logo Sign In

Star Wars: Bookends - A Prologue & Epilogue to the Original Trilogy

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Update: 10/12/22

Hey guys, not announcing an edit or anything. Real life for me right now has been really busy, but my brain couldn’t help itself and wanted to return to this old idea I had with some new revisions.

Basically, the gist of this idea was to boil down the PT and the ST into one film each that gives us a glimpse into the events preceding and following the original trilogy. These aren’t 3-in-1’s, though. Really, I am just picking one film from each trilogy, one I would personally consider the most important, and editing them to suit this concept.

My original idea for the Prologue film was to try and tell George’s vision of the OT backstory, but limiting as many contradictions with OT as possible. Basically, trying to find a compromise with what the OT tells us about the backstory before the prequels came out with what we ended up getting. So the Prologue film would basically just be an edit of Revenge of the Sith that removes unnecessary references to Episodes I and II, and be more in-line with the OT, in order to act as a standalone film. As you may see this discussed in many of the initial comments in this thread, I’ve also considered not having Anakin named “Darth Vader” in the film, or see him after Mustafar. It would be obvious to most of us of course, but this would allow for some narrative ambiguity whether or not Obi-Wan killed Anakin or if Darth Vader actually is Anakin.

For the Epilogue, my idea has changed a little. I’ve saved my original post at the end of this update so people can see my initial idea, which was to follow Rey’s story through TFA and TLJ, basically being a 2-in-1. Now, I’m leaning toward doing something similar to the Prologue, and make one film, The Last Jedi in this case, as a standalone movie. And the guiding principle for this edit would be sort of an inverse to the prologue’s. With this film, we are trying to find a compromise between what we ended up getting, and what we know about George’s vision of the ST. To be fair, all we have are disparate quotes from interviews of George or other secondary sources, but we could use these “bullet points” as guiding principles for what we should keep and what we should get rid of. Obviously it still would be a far cry from his actual treatments, but we’re just trying to get as close as possible with what we have.

It might be hard to use only TLJ as a source, I could potentially see needing to use bits from TFA. It would be nice if we could avoid that, because I think it would also be fun if these films could still be watched alongside the other two films in their trilogies. At the end of the day these may not be radical edits, but it is really the details that matter with this idea.

I would like to make a Venn diagram for each edit, where one circle is the theatrical film (ROTS and TLJ), and the other circle is the opposing source (pre-PT backstory and George’s ST ideas). Then we would find the common ground, and see what needs to be removed or altered to find some kind of oxymoronic synthesis between two conflicting ideas! And by not using the entire trilogies, it allows the viewers to fill in what happens before and after the bookends, whether it be the movies’ version of events, or their own head canon.

Anyway, I’ll have to collect some of these PT contradictions and Lucas ST ideas later, but just wanted to throw this idea out there as a fun thought experiment. I have no plans on making this anytime soon since I’m a bit busy currently, but I thought it could be fun to map out how they might look, or make those “Venn diagrams” for myself or future editors.

Original Post: I wanted to make a new thread for a very specific idea I had, since I felt it didn’t fit in any existing thread. Whether or not I go through with it or not I’m still not sure, but honestly this wouldn’t necessarily be an ambitious endeavor. I wanted to get some thoughts from others regarding it.

I am, like others, still grappling with how I feel about The Rise of Skywalker, and if it is actually salvageable from a fan-editing perspective. I think I will always have that desire for a cohesive nine-film saga, and I would love to help make some changes to TROS (I personally would love to help make an alternate ending for the film). BUT, it honestly could be years until we get edits (specifically for the prequels and sequels) that make for a consistent and satisfying version of the saga as a whole, and currently I am going back and forth if any TROS edit would ever be totally satisfying for me.

With that in mind, I’ve had this idea for two stand-alone films that would act as thematic bookends to the Original Trilogy. The Prequel Trilogy would be replaced with a single Prologue film, and the Sequel Trilogy would be replaced with a single Epilogue film. Neither film would be a 3-in-1 edit, instead it will simply take from each trilogy what it needs to tell one story.

Let’s start with the Prologue.

