(The Mandalorian+BoBF) The Way of Mandalore | A New Mandalore Movie Saga (Final Update in Progress) — Page 22

Let me know if I missed anyone on links!

Darth Sadifous said:

So I just finished watching the updated Book Four…Bravo! This is my favorite book so far and I loved how you reworked the scene in the imperial commissary where Din no longer removes his helmet. The payoff of removing Din’s face reveal till the parting of him and Grogu on the imperial cruiser definetly worked for me…chef’s kiss!

I believe you used the updated deapfake of Luke’s face in the conclusion too and while it looks a little devoid of movement, I think it really sells it is “Mark Hamill” as Luke again. The Book of Boba Fett scenes vastly improved so I do not think they need touch up down the road. Overall, awesome job and you deserve all the flowers…this series is awesome; can’t wait for the revised book five.

Thanks for the review! Glad you had a good time with the movie. Yes, that is the fanmade deepfake Luke, and while you’re right that it does look a bit stiff emotionally, the Disney version really didn’t look like Luke so you have to pick your poison a bit on this scene. As you mentioned though, BoBF did a fantastic deepfake of Luke that gives emotion and resemblance (probably because they hired the guy who made the Mando Luke deepfake).

One minor continuity issue I may have noticed is during the battle of Tython there is one transport ship shown landing around the 46 minute mark, then we see through the scope there are two transport ships at 46:38 ish then at 47:30 another transport ship lands and drops off more troops, but there only appears to be two ships total and Boba Fett takes out only two later. So by the edit I believe it would imply three ships total, but one is unaccounted for by the end. It could be implied one took off during the battle off screen, but I thought it was worth mentioning as I know you heavily edited the scene to fix the student film quality directing of the original which worked for me btw!

Nice spot! Yes, I do need to move that first infrared scope scene back ~90 seconds to preserve the placement of the transports.

So what’s the plan for Book 5? I spent 12+ hours over the weekend going through books 5/6 to examine my options. I enjoyed the uniqueness of my previous book 5 a lot and I think it did a ton right, but unfortunately, I may have written myself into a little corner with it. I loved the idea of pacing out Boba’s story into the later content of the saga, but there really is just no way to build anything out of it. I wanted to frame something about Din trying to get Boba to join the retaking of Mandalore and use the Tatooine battle as part of that, but the lack of dialogue with Din and Boba outside of battle scenes is extremely limiting. There’s not even a scene post-Tatooine of them together whatsoever. Battle ends with them apart, and there’s no ending dialogue at all. Din just leaves the planet without a scene with Boba so it can focus on Grogu. Really dislike it, but it is what it is. Thankfully, with the great feedback about some of my previous poor ideas, EddieDean proposed this:

EddieDean said:

… maybe there’s a less radical ordering here, where you can get both the most out of the Boba story AND extend out the time that Mando and Grogu were apart, which I know is a (sensible) priority for you. So how about something closer to the ordering of the original release, but just using your Book 5 edits to keep Din and Grogu apart for longer:

