the talk to Shmi before the race and cannibalize it in the farewell. Let that talk (about half of it) occur as Anakin is collecting his stuff to leave.

The idea is to let the race be the place where Qui Gon decides how special Anakin is -- not before.

I know that sounds radical and I have lots of notes on how to make it work that I haven't got time to flesh out-- do you think you can run with that much? Or is that too crazy for you?

The beats would go something more like:

dinner
maul
deal with watto
probe droid
night(first to see all the stars)
morning
brief Q and Watto talk over Sebulba (cut dice, cut idea that Q is betting for Anakin -- save that as a surprise to the audience-- cut the arrival of Anakin and the pod -- get to the race!)
probe droid
Race

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MTH:
I admire your ideas to radically change the structure of the film, but many of the alterations will not work in the big picture. Moving 3PO's introduction to later leaves no room for dinner to be prepared as it were, and ends the scene very awkwardly. In this scenario we'd have "I'm Qui-Gon Jinn. Your son was kind enough to offer us shelter." BOOM, scene change. In it's original form it flows nicely into the 3PO scene; I don't think anything else could come after it and feel natural.

I don't know if I was the only person under this impression, but I thought we spent 3 days on Tatooine. Day 1: Arrival, Watto's, Sandstorm, Dinner. Day 2: Deal with Watto, Anakin finished racer. Day 3: Pod Race, Freedom, Departure. Notice when Qui-Gon goes back to Watto's shop it is in the middle of the day, and there is no trace of the sandstorm. I also always thought Obi-Wan contacts Qui-Gon about Sio Bibble's message at night, which is after dinner. Regardless if it was intended to be 2 days or 3, in this version it's going to be 3. Maul/Grievous will arrive after "Either way we're runnig out of time," confirming the night setting.

I'd be open to experimentation with moving the Qui-Gon/Shmi scene to Anakin leaving home, but I have my doubts as to whether it will flow. As for cutting Qui-Gon's bet for Anakin's freedom, again I understand what you're going for here but the way things are set up in the film this would make things extremely confusing. We would have no idea what Qui-Gon or Watto are talking about in their meeting after the pod race. And later when Qui-Gon explains he tried to free Shmi but Watto wouldn't have it, that's too much information to brush over and "reveal" later in the movie. The nauture of the film does not give itself to this delayed reveal.

The beats as I see them:
Anakin's Hovel
3PO
Gunray and Bibble
Dinner
Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan (Combine their communicator talks/more detial later)
Maul/Grievous Arrives (Probe Droids sprinkled in where they'll fit)
Deal With Watto
SOMETHING ELSE
Anakin Activates Racer
SOMETHING ELSE (I'm leaning towards cutting the Qui-Gon/Anakin night scene entirely, not just the midichlorine bits.)
Pod Hangar/"I'll take that bet."
Pod Race
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Hey guys, just a few quick notes about some ideas. FIrst of all, I love everybody's discussion, this helps work everything out in the long run. As far as the 3P0 scene. I still think that it is worth moving till after dinner. I understand the point of a dinner preperation, however I did include a shot of the sandstorm outside between the cuts so that it would appear as if "time is passing by" and then we are inside at the dinner table. For most of these indoor scenes on tatooine, we don't have to ASSUME which point in the day any of these scenes are taking place, as long as there is no outside view. So the eating scene could be during the middle of the day as soon as they arrived. It would be worth while to gather anakin's character during his nice performances at the dinner scene as opposed to his "golly gosh" self during the 3P0 scene. So , to me, the 3po scene does NOT feel natural after the introduction bit. But that is just my opinion. However, I understand what your saying CC about the timetable on tatooine. There really is no way around making this a 3 day delay from the other plots. I wish we could squeeze it into 2 days, but that would seem a little silly having soo many things happen in one day. You would have to push the plot all the way to QuiGon making a deal with watto on the first day. Although I really think that it's weird spending soo much time there. Day and night and day and night and then the last day............such a lull.