Rather than taking the typical 3-in-1 approach for prequel edits, this film will mainly consist of Revenge of the Sith, potentially with brief flashbacks within dream sequences. One of the main functions of this edit would be to make a single prequel film that keeps contradictions to the original trilogy to a bare minimum. For example, Qui-Gon will never be referred to (or seen) as Obi-Wan’s master. We won’t be given any scenes or context that contradicts the way Old Ben describes the relationship between Owen and Luke’s father. Padme will survive, like in Hal’s LOE. No mention of the prophecy or the Chosen One. I might not have Anakin’s mother even be mentioned or seen. Basically, I want the audience to be able to watch this film and try to forget the prequels as we know it, and then fill in the gaps between this and the OT with their own imagination. Sure, we won’t see Obi-Wan recruit Anakin and take him away from Tatooine to become a Jedi, but we don’t really see that in the prequels anyway, do we? By not showing what Lucas gave us in TPM and AOTC, the viewers can imagine how Anakin and Obi-Wan met based off the relationship we see and what we are told in the films themselves.

Now some might ask, “RogueLeader, if this is meant to be a prologue to the OT, should it really show Anakin become Darth Vader, since that is the main twist of The Empire Strikes Back?”
Honestly, I do think this is a fair point. Personally, I felt the whole point of the prequels was to show how Anakin fell to the dark side and became Darth Vader, and removing that wouldn’t leave much left of interest. I don’t think I would do anything radical, but at the very least I would be willing to toy with the idea of having Anakin still fall to the dark side, but never be referred to as Darth Vader, and the last time we see Anakin is Obi-Wan leaving him for dead on Mustafar. While it may be obvious to us that Vader is Anakin, the removal of those connections might be enough to throw off a younger viewer to not anticipate the reveal in V. Sure, we would know Obi-Wan is lying to Luke when he tells him “[Darth Vader] betrayed and murdered your father”, but your hypothetical first-time viewer might think the truth is that Obi-Wan killed his father, but is hiding that horrible truth from him, and Darth Vader is actually another one of Obi-Wan’s students that sided with the Empire after the fall of the Jedi Order. Plus, it would remove the question of how Palpatine built Vader’s suit so quickly, and we also could remove “NOOOOoooOOOOoooo!” But I don’t know though, because you would also run into the issue of Luke and Leia and their birth in ROTS. I would definitely like to hear thoughts for and against this idea. I think editors have always expressed interest in a version of the prequels that “Saved the Reveal”, and this could be a good opportunity to do that.

George Lucas himself has basically said 80% of the Prequel Trilogy’s story is really in Revenge of the Sith, and to be honest I don’t think that other 20% is really necessary. Sure, it adds some interesting ideas and context, but maybe Revenge of the Sith actually would work better without it.

I will definitely take ideas from editors like Hal 9000, NFBisms, Octorox and DominicCobb to better match tone, aesthetic and characterization with the Original Trilogy.

Now to the Epilogue.

This one might be a little more radical and a little less straightforward than my idea for the Prologue. First of all, this film will not include anything from The Rise of Skywalker. Instead, this film will be almost completely focused on Rey’s journey in The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, fit into one movie. And one of the ways it will make that focus immediately apparent is to use one of Nev’s abandoned ideas for Starlight and open like this (password: fanedit). The film’s opening scene will be the wonderful montage of Rey’s life on Jakku, and we will follow her as she meets BB-8, the mysterious Resistance soldier Finn (who she later learns is a rogue stormtrooper), the monstrous Kylo Ren, and the legendary Luke Skywalker. Since there is very little time gap between TFA and TLJ, I’m hoping that fusing them together will feel rather natural. In order to fit both films into the runtime of a single movie, this edit will also remove several subplots many fans feel to be the weaker aspects of the Sequel Trilogy, such as the majority of Finn and Poe’s subplots in The Last Jedi, and, potentially, the super-weapon aspect of Starkiller Base.

Many have commented on how they felt The Last Jedi could’ve been an ending to the saga on its own, and I agree. While the ending is rather open-ended, I think it works well as a thematic conclusion to the Skywalker story, and just like the Prologue will leave what happened before the Prologue up to the imagination, this Epilogue allows for the audience to envision whatever happens after the Epilogue as they see fit. Star Wars can live on in each of our imaginations, but the important lessons of the original trilogy are reiterated in this final film.

