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The Jedi, The Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [Released]

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 (Edited)

I believe the Ahsoka series is some of the best Star Wars has to offer but was held back by such poor editing and pacing. This movie edit remedies that by condensing the series as much as possible and comitting to a more theatrical experience. I want this edit to feel like you could view it in a theater and have it stand side by side with the other Star Wars movies. Originally, I had hoped to get the run time down much more but through editing it found that most scenes were either enjoyable or necessary and mostly just needed pacing edits. As a result, this edit can fully replace the series for first time watchers – you won’t be missing anything important.

I have a comparison trailer of the first 15 minutes to get a good sense of my editing sensibilities.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LN1BVYGQusCT7P1g6SKYqy8y0jultfWV/view?usp=drive_link

Broad changes:

  • A new traditional-style crawl was added that retains the orignal series’ music and red coloring. It is slightly condensed with some added context for those who didn’t watch Rebels. The final episode’s title was chosen to represent the edit as a whole (Its reference to the Chronicles of Narnia was compelling to me and it has the weight and whimsy I think the story deserves. The World Between Worlds is also a reference to Narnia, so it has precedent)
  • Slight color grade
  • Significantly trimmed down every single scene for pacing, adding 24 new transitions where necessary
  • Removed particularly useless/dumb dialogue, awkward pauses, and unnecessary/confusing beats

I have not kept track of every single change as it is in the hundreds. My timeline shows 493 edits.

Deleted scenes:

  • Ahsoka and Huyang’s conversation after her introduction
  • Sabine reminiscing on Ahsoka’s ship
  • Ahsoka and Hera’s conversation about Sabine after she takes the map
  • Hera talking to Sabine in the hospital
  • Baylan and Shin arriving on Seatos (scene of Baylan looking up at the purrgil reused later on)
  • Ahsoka and Hera’s conversation about Sabine on Corellia
  • Ahsoka and Sabine talking about her past training and Sabine trying to use the force on a mug
  • Hera leaving the fleet to go to Seatos
  • Baylan sending a hunting party out into the woods to attack the T-6 shuttle
  • Ahsoka waking up on the Ghost
  • The New Republic fleet arriving on Seatos and most related scenes
  • Sabine in the Eye of Sion’s cell
  • Sabine fighting the raiders on Peridea
  • Hera’s trial on Coruscant
  • Ahsoka viewing Anakin’s old training holograms
  • Baylan and Shin’s conversation while tracking Sabine
  • Shin being aided by the raiders during her attack
  • Baylan and Ahsoka’s second fight on Peridea
  • Ezra building his lightsaber
  • (there may be other minor things I am forgetting)

Rearranged scenes:

  • Moved Sabine’s conversation with Huyang in the hospital to before Ahsoka finds the droid, allowing all of Corellia to happen consecutively
  • Morgan arrives on Seatos just before Ahsoka finds the droid and goes to Corellia
  • World Between Worlds occurs immediately after the Eye of Sion enters hyperspace and is interrupted only once by the arrival of Hera on Seatos.
  • The Eye exits hyperspace as soon as Ahsoka enters hyperspace
  • Baylan speaks to Shin about old Jedi stories right before Ahsoka and Huyang talk about old Jedi stories. Huyang’s “far, far away” line then cuts to Peridea and Thrawn’s introduction.
  • Moved Ahsoka talking to Sabine about Anakin before getting attacked by TIEs to the very end (before the epilogue). This may be the most significant story change I’ve made but this keeps the momentum going in the third act and gives a nice finality to how their relationship develops.
  • (there may be other minor things I am forgetting)

File information:
-3860x1608p, H.265, 28.5gb
-1920x804p H.264, 10.6gb
02:52:07 runtime (02:46:57 before credits), 5.1 AAC Surround sound, English embedded subtitles, MKV

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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I really like your choice of shot to introduce Ahsoka herself.

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vranir said:

I really like your choice of shot to introduce Ahsoka herself.

