Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Redux Ideas thread — Page 3

RogueLeader said:

DominicCobb said:

Is there anyway we can fit in the message that the fight against evil will always continue or something like that? This is what I’m thinking. Before Palpatine dies we once again hear his line “I’ve been killed before,” or whatever it was. But there has to be some sort of response from Rey along the lines of “we’ll always be there.” Then you cut out the shots of all the star destroyers blowing up around the galaxy. What I’d really want to is instead of a hug party, to have a scene where they come back hugging, get a transmission about the next mission to stop the FO, and then head off. Then the scene with Rey on Tatooine. Don’t know how to do any of this.

Interesting ideas. I think we’d have to see what Daisy Ridley lines we’d have available. I could see something like

Emperor: I’ve been killed before.

Rey: I’ll be waiting. (From, “I know all about waiting.”)

To imply the fighting will continue, I could picture a few things. Maybe you could create new space scenes with some decent cg ship models. I could imagine a shot that mirrors ANH, where a Star Destroyer is being chased by dozens of Resistance ships. You could insert Poe into this scene somehow, either in an X-Wing or on the bridge of a cruiser. In general you could expand this idea and have different types of ship/space sequences that could help imply that idea.

You would have to film new material, but I would still love to see something with Finn that would imply something with Stormtroopers defecting or going on a mission to liberate children from the First Order.

I like the idea of going full circle with the ANH opening (though might be a bit much with the final’s scene full circle nature).

But damn, imagine how powerful the final moments could have been if it was a montage of people preparing for battle across the galaxy, rather than just a repeat of ROTJ? Or at least something along those lines.

When someone does a slapstick edit of this remember that Carrie Fisher was all about the glitter, she should have had a glitter saber.

I seriously enjoyed the movie, just saw it solo today as I wasn’t sure if there was content that would be too much for my youngest son.

The only cuts that would make me happy is removing any and all Rey is Palpy’s grandspawn. I always loved the Rey is a nobody from Jakku angle.

I liked Rey being a nobody but I ended up liking her as a Palpatine more. It explains more of her powers and I like the theme that your blood/background don’t have to define you. Her parents were nobodies because they CHOSE to be. It shows that if the Emperor really wanted to, he could have used his immense powers to heal people and do good, instead of becoming an evil wizard zombie. If you’re a fan of The Last Jedi (I’m not but for the sake of argument,) it goes further with the theme of “let the past die,” and shows that concept can be used for good instead of evil as well.

Lesser said:
when Ben died at the end it made both bodies vanish because he took her with him.

I interpreted that the other way around.
Leia becomes one with Ben (sort of force projects into him), mirroring Luke’s sacrifice in TLJ.

This explains why he’s able to fight the Knights of Ren, survive the death pit and transfer life into Rey (*).
It’s Ben’s + Leia (as a full jedi master) combined powers. So when Ben dies, they both “rise” at the same time, since they are joined by the force.

(*) While Rey is dead, Ben is the last living Jedi.

FreezingTNT2 said:

Sidious shouldn’t have been in the movie at all, because it completely ruins Anakin’s redemption and sacrifice in Return of the Jedi.

Ironically, that isn’t what bothers me about it. I’m not sure why most critics keep saying that, because Anakin’s turn-around at the end of ROTJ accomplished two things: (a) he came back to the good side, and (b) he saved his son’s life. Those are huge – regardless of whether or not Palpatine survived.

No, what bothers me about it is that (a) it’s rehash (just like JarJar Abrams did in TFA; not actually sure why he has a career, to be honest). And (b) it’s nonsensical in light of the Second Death Star’s obliteration. I realize it’s space opera, but even so, you have to have a certain level of believability, and this crosses the line.

What would have possibly fixed that problem, however, is if JarJar had shot a flashback scene from Palpatine’s perspective as he’s falling down the Death Star shaft, and either he’s rescued by a ship before the station blows, or he somehow manages to transfer his consciousness into a clone that’s kept at a secret location.

Maybe there could also be a montage involving recovery time and the acquiring of new ships – perhaps using the battle-droid tech from the prequel era. Once he got a few droids up and running it wouldn’t take that long to have a droid-run factory churning out ships and weaponry. He could also have new clone-troopers.

An additional possibility would be to have him end up in territory run by the Chiss Ascendancy. He meets Thrawn and recruits him to head up a new fleet – or he uses the Force to seduce the Chiss into following him.