I suppose you could say the goal of this idea is to boil down the strongest aspects of the Prequel and Sequel Trilogies into their own standalone films that can function as bookends to the Original Trilogy, rather than complimentary trilogies on their own. In a way, this helps keep the Original Trilogy as the focus of the saga, and the “bookends” as extra films that aren’t necessary, but add to the overall story. Another added benefit is that people can choose if they want to include both films into their viewing, or just one. Maybe they like the Sequels, but hate the Prequels, or vice versa. The Prologue could even be watched between V and VI as an alternate Machete Order viewing. But at the same time, both the Prologue and Epilogue could work well together by balancing each other out. An important element to me is that it keeps the saga balanced, rather than having something like one 3-in-1 prequel, but then a Sequel Duology or whole trilogy with the OT mashed in between. That just feels unbalanced to me. With this idea, it is simply five films. The three original films, plus two bookend films.

And another thing you may ask is, “But RogueLeader, the Original Trilogy opening crawls say 4, 5, and 6. Won’t people wonder about 1, 2 and 3?” If I decide to do these edits, I think I would eventually make versions of the OT that have no “Episode” subtitle, and just the film title. But we can cross that bridge when we get to it.

Anyway, I would love to hear if anyone has any thoughts on these ideas. Honestly this idea was inspired somewhat by my own laziness, and the idea of editing just two films is much more appealing at this point than editing at least six, if not more. I really think we could condense the best aspects of each trilogy into one movie each with a little bit of brainstorming.

Author
Time

Sounds interesting

“Get over violence, madness and death? What else is there?”

Also known as Mr. Liquid Jungle.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I definitely don’t want to sound arrogant or else, but the Prologue idea is basically the same of my Chosen One edit (regardless of the result). Mainly an edit of ROTS with some flashbacks to Episodes I and II, mostly during Anakin’s nightmares, and during the short pre-title opening.
I’m really really interested in what you’ll accomplish.

Italian faneditor.

EDITS LIST:
Episode IV - THE HEIR OF SKYWALKER. Episode VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI RENEWED. DYAD IN THE FORCE (3-into-1 sequels).
PM me for links if interested.

Author
Time

I think your most important task here is to identify the core theme of your epilogue. Is it that Rey is the legacy to the Jedi? Rey is the legacy to the lessons Luke learned/the force? Are we seeing what happens next to the OT main characters? How the Galaxy changed as a result of the victory in ROTJ? That a permanent victory was achieved after ROTJ? That there will always be a struggle and always be someone new to pick up the challenge? Is it all Palpatine’s story (probably not)?

What are the themes from the OT that most resonate with you? - projecting that forward into the ST, which plotlines best support and continue and conclude those themes?

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

Author
Time
 (Edited)

No worries, you don’t sound arrogant FanEditore! When I said flashbacks, I was thinking more along the lines of abstract, dreamlike flashbacks of brief snippets from the previous films, rather than flashing back to entire scenes. More along the lines of Rey’s forceback from TFA. But the more I think about it, the less interested I am in including anything from TPM or AOTC. But like I said, if I did, they would be brief shots or lines, fragmented pieces just within the one or two nightmares Anakin has. I guess I was trying to emphasize that when I said it wouldn’t really be a 3-in-1. But I’ll make sure to differentiate it from yours if I decided to include anything from II or III!

I know Padmé survives in yours like in Hal’s. Is Anakin never dubbed Vader or don the suit in your version, like I’m also considering?

Author
Time

I totally see your points, man. As I said, I’m really intrigued by it.
Anyway, I’m not sure if I remember correctly, but I think I kept the scenes of Anakin obviously being Vader, because that edit was just meant as a spin-off, like Rogue One, meant to be watched after the OT.
Do you plan to add some color correction? And maybe some OT soundtrack?

Italian faneditor.

EDITS LIST:
Episode IV - THE HEIR OF SKYWALKER. Episode VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI RENEWED. DYAD IN THE FORCE (3-into-1 sequels).
PM me for links if interested.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

EddieDean said:

I think your most important task here is to identify the core theme of your epilogue. Is it that Rey is the legacy to the Jedi? Rey is the legacy to the lessons Luke learned/the force? Are we seeing what happens next to the OT main characters? How the Galaxy changed as a result of the victory in ROTJ? That a permanent victory was achieved after ROTJ? That there will always be a struggle and always be someone new to pick up the challenge? Is it all Palpatine’s story (probably not)?

