The Acolyte - The Spence Edit

Hi everyone,

What a divisive series, huh? I know there’s going to inevitably be a boat-load of edits for this series, some already released, but I wanted to throw my hate in the ring.

For some perspective, I actually really liked The Acolyte. Sure, it had it’s flaws, but I found it refreshing that the show didn’t rely on nostalgia/legacy characters, and presented some interesting and new ideas. Also, it’s hard to deny that the lightsaber action was top tier, and they introduced a great new villain. It was a good show with great promise, and I’m sad we aren’t getting a second season to see where it goes from here.

My goals with this edit are similar to my edit of Kenobi, so if you liked that, this will be similar. Basically, I want to find a way to cut this down to a manageable length (less than 2 hours 30 minutes) and have the pacing and feel of a Star Wars theatrical film. This isn’t necessarily an “I’m gonna fix The Acolye!” edit, and more of a “what would this story look like if it were presented as a theatrical film?”

The biggest change that I’m most proud of so far, even though it needs more smoothing, is removing Osha’s adventure on the snow planet. Things have been re-organized and re-edited so that Sol, Jecki, and Yord go together to initially confront Osha, with Yord being the one that goes aboard to speak with her. This necessitated removing Yord’s padawan, who is never seen again anyway. Mae’s attack on Torbin happens right after Osha is brought aboard, so she’s not the prime suspect pretty much right away.

Here’s an early preview of Yord confronting Osha with the padawan removed:
https://streamable.com/n5df3g

I also intend to sprinkle snippets of the flashbacks from episodes 3 and 7 throughout where appropriate, so we only get the pieces of the backstory needed to reach the climax of the story.

This will take a little while to get right as there’s a lot of pieces that I need to get right, but I’ll post more work here as I go.

Can’t wait to see more! Interested to see how you’ll integrate the flashbacks without sticking on them for too long while still keeping the necessary context.

So excited for this. I really liked The Acolyte too, and have enjoyed your edits before, so I’m looking forward to this. So happy to see you’re just doing an edit, and not fix-it.

hinventon said:

Can’t wait to see more! Interested to see how you’ll integrate the flashbacks without sticking on them for too long while still keeping the necessary context.

I’ve found a bit of a system. We only get flashbacks when somebody wakes up, usually Osha. So they’re basically her dreams. “The truth” so to say, comes when Sol has Mae captured on the ship.

Right now I have, I believe anyway, all the necessary flashbacks integrated this way. The edit is running about 2 hours 35 minutes but I’m confident I can get another 15-20 out of it. The big fight happens right about half way through, which is what I wanted.

dgraham414 said:

I always imagined something akin to Batman Begins or Man of Steels use of flashback would fit well with this story as a film

You’re not far off from what I’m doing, I am using MoS as an inspiration as far as when/how to add them in.

Your Falcon and the Winter Soldier edit was a fantastic example of a show with poor pacing being converted into an excellent movie seamlessly. I’m definitely looking forward to your style of editing applied here.

I know your edit isn’t a “fix”, but one suggestion I have is from Mathismando’s edit where we never see Torbin’s death, akin to Kelnacca later on. Mae wouldn’t be seen on the planet until Sol confronts her. Should save a lot of runtime. Although I would also remove the two lines that mention Torbin killed himself and perhaps that he hasn’t talked to anybody for 10 years. That way you don’t have to include as much him in the flashbacks, which it looks like you’ll be cutting down quite a bit. Plus, even with all of that content, he still doesn’t have much justification for being so depressed.

What are your plans concerning the ending? No to Yoda, yes to Plagueis, etc.?

This is incredibly exciting! My only note is that it seems like the clip you shared has too much echo? Or at least I don’t remember it being so echo-y.

Plus I think Torbin willingly choosing to kill himself and denying Mae that catharsis is really important to both their characters? It kind of echoes the final episode too. idk I always see people on here who dislike that scene or think it doesn’t work in the context of the flashbacks but when he did that was the first time the show put me on the edge of my seat

I’m not denying that it’s a good moment, but it hints at a greater conspiracy than what we’re ultimately presented with. That retroactively taints my perception of the scene itself. In truth, I think the greater argument for removing all of it is to save screen time and keep the pacing going. The gang is told that somebody tried to break into a local Jedi temple, they show up, and both the audience and them are shocked to discover the person they were trying to save is already dead somehow. It just flows better.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I’m not denying that it’s a good moment, but it hints at a greater conspiracy than what we’re ultimately presented with. That retroactively taints my perception of the scene itself. In truth, I think the greater argument for removing all of it is to save screen time and keep the pacing going. The gang is told that somebody tried to break into a local Jedi temple, they show up, and both the audience and them are shocked to discover the person they were trying to save is already dead somehow. It just flows better.

I intend to keep it, and my argument for that is that we already don’t see Kelnacca’s death, so removing another one kind of short changes Mae and the audience. Also, I just think all the stuff with Torbin is cool.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

What are your plans concerning the ending? No to Yoda, yes to Plagueis, etc.?

