Thank you for reminding me. I reached out to sade1212 to see about it.
Haha, that is Hal’s actual voice! Unless we want to make an AI voice or Hal to use for edits forever.
To be fair, I think ifjg is referring to the “Padme dies” version, which uses the original audio, not Hal’s redub.
Here’s something interesting I came across. While I do agree that I’m not a fan of the high pitched voices for the battle droids, and while most of it has been removed from this edit, there are still some bits and pieces you can hear it. This guy here attempts to replace them all using voice clips taken from video games from the 2000s such as the original Battlefront games and the Revenge of the Sith game.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/comments/12o2ap2/hi_again_yesterday_i_posted_a_short_clip_in_which/
The name’s Lawson. Noah Lawson.
Here’s something interesting I came across. While I do agree that I’m not a fan of the high pitched voices for the battle droids, and while most of it has been removed from this edit, there are still some bits and pieces you can hear it. This guy here attempts to replace them all using voice clips taken from video games from the 2000s such as the original Battlefront games and the Revenge of the Sith game.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/comments/12o2ap2/hi_again_yesterday_i_posted_a_short_clip_in_which/
I think the mixing needs some work but I like the idea of matching the droid voices to the rest of the trilogy, especially since you can still hear the squeaky voices at a few points in Labyrinth of Evil.
I’m working on what I hope will be, and intend as, the final update to this project.
[Hold for laughter.]
Here’s what I’m planning, including a few ideas from redditor HighGroundIsOP.
Given the Kenobi show, I’m relenting on youngling stuff. (The Ep2 scene with Yoda will remain out, though.) Since Kenobi makes a meal out of Anakin unambiguously killing kids in a more graphic, direct onscreen manner than ROTS, I’m going to reinstate the scene itself as well as two other uses of the term. Also, since the child actor himself lent his voice for Ascendant, that’s an additional factor.
For the main version, but not for the alternate ‘Padme dies’ version, I’m removing dialogue during Anakin’s Sith knighting about working together to cheat death. Given TROS, omitting this smooths out one’s thought process in the world of fridge logic. And, it sets Anakin up as someone who is loyal and believes he’s aligned with the right person. Even leaves open an old-school headcanon about Vader’s prolonged existence literally depending on Palpatine. This does, however, require losing the line, “Just help me save Padme’s life.” This reverts to an earlier version of LOE basically. (I left these lines in the alternate version because even though they wrinkle TROS, the touchpoint about Anakin’s ironic obsession with saving Padme is too valuable to cut.)
Taking the redditor’s suggestion about Anakin and Padme on Mustafar. The idea is to have Anakin consistently respond to Padme’s pleas by highlighting his power.
I’d like to see Anakin offer his thoughts to Padme about feeling lost and wanting more, but because I don’t have a nice segue into the scene without the nightmare, it’d likely be an awkwardly short scene with nowhere to be placed.
One of the big ideas of LOE to begin with was to marry Q2’s use of ‘Other Boleyn Girl’ footage to depict Padme surviving on Alderaan and Corigar’s restructure to defer Anakin’s nightmare until after political motives have been established. However, I wonder if the order of scenes I am using for the updated alternate version would be better for the main version also. We’d get the nightmare first as in ROTS, then the opera scene, then Yoda’s counseling session along with the rest of the string of talking scenes about political factors. Really not sure, as it’d be a big change to LOE but I feel it’d help the movie. Seems like I’m leaning toward it, though.