Thank you, I originally had that cut straight to her jumping out of the hole but decided the map needed it’s due introduction. To make that sequence go faster, I spliced together the shot of her turning the first pedestal with the shot of her standing up from the last one. Consequently, the shot of her smirking makes a great intro.

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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I watched it and overall it’s very well done. I do have notes:

  • The crawl itself is great, but it just feels wrong not having the regular SW intro. You said you want this to be like a SW film, so why not begin it thus? Have the “A long, long time ago, far, far away…” with the SW theme, and SW/Ahsoka title? And then could you start it with the SW theme and then segue into that eerie music.
  • There isn’t normally a wipe after the crawl, the ship should just fly into the space. However…
  • If you want to shave more time and get right into it, you could go from the crawl into the ship approaching that starts at 1:55 then go inside the Alliance ship: “Ship approaching.” It immediately sets up a sense of tension that way and cuts an unnecessary extra bit at the beginning. It works dialogue-wise too.
  • Great cut from Morgan to Ahsoka. Nice, tight pacing in the rescue scene and first Ashoka scene. Fantastically-done.
  • After Clancy Brown laughs nervously after calling Sabine Wren’s name twice, I think you can just cut the scene to 10:29 (where we see the back of the lothal cat), and then the door opens and… there is Sabine Wren. That creates this perfect little cut and intro to her.
  • This Sabine slower scene with the Ezra holo works really nicely to slow the pace here. And it’s a much nicer intro to the characters, makes her more likable at the outset than the series did.
  • OK, this is where cutting out the New Republic stuff is an issue. Where, when did Ahsoka and Hwang find out about the lightsabers in this edit? That came completely out of left field and for someone who hadn’t watched the series they’d be WHA?! How did they know? If you could add in a bit of the NR stuff there just to get the info to Ahsoka that would work.

Overall, again, this is really good. Introduces your antagonists and protagonists beautifully. Sets up the plot well. It’s tight, focused, good action, with a few scenes to slow things down. The only issue is how did Ahsoka know about the lightsabers. Other than that (and I threw in my few recommended small cuts), this is looking really, really good so far.

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arabian said:

I watched it and overall it’s very well done. I do have notes:

Wow, thanks for the extensive feedback! I did think about including “A long time ago…” But I’m going to wait till I get to ep6 and decide if I want to keep Huyang’s line where he says it. If I decide to keep that, I want it to remain a meta reference to the Skywalker saga, and not an awkward meta reference to itself. I’m leaning toward that, so decided to leave it out.

As for the Star Wars title into, I’m not sure if that’d fit with the music. The current one fades in well with the eerie violins. But I’ll play around with it.

I knew the lightsabers were going to be the iffiest thing retained. I thought it might be implied she’s encountered them before but I know that’s a stretch. It can’t be easily cut because it’s integrated into her conversation with Sabine and the subsequent reveal that Sabine has taken the map – and it’s a good development to Baylan and Shin’ characters. I may alter the crawl to make a reference to some “previous encounter with Morgan’s allies” though I am not a huge fan of altering canon.

When Ryder tells that guy to cover for him, it always gets a laugh from me. I know most people would probably cut it, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I may play around with tightening up the awkward moment so it’s not quite as cheesy though. Plus, having a character revealed after someone else says their name was already done to introduce Ahsoka. I didn’t want to do the exact same thing again.

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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Kestrel said:

arabian said:

I watched it and overall it’s very well done. I do have notes:

Wow, thanks for the extensive feedback! I did think about including “A long time ago…” But I’m going to wait till I get to ep6 and decide if I want to keep Huyang’s line where he says it. If I decide to keep that, I want it to remain a meta reference to the Skywalker saga, and not an awkward meta reference to itself. I’m leaning toward that, so decided to leave it out.

No problem, it was a fun watch. With WIP, well, it’s a work in progress, LOL!

As for the Star Wars title into, I’m not sure if that’d fit with the music. The current one fades in well with the eerie violins. But I’ll play around with it.

Cool.