Greedo scene? Hmmm, was kind of neat the first time I saw it, but the acting and cinematography are lame. It is kind of pointless as well, its just a way of showing a character from the classic trilogy for the sake of nostalgia.....I don't really like that either. I would say drop this scene, not much can be salvaged from it. Even Lucas didn't like it.

Sluggo, I see what your saying about all of the 3P0 scenes in the movie........however, if we change his dialouge then that will completely change the attitude and sound of his character for this movie. I think that keeping 3P0 in the movie gives it that very nice "Star Wars" feeling, and without him it just wouldn't be the same. I like that 3P0 is involved, I just thougt all of his dialouge was very weak and lacked any delivery. We can change that however, hopefully.

Watto's deal with freeing anakin: I'm going to try and write a version of those scene that would flow to the degree of saving the "Free Anakin" deal for the last scene. I think that it is worth TRYING at least, if it cannot be conceived well....then we'll go back to the original flow. But I think it can be added later as a surprise, and would add more mystique to QuiGon. But there are SEVERAL trims that will have to go into all of the "anakin is free" footage.

Darth Maul arrives. I have a question. Won't it seam a little odd that out of nowhere in this story, a ship comes from outspace, lands on the planet and out steps this guy with a red face and black robes with a bunch of robots scattering into the desert? Don't you think we should have a scene constructed of the nemoidians sending him off on his mission? Keep in mind that we can use the dialouge from the scene on the coruscant balcony and footage of the nemoidians talking to "sidious" with his back turned. Or someone could redub the dialouge for darth maul, making more possiblities. I can do a very good imitation of Maul, but I lack the equipment to record it. I wonder what I would need. Anyway, I thought it would seem odd if this was Darth Mauls introduction into the movie, just plop, out of nowhere.........and there really is no other chance to add ANY more story to his character, we have already cut out alot of his moments from earlier in the movie.

I'm working on some scripted scenes, i'll post them as soon as I'm done. Good discussion!



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Maul/Grievous and the Sith:
-We had considered a scene where the Nemoidians dispatch him to find the Queen, but instead decided an offhand reference by Nute would be the better way to go. This makes M/G's introduction much more pronounced and intriguing (especially with InfoDroid's new music selection). This would be akin to Vader appearing on the Tantive IV. His connection to the Nemoidians will be explain in his reporting to them in later scenes.
-He will need to be dubbed in both I and III. Obviously by the same person. Since we are retaining none of his original dialogue, his voice can sound however he choose. That said, his original voice was awesome and I would like his new one to be as close to that as possible.
-I've discussed this with MTH and ID, and in this saga we are going to do away with "Darth" as a title for the Sith. The Maul character will be "Lord Grievous" in I (and in III to Sidious), and "General Grievous" in III. Dooku (though we wish we could change his name, it's too extensive to alter), will be "Count Dooku." At the end of II, Sidious will refer to him as "Lord Dooku." Sidious is the tricky one, though "Lord Sidious" shouldn't be too much of a problem. Anakin will be refered to as such until he gets the suit. I always thought it would be cool if he were "Darth Vader" before the suit, but the execution in III left a lot to be desired, so his Sith title will be reworked. The only other "Darth" will be Plagious, who we can assume Sidious names Anakin in honor of.
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He will need to be dubbed in both I and III. Obviously by the same person. Since we are retaining none of his original dialogue, his voice can sound however he choose. That said, his original voice was awesome and I would like his new one to be as close to that as possible.

I agree that Darth Maul's voice for Ep. I was very good- for Darth Maul. For the alien/robot, it's a little bit soft and not as menacing. I'd actually done some tests myself for Grievous and had a very specific idea of the way I'd like him to sound. This was back when I thought that I would have to dub all the voices myself. Later, others PM'd me (like DemonHunter) for the Grievous role. It would certainly be better for someone else to do this, but maybe sometime I'll post a few audio clips of what I think Grievous should sound like. It's a LOT different than the original, so you may or may not like it or want to imitate it. Obviously Maul and Grievous should be voiced by the same person, but I think that this person should have a very different attitude for each movie. Episode = more quiet and reserved, cold and cunning. Episode III= Loud and menacing monster.