What are the themes from the OT that most resonate with you? - projecting that forward into the ST, which plotlines best support and continue and conclude those themes?

Really good point, Eddie! You’re definitely right, that honing on the theme of the epilogue is crucial.

While Rey is the central POV, it will stray from Rey briefly when necessary, and I’ll try to keep most scenes where the OT characters interact. While the focus is on Rey, the story is also about the conclusion of Luke’s story. This film will retain all of his scenes from The Last Jedi. The story is basically depicting Luke’s torch being passed onto Rey, after she finally decides to take up the mantle of hero.

One of the central themes as I imagine it would basically be one of the things you said: That there will always be a struggle and always be someone new to pick up the challenge.

The prologue would show that there was war before the war of the original trilogy, and the epilogue shows that there will be war after it too. This is Star Wars, after all, but the message is that even though there may never be a war to end all wars, that doesn’t mean those fights aren’t worth fighting.

I think this idea of history repeating itself is hard to avoid when looking at the Sequel Trilogy, and honestly the way I think The Last Jedi addressed it is the only interesting answer we got from any of the sequels.

Author
Time

IlFanEditore said:

Do you plan to add some color correction? And maybe some OT soundtrack?

Yeah, this is something I’m considering! I really like the way DominicCobb’s integrated some OT tracks into his edit of Revenge of the Sith. If I went with the Save the Reveal idea, though, then I probably would try avoid connecting Anakin with any variations of the Imperial March. I also think it would be nice to grade it in a way that fits more closely with the OT’s look, but there might already be some decent grades out there.

Author
Time

Yeah, for sure the first thing is to choose between some kind of spin-off (you can keep all revelations) or a movie meant to be watched before the OT (then Save the reveal).
An idea I had some time ago about this, to strengthen the concept of Anakin being dead without editing Ben’s words in Episode IV would be to use General Grievous’s chat with hologram Palpy. I don’t know if it’s doable, but…

  1. As you said you could hint that Anakin is dead after the duel on Mustafar by removing him with Vader’s suit.
  2. You could remove any mention of Anakin being Obi Wan’s apprentice and Anakin calling him “master”.
  3. You could remove Grievous’ arrival on Utapau (keep the mystery until Obi Wan’s arrival on the planet). Then (and here comes the hard thing) you could cut the duel between Kenobi and Grievous and keep the general alive. Then you place the hologram chat with Palpatine in the third act, and replace the “But the loss of Count Dooku” with “But the loss of Skywalker”, to hint that Anakin is dead. Finally Palpatine replies “Soon I will have a new apprentice, one far more powerful”.

Italian faneditor.

EDITS LIST:
Episode IV - THE HEIR OF SKYWALKER. Episode VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI RENEWED. DYAD IN THE FORCE (3-into-1 sequels).
PM me for links if interested.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I was actually thinking about a Save The Reveal edit in relation to my own the other day! If you cut the last half of New Canon Cut pertaining to Anakin, with some tweaks, you could easily create an edit where it doesn’t seem like Anakin turns to the dark side - without having to remove most of those early scenes.

Here’s proof of concept using clips from my edit:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SkKsTcRHBWuSvfqnD4ga9pf8xiIFERub/view?usp=sharing

Right off the bat, Anakin’s established as totally understanding of the Jedi’s POV on Palpatine, and even lobbies their concerns. Rather than being all-in on Palps, he just has faith that he isn’t as bad as the Jedi think he is. By removing his petulance and entitlement, his lashing out at Padme, he’s allowed to be at odds with the council without explicitly telegraphing a turn. It becomes an understandable wariness, not lingering darkness. Palpatine trying to turn Anakin against Padme is a key point, because with the next scene, it doesn’t necessarily work. Anakin will brood about it, but by instead confiding in Padme tenderly about his dreams, he rejects that manipulation. New Canon Cut puts him at a crossroads of two equally possible decisions, but have Anakin apologizing to Obi-Wan after everything, and it looks more like Anakin has come back around to the Jedi’s perspective. Especially if the last time we see him, he’s going to turn Palpatine in. The groundwork for the ESB reveal is still laid, but it’s not obvious.