I knew the lightsabers were going to be the iffiest thing retained. I thought it might be implied she’s encountered them before but I know that’s a stretch. It can’t be easily cut because it’s integrated into her conversation with Sabine and the subsequent reveal that Sabine has taken the map – and it’s a good development to Baylan and Shin’ characters. I may alter the crawl to make a reference to some “previous encounter with Morgan’s allies” though I am not a huge fan of altering canon.

Maybe someone will come up with some workaround suggestion. I only watched the show once so I dunno.

When Ryder tells that guy to cover for him, it always gets a laugh from me. I know most people would probably cut it, but I couldn’t bring myself to. I may play around with tightening up the awkward moment so it’s not quite as cheesy though. Plus, having a character revealed after someone else says their name was already done to introduce Ahsoka. I didn’t want to do the exact same thing again.

I get what you mean in not wanting to not do the exact same thing, but it’s really not the exact same thing at all. The situations are just different enough, and they are spaced apart. Morgan is talking about the one who stole the map from her and just gives Baylan her name (which is literally how it happens in the show), and Clancy Brown introduces her by name to the crowd (again, literally how it was done in the show). By doing it this way, you’re given us what the show gave us, but allowing them to mirror each other and say: These are our protagonists.

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arabian said:

Kestrel said:

arabian said:

I watched it and overall it’s very well done. I do have notes:

Wow, thanks for the extensive feedback! I did think about including “A long time ago…” But I’m going to wait till I get to ep6 and decide if I want to keep Huyang’s line where he says it. If I decide to keep that, I want it to remain a meta reference to the Skywalker saga, and not an awkward meta reference to itself. I’m leaning toward that, so decided to leave it out.

Maybe someone will come up with some workaround suggestion. I only watched the show once so I dunno.

I get what you mean in not wanting to not do the exact same thing, but it’s really not the exact same thing at all. The situations are just different enough, and they are spaced apart. Morgan is talking about the one who stole the map from her and just gives Baylan her name (which is literally how it happens in the show), and Clancy Brown introduces her by name to the crowd (again, literally how it was done in the show). By doing it this way, you’re given us what the show gave us, but allowing them to mirror each other and say: These are our protagonists.

After watching through it again, I think I’ll compromise and further tighten Ryder’s speech, then cut to Sabine’s intro after he says “Where is she?”

For the lightsaber issue, I’ll see if I can keep in the scene where Hera briefs Ahsoka on Home-One while retaining a brisk pace. Baylan asking Morgan “Who is this Jedi” prevents any implication that he and Ahsoka have encountered before.

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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Kestrel said:

Wow, thanks for the extensive feedback! I did think about including “A long time ago…” But I’m going to wait till I get to ep6 and decide if I want to keep Huyang’s line where he says it. If I decide to keep that, I want it to remain a meta reference to the Skywalker saga, and not an awkward meta reference to itself. I’m leaning toward that, so decided to leave it out.

Maybe someone will come up with some workaround suggestion. I only watched the show once so I dunno.

I get what you mean in not wanting to not do the exact same thing, but it’s really not the exact same thing at all. The situations are just different enough, and they are spaced apart. Morgan is talking about the one who stole the map from her and just gives Baylan her name (which is literally how it happens in the show), and Clancy Brown introduces her by name to the crowd (again, literally how it was done in the show). By doing it this way, you’re given us what the show gave us, but allowing them to mirror each other and say: These are our protagonists.

After watching through it again, I think I’ll compromise and further tighten Ryder’s speech, then cut to Sabine’s intro after he says “Where is she?”

That could work, but the other guy says “I don’t know” immediately after that, I’m not sure if you can make a clean cut. If you can do it, though, that would be perfect.

For the lightsaber issue, I’ll see if I can keep in the scene where Hera briefs Ahsoka on Home-One while retaining a brisk pace. Baylan asking Morgan “Who is this Jedi” prevents any implication that he and Ahsoka have encountered before.

Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Since you’re cutting the NR story out, this would just be something like the Ryder scene where it’s someone from our main characters’ past they have a scene or two that moves the plot along. We don’t know need anything more than the info we glean from that scene just like with Ryder (or like the ppl on the ship in the first scene).