Regarding C-3PO: I actually really like the idea to pretty much cut him out of Episode I, but again, if it makes the flow awkward, then keep it. But in either case, Anakin DID NOT create 3PO. Case closed!

Also, I love what you're doing for the music. I just wanted to caution you... I've been very careful in SOTDS to try and construct a new score that makes sense with leitmotif and so on. In other words, I didn't just choose a track from a different movie for each scene that never develops throughout the movie. That would be more of a temp track. Not that you fellows are doing that- I just wanted to warn you ahead of time. It's been so tempting sometimes to put in a piece of music, but then I realize it's not at all in the style of the rest of the score. And I take it out.

Anakin will be refered to as such until he gets the suit. I always thought it would be cool if he were "Darth Vader" before the suit, but the execution in III left a lot to be desired, so his Sith title will be reworked.

I haven't really gotten into what I would personally like Episode III to be. I have some very specific changes, but as far as big picture stuff, I'm not sure. All I know is that I don't want to try and salvage every scene possible, because pretty much all of them (barring a couple love scenes) at least had potential.

The only thing I'm sure I want for Ep. III is suspicion from Anakin that Padme and Obi-Wan are getting too fond of each other, which was an original subplot that was dropped for the movie. I'm not sure how we could develop that during Ep. I and II, though....

It's wonderful to read all of your notes and scripting for this! If I run into something I really dislike, I'll holler! Otherwise, I'd love to just sit back and watch where you guys take it, wait for the rough cuts to be done, and then preview it, without seeing hardly any of it beforehand. I think this is always a valuable perspective, an outsider's, almost. I'm sure you all know that anything begins to look good after you preview it and tweak it 60 times. I would really like to see where you guys go with this because Episode I doesn't affect SOTDS much. I will definitely comment on the changes that affect the whole trilogy, but besides that....it's your game. You're the ones putting all the hours and effort in.

One last note- Again, it's too bad the special effects guy left. I actually own 3d Studio Max myself; I just have absolutely no idea how to use it. Hopefully if I ever get the time, I can start to learn it, but hopefully another FX guy will be able to help out.

Thanks!

-TM

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Thanks for the input TM! A few responses:

-The voice of Grievous: I wouldn't make it TOO different between I and III. The audio is going to be an important connection between the character in I and the character in III, as the visuals are different enough.

-Cutting C-3PO from the film: Tempting, and quite easy to accomplish. But then we have the problem of II and his relation to Anakin. No, I think 3PO in I is a necessary evil so to speak. Without it things would get even more confusing. Though I wish Lucas would release the original footage of him in his skeletal form in II, and the scenes with Padme completing him. Who know's if they's be of any use to us or not, but it would be interesting to see regardless. Question: Your last statement made me think in your edit you've made it to where Anakin did not build C-3PO. Is that the case? If so then my eariler argument against cutting him from I is void and he should be edited out immediately!

-Episode III: This will all depend on who will be doing how much on the project, and we can deal with that when the time comes. I definitely think bringing out the Obi-Wan/Padme suspicions of Anakin would be a good move. Once again, I wish Lucas would have released the scene of Obi-Wan visiting Padme to discuss his worries over Anakin. It would have been a good character building scene, and Anakin even senses his presence there later in the film. I'm looking forward to seeing your ideas about Qui-Gon interfering in Anakin's nightmares as well. As for everything else, what do you think of the removal of "Darth" as a title?

Btw, I really liked your suggestion of placing Peter Cushing next to Palpatine in the Senate. That hadn't even crossed my mind but would be an excellent addition. Hopefully we can find more special effects people to assist us with those types of shots.
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Question: Your last statement made me think in your edit you've made it to where Anakin did not build C-3PO. Is that the case?

