Hello,
I have been working on a 6-in-1 edit of the Star Wars Saga (only the films by George Lucas), and I would like to know if anyone has an idea of how to cut out everything involving Jabba. It is unnecessary to the main plot of my edit, and honestly serves as a major distraction that doesn’t accomplish anything.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks for your suggestions.
Also, here are all my ideas for this edit:
We begin with the modern Lucasfilm logo, “a long time in a galaxy far, far away”, and then a custom crawl.
“For over a thousand years, the galaxy was governed by the peaceful GALACTIC REPUBLIC. The Republic flourished under the protection of the JEDI KNIGHTS, peacekeepers who wielded a mystical power known as THE FORCE.”
“However, that era of peace and prosperity came to an end when the Republic was overthrown by the cruel EMPIRE. This empire, led by a SITH rival of the Jedi, eradicated the Jedi Order and plunged the galaxy into an era of darkness.”
“Now, a REBEL ALLIANCE has risen up to stand against the Empire’s tyranny. But far from the growing conflict, a young farmer named Luke Skywalker yearns for a life beyond the desolate world he calls home, unaware that his wish will soon come true…”
We start with A NEW HOPE, but it begins with the Jawas arriving at the Lars Homestead. Our focus here is mostly on Luke and Obi-Wan. Scenes solely about Vader, Leia, Han, etc. are completely cut. Death Star escape is shortened (no trash compactor scene, no group split-up scenes). I’m hoping to trim the Death Star battle down a lot as well.
Three years later, we flash to THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. Again, mostly Luke-only scenes; cut most Han, Leia, and Vader stuff. I will keep Vader’s conversation with the Emperor, because that’s pretty important.
No Wampa cave stuff; Luke just gets attacked—he wakes up in the snowstorm later and Ben appears. He goes unconscious as Han rides up, and we cut to the bacta tank scene. Hopefully I can trim a lot out of the AT-AT Walker attack on Hoth. Luke escapes and goes to Dagobah, trains with Yoda. He sees a vision of his friends in pain (a very-abridged cut of Han and Leia’s story) and goes to help.
Like I’m asking, I really don’t want to use the Han/Carbonite plot, so maybe I can just show Han being tortured on that machine instead. Luke shows up on Cloud City and fights Vader, father reveal, etc. I’ll need to show Lando helping Leia, Han, and the others escape, but I don’t know how to do that really. Maybe cut away when Lando says “shut up and listen” cut away and follow it with “we’re getting out of here”?
I was thinking I could use Han saying “I feel terrible” and lying down on the cell bed (just pretend it’s a part of the Falcon) later on when they pick up Luke. That would explain why he’s not flying the Falcon and why he’s not appearing in their escape from Cloud City, because he’s unconscious. But I might need those scenes for Lando helping them escape.
We end this segment with Luke getting his new hand and he and Leia gazing out into space; no Lando and Chewy leaving in the Falcon to find Han.
We cut to RETURN OF THE JEDI for a bit. The Emperor arrives on a new Death Star and “everything is proceeding as he has foreseen”. We cut to Luke visiting Yoda on Dagobah. Yoda dies, and Luke speaks to Obi-Wan. When Obi-Wan says “I was amazed how strongly the Force was with him”, we cut to THE PHANTOM MENACE and begin a series of prequel flashbacks.
Phantom Menace segment should be pretty short; we start with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan reporting Anakin to the Council. They go to pick him up, and he leaves Shmi. No mention is made of Shmi being a slave; Anakin doesn’t promise to come back and free her. She just lives on Tatooine. They are attacked by Maul——I’m going to cut all mentions of the Queen Amidala/Naboo plotline. Maul attacks them because Sidious told him that Anakin Skywalker cannot be allowed to become a Jedi because he’s the Chosen One (this is a custom scene taken from ForceGhostRecon’s “The Chosen One” short film edit). They go to Coruscant, the Council tests Anakin and refuses to train him. Mace Windu says that now is not the time for this; the Senate is voting for a new Chancellor and the dark warrior is still at large. The Council sends Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to track down the mysterious warrior who attacked them, and we cut to black. Shortly after, we cut to the duel with Maul, already in progress. Qui-Gon perishes and Obi-Wan defeats Maul. Newly-elected Chancellor Palpatine arrives on Naboo and thanks Obi-Wan for his bravery. He tells Anakin that he’ll be watching his career with great interest, due to Anakin being the Chosen One. Palpatine greets the Queen of Naboo, who congratulates him on his election. Palpatine responds with “together, we shall bring peace and prosperity to the Republic”.
Yoda grants Obi-Wan permission to train Anakin, and we wrap up this section with Qui-Gon’s funeral, where Obi-Wan promises Anakin that he will be a Jedi.
Then we cut back to Obi-Wan and Luke. Obi-Wan says “I took it upon myself to train him as a Jedi. I thought that I could instruct him just as well as Master Yoda. I was wrong.”
We then enter our ATTACK OF THE CLONES section of the edit. We begin with the fake Queen of Naboo arriving on Coruscant and getting blown up. Palpatine and the Jedi speak about the growing threat of separatists leaving the Republic, and how there aren’t enough Jedi to keep the peace. Senator Padmé Amidala arrives, and the Jedi say that disgruntled spice miners on Naboo’s moon are behind the attack. No mention of Dooku; he is completely removed from the edit. Palpatine suggests Padmé be placed under the protection of the Jedi, but doesn’t suggest Obi-Wan, because Padmé, Obi-Wan, and Anakin have never met before in this edit. The Jedi Council assigns Anakin to escort Padmé back home to Naboo. Yoda’s dialogue is altered so Obi-Wan is sent to hunt down this “killer”, not this “bounty hunter”, since we have no knowledge of a bounty hunter in this edit. Anakin goes to visit Palpatine for help in getting Senator Amidala to leave the capital. Obi-Wan talks to Yoda and Windu about Anakin.
