The Last Jedi - 'The End' Edition' (V1 NOW COMPLETE!) (Released)

I have recently completed a fan edit of The Last Jedi that seeks to make the film work as a conclusion to the Skywalker saga. My goal is to make VERY MINIMAL changes to most of TLJ, using HAL9000’s LEGENDARY edition of the film as a base. My edit seeks to strengthen the sense of finality in the film.

My changes are as follows:

• Removed reference to Knights of Ren as Luke’s old students. It can now be inferred that they are Snoke’s guards
• Added Leia training with Luke as a flashback, as per rocknroll41’s suggestion. This uses Leia’s purple saber by skenera
• Removed all references to Kylo being named Supreme Leader
• Removed Luke’s “the war is just beginning” and Kylo’s previous statement about it being over
• Removed Kylo’s threat of “destroying all of it” and Luke’s follow-up.
• Removed the First Order storming the base. The last we see of Kylo is him screaming in defeat
• Removed Rey meeting Poe Dameron. Just feels like setup
• Removed Rey and Leia’s lines about “rebuilding the Rebellion”
• Added both the Star Destroyer montage and Rey at the Skywalker home from TROS
• Removed Leia’s ghost from the end of TROS

I believe my current work looks promising. I’d love any input on this and please add any other suggestions. Thank you

The link to the ending concept follows below.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gz4M1XZl8IBuOGLyiGuCMYEwXgdil4z0

UPDATE: V1 is now complete! PM for details.

This isn’t an earth shattering reinterpretation of the film but I believe it provides enough closure for the saga that viewers new and old alike should be satisfied (given they liked TLJ as a film). Once again, HAL9000’s brilliant fanedit is what I worked off and improvements to the film overall are due to him.

V2 will likely be more ambitious and I am always open to new suggestions.

Why don’t you kill Leia off in this film? Have her be the one that calls out to Ben in Snoke’s throne room and she then keels over…that would make it all the more tragic as Ben still picks the dark side afterwards.

Hal 9000 said:

You’d lose the scene between Luke and Leia, though.

That’s exactly what’s stopping me now. If I were to kill her it would be in the explosion earlier but I don’t like the idea of her and Luke dying in the same film.

I have completed a very rough version of the ending ghost shot, removing Leia. It doesn’t look too bad. I’ll throw up a link soon

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sRpQONcb6qwy3CvHbFSq00lkaPN0yRkK
Here is a very rough look at my removal of Leia’s ghost. It doesn’t look great yet but this shows that it is possible!

adobewan said:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sRpQONcb6qwy3CvHbFSq00lkaPN0yRkK
Here is a very rough look at my removal of Leia’s ghost. It doesn’t look great yet but this shows that it is possible!

I didn’t notice anything too rough there, either I need to go to specsavers or you did a good job there

szopman said:

Maybe you could use some where the flashback from TROS with Leia and Luke training?
It could serve as both an explanation of Leias force abbilities like Flying in space and allusion that she will continue reys training.

Not sure where that could fit into the story of TLJ. It’s not in my current cut but I’m open to suggestions!

I’ve updated the ending of the film and posted a clip in HD. This should give a much better idea at what it will end up looking like. I still need to apply effects to remove Leia’s saber from the final scene and clean up the effects and music in pother places.
Here’s a link for anyone interested. May the force be with you 😄

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-p01gwc6rzOPNUtmRTcJIYIcu75V2Q9c

adobewan said:

I’ve updated the ending of the film and posted a clip in HD. This should give a much better idea at what it will end up looking like. I still need to apply effects to remove Leia’s saber from the final scene and clean up the effects and music in pother places.
Here’s a link for anyone interested. May the force be with you 😄

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-p01gwc6rzOPNUtmRTcJIYIcu75V2Q9c

This is good! A couple of ideas:

1. I totally get why you rearranged the end scene with everyone on the falcon. You wanted to mark the closure. But I think it might flow better if the order was like the theatrical. I only think this because right now it cuts from Rey to the Falcon to Rey again. Just a thought.

2. After Leia’s “I felt it too,” why not just fade directly into the ending montage? The slow zoom out on Rey and Leia would work nicely as a transition, I would think.