Yes. I've always kind of despised that idea. I was going to make 3PO do his "Human/cyborg relations" speal, actually... (EDIT: I see why this was confusing. This is one of those things I didn't update in my notes).

what do you think of the removal of "Darth" as a title?

Love it. It makes Darth V. more unique, which is great. I was going to remove "Darth Tyrannus" from Ep. II anyway, so that fits right into the plan.

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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I'll post some re-written scenes tomorrow, it's actually very time consuming once you go through soo many ideas. Just to make things clear, i've read some discussion about 3Po's role in the movie and I can't see if we have made a decision of either :

A. Trimming his role and dialog to be more "Classic Trilogy" style
B. Trim his presence from the film entirely

Obviously, I need to know which way we're going before I can tackle the flow of the scenes. Sorry for the wait though, I've got to hand it to MTHaslett, it's a tricky task. Very rewarding however. So, what to do with golden rod?

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DarthPreston,

It is indeed a tricky task, re-writing this thing almost shot for shot, and I see why MTH felt overwhelmed at times. You're doing great so far. I'm sorry we haven't had a concrete outline for you to work from, as before we were working mainly from MTH's head. But, that's something we're working on now. I must admit, I've been hesitant to run this thing on any particular rail because I hate to rule out any possibilities or good ideas. But on the other hand, I'm also starting to realize a need to have a goal we're all collectively focused on, so everyone's on the same page and knows what direction we're going in. Like the 3PO thing.

Regarding C-3PO: I've recently discussed it in-depth with TJ and we think it's best to take the Trooperman route and remove him from the film completely. This would mean all scenes and shots containing him will be excised from TPM, withholding his introduction until the scene on the Lars moisture farm in Episode II.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

And thanks!

--InfoDroid


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How would introducine 3P0 on the Lars farm be more appropriate than having Anakin build him? It still makes little sense (as opposed to having him be a generic Naboo droid that ended up in the adventure by accident and saved the day at some point in the third act-- that would have made the most sense. What a welcome and satisfying surprise that would have been-- to have him show up cranky and frightened, meet Artoo, help Artoo outwit some battle droids and assist Anakin -- and then have him drift back into the woodwork until Episode II).

The big question to answer for me is: In Episode II, why does Anakin show up at the Lars farm and take their droid? Why does such an important Saga character just pop up at the Lars farm?

I think the idea has potential-- but it raises those questions to me. Anyone else?

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Although I agree with you mth, I hated the idea of Anakin building 3p0 so much I'd be willing to take the lesser of two evils to get away from it.

Plus , this isn't about whether we should take 3p0 out , but how. Trooperman has already stated that he's changed AOTC so Anakin doesn't build him. So we need to find a way to make that match and ID and I decided it would be easier to just take him out.

"You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could...you never stopped to think if you should." - Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
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Even though there are a lot of bad ideas in TPM, having Anakin build Threepio is one of the worst. If it can go, it should.
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Yeah, we've all talked about it and decided that 3PO's officially out of Episode I, although Commander Courage came up with the suggestion of replacing TC-14 on the Neimoidian ship with Anthony Daniels' voice. Which, I thought was a very interesting (while radical) idea. But ultimately, how would you explain how he conveniently ends up on the Lars' farm in II (which, in itself, never made sense to begin with)?

Of course, he could be entirely edited out of II, but that's Trooperman's call. That may be the more necessary change from a saga standpoint, however, because it never added up why a droid with 3PO's personality who spent ten years on a secluded farm with him, would not be recognized by Uncle Owen when he again conveniently turns up in ANH.

I like the idea of him saying the first line in TPM since he also has the first line in IV. So, if we go the TC-14 route and cut him entirely out of II, he'd end up being reintroduced in III as Padme's valet. But, how would you explain it on screen? I mean, wasn't he on the Federation ship when it exploded? Is there a way around it?

