So now the question is how to implement many of these things. While some think I held the vote too early, I'm not going to be around enough to keep the energy going, and we already have a bunch of things to do. Let's examine the things we want to do:
Fismanlee, you said you had musical friends, one who used to be a member here. Can you ask him/them to join our team. It'd be good to have someone implement this music in some way. There's not a huge hurry because music should probably come last when the timing of the edit is all worked out, but if you could at least get him involved or interested, it'd be nice to have that help committed?
The Death Star Theme, and possibly other ANH themes can be woven in around the Death Star and in conjunction with Imperial March. In many ways I feel like they are two sides of the same coin, both serving as themes to the Empire in ANH and ESB. In ROTJ, it'd be nice to see them working together.
Swing Swing Swing still needs discussion. A lot of people wanted to keep Lapti Nek. I actually prefer the English version on From Star Wars to Jedi better. But I would probably prefer another song altogether. Lapti Nek won out over Jedi Rocks, but still folks are open to replacing it, so composing a new piece or finding a suitable replacement (maybe already found in Swing x3) should still be explored
I know I already voted, but I think MrInsaneA is selling me on Duel of the Fates, even if it is only a subtle motif. If this is to be implemented we would again need a composer.
I'm interested in what alternate composition would work in place of the '97 celebration music. Frankly I really like that music and don't see a need for something else. And the 97 music won, but the completely new music suggestion was never even brought up, so I'm interested in what ideas people have.
Coruscant was not popular in many cases. The only one that barely made it was an opening scene to steal the DSII plans from there. I think that means we should discuss it before we actually start filming anything, but those who advocate the idea might want to start researching how to obtain costumes and the like.
Some liked the idea of a different means of stealing the plans with a space battle, but I received several comments saying they didn't want a rehash of the ANH opening. So while this item lost, it's not necessarily gone for good, and its advocates should probably devise a new means of establishing a scene where the plans are stolen.
The most popular opening was having Vader first, then go to Dagobah, then go to Tatooine. That's fine, but I worry that some decent bridge between the two would be needed to signify time has passed. It could be another scene. Or perhaps simply some way of showing the flight away from Dagobah and the arrival at Tatooine, plus the very popular Beggar's Canyon idea. Maybe it would be enough. But someone really needs to think through how to implement this story-wise with existing footage or easily created material.
Ray_afraid's idea of Executor, Dagobah, Death Star, Tatooine was a winner, but nearly as popular. It seems to solve the above mentioned problem, but also seems to create other problems related to pacing. For instance, to show the Executor near the Death Star, the Vader in his meditation chamber trying to reach Luke...doesn't seem to be a proper intro to the third film in the franchise. We've got to become reacquainted with Vader, seeing him looking out the bridge window and then marching to his chamber, for instance. Another problem involves the fairly lengthy time on Dagobah, then returning to Vader's shuttle finally arriving at the Death Star. What took him so long to get from ship to station? I like this idea, but these are simply concerns that might need explaining.
Boushh was an interesting idea, and one that might be discussed further if we do include a Coruscant surface plans heist, but it did not win and maybe we should just move on.
I'm not fond of the plans arriving to the Rebel Alliance, but it won the vote pretty significantly. We need to fill out that idea if we are to implement it. How will the plans get to Mon Mothma or the Alliance? If we do include it, it almost seems to require a new opening scene of their being stolen. But it does serve to fill in between Dagobah and Tatooine, which we need.
So how will Luke close the Rancor gate? The suggestion was to have a close up of his eyes closing, some Force theme music, and the gate collapsing. It could be enough, but we have to make sure it doesn't break the pace of an otherwise intense scene.
Looks like few like the Sarlaac beak but enjoyed the more mobile tentacles. Aalenfae had the very interesting idea to change his old rubber throat to some real looking throat like you see in those nasogastric camera videos. I thought that was a cool idea.
Most wanted Max Rebo's band removed, but a few wanted it kept, and again there was a suggestion to simply make them more realistic. In my mind, if someone is willing to film similar looking but better costumes/puppets, or if someone is willing to animate or new ones, or if someone can simply digitally improve the existing ones, this may be the way to go. That could be a compromise, or we may have to simply cut them.
