Acbagel

beachedwhale said:

Have just finished another Star Wars rewatch including your fan edits and it never gets old seeing the back and forth with Din and Boba!

For some reason Boba taking the shot against Din on the speeder sticks with me the most, it adds further context to why he plans ahead with the Grogu hostage situation after seeing him in action, such a minor addition but I love it.

Unfortunately I do not have any criticisms or prompts to assist with, I’ve been following this thread for so long and like the others am really eager to see how it all caps off, it’s fair to say everybody has opinions on S3 with the lack of Boba and Grogu jumping back in.

That’s wonderful, glad you had a good time with the series! I look forward to showing you the conclusion soon.

Appreciate it is the wrong thread, but can I please get links to your sequel trilogy? Been having a read through and I am pretty keen.

Haha sure I’ll DM you!

In the meantime keep up the amazing work and I will continue to watch your career with great interest!

Thanks! I didn’t get much editing time this week as I had to travel out of state for work, but I got one new scene done that required an extensive audio rebuild.

Having a little bit of a narrative challenge with how freaking fast the clans leave Nevarro to Mandalore. No time to breathe at all… Two total scenes from the time they land on Nevarro to when they leave, it’s not fun to work with. The difficulty is with placing the Grogu-IG walker scene, since I have their reunion so much later it’s just tough to fit that in. Working on moving some stuff around but there just isn’t a lot of content here to deal with.

Sent! I haven’t worked on these edits in a couple of years, but they are moved into a new folder with easy access for anyone still interested in watching. So feel free to keep asking for them! I would like to go back through these at some point in the future for updates, but it will be a while.

I just watched the first film of Smudger’s series here and I have to say, for what you set out to do (Season to movie adaptation), this edit was seriously done perfectly. I don’t think there is any way to break down this whole season into a better movie than how you did it. From the editing tricks to making the storyline make perfect sense from start to finish, to the added worldbuilding through Echo’s flashback, indistinguishable small uses of AI lines, and more, I was never left confused about the overall structure of the plot.

Technically, the edit is in a near-perfect state as well. No distractions from soundtrack changes, the quality was great, and I didn’t see any visual bugs. The only tiny thing was I thought some of the added wipe transitions were a little fast, the one that stood out the most was when they’re traveling back from the snow world in the opening scenes, I believe the original was a slow fade to black but here it was changed to a quick wipe. I think I noticed a couple of times where the transitions were altered and the wipes flew by too quickly, but this was quite minor overall.

If you are looking to consume a season of the Bad Batch in one sitting, this is absolutely 100% the best way possible to do it. You don’t need an episode guide flow chart, or timestamps to skip to the ends of certain episodes when the main plot moves, just watch Smudger’s edits! You will get the series’ core storyline in the best presentation possible.

While I do think that this is a 10/10 for accomplishing a quality Season-to-movie goal, I do have to point out that there are some inescapable narrative challenges with such a format. Particularly in the development of relationships between characters, there is just no possible way to show their bond grow over time when considering the need to tell this story in ~3 hours max. Omega’s relationship with the Batch did not initially feel like a natural growth, as obviously, Smudger has to cut a large number of side adventures in order to preserve this single movie format. I could definitely tell as a viewer that I was missing something because Omega bonded with certain members of the Batch way too quickly and it felt like I had missed the reason why. For example, since we primarily jump from Episode 1 almost immediately to Episode 8, we’ve missed about 2 hours of stories where Omega connects with certain members of the Batch through these side adventures (and yes, many of these filler episodes are indeed boring and do not impact the events of the main storyline whatsoever, but they do serve to pace out the bond formed between characters as each episode does usually contain a moment or two of growth). So when we jump through half a season, Omega suddenly out of nowhere shows extreme care and concern for Wrecker when he is getting his chip removed and calls him “My friend”, even though they have not shared any character moments together and appear like strangers to a new viewer. This is again noticeable when Omega says to Wrecker, “Can you show me how to arm this kind?” as she points to an explosive, referring to a previous episode where Wrecker and Omega go through a trial in disarming a bomb together, but since it’s a filler episode that was cut and we don’t see it in this movie, this character moment is lost but as a viewer I can still tell she was referencing something I never saw. Again, this isn’t Smudger’s fault, it’s an impossible challenge to solve in a Season-to-movie format, but for people watching TBB the first time through this edit, you should be aware that characters do have quite a bit of bonding that occurs outside the main storyline that you won’t be able to see. I noticed similar trends with the pacing of which Crosshair searches for TBB as well, but these missing character moments were the only storyline distraction as the actual events of the main plot work perfectly in the way you’ve structured it.

With that said, I do again want to stress this is seriously a 10/10 edit for the goal it tries to accomplish. You cannot edit a season into a better movie than how Smudger has done it, so for anyone looking for a single sit-down TBB experience, or wanting a refresher before watching Season 3, this is 100% the perfect edit for you. Thanks, Smudger, for all the hard work! It was perfect for what I needed as a recap as I tried to catch up on this show.

Wish they’d just adapt the Dawn of the Jedi novel/comics from the EU. I really want to see Disney Star Wars attempt a genuine and faithful EU adaptation to live action, and the Old Republic/Dawn era is a perfect place to experiment with this.

Darth Sadifous said:

Seems you are hard at work and have a roadmap laid out for the final book at least until the Mandalorian movie comes out now in 2026. I am eager to see the conclusion as Season Three of this show combine with the Book of Boba Fett are the original source material I had the most issue with like many others. The prolonged Grogu/ Din reunion and Boba Fett being semi involved in the final season of The Mandalorian will definetly make this my go to version for rewatches. Also a dedication to Carl Weathers at the end would be a nice touch!

