The Power of Two (The Acolyte as a prequel to the prequels) [RELEASED; Runtime 2h 39mns; 4K] — Page 2

manu90 said:

I would love a link to your Acolyte edit!!

I second others’ opinions, your SW fan edits are brilliant. I especially enjoyed Andor and The Bad Batch. IMO best edits out there 😉 I wonder if you will still release Ep3 of The Bad Batch?

Endless thanks for your contribution to SW universe.

Many thanks.

I still plan to do Bad Batch season 3. I’ve got Clone Wars season 7 to finish off first, and then I’ll hopefully squeeze in bad batch season 3 before Skelton Crew starts.

Smudger9 has turned a 4/10 into a 8/10. This is one of his best edits to date. There were scenes I didn’t even remember from the show, & the added dialogue is surperb. The transition from the end of E5 to the beginning of E6 is flawless!

honestabe said:

First and foremost I want to thank Smudger for sharing the edit with me. I will have plenty to say in favor and some differences. Also, I do want to say nothing here is personal. Our entertainment and judgment is extremely subjective. Editing is hard and time consuming work. I could tell that a lot of time and passion went into this.

POSITIVES

• Great opening crawl and title to introduce us to the events of the series. Heck, we can call your edit the unofficial Episode 0 of Star Wars. Similarly, it was nice to see the classical Star Wars credits theme.
• You removed an absolute ton of cringy and unnecessary Captain Obvious dialogue.
• No sexual innuendo. Much like your Andor edits, this content does not belong in family friendly Star Wars material. Acceptable elsewhere, but this should be watchable for all ages.
• Focusing primarily on Sol and Osha was a huge plus. Their story was the strongest part of the show.
• AI lines were not noticeable, which means I was fooled. I think I saw a split second lip sync issue, but I lost track of where I saw it.
• I liked how Osha’s manipulation to the dark side felt very gradual with tension just building up until she exploded. The way you set things up there worked perfectly. Generally speaking, your rearranging much of the content helped build tension better.
  -There was no mind reading, mind control, nor memory wiping. This was never seen in anyway in the Star Wars universe except for [inexplicably] Kylo Ren. If this was an available power, then everybody should be using it. The Jedi and Sith sense feelings, which sometimes can be similar to mind reading, but it is critically different.
• No Torbin suicide. It always felt pointless.
• Nice touch removing the footage of Mae killing Indara and Torbin.
• Overall, you did a fantastic job here.

DIFFERENCES

I tried to include rough timestamps when feasible.

==> I do not believe we need the entire ‘flashback’ opening. Characters reveal most of this information through dialogue during the show making it redundant anyway. Having the information come out gradually I think is much stronger as characters discuss it and the audience learns gradually. Tension builds up instead of having more of a rollercoaster effect. There is also a lot of obnoxious and hostile behavior from Indara and Torbin that drag down the content overall in my view. Their characters are unlikeable and unsympathetic. Their early hostility to the girls can get people to believe they had their murders coming. Then we have Sol constantly begging everyone else for permission to do anything - he has no agency whatsoever.

There is no reason why Sol should know a vergence in the force would create life. Why would any Jedi know this? This concept should be related to the dark side as seen in ROTS. We never see any indication from Jedi connecting the force with life creation - just Palpatine when speaking with Anakin. I think the force-life connection should be limited to dark side users like Palpatine tells Anakin.

I know you removed explicit references to the twins creation early on, but I think references to Brendok being a lifeless planet, the witches, and the vergence in the force still functions as an obvious spoiler to the twins being force creations in the end. It feels more powerful when Sol will reveal this later on in dialogue with Mae. Leave the surprise for the end.

Witches indicate the girls have no father. Too much information revealed too early. Makes it too obvious the girls were force creations. It should be revealed as a surprise in the end to Osha and the audience at the same time.

14:10 Indara mentioning the girls are too old. I always felt this was a poor concept from the Phantom Menace that is almost always (correctly) removed from edits of that movie. Anakin, OSHA, and Mae were all very small children. What age is acceptable for Jedi training? Do you need to be a baby?

15:33 Torbin taking Mae’s blood sample. Another bad prequel idea. Do we really need genetic testing for Jedi and strength in the force? It should be mystical and something force users can sense. Blood should be unnecessary.

