Acbagel

Ryan_ said:

Sorry for me taking so long to post this. I was out by the time I ended this movie and so I couldn’t do it, but that aside, I’m very happy to how this movie turned out and think you did a good job. You made a lot of things about this movie a lot better, and trust me, there were lots of problems.

Well it’s only been like 8 months since I last responded in this thread, but someone recently posted here and I noticed I never replied to your last comment. Thanks for taking the time to write out your experience with my edit!

First thing’s first I love about this change is that Ben lives instead of Rey. Rey living honestly made her a lot more hated character because she never faced any struggles nor were arc satisfying in the slightest. Ben had an actual established arc; Luke, Leia, and Han died trying to redeem him, and while it isn’t a complete 180, at least we have a more satisfying conclusion. His character opened up a more possible chance for the future where we see him and Finn having a possible meeting in a near future while also serving as a vigilante who serves no side as both the light and dark is balanced within him. I’m finna headcanon in one of his travels that Ben found a young girl whose parents both died and was a baby, and he took her in assuming the role as father figure, and naming her Rey. There is so many opportunities with Ben now being an haunted individual who serves balance of the Force. The Jedi and the Sith died, and now Ben could possibly start a New Order, no Jedi, no Sith, but an Order that serves the Force and the Force alone.

Thanks for the kind words. I really do think I hit the right notes on the character arcs here. The only thing that remains is to touch up some of the shots to make it more “theatrical” since I changed so much. It’s only a workprint to make sure the story flowed well, and I think it does after reading so many reviews, but I’d love to add more here thematically.

And now about that ending, that was amazing! Going through all the adventures by Threepio’s memories is an amazing send off as we see a proper ending to the trilogy and more respectful! Luke is my second favorite Star Wars character behind Anakin Skywalker, and I’m glad to see him receiving appreciation from a writer that actually respects him and the character that he is. You made him even better in this trilogy while keeping the main message of what he is intact.

Wonderful! That was a fun ending for me as well, and my hope was that it makes every Star Wars fan feel something nice 😃

Hux’s death still makes me frown because I wish he had a more respectful one such as dying on a Star Destroyer, but at the very least, his death seems to be more out of failure to capture the crew instead of the spy part. That fixes up his death slightly.

Definitely agree here, I’m open to any and all suggestions about how to give Hux a more fitting send off. He was so abruptly and ridiculously deleted out of the storyline though that it’s extremely difficult to transform his death in any meaningful way. The best I could do at first is get rid of the ridiculousness, but still the abruptness remains.

That said; I do have a minor nitpick which is out of your hands. I wish Finn had a more active role such as getting his chance to lead a Stormtrooper Rebellion in a more active. That’s more of a my problem since I love that part about the original Episode 9, Duel of the Fates, and is again out of your hands. That said, you removed him as a joke and made him a better character. He should have honestly been a deeper darker character who had a troubled background but slowly pushing back then. I wish they used his character in a correct format, but at least you removed all that made him a joke and made him more better. He deserved more respect than they had gave him especially since the potential they gave him, but at least you have the opportunity of Ben training him in the Force in the nearby future. Ben would undoubtedly feel an obligation to protect Finn and Poe because they had been the closest people to Rey that she had left as well as Chewie because he had once served his father. R2 and Threepio would become Ben’s Droids, I imagine, because as horrible as his deeds, he still is a Skywalker who has both Anakin and Padmé’s blood within him and their children.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything here as well. Finn was treated poorly as a character top to bottom. I thought he had by far the most interesting storyline coming out of TFA, but they completely squandered his character arc to force him into a comic relief role instead of giving a proper ex-stormtrooper turned Jedi. I will stand on this mountain of salt until the day I die.

I have mixed feelings about Leia healing Ben but it’s better than Rey healing him. I also do wonder have you ever considered having Anakin appeared to Ben when he was about to throw his lightsaber? I love that scene where Ben reflect on his own, but feel like Anakin should appear at that moment to talk to his grandson. Him just throwing the lightsaber… doesn’t feel right.

I’m not 100% settled on that decision for my final cut of this film. Like you said, it’s better than Rey healing him (which is one of my worst scenes in Star Wars due to the destruction of thousands of years of established force lore), but I’m not convinced it works well enough with Leia doing it either. I’m half at a loss here though as Kylo has a gaping hole in his gut and still needs to make it to the final Act of the movie lol… Yes, I’ve seen many attempts at Anakin communicating to Ben in this scene, and if done originally by Lucasfilm I think it would’ve worked well as a storytelling device, but I haven’t found a way to do any of it in a believable way on my own.

