STAR WARS - THE EXPANDED UNIVERSE:

I’m making my own edits of the TV Series, and stealing the name “The Expanded Universe” because the TV Series expands on the Star Wars universe… and I’m making film edits of those series. So it’s like poetry, so it rhymes.

So, what’s this about?

I’m making my own fanedit universe (kind of like the Marvel universe i suppose). I’m making this solely for myself, my girlfriend and my family, but of course this lovely community is always welcome to take a bite if there’s something here to like (see what I did there?). It will all be on my Google Drive.

I have struggled to peak my interest in anything Star Wars-related these last years because of Star Wars fatigue and a complete lack of faith in Disney, not to mention my disdain for the Sequel Trilogy, but I feel that the TV Series has a lot of potential when you remove the overdose of all that’s bad. Also, there’s more material to work with, and Star Wars film edits have become tiresome and repedative.

Video Clips:

• The Mandalorian Chapter II Opening: https://streamable.com/9m7j4g

So, what am I doing?

I’m taking all the TV Shows (not watched Andor yet, heard it’s terrific - going to tackle it later) and turning them into suspenseful thrillers and/or dramas with heavy alterations;

I want a well-paced, suspenseful 2 hour-at-most film narrative of each of the Star Wars character’s stories that I can also enjoy with others without fatigue or having to invest six days to watch it because of 10 hours of filler or repedative dialogue and story points. I also want the character’s goals and struggles to be clear to the audience (unless it’s purposefully and intelligently kept back or untold) and I want suspenseful and interesting dialogue, characters and plot development. I DON’T want side quests, 10-minute lore expansions through dialogue and unintelligent dialogue or character decisions.

THE MAJOR ALTERATIONS:

• Filler scenes, sometimes filler episodes, are all but removed because I hate to try and enjoy a story and get bombarded with filler. The series contain non-stop Side Quests as if i was witness to an RPG playthrough rather than an engaging television show, so here I’ve put my scissors to work. Schnip-Schip, moddafokka!
• Forced lore expansion and dialogue. The Mandalorian’s backstory and lore is SLOWLY and sparingly revealed, as to not force it down the throat of people. And to be fair, it’s so thin and repedative that during Season 2 and 3 I almost fell asleep when they mentioned for the sixth time that you shouldn’t remove your helmet or that Mandalore fell. And more.
• Grogu’s Jedi Force Powers are kept as a surprise for the Third Act in Film I.
• Tone down the amount of times The Mandalorian need saving.
• Cringe dialogue, unecessary characters and heavy exposition are all removed throughout. Key characters to play a part later, like The Sherrif of Los Palmos or whatever, the “Last of Us Bodybuilder chick” / “The Shocktrooper” and Bill Burr, are just characters Mando knew from before and some dialogue have been removed and/or moved around to fill in the gaps and keep the story linear, paced and proper. Works wonders.
• Kept Tattooine as little in the overall film series as possible, because I’m utterly tired of it. And since it’s also the main location of Book of Boba and also Kenobi, KEEP IT OUT. For goodness’ sake. It’s out of Film I / Season 1 of Mando, short appearance in Season 2.
• A focus on clear First, Second and Third Act’s and a well-thought out film narrative. Focus on emotional weight, suspense and characters.

HOW WILL THIS BE TACKLED AND IN WHAT ORDER?

I’m doing the Mandalorian first, then Book of Boba, then Andor - but timeline-wise;

KENOBI - RUNTIME SEASON 1: 1 hour and 56 minutes (Finished May of last year) - --> FINISHED FILM
ANDOR - RUNTIME SEASON 1: NOT WORKED ON YET NOR WATCHED. WILL COME BACK.
MANDALORIAN - RUNTIME SEASON 1: 1 hour and 48 minutes (before credits) - --> FINISHED FILM
MANDALORIAN - RUNTIME SEASON 1: Will be under 2 hours -
BOOK OF BOBA - RUNTIME - Season 1: Will be under 2 hours
MANDALORIAN - RUNTIME S2/3 - BOOK OF BOBA’S MANDA STORY: Will be under 2 hours
MANDALORIAN - RUNTIME SEASON 3: Will be under 2 hours (perhaps even 1 hour and 30 - the season is useless thus far)
AHSOKA - RUNTIME SEASON 1: Will be under 2 hours.

In order to keep Grogu’s farewell to Din Djarin mean something and feel emotional and long, Book of Boba story and then Manda’s Book of Boba Story, will be in-between so that when you watch it in chronological order in a movie format it actually feels like a lot of time has passed.

FINISHED:

• Kenobi: A Star Wars Story (Chapter I) [Was done in MAY of 2022 as a seperate thing/fanedit that fits well in here]
• The Mandalorian - Chapter I (Season 1) [Finished]

WHERE TO FIND?

It is, and will all be, on my Google Drive. You must be a Disney+ subscriber and request over PMs.

WHAT HAVE I DONE BEFORE?

• The Ancient Lore
• Kenobi: A Star Wars Story
• Harry Potter Revisited
• Game of Thrones Film Edits
• Titanic Restructured
  … and more.

WitchDR said:

I’ve always felt this show could be far more heavily edited than other edits I’ve seen. Even though it’s still in it’s infancy, this show is one that could be taken to a whole new level with changing dialogue with new A.I. voice lines. The shows consist of so many lip-flapping puppets and helmeted characters, it just seems ripe for something like that.

It’s not something you’ve listed you’d do, just something other edits haven’t taken advantage of when doing radical changes to the plot. Even though just a change in a line or two could trim so very much.