21:30 Around here the Jedi council look like morons. They were sent to Brendok to investigate, but now apparently they “interfered too much?” An investigation requires interference. Otherwise what is the point if you are not allowed to do anything?

Child Mae telling Osha she will kill her also eliminates the murder mystery. It is obvious she lives considering we are not shown her dead body, and is the murdererer instead of Osha. A first time viewer can easily believe Osha is the killer if they have no idea she has a sister that will be initially introduced a bit later. In addition, Mae directly telling Osha she will kill her and starting the deadly fire makes Osha’s restored faith in her sister in the end less believeable.

*Moving on from the opening sequence here:

I think you could have briefly included a disguised Mae looking for Indara offering the bribe. It would take a minute or so. No need for any footage entering the bar.

28:30 I really do not believe the Jedi mind tricks by Yord are needed to intimidate the Neimodians to find Osha. The Jedi look a bit overaggressive and Neimodians overly defensive for no reason. There is no reason for them to have conflict right now. I would jump straight to Yord talking to Osha.

30:10 I would remove the age concern about Osha becoming a Jedi. Again, she was a small child - what is age appropriate for a Jedi? The only concern should be about her inner darkness. This makes the Jedi come across as much more reasonable.

31:30 I would remove the bar owner witness. It comes across as awkward and breaks the tension between Osha and Yord.

35:20 I am not a big fan of the Jedi-senate feud subplot involving Vernestra. I think it distracts from the rest of the story. Also, if Sol agrees with Vernestra’s corrupt views, then this is no longer just one rogue Jedi. Sol should no longer trust Vernestra if she outright tells him to engage in corrupt activities while he genuinely cares for Osha. He looks stupid every time he talks to her later on.

42:30 Cut Jecki questioning Yord’s involvement. Her response is odd “He is Yord.”

44:40 In the dream with little Mae, having her say she will kill them all again eliminates any murder mystery and surprise.

52:50 Sol asking about Osha’s tatoo appears is pointless as it is never used to differentiate the twins. Adds nothing to the story.

54:23 If feasible, I would remove the bad behavior and bad acting from the heavy Jedi. I was cringing a lot seeing him squirming with the child who was resisting him. If you could bypass that and make the kid seem like she is cooperating voluntarily. Otherwise, it seems incredibly inappropriate for the Jedi to be aggressive towards children.

1:10:10 I think you can cut Jecki asking the guy about the “big and hairy wookie” and cut straight to her reporting what the locals are saying. You benefit with tighter pacing and get the same information without the awkward question.

1:32:45 Do we need the Sith revelation here? Contradicts Phantom Menace outright where Palpatine/Maul mention they will reveal themselves at that later point in time. Besides, the audience can figure out he is a Sith. No need to spell it out.

Qimir states he wants to be hidden, so why make the Sith declaration? If word of that gets out, then Jedi would make him their top target, which is exactly the opposite of his stated goal to remain hidden.

1:43 The voiceover by Indara while Mae is walking appears pointless.

I think a lot of Bazil on the ship sniffing around can be cut. His appearance can be brief. Bazil does not help in any way here.

1:45:56 I am personally opposed to the senate vs Jedi feud. This should be an era of prosperity and peace in the republic. Even 1 senator going after the Jedi at this point would be ludicrous.

1:52:12 Bazil wrestling with Mae was pointless. Nothing was accomplished one way or another. Just an awkward moment and slows down pacing.

2:11:21 Again we have senate vs Jedi. The senator is expressing views without any evidence to support it. His claim that one of them will snap is a blatant reference to Vader. Do we really need that Captain Obvious moment? Most people watching the Acolyte know exactly who he refers to, but why would he have this suspicion?

In no other Star Wars content do we get a hint of this war between the senate and the Jedi. We need to be in an era of peace and prosperity, not paranoia.

2:27:10 - I think when Sol reveals here the “creation” of the girls he provides too much specific information. I would remove all references to the witches creating life and the force. I would stick to Sol mentioning an unspecified vergence and the planet. If witches can create life through the force, then we should have seen that more often in the Star Wars universe. Also, I think it would be best to have the life creating force dialogue left to the Sith like Palpatine in ROTS discussing it with Anakin. I think you should leave this portion as vague as possible.