EDIT: But I agree that this isn’t necessary especially since the best parts of ROTS are in the last act. I also think flashbacks to TPM and AOTC definitely don’t need to happen. 95% of the prequel story is in ROTS imo, not just 80. The context that would be missing is pretty irrelevant and sometimes works against the film.

Andor: The Rogue One Arc

Author
Time

RL, I think you’ve absolutely picked the best themes that you could craft into an epilogue. Good luck with that. I wonder, if you’re going to go that route then, that you could explicitly make ‘Luke handing the mantle to Rey’ your anchor more explicitly by even opening with the scene from the end of TFA with Rey approaching Luke, then an ‘X weeks earlier’ cut back to TFA, as unconventional as that is for Star Wars.

We see the Emperor die and the Empire fall (in ROTJ), then in EPILOGUE we zoom right into Luke. Here he is, a hermit being approached by an unknown, who offers him his own lightsaber. We skip back and learn she’s similar to him in a lot of ways. She gets wrapped up in the story, acquires that lightsaber, tracks Luke down with the mentality that he’s the hero who needs to be brought back into the fray. We’re back to the present. He throws the lightsaber away - ‘I’m not your hero’, and begins to train her instead. We’ve now had the torch passed to Rey (or, implicitly, rejected as being passed back to Luke!).

I presume we end on Luke’s death and Broom Boi - but what single act are we treating as Rey’s signature victory, that’ll demonstrate that the torch is well and truly passed?

The Clone Wars: Refocused | Andor: Movie Omnibus

Author
Time
 (Edited)

This is all very cool. I’ll probably have more thoughts later but for now I’ll just chime in in regards to the “save the reveal” potential by saying that, if you’re hiding the fact that Anakin becomes Vader, but you still show him turning to the dark side, you’re not really “saving the reveal.” That’s at least half the twist.

Author
Time

Do you plan on using Poppasketti’s version of the saber toss?

The unfortunate reality of the Star Wars prequel and Disney trilogies is that they will always be around. Forever. They will never go away. It can never be undone.

I also prefer to be referred to as “TNT”, not “Freezing”.

Author
Time

Count me as one of the people who opposes “saving the reveal”. Despite what Lucas says, the prequels were never meant to be watched before the originals. All 3 prequels were marketed exclusively to people who had seen the originals, so the movies were obviously intended to be watched in release order. “Saving the reveal” is a complete non-issue for people who watch the movies the way they were actually intended to be watched.

My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

Author
Time

I’m one of the people who wishes for faneditors to make the most out of “save the reveal.” I know the way in which the movies were made and marketed, but that way truly blew.

Author
Time

If you were editing each movie individually, I would agree that ‘saving the reveal’ would cut too much out of ROTS to be worth it. However, if this is a 3-in-1 idea, then there would be plenty of material even if it leaves out Anakin’s fall to darkness.

Of course with so much of Anakin’s part cut, it makes a good argument for centering the story on Obi-wan instead.
Start with his relationship with Qui-gon, the emergence of the Sith, and him taking Anakin as his apprentice.
‘Your apprentice, Skywalker, will be.’
Hard cut to Zam’s speeder weaving in and out of traffic, Anakin hanging onto the roof for dear life. There can be the occasional scene between Anakin and Padme to establish the plot, but most of the scenes with Obi-wan discovering the clones would stay and be the through-line for this section. Continue an abbreviated film with ‘Begun the clone wars have’ and go from the ships lifting off into the Coruscant sky to Anakin and Obi-wan zipping among them in ROTS.
ROTS would focus on Obi-wan and his growing unease at the state of the war. Anakin is painted as more heroic here, with little of Palps insinuations. Focus on Anakin’s love for Padme and future children. End Anakin’s part with him waiting in the council chambers. Order 66 is the big emotional culmination of the film. The implication is that Anakin died defending the young Jedi, but his children will carry on and avenge him. End as ROTS ends, with Obi-wan delivering Luke to Owen and Beru.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

Author
Time

StarkillerAG said:

Count me as one of the people who opposes “saving the reveal”. Despite what Lucas says, the prequels were never meant to be watched before the originals. All 3 prequels were marketed exclusively to people who had seen the originals, so the movies were obviously intended to be watched in release order. “Saving the reveal” is a complete non-issue for people who watch the movies the way they were actually intended to be watched.