No Yoda, and we don’t see Mae again after she gets picked up by the Jedi (“What did I do?”). There’s a shortened sequence of Vernestra lying to the high council, and then it’s straight to Osha and Qimir.

I’m probably just going to leave the Plagueis hint where it is. I tried moving it to the end, with him looking at them on the beach, and it kind of stifles the ending a bit. The focus gets pulled from Osha, which I feel like is important.

Excited to see where you go with this!!

Maybe I’m just bitter about them cancelling any plans for Season 2, but regarding Plagueis, I would just cut him entirely. Try to keep this movie as self-contained as possible, ya know? Don’t tempt the audience with something that will never be 😭

AbramPT said:

Excited to see where you go with this!!

Maybe I’m just bitter about them cancelling any plans for Season 2, but regarding Plagueis, I would just cut him entirely. Try to keep this movie as self-contained as possible, ya know? Don’t tempt the audience with something that will never be 😭

I’m honestly toying with that. The scene it happens in is largely unimportant and could shave a few minutes off the runtime. Right now it’s in. The edit is running 2 hours 26 minutes as of now, right around the same length as my Kenobi edit, and it feels pretty good at that length. So if I end up putting something back in, Plagueis is likely the first thing to go.

The problem with that is Quimir clearly registers something in his head (based upon his facial expression) when Sol mentions that the witches used the Force/vergence to create life. The impression being that he knows what his master is capable of, and the pieces are starting to come together for him. All of the language and acting in that scene is hinting at the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.

And while I do get what you’re saying about the focus being pulled from Mae when his cameo is shifted to the end, at least it explains why we don’t see anymore from those two characters going forward. If there is no looming/controlling threat above them, then we as the audience have to assume they get up to more dark side shenanigans leading to TPM without ever being discovered. This show already stretches the viewer’s suspension of disbelief quite a bit.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

The problem with that is Quimir clearly registers something in his head (based upon his facial expression) when Sol mentions that the witches used the Force/vergence to create life. The impression being that he knows what his master is capable of, and the pieces are starting to come together for him. All of the language and acting in that scene is hinting at the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise.

And while I do get what you’re saying about the focus being pulled from Mae when his cameo is shifted to the end, at least it explains why we don’t see anymore from those two characters going forward. If there is no looming/controlling threat above them, then we as the audience have to assume they get up to more dark side shenanigans leading to TPM without ever being discovered. This show already stretches the viewer’s suspension of disbelief quite a bit.

This is an excellent point. I’ll toy with it.

So the trick with the flashbacks being interspersed throughout the series is finding a natural way to transition to them. I think I’ve found something that works.

Whenever a flashback starts, it always transitions from a shot of Sol. Whenever the flashback ends, it transitions into a shot of Osha waking up. The only exception is the final “the real story” one, which starts with Sol having Mae captured, and ends with Osha approaching the Sith mask.

So there’s a consistent language to the flashbacks. They always bridge Sol and Osha together.

I’m going to make the first 3rd of this edit available for previews this week, so if you’d like to see it, send me a message.

I also want to get ahead of a few things, just because I know they will be commented on. A few of the “woke” things, or other things certain people complained about are going to be cut from my edit, but that’s absolutely not the reason why.

• The reference to Osha’s mothers is cut because the flashbacks have been so condensed that it adds confusion.

• The fire on the outside of the space ship is cut because I moved a flashback to right before that sequence, making it redundant.

• Ki-Adi Mundi’s line about the Sith is cut because that scene was heavily condensed for time.

I have no problem with representation in Star Wars, nor did the pedantic and bad faith complaints about other things bother me at all. Star Wars is better when it’s inclusive, when anyone can enjoy it. Complaining about scientific accuracy in a series about space wizards and hairy dog dudes is silly. None of these cuts were done to appease the fake outrage fans.

I’m so looking forward to this! Always a big fan of your work, and I love your mindset and attitude ❤️

Here’s a look at a longer sequence, this is the final “truth” flashback slotted into the film. The sequence runs about 10 minutes, the longest of the flashbacks, but I think it covers everything needed. I still want to work on the sequence where Torbin and Sol leave the camp, as I’m trying to make it clear that they’re just going together, as opposed to Sol chasing Torbin.

https://streamable.com/65esy0

(If you have seen the workprint, this sequence was heavily updated)

I’m looking forward to this edit! Your Kenobi is still the definitive version imo. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Sorry for the silence, this is still very much in the works!

I’m working on another project with the Red Apple Crew over at FE and that’s taking up a lot of time. The majority of the work I’m doing on Acolyte right now is tiny cuts for pacing and polishing up. I’ll probably have this out by the end of the year.

Really looking forward to this. I think too many edits that want to turn shows into a movie, end up making some 3 or 4 hour thing. 2 and 1/2 sound perfect.

SpenceEdit said:

… I still want to work on the sequence where Torbin and Sol leave the camp, as I’m trying to make it clear that they’re just going together, as opposed to Sol chasing Torbin.

I don’t know about this, I think Sol “chasing” after Torbing to stop him, and then just deciding to help him is really good at highlighting how irresponsible and higher-than-thou Sol is