The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 223

Heard back from Yads and he was fine with it so I have gone ahead and uploaded a very rough mock-up of what I was discussing earlier on Youtube.  Thanks for all the tips too guys - much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09brn4FDReM

Changing the order of the fight so that it occurs just after they enter Mos Espa isn't that difficult a task - I used the same sort of trick that others have used to have it occur instead of the Sebulba/Anakin scene.  What I'm unsure of is whether or not the lightsaber reveal could be massaged into working here, in this scene, or not.

Any audio issues are my fault as a result of playing around with introducing the fight sounds as well as trying to synch up the lighsaber reveal to an appropriate point in Qui-Gon's dialogue.

it works... I would somehow to try to cut before Anakin turns away.... And also you would have to remove the mentioning of his name. Not a shabby idea at all though.

Nice mockup coinilius. I'm not really sure, but at some point, I think Anakin says "Hey wait" or something like that during the movie. Maybe you could put that into the scene as he follows Qui-Gon after he breaks up the fight.

Maybe I missed it, but why the change in Anakin's introduction? What's wrong with the one as it is (yippies and Jar Jar's antics aside)?

And why so keen on introducing Anakin in a fight scene? TPM Anakin is the only true "good" Anakin we get. He's a brat in AOTC and serial killer in ROTS. I'd like to think that at least at *some* point Anakin was a good guy :p

It cuts to the chase that way.

You learn that Anakin is a slave, that Watto owns him and his mum, that Watto uses him to race pods, that Watto may be tricked into giving the ship parts to Qui-Gon using his weakness to gambling.

Everything you need to learn about Anakin you can learn by Qui-Gon being lured home by Anakin.

On top of that Anakin transforms into a clever manipulator, he senses what Qui-Gon needs and turns it to his advantage and not the other way round.

Oh and it avoids the yippies, Jar-Jar antics and the "Are you an Angel?" nonsense too.

Bingowings said:

It cuts to the chase that way.

You learn that Anakin is a slave, that Watto owns him and his mum, that Watto uses him to race pods, that Watto may be tricked into giving the ship parts to Qui-Gon using his weakness to gambling.

Everything you need to learn about Anakin you can learn by Qui-Gon being lured home by Anakin.

On top of that Anakin transforms into a clever manipulator, he senses what Qui-Gon needs and turns it to his advantage and not the other way round.

Oh and it avoids the yippies, Jar-Jar antics and the "Are you an Angel?" nonsense too.

Hmmm. Very true.

wow

I'm sold. I love that new intro too. I also like the idea of adding in the "hey wait" as they are walking away together.

The editing was also excellent considering it was rough. I think the only bits that stood out were the light saber adjustment and the kids were a little loud in the beginning.

awesome change though.

Thanks for the comments guys...

mrbenja0618: I tried fiddling around with the lightsaber reveal footage a bit but it definately still needs work - I tried cutting before he turns around but thought it then went by to quickly, but leaving in the head doesn't seem right either... have to try working with it more.  The lightsaber reveal shot needs to be colour corrected as well, not to mention something would need to be done with the back of the old lady's head in the side of the shot.

Silverwook: What Bingowings said, basically :D It seems an interesting way to get the story going more quickly, plus there is a certain iconic-ness to it - or at least the idea of it - that seems appealing. Qui-Gon is like a gunslinger wandering into a small frontier town and breaking up a fight between the local boys, briefly flashing his piece so one of them recognises what he is... it also immediately presents a relationship between Qui-Gon and Anakin. 

But I think it needs to be seen in the context of other scenes as well though, to really see how it holds up.  I really like the idea of using some 'hey wait up' dialogue - would help explain why Anakin is following along so closely behind Qui-Gon at the end - although I still think that maybe the Sebulba/Jar-Jar scene might still need to be there, or some dialogue and footage cribbed from it to further help sell the intro...

Bingowings: Spot on - but this was inspired by an earlier post of yours after all, so yeah - I always love reading the more radical ideas you put forward, they can be very inspiring

DF Shadow/Angel: Thanks - there are few audio problems and the lighsaber footage still needs to be worked on, but that's what these rough mock-ups are for, right, to get the ideas out there and see how they work :)

BarBar Jinks: Yeah conveying the idea that they don't have anything to trade with is something I was thinking about with this edit - if you go straight from them entering Mos Espa to them meeting Anakin to them going to his house, it doesn't seem like they have done any 'shopping around' to find out about the scrap merchants being greedy... although I think that might also be one of those points that the new faster pace would help gloss over

I like coinilius' new intro but obviously the dialogue of Jinn calling him Annie would have to be changed to something else.