I get what you’re saying, but if one wants to experience the whole universe (with tv series as Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One, etc.) it would be nice to watch everything in chronological order while keeping all the plot twists.
If we are talking only about movies, then ok, we could watch the OT and then the PT, or follow the Machete order, but if one wants to watch also the tv series…

Italian faneditor.

EDITS LIST:
Episode IV - THE HEIR OF SKYWALKER. Episode VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI RENEWED. DYAD IN THE FORCE (3-into-1 sequels).
PM me for links if interested.

Author
Time

YES. I had a very similar idea.

The PT prologue is my next project, and I was probably going to mostly save the reveal…until the last second of the film. It would end on Vader’s breathing. In my mind, this film would be built to be viewed in Machete order (after Empire).

I’m working on a ST epilogue edit now. Most ideas I had are very similar to yours. However, it focuses on both Kylo and Rey, starting with the Kylo/Vader scene. These characters both represent the legacy of the OT. My edit will still include a couple of scenes from ROS, mainly some training, Death Star fight, and the final scene of her on the desert planet, though higly edited; this is mostly because Rey/Kylo are the central characters of this story, and I think we should see a solid conclusion to their arcs. You’re welcome to check out my outline for the project if you wanna take a look/provide any feedback/maybe partner up in some respect. Excited to see what you do with this!

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Thanks for the thoughts everyone! I’ll try to reply to everyone’s thoughts. cracks knuckles

Regarding the Epilogue

FreezingTNT2 said:

Do you plan on using Poppasketti’s version of the saber toss?

If I keep that scene I definitely will. But I’ve also been toying with the idea of skipping Rey trying to hand Luke the saber initially. Instead, I’d use the beginning of Rey’s “Jedi Steps”, but when she gets to the Jedi huts, she hears Luke’s door slam. This helps to avoid having to deal with the difference in sunlight in TFA and TLJ. Rey still offers Luke the lightsaber later during their fight in the rain, and he rejects it again, so we wouldn’t lose the idea of Luke rejecting the saber and then finally reclaiming it in the climax. It also might help keep the runtime down to skip that altogether.

EddieDean said:

RL, I think you’ve absolutely picked the best themes that you could craft into an epilogue. Good luck with that. I wonder, if you’re going to go that route then, that you could explicitly make ‘Luke handing the mantle to Rey’ your anchor more explicitly by even opening with the scene from the end of TFA with Rey approaching Luke, then an ‘X weeks earlier’ cut back to TFA, as unconventional as that is for Star Wars.

I presume we end on Luke’s death and Broom Boi - but what single act are we treating as Rey’s signature victory, that’ll demonstrate that the torch is well and truly passed?

I like your flashing back idea! I had originally pictured this as a Tarantino-inspired spiritual sequel to Pulp Empire that would’ve opened with the ending of ROTJ and then flashed forward to the sequels, sort of like you described. I even played around with rescoring the film with Morricone and the like.
https://vimeo.com/298095219
https://vimeo.com/298094852

Nothing is set in stone, but I wanted the opening to feel reminiscent to The Wizard of Oz, just like how we’re introduced to Dorothy’s ordinary world before being swept up into realm of adventure. I think I would also use Nev’s bleached Jakku look to emphasize this comparison even more.

As far as the ending goes, I think where Rey’s journey ends in TLJ is a good conclusion for her. She rejects Kylo’s offer, she lifts the rocks to save the Resistance, and she takes Luke’s broken lightsaber with the expectation that she’ll build something new from the pieces. And mostly importantly, she is with her newfound family, all together in the Falcon. A much better ending than her being alone on Tatooine. And although I probably won’t include the Canto Bight scenes, I think the ending with Broom Boy works well on its own. He is just another abandoned child like Rey, who is inspired by the story of Luke to be something more. So we start the film with one abandoned child and end with another.

Regarding the Prologue

DominicCobb said:

This is all very cool. I’ll probably have more thoughts later but for now I’ll just chime in in regards to the “save the reveal” potential by saying that, if you’re hiding the fact that Anakin becomes Vader, but you still show him turning to the dark side, you’re not really “saving the reveal.” That’s at least half the twist.

