The Awakening

Hello-

I made a fan edit of EP VII. It’s my first time so go easy on me.

I took out the Rathtar sequence, the third Death Star storyline, I removed Snoke, took out C3P0s red arm bit, I took out R2 and I removed a lot of instances of the “map” and I tried to cut out a lot of bad expository dialogue and cut some scenes shorter.

The story now travels from Fin to Rey to Han to the scene on the planet with Maz. Rey is kidnapped and the map is returned to Leia. Han, Chewie and Fin head out to save Rey. Han is murdered by Ben and the final fight happens. Leia doesn’t hug Rey. (They haven’t even met yet! Not to mention that Chewie doesn’t hug her.) Then Rey leaves Fin and goes looking for Luke.

I think this makes for a solid more concise storyline without going on too many tangents.

I showed Harmy a cut and recently sent him a revised edit. I’m not really sure what to do with it now. I think what’s most important is that if you can take out these big story elements they actually don’t need to be in the film or should be in the film.

I look forward to seeing all these other fan edits that I see people talking about here.

Thanks

I can’t really see this working but boy do I want to see it.

I would like to see this

So when they go to save Rey, where are they going now that Starkiller isn’t a thing? Or do you still refer to it as the First Order’s base, without revealing it’s shape and capabilities?

I’m intrigued, but I’m worried that taking out the Starkiller stuff hurts other storylines and creates plot holes. But I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong!

Sheepish said:

So when they go to save Rey, where are they going now that Starkiller isn’t a thing? Or do you still refer to it as the First Order’s base, without revealing it’s shape and capabilities?

I’m intrigued, but I’m worried that taking out the Starkiller stuff hurts other storylines and creates plot holes. But I’d be more than happy to be proven wrong!

When they go to save Rey the base is just a First Order base. Removing the plotline makes the First Order look weaker and less imposing. The First Order comes across as more of a post WWI Nazi reaction to the disorder in the galaxy instead of a force capable of building a huge weapon in a planet. In this cut I get a better sense that the galaxy has moved on from the Empire but it’s kind of a mess and the First Order is taking advantage of that and using it to come to power. And Kylo Ren has more selfish interests trying to find Luke. But basically it looks like a couple of angsty twenty somethings are trying to resurrect the empire. I imagine Hux’s dad profited big time during the Empire’s reign.

Obviously I’m reading into all of this but taking out the big Death Planet plot line helps me believe this could all be in the story.

I think in the next film they really have to play off how powerful a Jedi Rey could be. She is advancing so much faster than Luke in Force Awakens that they really need to use it as a plot device otherwise it comes off as cheaze. Kylo Ren should start teaching Rey about the force after Luke and nobody knows which side she swings towards. She should straddle the dark side much closer than Luke ever did. Kylo Ren and Luke should be equally afraid of Rey. Otherwise TFA is just too cheazy and no fan edit can ever fix it.

Oh okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the reply! Looking forward to seeing what you’ve done.

And I definitely agree with having Rey veer deeper into the dark than Luke ever did. I think this trilogy should be about Rey AND Kylo, though. Rey veers into the dark, while Kylo veers into the light, perhaps taking the name Ben again. Could be an interesting dynamic.

Cheazy lol.

Sheepish said:

Oh okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the reply! Looking forward to seeing what you’ve done.

And I definitely agree with having Rey veer deeper into the dark than Luke ever did. I think this trilogy should be about Rey AND Kylo, though. Rey veers into the dark, while Kylo veers into the light, perhaps taking the name Ben again. Could be an interesting dynamic.

Rey has good reason to be upset being left on some awful planet and Kylo hopefully suffers some extreme grief after murdering his father. Rey is also clearly super powerful without any training.

I think Force Awakens was way to nostalgic for me but I look forward to the new films.

-Han and Chewie are planting bombs in the base even though their only intention is a rescue mission.

This is the biggest problem I have with the current edit. I’m not sure how to get rid of it. It’s like “Hey we’re here, might as well blow up some stuff.”

-It’s never (properly) explained that Kylo Ren is Han’s son with the Snoke scenes missing. I suggest making that a reveal and have them not mention it but keep the sad look on Han’s face when he sees Kylo. Cut it all out until Han’s death scene.

It’s not explained but I would think someone seeing this for the first time could figure it out. I prefer the mystery.

-Rather than cutting to Kylo Ren when poisonous gas starts coming out of the floor grates, let that scene play out and finish. Once that scene’s done, cut to Kylo Ren getting the news of their departure and then cut back to the falcon in hyperspace.

I like this edit. It’s more straight forward storytelling.

-Cut down Maz’s weird lines (“Where’s my boyfriend/I like that Wookiee” and The eyes monologue with her crawling on the table)

Yeah maybe. Leia should have had Maz’s roll in the film. Can’t fix that in a fan edit though!

Overall it was pretty good, your ambition pays off.

Thanks for taking the time to watch. I made a stereo file though ffmpeg. I wonder if the 5.1 did not collapse properly and made the audio louder at some points.