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 (Edited)

After getting through the preliminary edits for all 8 episodes, I couldn’t bring myself to cut a lot that I had been planning to. Hayden is just too good 😅. In fact, the only noticable parts I cut are the New Republic fleet arriving on Seatos and Shin fighting alongside the raiders. The run time is currently at a hefty 3 hours. However, I’m very happy with with the pacing of everything. It moves like a motherfucker and I’m actually kind of pleased that it retains most everything from the show–just squeezed as tight as possible. It feels right. I’ll probably go through the whole thing one more time and get a version 0 out sometime this week for feedback.

Also, thoughts on naming the edit after the last episode? I love the reference to the Narnia series. The WBW is a reference to Narnia, as well.

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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Although I was pleased with your initial planned edit, I was sad to see the Anakin/WBW go, however, since it was your edit and I was pretty happy with everything else, I didn’t want to say anything. OTOH, knowing that you’re keeping that stuff makes me SUPER happy!! YAY!

As for the last ep’s title as the overall title? As much as I adore that title, I just don’t think it works overall because as important as Thrawn and Morgan are, at this point they really are plot points. They aren’t the heart and soul of the show. I think that will change via Thrawn in season 2, but not in S1. However, I think the first ep title: Master and Apprentice works really, really nicely for the series overall.

I’m really excited to see what you have cooked up in the end for Ashoka, Ezra, Sabine, a Soca Tana, and Admiral Ron. 😄

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I think I’ve seen “Master and Apprentice” used for a different edit. I like it but it doesn’t feel weighty enough for me. Another I’ve seen was “The Phantom Apprentice” which I associate more with Maul, “The Path to Peridea” which feels too impersonal, and “A Threat from Beyond” likewise feels too impersonal and just generally vague. I’ll stick with what I have for now and if I am struck with inspiration, I may change it. (and it’s totally not because I already put that title on a poster and the crawl and can’t be bothered to make new ones 😅).

Anyway, I’ve updated the main post. I have v0 ready for viewing! I am happy with this initial release and don’t consider a rough cut. The only things I currently have in mind for a v1 are embedded chapters, subtitles, and maybe a smaller file option. Though, if anyone watches it and has feedback, I will incorporate that, too.

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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Kestrel said:

Oh yes. Inspiration just struck me.

The Jedi, the Witch, and Ron.

OH, YES!!! THIS IS IT!!! LOL!

I don’t disagree with your reasons for honestly. Master and Apprentice is generic, and I definitely agree with the others. Even commented on the latter title myself. Actually, if you think of the Jedi as plural, you really are encompassing the main characters (Ahsoka, Sabine, Ezra=Jedi, Morgan=Witch, Thrawn=Warlord). In that sense, it really does work. And, frankly, I do love the whimsy of it.

Now, you know I would love a link!

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 (Edited)

Alright, the files are still uploading (and I’m sure gdrive will take its sweet time to process them before they are able to be streamed), but v1 is released! Here is the difference between v0 and v1 for anyone interested. Both versions are still being uploaded but will be available at the same gdrive link as before.

The final runtime is 2:53:26 which I am pretty happy with for the amount of content I left in.

–v1 changelist–

  • Added embedded subtitles (English only)
  • Added 1080p (1920x804p) file
  • New poster
  • Improved every transition
  • Added slight color correction
  • Rewrote crawl (each paragraph starts with an EVIL OBJECT and moves to its GOOD COUNTERPART)
  • Added slight fade/blur to the crawl as it moves into the distance
  • The crawl now moves slightly along with the camera movement as the Vesper enters frame
  • Reinstated the original sequence of events in ep.1 where Ahsoka goes to Hera before Sabine’s introduction. While I would’ve liked to have Sabine introduced earlier, I wasn’t satisfied with her introduction abruptly interrupting Ahsoka’s first scenes
  • Cut to white instead of black after Sabine is stabbed
  • Removed Baylan and Shin’s arrival on Seatos (Purrgil tease is reused after Morgan arrives and opens the map)
  • Trimmed more from the battle over Seatos before they reach the Eye of Sion
  • Removed Shin’s “You have no power” so that it’s more obvious that Sabine does actually have power. This provides more meaningful setup for her future force use
  • Removed redundant exposition from Baylan and Morgan about Peridea
  • Trimmed down Nighttrooper scenes
  • Removed dialogue from Morgan at the end so Sabine can enter the fight faster after leaving Ezra
  • Removed Thrawn’s “I concluded your strategies would be similar” line at the very end and reinstated “perhaps this is where a ronin such as you belongs” line – it’s not a very strong line but that extra beat is needed