Thanks, excited to share this film with everyone sometime this spring! Just finished rotoscoping Grogu out of the final Nevarro scenes as I have the reuniting occurring between the fleet landing on Nevarro and before they leave for Mandalore. I am working on another The Way of Mandalore project on the side too… Will announce that soon.

But yeah, cool that the Mando-Grogu movie (I really hope that doesn’t end up being the actual title…) has a release date! I think that will be easier to make a fitting fan-edit of for this series compared to the TV show. Or maybe it’ll be so good on its own that it won’t even need an edit 😃

Do you take any stock in the fact that Giancarlo Esposito recently floated his idea to return again as the clean shaven Gideon who met his demise is a clone theory. I’d rather him stay dead at this point. It is like if they had brought back Captain Phasma for TRoS. I think we would be entering into the “you killed Kenny” territory.

Oh boy… I think the writers intentionally left it open for future options as they didn’t know during filming how Season 4 vs the Mando-Grogu movie was going to pan out. They left it open to bring Gideon back or just leave him dead, but I absolutely hope he is dead and gone. Quite fatigued of people dying but not really in recent star wars. His character arc was trashed enough in season 3 so I don’t know what other intrigue the character brings. Certainly, there are better options for new antagonists.

Hey Smudger, would love to watch these when you get a chance. Haven’t seen Season 3 yet but want to binge before the end, and could definitely use a refresher on previous content. This seems perfect for that!

Tobar said:

Acbagel said:

Grievous on Dathomir killing Nightsisters…?? Son of Dathomir adaptation perhaps?

This looks to be a retelling of the battle in Massacre from Elsbeth’s perspective. I don’t think this has anything to do with Son but I still hold out hope that we’ll see that and Dark Disciple adapted as miniseries some day.

Ahh, you may be right… Man, would’ve been a great time to make DD or SoD. Hope to see those brought to life one day.

Grievous on Dathomir killing Nightsisters…?? Son of Dathomir adaptation perhaps? I am intrigued by that and the Bariss storyline. The Elsbeth background storyline, not so much. Thought she was really wasted in Ahsoka, and I don’t think delving into her family history and revenge storyline is going to make me care about her any more.

Overall, this is a nice surprise of a show to be added. I am shocked it was kept under wraps so well! I like the idea of these anthology animations covering the different factions. A lot of potential there. Tales of the Old Republic someday…?

Just a brief production update. Been mainly working on getting the Boba voice model (have a special guest helping with this) and creating a few scene edits with his new lines, and almost done rotoscoping Grogu out of the rest of Plazir-15. Have 3 more scenes to do of that, and then I’ll be moving on to the final assault on Mandalore (which is 1+ hours of content to work through). I am currently trying to place Boba’s storyline against the Hutts around this too, so still a lot of organizing and individual scene edits to make, but progress is going well.

Darth Sadifous said:

vranir said:

Very good.

I’m not sure about the back shot of BoKatan right before he asks if it should be hers. Otherwise, the pacing of the lines with the visuals is great.

I agree. It really comes together when you see it paired with the visuals. However, I did think the backshot of Bo stood out slightly, but it is not a hill I would die on. Overall, you making Book of Boba Fett and Mando season three worth watching is truly…wizard!

Agreed, it’s a little bit jarring! I’ll find a substitute.

g00b said:

Speaking as someone who thinks season 3 of Mando completely dropped the ball. I don’t think you’ve strayed too far from the intentions of the show.

Inserting more of the Mandalorian culture is completely in line with the shows intentions. This season in particular became the season to explore what it means to be Mandalorian. Must they be from Mandalore? Must they fight? Are they a family? Is it about strength, an army, or connection? I think these questions are all explored with the original and are brought out to a much better extent with the changes you’re implementing.

I think what we see in season 3 is a rush to the finish, tapping into ideas but not fully exploring them and that leads us to rushed conclusions. E.g., Din gives the darksaber to Bo because of a technicality and she needed it to recruit her old Mandos. Whereas in your take, the darksaber is returned to Bo because she is the one designed to reunite the Mandalorians. Your take also feels more true to the overarching story of Bo Katarn AND Din. Also having Din tell this story in the critical moment enhances his character and motivations rather then dismissing them as I feel the original did.

I think the difference between the two comes through the exploration of myth (both through your armour scenes and this one) and the commitment to character arks. Your changes keep the essence of the story but enhance character, lore and story telling.

So no, I don’t think you’ve strayed far from the original at all! You’ve clearly got a passion for these changes. I’d trust that instinct and keep pushing your ideas forward!

Thanks for all the feedback. It’s a fine line to balance between trying to improve on some of the original ideas and rewriting it into something that’s no longer even the story. I want to stick close to improving while making changes that make sense.

vranir said:

If anything, I’d like to hear Din say “I was taught… but…” in this monologue, maybe in reference to the mask of Mandalore.

I’m not sure I’m fully tracking on this suggestion. Can you expand on your idea a little bit more?

g00b said:

I think the new lines work VERY well. I don’t think you should cut anything. I honestly don’t mind Din talking for a while here. With all the tension that builds up at the Season 2 Mando finale, we need a strong reason why Din and Bo don’t fight each other and I think this monologue works to explain that on a few levels.

Firstly, this monologue is a fight (both with Bo and the wider Mandalorians), so to cut it down makes the ‘fight’ easier.

Thanks for the feedback! Love the analogy of this moment being akin to a real fight, similar to how Bo-Katan just had to duel Axe Woves physically, now Din has to come in and duel him mentally. I have also sprinkled in lines throughout this film and the last one about how Din doesn’t want to fight Bo, just like at the end of Season 2. He stays consistent on this matter and has been trying to prove his point for some time, so this is the final culmination. He deserves a spotlight here.