Anakin and Padmé depart for Naboo, and says goodbye to Obi-Wan. No more Obi-Wan content from Attack of the Clones is used. Anakin and Padmé chat on the transport. I will try to decrease Anakin’s whining and creepiness overall. They arrive on Naboo, and talk some about Padmé’s history. They meet with the current Queen and council members (mentions of Nute Gunray are cut, and it is mentioned that the Seperatists will turn to the commerce guilds for help in their rebellion). Padmé suggests that she should hide in the Lake Country, and the Queen agrees. No angry Anakin arguing about this.
We then cut into a romance montage set to “Across the Stars”. No dialogue, just Anakin, Padmé, and the beautiful imagery of Naboo. They share their first kiss. Audio is overlaid where Padmé says “you’re a Jedi, I’m a Senator.” or something to that effect. Anakin responds with “we could keep it a secret” and we cut to black. Anakin has his dream about his mother in pain, and he and Padmé go to Tatooine.
They arrive at the Lars homestead; this can just be presumed to be where Shmi lives now. I don’t want Anakin to have to hunt down Watto or any of that.
Anakin and Padmé meet Owen, Beru, and Cliegg and learn about Shmi’s fate. Anakin goes to save his mother, but arrives too late as she dies in his arms. Yoda senses his pain as he slaughters the Tusken raiders. Anakin returns to the homestead and promises Padmé he’ll learn to stop people from dying. He doesn’t blame Obi-Wan or admit to slaughtering the Tuskens. Makes him less whiny and creepy. Padmé comforts him, and they have a funeral for Shmi.
We then cut to Palpatine and other senators discussing the Commerce Guilds preparing for war and the need for an army. Palpatine’s advisor suggests granting him emergency powers, and then we cut to the Senate where Palpatine has been granted these powers. Yoda goes to see a Kaminoan clone army that has been created for the Republic by Palpatine, and a montage of Clones is shown. Yoda says “The shroud of the Dark Side has fallen. Begun, the Clone Wars have.” over this montage.
We then cut to REVENGE OF THE SITH. We begin with Anakin and Padmé reuniting and discussing Padmé’s pregnancy. No mention of the Chancellor being kidnapped is made. No mention of Dooku either. Grievous is presumed to be a Seperatist leader who is the main culprit of the ongoing war. We continue through Revenge of the Sith, but everything concerning Grevious and Obi-Wan (until Obi-Wan gets attacked during Order 66) is cut. Everything continues as normal until Vader’s Mask gets put on.
We then cut back to Luke and Obi-Wan. Luke insists there is still good in his father. Their conversation continues, but we cut back to Revenge of the Sith when Luke says “but I have no sister.”
The entire ending plays out, except for Padmé “losing the will to live”. That line is cut. They just don’t know why she’s dying. After Luke is delivered to Owen and Beru, we cut back to Obi-Wan and Luke for the last time. Everything else is from RETURN OF THE JEDI.
Obi-Wan says his lines about Luke and Leia being hidden from the Emperor, Luke realizes that Leia is his sister, etc. Then we go to Luke returning to the Rebel Fleet and the discussion of the second Death Star. Luke and the others go to Endor, but that night, at the Rebel encampment, Luke and Leia have their talk. There is no Ewok plot whatsoever. Leia learns she’s Luke’s sister, and Luke goes to confront Vader. The rest of the film mostly focuses on Luke and Vader——we see a bit of the space battle, but most of the Han/Leia/Ewoks battle is cut, except for the shield generator explosion. Vader’s special edition “no, no!” is removed before throwing Palpatine off the ledge and everything else continues as normal. Vader dies, the galaxy celebrates the end of the Empire, and Luke sees the Force ghosts (Anakin is Hayden’s Anakin, because that’s the one we are familiar with in this edit). The end!
It might be too long to fit in a single three-hour film though. I haven’t tried putting it together yet, so it’s just in conceptual form right now.
What do you all think about this idea? Could it work?
This sounds good! I had a “7 in 1” edit a while back called “Vader”, using parts of R1 to the other six to tell a stout about Vader’s rise and fall.
What I did was intercut from PT to OT every 10 minutes or so, inspired by Lost. Tbh I’m not sure this was the best strategy because it created two constant plot lines to invest in… by I could easily jump from say, 4 to 5 with no worries.
Most of my edit was around Vader - Luke’s first appearance is when he watches Ben did, the first time Vader sees him. Most of the movie was the PT, with splices of the OT. Yours seems to be the inverse!
I handled Han with death. Reason being I replaced the Battle of Endor with the Battle of Yavin (there’s only one DS) and let Red Leader destroy the station while Luke was inside redeeming Vader. Final scene was his funeral, not the celebration.
Your edit might also benefit from this. Remove Endor and Han isn’t needed, which is really sad but would give the war some casualties. Then have the end at Yavin.
You could always just open RotJ with the Sail Barge. Cuts out a lot of fat while still showing Han’s rescue.