The Prequel Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 251

I have an idea for a Sidious/Palpatine in TPM-ROTS.

Darth Sidious in PT is just a Palpatine in Sith robes and everybody at once figured out that they are the same character and this plot twist in Ep.III is not as surprising as it should be.

My first idea is: add Palpy's disfigured face from ROTJ to the Sidious- his real appearance will be just a some kind of a force mask. Surprise saved, if Star Wars watched in order Ep.I-Ep.VI

2nd idea: Palpatine looked more older in AOTC than in ROTS. Somebody could make Palpy's face for ROTS that would look like something between AOTC and ROTJ. This would support the original concept of the Emperor's face disfigured by using Dark Side for a very long time.

In both ideas: force lightning in Windu-Sidious duel will not have any influence sent back to Palpatine.

It's a popular idea that has been suggested before in a variety of combinations.

JasonN's edits have Sidious as an empty cowl with a distorted voice but the effect is essentially the same.

I recently came across some old dictaphone recordings of myself as a teenager.

I was struck by how little the rhythm of my voice has changed and how the number of words I used back then is pretty much the same as now.

Time has made my voice drop a bit in tone but it's very much recognisably me on there.

I started to think about the rhythm of Hayden and Jake's Anakins and how they compare to JEJ's Vader and Seb Shaw's Anakin.

They just don't remotely match up.

Sure Jake is a little kid and Hayden is playing him as a young man but they both use too many words to say very little.

I wonder how many PT Anakin words could be dropped from his dialogue scenes and still make perfectly good sense and convey what the character is meant to be saying?

I've also been rewatching Buffy.

Seth Green plays a teenager of diminutive stature and yet his vocal style playing Oz matches more the economy of words spoken by Vader in the OT than either PT actor.

It might be an interesting exercise to go through each scene trimming what Anakin says to the barest minimum necessary to still make grammatical and contextual sense.

An interesting thought.  It makes me also think of the Dark Cut of Batman Begins.  So many complained about Katie Holmes in that film (frankly I didn't have a problem).  But that faneditor deepened her voice a tad which, according to many, worked miracles.  Apparently her "bad acting" was at least in part the pitch of her voice sounding too young.  Perhaps a little deepening of Hayden's voice would do some good for his acting as well.

darth_ender said:

Perhaps a little deepening of Hayden's voice would do some good for his acting as well.

I've already been testing that in my edits.  I really learned how much hayden's pitch changes from line to line and scene to scene.  Once you deepen him, he sounds more mature and gives a less rapey voice in love scenes.  However, I still haven't tried it in Episode I.  and I wonder about Jar-Jar.

I always thought Leo would've made a good Anakin.

I think Hayden could have been the James Dean of a whole new Generation

if he was in some good films and good act a bit (nice car).

emanswfan said:

darth_ender said:

Perhaps a little deepening of Hayden's voice would do some good for his acting as well.

I've already been testing that in my edits.  I really learned how much hayden's pitch changes from line to line and scene to scene.  Once you deepen him, he sounds more mature and gives a less rapey voice in love scenes.  However, I still haven't tried it in Episode I.  and I wonder about Jar-Jar.

I'm curious to hear the difference, can you post a clip?

I've been MIA from this thread from a while. I've just posted a few ideas on the Unofficial Revisited Saga thread which people may appreciate here. They retread some familiar ground but are at least somewhat different to ideas brought up here before:

Obviously you already know my feelings about Hayden Christensen and that I think he should be recast with another Anakin but there's another reason for this as I believe it's prudent to completely get rid of Jake Lloyd and that we meet Anakin as a teenager of Luke's age.

He won't be a slave either and will be living with his mother and brother Owen.

One thing that will change is there won't be podracers anymore. Driving a mechanical 'chariot' at floor level does not say 'pilot' to me, and Obi Wan says Anakin was already a great pilot when they met.

I'm struggling with the details of what point in the films Obi Wan will meet him, but I believe it should play out something like this.