Secondly, it helps build Din’s character. He’s no longer just traveling the galaxy solo bounty hunting. He’s lost Grogu by reuniting him with his perceived ‘family’ of the Jedi. He’s now looking to reconcile the Mandalorian’s to fill the void of not having Grogu as his family. Because of this, he’s now willing to lay down his weapons in pursuit of unity and I think this speech conveys that strongly. He wasn’t willing to do this before with Paz Vizsla but he is now. This is development that he completely missed out on in the original season 3 (although, it seems to be what they originally intended for him).

Absolutely! Great take on his characterization and growth. I think that comes across in this new speech.

I think your v2 attempt covers everything we need functionally for the story to work AND develops Din further. I think it’s awesome and you should keep it as is 😃

I am planning to cut just the two indicated lines, mostly for the sake of putting it to visuals, I don’t have infinite source footage to pull from. I have a first draft below of this new scene.

Darth Sadifous said:

I think it sounds pretty good, but reserve judgment until seeing it with visuals which I know you say is coming. Din does sound like he has slipped an ambien sometimes, but I just think that is how his character comes across especially with a modulated voice. I think it is just more apparent in this monologue because normally he is a man of few words so such a long speech may take a little getting use to.

Wish AI could be given some prompt to put more inflection into the voice based on mood. However, I am still in awe of how far the tech has come in just a year. Really looking forward to this final book. Thanks for putting in all the hard work acbagel.

Haha, yeah Din is popping xannys on the regular for sure. So I found the longest Din monologue from the D+ show and want to show this for comparison before you watch the demo scene. This is his speech to Bo-Katan on Mandalore, a good 40 seconds of straight dialogue. Listen to this delivery first.

And then compare it to my newly drafted scene with AI + video.

I think the performances are quite close, and definitely at least believable. Maybe not a knock-it-out-of-the-park delivery from AI-Pedro, but compare it to the original show’s 18 second “speech” of You defeated that robot 5 episodes ago so here’s your darksaber, sorry for hogging it for so long… I know that as a fan of the show, I 100% would’ve preferred a slightly flatter performance that delivers the story well compared to a tad more emotional but nonsensical and disappointing explanation for the Darksaber being passed off.

Agree? Disagree? Are these worthwhile changes or straying too far from the intentions of the show?

vranir said:

It seems a little long to me. It may be better with the visuals.

As far as how it sounds, the only line that struck me as really awkward was the words “for Mandalore” after “leader’s vision.” You could probably even just cut out those two words without losing any meaning.

I think it’s running a little bit too long as well. The video is not done yet because, like the Ugnaught preview above, the original takes have Bo-Katan’s head placements all over the screen and are inconsistent between cuts, gotta fix it first and sync everything with the selected dialogue.

What if I cut the segment around the part that sounded awkward?

“The Darksaber, much like the Mask of Mand’alor, is more than mere tradition. It’s a symbol, a beacon of leadership and unity. Mandalore was not lost because this weapon was accepted as a gift. Our downfall was due to our divisions… our ceaseless conflicts among ourselves. It’s not about the method of acquisition. It’s about belief… Belief in our leader’s vision for Mandalore. We stand here not as adversaries, not as foreigners, but as kin, bound by the soil of our homeworld. If the Darksaber truly is a symbol of our unity, then it should be a gift, passed from one Mandalorian to another. You have fought for Mandalore… bled for it. Your dedication to our people, to our home… You deserve to lead us. If this blade is to be wielded by the leader we believe in most, then I ask you all… Would it not belong to her? Would it not belong to her?”

That still plays well with the story and removes some perhaps unnecessary talking. I’ve listened to A LOT of Din lines over the last year of editing, and I’m pretty confident in how this model is delivering his lines. A few could be touched up but it’s pretty damn close, and I’d say indistinguishable on parts.

Here is a v2 attempt at making an emotional Din voice model for the Darksaber scene.

“The darksaber, much like the mask of Mand’alor, is more than mere tradition. It’s a symbol, a beacon of leadership and unity. Mandalore was not lost because this weapon was accepted as a gift. Our downfall was due to our divisions, our ceaseless conflicts among ourselves. It’s not about the method of acquisition. It’s about belief… Belief in our leader’s vision for Mandalore. We stand here not as adversaries, not as foreigners, but as kin, bound by the soil of our homeworld. If the Darksaber truly is a symbol of our unity, then it should be a gift, passed from one Mandalorian to another. You have fought for Mandalore, bled for it. Your dedication to our people, to our home… You deserve to lead us. If this blade is to be wielded by the leader we believe in most, then I ask you all… Would it not belong to her? Would it not belong to her?”

I think this one is a marked improvement over the first attempt, maybe a few lines in there that could be replaced, but what do you guys think? How do you compare it to Din’s original explanation/delivery?

Patali said:

I like the writing, both yours and Dimitirios versions, but… this would probably be the biggest monologue Din has had in the series, right? To me, that is too much weight to give to AI, it will come off flat compared to what the moment should be. I think it has to be a lot shorter unfortunately. Narrow it down to 3 or 5 of the best lines yall can come up with. Thats just my opinion.

(I think the AI did good on that line “It’s about what you stand for Bo Katan”. Which is funny because it does it with a less serious voice than the rest of the monologue, but yet that managed to sound more natural as a result. Not saying that should be one of the lines, but js it did sound good imo).

Edit: Just to be clear, the idea of Din standing up and making these decisions for his people, and having a big monologue, I think is cool and great development for him. But I just doubt these AI models will be able to pull off the weight that is required for ab extensive monologue, for what should be one of his biggest character development moments.