Both you and Starkiller bring up excellent points regarding the purpose of the prequels and the issues of trying to save the reveal. I can’t go back and find it, but awhile back I made a long post about saving the reveal, and the pros and cons of the different directions you could go with it. Basically you have three options:

  1. Don’t show Anakin fall to the dark side.
    Obviously this approach is best to make Obi-Wan not seem like a liar, and to keep as much of the reveal as possible. Because like Dom said, the reveal for Luke (and the audience) is really three fold. First, Vader is his father, second, his father fell to the dark side, and three, Obi-Wan lied to him. The downside is that you have to bend over backwards to try and make this work. FanEditore and NFBisms have already brought up good ideas that might help this approach, but you still have to deal with the fact that you’ll lose the entirety of the Mustafar climax, dramatically lowering your runtime. And at best, this leaves you only with Yoda vs Sidious as a climatic final battle. While it could work, it certainly doesn’t carry the same weight as Anakin vs Obi-Wan. You would likely have to do something major, such as what Nev suggested, and make it a 3-in-1 with the focus on Obi-Wan instead.

  2. Leave ROTS as it is.
    This was Starkiller’s point of view, and even mine to a large degree. The dramatic irony of knowing that Anakin will turn to the dark side and is sort of the point of the prequels. Lucas made them assuming the audience will have already seen the original trilogy, despite saying that he feels these films are meant to be watched in chronological order… (obviously release is the way to go).

  3. Show Anakin still fall to the dark side, but we don’t show him become Darth Vader.
    So basically you would keep the film generally the same (I think NFB’s dialogue changes could still work for this idea as well), except you cut Anakin ever being called Vader, and the last time we see Anakin is when Obi-Wan leaves him to die. While I feel this is a compromise, like Dom suggested, it feels like it compromises too much and sort of defeats the purpose of saving the reveal.

When it comes towards “Save the Reveal”, I try to picture myself showing it to a young relative who has never seen any of the Star Wars movies. While a 12-year-old could probably easily put two and two together, a 7-year-old might need something blatant to make the connection between Anakin and Vader obvious. With the 3rd option, your first time viewer might think they know the reveal, but then Vader reveals that he is Anakin, that audience might actually be surprised to learn that Anakin actually survived and became even more of a monster than when we last saw him on Mustafar. For this version, if I were to go this route, I would probably do what NFB did and have Anakin and Obi-Wan never reference their mentor/student relationship.

While the reveal isn’t wholly saved, a reveal does still exist. Your viewer might think Obi-Wan is hiding what happened to Anakin in order to protect him, and that Vader is just another minion of the Emperor, like Dooku or Grievous. So they would expect for Vader to say, “Obi-Wan killed your father” rather than what we actually get. Sure, it might seem obvious to us, but it is never confirmed until Vader says it, and like I said, a younger viewer might need that blatant connection.

And as far as what we have to sacrifice in ROTS for this to work, if you think about it, it is basically just fan service. The only things that have to be cut is Anakin ever being called “Darth Vader” and him being put in the suit. Making Anakin’s fate ambiguous in the end doesn’t really ruin the narrative structure of ROTS, unlike what a major reveal save might inevitably do. I would argue that we really don’t need to see Darth Vader in ROTS at all. So to me, you’re paying a low cost for the opportunity for a potential viewer to be surprised that Darth Vader is Anakin, even if they already knew Anakin fell to the dark side. I know that it isn’t a 100% reveal save, since a big part of the twist is is discovering that Luke’s father didn’t die a hero, but it still could work as a different kind of revelation. The audience would think they know the truth, that they’re in on the dramatic irony, only to then be taken by surprise.

Just considering how little has to be changed, I think this option would still be worth considering.

@Lifeincontext, that’s funny that we both had similar ideas! Great minds think alike! 😅

Author
Time

I think you made the best argument for it, which is that doing it actually doesn’t change much. I’ve even considered cutting out the Vader suit stuff in my own ROTS edit. What you’d be doing is making it into a ‘Palpatine is Sidious’ kind of reveal, where most people either know or could easily put two and two together, but some might end up surprised.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Thanks, and that is a good comparison! Palpatine is Sidious might be obvious to us, but I have heard kids who have said that they never made the connection. It might be obvious to us, but it could be less obvious for younger viewers. I also heard that there were people who argued on forums that Palpatine wasn’t Sidious, so I guess it was a surprise to some adults too!

