(The Mandalorian+BoBF) The Way of Mandalore | A New Mandalore Movie Saga (Final Update in Progress) — Page 14

This will be my final preview…

…before release.

I’m getting close, my friends. I’m in the last 10% of editing on this. Tomorrow I will have a full working draft and begin looking for the bugs and writing the changelog. Hopefully will have that published very soon, and definitely looking at the full Book 5 release to kick off the summer!

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

Before -

After -

I now have Grogu completely removed from the entire movie. I just need to go back through and touch up a few spots and watch it all to make sure he didn’t slip through anywhere… But I am very confident this is going to work. These plotlines feel astronomically different without him around. I can’t wait to show you all. We’re in the final stretch! Trying to write the changelog tomorrow. It’s going to be… BIG.

Wow! I can’t wait for this! This is looking very promising.

Here it is! I had to summarize a lot of these into just one point or it would be so long it would break the site… but realize when I say “Removed Grogu from Mandalore” that’s like 300+ edits to the visuals and soundtrack. Depending how fast I can bug check and get a little inside feedback, we’re probably within 10 days of release!

Book 5: The Apostate

• Added new Mandalorian Disney Star Wars intro
• While the D+ timeline is pretty confusing with how long Grogu is with Luke before the BoBF reunion, my series of events can play out with a much more logical chronology. Book 5: The Apostate occurs ~6 months after the conclusion of Book 4: The Way.
• New color grading on Ringworld
• The film opens with Din back to bounty hunting and looking for his clan. He has reverted to his state of mind pre-Grogu.
• Cut Klatoonian, “That doesn’t even look like me!” These alien mask prosthetics aren’t the best and sometimes you can see the human mouth inside and it’s really jarring.
• Sped up Din’s reaction to being bit.
• Reduced the number of blaster shots Din takes on his back before responding.
• Trimmed down the shot length where Din walks away from the Klatoonian facility. It is normally cutting to the BoBF title card here with thundering Boba music so I reworked the soundtrack and visuals.
• Cut a bad fade transition in the Armorer talk
• Cut Din jumping off the catwalk like a clown while training with the Darksaber.
• Sped up some of the Armorer’s attacks on Din during training so he doesn’t seem as incompetent.
• Reduced the time that Vizla spends mindlessly looking at the vibroblade Din cuts in half during their duel. Very awkward pause in combat.
• When Din is banished, I have integrated dialogue from their S3E01 talk so that Din has a clearer picture of how he needs to restore himself. He is also the one who now suggests how he can be redeemed, showing that he has knowledge of The Way.
• Cut transport announcer saying they’re flying to Tatooine because in mine they’re about to head to Nevarro.
• Split up Din’s traveling inside the shuttle into two parts, using the first half now and the second half on his way to Tatooine later on.
• New transition for shuttle flying to Nevarro and dropping Din off there.
• Grogu is entirely removed from this planet. (S3E01 content)
• New color grading for Nevarro
• We don’t yet know why exactly Din travels here, but he is quickly set upon by Greef who has all sorts of offers and plans for Din. So Din gets dragged around for a bit listening to Greef’s pitches before the Pirates show up.
• Re-edited the Pirate stand-off so that Greef fires faster to disarm the main one, and also so Din is the one who later kills all 4 of the other guards to further strengthen their grudge against Din specifically.
• Finally, Greef gives Din a moment to tell him why he’s here, and Din explains that he wants IG back. Greef tells him that’s impossible, but Din tries anyway. However, this effort bears no fruit and after all the effort Din is told that he needs to get a different droid.
• To bridge the gap in Din’s journey from Nevarro to Tatooine, we cut to the Armorer swearing in Vizla’s kid into The Way, this also helps establish that the clan has left the Ring World and is now onto the Rock World (which we will visit later in the film).
• Cut some Pelli and Womp Rat nonsense.
• Though it is a great sequence in and of itself, I had to trim over half of the building N1 scene. It just annihilates the pacing, and so I’ve cut it to what is needed to communicate the theme of Din taking pride and ownership in something new.
• Cut out a few lines during the N1 flight test to help with pacing.
• As Din takes the N1 into space during the test flight, he is “pulled over” by the New Republic, but right after he escapes them he is set upon by the pirates from Nevarro who are looking to take revenge on him for killing their men.
• There were SO many VFX bugs in this dogfight… I have fixed everything I could find. From doubled-up frames, explosion lighting coming from the wrong side of the cockpit after blowing something up, blaster fire inconsistency, impossible sequences of events chronologically, ships teleporting all over the place with no real geographical placement etc. Whew. Hopefully, the fight plays out in a way that entertains and you don’t notice all the cover-ups I had to do.