I watched a video of Gary Oldman recently talking about Chris Nolan. And he said while they were filming a scene in batman, after one of the takes Nolan gave him one piece of direction which was “There’s more at stake.” And that was all Oldman needed to turn the notch up on the emotion and the weight needed for the scene. I feel like that’s what I want to tell this AI lol

Yes, this would be one of the longest speaking sections for Din, so perhaps it’s just too out of character for him to deliver a speech in the first place? Though compare this test to the original scene. I don’t know if I’d call that “emotion” in the first place, I guess you can say he projects his voice out like yelling more, but it’s so short and still quite monotone. I wish I could replicate a mixture of this in my model though, I think just that extra oomf in the delivery would make the difference. But here’s the script of the original scene:

BK: It’s not a gift to be given, no matter how well intended.

DD: It’s not a gift. While exploring Mandalore, I was captured, and this blade was taken from me. Bo Katan rescued me and slayed my captor. She defeated the enemy that defeated me. Would this blade then not belong to her? Would it not belong to her?

AW: It would.

DD: I return this blade to its rightful owner.

Yikes! Not great… But if we want to keep a similar depiction of stoic but somewhat emotional Din, that’s all the time we have to work with. How do we devise a compromise here where we can still communicate a sensible story without needing Din to go out of character by talking too much?

TheDimitrios said:

How about this (needs more “pathos”, more about the general idea):

DD: Your people believe it is to be earned in combat, i know. But you did not loose Mandalore, because you accepted this weapon as a gift. You lost Mandalore because our tribes were splintered, caught in a cycle of fighting each other. Mandalorians have fought over beliefs, grudges and… this weapon. If the darksaber really is meant to be a symbol of our unity, we must not fight each other over it. It shall be a gift, given from one Mandalorian to another… one tribe to another… Because we are one people. Exiled from our home. Wouldnt it be our best chance to retake our home… together?

I think making the “rules” behind the darksaber a parallel to the Mandalorian infighting of the tribes has some potential. It also sets up the lesser importance of the weapon, making the unification of the tribes Bo Katans claim to fame.

I like some of the ideas in here, just gotta figure out a way to get the delivery to feel right now too. Season 3 had so many technicalities for plotlines that were barely discussed, and they even did it again with “Din Grogu” at the very end. So, so many conversations about bending the rules with barely a sentence or two to explain why it’s happening. Kind of frustrating.

edit:
As to the resolution of the Mandalore storyline. Since there is a good Armorer Model around, maybe a few scenic shots of Mandalore with a voiceover of her could do the trick? She could talk about how after the retaking of Mandalore and the destruction of the darksaber the tribes united in the belief in the Mythosaur and Bo Katan (who bears his symbol). It breaks the “show dont tell” rule, but since we have to work with what we got, it might be worth considering.

I really like this idea too, and there is room for it in some scenes during the final sequence. Maybe to even replace some of that “Din Grogu” technicality. Not to get rid of that name or anything, but they get all the way up to Grogu about to be baptized and then have a mini argument and bend another rule at the last second… Just a tiring trend so I’ll look at cleaning up that sequence with some Armorer lines too.

Patali said:

I think it sounds a lot more natural. Though your model for Din is not as strong as the one you have for the Armorer. But that’s less of a shot against your other models and more of a testament to how good her’s sounds, it’s really good. I imagine it’s something in the way the actress chose to deliver the Armoer’s lines, the AI is able to use that specific inflection more easily than the more general dialogue of someone like Din.

Agreed, I think many of the Armorer lines are nearly undetectable, but sometimes the Din model works and sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve tried a lot of different models for him, and I still can’t quite get it perfect (I have a new attempt below for you to check out though). Part of the challenge is how differently the character speaks in Season 1 v Season 3, Pedro really evolved the character’s performance over time, and once he started recording audio not on set it sounded different again. Sometimes Din speaks in an extremely monotone way, and sometimes he has emotional inflections slip in, but the models struggle to know when to do that naturally.

I like the mythosaur line. Only thing I noticed, idk how your subtitles for the in universe languages work, if its baked in or not. But it felt like I had to read that subtitle really quickly.

Oh, gotcha. Yeah, I can alter the timing of that and see if it helps.

TheDimitrios said:
A thought that crossed my mind: The normal Mandos have the belief in the darksaber, the CotW the belief in the Mythosaur, both indicating the true leader of Mandalore.
The darksaber gets destroyed, but Bo Katan still is accepted as a leader. Not knowing your exact plans, maybe it is possible to do something with this thematic connection to resolve the darksaber thing which was kinda brushed aside in the show?

You already established that belief in the Mythosaur is belief in Mandalore. So what if the normal Mandos kinda also make a step towards the beliefs of the CotW. Mandalore has been retaken despite the darksaber being destroyed, so apparently (in their eyes at least), it was not the signifier they thought it was, so they accept the Mythosaur as a representation of Mandalore and the justification for Bo Katans claim to leadership.

This way each side would move a little bit towards the other. The CotW are less dogmatic about the helmet thing and the normal Mandos take on a core bit of belief of the CotW, with both groups now having a newly established common ground they can build upon, giving the Mandalorians as a people some nice growth.

Hope this was not too convoluted.

I definitely agree that there should be a clearer communication of newfound unity between the various factions of Mandalorians that precedes their reclaiming of Mandalore. The difficult part is finding places where I can drop in new lines that sound believable and tell the right story. I still don’t comprehend how the D+ version did this, with the whole “She defeated the enemy who defeated me” nonsense, the confusion about the Armorer’s “She walks both worlds” lines, the destruction of the Darksaber having no impact on any of the characters/factions, etc. Something else needs to happen with all of this if we want a satisfying conclusion to many of the Mandalorian lore plot threads that were set up over the previous content.

