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Kenobi: Faraday Cut (WORKPRINT V3 RELEASED)

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 (Edited)

I set out to make a rough workprint of cutting Obi-Wan Kenobi down to its shortest possible runtime while still retaining the key story beats of the original, as a resource for other editors to build fanedits off. But while I was doing it, I couldn’t resist starting to also tinker with a handful of scenes and lines of dialogue, so, it’s a Faraday Cut now! My current goal is just to get a workprint that I’m happy with, and then eventually I’ll smooth the audio into a “proper” fanedit.

I’ve really ripped the guts out of this thing and turned a five-hour miniseries into a movie that clocks in at two hours before credits, but I haven’t significantly altered the narrative, its structure, or its themes from the original. It’s basically the same stuff in basically the same order, just a significantly shorter runtime and a handful of quality-of-life edits. You can really tell this thing was originally written as a movie and then swapped to a TV series at some point relatively late in the writing process. A changelog would be impractical due to how much I’ve removed, so instead here’s, uh, a samelog of what’s left, in order:

  • Cold open showing Order 66.
  • Open on Obi-Wan looking through his binoculars at the Lars Homestead.
  • Obi-Wan leaves the toy Skyhopper outside the door for Luke to find.
  • Obi-Wan sleeps in his cave and has a nightmare, then asks Qui-Gon for help.
  • On Alderaan, Leia watches ships arrive with Lola, until her mother comes and brings her to the function.
  • Bail chats to the other senator at the function, and Leia therapises her rude cousin.
  • Leia gets told off by her parents and agrees to be politic and apologise.
  • Obi-Wan finishes work, rides into town, and Owen tosses the toy Skyhopper at him and tells him to leave them alone.
  • Reva and Fifth Brother arrive; Fifth Brother asks about Jedi, and Reva singles Owen out and threatens him. (The Grand Inquisitor has been entirely cut from the film, and nobody’s rubber prop hands get cut off.) Fifth Brother chastises Reva for her childishness.
  • Leia runs out into the woods after the function, where she is immediately snatched by kidnappers who sneak up on her from behind.
  • Obi-Wan receives a call from Bail, and reluctantly agrees to leave Tattooine to go and rescue Leia.
  • Obi-Wan digs up a box in the middle of the desert, but we don’t see what is inside of it.
  • Obi-Wan hesitates but boards a transport off Tattooine, and we see what he retrieved from the box as he scans his ticket - his lightsaber now hangs from his belt.
  • The transport arrives on Planet Shanghai, and Obi-Wan can no longer track the kidnapper’s ship. A boy tells him about a Jedi who can help.
  • A woman and her son seek help from Haja Estree, who claims to be a Jedi, and who gets them transportation to safety, for a price. Obi-Wan emerges from the shadows after they leave and shows Haja that he knows his “abilities” are parlour tricks; the fake Jedi agrees to help him, and tells him where to find the kidnappers.
  • Obi-Wan sneaks into the kidnappers’ hideout in disguise, beats up one of the thugs, and demands to know where the girl is.
  • Reva arrives at a different part of the hideout and enters.
  • Obi-Wan finds Leia and the two escape into the streets, changing their clothes.
  • Reva finds the defeated henchmen and realises what has happened.
  • Obi-Wan and Leia buy new disguises and Leia therapises “Ben” as they navigate the streets, avoiding bounty hunters and heading towards a cargo port.
  • They arrive at the cargo port, and Reva catches up with them just before they board a cargo ship. She reveals to Obi-Wan that she knows who he is, that Darth Vader is still alive, and that she knows he used to be Anakin Skywalker. Shaken, Obi-Wan escapes on the cargo ship with Leia, where he reaches out through the Force and connects with the scarred and deformed Vader, to his shock. As Vader suits up, he realises that the Sith is now coming for him.
  • In his castle on Mustafar, Vader promises Reva the title of Grand Inquisitor if she brings him Kenobi.
  • Obi-Wan fixes a broken Lola and talks about the Force with Leia. The cargo ship lands on Mapuzo and they sneak offboard. They walk through the fields and discuss the Empire.
  • Reva arrives at Fortress Inquisitorius. She butts heads with Fifth Brother, and insists Kenobi must be on one of the mining planets.
  • Obi-Wan and Leia reach the rendezvous spot but find nobody. Obi-Wan wonders if they should have trusted Haja, but doesn’t flip out about how nobody is trustworthy. Leia flags down Freck’s pickup truck and the two get on board, noticing he has a Trump bumper sticker Imperial flag hanging on the back.
  • Stormtroopers board the truck and there’s a tense scene where Obi-Wan nearly blows their cover by calling Leia by her real name. The stormtroopers disembark, and Obi-Wan has a heartfelt conversation with Leia about neither remembering their birth families.
  • The truck arrives at a checkpoint and Freck tips the stormtroopers off that he thinks Obi-Wan and Leia are suspicious. A probe droid flies in; the troopers force Obi-Wan to raise his head to look at it, but he blows it to pieces with his blaster the instant he looks up (instead of waiting ages for it to get a nice long scan of his face). He fights off the remaining troopers, including one who tries to hold Leia hostage.
  • Obi-Wan deactivates the laser gate, but as he and Leia leave, another Imperial transport arrives. They get down on the ground, but the Imperial officer shoots her own troopers, and they realise she is the contact they’re meant to be meeting.
  • At Fortress Inquisitorius, the probe droid’s signal got through in time, and they have located Obi-Wan. Fifth Brother gloats that he has informed Vader before Reva had the chance.