Your movie actually respected Anakin’s legacy, and even though I always thought Plagueis should have been the one who returned instead of Palpatine, you even made his return more satisfying as it’s referenced Anakin used Rey as a vessel to put down his tormentor for decades down once and for all. Great movie! And this is now Canon for me! 😃

Respecting the legacy of the Chosen One was priority #1 for me here. It’s the main reason I disliked the original movie. I think my edit does a much betterjob of not throwing Anakin in the trash. I was also on Team SnokeIsPlagueis (until JJ Abrams said he didn’t know who Plagueis was…), but alas Disney is going to Disney. Anyway, thanks for the kind words and that’s quite an honor to have my edit be added into your personal Canon. I hope to improve this film even more in the next year and look forward to sharing that with you again in the future.

Hadrian sunrider said:

There is an Anakin rise of Skywalker cut on the way

https://youtu.be/tuVFq7iFbFE

Thanks, Hadrian, I will definitely follow the production of his scene.

Hey everyone, addressing a few of the last posts here and giving an update.

I’ve only completed ~50% of the new additions to Episode 0 so far. I am still in the process of moving into a new home and switching over my studio, and it was a slight fixer-upper so probably another 3-4 weeks until I have everything settled in and I’m no longer painting and replacing carpets every evening instead of editing…

Eddie, as always, incredible analysis! I haven’t even watched any of TBB Season 2 yet, so I’m a bit behind on connecting the dots between thematic elements of the seasons. Will definitely come back to your post when I get into that segment of the story.

So a bigger picture update on this project. To be honest, I’m struggling to have a genuine love and connection with the source material. Some of it is pretty decent, but I’m not emotionally invested here yet. Now that isn’t to say that I am cancelling this project, but progress here is naturally slower due to the fact that it sometimes feels more like a “chore” instead of a joy-inducing hobby. Maybe that connection will grow over time, but with the small amount of free time in my life right now it’s been tough to dedicate it this edit. With The Mandalorian S3 looming and my Way of Mandalore project getting a very neat makeover… Well, you get the picture. I do want to find the diamond in the rough with this show, and I will, just not according to to the timeline I originally planned. New house purchase, increased work responsibilties, and a lack of natural love for the content has caused delays.

No, this edit will not be 4k. This one will be 1080p only. I know some people love 4k and others hate it because it’s too hard to download with the increased file sizes. I know the perfect solution for all would be for me to make it both ways and host all options for people, but that’s a nightmare and a half. Personally I would do 4k, but I received a lot of feedback on my Way of Mandalore being 4k and it being too inaccessible for many downloaders.

Yoshi, that video is absolutely perfect haha.

EddieDean said:

I watched your episode zero (taken from the Clone Wars series’ Bad Batch arc) and it’s all you could hope for. The original content isn’t particularly strong, but you’ve cut it exactly right, trimming the fat and keeping the focus on the Bad Batch characters. It worked as an example Bad Batch mission (introducing them all through the lens of Rex, and with Echo as the emotional core), and I was glad you completely removed the final episode for pacing and focus, using only its ending.

It works far better as an episode of the Bad Batch than it did as a Clone Wars episode, so I was glad you cut the Anakin/Padmé content (especially since I still used just those scenes in my TCW:Refocused edit elsewhere), and the Anakin/Mace content (which wasn’t very additive, except for the scene of Anakin killing Trench, which I also would have cut from this or TCW:R anyway as it’s too similar to other things we’ve seen in TCW, and Trench doesn’t need to be a major villain.

Where did you place the Anakin/Padme scene in your series? I love that scene and when I cut it, I knew it needed a home elsewhere in TCW. It was just so irrelevant to TBB.

And I agree about Trench. I really like when Anakin kills him, but like you said, it doesn’t necessarily add anything new and Trench’s return was a bit too random and sudden in general.

I have only three minor ideas you might want to consider:

1. Opening with a subtitle saying “Shortly before the end of the Clone Wars” or similar, to just clarify when this is set if you’re picking the show up after TCW/ROTS (which I reckon anyone should).
2. Since I’m a big fan of skipping the Citadel arc (as it’s just not very strong, despite Tarkin’s appearance and Echo’s death), and it’d be a while since the viewer had watched that anyway if they were watching in chronological order, I would look for an opportunity to include Echo’s death as a very brief flashback - perhaps during the scene you cut with Rex pondering over a helmet. I’m mainly asking this because it’d help me personally - some do want Citadel included in TCW:R, just for that scene alone, but it’s so throwaway - but it could add value to this episode since this is the first point in the overarching story when it becomes relevant, and you do have a good scene to embed it in.
3. This is a bit of a longer shot, but you could end this episode on TBB#1’s opening, the newsreel (perhaps without the newscaster’s narration), to effectively bring us up out of this episode’s extended flashback and back up to speed. That’d get that out of the way, allowing TBB#1 to begin on the actual drama, not an extended intro.