• I have merged the events of Din’s BoBF test flight with the S3E02 landing to get R5 so that these two scenes all play out in one sequence.
• After Din gets R5, he heads to the Mandalore system to begin his journey toward redemption. Knowing that Bo-Katan is in her old world of Kalevala, he stops there first to attempt to recruit her help.
• Removed Grogu from Kalevala with VFX
• After Bo declines Din’s request, he is forced to go to Mandalore alone with R5.
• Removed Grogu from Mandalore with VFX
• Color-graded Mandalore to look more lifeless.
• Din searches through Mandalore Mines all by himself until he is captured by the cyborg.
• Fixed the cyborg’s initial capture of Din. In the original, there are a TON of repeated frames across two different camera angles. I hate that. Now he only gets grabbed once.
• Added a few new wipe transitions throughout the mines to cover up old Grogu scenes.
• Removed Din groaning like he suffered a life-threatening wound after being captured.
• As Din is stuck in the trap, added voice lines from S3E08 where he says “R5, come in R5. I need you, buddy.” This prompts R5 to take off and fly back to Kalevala to get Bo to help.
• R5 goes back to Bo alone and she loads him up in her ship and goes to rescue Din.
• Removed Grogu from Bo’s journey on Mandalore with VFX
• Reordered Bo’s reaction shots to seeing Mandalore’s wreckage during her descent. The original had a glaring bug with her head position snapping instantly between frames, clearly combining two shots that weren’t supposed to go together.
• Reordered shots so that the ship lands, then R5 plugs in to monitor, then Bo leaves. Better logical sequence of events and paces her departure.
• Extended the time Bo looks at the ruined city in the Mines, and then altered the timing in which she puts her helmet pack on. She seemingly realizes she doesn’t have time to reminisce and needs to get to business.
• Rescored Bo’s walk through the mines.
• Removed the weird pause before the ceiling collapses when Bo shoots down the mine monsters.
• Increased the speed in which the monsters attack Bo rather than her missing 5 shots at point-blank range.
• Removed the long shot where Bo shoots the rope to grab the Darksaber but doesn’t pull it back. Now she retrieves it in one fluid motion.
• Cut the tell of the cyborg head not being dead. Din is less injured here and isn’t struggling so badly to speak so I don’t need that extra time anyways.
• After Bo destroys the crab machine, she goes to get Din out as he fades into unconsciousness from the blood loss.
• As Bo pulls Din away, we fade back to Nevarro to see the Pirates begin their invasion.
• After Nevarro is bombed, Din wakes up with Bo at the fire.
• Extended a shot of Bo looking at Din as she is touched by his kind gesture.
• After Bo saves Din from drowning and he is unconscious… again… We cut to Adelphi base to progress the Pirate plot.
• Rescored Din waking up and Bo leaving the Mines.
• Din and Bo now get ambushed quicker, mid-conversation on their flight back to Kalevala. Altered voiceline order and timing.
• Right from Din and Bo jumping to Rock World, we get Teva jumping out of hyperspace to Coruscant.
• Cut Teva “Okay Okay…” not great delivery, and better for his character to not concede.
• After Coruscant, we’re back to Bo and Din landing on Rock World (I’m really upset this planet isn’t named… I hate calling it that)
• Removed Grogu from Rock World with VFX
• Bo-Katan gets accepted into the clan and immediately goes to get her new signet [credit Smudger]
• Teva arrives in his X-wing right after Bo gets her pauldron
• Cut Din telling Bo “it’s up to them now” because that is beyond obvious.
• Altered dozens of voicelines and event orders around the planning Nevarro battle. Changed Bo’s order of the briefing, cut out another “tell the whole plan before doing the plan” segment.
• Fixed some super awkward pacing jumps in the Nevarro battle. Reordered dozens of scenes in order to keep the pace moving smoothly. Typical Acbagel combat fixes that are far too numerous to write down. I’ll let you experience this battle fresh without going into intricate detail!
• After Nevarro is saved and Bo is announced to be the one who will reunite the Clans, Din jumps to go visit Grogu. He is now redeemed, and there is presumably some down time before he will join Bo on her journey, so what better time to go do this?
• Trimmed a few minutes out of Din wandering around watching the droids and such. Nothing wrong with those scenes, but they don’t really fit in this pacing of this epilogue type of conclusion to the film.
• Din waits for Skywalker after R2 shuts off, has his normal conversation with Ahsoka, and we get just the tiniest display of Grogu in training, showing off some new powers. Luke and Ahsoka then talk as we look onto Grogu resting on a rock as I have rescored the ending and… roll credits.
• Unified credits storyline order