Most want a tougher Vader. The primary way I can think of to do this was suggested by...I can't remember, but have Vader choke Jerjerrod and then demand to see the Emperor now (or saying nothing) instead of awaiting his convenience. I personally prefer demanding to see him now, because he not only looks tougher towards his underling, but he is clearly standing up to his boss as well. I think someone with a deep voice can say the line, and we can digitally filter it to give it the JEJ/Vader quality.
Most want to keep Boba Fett, though cutting him was pretty popular. But there was more debate about what to do to him than any other discussion point. So what do we do? Many wanted him to live. How would we show this? My thought would be to include him taking off in Slave I during the part where we see that frog thing catch the rat during the Tatooine sunset. But that also leaves a loose thread that the story almost begs to tie up before the end of the film. How would we tie it up? How else could we keep him alive? There was also a very close vote to have him die a cooler death, being killed (decapitated) by Luke, mirroring his father's death. I can see how this might be easier to pull off, having Luke behead him when he cuts his blaster. But he still seems to be going down like a punk, as someone said. How else could we have Luke get him. Ronster had some interesting ideas. How could we more successfully edit them into the battle, if that's the route we take? What digital changes would we have to make (i.e. to have Fett be the one who shoots Luke in the hand)?
People also wanted Han to deliberately hit his pack. Could this be pulled off? How would this play into the other ideas?
People also wanted Fett to do more. How could we successfully implement these things? I'm not opposed to them as long we can do them and have the people able and willing to do them. When would we include a flame-throwing Fett, for instance? What about having him shoot out of Sarlaac's mouth? Can that even be successfully pulled off?
We need to start gathering sounds to dub the Ewoks. They need to growl and sound more vicious and less cute. The language thing also was popular. This didn't mean to have them chattering in Basic/English, but simply to say stuff to each other so we remember that these are intelligent creatures. Where could we find a suitable Ewok language/possible replacement?
Most wanted Ewok's first visit to be removed, or at least shortened. I think Spence had the right idea, showing Wicket's feet, and showing Leia on the ground, and leaving the rest to our imagination. What do you guys think? The helmets in the village were very popular. I don't think it'd be too hard to pull that off digitally, and the helmets being hit during the celebration can be used as well.
Most wanted to keep the present format of cutting between the various battles during the climax, but there were some interested in changing it. I think it's a decided issue, especially since cutting between the three makes all three battles feel shorter and less intense, and it removes the simultaneous climactic moments.
The ships thing is a big dilemma. Practically everyone wanted more Mon Cal cruisers. Few said they specifically wanted Victory star destroyers, though aalenfae indicated willingness to include them or something like them. But many simply said "yes" to the vote for the mentioned ships, so I assumed they meant both Mon Cals and Victories. Mention was made of other ships as well, which I think would be cool, such as B-wings (which I think most agree with) and other Rebel vessels. Would this all be CGI? Is anyone willing to construct and film real models? What ships will we use? I think this needs much more discussion. I hope the Home One is larger than all the other Mon Cal cruisers.
Killing Madine was very popular. I've offered a means of doing this. Any other thoughts? Anyone want to create a rough edit of how it could be shown?
Y-wings actually serving as bombers was quite popular. This would probably require CGI. This again seems to fit with my recommendation for the heavier armored Y-wings, but that goes with the above comments.
The majority want Lando to live. But people are torn on how to make it appear as if he dies. Any thoughts? I think the easiest way to do this would simply be to drag out his exit, taking brief clips from the flight to the DSII core and putting them at the exit, having the flames surround him further, making it take longer for him to come out, and finally show him spewing from the flaming exit point. This would only need a few extra seconds, maybe a line to Wedge like, "There are flames all around me! We're not going to make it!" Pause, no exit, flames erupting from DSII exit, then finally a more severely scorched Falcon bursts out shouting, "Yeehaa!"
Anakin's Force ghost at the pyre scene was voted down. What were you guys thinking?! Actually, there was a suggestion to show it at both the celebration and the pyre. Also, I believe aalenfae is working on a mock up, but if most people oppose, he may just have to share it with those who liked it and wanted to keep it and we can put it in our own versions.
It shouldn't be too hard to put the pyre scene at the end after the celebrations, but it would be nice to see a mock up. It remains on Tatooine.
I'm trying to get everyone's wheels turning because we can discuss the story for the rest of our lives and never accomplish anything. I think we need to start actually making the movie. The biggest holdups should be the time-consuming CGI. I think we can complete several of these ideas early on and make a framework for the movie that the CGI additions can fill in. Please provide your thoughts.