And if we don't go the TC-14 route, how will he be introduced in II? Trooperman, you'll have to elaborate on your ideas for this please. And anyone else who cares to chime in with a viable solution would be greatly appreciated.

I've given the newest portion of script to erikstormtrooper to post and to TJ to edit. We've rewritten the Padme/Anakin scene with no telepathy, new subtitles and a slightly different, more natural conversation. The previous version just wasn't translating well enough visually.

The other scene was Sebulba attacking Jar-Jar. With the rough cut, I'd really like to try to make Jar-Jar work as a likable character. Hopefully the new voice and subtitles will take care of a lot of that. But if not, we can trim this scene down even more to exclude ALL of Jar-Jar and his antics with a second cut.

So that should be posted soon. Thanks for hosting, Erik!

--InfoDroid

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Threepio being built by Anakin then living with Owen Lars for a decade than ending up as Luke Skywalker's mother's valet, then ending up as counterpart to R2, who Leia just happens to choose to hide the death star plans in, then finding his way BACK to the Lars farm where he becomes the property of his builder's son? That is just too inplausible.

OK, I'm no editor, so I don't know if this will work, but I think you need to cut Threepio from Episode 1 entirely. Have him gone 100%. Paint the mofo out if needs be. He serves NO purpose.

Episode 2 - Again, no threepio. What purpose does he serve apart from to get his head put on a battle droid's body and utter the line 'this is such a drag'. I think what you need to do is re-dub Threepio's Lars Farm lines to a defferent voice so that it is a different droid. He's all rusty and shit so he doesn't even look like threepio anyway. In the current version of AOTC, Anakin and Padme show up at the farm and Anakin recognises Threepio. He then says ' I'm here to see my mother'. All you need to do is cut the recognition part, so Anakin and Padme show up and say to this random droid 'I'm here to see my mother'. We then cut to inside the homestead and the scene plays out as is. If possible you could have this random Lars droid say 'and you are...?' to which Anakin replies 'I'm Anakin Skywalker'. In the next scene Owen says to Anakin 'I always expected you to show up' or something like that, so the droid would recognise the name skywalker (because of Shmi) and take Anakin to Poppa Lars to break the news of her kidnapping by the sand people.

In the original Anakin takes 3po with him when he leaves Tatooine, but there must be some way around this.

The whole nasty droid factory crapness can be cut, as can all Threepio's scenes in the latter part of the movie, then, the first time we see R2 and 3PO together in episode 3 (which is after Anakin, Obi-Wan and R2 rescue Palpatine, threepio is one of the people waiting to greet them and him and R2 have a few lines together) you just insert a line of threepio saying 'hello, I am seethreepio', artoo beeps in reply, threepio says 'pleasd to meet you' and they walk off together. The two droids then play supporting roles in episode 3 and really come into their own in the OT. It's almost like we hand them the torch to carry on the story from the prequels to the OT. I understand why George felt the need to have them in all 3 films but the point of this edit is to make it work as a 6 part saga, which at the moment it doesn't.

Artoo and Threepio's love/hate relationship in the OT will have developed during their time on the Tantive IV. Remember, back in '77 nobody knew who these two droids were, what they had been through, etc, and we all just accepted their relationship as it was. It is perfectly fine to show very little of them in episode 3 then have their relationship fully developed in 4, which is set 20 years later.

War does not make one great.

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Version 9 of the script is up: http://www.erikstormtrooper.com/ranchedit.html

Originally posted by: Yoda Is Your Father

OK, I'm no editor, so I don't know if this will work, but I think you need to cut Threepio from Episode 1 entirely. Have him gone 100%. Paint the mofo out if needs be. He serves NO purpose.