I absolutely love all 3 of those suggestions. Great ways to spice up the mildly bland content. I will get to implementing all of that right now. Thanks for the write up, I think those ideas are just what this Episode 0 needs to feel like a proper prequel to TBB show.

To everyone else who asked to see, I will send it out as soon as I complete the above additions.

I now have the “Episode 0” Bad Batch origin story completed and available for viewing. Let me know if you want to watch it.

Main edits:

• This is not meant to fit into the larger mythos of The Clone Wars show, even though it is technically content from Season 7 of TCW. This is meant to function as a prequel storyline to The Bad Batch show to learn how Echo joins them and give a brief glimpse into their missions during the Clone Wars in-universe.

• The main focus here was on telling a Bad Batch focused storyline instead of the long-form 4-episode TCW arc with all of those main characters. We now only get a few character easter egg appearances of Mace, Anakin, and Obi-Wan, and the larger narrative of the Battle of Anaxes has been removed. This is a 50-minute focused narrative on the Bad Batch acquiring Echo. If I were to edit TCW arc as its own show now, I would probably create a storyline solely about the Battle of Anaxes based on what I removed from this TBB edit.

• Aside from keeping all scenes focused on TBB, I have also made edits to the squad consistent with the altering of my previous posts about edits to the characters in my in-progress “Episode 1”. This includes the less over-the-top stereotypes in trimming down Wrecker and Tech, reducing some childish humor, and quickening action scenes for less goofiness all around.

I didn’t find this TCW arc about TBB to be very interesting aside from the Battle of Anaxes and the character development for Anakin… So I’m saying here that I’ve removed all of my favorite content, haha. But really, this now works much better as an intro to TBB instead of a disjointed introduction to the squad during an otherwise very intense and entertaining time of TCW episodes. I think this would’ve played out better if TCW had made a 4 episode arc about the Battle of Anaxes focused on the Jedi, and then introduced this content as the first episode of TBB Season 1 later on.

I’m planning to finish my TBB Episode 1 later next week.

Haris123 said:

Hey bruv a happy late merry Christmas. Just wondering on how progress is for this edit?

Hello, and an even later Merry Christmas to you. Progress has been slow the last few months, unfortunately. Moving to a new place (finally bought a house!) and it’s been a time sink of incredible proportions. Obviously, I missed my intended goal to get this done before the Season 2 debut! However, I am back into editing this right now and hope to complete this project as soon as I can.

I’m still grinding out this “Episode 0” of TCW content. As I’ve mentioned before, I think that arc is a rather dull storyline in general, but I do feel it’s necessary to frame these characters in a new way right from the get-go. I’ll post some editing notes tomorrow.

guywithpie42 said:

I have a physical need to see all of your SW work. Please send links to everything including the BB and Mando/BF.

Nearly brought a tear to my eye when I read how you bought a second ticket in disbelief when you first saw TLJ and were shocked by what you saw. I did the same exact thing and left with the same conclusion; it was the first time I disliked a Star Wars movie.

Based on what I can see your understanding of REAL Star Wars is impressive and your changes are fantastic.

Sent! Thank you for the inspiration and I completely relate with you. To be honest, I still have not fully recovered my true love for Star Wars as a result of TLJ & TRoS. I don’t think that wound will heal until I experience a Star Wars film in the theater that touches me the same way previous films did. Seeing Luke in Mando and the last season of TCW did a lot to help bring back some of that magic, but I still believe that the best of Star Wars belongs on the big screen and I eagerly await another story in theaters.

My edits are an attempt to rectify the feelings I experienced from those films and I am at least proud of my effort in making something that I no longer despise. I do plan to put a lot more into my trilogy edits in the coming year as well, but I hope you enjoy the current versions.

EddieDean said:

I’ve watched movies 1-4, and am loving this so far. As promised, some more detailed feedback.

As ever, this is all caveated by me thinking these are absolute great movies as-is, and already my archival versions.

Wonderful feedback, Eddie. We both know that is an editor’s dream to receive so I am very thankful for your time there. Reading through that, I definitely plan to take another pass on the series as a whole and maybe drop a full-on v2 at some point. However, as that looks like another 30+ hour project to complete, I find myself at a bit of a crossroads here…

The current v1 release as-is works well. It’s a solid 8/10 for what it could possibly be, so I’m happy to have it out since it’s been brewing since early summer, and I even started working on it personally in 2021. Reading so much feedback, considering unifying the themes a bit better and moving whole episodes around and such, well… I just saw that it looks like Mando Season 3 is on pace for a February 2023 release. I guarantee watching that will influence what I can do with The Way of Mandalore as a whole. Understanding more of where they plan to take Boba/Din’s characters will hugely change the origin stories I plan to rework. I could crank out a v2 by the end of the month/December based on the feedback, then do another pass for a v3 release in Spring '23 after Season 3 wraps up… But if things in the soon releasing Season 3 completely alter what I’m about to do in v2, well, that’s no fun to do all that work and then change it all up again.