Obi and crew are stranded on Tatooine. Perhaps their pilot is injured/dead. In any case, they need a pilot rather than a ship part. They ask in a cantina/shop if there are any pilots they can hire. Someone (perhaps Watto redubbed or with new subtitles) pipes up that they know of one - the best in the sector. "Where can I find him" Obi Wan asks.

Cut to the T-16 and another ship racing eachother through Beggar's Canyon. It weaves in and out between spires and there's a little bit of banter between the two over radio chatter. They are either brothers (in which case this other guy will be Owen) or friends. The other guy taunts him and Anakin pulls off some tremendous maneuver through a narrow gap, only just avoiding being crushed.

"Woooooooooo" he shouts in triumph and exhilaration - except this won't be from an annoying little kid, but a young adult whom we've already warmed to as a bit of a rogue. Anakin should always have filled the Han Solo type role in these movies and his arc ought to have been maturing and also learning the code of the Jedi which would have allowed for lots of conflict and disagreements with Obi Wan along with bits of humour. What a missed opportunity!

Anyway, having Anakin fly the same ship that Luke plays with a model of in ANH makes that scene into a nice little nod to the prequels without being too blatant. It's the kind of subtle touch I just love seeing in a film and a really good non-hamfisted way of unifying the two trilogies. He's playing with the model, almost like he could be reenacting a race we've seen before. I think it could be a nice moment and a nice nod. Perhaps he realises his father once piloted one and he treasures it, perhaps he's oblivious. Who knows.

Back to the prequel era. Obi Wan warms to Anakin and realises he is force sensitive. He asks him to come away with him on an adventure as they need all the help they can get against this new threat. (The Sith/The Clones etc). This to me fits the bill of dragging Anakin on an 'idealistic crusade'.

Anakin leaves the planet with Obi Wan. His brother Owen won't be happy about it and a bit jealous that Anakin has the Force and he doesn't. This would explain his apparent dislike of Obi Wan in ANH as "just a crazy old man".

The most similar example of this type of thing being done elsewhere is in Harry Potter where Harry's Mother, Lily is accepted to go to Hogwarts and Petunia, her sister who is not blessed with magic, is secretly jealous but reacts with anger, calling her a freak.

I appreciate these ideas require a lot of refilming, but that's what this thread is all about :)

brash_stryker said:

I've been MIA from this thread from a while. I've just posted a few ideas on the Unofficial Revisited Saga thread which people may appreciate here. They retread some familiar ground but are at least somewhat different to ideas brought up here before:

Obviously you already know my feelings about Hayden Christensen and that I think he should be recast with another Anakin but there's another reason for this as I believe it's prudent to completely get rid of Jake Lloyd and that we meet Anakin as a teenager of Luke's age.

He won't be a slave either and will be living with his mother and brother Owen.

One thing that will change is there won't be podracers anymore. Driving a mechanical 'chariot' at floor level does not say 'pilot' to me, and Obi Wan says Anakin was already a great pilot when they met.

I'm struggling with the details of what point in the films Obi Wan will meet him, but I believe it should play out something like this.

Obi and crew are stranded on Tatooine. Perhaps their pilot is injured/dead. In any case, they need a pilot rather than a ship part. They ask in a cantina/shop if there are any pilots they can hire. Someone (perhaps Watto redubbed or with new subtitles) pipes up that they know of one - the best in the sector. "Where can I find him" Obi Wan asks.

Cut to the T-16 and another ship racing eachother through Beggar's Canyon. It weaves in and out between spires and there's a little bit of banter between the two over radio chatter. They are either brothers (in which case this other guy will be Owen) or friends. The other guy taunts him and Anakin pulls off some tremendous maneuver through a narrow gap, only just avoiding being crushed.

"Woooooooooo" he shouts in triumph and exhilaration - except this won't be from an annoying little kid, but a young adult whom we've already warmed to as a bit of a rogue. Anakin should always have filled the Han Solo type role in these movies and his arc ought to have been maturing and also learning the code of the Jedi which would have allowed for lots of conflict and disagreements with Obi Wan along with bits of humour. What a missed opportunity!

