Info & Ideas: ESB and ROTJ Wishlist — Page 56

I posted this on the SAVE LANDO!!!! thread, but I wanted to make sure it got here too:

OK, check it out.  Re-edit the Conference Room.  Ackbar already never says that the fighters attempt to leave after attempting to knock out the main reactor.  "General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the attack".  Have Lando look not so cocky (or leave it, he's awesome).  Cut straight to Ackbar handing off the briefing to General Madine, cutting out Han's "Good luck.  You're gonna need it."

I'm not sure how to re-edit the "I want you to take her" scene in the hanger bay.  I'd want to keep the "funny feeling", but if he just sent Lando on an obvious suicide mission, he would know he'd never see either of them again.

Having it be a suicide mission makes sense when Lando sends the rest of the fighters to the surface.  Wedge is the problem here.  It's pretty much unanimus to keep him alive.  So how about this:

Insert Wedge's "I'm already on my way out" instead of "Copy, Gold Leader" when Lando sends them to the surface.  Have Wedge's ship leave last so we can keep the shot of him exiting the DS and flying towards the fleet shortly before Lando makes it into the main area (A).  Matte out Wedge's ship for the rest of the sequence, as Lando silently heads towards his doom (B).  From there cut to the Falcon firing (C) and the shot of the thing Lando shoots (D).  Either end with E or F, depending on if you want to keep the shot of the power thing falling.

Death Star explodes.  Lando sacrifices himself.

As for Luke piloting out the shuttle as the hanger explodes behind him?  Screw it.  Leave some doubt that he's alive so Leia's line about knowing he's alive is a revelation, and not her telling the audience what it already knows.  It would also show that Han knows that Lando is dead because it exploded, so now he's concerned about Luke.

So it goes from Vader (sorry, Anakin) dies, Wedge flies out, Ackbar tells the fleet to move away from the Death Star, Lando sacrifices himself, Han worried about Luke.

I actually have a decent idea (if it hasnt been stated yet) the shot could open outside bens house and have lukes xwing sitting outside it. or have the ship flying over tattoined and landing by bens house. Of course if you read the first 5 pages of Shadows of the empire the whole gang is at ben's house. Hmmm of course we could say fuggit and let luke be alone. Of course that will be a bitch to pull of. We would have to use existing scenes. could we even add obi wan to the shot telling him about how vader is his father. of coursse we need to see yoda die.

topdawg193 said:

While on the topic of Lando, a common complaint of ROTJ is that Lando's betrayal of Han in the previous movie is never really dealt with, or talked about. It's just glossed over, and they are all-of-a-sudden good friends again.

Of course, the most likely reason for this is that this is because Lando played a big part in rescuing Han from Jabba's Palace (by infiltrating the Palace, and previously tracking down the bounty hunter who escaped from Bespin with Han), and so Han is grateful for this. But in the film, we never really see Han acknowledge Lando's role in his rescue; this is just assumed (interestingly, in the cut 'landing-area-sand-storm-scene' after the Sail Barge resuce, Han does thank Lando, awkwardly and almost bitterly, and we can see somewhat of a reconciliation between the two characters).

I was thinking, though, that it may be possible to strengthen Han and Lando's character relations, and explain clearer why they are suddenly on good terms after such a monumental betrayal, by rearranging some dialogue in two key scenes.

Immediately after the Sail Barge rescue, there is a space shot of the Falcon and Luke's X-Wing leaving Tatooine. Here, Han thanks Luke for his role in the rescue operation:

HAN     (over comlink)
Hey, Luke, thanks. Thanks for comin' after me. Now I owe you one.

What I'm thinking is, would it not be possible to trim this to just 'Hey, Luke, thanks. Now I owe you one'? Maybe by inserting a pause in between the two sentences (and this could even make Han's appreciation pack a greater emotional punch), and, if necessary, by employing certain audio edits if the inflection of the statements needs amended?

By doing this, we can then take the cut statement ('Thanks for comin' after me') and insert it into the 'Han-and-Lando-in-the-Rebel-Hangar' scene from slightly later on in the film. In this way, Han would appear to be thanking Lando, specifically, and we could understand that he has forgiven him for his previous misdeed due to the act of bravery and loyalty he showed in 'comin' after' him. Because of the pauses, and sheepish nature of that scene (with Han worried about giving the Falcon to Lando), it might not be overly problematic to effectively insert this audio line in somewhere. For example, right at the end of their conversation, before they part ways:

LANDO
Look, would you get going, you pirate.

Han and Lando pause, then exchange salutes.

 

This could become:


LANDO
Look, would you get going, you pirate.

Han and Lando pause.

HAN
[Hey]...Thanks...for comin' after me.

Then they exchange salutes.

 

Notice here that I'm changing the inflection slightly with some minor pauses, and maybe even lifting an appropriate 'hey' from Han (he says this word numerous times throughout the trilogy, including in ROTJ, so it hopefully shouldn't be too hard to find the right one) to initiate the thanks. This way, we get a a better resolution on the betrayal-redemption-gratitude-forgiveness arc of these characters' story.

The only issue I can see is, Han's dialogue is heard over a com-link in Luke's X-Wing, and so sounds a little quiet and slightly garbled. But sufficient audio editing could solve this problem, I'd imagine.

 OK, SOMETHING like this has to be done!...this idea could very well work.

I agree with SSWR.  That's a neat idea.

Could yoda's death be shorter. It seemed like he was milking it. I mean he dies then he goes Luke luke their........is...another...........skywa...ker... I cant help but think god whould ya hurry up and die.

I know the perfect hey. where he says Hey you lost her to me fair and square.

HAS THIS BEEN DISCUSSED could we have boba fett crawl out of the pit of sarlaac all torn up and press a button on his suit and have the slave 1 come and pick him up. then have him in the middle of the battle of endor. All we need is someone who has a perfect boba fett costume. And we dont really need him to talk coz he is boba fett. That would be uber badass. Coz even in the EU he crawls out of sarlacc. It has been discussed I believe but I dont know if has been disscussed like that. But we know boba fett wants revenge coz boba fett is pissed about everything.

yeah but he sold his landspeeder so isnt it easier just to go in his xwing.

Here is a mix of my and chainsaws ideas

I would almost piss in my pants if I saw Boba Fett crawling out of sarlacc and calling his ship via his arm band Check wookiieepedia his armour contacts his ship. And have him blast out.

Then chainsaws idea have him sell the plans to the rebels. BUT REMEMBER TO REMOVE MON MOTHMAS LINE ABOUT PEOPLE DYING TO GET THE PLANS.

Then here is another idea have him head toward the death star remember to play his theme (It is called attacking a star destroyer on the ESB soundtrack) BUT just leave it at him going. This will be before the battle begins. Make it seem like he was working for the emperor but suspensfuly. Any way to have him in the movie more is a good thing.

Here is a take it or leave it thing. We could have boba fett get tangled into the battle of endor and attack the millenium falcon thinking that all of the rebels (han LUKE leia and chewie) are on the ship BUT get plucked by one of the rebels. and either make him eject from his ship because his armour holds oxygen and jetpack away. DIE. or his ship spin away ripping off A New Hope.