***Also, the Plageuis cameo is best right here after Sol stops talking. This is where he learns for the first time about a vergence creating life and thus creating a bridge here to the prequels. I should note this was an idea implemented in an edit by Movies Remastered.

2:29:25 Again the too old to train. She was a small child!

2:37 I think Vernestra mentioning to the senate that Sol killed all the Jedi should be left out. Something like that should raise serious alarm bells to the senate. Her lying about a cover up by Sol should be enough. I think there could be an assumption that the Jedi were killed fighting by the force using witches instead. Also, the senator demanding the investigation should also be cut. If a Jedi were powerful enough to slaughter several Jedi, then of course the senate should investigate. They would be insane not to do that.

==> I am speculating this is probably outside the scope of what you normally do with your edits, but check out the edit by Movies Remastered where Pip was given dialogue. Lots of character was added and I thought would match up well with the OT 3P0 and R2D2 at their humorous best while providing a nice supporting role to Osha.

honestabe, maybe you should just create your own The Acolyte edit 😉

Yan Jedi said:

My girlfriend and I watched your edit last night, and we both loved it. You’ve done an amazing job once again. The only small thing that felt a bit off was seeing Plagueis appear in the middle of the movie, especially with his theme cutting off rather abruptly as the scene transitions. It disrupted the flow just a bit. I still think he should appear at the end. Also, I think the full fight between Sol and Qimir could have been left in without affecting the movie’s pacing. At the very least, it would have been great to see Qimir call his shoto saber back with the Force, as there’s a moment where he’s clearly trying to summon it 10 seconds before, and then he just has it. It would add a nice touch of continuity to the fight and to be honest, I thought the fight was dope haha.

Overall, though, you’ve really outdone yourself with this and it really feels like the murder mystery it should have been. Thank you for your great work!

Thank you so much for your review!

Let’s dive into the Plagueis scene. This moment marked his only appearance in the series, and I felt it was crucial to include some element of it there. It adds an intriguing layer, hinting at unseen forces at play as we build towards the finale. This way, the audience has something extra to ponder while processing the unfolding events. I did experiment with placing his appearance at the end but, without any foreshadowing, it just didn’t resonate with me. It felt a bit forced, reminiscent of Yoda’s cameo at the end of the series.

As for the music transition, I maintained the original series’ score but made a slight adjustment by shortening the Plagueis section. The transitions in and out remain intact.

I appreciate your feedback on the Qimir/Sol fight! I’ll revisit that scene to see if I can tighten it up. I wasn’t particularly fond of the boomerang sabers, which is why I opted to cut that element. Overall, my goal in this edit was to moderate the use of force powers, as I felt some moments were a bit over the top and didn’t align with the spirit of the prequels.

Thanks again for your thoughts!

Daiyus said:

I really enjoyed this edit, thank you Smudger. The chronological structuring helped a lot in my opinion, and certainly coming at it from the angle of “this is all there is, how does it best fit as a prequel” worked wonders. Of the edits I’ve watched so far, this has been the one that’s landed best for me, and should definitely be watched by anyone trying to find their standard Acolyte version for their collection. I’ve still got some more to try, but I can absolutely see this version working for a lot of people given the misgivings of the Acolyte I’ve seen generally.

There’s some minor trims I’ve considered, more from the perspective of wondering if they’d work. There’s two during Episode 5 that have always stuck out to me as concepts; first, a slight trim to the split-blade reveal to remove the initial split, so the action flows from Jecki’s attack > Qimir’s block stance > three impalements > Qimir’s face & split-saber reveal > reconstructing hilt. That might add more surprise to Jecki’s death, but still explain the split-saber concept as we see it being reconstructed.

The second is to trim out Qimir panicking trying to remove Pip from his back. I think he’d be more likely to realise the Umbra Moth attack is coming and simply prepare for for it, and deal with it, rather than panicking. He handles it fairly confidently otherwise.

Thanks so much for the review. The ambermoth attack on Qimir is a bit goofy. I’ll take a look at that and see if I can tighten it.
As for Qimir’s reveal, I have to say I hadn’t considered altering it as it was probably the coolest part of the whole series. I’ll take a look at what you suggest. I can definitely see the benefit of making Jecki’s death even more surprising.