So this is with a new Din AI model (all Din lines here are 100% AI), but the writing itself was done prior to some of the recent work I did on the other scenes, so I’ll probably rewrite some of this to be more in line with the ideas we’ve been discussing recently. I had only remade all of the audio, I haven’t put the visuals on this yet, so you’ll just have to listen and read along for now, but this was an idea to occur during the Din-to-Bo Darksaber handoff scene. Audio here!

Script:

AW: The ruler of Mandalore must possess the darksaber.

DD: Then she shall have it… This belongs to you.

BK: It’s not a gift to be given, no matter how well intended.

DD: The darksaber, much like the mask of Mand’alor, is more than mere tradition. It’s a symbol, a beacon for those who would lead. It’s not about the method of acquisition. It’s about belief… in true leadership. This darksaber, the mask of Mand’alor, they’ve guided us, yes, but they do not define us. We follow the one who leads, not because they hold a symbol, but because we believe in their vision for Mandalore. We stand here not as adversaries, but as kin, bound by the Creed and the soil of our homeworld. Mandalore thrives not under the rule of the mightiest warrior, but under the guidance of the one who unites. It’s not just about wielding the darksaber or wearing a mask. It’s about what you stand for, Bo-Katan. Your dedication to our people, to our home… You have fought for Mandalore, bled for it. If this blade is to be wielded by the leader that we believe in most, I ask you all… Would it not belong to her? Would it not belong to her?

AW: It would.

DD: Then I give you this blade and decree you, Mand’alor te Solus (Mand’alor the Unifier).

Some of that should be altered with our recent ideas, so… Dimitrios, you’re up 😉

Darth Sadifous said:

I liked the idea of Din’s exchange with Fennec, but will the final cut do more to mimic the actor’s lips when delievering new AI line? The reason I ask is because it is obvious in some places Fennec’s mouth is not moving when the new AI lines are delivered to Din.

Yes, when she says “We need help dealing with the Pykes,” it’s obviously too long of a line considering her mouth movements, so some of the lines will be tweaked to match the lip sync. Usually, when I work, I try to build the whole film from start-to-finish with the story in mind first, maybe making a few rough drafts of audio/visuals, then once I have everything story locked I go back scene by scene and try to work on the technical aspects. Since this last film is a lot more to deal with than the previous ones, and I am taking way more creative liberty to attempt to address some of the common criticisms with Season 3 material, it’s taking much longer to get a functional story in place before I even get to the technical aspects. There are still a number of scenes I need to roto out Grogu from too in this one.

TheDimitrios said:
Yeah, if I could reccomend, I think shortening some of Mando’s lines would make it more in line with his character and help with the model not sounding so stilted (“What. Is. This. Bag. Of. Credits. For.” or instead just “What’s this?”)
…
You’ll have to review the timing to let me know if these would work, but I think overall it would be an improvement. Din’s not the kind of guy who’s gonna fly there “hoping” to speak with Boba. He’s going to speak to Boba.

Okay, I like those suggestions. Try this!

vranir said:

I think fewer non-English lines from the Armorer when they are outside would help. She doesn’t often speak in the Mando language in other scenes.

Hmm, it’s only 2 lines over a 90-second scene. Which one of those sounded excessive? There is a lot more Mandalorian culture in this film, and I am planning on going back to integrate more Mando’a through the series too.

Otherwise, this is very good. I’m not a professional, but this sounds quite passable to me. I love that this pays off the small eye-contact interaction from the Mythosaur encounter that the vanilla show made very little of.

Thanks, lots of good community ideas helped! I’ll keep working on it and tinkering in the meantime.

TheDimitrios said:

The Armorer Convo is getting close.

The beginning of line regarding the fallen Forge being her grave is not clearly audible I think. (The first 2 or 3 words), but the conversation itself flows nicely now in my opinion.

Sweet, yeah the line reads themselves aren’t the goal yet, some sound good and can be used but some are just placeholders until I find the actual dialogue script writing to finalize and then I’ll generate 100 different takes until it makes a read that I like. I’ll wait for another review on the writing itself before trying to finish up all the audio quality.

With the Mando scene in Tattoine a few exchanges sound tonally disconnected. If you happen to have a script for that as a basis, I could toss some ideas around. 😃

Keep in mind that on this scene we are a bit more limited as some of the lines have to match Fennec’s mouth movements well enough to not cause a distraction. The show itself dubs over people on many occasions and not every viewer notices it as they try to disguise it, but it has to be done in a way that feels at least somewhat natural.

P: Well…How is it?

D: Purring like a Loth cat.

P: Oh, hey Grandpa…

D: I’m here on business.

P: Oh, are the Hutts back? You checking on Boba Fett?

D: Actually, I am looking for him.

P: Boring! Oh, by the way an old friend of yours dropped by. Said she was looking for you.

D: A friend of mine?

P: Don’t worry, I told her I didn’t know where you were then I locked her out and engaged The Hanger security system.

D: She tell you her name?

F: Fennec Shand!

P: I thought you said that the hanger security system was up? Don’t get away from me you come right back here…

D: Fennec Shand.

F: By any chance are you looking for work?

D: This is an unexpected surprise.

F: I was looking for you.

D: What is this bag of credits for?

F: A job offer. We need help dealing with the Pykes.

D: I was hoping to talk with Boba about Mandalore.

F: I’m sure he would consider it.

D: You can keep the credits. Tell him it’s on the house, but also tell him that I’m going to need a favor from him in return.