  • Obi-Wan and Leia wait in a safehouse with their contact, Tala, and the silent loader droid who is the best character on the show. They talk about the Path, but don’t read the walls to namedrop Jedi from the Expanded Universe. Stormtroopers arrive, but leave when they realise the loader droid can’t tell them anything.
  • Tala explains her reasons for defecting from the Empire, and the group make to leave when Obi-Wan senses Vader arriving. Vader senses Kenobi, and pulls a random man from his home and chokes him to try and draw Kenobi out. Obi-Wan insists that Leia leave with Tala, and that he will catch up with them.
  • Vader drops the man and continues down the street, and is about to grab a terrified pair of children when he senses Obi-Wan sneaking away. He catches up to him in a quarry, and the two briefly converse.
  • Reva senses something at the door to the safehouse, and enters the building.
  • Obi-Wan and Vader briefly cross lightsabers; Vader is stronger, and Obi-Wan cuts a ventilation tube and flees through the smoke.
  • Tala and Leia worry that Obi-Wan hasn’t caught up to them yet; Tala heads back to find him and Leia runs on through the tunnel.
  • Vader catches up to Obi-Wan; he knocks over a silo and sets it on fire. In one short and swift movement he picks up Obi-Wan, disarms him, tosses him down and drags him through the coals, then extinguishes the flames. Before stormtroopers can retrieve the injured Obi-Wan, Tala shoots A Flammable Thing and it explodes, allowing the loader droid to rescue him. Vader watches on through the flames.
  • Leia continues through the tunnel, where she runs into Reva, who has killed the pilot she was meant to meet. We smash to black.
  • On a sunny day in the Jedi Temple, a much younger Obi-Wan and his padawan Anakin Skywalker spar for training. Anakin disarms Obi-Wan and gloats that he is finally the better duellist; Obi-Wan simply snatches Anakin’s lightsaber with the Force and pins him, explaining that Anakin’s need to prove himself is his undoing.
  • Obi-Wan awakes from this memory in a bacta tank on Jabiim. The Rebels operating the Path there explain that Leia has been taken to the Fortress Inquisitorius; Obi-Wan and Tala decide to go and rescue her.
  • In the Fortress, Reva enters the room where Leia is being held. She tells her that Obi-Wan was killed on Mapuzo, and nobody is coming for her.
  • On the way to the Fortress, Obi-Wan tries to strengthen his ability to use the Force by pulling a small object across the table, but stops when he notices Tala watching him.
  • Tala’s ship lands and she walks through the Fortress’ main entrance, settling herself at a computer terminal. Obi-Wan enters through an aquatic hatch and knocks out the stormtrooper guarding it. Tala starts to guide Obi-Wan through the Fortress, wondering what the Empire is keeping there.
  • Obi-Wan avoids probe droids and uses the Force to distract two stormtroopers who almost discover him; he makes his way to the secure sector, where he finds that the Empire is keeping hundreds of Force-sensitives frozen in amber under the Fortress.
  • Leia is brought to an interrogation chamber by two stormtroopers and roughly strapped to the interrogation chair.
  • Obi-Wan hears Leia’s screams for help and runs towards her, telling Tala he needs a distraction immediately. She switches off the lights in the interrogation chamber, allowing Obi-Wan to dispatch the two guards easily and free Leia.
  • An officer finds Tala at the computer and realises she isn’t supposed to be there; she has no choice but to go with him as ordered.
  • A probe droid finds Obi-Wan and Leia as they’re escaping. Obi-Wan alerts Tala though the commlink; she knocks out the two stormtroopers escorting her and escapes to find them.
  • Reva sends a squadron of troopers after them. Obi-Wan uses the Force to briefly hold a cracked glass panel in place until Leia and Tala are free; he then allows the water to crash down on the troopers, filling the corridor behind him. Tala gives him a disguise and tells him to hurry.
  • Tala’s ship disappears into the sky as Reva and Fifth Brother watch on. Fifth Brother scoffs in disgust, but Reva seems unconcerned.
  • On the ship, Leia and Obi-Wan share a tender moment as she holds his hand, but in her bag, we see Lola light up with a menacing red eye.
  • Reva arrives on Vader’s star destroyer. She informs him that her tracker is aboard Kenobi’s ship, and she therefore knows exactly where he and the Rebels are hiding. Vader grants her the rank of Grand Inquisitor.
  • Tala’s ship lands back on Jabiim. obi-Wan is surprised to see Haja there; he explains that after their encounter on Planet Shanghai, the Empire was after him and he had to escape himself. The Rebel leader explains to Obi-Wan that they need to get everyone on board the transports and leave now before their route is scrutinised too heavily by the Empire in their search. Evil Lola flies off and starts messing with the base’s wiring.
  • Obi-Wan reads hopeful messages about the Jedi graffitied on the wall and smiles; he finds a box of lightsabers and robes, and puts on a Jedi cloak.
  • Evil Lola causes the base’s stadium roof to close, and Obi-Wan realises Vader has found them.
  • Two ships leave Vader’s star destroyer and land on Jabiim; the Rebels fortify the base as Reva and her stormtroopers arrive to lay siege to it.
  • Leia volunteers to go in the vents, where she begins to fix the wiring. (Even though the wiring is right inside the vent door and an adult could easily just stick their arm in and reach it, but, y’know, whatever, it’s fine.)