JEDIT: Here’s the order of scenes again, for reference:
Anakin learns Padme is pregnant
Greivous arrives on Utupau and speaks with Sidious
Nightmare, Anakin walks out of bedroom
Opera scene (excised mention of Greivous intel, since it’s not followed up with for a while)
Yoda’s counseling session
Anakin misses briefing and Obi-Wan warns him of Palpatine
Palpatine appoints Anakin to Jedi Council
Council doesn’t like this
Bail’s apartment deleted scene
Anakin is asked to spy on Palpatine
Jedi traffic scene
Anakin and Padme talk about their political views and have a bad time
Troops setting up on Khshyyyk, and LOE continues more or less the same from here until the ending (same as current alternate version ending)
I don’t see what Padme surviving or dying has to do with reordering scenes in the second act. Especially if one of the overall goals is to make the nightmare the sum of a greater whole rather then the main thing. Putting the nightmare first sets the tone for the rest of the movie.
I find it unfortunate that the “cheat death” line has to go because it’s the only one that refers to it that way rather then “save Padme”, which sounds way too altruistic to be a dark side power. Cheat death sounds more sinister and more likely for Anakin to believe to come from the dark side of the force. “Cheat death” has an entirely different vibe from “save someone from dying”. One sounds appropriately like a pact with the devil, the other like going to to the hospital.
I also think Anakin also receiving a vision of himself burning on Mustafar and making the pact so he can be immortal too is also a cool idea, but I doubt you’d include it.
Please tell me you’ll keep a version that excises Anakin’s school shooter turn. I absolutely hate that Kenobi made it a plot point.
I’d prefer an edit of Kenobi that takes out the school shooting than keeping it in ROTS.
Personally, I’d be fine with Anakin killing younglings, as long as it’s offscreen. You can keep in all the bits where Obi-Wan, Yoda and Padme talk about it happening, but I think the scene itself should stay on the cutting room floor. It’s one of the most unintentionally hilarious moments of the entire movie, and no edit should keep it IMO.
My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX
For what it’s worth, I’m also firmly against the youngling bit being re-inserted.
I vote against the Youngling part. I think it’s good to imply or even show that it happened, but not be explicit about Anakin’s role. More like in the Mandalorian, where we primarily see it as an attack by the clone troopers.
Chipping in about Youngling scenes and references - please exclude.
I found them really distasteful when I first saw them
Even more so when I became a parent and was really reluctant about letting my children see the films.
Considering that all the films are seen as classics that children could watch, there are images and scenes I think are inappropriate for the cinematic fantasy of the films (up to prequels, it was notably the close up shot of burnt out bodies of Owen and Beru).
I know bad things happen in the world but as what is seen as a a series of films accessible for kids, there doesn’t need to be a kids being shown they are going to be killed.
(also in prequels, the decapitations of Dooku and Jango* are needlessly gratuitous, when stunt fight ‘slice across the chest’ could have done - still awkward about letting my kids see those bits)
I hate that the the official productions have to follow on gratuitous continuity of kids being killed.
I was really grateful when I found fan edits that made the decision to cut that.
The stories gained nothing from it, and the editors make them better films cinematically.
So please don’t reinstate Younglings scenes, references or images.
*If there was a way for their killings to be edited to not have their head lopped and rolling off, that would be amazing - I think young Boba’s last scene could still be included simply interpreted as him holding up Jango’s helmet - but I’ll more of those requests for the the EpII thread.
If you have to bring back the younglings scene, I would suggest editing it like l8wrtr where the scene is played wordlessly. However, I tend to agree with others that reinstating the references without showing the scene itself is a better move.
The audience (first-time viewers) will have a hard time accepting that Anakin has killed younglings when it is not shown, which will benefit the film’s increasing tension at this point. It will add an extra element of unconfirmed horror - the good ol’ The shark is scarier when you don’t see it.
And then, you could, for the ultimate WTF gutpunch moment, show brief glimpses of the Youngling’s deaths / murders when Padme confront Anakin at Mustafar: “Obi-Wan told me… you were killing younglings”. Anakin reflecting on a closeup, then BOOM - horrific, short flashback glimpses, some swelling horrific soundwork, followed by back to present and a conflicted, but firm, “Don’t listen to Obi-Wan” from Anakin. The ultimate confirmation that Anakin has gone totally bonkers and is beyond redemption.