The Star Tours easteregg is not too obvious, had to listen to it twice to actually get it.

Perfect! That’s just how an easter egg should be placed.

Patali said:

I have not watched season 3, so some of that is going over my head, but on the other hand, having not watched it I think it gives me a good perspective.

Oh, interesting! That does give a very unique perspective for analysis here. Yeah, you might be confused by the discussion as you’re jumping into one of the final scenes from that movie here, but you’ll be a good judge of if it makes sense in a vacuum.

First off, assuming a lot or most of those Armorer lines are AI… they sound really good. And the dialogue itself from her I think sounds well written.

Yes, 100% AI there. I’ve rewritten some more in a draft #2 I’ll share below.

Bo Katan’s responses, I assume from the real show in a different context, something sounds a little off, it doesn’t quite sound like she is responding to what the Armorer is stating. There is a different emotional level, I can tell the context is different there. But to be honest, if I was just watching the movie I probably wouldn’t notice it much.

Yes, maybe it was a little bit off. I’ve tried to use Dimitrios’ suggested structure this time around which should hopefully make her reactions feel more natural.

TheDimitrios said:

I tried a few things here, primarily to gibe additional reasoning to the armorers decision to choose this moment to make a helmet exception
…

Thanks! Some of that isn’t totally possible to use in its entirety as I’m limited by the available timing between the real lines, but I’ve uploaded a new preview to combine some of your ideas with a little rewrite on my end as well. Let me know what you think! Bo-No-Helmet Demo 2

Also working on a Fennec AI model to help as well, so give me some feedback here if you don’t mind. Almost all of Din’s lines are generated as well. Fennec AI Model test

And finally, I’m trying to go all out to make this last film full of little legends references and really want to let some creativity shine here. So I have tossed in a bunch of fun easter eggs throughout, here’s just one example of something in the background soundtrack: Easer Eggs Galore

TheDimitrios said:

That was quick.

The dialogue still needs some tweaking, but overall I,think it works!

Yeah, I think as a proof of concept it has a lot of potential to fix the problems I had with this scene. I’ll just have to spend no less than 15 hours audio-mixing everything once I lock in the dialogue… But it could be worth it. Here’s the full written script if anyone wants to make edits to it:

"BK: You wished to see me?

A: This place was once the heart of our strength. Now it serves as a reminder of our vulnerability… You once sought to reclaim Mandalore from the clutches of our enemies.

BK: That dream has never died.

A: Our history is a tapestry of triumph and tragedy woven by the hands of leaders who understood the way. It is said that a true leader can endure the Gaze of a Mythosaur and emerge unscathed, their eyes reflecting the beast’s Spirit. You claim to have seen a Mythosaur. A claim as bold as it is rare… Prove it. Remove your helmet.

BK: But…?

A: If your eyes hold the truth then you shall lead us, but deceit will make this Fallen Forge your tomb. To claim such an encounter is to assert a connection to the very soul of Mandalore. It is to claim a right to leadership, to the guiding of our scattered people back to unity.

BK: This is the Way.

A: The punishment for deceit is not simply death, it is Scorn. The erasure of your name from our history and the declaration of your lineage as traitors to Mandalore.

BK: I understand.

A: Then look into my eyes and let me see the depth of your claim. Reveal Your Spirit to me here and now and face your destiny… Don’t show me your eyes, show me her spirit… You stand on a precipice, Bo-Katan. Show me now or everything you have ever bled for will be forgotten.

[Music, scene change]

A: Brothers and sisters! Mando’ade! Gather around, anade. Bo-Katan Kryze is going off to bring other Mandalorians in exile to us so that we may be one people again.

PV: But she shows her face…

A: The Mythosaur has fixed her gaze upon Bo-Katan. She has been chosen to walk both worlds. (The Spirit of the Mythosaur IS her helmet now.) (The burden of this responsibility has been placed on Bo-Katan’s back.) To liberate our people from the past… And to restore our future… So that our children will know the glory of the Way. (We shall return to Mandalore as one people!) We are going home.

Darth Sadifous said:

Look in my eyes, what do you see? A cult of…

Damnit… I knew I forgot something, I didn’t include the guitar riff in the background.

Sorry, I actually like this idea a lot and adds more weight to her taking the mythosaur pauldron as well. I too was not happy with the writing in season three with it feeling like the armorer (possible turncoat) was setting Bo up for failure, only to never pay off on that. I do question how the armorer knows for sure if Bo saw the mythical creature or not by just looking into her eyes though. Overall though, I cannot wait to see what everything looks like polished. You are doing a great job; keep up the amazing work!

Great, thanks for your thoughts. I think it’s been shown that the Armorer has steeped herself in Mandalorian history to the point of being somewhat of an Oracle of the clan. They follow her every word as she keeps the Way perfectly, and mysticism has always existed with the people of Mandalore and their dedication to their homeworld. The Mythosaur itself is a being that is seemingly attuned to the ebb and flow of life/the force. It is a plausible idea that it can “imprint” upon someone in a way that such an Oracle could “see”. Or maybe it is all total bullshit and the Mandalorian clan is indeed just a cult, but that’s the fun of it all. That’s how most of the galaxy perceives Mandalorians in the first place.

I’ll keep working on other parts of the films while we sort through some edits here, but I think this is a worthwhile task overall.

Thanks for the discussion and ideas! I made a quick first draft of some dialogue based on the ideas above. Try not to get distracted by the lack of audio mixing/soundtrack and background noise balancing/couple wonky ai generations, I don’t want to spend hours on all that only to need to change a bunch of it anyway, so focus solely on the writing of the lines themselves.