That sounds spectacular. Can’t wait.

How long is that running to?

In an earlier draft, where you merged the two sets of armourer lines into one scene, I remember a bit of background noise from the rocky planet in some of her dialogue. Have you been able to remove that?

EddieDean said:

How long is that running to?

~2 hours 15 minutes

In an earlier draft, where you merged the two sets of armourer lines into one scene, I remember a bit of background noise from the rocky planet in some of her dialogue. Have you been able to remove that?

It actually wasn’t the Rock World background. I had just moved around some soundtrack of the Ring World and that track transitioned to the next scene in another part of the Ring station and that’s what caused the difference in background noise. But yes, it is identified and fixed.

arabian said:

Ok, so I haven’t watched Book 4 yet but I wanted to read your changes before I read the Book 5 changes, and sigh, I saw that you cut Din taking off his helmet the first time. This is the same thing smudger did. I’m going to share my thoughts for when he did that as well and why I think it’s such a mistake.

In my opinion, I don’t think that Mando not taking his mask off beforehand works. The idea of it makes perfect sense, right? This way we get the full impact of him taking it off with Grogu, right? However, the full impact simply isn’t there. Look at how it’s written, directed, and acted, how it’s played out on screen when he takes it off the first time… as if Din is dealing with this huge thing of taking off his mask for the first time in front of a lot of people, breaking the code. It’s this huge emotional moment. However, taking his mask off doesn’t effect him even remotely to that degree when he does it in front of Grogu. And that makes absolutely zero sense for a guy who has made such a huge deal about it for four straight “books.”

And, of course, anyone who watched the show knows why… he already DID do that when he took his mask off the actual first time. That time it was hugely difficult for him, he did deal with it, and he realized what mattered was Grogu. So him taking off the mask again so Grogu could see his face was why it was emotionally resonating. That was the beat that hit this time. The first time was about Din and his issues. The second time was all about Grogu and their bond. So cutting that first time takes the DIN character part out. You don’t see Din dealing with all of his mask/face revealing issues when he takes it off for Grogu because it’s ONLY about Grogu now. So to remove the intended first time leaves this gaping character hole. That actual first time is full of heaviness. The second time with Grogu, all that’s left now is the light, the love for Grogu.

Just my opinion

Book 5 sounds amazing.