The stakes are at an ultimate high right before the choking of Padme and the ultimate duel of the fates, and the “Anakin… you’re breaking my heart” hits on a different level.
In this paticular instance I think it could benefit the story.
WHAT HAVE I DONE?
The Ancient Lore
Kenobi: A Star Wars Story
Harry Potter Revisited
Game of Thrones Film Edits
Titanic Restructured
… and more.
The youngling slaughter scene was wannabe serial killer Mark Twitchell’s favorite scene in ROTS. That’s enough for me to want to discard any and all references to younglings in the slaughter.
Message received about the younglings, Kenobi notwithstanding. I’ll have to think a bit about the “cheating death” dialogue, but I’m inclined to leave it as is. LOE has become an established offering, and so it’s probably better to let it be for the most part.
If I moved scenes around so his nightmare is shown earlier, I could keep his meeting with Yoda so that we do understand his motivation clearly without it coming up at all at his Sith dubbing. But again, LOE is partially defined by moving the nightmare to later.
Here is a different take on Anakin and Padme on Mustafar, modeled on an idea from the aforementioned redditor. The key idea is to emphasize the disconnect between the two, as Padme petitions him to focus on love and he persistently emphasizes power and control. For your consideration.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T5gYsaiUCXGLyS_ilZ0db_4jA_C0wxdo/view?usp=share_link
Very good, I’m a fan of the direction. Still, I can’t take, “Love won’t save you…” seriously. I think the “More powerful than any Jedi…” line and wanting to rule the galaxy gives the idea enough.
Why did you remove the line “I’m more powerful then the Chancellor, I can overthrow him.”? I don’t see anything wrong with it.
I do agree with G&G-Fan about removing Anakin’s lines, “I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him,” and “You’re with him!”
That being said, this restructure is brilliant. Especially when Anakin tells Padmé about how powerful he’s becoming, followed up with her telling him that she just wants his love.
The name’s Lawson. Noah Lawson.
If voice ai could do it, I think it would work better if Padme says “He wants to help US.” Followed by “HE can’t save you Padme. Only my new powers can do that”
Then “all I want is your love” followed by “I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi… I’m doing it for you”
Preferred Saga:
1/2: Hal9000
3: L8wrtr
4/5: Adywan
6-9: Hal9000
Hi everyone, happy to be here! I’m the redditor that Hal is referring to. Excited to discuss all the ideas here. Let’s start with the Mustafar landing scene since it came up.
First, Hal it looks great! Definitely think it is an improvement and accomplishes the goals, even if different from what I was proposing. I need to watch it a few more times before commenting on potential tweaks.
For everyone here, this was my pitch (slightly modified for clarity/brevity) on the scene:
The theatrical version of this scene is a mess. Anakin is all over the place. Your version is significantly better and super streamlined. I think there is an opportunity to expand it to add valuable characterization for the final scene between Anakin and Padme. The goal is to really drive home how far apart they are both in values, but also motivations.
There is so much editing required, I thought it would be better to give you a proposed script than all the detailed edits.
A: What are you doing out here?
P: I was so worried about you. Obi-wan told me terrible things
A: Obi-wan is trying to turn you against me. I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of and I’m doing it for you.
P: All I want is your love.
A: Love won’t save you Padme. Only my new powers can do that.
P: At what cost? Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can.
A: Don’t you see. We don’t have to run away anymore. I have brought peace to the republic. And together you and I can rule the galaxy, make things the way we want them to be.
P: Obi-wan was right. You’ve changed.
A: I don’t want to hear any more about Obi-wan. The Jedi turned against me, don’t you turn against me.
P: Anakin, you’re breaking my heart. You’re going down a path I can’t follow. Stop. Stop now. Come back. I love you.
A: Liar!
P: No.
A: You brought him here to kill me.
O: Let her go, Anakin.
P: Anakin
O: Let her go.