• Movies 1-4 as before. They’re perfect. Din’s lost his ship and his kid. He thinks the Mandalorians are scattered. [Offscreen] he’s ordered a new ship from Peli, but it’ll be a while.
• Movie 5 pretty much just from BoBF, but Din and Grogu DON’T reunite. Mando is back to bounty hunting, listless, no clan. He chases the bounty against the dog-butcher people to find the Covert, meets them, makes a gift for Grogu, and gets kicked out. No mention of redemption - he’s now at his absolute lowest. He goes to get his ordered ship (so he can go visit Grogu as much as use it for hunting) and gets pulled in to Boba’s whole storyline on Tattooine (which becomes the main plot of the movie, happening throughout this storyline). After helping Boba, he heads to Luke’s planet, and gives Ahsoka the gift, but is discouraged from meeting Grogu, who we only see distantly. He’s now realised he really needs a family (thanks Boba) and, without Grogu, wants to give the Mandalorians another try.
• Either at the end of Movie 5 or the start of Movie 6, he goes to the Covert now on the Rocky planet (using more of his original entrance there). THIS time he’s much more desperate - he asks to atone. Only NOW does he learn he can do that at the waters of Mandalore. NOW he has a fresh mission - and still no Grogu.
• Most of your current Book 5 now becomes your Book 6. We don’t have your current content on the ringworld or with Pelli remaking the ship, which removes ~35 minutes (of 2h20) which gets us to the Vane/Gorian Shard plot much sooner. We instead fill that lost time with Luke training Grogu, and perhaps the Mando-birds sideplot. At the end of the movie, we see Grogu making the decision to rejoin Din, and cut to them flying together (using the technique for this you used previously where they blast off together).
• Movie 7: Now follows directly from the aftermath of the Gorian Shard fight, where the Mandalorians have safe haven on Nevarro but Bo-Katan’s been tasked to gather the clans and reclaim their home, and Grogu and Din are with them. We open with Bo and Din going to rescue Axe Woves (they don’t get distracted by the rest of Plazir) and Bo finally takes the Darksaber back. Now we’re ready to lead people to Mandalore. We continue with the two finale episodes, which are a nice straightforward story using all the pieces we currently have in play, but we intercut this with the full Pershing story. The Pershing story fits here most of all because (1) it builds on the current knowledge of the Imperial Remnant and New Republic, but mostly (2) because it ties closely back into the cloning plot and the reveal of Gideon’s plans. The scene of Carson finding that Gideon escaped can come just after it’s discussed by Pershing, to better tie it all together and keep the whole movie on theme.

Also, this way, each movie would come out closer to 120-140 minutes.

Going through the pros & cons of this structure:

Pros -

1. Overall storyline is much easier to structure, will need to rely less on AI lines, and have fewer gaps in connective tissue.
2. Fixes my biggest scene hiccup in current book 5 of the X-wing pullover scene and the pirate dogfight balance
3. Better paced full Boba story that doesn’t feel like a distraction, continues the flow of Din and Boba’s journey (at least for one more movie)
4. Longer solo journey for Din, more time away from Grogu, longer time as not a mandalorian
5. Gives me more flexibility to move around scenes within season 3, and probably can make the Dr. Pershing story fit

Cons -

1. Boba’s storyline falls off significantly after Book 5 (I will work in a couple of scenes and easter eggs that I already made, but he can’t be a major plotline and with him in Books 3-5 so heavily it definitely is noticeable that he is less of a main character)
2. Less of a unique storyline structure compared to my previous Book 5 where Din fits in a Nevarro trip before Tatooine
3. Doesn’t feel like Din does much to reunite the clans compared to my previous structure of him trying to get Boba to join
4. Maintains my previous criticism of the Mandalorians inheriting Nevarro feeling a bit worthless since they almost immediately leave to Mandalore anyway
5. Bo-katan is absent from Book 5, while Boba is pretty absent from Book 6-7. Instead of them both having important side character arcs in 5-7, it feels like they swap places.

So right now I’m putting together a Book 5/6 with the Eddie proposed structure to see how it all meshes, and I like it overall so far. But just wanted to toss out my thoughts and see if anyone has any additional feedback that could spark some creativity.

I have some pretty cool Book 6 scenes setup to keep Boba somewhat involved by utilizing Plazir 15 content + Boba and the Hutts, but again it’s nothing major and more just some easter eggs so he doesn’t feel completely written away like Disney did.

Definitely will miss Carl/Karga, was a cool character and he did a great performance. I don’t think I’ll need to adjust anything around his passing though as I am of the opinion that we will not be getting a Mando Season 4. I believe the coming two Din/Grogu/Ahsoka movies in 2026+ will continue their story instead of the show for the foreseeable future.

Darth Sadifous said:

I like EddieDeans structure proposal and I am eager to see how it plays out. I do need to go back and watch your original book five when I have a moment as it has been a minute. I am all for extending the Grogu and Din separation as much as possible, as Jon Faverau said in an interview I believe they were supposed to be apart for three years and honestly it does not even feel like three weeks in the original show.