I've seen 3PO called many things, but "mofo" is a first for me

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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Yoda Is Your Father's plan really does seem the most feasible. Though I'd really like to keep the Star Wars tradition of having the droids in every film. ID already pointed out the reasoning behind the TC-14/C-3PO connection, but the problem would be the transition from I to III. It would be assumed that he was left on Naboo and reprogrammed after I, and maybe we could find a cameo for him in II, so when he resurfaces in III it's not just out of nowhere. And even if we could find appropriate dialogue for an explanation, where would this exposition possibly fit? These are our options:

1) Anakin builds C-3PO. The history of his character remains the same as in the offical versions.

2) C-3PO is introduced in II at the Lars Homestead. His introductory dialogue is reworked. The big issue here would be explaining Anakin and Padme taking him with them when they leave.

3) C-3PO takes the place of TC-14 in I. We can explore various means of expanding his presence in the film. We'd have to make it evident he was left on the planet and given a memory wipe. These plotpoints could be dealt with in I or II, depending on what we can fit where with what dialogue. He remains Padme's servant in II and III; only a minor cameo would need to be worked into II. The droid at the Lars Homestead wouls be redubbed as a different droid.
3A) C-3PO takes the place of TC-14 in I. We can explore various means of expanding his presence in the film. We'd have to make it evident he was left on the planet and survied the end battle. When we get to the Lars Homestead in II, we can try to work in some exposition about how he came to be there. Or maybe we could leave it vague, with neither party know that 3PO was ever owned by the Trade Federation. When you can't explain it, leave it to the imaginiation. The issue would again arise, however, why do Anakin and Padme take him with them when they leave?

4) C-3PO is introduced in III as Padme's servant. He and R2 meet after the Invisible Hand rescue (Yoda Is Your Father's suggestion).

1 obviously would require the least work. 4 would take significant editing in I and II, but on the whole it wouldn't be too complicated. 2 would take some effort to explain why he leaves Tatooine (though this is never explained in the original, it is explained away as Anakin being his maker). Either 3 would require the most work, but would ultimately be the most rewarding if we could find a way to do it. These are out options gentlemen. What to do, what to do...
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Our options will become much clearer when/if Trooperman chimes in on his plans. Until then we are spinning our wheels.
"You were so preoccupied with whether or not you could...you never stopped to think if you should." - Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
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I'll try spinning. That's a good trick.

The way I see it would be to have 3PO being the property of Cleig Lars in Episode 1. 3PO and R2 could meet in the pit areas of the Boonta Eve race. He'd get introduced to Anakin in there somewhere, and they remember each other in Episode 2. This seems to be the simplest solution, it eliminates the "problem" of Anakin creating 3PO and doesn't make any editing and re-writing any harder than it needs to be.

-TheSluggo
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Hey everyone. I'm pretty new to this stuff. I'm pretty happy with the prequels as is myself, but I'm still very curious about this. It looks very cool, and the changes are very interesting. As far as making the prequels fit more with the OT, I have one suggestion. The most glaring difference to me is the clear difference in overall picture quality with the digital of Episodes II and III (I liked the look of Episode I, but I've only seen it on DVD once--it seems like it was shot on film, and that's better). It seems just a bit TOO clear, if you see what I'm saying. Everything seems TOO sharp. Would there be some way you could slightly blur the edges, or soften the picture somehow, I think that would go a long way in making the Saga more visually cohesive. I don't know if this is feasible, but I thought I'd throw that idea in. Also, I've been editing soundtracks for a couple of years now with Sound Forge, so if you want any extra score editing done, I'd love to help. Good work so far, guys!
Two-Face - A Batman:The Animated Series Movie
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Sluggo, interesting idea, but it still doesn't explain why they take 3po with them when they leave in II.

And welcome, musicman. Yes, we're planning on desaturating the overly-bright colors a bit and maybe adding some light film grain (if it looks right). It really does add to the experience.

And as far as soundtrack editing on SoundForge, I'd be grateful for any help. PM or AIM me and we'll discuss it. My AIM screen name is InfoDroid1138.

Thanks!

--ID