A: You turned her against me [overlay while pacing]. You will not take her from me!
O: Your anger and lust for power have already done that. You have…[scene continues as in LOE]
I like this edit because it re-orients the conversation from Anakin’s fear of loss as the primary motivator to a consistent lust for power. Every Padme question/emotional plea gets a response about Anakin’s power.
It breaks into 3 main conversation points:
This new framing highlights how their motivations are completely different by this point in the film and they are missing each other. Padme wants love. Anakin wants power/control.
I cut Anakin betraying Palpatine because he seems so manic, unsure, and drunk with power. I prefer that Anakin had a clear vision: gain the power to save lives through the dark side and create an empire where he and Padme can exert power, openly, together. The quick pivot to coup makes no sense, Anakin’s barely a sith, he still needs Palpatine. Plus it contradicts Vader’s loyalty to the Emperor in the OT.
I cut the “you’re with him” line that perpetually confuses audiences who think Anakin means romantically. Also it doesn’t add anything.
This one hurts a little, I cut the redundant “you turned her against me” “you have done that yourself” exchange. It’s tighter to overlay “you turned her against me” audio over Anakin pacing. Note: “you have done that yourself” is a much stronger line and delivery by Ewan, but OW removes his cloak during the “anger and lust for power” line so I think we are stuck with it.
I cut the beginning sentences off Padme’s last 2 big exchanges. The redundancy of the word “don’t” had to go and I think it reads tighter this way too.
My idea for the younglings is to slowdown/interpolate the shot of Anakin looking at them. It’s one of those blink and you’ll miss it moments, but Anakin has a tear in his eye during that shot, and slowing it down makes it a lot more visible. It makes it seem less like a “school shooter turn” and more like something that he hates himself for doing, but which Palpatine has manipulated him into thinking that he has to do. That seems to be the intent behind the scene.
Hey, glad you could join us here on the forum!
That clip was made with that script in mind, with some changes. It seems to be received well, and I do like how it emphasizes that whatever his motives up to that point, by now his power-mania has enveloped him. However, it seems that removing his mention of overthrowing the Emperor may be missed. And it would feed into that narrative of Anakin going mad with power. He makes a similar move in ESB, pitching the same idea to Luke.
If it had been feasible in the earlier scene where Palpatine pronounces him ‘Darth Vader’ to remove the idea that Palpatine has not actually mastered the ability to cheat death, then removing that dialogue on Mustafar would make more sense and paint Anakin/Vader as enjoying a sense of righteous loyalty to Palpatine.
But, it can’t really be removed without gutting the scene and obscuring his motives to the point that it suffers for it. So… it was worth pursuing, but it seems better to leave that part out (meaning in).
Well, after a ton of hassle and setbacks, V8 is finally released. It’s primarily an update of the alternate (Padme Dies) version, but I included the few relevant tweaks for the main version as well.
This is it. Last time I will update LOE, and this is the final word on this project. I simply can’t do it again. Or, won’t, at least, but firmly.
People can still give feedback and stuff, but… this is the end. It’s done now. Thanks again to everyone who helped make this what it has become. But after I update COD to reflect TMWNN’s visual tweaks, I’m going to swear off working on these three prequel fan edit projects for life. I love them and all, but they need to be done.
Anyway, hope you enjoy!
For the main version, I further trimmed the elevator action, added sade1212’s FX shot of Palpatine unleashing the power of his face, reinstated two lines of dialogue during Anakin’s knighting, and took a slightly different approach with Anakin and Padme’s Mustafar conversation.
For the alternate version, I adjusted the sequence of scenes in the second act as described a few posts ago. I believe this holds faithful to what LOE has been from the start while fitting better with the theatrical ending in which Padme still dies.
Does the alternative version also include the changes on the main version?
The Skywalker Saga:
I · II · III · IV · V · VI · VII · VIII · IX
This is the way.
Yes, that’s right.