logo Sign In

Unusual Sequel Trilogy Radical Redux Ideas Thread — Page 37

Author
Time

StarkillerAG said:

Ed Slushie said:

Anybody wanna try persuading John Boyega and Oscar Isaac to film themselves kissing in costume so we can add it to the Rise of Skywalker?

I assume you’re joking. Because otherwise, you probably wouldn’t be able to do that.

Those big boys work on a cash-only basis. No freebies.

Author
Time

I’ve had this theory for a while - that Luke’s portrayal in the Last Jedi was meant to represent the fanbase (bitter after learning the Jedi’s history and being incredibly disappointed), and that part of the reason this portrayal was so poorly received was because The Force Awakens had already come out and restored a lot of people’s hope in the series.
So here’s a possibility - what if the Force Awakens opened with Luke meeting Rey on Ach-To. He refuses the call, and we add in some of his dialogue from later about how optimism is dumb and the Jedi are overrated; but then when he asks “where’s Han?” Rey launches into a flashback and we see the rest of the movie that way, and at the end he decides to train her for real. The Last Jedi plays out about the same but with the Ach-To Island scenes drastically reduced (because all the important ones already happened).
Basically, if done right, this cut could make the trilogy more appealing to hardcore OT fans while leaving the story untouched. Does it sound doable?

You’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Am I making Carrie Fisher’s ghost proud?”
Well, are ya, punk?

Author
Time

That’s an interesting idea. Unorthodox for Star Wars, basically doing the “Two weeks earlier…”/“I bet you’re wondering how I ended up here?” trope, but might be worth exploring.

Author
Time

This sounds interesting, in general it would be nice, if we could see the importance of Luke Skywalker, the legend in TFA. We are only told that he is needed to restore hope, but its never shown that much. Look the stormtroopers that arrest Han, Chewie and Finn at Max castle before the Resistance arrives, do not even recognize Lukes lightsaber.
It would be interesting if Luke had more of a presence in the movie.
Maybe we could add a namedrop and a fitting reaction to the “castle-scene” or have Hux mention the Jedi in his speech.

“Vader! Hologram, now!”

Author
Time
 (Edited)

When Rey hands Luke the saber in TLJ it would be neet to hear voices of the massacres of order 66,children’s screams, Anakins “I hate you!”. It would justify it on an emotional level and would add to Luke’s second lesson about the fall of the once mighty Jedi Order.
Here’s an example that portrays this, although a more comedic version.
https://youtu.be/xL2xIKUF5gg

Peace is a lie
There is only passion…

Author
Time

Perhaps since the lightsaber didn’t call out to Luke in ANH, we could play into the saber calling out to Rey (in TFA) due to her evil, Palpatine lineage after being the instrument of genocide. Like it WAS like an Excalibur to the chosen one but now it’s tainted and seeks another evil host or something??

Author
Time

Does anybody know whether and in case where a scene of Maz talking to Leia exists.
I only know the shot from the teaser.
Thanks in advance.

“Vader! Hologram, now!”

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I’ve been away from home so I haven’t been able to work on some bigger ideas on my main work computer, but I did get a chance to play around with a small idea on my laptop.

I’ve been thinking about ways to make the Rey/Ben romance a little more explicit in the trilogy. I think one simple way to do this would be through simple rescoring. One thing Han/Leia and Anakin/Padme have that Rey/Ben lacks is a love theme. It’d be hard to do that without a “love theme” track, like the other two romances have, but we could retroactively establish a “love motif” by seeding it in at least the second film in the trilogy (in comparison, the previous love themes also didn’t make their appearances until the second film in their trilogies). In TROS, when Ben resurrects Rey, the first indication we get that Rey is alive is that her hand comes into frame and touches Ben’s hand. At this moment, we get this great swell of music as Ben and Rey stare into each others eyes. So, I’ve taken this piece of music, and inserted it into the moment when Rey and Ben touch hands and stare into each others eyes in TLJ.

Here is my test track (music only): https://streamable.com/pwg1wp

Just as an experiment, I also replaced much of the music from that scene with pieces of music from the “Anakin and Padme” track from the AOTC score. It’s not the main “Across the Stars” motif, but what I like to call the “forbidden love” motif of their theme. It’s hard to describe, but I think the feeling of that piece represents the inner turmoil Anakin and Padme feel regarding their relationship. I feel like this motif actually works well with Rey and Ben, since their feelings for each other might feel wrong, initially, since they are enemies. It’s not as immediately recognizable as Across the Stars, but audiences might still recognize it enough to associate the music with romance.

Another interesting thing about the music choice is there is a moment in this track that is reminiscent to the build up to the Tristan chord in Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde (compare the beginning with the 0:45 mark in my test clip). For music lovers, this might create an interesting association between Rey and Ben and Tristan and Isolde, who also started their story as bitter enemies.

What I think is also interesting is how the original track for this scene and my test track are actually rather similar. Here is the original scene, for comparison. Similar oboes, similar Tristan-esque notes when Rey raises her hand. It makes me wonder if they had used parts of this track for the temp track. It’s possible Rian saw similarities between this scene and the AOTC scene between Anakin and Padme, since both scenes are visually similar, taking place in a dark, fire-lit rooms.

