The New Republic Movie Series EPIV: A Threat From Beyond (An Ahsoka Series Edit) [RELEASED] — Page 8

Have you considered removing all instances of Merrik (the ghost inquisitor)? I wonder if everything might be tighter and the reveal with the reanimated stormtroopers better if he wasn’t in the story.

What if Balaan Skall’s line about the legacy of violence from Anakin and Ahsoka was said right after she throws Shinn? Like he sees the violence and Vader-like action, says that, then a moment later knocks her off the cliff and says that it was always that way with her.

I do also miss the craziness of that hyperscape jump and the X-Wings. I’m not sure if that could be worked back in without getting back into the mediocre New Republic stuff.

Today I watched your cuts of episodes 3 and 4. Looks great, you cut a lot of superfluous stuff and you definitely improved the pacing a lot. It flows so much better now.

I personally would trim some dialogues even more, but it’s OK the way it is now 😉

Hope you won’t cut too much from the Anakin/Ahsoka encounter/flashbacks 😉

Looking forward to the final cut! 😉

I would keep the Marrok ghost blood partly because it foreshadows the zombie troopers and explains what he is, but also because it’s a cool homage to that scene in Sanjuro when the dude gets sliced up and squirts blood everywhere. I love all the Kurosawa references since Lucas was heavily inspired by it when he made ANH.

vranir said:

Have you considered removing all instances of Merrik (the ghost inquisitor)? I wonder if everything might be tighter and the reveal with the reanimated stormtroopers better if he wasn’t in the story.

What if Balaan Skall’s line about the legacy of violence from Anakin and Ahsoka was said right after she throws Shinn? Like he sees the violence and Vader-like action, says that, then a moment later knocks her off the cliff and says that it was always that way with her.

I do also miss the craziness of that hyperscape jump and the X-Wings. I’m not sure if that could be worked back in without getting back into the mediocre New Republic stuff.

Disney is following their own trope of introducing a cool-looking and mysterious character only to have him or her prove completely useless and inconsequential. Having said that, I kinda agree with George Lucas when he says Star Wars is, foremost, a show for 12 year old boys. Marrok is pretty cool looking—like I said, and very Star Wars, and probably something a 12 year old would like (if any 12 year old boys had bothered to watch this). Sure, I wish they would have done more with him, but I’d still hate to see him go.

Although I’m mainly indifferent, I guess I like the idea of cutting the magic exiting his body as he dies because, even though it foreshadows a later part in the story, I think the revelation of the dark magic being used on Storm Troopers hits harder when it hasn’t been alluded to beforehand and comes as a total surprise. Probably not that important of detail either way though.

Watched your episode 3 and 4 cut,it was good however i personally would try to cut out sabine’s training as well as her force sensitivity as much as possible.

Also in episode 3,can you cut out the line where ahsoka says i’d like to confirm that,and have them go straight to the planet? I personally found the ahsoka merry Poppins thing to be very dumb,like why didn’t they just stop and just shoot at the ship?

Episode 4/5 - cut out ahsoka using force at object,instead have her look at sabine’s helmet,then at purgil. I don’t remember her ever having that force ability.

Anyways great job!

smudger9 said:

Half way there with the second cut!

Here is the episode 4 segment. A lot of big and little cuts here… got the episode down to 19mins. Half was point clocking in at 1h 27 so I’m on target!

Let me know your thoughts.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EK1EjzPk0ZkD9x16xAGz4AsQmzrHNnzi

I hate to see so much of Episode 4 go as I think it was the most cinematic of all eight episodes. Episode 5 may have had the member berries, but 4 was the only one that was as good as the franchise deserves.

Besides, all you had to do was remove the shots where Ahsoka is folding her arms and smirking. That would easily get your cut down below 3 hrs.

GLogus said:

smudger9 said:

Half way there with the second cut!

Here is the episode 4 segment. A lot of big and little cuts here… got the episode down to 19mins. Half was point clocking in at 1h 27 so I’m on target!

Let me know your thoughts.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EK1EjzPk0ZkD9x16xAGz4AsQmzrHNnzi

I hate to see so much of Episode 4 go as I think it was the most cinematic of all eight episodes. Episode 5 may have had the member berries, but 4 was the only one that was as good as the franchise deserves.

Besides, all you had to do was remove the shots where Ahsoka is folding her arms and smirking. That would easily get your cut down below 3 hrs.

I dare to disagree, I think he cut all the superfluous stuff (tho again, some pauses and dialogues could still be trimmed probably), but left the best from it ( I personally like he chose to keep the Inquisitor’s death, I think it was a nice nod to Nightsisters magic and Kurosawa movies).

I have one question regarding the fanedit - in the end it will be “Ahsoka - Episode I” or “New Republic - (…)”?