Point being: there are possible ways of explaining how we ended up with another Palpatine episode.

Which leads me to a reedit question: Anybody know of any fan-film (not necessarily Star Wars, either) with scenes of cloning that might fit a Palpatine survival montage???

REY BEING A “NOBODY”: Don’t like this theme whatsoever, and I’m glad Abrams didn’t stick with that (although narratively she could have claimed to be a nobody, due to not wanting any association with Palpatine). She had to be a “somebody” to explain her unusual Force-prowess without training.

The “Jar Jar” Abrams shtick is almost as annoying as it is immature. Almost.

DominicCobb said:

The “Jar Jar” Abrams shtick is almost as annoying as it is immature. Almost.

thiss

Yes to the above. Jar Jar doesn’t deserve to be equated with that arch-hack.

4throck said:

I interpreted that the other way around.
Leia becomes one with Ben (sort of force projects into him), mirroring Luke’s sacrifice in TLJ.

This explains why he’s able to fight the Knights of Ren, survive the death pit and transfer life into Rey (*).
It’s Ben’s + Leia (as a full jedi master) combined powers. So when Ben dies, they both “rise” at the same time, since they are joined by the force.

(*) While Rey is dead, Ben is the last living Jedi.

That’s pretty much what I got, wasn’t sure how to articulate that well enough.

Speaking of which, I don’t think Palpatine laughs once in the entire film, which I think should be amended.

EDIT: Regarding Finn’s story-arc, I kind of wish there was a moment between Jannah and Finn where Jannah is reluctant to come out of hiding and join the cause, and Finn convinces her why they have to fight, just like how Rose convinced him.

Hal 9000 said:

This movie needs an extended cut. It’s far too fast paced.

This. Sorely need all the Mustafar scenes reinserted at the very least. Though not essential, they seem like the coolest moments.

Broom Kid shared this very well-written review of the film.

https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2019/12/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker.html

Reading it has given me a few thoughts…

I think as time goes on I’ll continue to ask myself why I want to spend so much time trying to fix these movies. These movies have been such a big part of my life, and I really feel like it is a modern myth that has the ability to share important messages to people of all ages.

At times I do think about how I feel like this myth lost its soul at certain times throughout the years, and with it is potential to be an even more powerful story than what we got in reality. But fan editing itself is an act of rebellion. We are not bound by the market, studio execs, or even the fans, only by the material we have to work with.

I still think there is enough in these films to make them more powerful and thoughtful stories. The reviewer touches on Campbell and the monomyth, and how TROS fails to live up to many of these ideas. I think this is something to keep in mind when thinking about edits in the future.

This reviewer has gotten the phrase “healing wounds” stuck in my head, and I think this is one of the themes that was present in the film, but not as strongly as it should have been. Not only healing physical wounds, but healing one’s spirit, healing relationships, healing the galaxy, and even healing the Force. This is something I’ll have to keep in mind.

Dom has given me the idea of a totally alternate ending that would certainly be radical, probably the most ambitious addition I’d want to implement, if I go through with making edits of the whole saga.

Something just occurred to me. When Kylo reveals the “truth,” he’s in the mask. Similarly, we can hardly see Palpatine’s mouth when he talks. Does Rey even say out loud that she’s a Palpatine? I don’t remember. Part of me wonders if this was something added in post production, and if they actually gave Kylo the mask back because they knew that part of the script was going to keep getting changed.

Anyway, since he’s in the mask, that’d make changing his dialogue a bit easier. But what would he say instead? And what would we have to work with (Lego TFA??)? Truthfully that whole section of the film is a mess, the Palpatine/Kylo/Rey stuff. Doesn’t make a lick of sense. But I’d hate to lose their Force talks, and especially their Force duel which is one of the coolest things in the film (brief as it is).

The question ultimately being, might it actually be possible to remove Rey Palpatine? Keep her a nobody, make it so that Palpatine simply saw Rey’s future/sensed her power/whatever? That’d be the only way I think to preserve the narrative (of course it’ll still suck to some extent because even though she’ll be a nobody she won’t be random, you know?). I fear what it might do to her character in this film a bit (what makes the dark side temptation so fearful?) but it’s not like her character is coherent in this anyway.