My main purpose for the re-edit was to give people a “better”, more concise & enjoyable way to rewatch before Season 3. As it looks like that is coming sooner than I thought, I don’t want to get crushed in crunch time on my other projects that also need released before the next season. I’m currently leaning towards taking a pause on this one for a few months, as I do need to get my Bad Batch project done by the end of the year, and have my Kenobi ready to go in January as well. I think that investing in this v2 heavily again right now will make those other tasks impossible to complete in time. Plus, after spending so much time making this whole series over the past few months, a change of source material is refreshing to keep me motivated.

How do people feel about that? Am I concerned about Season 3 for nothing? Should I grind out a v2 + v3 or just wait for one big update since so much could change in February?

21C Peasant said:

One of the major issues that I had with the show (and one of the very first things I tackled in my personal edit) is that Leia is portrayed as being so sassy.

This is a major misunderstanding of what makes a strong child character. Even if the writers were trying to make this some sort of an arc for Leia, it just doesn’t sit well that she would be so disrespectful to legitimate authority and, at the same time, so wise beyond her years. I was fine with her telling off her cousin, but her rudeness to her mother and to Obi-Wan made her virtually unlikeable. And Obi-Wan was basically sealed as a loser by constantly getting dissed and one-upped by a spoiled child. Fortunately, with a number of small cuts here and there, Leia came much more in line with what we should expect from her — gutsy but classy, outspoken but just. She can still have a character arc without her starting out as a total brat.

Enough of my ranting!

Overall, I’m really liking your Legends approach. Can’t wait for more details!

Thanks for the suggestion, 21C! I 100% agree with you there. So much of how we feel about a character is influenced by how other characters treat them, especially by other characters that we generally are inclined to like (Leia). When the berating is so one-sided like in this show, it really makes the viewer go, “Oh, yeah, maybe Obi-Wan is kind of a loser…” and that is the last thing in the world I want for that character. I am definitely playing close attention to the dialogue in order to ensure that we don’t get the feeling that Obi-Wan is a bum. But it is certainly a fine balance in also ensuring that so much of child Leia isn’t stripped away that she becomes a ball of nothingness. I’ll get back to this edit in December I believe, and get to writing out the change log.

yoshif8tures said:

You should check out this upcoming edit that will redo some VFX

https://www.reddit.com/r/fanedits/comments/yigaka/fortress_inquisitorius_new_look/

Yes, certainly familiar with pixeljoker’s work! I’ve communicated with him on Discord too and in my OP mention how part of the reason I’m aiming to release in January is because he is providing editors with his VFX scenes after his own release around Christmas. I’m trying to prepare the majority of my own storyline decisions, and then just plug in the VFX he is generously providing.

Warhorn said:

Hey, I would love a link for your movie edits. They look great 😃

Sent! Hope you enjoy, may the force be with you

yoshif8tures said:

Thanks for making this edit, especially one who swore to never watch any version of this film again. You sir have made this the best fanedit this film could possibly be. I very much look forward to seeing the finished film.

Awesome! Thanks so much for the kind words. I was also one who swore to never watch this movie again, but I’ve grown to like it with these adjustments made. I can’t wait to touch everything up next year and make it even better.

bbghost said:

would love a link, please

Sent, bbghost! Hope you enjoy and feel free to leave feedback in this thread as this movie is still a work in progress. Your opinion means a lot to me

bob_downunder said:

Could I please get a link. Love the sound of your edits

Sent, hope you enjoy.

yoshif8tures said:

I enjoyed this a lot more, you sir have done a fine job of editing this.

Thanks for taking the time to say something nice. I am glad it made a difference for you and hope you feel the same about my Episode 8 which is much more transformative.

WitchDR said:

I, too, decided to watch through Book 5 first, since the Boba content was the worst and needed the most work.

Figured I’d share a few things I wrote down while watching:

Thank you for the detailed notes, WitchDR! I am currently working on trying out some new plot points for Books 1/2 but will get back to this post again afterwards.