Thanks for sharing your opinion! Interesting read. I think I have a different perspective on those events though. In the Disney version, Din removes his helmet three times. 1: With IG-11 in Season 1, this doesn’t break the Creed on a technicality of “not in front of a living being”. However, this moment is significant, artistically, because the audience (us) DOES see Din’s face for the first time, and we get a strange feeling that we kind of did violate the Creed by seeing his face. We, as viewers, have now lost the feeling of the mysterious man behind a mask vibe when others in the show still have that feeling. 2. When Din does actually violate the Creed for the first time to interact with the terminal. Other living beings now have see his face, as we viewers have again, and this moment is tense all around, but not necesarrily because his helmet is off. It’s tense due to them seemingly about to be outed as spies. The people who do see his face, aside from Mayfeld who is not a major character in the show, all die immediately as well. Yes, we see Din’s struggle, but it is ultimately not impactful and never spoken of again. 3. When he willingly removes it so that Grogu can see him, also exposing his face to Bo, Cara, Luke, and Fennic. This is by far the most emotional removal scene in general and certainly does carry the feeling that Din doesn’t have any trouble taking the mask off… and that’s the beauty of it.

For 2 whole seasons we have seen Din soften before Grogu as his priorities change. By the time he gets to this moment, it is quite clear that Din cares about Grogu a thousand times more than he does about any oath. He loves his “son” more than anything now and he is willing to sacrifice for him, even his former identity just to be able to look at him with his own eyes. The casual nature in which he removes his helmet “for the first time” in my series is what I think makes this moment so special. It communicates that Din is no longer thinking of himself at all, but solely thinking about Grogu. It also lets the audience exist in this moment from the perspective of Grogu, who has also never seen his face before, which is an incredible experience. My wife watched The Mandalorian for the first time through my edits and she LOVED this moment being the first time she had ever seen Din’s face, and the tears were welling up in her eyes. The unique feeling that we ARE Grogu here is irreplacable, and I do not at all think it removes the emotion because Din doesn’t seem to struggle with the decision like his does in the Imperial base. Again, I think the lack of struggle is the beauty of it all. Din has set all else aside in order to display his unconditional love for his son. As a father myself, that brings emotion into my heart just thinking about it!

I also think it is far more impactful for Din to be banished as an apostate due to him removing his helmet just the once to simply look at Grogu, rather than being forced to in the base. The fact that he chose to violate the Creed and be banished for this one moment that was “optional” per se I think is more significant in terms of his character arc.

I’m finishing a few little touch ups today, organizing the Credits art, and then I’m doing my first full Book 5 workprint watch tonight!

Still reviewing the film, but in the meantime… Check out the trailer!

https://youtu.be/oGjaz-2jc6Q

I just watched Book 1. It was phenomenal!! Great Work!!

A couple of nitpicky things that I noticed. It’s incredible how you shortened the beginning on the ice planet. The only thing that seemed off to me was the cut between “Is it true you guys never take off your helmets?” and Mando putting the blue guy in carbonite. For some reason, the tones of those two moments didn’t mix well to me. I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a funny moment or if it was supposed to make Mando look gritty. Maybe it would work better if you completely cut out any scenes with Mando and the blue guy on the razor crest and let the audience figure out that the blue guy was put in carbon freeze in that shot that happens when Mando is talking to Carga on Nevaro.

I also wished there were some “clang” sound effects for the Armorer when she’s making Mando’s shoulder plate, but I like how you moved Mando’s flashbacks.

Speaking of which, having the prison break before Mando saves the kid was brilliant. It helps the story seem more about a man who had forgotten his creed but is reminded by the child he saves. In the scene where Mando has the Twilek guy at gunpoint, and the twilek is saying something to the effect of “I thought you were a man of honor,” maybe you could first reveal Mando’s backstory in that part instead of when Mando’s looking at Grogu’s crib in the dumpster. At that moment, this criminal tells Mando how he thought Mandalorians fought with honor. Maybe that’s when he remembers his creed and who he is and when he decides to go back for Grogu. The way you cut that first bit of the flashback was fine, but I think it would work better as an epiphany during that prison break after he left Grogu behind instead of when he’s back on Nevaro about to save Grogu. However, the second half of the flashback and how you mixed Din being saved by Mandalorians with Din and Grogu being saved by Mandalorians was brilliant.

That’s all I could think of, and this stuff is just little nitpicky issue. None of them ruined the movie for me. I thought it was fantastic. Thanks for all the work you do.

We must be close to release, so please consider this a very heavily raised hand for a copy when you’re done!