Anyway, having Anakin fly the same ship that Luke plays with a model of in ANH makes that scene into a nice little nod to the prequels without being too blatant. It's the kind of subtle touch I just love seeing in a film and a really good non-hamfisted way of unifying the two trilogies. He's playing with the model, almost like he could be reenacting a race we've seen before. I think it could be a nice moment and a nice nod. Perhaps he realises his father once piloted one and he treasures it, perhaps he's oblivious. Who knows.

Back to the prequel era. Obi Wan warms to Anakin and realises he is force sensitive. He asks him to come away with him on an adventure as they need all the help they can get against this new threat. (The Sith/The Clones etc). This to me fits the bill of dragging Anakin on an 'idealistic crusade'.

Anakin leaves the planet with Obi Wan. His brother Owen won't be happy about it and a bit jealous that Anakin has the Force and he doesn't. This would explain his apparent dislike of Obi Wan in ANH as "just a crazy old man".

The most similar example of this type of thing being done elsewhere is in Harry Potter where Harry's Mother, Lily is accepted to go to Hogwarts and Petunia, her sister who is not blessed with magic, is secretly jealous but reacts with anger, calling her a freak.

I appreciate these ideas require a lot of refilming, but that's what this thread is all about :)

I've been absent myself. But I'm a sucker a for a great ideas, and this is a great idea. Someone figure out how to get it done. =)

love the above idea..... 

below would be my idea for throwing the audience off the trail of Anakin=Vader.... probably needs major tweaking but here is my ramble...

starting in Episode II:

Obi and Anakin have formed a great close relationship, but with the recent developments of Dooku going rogue, Obi is assigned a second apprentice that once belonged to Dooku.  He gets along with Obi-Wan and his new peer in Anakin, but its clear that he is a bit of a third wheel, he begins to show some jealousy and is constantly trying to outdo Anakin who clearly seems to have a leg up on him in almost all aspects of their training... not to mention Dooku tries to seduce his old apprentice and tries to get him to join him on a few choice encounters.

Anakin meanwhile continues down a very similar path that we currently see.... and then Mustafar happens.... he is confronted 2nd apprentice rather than Obi-Wan... the fight goes down in a very similar fashion and ultimately ends with with anakin arm and legless at the edge of the lava didn't have the high ground, and the 2nd apprentice also states how his skills have grown.... Anakin gives one last giant force push to attack the 2nd apprentice and throw him into a pile of coals before he is consumed by flames..... at this point Obi-wan has arrived on the scene to see the end of the battle, what has become of Anakin says a few words to him, picks up his saber and he also sees the 2nd apprentice badly injured rushing to his rescue....

The next time we see Obi-Wan, the 2nd apprentice is on a respirator slowly recovering... (ultimate vader-fake out)  the rest of the movie progresses with obi-wan apprentice-less (maybe he can confront Grevious at this point)  and ultimately we would see a suited Vader save the emperor from Mace, raid the jedi temple, etc...

I loved the similar skyhopper race scenes in the Marvel comics and Radio adaptations of ANH.

Hello again,

I've got a few subtle changes for prequels, which somebody could use in his edit (especially for Revisited Team; I wanted to make some for that mock-up contest, but I'm skilled with photoshoping as Natalie Portman in acting)

Ep. I:

-C-3PO would be a Trade Federation droid, in place of TC-14. He would also replace Jar Jar through the whole movie. It is C-3PO (and R2, of course) who should bring humour, like in OT with his endless talking.

-eyes of Battle Droids should have some light, like 3PO's.

-give more/different facial expression to Neimoidians. They look like they were only moving their jaws up and down, and not talk.

Ep.II:

-cut all lines, where Fett is refered as "Jango". He shouldn't die in AotC and Boba should be made as his son/apprentice, not a clone. Watching film in order I-VI would give an impression that they're one person. Plus, also re-colouring armour to Boba's green.

