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The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 218

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doubleofive said:

 

teharri said:


I love the color of those new TPM screen caps.
Those are screencaps of a youtube video of a consumer camera pointed at a screen on a Star Wars In Concert stage. It is not indicative of actual coloring.

 

I was referring to the fact that the DVD screen does not look as crisp as the consumer camera. I cannot be the only one who can see the difference.

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CG Yoda isn't really bad at all when he's not flipping around like a weirdo. At the very least, I can understand why they went with CG, the puppet just wasn't working.

And jeez you're right the TPM transfer is awful.

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I agree Quackula, I never disliked CG Yoda either, except in the fights, which simply shouldn't have happened.

The TPM transfer isn't very good, but of the prequels it feels like the most like a Star Wars movie to me. Might be because of the use of more real world locations and sets, but also because most of it wasn't shot digitally and the film makes the movie look more 'alive'. Everything in AOTC and ROTS, no matter set, model or CGI looks plastic.

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 (Edited)

I don't think it has much to do with whether it was shot digitally (there are plenty of really grimy movies that were shot digitally, OT looking stuff could've been done easily and probably would've looked great), it's just all visual design problems with AOTC and ROTS.

Everything had to look hyper-slick for some reason. Wonder if it might've had something to do with Lucas overcompensating for losing the visual effects academy award to The Matrix?

 

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you know how so many Clones have customized armor variations and paint in ROTS (to sell more toys obviously)... it seems to me that the first thing a trooper might do would be to remove an elbow or knee pad here or there. those knee pads look mighty uncomfortable.

you know kind of leading and influencing the design of Stormtrooper armor. so that could be an easier change. it just seems silly with all the modifications no trooper thought to remove those pads.

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   Apropo of nothing,

   If 3PO belonged to Padme's family, instead of being built by Ani, he could be traded to Watto in exchange for the slave's (echo ROTJ.) Could then be bought by Lars along with Shmi.

    The continuity error with Owen never bothered me. I didn't notice it while watching the film. I've rationalized it away by thinking Owen didn't live at the farm, he was only an occasional visitor to that very remote place.

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Droids are pretty much like washing machines in the Star Wars universe.

Owen's initial rejection of Threepio could be down to having one for a bit and not being that impressed (and then buying him anyway because his wife keeps using Luke as a proxy nag-o-phone).

Obi-Wan's droid fib (and yes he is prone to lying through his teeth thanks to George's many retcons) doesn't make any sense at all.

What does Kenobi hope to gain by either not telling the truth or perhaps being an uber-pedant?

OBI-WAN said :

I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid...very interesting. I was on first name terms with a few, including one that looks exactly like this one...funny little fella we used to call him Artoo but I never actually owned one. 

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 (Edited)

From The Phantom Edit onwards most editors have removed the sea monsters from TPM arguing with validity that in the context of the scene they did nothing and the sequence was little more than an effects showreel.

What if Jar-Jar was redubbed and instead of being worried about what his own people would do to him and his new Jedi friends he was instead worried about the creatures that the Gungans use as natural protection for their city?

That way when Jar-Jar and the Jedi dive to the Gungan city they could menaced by the creatures without even the limited protection of the sub and the creatures would serve a story purpose.

Naturally it would require a lot of editing and creating new shots by scaling down existing shots of the trio diving and swimming (and using CGI and/or actors for wide shots) so it would not be an easy idea to use but it would preserve some of what Lucas had in mind while giving it tangible story value.

The Gungans could call off the attack themselves and allow them free passage past the creatures after they have been given the sub.

Adding a lake to the Gungan battle field could give the Gungans the opportunity to call one of these creatures during their battle with the droids adding extra value to their existence in the story.

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How could the PT be rescored? I've been hearing some OST lately and I just realised that unlike the OT, PT mostly lacks of leitmotivs, which made the OT so particular. So while I was hearing, I thought well, there's a lot of material there, why not to just set it up in a different way:

Duel of Fates could be the Good vs Evil theme.

Battle of the Heroes is way too monumental for a duel, it could be the Jedi Order's theme (and in a minor way, ObiWan's theme)

Across the Stars well, it already is the love theme for the PT

Reccuperate the SW main title's melody as a leitmotiv inside the movies (It was mainly used in ANH, like in the bridge scen in the Death Star)

The Emperor's theme should be more present

Establish the Imperial March only for the Empire (cut it from AOTC)

Republic/Senate should have a theme (not a march).

And once you have it all organised in your mind, start experimenting with the music. Like the choral part of battle of the heroes in the order 66 scene, or even leaving some scenes unscored (someone posted a video of how would the duel of Anakin and Obiwan look if it was musicless

 

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There are some pretty common ideas to editing the prequels which are hard to do (to the point I dont think they have been done in an edit - but may be wrong) but which most people agree would be good if they could be done.

Such as:

- giving Obi Wan another apprentice so that that apprentice can be assumed to be Vader and thus maintain the reveal in ESB

- having Maul become Grievous so that we the PT villians arent always swapping and changing.

- bringing the original look Vader into the PT - possibly to help maintain the secracy of his identity. 

Originally I tried to use these ideas as rules to form ideas for how the PT should be remade (because I didnt think an edit could achieve this), but I'm starting to change my mind.