Eddie, lots of great ideas and ponderings that I will get back to thinking through and responding to soon. I do want to first make sure that this initial idea works out well for Book 1, but unifying the themes in later movies like you’re talking about does make sense and I will do a full analysis of everything you wrote later on.

yoshif8tures said:

I just want to say that I’ve been very impressed so far with what you’ve done with this series.
One thing that strikes me as odd though is that at the end of book 2, he goes back to the sarlaac to try to find his armour and ends up on obliterating it.
Not only does this seem silly but over the top, not to mention he should recall he had the armour when he came out?
Anyway, I’m enjoying it a lot so far and it’s excellent.

Thanks, glad you’re enjoying it. I’ve seen a couple people mention they don’t like the sarlacc scene as a whole, but I haven’t personally been persuaded yet on it being out of character for Boba. I don’t think Boba has any memory of the first few minutes/hours outside the pit. He can’t recall getting stripped of the armor so I don’t think it’s out of the question that he would go and look there first. And killing the sarlacc is a classic Mandalorian/Bounty Hunter move I feel. The beast beat him, so he wants revenge and to prove that he is superior. What specifically makes it seem “silly”? I am usually hugely critical of “silliness” in Star Wars but I didn’t feel too bad about the sarlacc sequence initially. Is it great/well directed? No. But is it entirely out of character/disruptive? I haven’t been persuaded of that yet.

As far as progress on Book 1 re-work: Been extra busy and haven’t had as much time to put into it, but I’ve worked through the whole prison break episode now and have it functioning properly in the new story order. Found a good solution for the droid hunter death.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many additional instances available of showing Din thinking about Grogu during this time as it is a very fast paced episode and due to the timeline of armor modifications like Eddie mentions, there are some very real restrictions on which scenes can be reasonably moved around between seasons. I am working on fitting in one more instance of Din looking at the “ball” on his ship as he flies back to Nevarro after the job, and have just begun work on the carrier-flashback sequence that will now change his destiny forever. I really want to nail that scene so it might take a bit to get that working right with the soundtrack and flashbacks.

yoshif8tures said:

Hello there, this project looks intriguing, especially since this show is rather dull and repetitive upon rewatch due to the issues discussed above.
How far along are you in the editing process? I very much look forward to t.

Thanks! I’m still only in the first couple hours of material. I finished ~50% of the first film, but then went back to edit TCW Bad Batch episodes first which I’m about 50% through as well. I started dabbling in this a few days ago, but looks like I’m gonna put in another couple weeks on Mandalorian first before coming back to this. Hoping to still have this ready to watch before The Bad Batch Season 2 in January though.

GFiMontis said:

I’d LOVE to watch this Trilogy!

For sure, I sent a DM. Hope you enjoy!

clever-napkin said:

Could I have the links to all three edits, please? This sounds amazing.

Sent, hope you enjoy!

tangelo1023 said:

That’s a terrific idea Acbagel.

Making the prison heist a second act without Grogu turns his eventual rescue a lot more powerful. One thing I would do in this case is take some of those episode 3 scenes where Mando is noticing the absence of Grogu on the ship and pepper them throughout the second act. That way, the audience feels like Grogu is somewhere in the back of Mando’s mind and that it’s weighing down on him. This can also lend a different shade to the betrayal by the heist crew. Somewhere, Mando feels like he has no true “tribe,” for a lack of a better word.

Yes, definitely looking for ways to keep Grogu’s absence noticable when I can in the downtime.

EddieDean said:

Is there a clean way to imply that the prison break job is a regular guild affair?

Yes! That was pretty easy to pull off actually. So an update where I’m at on this idea:

1. I removed the flashbacks from the armorer scenes. I have some good transitions going now, like the over the shoulder pauldron shot in the ship that you suggested, plus my new breastplate transition is smooth as well.
2. Added the extended walking before the mudhorn, needed a new soundtrack there as well.
3. When Grogu is wanting to heal Din at night I tossed some new music in there as well to make it more of an emotional experience instead of an annoyance since I need to soon stress how Din will regret giving Grogu away for a longer period of time.
4. I’ve got the scenes good to go for when Din talks to Karga and gets the job, as well as when he leaves Nevarro and heads to the prison break job alone.
5. I’ve worked through the first half of the prison break episode to get it making sense in our new story order. All is looking good so far. I hit a hiccup regarding how the droid gang member dies. It’s very tied into Grogu, so I’m trying to figure out a good flow of how I can have Din still destroy him without Grogu being present at all. It works because Din already hates droids, the whole gang betrayed him, so it’s easy to have Din blow up that droid immediately with no regrets or hesitation. My struggle is more getting the shots to sync up to make it happen. I haven’t spent a ton of time there yet so I’ll update when I get to it.
6. Still need to work on the destroyed carrier shot as I believe I’ll need to re-cut a good amount there to enhance it enough to make it work as a motivating factor to save Grogu.
7. Also still need to play around with moving wetlands storyline into Book 2. I agree it’s something I’ll need to do, just haven’t gotten there yet.