Going well so far, I just about have a full rough draft of the new Book 5 which is a much more traditional Book of Boba Fett edit akin to my previous attempts at it. It definitely keeps the focus off Grogu and makes his absence noticeable, which should carry deep into my Book 6 as well. The original Favreau quote gets misinterpreted a lot as the “2 or 3 years” comment was in reference to real-life time from Mando Season 2 ending. He later clarified the in-universe timeline saying, “So now, I think somewhere in there, more than one and less than, you know, somewhere between zero and two years.” Still not a great quote and they have left it open-ended for whatever reason, but he seems to start to say “more than one year and less than two” before going back to more of a vague timeline. I think it’s safe to say it should seem that Din and Grogu are apart for at least a full year, whereas in the presented Disney content it feels like a couple of weeks as you mentioned.

As for trying to make Boba part of the retaking of Mandalore. I believe there are a few directions you may be able to go with the use of AI or depending on your/ this community’s editing skills with visual inserts as well. I know Jar Jar Bricks is amazing with AI.

You may want to connect with one another, as I think you could maybe use Din in his ship (helmet on obviously) conversing with Boba over the ship’s speaker using an AI convo for both men. You could have Boba saying he can’t make it unfortunately as he has his own problems putting down a gang war in his newly won territory on Tatooine (adding a mini hologram of Boba with helmet on would be even more ideal; think Palpatine during order 66 scenes with Plo Koon). Another more ambitious approach would be adding the Slave I to the fleet the amasses during season three to retake mandalore. The ship with a few Boba lines could really sell he is there helping. However, this may be out of the scope of your project, but I know it could be pulled off with the skills of people within this community. Just my two cents, let me know what you think!

For sure, I’m trying to integrate Boba as much as possible into the ending so I had a couple of easter eggs I’ve been working on myself. However, my biggest challenge has been his AI lines. I have not found any way to recreate his unique voice, and I’m not sure anyone else has either. I posted on one of Eddie’s threads about it, but if anyone has successfully made an AI Boba model, I would love to hear it!

Well, I watched your previous v2 edit of Book 5 tonight and thought it was fantastic. Very glad that’s the direction you seem to be heading toward for v4. Could definitely be tightened up quite a bit – it drags at the 2:24 runtime. Will you be building off your v2 for the next update or starting fresh? If you’re going back to v2, I can offer some more extensive feedback

Also… Loving all the updates you’ve done on books 1-4. Only complaint is those runtimes. I know you aren’t willing to go sub 2 hours but I think all these edits could be much quicker/better paced. But I suppose that’s my personal preference 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for an updated review, Kypo!

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Acbagel, did you already try turning up the “Style Exaggeration” setting to 50 percent? Also try applying the accent:Kiwi tag to the voice (or something similar to that if it doesn’t recognize it by being grayed out). I think doing both of these should make it more accurate.

I know Vader wasn’t working properly unless you had the “Style Exaggeration” setting up really high. Oh, and this goes without saying, but “Clarity and Similarity Enhancement” should always be at 100%. I also always apply speed:Slow to all clones because 11 labs tends to speak way too quickly.

Those are some good tips, I will try again with a Boba model based on that. I have clear voice lines from Boba to clone, so I’ll play with those settings and see if I can get closer. g00b sent me another possibility that I think would work too.

Kestrel said:

Well, I watched your previous v2 edit of Book 5 tonight and thought it was fantastic. Very glad that’s the direction you seem to be heading toward for v4. Could definitely be tightened up quite a bit – it drags at the 2:24 runtime. Will you be building off your v2 for the next update or starting fresh? If you’re going back to v2, I can offer some more extensive feedback

Also… Loving all the updates you’ve done on books 1-4. Only complaint is those runtimes. I know you aren’t willing to go sub 2 hours but I think all these edits could be much quicker/better paced. But I suppose that’s my personal preference 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for watching again! Yes, agree on tightening it up, I currently have the updated version at 2 hours and 4 minutes. I have a first rough draft of this update, and about halfway through reviewing it, so feel free to send any feedback you had on the previous version!

Book 5 update going really well! Just taking some extra time in the kitchen with how much restructuring needed to be done. Merging my old BoBF film with my last Book 5 edit, so I had to go scene by scene through two films and create a new flow that works. Had a great first draft, now just moving some things around again and implementing a few new ideas, cleaning up the bugs, etc. Aiming to have it ready by the end of the week!