Also, regarding the title - did you consider using the last episode’s title “The Jedi, the Witch and the Warlord”? I just personally think it was a very cool title and it describes well the whole show 😄

smudger9 said:

Here is my edited flashback sequence. Lots of trimming here meaning I’ve got it down to 13mins with Huyang being the one that rescues her.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y4YuxylIKTCKHZJPsW8_0rF1omHsw33T

So, I checked it. The whole flashback/WbW sequence looks cool. I wasn’t able to spot where you trimmed it exactly (except one particular moment), so I’d say it looks seemeless. You managed to save the best part of the show almost intact 😉

I don’t wanna be a pain in the … but I think you shouldn’t have trimmed the moment when Anakin’s ghost goes back from “evil” to “good”. I saw you trimmed a bit the transition and I think it would be better if those few extra seconds stayed. it was a great little moment, the facial expressions of Hayden was perfect and in my opinion, for the millennials fans it had a huge emotional impact to see how his face changes from ROTS evil Anakin to the good Anakin Skywalker again. I know it may be silly, as we talk about 5-10 seconds, but for me it was something that I spot right away, I remember it was really a big deal for me when I watched this episode 😉

Nevertheless, in terms of editing and pacing - great job!

szopman said:

smudger9 said:

Here is my edited flashback sequence. Lots of trimming here meaning I’ve got it down to 13mins with Huyang being the one that rescues her.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y4YuxylIKTCKHZJPsW8_0rF1omHsw33T

I don’t wanna be a pain in the … but I think you shouldn’t have trimmed the moment when Anakin’s ghost goes back from “evil” to “good”. I saw you trimmed a bit the transition and I think it would be better if those few extra seconds stayed. it was a great little moment, the facial expressions of Hayden was perfect and in my opinion, for the millennials fans it had a huge emotional impact to see how his face changes from ROTS evil Anakin to the good Anakin Skywalker again. I know it may be silly, as we talk about 5-10 seconds, but for me it was something that I spot right away, I remember it was really a big deal for me when I watched this episode 😉

This is also the only thing that immediately stood out to me (I watched this last night and forgot to comment).

I continue to think that one of the biggest issues with the Anakin/Ahsoka thread in this series is that it comes out of nowhere.

If Ahsoka is supposed to be so scared of being like Anakin that she refused to train Sabine (or Grogu), it would be nice to see glimpses of that prior to this near-death sequence.

Maybe some flashes of these Clone Wars scenes or even flashes of Vader earlier when her mind is wandering or resting would help sell this paralyzing fear in her background.

Then, when Baylan spells it out, we could even get another flash of Vader, and then she is reunited with him.

Afterwards, the training holo could be used to show that she’s no longer afraid of him, as does her willingness to embrace his style of tactics to rescue Sabine and Ezra, and ultimately we see his approval as Anakin himself looks on.

vranir said:

I continue to think that one of the biggest issues with the Anakin/Ahsoka thread in this series is that it comes out of nowhere.

If Ahsoka is supposed to be so scared of being like Anakin that she refused to train Sabine (or Grogu), it would be nice to see glimpses of that prior to this near-death sequence.

Maybe some flashes of these Clone Wars scenes or even flashes of Vader earlier when her mind is wandering or resting would help sell this paralyzing fear in her background.

Then, when Baylan spells it out, we could even get another flash of Vader, and then she is reunited with him.

Afterwards, the training holo could be used to show that she’s no longer afraid of him, as does her willingness to embrace his style of tactics to rescue Sabine and Ezra, and ultimately we see his approval as Anakin himself looks on.

Sounds like it is worth a try.

A couple of specifically timed Vader flashes during her dual with Baylan could also further explain why she lost. She was distracted and compromised and he was bringing that even more to the surface.

Without making the film repetitive, what we need here are a few more parallels to “Kenobi.” Both characters need to start clearly broken by Anakin’s fall and regain themselves when they come to accept who he is and who they are today. The biggest difference, besides the framing plot, is that ObiWan faces a fallen Anakin and distances himself in the end, while Ahsoka faces a redeemed and mature Anakin and accepts him as part of herself.

This idea may sound crazy to some of you but, maybe add the part of dialogue between Ahsoka and Anakin from “Rebels” during the Lucas film/A long time ago… sequence? Like the clone troopers that could be heard in the theatrical TCW movie during the Lucas film/A long time ago … sequence.

smudger9 said:

szopman said:

This idea may sound crazy to some of you but, maybe add the part of dialogue between Ahsoka and Anakin from “Rebels” during the Lucas film/A long time ago… sequence? Like the clone troopers that could be heard in the theatrical TCW movie during the Lucas film/A long time ago … sequence.

That is what I was thinking…… Anakin/Vader dialogue from Rebels and visuals from Rogue One or Kenobi.

Oh, actually it’s a good idea as well. I would definitely be interested to see something like that.

Also, I think that if you were to restructure it and add some flashbacks before, then the flashback from Ryloth could work well as a separate flashback/vision (ending with the silhouette of Vader), as it’s the only “past” part where we don’t see that clearly that it is the adult Ahsoka in her teenage body.

I think “Master and Apprentice” (as it could refer to Anakin and Ahsoka, Ahsoka and Sabine, Baylan and Shin) could be a nice title as well, but probably it doesn’t sound very Star Wars either 😉

So many cool updates on this project, can’t wait to see the final outcome 😉

Take your time and may the force be with you!