Overall, this is defintely on track to pan out if I can nail these final (most important) scenes.

Darth Sadifous said:

So I was eager to watch “Book Five” the most as the “present day” parts of The Book of Boba Fett is where I had the most issues with any disney plus series so far. Your fan edit is outstanding; I almost do to feel like I am watching the same content that was originally presented.

I loved how you restructured and repurposed some of the scenes throughout this chapter. You made the “mod squad” not eyeroll inducing and actually presented them as competant scouts in service of Boba’s interest. Another strength of the edit is how Boba starts out as already a sort of feudal lord respected by the townfolk and questioning whether he has choosen the right path by from transitioning from a Bounty Hunter to protector/crime boss from the very beginning. Boba is now assertive and a solid leader instead of being a dumbfounded fish out of water in his own series.

I also enjoyed how you removed some of the slapstick humor I did not think fit in a series about the most badass Bounty Hunter in the galaxy. Grogu not returning to Tatooine now was welcomed too and the Hutts were not missed at all. The intro of Black Krrsantan seemed so much more organic now and less convoluted, as well as all the Rancor material.Bravo! Great job; I cannot wait to watch the rest of the books in your series. May the force be with you!

Wow, thanks so much for taking the time to write out that feedback, Darth! That’s great to hear. I’m happy that all of the changes worked well with you, I’m very pleased with the transformation of Book 5 too! If you’re about to watch the rest of the series, it’s seeming probable that I’ll be updating Books 1/2 here in the next couple days with a few major storyline changes. Your call if you want to wait or just watch now as is!

EddieDean said:

Now, that’s interesting. I don’t think the wetlands planet would make a good ending - episode 3 would be strongest this way - BUT you could use the wetlands content as the Mando opening in your second movie. Boba’s with tuskens thinking he’s found his people, Mando’s with the wetlanders wondering if he can find peace. Boba’s tusken family is killed, Mando gets tracked and has to leave his wetlanders. That segues nicely into Mando being pursued by the bounty hunter onto Tattooine, before the Fennec storyline overlap. Gives us a bit of a break from too much Boba/desert too.

It would also nicely set up movie 2’s conclusion - an opportunity to finally stop being pursued, which we’ve now seen happen to him heavily emphasised in one movie.

I truly hate that you’re right about this haha. It all does make a lot of sense narratively on paper at least… The idea just smacked me while reading the back and forths above and now I can’t get it out of my head as a superior structure. Someone please persuade me otherwise! I feel I am doomed to try this out now.

Edit:

Ah but wait! This means you wouldn’t be able to use wetlands to close out the flashback content. Ach!

True. However, I was thinking perhaps I’d start to bring the flashbacks into play when Din sees Grogu’s carrier in the trash (the event that now changes him as a man). He looks at that destroyed carrier and remembers himself as a helpless kid until someone had to come and rescue him too. A Mandalorian had to rescue him.

Absolutely fantastic suggestions, Eddie and tangelo! I’m pretty sold on this whole flashback idea now, and just reopened the dreaded project files to begin tinkereing again. I think I need to render another version of Book 1 anyway because I noticed that despite saying this:

Acbagel said:

Book 1 Final Changes:

• Extended one more context scene before the mudhorn battle. The reason they have to enter this territory on the way back is because Din is not riding his mount like he did on the way here, so they have to take a different path back. This explains why Kuuil said the mount is necessary, because presumably you should be jumping over all those valleys that the dangerous wildlife resides in.

I actually forgot to make this change… I meant to swap around some of the walking footage and never did so. Plus on the one scene’s music transition that tangelo pointed out, I did indeed have the soundtrack fading the wrong direction which led to the harsher music change.

tangelo1023 said:

The first half deals with Mando finding Grogu and having a crisis of conscience. It sets up the main emotional arc of the show beautifully, even ending with the first instance of Mando handing the ship part to Grogu. The second half feels like a transition chapter with Mando’s helmet and his sense of identity being discussed. It also deepens the Mando-Grogu relationship, ending with the second instance of Mando handing the ship part to Grogu. … He’s a cipher that slowly gets filled in as the film goes on

Hang with me here as I suggest something… radical. Your discussions above have my brain working overtime on a crazy idea to merely reconstruct half the movie.