Luke calls her Rey Palpatine, so that would have to be cut around.

Instead of a Rey Palpatine story, the narrative could be changed to where Palpatine shows Kylo a vision of Rey’s future, and it is her as Sith Empress. Rey sees it too, which is why it scares her. Maybe he says he saw a vision of her sitting on a throne next to him. Which causes Rey to call him a liar and such. You could replace the visions of the past with visions of the future.

This is my train of thought. Palpatine could reveal to Kylo Ren that he made Snoke, AND he made Vader, revealing he created Anakin and in effect making Kylo his heir. But, he wants Kylo to kill Rey because he has seen a vision where she destroys them. Kylo has other plans, and when Palpatine senses that Leia has turned Ben’s heart, he decides to try and use Rey as his new vessel.

RogueLeader said:

Luke calls her Rey Palpatine, so that would have to be cut around.

True, ugh. Whatever, don’t think you lose anything there.

Instead of a Rey Palpatine story, the narrative could be changed to where Palpatine shows Kylo a vision of Rey’s future, and it is her as Sith Empress. Rey sees it too, which is why it scares her. Maybe he says he saw a vision of her sitting on a throne next to him. Which causes Rey to call him a liar and such. You could replace the visions of the past with visions of the future.

It’s funny I’ve been on a similar train of thought and came here to post as much. Palpatine had a vision that Rey would usurp him, which is why he had her parents killed. Kylo has the vision, and wants it to become a reality so they can join forces and defeat Palpatine, so he goads her into fighting and using the dark side. He tells her about the vision, which is what rattles her (because it squares with her growing potential for darkness).

I feel like we need to see the vision though, right? ROTS style? Don’t know how that’s accomplished (honestly fingers crossed that just happens to be something they shot and made a deleted scene of). I don’t think the random flashes that they currently have at the beginning does the job very well. It’s almost impossible to tell what the point they’re trying to make is. Maybe the worst case solution is just have Kylo clearly see Dark Rey at the beginning, then after Kylo does his new reveal, Rey sees a comprehensible flash of Dark Rey, then again she sees her and fights her on the DSII?

This is my train of thought. Palpatine could reveal to Kylo Ren that he made Snoke, AND he made Vader, revealing he created Anakin and in effect making Kylo his heir. But, he wants Kylo to kill Rey because he has seen a vision where she actually destroys him. Kylo has other plans, and when Palpatine senses that Leia has turned Ben’s heart, he decides to try and use Rey as his new vessel.

I think the creating Anakin stuff is an added complication, honestly. It’s going to be hard enough to do the rest. But I do like the idea. Part of what’s stupid about Rey overcoming being a Palpatine is that that’s already what Ben’s story is about, overcoming the darkness of his lineage or giving into it. So yeah it’d have made more sense to make Ben essentially the Palpatine to double down on that. But whatever, like I said it’d be tough to do.

The problem is though (and naturally it’s a problem with the film as is), what about when Rey actually gets to Palpatine? He goes from wanting her dead to wanting her to kill him?

This is pushing it but it’d be cool if in the final showdown between Rey and Palpatine, she doesn’t just say “I’m all the Jedi” (which is lame), she says something like she is the light and the dark.

Also this is crazy (impossible?) but I wish Rey had a black outfit for the entire film until the white for the final scene. And I wish Ben had white in the climax.

For the final sequence, by the way, where we want everybody to be prepared to battle again, what if we have relevant soundbites from the rest of the saga? Like Maz’s “We must face them, fight them,” Holdo’s “In every corner of the galaxy the downtrodden and oppressed know our symbol,” etc. that kind of thing. There’s not a lot of speechifying in these movies so it wouldn’t be terribly easy but it’s an idea.

Is there a repository somewhere of Lego Force Awakens voice lines? Could be useful for not just Kylo, but Rey and Leia (and I guess everyone really).

Regarding why Palpatine goes from wanting her dead to wanting her to kill him and take his place, I think he changes his plans after Kylo turns, make him unusable. So he decides to use the Resistance fleet to goad her into killing him so he can possess her.

Alternatively, the whole thing could be Palpatine wanting to choose the strongest vessel. If Kylo kills her, it kills two birds with one stone. If Rey kills Kylo, she’ll still come to him and have proven herself stronger. So when she faces him he could say something along the lines of this (if possible), and then use the fleet to force her hand.