I’ve seen the draft and it’s already my favourite version of the Boba show yet. Acbagel has selected the absolute right set of scenes, and made the absolute right set of trims to those scenes. I’m REALLY excited to see the final version of this one - I think it’s going to be the best way to watch Book of Boba Fett out there.

EddieDean said:

I’ve seen the draft and it’s already my favourite version of the Boba show yet. Acbagel has selected the absolute right set of scenes, and made the absolute right set of trims to those scenes. I’m REALLY excited to see the final version of this one - I think it’s going to be the best way to watch Book of Boba Fett out there.

Thank you for the kind words and all the help you’ve given in this project over the last couple of years. Eddie has played a huge role in helping structure and review the films, so major props for all that work!

Darth Sadifous said:

I can’t wait…love this series. That is high praise from Eddie, but I know Acbagel deserves the praise and recognition. SO ready for the updated Book Five to drop!

Thanks! We are getting very close, see the end of this post for a progress report…!

TheDimitrios said:

Super excited for this to be finished. Then I can rewatch the Mandalore stuff while a presumably great Bad Batch edit is in the making. 😃

For sure, I’m really excited to work on that soon. Will have the full 3 seasons to see the big picture storyline and then be able to make solid movie edits akin to this Mandalore saga.

Patali said:

I have not watched most of your edits yet, my wife and were doing a chronological series watch through. We only just finished (well like a month ago) Eddie’s TCW:R and are now looking for movie edits for things like Rebels, Bad Batch and Andor. So it might be a minute. But, can I get up to date links to your latest versions?

Links sent!

As for what excites me about your edits… the thing I desired most out of the series was a LOOOONGG time away from Grogu. When Luke took Grogu in the S2 finale… the greatest moment Disney has had with the franchise… I was very excited at the prospect that we would probably not seee Grogu again until maybe the VERY finale of the series or later even, 2 to 4 seasons of content at the very least. I wanted them apart for years. You can imagine how dissapointed I was when only 2 more Din episodes later (his boba episodes), they’re already back together. That is why I haven’t even given Season 3 a chance, I havent even watched it.

(And of course like a mentioned before, how Boba was shafted in his content, I feel the way you’re pacing his content throughout Mandalorian is the best way to salvage his content, thank you for that)

So with that in mind, my biggest request for you going into these later edits, 6, 7, 8 etc, is, please do your best to keep them apart for as long as you can possibly get away with. I think the longer you hold it off, the more powerful it will be.

I definitely agree here. The ending of season 2 was my favorite Disney Star Wars content so far. That’s one of the few times it has felt like OG Star Wars to me. I’d say that, some other parts in Seasons 1/2, Grogu’s training in BoBF, Siege of Mandalore in TCW, half of Rogue One, some episodes of Andor/Tales of the Jedi, and a couple scenes in Ahsoka are my Star Wars film/tv highlights of the decade… That’s a bit sad, but at least we’ve had some moments rather than none! I will do everything I can to make this Grogu separation as long as possible as I believe their reuniting was absolutely disastrous for the story and future of the characters.

With that said, here is our (new) first installment of Grogu-less Mandalorian… a Book 5 progress report!

Wrapped up draft #2 yesterday and currently getting a final review of it. Will probably need one more pass for bug fixes and maybe a new scene placement or two and then it’s ready. So I’m looking at a Friday-Monday release depending on when I can get time to do one more review. In the meantime, I want to point out some of the highlights of this update and release the teasers.

Book 5: The Apostate update changelog:

• As discussed in the thread, I am reverting back to including the majority of Boba’s story in BoBF. I have merged my last Book 5 release with my 2022/23 version of Book of Boba Fett (with a lot of updates to both, I had actually made a newer version of my old Book 5 that I think I only privately showed to a few people before deciding to cut a lot of BoBF to work on the Season 3 content). This decision to reinstate the main plot of BoBF is intended to accomplish a few goals:

1. Give Boba his full character arc, consistent with how I’ve built him over the past few films.
2. Extend Grogu and Din’s separation for as long as possible.
3. Better organize events for Books 6 & 7.