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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Review from over on reddit.

Just finished this and it is an incredible change from watching the Disney version. Your version is the one to watch and honestly, I found no errors in editing or bad changes you made. So thank you for sharing this edit and you made this something that was actually enjoyable instead of that drag of a series.

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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 (Edited)

-v1.1 changelist-

  • Added chapter markers
  • Title card no longer has any grey coloring and is fades in over the star field
  • Cut out “sentimental?” “truth” line
  • Improved several music transitions
  • Added clip of Huyang speaking before the battle over Seatos so his line doesn’t begin on the establishing shot
  • Fixed error in the galaxy far, far away scene where Huyang’s line gets cut off
  • Reinstated the beat between Ahsoka saying “I’m going out there” and the actual space walk to give her time to get her suit on
  • Reinstated the two TIEs departing from the Chimera’s hangar
  • Moved Ahsoka talking about Anakin and always being there for Sabine to the very end. This may be the most significant story change I’ve made but this keeps the momentum going in the third act and gives a nice finality to how their relationship develops

-v1.2 changelist-

  • Improved a few more music transitions
  • Fixed captions occasionally overlapping

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777

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Still don’t have a link… wah! Pretty please!

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Thank you, Kestrel, for the link. I have watched it and I haz thoughts (lots of them!)… along with my nephew’s.

OK, my nephew watched Star Wars a lot when younger, but not as much lately. He watched The Clone Wars, and half of Rebels, and up to S2 of The Mandolarian. He has not watched Ahsoka. These are his thoughts of your edit:

  • It didn’t play like a fanedit to him.

  • There are only three edits that weren’t seamless.

    – After Sabine was stabbed, the quick, boom of the white to the hospital room was too quick, too much. He would have preferred a softer, slow white fade-in. Less jarring.
    – When Sabine was figuring out the map, there was one quick, jumpy glitch.
    – During the fight (when you cut out the group of fighters), Shin just came up behind Ezra and it didn’t make sense to my nephew. He was like, ‘why doesn’t she just walk up to them?’ Obviously, this is because you so expertly edited out the other guys fighting/attacking them.

  • He said that it didn’t feel even remotely like a bunch of episodes strung together. He couldn’t tell where one episode ended and the other began. Each moment blended into each other nicely.

  • But for one thing, he didn’t find himself asking any questions, like huh? That one thing was when the Republic fighters/Hera showed up after Hera told them the Senate said no. That didn’t make sense and had him scratching his head.

  • Also, Jacen kinda showed up did have him wondering a little bit, but there was an explanation later. He would have preferred to know who he was beforehand, but it was OK.

  • A lot of what made Ezra such a great character was missing. (I showed him all of his scenes afterward and he did feel that the lightsaber making scene should have been included definitely, and the first scene in its entirety probably as well. He also said after watching the longer storming the castle scene that your editing was superb because he would have never guessed that there was any editing done in that scene.)

  • He was very happy that the WBW stuff was included as a CW fan.

  • Overall, he really liked it. It was solid.

(I should point out my nephew is a film student in college.)

OK, now my thoughts: (This will be longer, LOL!)

First of all! Wow, this is overall amazing. I think you did a fantastic job (except in one area). This was seamlessly done, except really for the one jump/glitch. There was nothing else where I thought the editing was off. It just did not look/sound/feel like a fanedit film. You really did a stellar job. Kudos, kudos, kudos. Now, details (the good with the critique, I promise!)