Author
Time

I just wanted to point out that at 1:09 in your rescore, an almost identical piece plays in Han & Qi’ra’s love theme at 1:05.

https://youtu.be/wummwZCt5s0?t=65

I’m not a music expert other than just enjoying scores a whole lot so I don’t know if that’s a common piece for love songs or anything, but it’s a nice parallel to Han’s doomed romance since Reylo doesn’t exactly end all cheery. Maybe incorporating more of Solo’s tracks would make it more impactful.

Author
Time

RogueLeader said:

Here is my test track (music only): https://streamable.com/pwg1wp

I really like that change, and it actually makes more sense for this dramatic swell of music to accompany their connection. I never really bought Rey’s 180 insistence that Kylo could be turned since their moment of connection didn’t feel ‘big’ enough to drive the rest of the story, but here I finally buy it.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Lesser said:

I just wanted to point out that at 1:09 in your rescore, an almost identical piece plays in Han & Qi’ra’s love theme at 1:05.

https://youtu.be/wummwZCt5s0?t=65

I’m not a music expert other than just enjoying scores a whole lot so I don’t know if that’s a common piece for love songs or anything, but it’s a nice parallel to Han’s doomed romance since Reylo doesn’t exactly end all cheery. Maybe incorporating more of Solo’s tracks would make it more impactful.

Nice catch! I didn’t even notice that… I love Han and Qi’ra’s theme, so the similarities are definitely welcome. Reylo in the theatrical film certainly doesn’t have a cheerful ending, but there’s no telling what kind of edits we’ll end up seeing…

Author
Time

NeverarGreat said:

RogueLeader said:

Here is my test track (music only): https://streamable.com/pwg1wp

I really like that change, and it actually makes more sense for this dramatic swell of music to accompany their connection. I never really bought Rey’s 180 insistence that Kylo could be turned since their moment of connection didn’t feel ‘big’ enough to drive the rest of the story, but here I finally buy it.

Wow, I’m glad to hear you like it! The original music for the whole scene certainly doesn’t help to imply anything beyond them having a ‘connection’. But I think the ‘forbidden love’ motif, plus the dramatic swell of music at the end, definitely makes their romantic feelings more explicit, I think. It’s also funny to me how well the music fits in, time-wise, without any necessary alterations. Plus, it is another opportunity to replace the overused Force motif. It really feels like the Force motif was used a lot as a crutch throughout this trilogy.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

I always found this to be a very interesting quote from Rian on the music in the scene:
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsCantina/comments/buzzdo/french_interview_that_clarifies_how_rian_johnson/

I do wish Rian had requested a new theme for their relationship instead (the biggest musical missed opportunity all trilogy), but I get the reasoning for the Force theme, which is really the all encompassing ‘fate’ theme (and perhaps if it wasn’t used as much in that film it’d feel more momentous), and which is ultimately mirrored in the moment they join forces.

That said, I think your edit works really, really well, and makes for an excellent change.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

In isolation the scene works well with the music, I just think it would feel pretty creepy, if not disturbing to have them be all lovy dovy just after Kylo’s cold blooded "let the past die, kill it if you have to (in reference to his own father). I think there needs to be a preceding scene that would better set that up.

Peace is a lie
There is only passion…

Author
Time

I don’t think he’s made it “lovey-dovey” at all. And the preceding scene is Rey confiding in Kylo about her experience in the cave and on Ahch-to in general.

“I’ve never felt so alone.”
“You’re not alone.”
“Neither are you.”

Author
Time

Also, we just found out (from Kylo’s perspective) that his uncle tried to murder him, so I think we, and Rey, are already set up to sympathize with him more, seeing as he had been betrayed by his own family.

I also have an idea to try and show more clearly Kylo’s motivation for joining the dark side, and why detaching himself from his weaknesses is a necessary evil, from his point of view. It’s basically what he says to Rey. He didn’t hate his father, but he felt like like he had to destroy his weaknesses in order to fulfill his destiny and bring order to the galaxy.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

The scene on its own is pretty good, Lovy dovy is of course an exaggeration but the music makes the scene unmistakably romantic, I think a scene like this needs to be built up with romance in mind instead of empathy throughout TFA and first half of TLJ.

Peace is a lie
There is only passion…

Author
Time

The whole point is to make it romantic to set up their later kiss. I don’t know how much set up you want. We heard Han and Leia’s Theme played much more romantically than this when they were arguing in the hallway of Echo base, not much set up there. I don’t see the issue here.

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Perhaps it could be done by sprinkling the forbidden love motif in their previous encounters.

Peace is a lie
There is only passion…

Author
Time

Reylo is probably a case of either going all in or nothing at all.

Peace is a lie
There is only passion…

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Yeah, I think the struggle is that they are basically antagonistic in every scene before this, so it would be hard to set up anything else before this moment. I suppose you could keep the more subtle ‘forbidden love’ motif and remove the more dramatic swell, or vice versa, but just don’t have both. Maybe you could lay little hints of a romance motif in previous force bond scenes (like you said, idir!). It might hit us differently when we watch the clip in isolation versus being and hour and a half into the movie. It might just require some experimentation.

There’s also another little motif that plays when they kiss, so maybe that could fit into other places too. Not sure though.

idir_hh said:

Reylo is probably a case of either going all in or nothing at all.

I feel like romance is pretty fundamental to Star Wars, so I have to say I’m all in.

Author
Time

It’s interesting how John Williams’ style is so melodic than any excerpt can become a motif if you just have it repeat.

You’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Am I making Carrie Fisher’s ghost proud?”
Well, are ya, punk?