For example, if Maul and Grievous are the same character, and he was once taught by Obi Wan, and Grievous was made to look more like an early version of Vader's armour then this would achieve the examples mentioned above.  It would require a lot of editing of the look of Grievous but I think it would be worth it. 

The only downside is I cannot think of a way to show Maul as Obi Wan's apprentice without them being flashback scenes of some kind.  Either as a dream or a straight flashback, but either way it doesn't seem very Star Warsy.  However, that asside here is the basic outline for Episode 1 using this idea. 

The opening crawl states how Naboo is a peaceful planet being attacked by a Trade Federation (possibly just called the Federation) who are aiming to imprison the people and sell them as slaves.  Two jedi, posing as ambassadors, are attempting to help free Naboo. 

The film would then begin as normal but a remove the attempted gassing and have a direct attack on the door in an attempt to reach Gunray.  When this fails they retreat to the surface.  There they meet Binks who is a Gungan scout sent from a neighbouring planet.  He agrees to help and using his ship the Jedi reach the palace.  At the palace they rescue the Queen but learn that all communications are being jammed. 

Ideally there would be a scene here where the Naboo forces with the help of the jedi destroy the communications jammer, but I dont think there would be sufficient footage.  So somehow they manage to make a communication to the Chancellor (Palpatine) who says that the situation is being discussed and that the Republic will resolve the issue in time. 

Obi Wan has bad dreams about his former apprentice who was lost and presumed killed on a previous mission (through no fault of Obi Wan), the apprentice would look like a very young Maul.  Ideally the two Jedi would be Obi Wan and Anakin though this may prove impossible but for simplicity of explanation lets assume it can be done and that Obi Wan and Anakin in this film look how they look in AotC.  Obi Wan would tell Anakin about how he has had a vision that Maul did not die but was taken by another jedi who he recognises as Dooku (a jedi who left the order years ago). 

Binks informs the small Naboo force that he has received communications from the Gungans who have sent an attack force along with Bail Organa from Alderaan, in the hope that their alliance can defeat the Federation.  The Gungans then land to draw the droid army away from the city, the Alderaan fighters (which are the yellow Naboo fighters in the original) then attack the Federation blockade.  Together they win as per tPM, but in trying to retake the palace the jedi encounter Maul who engages them.  In this edit Qui Gon and Dooku would essentally be merged so that footage of Qui Gon fighting Maul in the desert could be a flashback of a sparring and training session.  Neither of the Jedi would end up dying and Obi Wan would eventually defeat Maul as in tPM (though he wouldnt fall in half, just a shallow slice through the stomach and a long fall). 

Then after the fights are resolved a few extra scenes.  Firstly Bail would address the Gungans and possibly others (Ackbar perhaps) suggesting how these alliances are necessary if the Republic won't protect its planets.  Then perhaps reuse a scene between Palpatine and Amidala from Coruscant but move it to Naboo, where he informs her of the illegality of the formation of alliances for the purposes of war.  Then finally show Dooku lifting the body of Maul, and end on a dark medical lab (like the one on Hoth in ESB) but in the tank is Maul and besides the tank is some armour that looks like a Vader style mask but also with Grievous style armour too.  Then have the scene close with Maul's eyes opening to show he is still alive and being rebuilt. 

 

Without being able to extend any of the scenes (such as the space battle) the runtime would be massively shorter, and unless Qui Gon could be changed to a teenage Anakin then obviously there is the massive plot hole of Anakin not being in it at all.  However, besides that, I think the rest of the things could be shown with existing footage, and perhaps a few shots from other films used as the younger Darth Maul. 

What do you guys think of these ideas?

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It's like the opposite of radical.  It's a slight line variation.

Meh.

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I just don't want to hear about them period. However, the comic was interesting.

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fishmanlee said:

TV's Frink said:

It's like the opposite of radical.  It's a slight line variation.

Meh.

there isnt a thread for PT "Slight line variations" so...

Ooooo burn. =)

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It's Ok Fish.

As far as I'm concerned you post that sort of thing in here, it's may be useful to people contemplating radical edits even though strictly speaking it's not a real shake up idea in of itself.

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 (Edited)

fishmanlee said:

TV's Frink said:

It's like the opposite of radical.  It's a slight line variation.

Meh.

there isnt a thread for PT "Slight line variations" so...

...make one yourself?

Be sure to ask permission in the New Thread Thread.

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A thread for cataloging and archiving dialogue and sound effect variations might be handy for editors.

Perhaps it would be better if they were incorporated into Brash's archive.

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I don't know, that's not very radical.  People have been making edits for quite some time now.

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TV's Frink said:

I don't know, that's not very radical.  People have been making edits for quite some time now.

But yet, can be radical. This could be the single greatest advice given on these forums... Until now.

"Make it faster with more intensity!"

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I've just posted this on bobgarcia's thread but it's important enough for general consideration.

A number of key scenes on Separatist ships and installations revolve around astrodroid lug-in points (the droid factory in AOTC, the hanger bay in ROTS) but I can't remember seeing a single droid of that kind on any of their ships.

In TPM there are the little droids seen walking around (presumably as workers) but they don't seem to have the necessary attachments.

In the OT R2 Units are pretty much everywhere, the Empire, the Rebels and the general population have them.

In the PT civilians and the Republic use them, so why would the Separatists be any different (The Feds have the same protocol droids as the other Republic members)?

Replacing some of the battledroids with more mundane droids would make sense in places where troops are not needed.