  • I’m still gonna harp on that Sabine intro, LOL! I just say cut the whole Sabine on the speeder period because you show her on a speeder in about 10 minutes or so and the way it’s shot, it’s the EXACT same angle, everything. Unless you want to show it as a chase, and her being let off by the governor’s guys. If not, it’s so same-y. Go from Clancy Brown-dude turning to look “Where is she?” to her door opening of her house and she steps in. Boom, there you go.

  • So, I’m pretty sure it was this way in the show, but since you cut most of the speeder scene chase when she goes into her place and listens to the Ezra message it’s a long enough scene, so the wipe going into her little sleep, wake up, and then “Ezra!” is fine. However, as you have it now, it’s teeny speeder, walk in home, short Ezra message, wipe, wake up, “Ezra!” So it’s like a minute (if that scene) wipe, 30 second scene. And it’s just why the wipe? So, I’d cut the wipe there.

  • As mentioned when she’s figuring out the map, there’s a jump/glitch about 25:21-23.

  • I didn’t have a problem with the white!boom to the hospital, but I do see what my nephew meant, a softer fade-in there would probably work better.

  • I just have to point out that you acheived what I thought was practically impossible! You made Ahsoka going out on the ship and fighting in space work for me. It was cool, and didn’t leave me going but why didn’t they? why didn’t she? this is so stupid? That was fantastically done! YAY!!!

  • We really need that scene with Hera deciding to go help Ahsoka & co. herself and Carson and others joining her because Morgan being like ‘oh, Republic fighters are coming’ is a big huh? Because the last we heard was ‘Hera said the Senate said nope’ and we as the viewer are like, ‘welp! our heroes are on their own!’ but all of a sudden the Republic fighters are coming and then we see Morgan & co go through the ring and some Republic fighters get kilt. Then a few scenes later, Hera lands, her comrades land and we’re all like… wait, what? And they’re talking about: ‘They gonna get big mad!’ Hera’s all, ‘I’ll cover for you!’ And my nephew’s like, ‘wait, what?! What did I miss?!?’

And that was the one part here where this fanedit screamed fanedit. So, yeah, we need that scene.

  • Sorry, I disagree with my nephew. I think that Jacen needs an intro. I don’t quite recall, but isn’t there something of him and Hera in the Ghost that would be a nice little scene that would to give us a little ‘hey, this is who this kid is!’ before he randomly shows up.

  • I loved how you intercut Ahsoka, “I have another idea,” she uses the Force to call Sabine, we cut into the Ezra/Sabine convo, back to Ahsoka, back to Ezra/Sabine, back to Thrawn & Co, she’s been found, back to Ezra/Sabine, back to Ahsoka, boom! She’s attacked. That was awesome! awesome! awesome! I’d only suggest BEGIN that section on the Ezra/Sabine convo so we get the whole thing and then cut to Ahsoka/Huwang and continue, so, ahem, we get more Ezra. I have a bit more about Ezra later on.

  • Now, if a scene does need to be cut, I think the Baylan & Shin scene where he’s saying that this place is the land of dreams and madness, of folk stories, and she’s all stories are just stories. And he says it’s all just a cycle that repeats and he’s going to end it could be cut. I mean, nice sentiment. We all love Ray Stevenson (RIP), but it could be cut.

  • Alright before I get to the next bit, I want to reiterate again how fantastic this is. I mean, truly. You made Sabine more likable. Truly got across the meat of the story. Ahsoka was great. You cut the fat. We got who Ahsoka, Sabine, Thrawn, Morgan, even Hera was beautifully. And there was a clear throughline of this story. And other than the one Hera/Republic Rebels scene that I feel is truly needed, this did not feel like a fanedit.