For Rey’s identity, I basically think there are three options, ranking from most preferred to least:
• She is no one.
• She was created by Palpatine.
• She is Palpatine’s biological granddaughter.

If we are stuck with Rey Palpatine, maybe we could explore ways it could be better set up throughout the trilogy. The one interesting thought I did have is that if Rey is a Palpatine but we had Ben Solo survive, a Palpatine and a Skywalker creating a new Jedi Order together could be an interesting implication that this new generation of Jedi will be different, along the lines of what Outbound Flight said.

I need to think more about the actual moment of Palpatine’s death, but I do agree something needs to be altered with it. I think it would be funny if he said, “I’m all the Sith” and she said, “I’m no one.”

Does Poe voice his character in the LEGO game? If anyone says something about contuing the fight, I think it is most appropriate if it is Poe.

I think it would be interesting if Rey’s outfit was half white, half black throughout, sort of like Snooker’s mock-up of Obi-Wan’s robes in TPM. And if Ben survived and showed up in the final scene, maybe he could have a back/white outfit as well. At the very least, this could be applied to Rey’s costume in her final scene, symbolizing that she has accepted both the light and the darkness in her.

Speaking of the ending, here is my very radical outline for an alternate ending of TROS:

We cut away from Rey and Ben before he dies. Rey joins back up with the Resistance and they celebrate.

Fade to black on Celebration.
Fade in on shot similar to first shot of A New Hope. A Resurgent Star Destroyer flies overhead, followed by dozens of Resistance ships chasing it. At the front is a modified Blockade Runner, in the control room sits Poe Dameron. (Or possibly leading the chase in an X-Wing that Poe sits in with BB-8. If he is in his pilot suit, change the color of his jump suit to blue New Republic colors.)

I feel him being on the bridge of a ship would clearly visualize his transition to hotshot pilot to responsible leader, but he was still flying an X-Wing during the end battle. Anyway, this could be the moment Poe says something inspirational over the comms that could also help emphasize “General Poe”.

[This would require a fan-film scale production, but I think it is rather straightforward idea-wise]
On the outskirts of a rural village, locals gather outside as three First Order troop transports land nearby. The bay door opens, but instead of stormtroopers we see rescued children rush toward their emotional families. After all the children are out, we insert footage of Finn standing behind them (Potentially either Luke or Leia’s lightsaber is attached to his belt if you keep his Force subplot). This would reflect nicely with how we are initially introduced to Finn, and would bring his arc full circle.

Bonus Idea: Have Chewie finally go back home to his family on Kashyyyk. You could just create a modern version of this image, have Chewie step into frame, then cut to a close-up. Chewie deserves more than a goddamn medal at this point!

Finally, we get to Rey. She flies across the dunes of Tattooine and lands outside the abandoned Lars homestead. R2 and 3PO are with her, and still-wiped 3PO says there is something familiar about this place. Rey briefly explores the home, then sits outside and unrolls a cloth full of saber parts. In an insert shot, we see as she uses the Force to construct a new lightsaber. She activates the saber to reveal a yellow blade.

She then senses something ahead of her. The twin suns slowly rise above the horizon, and with them, a silhouette of a figure rising over the hill. It’s Ben Solo. Rey smiles and rises to meet him. The spirits of Luke, Leia and Anakin watch from a distance. Our final shot is of R2, 3PO, and Rey watching the sunrise as Ben slowly approaches.

Turns out an image of Empress Rey is in one of the flashes. Not sure the best way to expand a flash, but that’s a start.

Making a Rey Random edit of this film will for sure be its fan edit holy grail - much like saving the reveal in the prequels - is it even possible? Who knows but many will try, because Rey Palpatine is hot garbage. It’s not symmetrical, it’s redundant.

Yeah, they all voice their characters (even Harrison!).

What’re the chances the film actors come back for Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga? Hopefully that’d give us more Kylo/Palps dialogue to work with. I’m secretly hoping for new prequel actor dialogue, though admittedly I think it’s far more likely they’ll go the Battlefront 2 route and get the Clone Wars VAs. Hayden also sounds noticeably older now, as heard in TROS, though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Just dub all instances of Rey Palpantine as Rey Johnson-Abrams (utterances plucked from interviews rather than films)

And the there you go, a meta Frankenstein’s monster