  • Obi-Wan asks to talk to Reva as a play for time. He realises that Reva could only know Vader is Anakin if she was a youngling during Order 66, and that she is actually plotting to kill Vader; he offers to work together to defeat him, but Reva angrily asks where Obi-Wan was when Vader was slaughtering her friends. She slices through the blast door and stormtroopers pour in.
  • There is a claustrophobic battle in the tunnels between the stormtroopers and the Rebels, as the Rebels retreat to the ship; it only ends when Tala (and the loader droid!) are fatally wounded, and in her dying breath, Tala uses a thermal detonator to drive the Imperials back.
  • Obi-Wan decides to head back and turn himself over to Reva. He entrusts Haja to take Leia safely back to Alderaan, handing him his lightsaber and the communicator he used to speak to Bail.
  • Evil Lola spies on Leia as she continues to work on the wiring.
  • Troopers lead Obi-Wan to Reva, and he explains that he is surrendering to bring Vader down to the planet where Reva will get a chance to kill him with a surprise attack. Reva agrees, and Obi-Wan is marched back inside.
  • Vader arrives on the planet’s surface and Reva tells him Kenobi is trapped inside.
  • Obi-Wan escapes from his stormtrooper escort and runs towards the Rebels.
  • Evil Lola harasses Leia like an angry bee; Leia removes Reva’s restraining bolt, and Lola’s eye turns back to Good Guy Blue.
  • Vader walks through the tunnels, towards the Rebels.
  • Leia fixes the wiring and the stadium roof opens. Obi-Wan and Leia reunite and the Rebels pour onto the ship; Haja drops Obi-Wan’s communicator in the confusion.
  • Vader arrives at the centre of the Rebel base just in time to watch their ship fly away; as he watches it vanish, Reva sneaks up behind him and strikes to kill him. He stops her arm with the Force, and the two have one of the best lightsaber duels in the franchise; Vader wins, stabs her through the midsection, ridicules her for thinking he wouldn’t have known who she was and her plan all along and have been using it to his advantage, and leaves her on the ground to die.
  • The Rebel leader on the transport informs Obi-Wan that the hyperdrive still needs repair.
  • Reva crawls towards her lightsaber, and finds the communicator Obi-Wan used to talk to Bail on the ground. Obi-Wan senses that something is wrong, and sees a vision of Luke asleep at the Lars Homestead.
  • The transport ship evades star destroyer fire. Obi-Wan tells the Rebel leader that he’s going to fly off in the other direction to draw Vader away and let them escape. He watches Leia calm some of the children down using Lola.
  • On Tattooine, Reva asks a water salesman where to find Owen.
  • Owen and Luke shop for parts in a junk store; the water salesmen tells Owen he has to speak to him.
  • Leia reacts badly to Obi-Wan’s news that he is leaving. Obi-Wan asks Haja again to make sure Leia gets home.
  • Owen arrives at the homestead, and he and Beru prepare to defend their home.
  • Obi-Wan gives Leia Tala’s old holster and says his farewells.
  • Obi-Wan meditates and tries to talk to Qui-Gon, then leaves in the escape pod.
  • Vader orders his star destroyer to follow Obi-Wan, and the Rebels fly away safely.
  • Owen and Beru tell Luke to hide from tusken raiders in the middle of the homestead.
  • Obi-Wan lands on a rocky moon and waits; Vader leaves in his shuttle. Obi-Wan finds Lola in his cloak pocket, and puts her on the ship dashboard before disembarking.
  • Reva approaches the Lars Homestead.
  • Vader lands on the moon; he and Obi-Wan converse, then fight. Nobody hurls copious amounts of rocks at anybody, can you imagine how stupid that would look.
  • Reva sneaks into the Lars Homestead, where Beru and Owen open fire on her.
  • Vader and Obi-Wan continue to fight; Vader knocks Obi-Wan into a crevasse, taunts him, and leaves.
  • Owen tries to stop Reva getting into the middle of the homestead, jamming a metal pole into her abdominal wound. She gets in moments after Luke has fled, and follows after him across the desert.
  • At the bottom of the crevasse, Obi-Wan senses Luke is in danger; this gives him the push he needs to leap out of the pit and bum-rush Vader.
  • Reva chases Luke through a canyon. To Luke, she is simply a cloaked figure pursuing him.
  • Obi-Wan manages to get the upper hand against Vader, damaging his armour and slicing a hole in his mask. They have a conversation that makes the entire rest of the show worth existing, and Obi-Wan leaves the moon in his ship.
  • Luke slips and falls in the canyon, knocking himself out. Reva goes to kill him, but sees flashes of herself as a child where Luke is, and of Anakin and Vader where she stands now. She raises her lightsaber for the kill.
  • Obi-Wan lands at the Lars Homestead and joins Owen and Beru searching for Luke. Reva emerges from the desert carrying Luke, who is unconscious but alive; Owen and Beru take Luke inside. Obi-Wan and Reva talk, and Reva finds closure on her past. She tosses away her Inquisitor lightsaber.
  • In Vader’s castle on Mustafar, the Emperor holo-skypes Vader and insinuates that if he wants to be Darth Vader, he needs to stop being so obsessed with Kenobi so he can fully let go of Anakin Skywalker. Vader agrees.
  • On Alderaan, Leia waits for a transport to disembark, asking her parents whether it’s more cousins she’s been brought to meet. Obi-Wan steps out; he returns Lola, and has a heartfelt conversation with Leia. He tells Bail he’ll be on Tattooine if they ever need his help again; Bail says he hopes that day will never come.
  • On Tattooine, Obi-Wan is dressed in his classic Jedi robes as he packs up his cave. He grabs the toy Skyhopper.
  • Obi-Wan arrives at the Lars Homestead; he has a terse but polite conversation with Owen. Owen asks if he wants to come and meet Luke.
  • Obi-Wan rides off into the desert again, and Qui-Gon’s Force Ghost finally appears and speaks to him. They head off into the sunset together, and we iris to credits.