What if Din didn’t go back for Grogu immediately after delivering him on Nevarro? What if we see Din struggle internally there when he is about to leave, but he actually does take off and fly right to the prison break job solo? The story beats are now this:

1. Keep same intro, Din starts as a mysterious Mandalorian bounty hunter.
2. First 50 minutes are exactly the same aside from taking out the early flashback sequence.
3. Din has turned in Grogu, goes to get his new list of jobs, and right at the 58 minute mark he hesitates, but DOES fly away.
4. Play out the prison break sequence, edited to be a solo job. Grogu is only in a few minutes of this episode anyhow, and there aren’t any revelations here that aren’t covered elsewhere in the series. Would remove ~5 minutes of this prison break sequence since some scenes refer to Din’s betraying the guild. We are starting to get into his helmet/identity crisis discussions here based on the crew banter.
5. He completes the job, returns to Nevarro, is heading back to collect payment but then sees Grogu’s carrier in the trash. This is now the moment that changes Din.
6. Din has changed, he saves Grogu, flies off to find refuge and we get a shortened wetlands world that concludes the film.

Thoughts? The goal here would be to lessen the feeling of two separate story sequences joined by an interlude, transforming it all into a more cohesive tale of Din’s transformation as a person. Since we would end the film with him rescuing Grogu, it’s now a more defined character journey.

Sent to everyone above & all films are now officially released! Post here or DM me if interested.

EddieDean said:

Just watched your first movie (v3) and absolutely loved it. The opening half in particular is fantastic, with the worldbuilding being extremely strong in terms of the way the user is fed information. The narrative really works, it’s gripping, and it flows really well. I enjoyed this so much I’m going to watch through the corresponding original episodes, in order to challenge it as deeply as I can and give detailed feedback. I’ll do that for all five movies, if you’re interested.

Wow, thanks, thank would be incredible. When I say the films are “final”, I don’t mean to infer I’m never going to update them again or that they are beyond critique/improvements. I only mean that I consider them to be in a final presentable state now where everything should work and flow and be free of bugs. Certainly could have missed things or find need for additional changes, or if someone suggests something brilliant I might try to integrate etc.

But for now, key points:

• I completely agree with your approach. This edit attempts to preserve as much content as possible, which does mean that they’re not quite structured as modern hollywood movies are, so they feel a little more like very long (but well-paced and narratively satisfying) episodes in a series. To me, that’s completely welcome and exactly how I’d do it.
• I think the parts you did cut were exactly right. Extended opening, Jawas, wetlands planet fight, many trims. While it did slightly feel like a ‘series of events’ in the second half, it hung together, and again, it’s totally worth it from my perspective. This is definitive for me.

Glad a lot of this landed well. As I’ve mentioned before on this project, the goal wasn’t necessarily to make traditional movies out of the show, but to simply tell a well-paced story with sensible decisions and character arcs intact. I’m actually glad it retains that “TV show pacing” more than feeling like a standard hollywood film structure. Long form comics and novels are my go-to inspiration, so if we get that sort of drawn out pacing while still moving the main story forward rather than feeling like pointless filler episodes, that’s nailing exactly what I was attempting with the re-edit.

• I think you could get away with cutting a bit more from the wetlands planet, keeping it even tighter on the idea that they attempt to settle (emphasising wannebe-girlfriend and Yoda with the kids) but then realise they’re going to get pursued, forcing them to take the prison break job which concludes the movie. Gina Carrano’s character we know isn’t going to be major to Mando, so she can be pretty heavily minimised - you might even be able to cut the fist fight with her, perhaps going straight from ‘who’s she?’ to their conversation, via some transition or intermediate scene.

Did you find yourself wanting this planet to go by faster? Was it dragging on too long to where it was boring/not developing a character enough? There were a few extra things I could have cut out like you mentioned, but as it was already the shortest “act” in the film, I tried to keep as much as possible that wasn’t directly related to the village defense.

• I had another idea for this section, though I’m not sure how this’d work technically. As I mentioned earlier, your flow of information to the viewer was great - but you could possibly get the flashbacks to Mando as a kid to happen as part of the conversation with the wetlands wannabe-girlfriend character, at the point where she inquires. It would make the wetlands planet a bit more purposeful as a carrier of more worldbuilding. That said, those scenes are quite technically intercut with the forging scenes, so I don’t know quite how easily extracted they can be. (You possibly don’t need to have both forging scenes play out in full either - maybe just a hammer blow for the pauldron, then the full scene later for the full suit.)

I actually really, really like this idea. As you said though, the technical aspects might really restrict the delivery here since the flashbacks are so interwoven into the armor construction scene with clangs and white flashes. However, I could potentially re-cut up the final flashbacks from S01E08 (07?) where Mando tells the full story since those are presented as a whole rather than snippets. But I do love the idea of giving the wetlands world a bit more purpose with that character backstory. Note taken and it’s worth experimenting on.

