The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 158

I kind of like the concept of Anakin having a dream of Vader killing Padme. In some way he sees the futur, but don't understand it (could mirror Yoda's teaching in ESB, "difficult to see the future is"). It could even make that horrible "Nooooooo!" line works (not that I want to keep it!) because he realises (and the audience too) that not only the dream happened but he was that masked man. He knew it but did not understand. There is no way to escape to the dark side: even if you think you're doing the right thing it will turn bad. I think it is already more or less Lucas's vision of the story, but if we want to follow that same idea (but maybe we don't want!) it would be more effective with this dream part. But it's tricky...

so...like Minority Report?

I was thinking, what if Qui-Gon had never brought Anakin back to Coruscant? Or just left him there longer. How would it affect the plot?  

Having Qui-Gon leaving the dangerous "chosen one" behind, would secretly make Qui-Gon the true Phantom Menace. 

Having only Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan know about the boy, then the death of Qui-Gon, it leaves it up to Obi-Wan to takes things upon himself to go back for him and train the boy.  The way it should of been.  Obi-Wan should be resposible for the tragedy. This would really help alot of consistency issues throughout the saga, and possiby make some scenes later in ROTS and ANH a little more ironic and emotional.

Im not really sure when to bring Anakin back into the film, but somehow someway make Obi-Wan be the one who is ultimatly responsible for the tragedy of Anakin, not a character that doesnt really need to be in the movie. 

If this was ever done correctly, I can see this really helping the plot in TPM. 

This is just a basic idea that can really be built on I feel.

I already posted this in my project thread, but here's my alternate take on Episode I's opening crawl (inspired largely by Magnoliafan's, but with bits of the original and the overall format maintained to a degree):

*deleted due to glitching*

I stumbled onto a program that generates customizeable Star Wars opening crawls last night, and have been fooling around with it. In addition to being a fun novelty, the results it delivers are top-rate and pretty much indistinguishable from the real deal. I highly reccomend it! It is a mac program though, so those of you still bound to the Windows Empire may need to ask some of your hip artsy friends to run it for you. ;)

http://alienryderflex.com/crawl/

I used it for my mockup crawls, the planned Windows version hasn't materilised yet.

Sorry about that. It's fixed now. You really shouldn't be using Explorer anyway, though!

Anyway, I've come across a bit of a problem with the opening crawl editor. Apparently whoever programmed it accidentally made the typeset on it too big, which causes some problems if you are trying to make a typical length opening crawl timed to the John Williams theme since it means that the paragraphs will be longer, and take longer to move across the screen.

It's a nifty option for people who are working with limited resources or don't need that extra bit of accuracy, but sadly, it's an imperfect option for people who need a full length prologue.

I've been reading through large portions of this thread, and I see a lot of discussions about lightsaber colors.

I just thought I'd throw my two cents in. :)

First of all, the Jedi, by the time of the PT, were generally using 3 colors, based on what type of Jedi they were. (Note that Mace Windu was an exception)

Wookieepedia has an interesting entry about lightsaber colors. "Around 4,000 BBY, lightsaber crystals were used to indicate a Jedi's chosen class. Blue indicated a Jedi Guardian, a Jedi who used the Force on a more physical level. Green indicated a Jedi Consular, a Jedi who preferred to ponder the mysteries of the Force and fight the dark side at its heart. Yellow indicated a Jedi Sentinel, a Jedi who honed their skills in a balance of combat and scholarly pursuits."

So, if any lightsaber recoloring is to be done, I think one thing that would be cool is to make some of the Jedi's sabers on the Geonosis arena battle yellow. That way, we can say that some Jedi Sentinels were there too, not just Guardian's and Consulars.

Now, Mace's saber color is a total exception to this. According to Wookieepedia, Mace "...informed the Council that he wanted a true challenge in order to find the best pieces for his lightsaber. After considering this, the Council sent Windu on his own to the world of Hurikane. While on this mission, Windu was at first chased away by the natives that resided there, but was easily able to resist them using the Force. When he caused one of the fragile natives to shatter, he sobered, and painstakingly restored it using the Force. Learning a valuable lesson about being a Jedi, the natives rewarded him with a violet-colored special crystal. He used this crystal to construct the lightsaber he had seen in his visions and it produced its distinctive violet blade."

So, imho, taking away Mace's purple saber would be an injustice to his character. :P lol

Anyway, that's just my two cents. XD

Exactly. Mace having a rare colored saber says something unique about his character, so I would not want it to go.