Anyways, your edit sounds like a fun new way to experience the shows! Can’t wait to check it out! 😄

Couldn’t agree more. And interesting thought. I’ve already done plenty of audio work with dialogue, but to create new, fitting pieces of dialogue strike me as both interesting and clever - if needed for a scene or a premise to work in the later films. I did some Dialogue Work on (was-in-the-works) V2 of The Ancient Lore with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon and it worked for certain scenes and allowed new interactions to be made. However, I hope for more improvements in the AI Voice department in the upcoming years for it to flow perfect.

However, as for Film I/Season I, I never found this an issue and removing stupid lines of dialogue - and following the less is more approach - a lot of interactions are heavily improved imo.

Released:

The Mandalorian Chapter I is released and uploaded to my Google Drive. The film (season 1) runs at 1 hour and 50 minutes, with credits.

Mandalorian Chapter II (Season 2):

• Apart from all the major changes mentioned in the first post, the film will open with a cold opening on Coruscant and then a Grand Moff Gideon reintroduction to remind viewers of the stakes and make it clear what the evil guys are up to. Then we are reintroduced to Mando and Grogu, and their story start on Tattooine. The season is heavily restructured to fit into a film structure and I am pleased on how its shaping along. Soon to be released.

As for BoB:

• Book of Boba Fett will be restructured in chronological order. We will follow Boba from the Sarlacc Pit and up until present day. His film will most likely end when Mando gets introduced.
• Remove as much dialogue from Boba Fett as possible, to keep him less talkative and a man of few, and carefully selected, words.
• All cringe removed. Like, everything you can imagine. Slapstick, pig guards being useless,
• Boba Fett’s annoying sidekick Fennec is heavily reduced and tightened up as a character. I am never given a reason to care for her, know her or like her. The little character depth there is is in there, and she serves her purpose, but she doesn’t get to steal the sunshine in Boba Fett’s story nor talk 24/7 and say the most obvious things.

PMs sent. Remember, only the first entry is uploaded. The rest are in-the-works.

Happy Easter! 😃

I’ve heard it might be a challenge, but I like a challenge. So I’ll see. In worst case I’ll make two films out of the season.

Update

Chapter II of The Mandalorian is itching close. Need to do some final FX tweaks and audio transitions, and then we’re there. This is way more radical than the first - in a good way, as Season 2 is very good but all over the place structure-wise. Oh, and here’s the opening in case you’re curious;

https://streamable.com/9m7j4g

PM sent.

Chapter II uploaded.

Season 2 at 1 hour and 59 minutes before credits.

The Boba Fett and Mandalorian storyline will be one movie, titled something appropriate as soon as one such comes to mind. I’m not going to make two seperate movies as originally planned. About 1 hour and 58 minutes.

The Present Day storyline of Boba Fett is not satisfying enough to carry the film alone - the plot is simply too thin and repedative. 40 minutes of politics and meetings and weird character decisions and varying tones in the Second Act crumbles the film. It also lacks a Third Act unless it is the combined Boba and Mando conclusion (EP 7 in other words).

Therefore, the film start with Boba’s Tusken storyline - follows it chronologically - and then we are introduced to Mando as soon as Boba and Fennec overthrow Bib Fortuna. This works like a charm and the two storylines can then compliment eachother.

The storyline’s are heavily re-structured and I’ve tried to achieve higher emotional stakes, and a more balanced, dramatic tone, to the overall story.

Hello, brother. Nice to hear from you again.

As a non-english-speaking fella’ myself I feel you. I’ve watched films with subtitles all my life, so I wish it would take me a few mere seconds. Unfortunately, the only way I’ve found to create subtitles take forever and it’s patience work beyond belief.

I can look for better solutions and try to create some subtitles soon.

The Book of Boba Fett is done, and I changed some things on the way.

It is retained and kept as Boba Fett’s story, with Din Djarin as a side character, and all the plot about Luke, Grogu etc. are kept for The Mandalorian Chapter III.

This honors both their individual stories way better, and gives them both more urgency and meat for their respective storylines.

This has of course forced me to re-arrange and alter existing footage to make it work, but after going down this route and getting my hands on Mandalorian Chapter III I’ve found a satisfactory solution to reunite them without the Book of Boba Fett storyline.

TBoBF

As for Boba Fett’s film, running at 2 hours and 4 minutes, I think i’ve done a decent to very good job at tackeling it as a movie with three arcs. I think it is now captivating, intense - even a slight bit emotional - and I think it really works.

For myself at least, I’ve taken a series I would never return to and made it into a film that I will now for sure watch over and over again with my family.

Major changes:

• The storylines are chronological.
• The Tusken Storyline is now the meat of the emotional weight of the story, at 32 minutes of The First Act.
• The Present Day stuff is dumbed down, focused and high-paced - with a bit of Rancor love and humour sprinkled throughout.
• Numerous close-ups of unmasked Boba, as well as some… questionable acting, is removed and/or heavily trimmed. I want Boba to feel the same, although with a new story and some change of heart.
• Offensive CGI is trimmed, altered and/or tightened.
• The film now presents a different way of Boba Fett overtaking Jabba’s palace.
• It is heavily implied that The Tuskens kept Boba Fett’s armour in their camp. Jawa’s are gone. For those who watched Mandalorian Chapter II, you will know that Din Djarin never had his armour.
• Din Djarin’s story is introduced after the overtaking of Jabba’s Palace, and his story tightened and kept relevant. Storylines that don’t serve the greater picture are removed (and some kept for Mandalorian Chapter III).
• The Third Act is heavily restructured and, imo, improved. Both for emotional weight as well as keep the story tight on the relevant characters.
• Restructured some of Cad Bane’s scenes to make him feel more pivotal to the overarching plot.