Does the writing itself hold up here and provide a sensible reason for why Bo-Katan is chosen to “wall both worlds”?

Scene Demo

NFBisms said:

Andor excluded of course, it’s so 70s right down to formally being the grimy thrillers Star Wars '77 would be analyzed as cultural antidote to. The writing is timeless, the mullets and moustaches, even the Niamos beachwear feel so in line with ANH’s time period. And don’t forget the junky analog tech! Machines are big and unwieldy; Dedra has to do what’s basically an archive search by asking an attendant to collect those files from giant tube computers. There are illegible glass interfaces of lines ala Yavin and Hoth, tons of tactile knobs and switches and buttons, etc. Modified AK-47s as the symbolic weapon of revolution circa the 70s is loaded imagery, just like the modified StGs and Mausers in the OT evoke WWII. I was hyped as hell when Cassian was sentenced to prison by a 70s credit card machine.

And it makes it thematic. Nemik has a whole right-to-repair bit about technology being lost or forgotten; one of the many ways Empire imposes its will is through centralized uniform technology, moving populace away from the different lines of communication and information they maybe once had access to. Seperatist projects like tactical droids with databases in their head, Techno Union touch screens, or Umbaran bubble fighters fall by the wayside in distinctly important ways. It’s great!

Stuff like that really puts us right back into the space A New Hope is in. Whereas, yeah, it feels like a lot of other Star Wars stuff recently just conceptualizes “Star Wars” as anything that’s been in the movies before. Fair game for inclusion at any point, regardless of its faux-historical context. Aside from looking like a very modern Disney+ show in lighting and costuming, I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t any real technological difference between High Republic and Mandalorian eras in Acolyte. I would have loved design that feels more historical than just “cool” for the characters.

Definitely agree here, those ISB meeting scenes had all the right acting demeanor for the cultural transition to 70s/80s Empire. The tech looked great, the locations were vast and alive, it didn’t look sterile and flat, the technology matched the era, etc. Absolutely phenomenol production. Aside from the lack of aliens, it’s interesting how the least “Star Wars” story looks and felt the most like Star Wars out of any live-action production we’ve seen so far.

I think some sporadic earlier episodes of The Mandalorian had the right vibes too, but it’s been something that the selected directors have consistently struggled with. Hope it gets identified and addressed soon!

screams in the void said:
…Even with older stuff like the look of the old republic games , I felt the tech and look could have been more unique to reflect those much older time periods , instead of showing ships and armor etc , that didn’t look much different at all from later time periods . What I would love to see is a show that goes much further back in time and has a look akin to the original Tales Of The Jedi comics as drawn by Chris Gossett . Now that would be unique .

For sure! I’d say out of any potential project, I want to see Disney try to very authentically adapt the Tales of the Jedi comics into a movie saga/show. Not remake them for modern audiences, but really, really try to adapt them in the style that they were originally created.

Community Request!

Just want to try something together here, so as I have a very solid Armorer AI model, I’ve been looking into altering her explanation of why Bo-Katan is suddenly allowed to remove her helmet. I found the original D+ reasoning to be quite unsatisfactory and left me feeling confused about the Armorer’s intentions, leading many viewers to think she was an Imperial spy/traitor. All that fizzled out though and it just happened to be poor writing. I want to change that!

Does anyone want to take a crack at rewriting the dialogue in that scene on Nevarro in the forge where Bo-Katan speaks with the Armorer? This originally occurs in S03E05 ~31-34 minutes. Bo-Katan really doesn’t get a chance for many lines here, so we have to work around her reactions and dialogue, but we have a great opportunity to rewrite the Armorer’s reasoning. If any of you are writers and want to try your hand here, I’d love to see it. If you aren’t comfortable writing a full word-for-word script, then feel free just to leave your overall thoughts on some improved reasoning.

This scene takes place at the end of my upcoming Book 5 edit, and I want it to really tie into Book 6 as well so we want to have a sensible plot thread going on. Feel free to ask questions about the upcoming story if it would help too. I have a drafted scene written already, but I want to compare it with some of what you all might have in your heads. Feel free to post here or DM me your scripts!

TheDimitrios said:

any chance at least the dark/night scenes of book 1 and 2 can be updated quality wise? The stuff in daylight is totally looking OK.

It has tempted me a few times to replace some of the source footage in the worst-looking scenes, Book 2 night Tatooine comes to mind… But it would take very long as I would need to remake every single cut from scratch and I haven’t had the passion to do that yet. I’ve commented on some of the quality faults on the early Books a few times on this thread already, but I’d like to continue working on the ongoing story for now.

Speaking of… Few more scene demos to share!

First, here is another chunk of the scene with Din and the Armorer that I shared last time. Again, not final, I am sharing after just a first pass on production, not after spending a ton of time audio mixing yet. Since we’ve been talking about Boba’s storyline placement, I wanted to share how we are going to end up on Tatooine in Book 6… Din gets a mission

Next, I wanted to share more of this scene because I’ve got a great conversation made where Din talks to the Ugnaughts about the Resol’nare… But I’m still busy trying to fix some Disney production errors here. Just look at how obvious of a flub this is. They’re using two different takes, or cut part of the scene and covered it up with a Din dub (kind of like I’m doing… 0_0) but the Ugnaught’s hand placements are all wrong and out of whack! I’m trying to fix it by altering shots and angles, but just wanted to share because yes, sometimes the errors come from fan editors, but most of the time we’re working with stuff like this that looks like WE made a bad cut but it’s just baked into the original source material and we’re doing what we can to actually fix it. Major props to all the overworked editors in the real film industry though, it’s brutal out there… Not always their fault. Investor timeline problems. Editing error example