  • I just have one true issue. It’s a biggie though. I feel like you shortchanged my boy, Ezra. Ezra, I think, is the heart of this show. While Ahsoka is trying to get to Thrawn, Hera cares about getting to Ezra truly in her heart. Sabine cares about getting Ezra back. When it comes to making that choice, Sabine chooses Ezra. Ezra stands for peace and family. Thrawn for war and violence. Ahsoka learns the lesson, the choice to live for peace, for family in TWBW and so she realizes, she understands that Sabine made the right choice. Ezra is the heart of the show. You cut a lot of Ezra’s scenes.

  • His first scene where we meet him? Not even 30 seconds. The actual scene is nearly two and half minutes, and it ends with Ezra saying he’s gonna go home. His last line, THE last line of the season (in the mid-credits scene)? “I’m home.” I understand why you cut the bandits fight with Sabine, but part of that scene (trimmed as much as possible) needed to be kept with Baylan & Shin if only because it’s during that fight with them that Ezra explains why he doesn’t want a lightsaber or gun, but how he uses the force. You also cut off his “Or you could take us as prisoners?” after “Can we talk?” which is a VERY Ezra thing to do, a stalling tactic, looking for anything, any advantage to stay alive longer.

  • And, oh boy, that making the lightsaber scene! First of all, when he ran out with the lightsaber, I was like wait what? So there was that. But then, yeah, the making the lightsaber scene, so much great characterization of WHO Ezra is, the quick-moving, quick-talking, quick-thinking, and then sweet soft heart of him coming to the fore when Kanan is mentioned and THEN we got some great characterization and backstory on Sabine and Ahsoka on why they are who they are. Ah, that scene was utter gold!

  • Finally, that final scene (pre-mid-credits) on the ship where he knocked out the guard… but wait, back up: I loved how you mildly tweaked the jump/push onto the ship where he did just immediately grab onto the ship and pulled that stormtrooper over. That worked so much better than how it did on the show. OK, back to that final scene on the ship. I think it’s important to keep that for two reasons:

    – It shows Ezra’s intelligence and quick-thinking. Even though he’s been out of the game for so long, he is able to jump right back into the swing of things.
    – In the end you showed where all the major players were: Ahsoka, Sabine, Huwang, Thrawn, Shin, Baylan, and not Ezra. Seriously, what you got against my boy, Ezra?

So, again, overall, you did an absolutely fantastic job. Just needs more Ezra! Really, though just marvelous, Kestrel, marvelous! I just can’t say enough about the tightness of the editing and music. It’s just so expertly done.

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Well, I’m probably going to take a break from this for a bit but that is some amazing feedback! I will definitely take every point into consideration. I watched it through with my brother (a big Filoni hater, couldn’t get through the first episode lol), and he also said the character he was the most invested in and liked the most was Ezra. So for an eventual v2 release, I’ll see what else can be cut so we can get more Ezra. 👍 I might toy around with reinstating the raiders so I can keep that conversation between Shin and Baylan while they’re tracking instead of the one on top of the fortress, as well as Ezra force-fighting later on.

The thinking behind cutting so much of Ezra is that the core of this story is really Sabine and Ahsoka. The third act already stays for too long and I wanted to keep it moving. And I figured a lot this will be setup for Ezra’s own eventual movie so I wanted to be careful to not let him outshine everyone else. But I guess he will no matter what so who am I to resist popular demand!

As for the “glitch,” there are actually two! Instead of Sabine taking a full minute to rotate each side, I opted for a couple jump cuts. Maybe some cross-dissolves might ease those cuts? Tho that might look more out of place. I can see how that can be distracting though, I wasn’t sure about them myself.

And then the fan-edit moment. There is a very brief scene right before Baylan destroys the map where Huyang fixes the comms and messages Hera for assisstance and she says “copy that.” I get how it can be missed but no one in my viewing noticed anything wrong so I’ll probably leave it be since it keeps things moving. But if you have ideas to make that more clear without adding too much, I am open!

Again, thank you for the extensive feedback! It’s both helpful and encouraging. 😃

Current Project = The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (Ahsoka Movie Edit) [RELEASED] : https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-Kestrels-Theatrical-Edit-WIP-/id/111777