• I thought it might be nice to have something immediately before the wetlands planet, and between the wetlands planet and the prison break, to pace those transitions, allow time to pass, and show what’s going on with their pursuers/the galaxy. Ideally that second one would be a little more of Greef, or the Imperials, if such content exists. But failing that, before wetlands it could be the Kuiil recovering IG scene, and perhaps the IG repair between wetlands/prison break.

Another good idea I think, however there is a surprising lack of content without Din in Season 1. The only options of “other stuff going on” scenes are the IG repair like you mentioned (which I already did repurpose as a “passage of time” sequence for Din traveling back to Nevarro) and the wetlands village getting wrecked by raiders. So unless I want to show that whole village getting massacred immediately after Din leaves… Haha, that would be freakin dark. I don’t see any other options for content unless there’s something I’m forgetting in Season 2 I could bring back here for.

• I slightly missed the conclusion to the prison break - perhaps a post-credits scene showing the imprisoned teammates would be suitable?

I liked to cut that jail scene of the teammates for 2 reasons.

1. It leaves their fate ambiguous. Did Din kill them, knock them out, lock them up? We don’t fully know what kind of person Din is yet, and I think the mystery benefits his persona at this time.
2. With that mysetery intact, it is much more of a surprise when we see Mayfeld brought back into the story later on in the series. With that jail scene included, you definitely have an expectation that all of them will return. But now it’s more of a shocker to learn that Din didn’t kill Mayfeld (and others, presumably).

Thanks for the comment, that is great content!

Grab yourself a cup of caf, kick back, and check out the Premiere Trailer for Star Wars: The Way of Mandalore.

Stay tuned until the end for a surprise! May the Way be with you-, er… This is the force-, uh… Just enjoy 😉

Peonthegrate said:

Does book 5 also have the previous additions mentioned earlier in the thread like the reintroduction scene of the mods and such?

Yes, everything mentioned in this post is also included which is why the final changes were so short.

I actually am upscaling all of these films to 4k as well unlike that post states, so it’ll now be the best quality footage I can muster up.

EddieDean said:

What runtimes are we ending up with here?

Good question. Each film fluctuated by 1-5 minutes, so we’ve landed at:

Book 1 - 2 hours 11 minutes
Book 2 - 1 hour 50 minutes
Book 3 - 2 hours 29 minutes
Book 4 - 2 hours 26 minutes
Book 5 - 2 hours 24 minutes

Book 5 Final changes:
(This one was already pretty much good to go since I had already rendered the most versions of it previously and was working on it most recently. Mostly just needed the presentation brought up to speed.)

• Added Intro cards
• Fixed a couple transitions
• Increased the speed in which Boba kills Cad Bane
• Unified Credits presentation

And with that, we are in the final stretch. I’ll be dropping a planned release date announcement tomorrow…

Book 4 Final Changes:

• Added Intro Cards
• Added new opening soundtrack
• Increased the speed in which Din and crew are ambushed in Imperial base
• Adjusted some audio transitions
• Cut a tie pilot shot earlier because you could see his thumb press the fire button when he isn’t firing in the next shot
• Fixed a color correction bug
• Unified Credits presentation

Book 3 Final Changes:

• Added Intro Cards
• Flipped direction of travel of opening scene. The original felt unnatural.
• Extended an early shot of Grogu looking at Dune’s credit stack. The previous version cut away too fast and seemed like an oversight on my end.
• Added a new shot of IG-11 pouring drinks to give Din a more reasonable amount of time to lower his blaster since that happens off screen.
• Fixed an audio volume dip on a transition
• Altered the Herzog death to be just slightly less visually abrupt but increased the intensity of the sound effects. We now hear the glass shatter and he is killed immediately after.
• Extended a shot of Gideon in the standoff and extended Kuiils death soundtrack.
• Fixed a couple small audio transitions
• Changed a transition shot for the flamethrower entry
• Re-made the soundtrack for Grogu stopping the flames
• Re-organized the back and forth with Din and IG-11 during the healing scene. Added Din saying “I swore the creed”.
• Added in ~3 minutes of Din and Cobb staying with the Tuskens overnight and scouting the Krayt Dragon. I had originally cut this scene for pacing, but upon rewatching it seemed odd that Din and Cobb went out to scout, met the Tuskens, and drove right back without ever actually scouting. I have heavily cut up and transformed this new 3 minute segment so it accomplishes just what we need in building tension and accomplishing their original goal without wrecking the pacing.
• Unified Credits presentation with other films

Congratulations on your release. The work that’s been put into this is extremely inspiring and I look forward to binging everything when I get time