I guess the full title of this one is really “Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Faraday Cut,” but then the acronym wouldn’t be “KFC”, so.

“It’s like rhymetry. They poem.” - Leorge Gucas

TROS Novelisation: The Faraday Edit, TLJ: Stoic Edition, ROTS: The Faraday Nudge, ROTS Ultracut: Order 66, Kenobi: Faraday Cut, Godzilla Vs Megalon, Godzilla Vs Gigan, Godzilla: Final Wars, The Light Rises, Faraday Jr.'s Star Wars

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Is Reva in the film? I hope not.

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Good stuff, I would love to see how you’ve managed to keep all these beats in and chop it down to 2 hours.

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From the Deepfakes Thread:

Master Lawdog said:

Darth Porg fixed Anakin’s appearance and made the shots available to download in 4K. Link is in the description.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhPmdlUuwOI

Well, I guess a V3 of this workprint is on the way soon!

“It’s like rhymetry. They poem.” - Leorge Gucas

TROS Novelisation: The Faraday Edit, TLJ: Stoic Edition, ROTS: The Faraday Nudge, ROTS Ultracut: Order 66, Kenobi: Faraday Cut, Godzilla Vs Megalon, Godzilla Vs Gigan, Godzilla: Final Wars, The Light Rises, Faraday Jr.'s Star Wars

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Would love to get a link when you get a chance!

I am no Jedi

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Hey CaptainFaraday. Could I get the link please?