-Obi-Wan should be using Qui-Gon's lightsaber (even in arena battle) and Anakin his lightsaber from RotS (cut the destruction of his sabre in droid foundry).

-one thing would be great in AotC. Scene with Dooku communicating with Sidious holographically. This would spoil the surprise "Dooku is working with Sidious", but nevertheless it's something worth trying.

-AotC would not end with the wedding or Palpatine watching Acclamators taking off to the battlefields. Dooku's arrival at Coruscant is what I have in mind, and Republic Fleet Ships in background, jumping in the hyperspace, as solar yacht enters the orbit. And when Dooku and Sidious finish the conversation, I would add an Emperor's laugh from RotJ, like the one from Palpatine's arrival at DS.

Ep.III:

-I always thought that Mustafar is the most unrealistic planet of all the saga. Everybody on that planet would die of the temperature or suffocate, because there are only volcanos and no plants to produce oxygen. This should be changed to at least a industrial, not volcanic, planet Mustafar or even to place the duel on industrial district of Coruscant. And the part of duel, when Obi and Anakin are fighting on that floating droids... they would burn alive that close to lava (or jumping off that giant antenna falling from lava fall)

-if someone is able to do that, I'll be thankful to him for the rest of my life: Lucas decided, that one of the greatest actors to star in Saga should be changed to CGI coughing droid, not even voiced by Gary Oldman. Christopher Lee, in my opinion, is one of the guys created to play villains. My plan was to cut Grievous from RotS, add Dooku and expand Dooku's plot. He would not be only the Jedi renegade, who became a Sith, but a spy, who would just pretend to be a Sith and get close enough to Sidious and destroy them forever. Dooku would redeem during duel with Obi-Wan on Utapau and tell him his scheme. Then Dooku would be killed in order 66 and Obi-Wan accused of treachery by collaborating with Dooku.

Michaeldor said:

-I always thought that Mustafar is the most unrealistic planet of all the saga. Everybody on that planet would die of the temperature or suffocate, because there are only volcanos and no plants to produce oxygen.

Ironically it's one of those examples of a single environment planet that does make scientific sense.

The Earth was like that for almost half of it's life.

Star Wars isn't science fiction so I haven't as much of a problem with it as you do.

Most of the time people seem to be inside buildings on the planet, buildings which could have some sort of contained environment near it which made it more tolerable.

Maybe this could be underlined by showing the force field around the antenna shorting out and the cool air escaping from around the Jedi.

Maybe they could put something like this on:

It's too interesting an environment to lose entirely.

If the Hobbits can survive being inside Mt Doom I think we can allow space wizards a bit of breathing room.

That's all kind of interesting but keep this in mind. How does what you change to the Vader=Anakin thing change how a first timer would view the Im your father moment. 

I feel like if everything happened the way you write it and eps 4 and 5 are the same, I think you are looking at a very bad reaction to Im Your Father. I predict a lot of "This is BS!" Reactions 

Has anyone ever considered moving Maul's arrival on Tatooine to before the Jedi show up? It might make it seem like they are walking into a trap when they arrive.

http://geektyrant.com/news/2013/2/14/ewan-mcgregors-obi-wan-spin-off-star-wars-movie-idea.html/

     ^Looks like it could be fun.

        I also liked the idea of building of the Vader line "You should not have returned." He could start on Tat helping Luke and visiting the cantina and then go off, as in ANH.

I really hope it happens, and its just like 'Yojimbo' or 'A Fist Full of Dollars'.

It could work really well as a substitute for Episode III (if ROTS becomes II and AOTC/TPM become I). In that the pace of the saga winds down alot and the focus begins to centre on the little folk, not the highborn.

A rather radical idea I was playing with: how about making Bail Organa the one who gives Palpatine his emergency powers? It eliminates the need for Jar Jar in the movie, but might also make Organa a bit more interesting character. It would give that little bump on the balcony at the end of AOTC more weight, and would also give him a motivation for starting the Rebellion.

There are some audio material The Force Unleashed cut scenes, voice by Jimmy Smits, that could be useful for this change.