And I hate the idea that particular rodian is Greedo. Loathe it. Too many connections.

Barbar Jinks: Something like that could work - would have to make sure Wattoo and Anakin aren't in  the shot though

shanerjedi: Yep, I just didn't have the skills to attempt removing Qui-Gon calling him Anakin - it would obviously have to go.  Also, I'm with you on the Greedo issue - In an actual edit I would leave the Rodian's unsubtitled so it's easier for him to be a random Rodian 

Also, back on the lightsaber reveal and how to make it work better... maybe if it was cut before Anakin turns around, but somekind of fanfare was added to the soundtrack at that point, like what it has in the theatrical cut  - also let Qui-Gon say his bit like he would in the original cut of the scene as well and add the lightsaber reveal after he finishes talking.

Does anyone else get tired of seeing Tatooine in film after film of this series?

Man it's dull.

I kinda like Tattooine myself, but agree that it's seen to excessively.

It doesn't help when you have Geonosis looking almost the same but red instead of yellowish/orange.

There have already been many stabs at making Geonosis less Tatooine like but It could go the other way what if  Tatooine in TPM was turned into Geonosis?

The Geonosians enjoy gladitorial combat so maybe they could like podracing as well.

Both are backwater worlds.

The Hutts could be putting up slaves to start their droid factories up.

It's a long stretch with a lot of story alterations to think about (how does Shmi end up in a Tusken camp does she move to Tatooine with her husband? In which case how does Anakin learn about this and know the place well enough to track her if he hasn't been there before? etc).

Just another crazy idea to throw at you to see what comes of it.

Bingowings said:

It doesn't help when you have Geonosis looking almost the same but red instead of yellowish/orange.

There have already been many stabs at making Geonosis less Tatooine like but It could go the other way what if  Tatooine in TPM was turned into Geonosis?

The Geonosians enjoy gladitorial combat so maybe they could like podracing as well.

Both are backwater worlds.

The Hutts could be putting up slaves to start their droid factories up.

It's a long stretch with a lot of story alterations to think about (how does Shmi end up in a Tusken camp does she move to Tatooine with her husband? In which case how does Anakin learn about this and know the place well enough to track her if he hasn't been there before? etc).

Just another crazy idea to throw at you to see what comes of it.

Or you could be even crazier and make Tattooine Geonosis the whole time.. Not more Tat....

If it could be done, definitely no more Tattooine! at least not until ROTS. Let's have the universe seem a little bigger.

There was no reason why Anakin had to have been born there anyway, aside from Lucas wanting the movies to rhyme... like poetry...

Could Geonosis be made a lot more interesting, at least visually, with some new matte paintings? Adding in more strange rock formations and those spires could do the trick to set it apart from Tatooine more.

I was thinking that even though TPM is supposed to be the first movie in a series, it never really introduces us to anything. It just assumes we all know what Jedi are or what the Force is. Even Yoda, a character who turns out to be a big player throughout the saga, is never introduced as the important character he is.

Maybe it's an idea to have Qui-Gon explain the Force at some point in the movie, and not the Midichlorian talk he has with Anakin before they leave for Naboo.

It might work if Qui-Gon explains the Force to Jar Jar, while they're riding the sub. It might make the ride in the sub a bit more useful, and expand on Jar Jar as a character. He could be more of a curious character than a clumsy one, and his curiousness is what keeps getting him in trouble and banished.

Dialogue for this scene could be taken from Qui-Gon's original scene with Anakin, and there might be some useful Jar Jar dialogue in the Clone Wars animated series.

You're quite right SilverKey. TPM assumes way too much of the audience, which generally tends to be the problem with prequels: Temple of Doom and the Magician's Nephew book to name some. I think the JarJar/force explanation is better, as it lets the audience know earlier in the movie and makes more narrative sense.

SilverKey said:

I was thinking that even though TPM is supposed to be the first movie in a series, it never really introduces us to anything. It just assumes we all know what Jedi are or what the Force is.

Well,

SilverKey said:

I was thinking that even though TPM is supposed to be the first movie in a series, it never really introduces us to anything. It just assumes we all know what Jedi are or what the Force is.

Well, of course it doesn't introduce us to anything, it ISN'T the first movie in a series. It's the fourth. Hence it's a prequel, meaning it was made after another movie but it takes place before. It assumes knowledge of the previous movies. Just because it takes place before doesn't mean it has to begin all over again with introductions to things that virtually everyone going to see it already knew about.

No one in 1999 was going to see The Phantom Menace wondering what it was about. They went to see it because it was a new Star Wars movie. So the introduction to the universe would be unnecessary.