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This sounds interesting. Thanks for the extensive listing of edits. May I take a look?

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I’ve got a handful of small changes I want to make for a V4 release:

  • Cutting the scene with Palpatine at the end. I like it, but it’s a better ending for Vader to leave him broken and defeated after the duel the last time we see him.
  • Adding back in Obi-Wan sneaking through the lab on Planet Shanghai (I’ll look up its real name on Wookieepedia someday). It’s too abrupt between Haja saying he’ll help, and Obi-Wan suddenly being in disguise and fighting kidnappers.
  • Frame out the destroyed decoy transport when the Rebels escape Vader on Jabiim. I’ll need a 4K source for Ep. 5 to punch in enough to frame it out.
  • Cut one of the establishing shots of Fortress Inquisitorius. There’s two of them very close together and it feels repetitive.
  • Adding Reva threatening Owen with her lightsaber at the start. I thought it read fine without it, but I now think it makes Fifth Brother’s reaction seem unusual.
  • Cut Reva saying Anakin is alive for a second time while Obi-Wan is meditating; we just heard her say that in the last scene.
  • Cut the brief explanation from Fifth Brother that they’re just supposed to be searching the town on Mapuzo. That’s obvious from context.
  • Cut Vader saying “You cannot run,
    Obi-Wan”, because it’s more impactful if Vader’s first line is “I am what you made me”.
  • Add dialogue from Obi-Wan’s first conversation with Bail over the communicator when Reva picks it up. I worry it’s not as obvious as it was in my head that communicator = listening to that conversation = knowing about Luke.

I dunno when I’ll find time to work on this edit again - I had a bit of time unexpectedly drop into my lap, which is how I made it in the first place. But, eventually, I intend to make those updates.

“It’s like rhymetry. They poem.” - Leorge Gucas

TROS Novelisation: The Faraday Edit, TLJ: Stoic Edition, ROTS: The Faraday Nudge, ROTS Ultracut: Order 66, Kenobi: Faraday Cut, Godzilla Vs Megalon, Godzilla Vs Gigan, Godzilla: Final Wars, The Light Rises, Faraday Jr.'s Star Wars

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When I watched obi-wan Kenobi faraday cut it looked alright for some of its perspective of the story of how he was. Something that didn’t feel right for me is that there was jarring in the scenes which needs improvement.

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Interesting that you’re keeping in the last action scene with Reva. Plus, since you have it so Obi-Wan senses her attacking the Lars homestead, now it makes sense that Obi-Wan leaves Vader behind because he’s now running against a ticking clock! Color me intrigued!

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Yeah that is the best way for edits with Reva going after Luke. You just make Ben have to rush off faster for that.

heil Palpatine!

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nmxuci5970 said:

When I watched obi-wan Kenobi faraday cut it looked alright for some of its perspective of the story of how he was. Something that didn’t feel right for me is that there was jarring in the scenes which needs improvement.

Yep, those things aren’t finished yet. It’s a workprint rather than a final cut, so the aim is to get the scenes and shots into the right order - I’ll smooth the audio and some weird cuts when it’s ready to be polished into a final product.

krausfadr said:

Yeah that is the best way for edits with Reva going after Luke. You just make Ben have to rush off faster for that.

I personally think that cutting Reva on Tattooine results in an unfinished story; her arc is left hanging and incomplete if Vader kills her on Jabiim. Plus, I love Owen and Beru, so more of them is a bonus.

I’m glad people agree about making Obi-Wan sense Luke in danger earlier! My intention was that it would up the stakes for the duel, and give Obi-Wan a reason to leave in a hurry, so I’m glad that works.

“It’s like rhymetry. They poem.” - Leorge Gucas

TROS Novelisation: The Faraday Edit, TLJ: Stoic Edition, ROTS: The Faraday Nudge, ROTS Ultracut: Order 66, Kenobi: Faraday Cut, Godzilla Vs Megalon, Godzilla Vs Gigan, Godzilla: Final Wars, The Light Rises, Faraday Jr.'s Star Wars

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Any further work on this one? It seems promising!

I was reflecting on it a little today, and only have a few suggestions.

I like how Spence edited the moment when Ben first recalls Padme, removing the “she died a long time ago” line in particular. (Yes, for continuity with my Ep3 edit as well as ROTJ sorta.)

I’d suggest having the pre-title card sequence be the flashback sparring match.

And I’d suggest keeping the Palpatine scene, given what a sweet runtime this thing has.

I plan to watch the workprint in full soon, and will jot down my thoughts.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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This sounds so awesome and I would love to have a Google drive Link please. Thanks.