Sameee

I am still trying to get some time to do the final viewing and fixes for it, unfortunately! I got slammed with some big projects at work and then my car’s transmission suddenly died this week so I’ve had to go through everything to sell it and get a new vehicle on top of that. I also got scheduled to head out of state on a trip from June 24-29, so we’re probably looking at a first week of July release now. I work in TV advertisement production so when we get a new contract it gets really hectic for a while until we deliver the ad. Sorry for the delay, was making amazing progress for a while and then got crushed by a tough couple of weeks! It’s so close though, as soon as I can get home and make a spare 5-6 hours it’ll be ready for release.

Your Mandalorian edits are amazing!! Have you ever considered editing Phantom Menace and Tales of the Jedi together?

The benefit of editing is that it’s all additive. Anything produced adds to the pile, and you can either add to it yourself or take a different path. I think that Acbagel’s new 1-4 (that carry you through season two) are so strong, that you could absolutely make an alternate cut of BOBF (Acbagel’s earlier book 5 is great for that) and a new cut of the season three content into a couple of movies, as an alternative that continues off Acbagel’s existing work. Then we can all take two different paths through BOBF/Mando season three, and meet up on the other side ready for season four!

AhsokatheChosenOne said:

Your Mandalorian edits are amazing!! Have you ever considered editing Phantom Menace and Tales of the Jedi together?

Thanks! There’s not much need to do that as EddieDean already has the perfect Clone Wars and Prequel movie experience here: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Clone-Wars-Refocused-COMPLETE-New-Rebels-Aftermath-Movie/id/80467/page/93#1544720

arabian said:

Hey Achbagel, I didn’t want to just bail after leaving so many comments. I wanted to let you know that I think you’ve done an extraordinary job thus far, but after reading your Book 5 (and all the tremendous amount of work you’ve put in–WOW!), I’ve realized that sadly this is no longer going to work for me personally. Separating Grogu from the Din/Bo-Katan journey takes away a lot of what worked in season 03 for me. I feel that bond that Bo-Katan developed with Grogu, that little “family unit” of sorts that they developed with Din is what enabled her to move on and have her ending in the season. I also feel it helped Din get to the place where he was at the end. So to lose that just hurts the overall emotional core, and just moves way too far from “The Mandalorian” itself.

I know many, many, MANY others are loving what you’re doing, and I’m just one person, but I didn’t want to just dip out and disappear. You’re doing amazing work here; it’s just my personal thing. You’re so awesome at this. Thank you for what you do!

I appreciate the heads up, Arabian! I’ve really enjoyed your feedback and having you in this thread. I highly recommend Smudger’s Season 3 edit for a more traditional experience: https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Mando-EP4-Return-to-Mandalore-4K-RELEASED/id/103018

I understand my changes are more radical and won’t be for everyone, especially if you loved the D+ version. I view it like my Sequel Trilogy edits where I wouldn’t really recommend them to someone if they loved the Disney Trilogy, but if you have some major problems with it then I go for the more radical alterations. I took the same philosophy for Season 3 content as I personally strongly disliked the original release. I will miss your posts and hope you can continue to enjoy my earlier films!

gurgle1624 said:

I on the other hand believe this is exactly what “The Mandalorian” needed. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and also welcome to create their own vision of what this show should be. I’ll wait until this version is completed and I can see each book as a whole to make a judgement call but the bottom line is its your vision and what makes sense to you and I’m good with that. That’s the great thing about editing, if there’s something you want to change, you can, or even expand on what’s already there.
Really looking forward to seeing your version and enjoying the hard work you put into this project. Sadly some people will not like it and will walk away but that shouldn’t deter you from continuing your personal vision. Make this the project that you want to see and be satisfied with that, don’t worry about us. There will be many versions out there for different tastes.
We’ll be sad to see you go Arabian, I really enjoyed reading your posts. Some of them made me think of this show differently. Good luck too you in the future and hopefully you will return and give some insight in what you think after watching this version.

That’s a great perspective, Gurgle. Thanks for sharing!

I’m back from my trip and planning on doing my final review for this film tonight. Thanks for your patience, everyone.