• As this is a revamped version of my 2022 Book 5, pretty much the whole scene structure is different. Back then I was just trying to break ground by combining these shows by any means necessary. It wasn’t exactly in a theatrical film format with the best storytelling, it was an obvious fan edit. With my last round of updates, I’ve really focused on thematic storytelling, character arcs, scene order, and pacing, making it feel like a seamless movie release. So I’ve put that sort of polish on this film as a whole.

• We open on Din this time. It’s his series, and although I’ve made Boba a major character throughout this saga, Din is still the protagonist. After Din’s bounty hunting, we see what Boba is up to with a new opener for his character in a custom-created dream sequence that explains his inner turmoil. Using footage from the Tusken lizard vision, his bacta healings, etc, we now have a proper thematic intro for what he is doing and dealing with these days.

• In regard to the overall Pyke/crime lord story for Boba, from a DM conversation with Eddie:

EddieDean said:

• The Pykes onscreen aren’t a very interesting threat. They have no main characters, only working through agents. They’re literally a faceless army in this show, and in the end, they’re taken out quite easily by Fennec.
• They’re only a threat in the sense of being a nebulous presence of unknown size who intend to cause grief at a time when Boba doesn’t need extra grief. It’s not their story- they’re only relevant for what they implicitly represent to Boba- a challenge to his control.
• But, they do still have that impact on the audience, and having their presence explicitly ties everything together, in terms of his dealings with the character threats (assassins and Cad Bane) and other factions (the mayor, the three families).

Having them hang over the plot keeps the Boba plot feeling more tight and focused than keeping them a mystery, which means the three-act structure keeps the movie feeling like a complete movie, and it means that Boba’s central challenge (‘what kind of ruler will you be?’) keeps relating to their actions.

This is the approach I have now taken to the overall conflict against Boba. This principle has guided the pacing and scene structure, and how/when to introduce the antagonists (which I would argue aren’t necessarily the Pykes/crime lords, but the internal conflict Din and Boba deal with throughout).

• If there are some scenes missing that you still wanted to see Boba in… perhaps it’s because I am saving them for Book 6/7 😉

• I have removed all mentions of Din’s redemption. No discussion of the mines, waters, restoration… No hope. Din is on his solo journey, looking for a new purpose. He doesn’t engage in this quest for Mandalore at all in BoBF, so there’s no reason to even bring it up. After he lends a hand to Boba and realizes he still can’t be with Grogu, we will start to deal with the What’s next? in Book 6 and use the dialogue there to kick off his new journey.

• There are a LOT of small updates in this that I can’t even begin to list. From new audio, voice lines, soundtracks, scenes, and intricately chosen shot ordering (for example, when Cad says to Boba, “You never should have left him without his armor,” referring to Cobb getting shot, the Disney version then cuts to Boba’s reaction first, then Fennec’s reaction, THEN Din’s reaction of coming out with his blaster over 5 seconds later. No…! That’s not natural timing, and that’s not thematically the correct reaction for Din. When that line is delivered, we need to cut RIGHT to Din’s reactions to show his emotions as he hears that his friend has most likely been killed). I have taken this approach to countless scenes, from Boba’s meeting with the petitioners to the crime lords, to his Western with Cad, to Cad’s meeting with the Pyke & Mayor… I think there were a lot of sloppy shot selections in this show and I couldn’t have possibly caught everything, but I tried!

• With all that said, I’d like to leave some of the selected events as a surprise so that you can have a new experience as you watch this. The movie is clocking in around 2 hours and 5 minutes, which is right in line with where I have tried to keep my films.

Link to the trailer on YouTube.

Poster

Thanks, everyone, the release is right around the corner. Would love to be able to deliver for the weekend, but I can’t 100% promise it… Doing what I can to make that happen though!

Acbagel said:

Wrapped up draft #2 yesterday and currently getting a final review of it. Will probably need one more pass for bug fixes and maybe a new scene placement or two and then it’s ready.

Can confirm I just reviewed the latest draft and this is my exact feedback 😉

Love the new poster too by the way. Great use of the N1 silhouette as Mando’s mask!

Book 5 update is released! Thanks everyone, hope you enjoy. Post here or DM for the links.

Going to start restructuring and working on Book 6 after the weekend. That one will probably be a couple weeks of production as well since I have a lot to recreate in it.

Could I get a update set of links?