I’ve updated the files so that they are 5.1 audio. An error with the original render meant the files were stereo.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I enjoyed watching this edit a great deal. It will probably be my go-to from now on. A shame that it won’t ultimately lead anywhere, though. I just have a few nitpicks:

• I would have preferred the whole version of Osha’s testing. This was the only cut that a viewer noticed, and he hadn’t seen the show since it came out.
• You could save a lot of time by removing the fake wakeup vision that Osha has from the crash. I realize that this sets up her future hallucinations of child Mae, and possibly explains why she suddenly suspects her of the murder at the edge of the cliff, but in my opinion it messes with the pacing too much. Without it, I also think the scene at the cliff is more revelatory/interesting.
• Without the line that their midichlorians are split evenly, I’m not sure why Sol thinks he needs both girls to prove anything about the vergence.
• I guess I’m confused what happened to the rest of the witches - is the intention supposed to be that they killed the rest?
• I’d remove the weird, almost predatory scene between Sol and Mae strapped to the ship, mostly because we don’t actually learn anything from it anymore since the final flashback is shifted to Brendok. You could possibly even experiment with their next scene together, removing the reveal that he killed their mother, to save that reveal for Brendok itself.
• In general, you could probably tighten up Sol catching on to the fact that “Osha” is Mae earlier - shortly after the part where the camera holds on him for almost a minute (he’s clearly piecing things together). I don’t think many of the tracker scenes are necessary here, they’re just cringey comedy. The “Corcoran” cut accomplishes this quite well.

If you look into some of the areas I suggested, you might be able to trim this edit down to a more digestible 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Thanks for the feedback!

That is the full scene of Osha’s testing. I agree it feels too short, but that’s how it’s presented in the series. The only thing I cut was the final shot of Indra looking at Sol.

I have the same views about the fake wake-up. I tried a few edits removing it but none really worked. Unfortunately that dream sequence is pretty essential to the story. Osha needs a reason to suspect that Mae is alive, and that is the only option.

I removed mention of the midichlorian symbionts for several reasons. Firstly I didn’t want to expand their lore any further given their controversial nature amongst fans. I left in what fits with TPM.
Secondly I actually think having physical “proof” that the twins are the same person takes away from Sol’s character arc. He is driven by this belief and I like it being a theory to him, rather than a fact. It still doesn’t change the fact that he needs both twins to prove that they are the same person.

I left the fate of the witches for the audience to decide… were they killed by the Jedi or the fire? Including the Kelnacca fight scene in the final flashback made it way too long, and the fate of the other witches isn’t that important to the story.

I tried several edits of the Sol/Mae scenes aboard the cruiser and reduced them as much as I could. The issue with cutting things further is that they need to get to Brendock before Mae escapes. That pretty much rules out cutting the scene where Mae is restrained.

Basil and PiP were the most frustrating part of this edit. I wanted to remove them completely, but they are tied to the core plot which makes it almost impossible. I tried it several times, but I couldn’t come up with anything I was 100% happy with.

spunkmeyer said:

Smudger,
I looked forward to someone doing a more filmic edit of this. I attended the London launch and came away slightly confused by the constant jumping around the timeline. Even seeing the whole series left me a bit meh.
You have done a great job of moving everything round to address this, flashbacks are only used when necessary and the whole moves more like a film would. The removal of unnecessary battles and subplots don’t affect anything, except to allow the seasoned watcher to go “oh, that bit has gone”. The opening crawl and music is a welcome addition, I fail to see why they have to change stuff like that. Editing is crisp, the whole is more pacey.
The only part that was a big problem for me that you couldn’t undo was the bit where she gets to the dead jedi before Sol etc by using a shortcut in a place she had never visited. Purely done so that she could be ‘discovered’ finding the body. Shoddy writing, frankly.

Thanks for your work, I look forward to you doing the same to skeleton crew et al.

Thanks Spunkmeyer. I’m glad you enjoyed it. Totally agree with the point you make about shoddy writing. It’s a feature of many modern shows. When something doesn’t make sense they just crack on regardless rather than re-write it. Somehow Palpatine returned…….

Really looking forward to Skeleton crew. As a massive fan of Goonies and ET I’m hoping I can get a fun adventure film out of the series.

Thanks Warhorn. Much appreciated! This series was the most rewarding for me to edit because it was very hit and miss. When you eliminate the elements that didn’t work, you’re left with a pretty good story that foreshadows events of the PT.