3. Have you considered mixing the broom boy with the Rey Skywalker ending? Basically, it would cut from the ending montage to the kids telling the story of Luke, then once the kid starts sweeping and we get that shot of his feet, you would cut to Rey on Tatooine. Then after Rey says “Rey Skywalker,” you’d cut back to broom boy for the final shots. You’d have to adjust the timing of the shots a bit, but I think it might work well. I guess it depends on what you prefer for the ending, I guess. 😃

But I love your ideas!

Lifeincontext said:

adobewan said:

I’ve updated the ending of the film and posted a clip in HD. This should give a much better idea at what it will end up looking like. I still need to apply effects to remove Leia’s saber from the final scene and clean up the effects and music in pother places.
Here’s a link for anyone interested. May the force be with you 😄

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1-p01gwc6rzOPNUtmRTcJIYIcu75V2Q9c

This is good! A couple of ideas:

1. I totally get why you rearranged the end scene with everyone on the falcon. You wanted to mark the closure. But I think it might flow better if the order was like the theatrical. I only think this because right now it cuts from Rey to the Falcon to Rey again. Just a thought.

2. After Leia’s “I felt it too,” why not just fade directly into the ending montage? The slow zoom out on Rey and Leia would work nicely as a transition, I would think.

3. Have you considered mixing the broom boy with the Rey Skywalker ending? Basically, it would cut from the ending montage to the kids telling the story of Luke, then once the kid starts sweeping and we get that shot of his feet, you would cut to Rey on Tatooine. Then after Rey says “Rey Skywalker,” you’d cut back to broom boy for the final shots. You’d have to adjust the timing of the shots a bit, but I think it might work well. I guess it depends on what you prefer for the ending, I guess. 😃

But I love your ideas!

Man, those are all awesome ideas! I appreciate the support and I’ll see how well I can get that all to flow.

I definitely miss having the broom kid at the end so I’d like to put that scene back in

UPDATE: I am nearing completion on the audio side of things. I re-scored and re-applied some sound effects to the interior Falcon scene. While I was at it, I touched up effects in the ghost scene at the end. I am about to commence work on the lightsabers shot and attempt to replace Leia’s saber with Luke’s from ROTJ.

Also, as per @Lifeincontext 's recommendation, I re-arranged the Falcon scene to it’s theatrical order of shots.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gz4M1XZl8IBuOGLyiGuCMYEwXgdil4z0

This is looking fantastic. Sadly no matter how much editing people put into TROS, the only way to end with a genuinely great movie is by doing what you’re doing.

Now you had mentioned having the two halves of Luke’s lightsaber which would be amazing. The link below contains images of a fan made version of the split saber. I’m not technically minded when it comes to this but I feel like the plain backgrounds would make it fairly easy to place into the shots in question with a little work.

https://m.imgur.com/a/9rB2FBi

I just wish I had the know how to help.

evansj1983 said:

This is looking fantastic. Sadly no matter how much editing people put into TROS, the only way to end with a genuinely great movie is by doing what you’re doing.

Now you had mentioned having the two halves of Luke’s lightsaber which would be amazing. The link below contains images of a fan made version of the split saber. I’m not technically minded when it comes to this but I feel like the plain backgrounds would make it fairly easy to place into the shots in question with a little work.

https://m.imgur.com/a/9rB2FBi

I just wish I had the know how to help.

Thanks, I appreciate the support! 😄

rocknroll41 said:

Hey I have an idea @adobewan !

Instead of going through the trouble of trying to edit Leia’s Saber out the epilogue, just add the flashback of her and Luke training together during the bit when Luke is opening himself back up to the force (on the cliff at night)… Or maybe just after he sees the hologram of her that R2 plays. Make it look as if it’s Luke himself experiencing that flashback.

EDIT: forgot to mention earlier that, in order for this to work, the narration Luke does during that training sequence would obviously have to be removed. It would have to be just a silent sequence, with music.

I suppose it could be left to the audience to conclude in their heads that Leia did some training, and then left to focus on rebuilding the Republic.

I really appreciate the suggestion. That’s the best idea I’ve heard for this aspect of the film so far. I’ll give it a shot and see how it comes out!

Kanemedhurst said:

How’s progress going? 😃

Hey sorry for the lack of updates as of late. Progress has been slow the last week due to issues surrounding the virus. I hope to resume tomorrow. The first, more conservative cut is essentially finished