Author
Time
 (Edited)

This sounds really cool! I’ve commented on a “Star Wars Epilogue” here before, so I’d be happy to help out in any way possible.

IMO - the best way to preserve the Vader twist is to use The Clone Wars. I know this isn’t ideal - it uses animation! But if you adapted Season 7, we could still tell the story of Anakin being a hero, just without the turn. If you have Anakin turn in his first outing, I don’t think people will like him, and all it will do is give hints that Luke’s father isn’t as good as he seems. Whereas TCW reinforces the twist well. You’d feel sad not just for Luke’s father but for Anakin Skywalker, Clone Wars hero.

Plus it all links up perfectly to Order 66.

Maul- A Star Wars Story

Author
Time

Thanks! I’ll try share more about the Epilogue when I have time to work on it some!

That reminds me of a post I read about a father who introducing his two young sons to Star Wars by showing them Clone Wars first, and building up that depiction of Anakin and Obi-Wan, then going straight into ANH. So their kids ended up HATING Darth Vader for killing Anakin. I didn’t read about their reactions to ESB, but you can imagine how dramatic that reveal would be.

And if you are introducing younger kids to Star Wars, I would imagine a cartoon like The Clone Wars could be more engaging for them than the prequels in some ways. And like I’ve said before, I think ROTS could work well as a ‘flashback’ film in between ESB and ROTJ, so you can see how it all happened.

But, if I do the Prologue, I’ll try to depict Anakin as a good man who was manipulated by Palpatine. So basically a cautionary tale. I think NFBisms has done a good job trying to depict Anakin more like his Clone Wars counterpart.

Author
Time

Call me crazy, but could this be, dare I say it, a 6-in-1? Maybe this is deviating from your ideal which might be to make 2 chapters to be viewed in a certain sequence, I’ve been grinding out my own prequel 3-in-1 and still finding it difficult to do any significant re-purposing due to lack of material, themes are abundant though and I love that you brought up Pulp Empire. I think you should follow that spirit, try to let each saga help the other. Many agree in the sequels Anakin is missing, with the prequels his story has a presence. Seems you can space out the scenes between each saga and have a lot more flexibility and leniency on missing details if it were combined. Just a thought.

“The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.” - DV

Author
Time

Originally my idea for the Sequel Trilogy standalone, what I was thinking of calling Once Upon a Time in the Galaxy, was sort of meant to be a spiritual sequel to Pulp Empire. At the time snooker was working on her own Tarantino-inspired prequel standalone, Destroy All Jedi, which inspired me to think about it. I had the idea that all three could’ve been a loose trilogy of 3-in-1’s for the Saga.

For this idea of Prologue/Epilogue, I really wanted to make edits that supplement the original trilogy, which is Luke’s story, so really these bookends are meant to depict the birth and death of Luke, while the OT depicts his life. Also, I think this format would harken back to the serials that originally inspired George. The Prologue would actually begin in medias res, starting right in the middle of the war. And the Epilogue would end as a new war is beginning. There’s no real beginning or end to the serial, but instead it is a series of endless adventures on countless Saturday mornings.

I think it would be challenging to jump between the prequels and the sequels as one movie in a cohesive way. The only think I could think of would be to have the movie use Luke & Rey’s segment of The Last Jedi as the frame story, and when Luke tells Rey about Darth Sidious and creation of Darth Vader, you could fade into an extended flashback sequence where we see what happened. You could just make a 30-minute version of Revenge of the Sith and we could see how it all went down.

But your idea for a 6-in-1 and idea Eddie Dean had earlier has gotten me thinking. You could even expand on that idea a little and have flashbacks throughout the film where relevant. It could open with a flashback, like Eddie Dean suggested, but then when Rey hands him the lightsaber, we could flashback to when Obi-Wan gave Luke that lightsaber so many years ago. There would be quite a few good opportunities to insert flashbacks from the entire saga. Like when Luke sneaks aboard the Falcon, Luke could remember some of their adventures aboard the ship. Like I said earlier, when Luke tells the the story of the Republic falling, we could flash back to the prequels. You could essentially make an 9-in-1, with the Luke/Rey segment of TLJ as the frame story.