I don't have that problem.

For me Star Wars is foremost a cinematic experience and the EU explanation is merely a fictional explanation for Lucas pandering to the blingish whims of Sam.

Well, that's true. I just don't see how that is necessarily a bad thing. lol Another thing is, keep in mind that Mace Windu was the most experienced duelist among the Jedi. Having a special colored saber also ties in with that. I mean, lets face it, he disarmed Palpatine! Not even Yoda managed to do that. lol

I dunno. I mean, I know you're right in that all those explanations are just fictional while the real reason behind the purple saber is simply that Sam Jackson wanted a purple one, so they gave him one. But, like I said, imho, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. lol

^ True on both Crawford and RR. And on that note, would you really want to be branded as the man who took away Master Mofo's favorite lightsaber? ;^)

Anyway, after tinkering with after effects all night, I've finally been able to create a opening crawl template that is close enough to pass for the real thing. It look a lot of trial and error to get the timing and the angle of the text just like it was in the movie, but I think the results were worth it. Now that I've successfully re-created Episode 1's opening crawl, I can actually do the fun part and replace it with the text that I'd prefer to see! :)

Also, I'll probably make this available for ether FE'ers to use in the near future. After all the frustration I went through of trying (in vain) to find a suitable pre-made template, I'm sure someone out there will appreciate it. :P

There we go. :)

I wish you would share.. Just make sure the template allows for text editing... No pre-composed text. =)

I created the text in Adobe Illustrator, but it would still be pretty easy to provide an AI document with a piece of example text provided that can be edited as desired. Maybe I'll upload my templates later today, after I've gotten some shut-eye... :P

BTW, I have made finished-looking title crawl based on what I want to do with my Episode I edit! You can watch it on Youtube. And remember, this was all done in Illustrator and After Effects-- no recycled footage from the movie here (except for the star field, which was ripped from Episode I for consistency's sake)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJWrwwBVbJ8

Thought the Star Wars title was a bit rushed, but looked great otherwise. Good work!

Rushed as in it moved too fast, or rushed as in it looked crappy? :P

In addition to making further tweaks to the timing on the opening crawl, I discovered I could get much sharper looking text by doubling up the text layer in After Effects. Yay!

Speed, not quality... Sorry it took me long to respond... Been busy. No, it looks great. Just felt the Star Wars title is a bit fast.

What font is that anyway?

"SWCrawlBody," although "Franklin Gothic Demi (Bold)" works too (but it's really hard to get without paying). The title is a font called 'SWCrawlTitle'.

Further to the idea that Dooku is a rogue Jedi fighting a Sith run Republic, it might be a good idea to redub Grievous so he become almost an antiVader.

He worships Dooku as being the last true Jedi (defending the weak).

The Seperatists fight mostly with droids (keeping the organic civilians away from the battle).

He sees the use of clone armies as state sanctioned slavery and the Jedi council as corrupt puppets of a Sith regime they don't acknowledge existing.

He doesn't collect sabers just as trophies but also keeping them for a future time after the war when Dooku can train a new council of Jedi who will stamp out slavery and corruption.

When Dooku is killed, rather than mocking the Jedi he is outraged at them and is driven to avenge his death.

Turning Grievous into less of a pantomime villain and more of a reflection of the creature Anakin is soon to become.

You could almost turn him into a mouthpiece for every detractor's criticism for how the Jedi are portrayed in the PT.

The scenes where he receives messages from Sidious could then change to him trying to keep the Seperatist council together only to get a mocking message from the Sith Lord.

Blurring the line between hero and villain more.

That's actually a pretty cool idea, and would probably compliment the changes in Dooku's character well. I'm not sure how well it'd work with my own cut though, since I intend to portray the Niemodians as pro-slavery so as to make Episode I's plot more compelling. Still, a cool idea.

BTW, what do you guys think about adding music to the pod race in Episode I? I myself have mixed opinions about it. On the one hand, having no music really makes the scene an audio showpiece which I really dig, because your attention is on the thunderous roar of the Pod engines, and it's not unprecidented to have a SW action scene with no music (the duels in A New Hope, and more successfully in Empire Strikes Back). However, I really love Joel McNeely's Beggar's Canyon Chase theme, and I think the song compliments the pod race well (although like I said, it takes a bit of a focus off of the sound effects).