And finally, at the risk of sharing one that’s not even ready to be shared as a demo in terms of overall quality yet… it’s got some cool ideas that I want to show. I absolutely despise the original English voice lines dubbed over the aliens in this scene (as well as the content of the original scene itself) so I’ve taken the liberty to completely alter everything about this. I’ve used voice lines ripped from The Old Republic video game for the aliens and restructured this whole storyline to keep Boba involved. The gist of it is, he defeats the Pykes, but the Hutts start pushing into his territory. Meanwhile, Boba is staying busy hiring the Mandalorian clans to take bounty contracts, so the Night Owl clan is working a job for Boba as Din and Bo-Katan are stuck on Plazir-15 dealing with the imperial plotline. I love the transition from the Quarren vessel to Boba’s palace as well, so I wanted to share some of these ideas. Boba-Plazir tie-in

RogueLeader said:

Acbagel said:

5.5/10 trailer for me. Feeling pretty neutral about the show in general, but remain a little bit intrigued. It didn’t match the tone of the poster though…? I don’t know, I’ve watched the trailer 5 full times and something felt a little off or shallow with the trailer itself, but it certainly wasn’t bad. For some reason, the lighting/presentation of the sets still doesn’t fit with the “feel” of a George Lucas set/lighting/background/costumes. I know they can’t really perfectly replicate it with the differing technology nowadays, but there has to be a way to resemble the grand scale of a Lucas set piece. Do the shots still feel… flat or like they’re missing something? Even with this, I am interested to learn more about the show and will follow with cautious optimism.

This is a great question. This is the kind of thought that makes me want to make a Star Wars fan film, even if it was more of a proof of concept film, that was just about trying to replicate that Lucas/Original Trilogy look. There may be fan films out there that do this but I feel like I’ve never seen it. Instead of things looking clean and modern, go for the aesthetic of an older era.

Since I watched this Acolyte trailer, I’ve actually been thinking a lot about how why most of the time Disney Star Wars doesn’t “feel” like Star Wars, and one thing that I concluded was that I think that the production teams are totally missing that the eras of in-universe Star Wars history need to match the real-life decades of which they were originally produced. For example, any OT Empire vs Rebels content should have a '70s-'80s feel in terms of dialect, speech patterns, hairstyles, and costumes, whereas your prequels era content should have a '90s-'00s vibe with all of those things. Everything Disney produces, no matter the placement in the Star Wars timeline, feels like the real-life present day with modern lingo and fashion. Star Wars culture evolved in universe in a different way than our world due to how George filmed the movies non-chronologically, but Disney has been completely unable to replicate that.

The High Republic should’ve tried to replicate like a 1920s America vibe, or since it appears to have a bit of Eastern influence and design perhaps a 10th-11th century Japan vibe, or just base it on some other era of the real world that gives this whole High Republic era in Star Wars a distinct feel rather than just another 2024 Hollywood replica. Instead, we get another Black male character with the modern-day “Killmonger cut”, and if you’ve read any of the other High Republic content it’s got multiple female characters (one black and one white) with the half-shaved head + combover hairstyle that modern Hollywood loves to depict “masculine” females with. These aren’t overall design choices that make The Acolyte and the High Republic era feel unique. I think without George, the Star Wars production teams have been missing the value of having the eras of Star Wars feel unique in and of themselves, as we now have Sequels content and OT content and High Republic content that all feel like ~2020 America.

TheDimitrios said:

It’s honestly not so much about what can be fixed and more that it feels disconnected as part of the Mando/Mandalore Story.

That disconnect would not feel like one if it was It’s own little thing.

Understood, and that’s something I am aiming to solve by placing it in Book 6. It will feel disconnected no matter what unless it leads directly to Gideon’s return in a sensible manner.

Patali said:
To me this sounds perfect. If the content can sustain it, a 2 hour and 45 minute epic film would be an awesome finisher. In truth, across Mando and Boba we have 3.5 to 4 seasons of content. Cutting that into 6 movies sounds great. Cutting into 7 or 8, I am starting to wonder why Im watching it instead of just the show.

I would watch it anyway because of your great structuring, I just think it has the potential to be so much stronger pared down into a big event film. 6 is perfect to me.

I think so too, that’s the plan! I’d love to get Book 5 updated out ASAP, but I am still working through some conversations in Book 6 that are altering some dialogue/scenes in Book 5 so I have to work ahead before I can finalize the events leading up to it.

Edit: Also I do have a question, bagel. I haven’t watched Ahsoka yet. But I am wondering your opinion. I commented before on stretching out that time of reuniting Grogu and Din as much as possible. How do you think it would work/feel to watch Ahsoka (lets say a movie cut of Ahsoka), after either your movie 4 of this series, then jumping back into your final 2 movies after that (or after movie 5)? I am just wondering if that might help the separation even better, add another movie of content (with a character reintroduced in your movie 4) to add even more spacing between Din and Grogu’s reunion.

That’s a good question, here’s how I understand the timeline to work… The showrunners vaguely wanted the timeline to occur over the course of the “real life” production timeline, ie Season 2 occurs ~1 year after Season 1. As I’ve merged a couple of shows together since their events overlap, certain scenes in TWoM are not directly chronological and some are. For example, Book 1 is a very chronological story that all takes place within the span of a few weeks. However, in Book 2, while Boba Fett seems to be escaping the Sarlacc and training with the Tuskens concurrently with Din’s travels to Sorgan with Grogu, that’s not the case chronologically. As “The Mandalorian” show itself takes place much later than when Boba escapes the Sarlacc in 4 ABY, some of Boba’s past events are simply shown next to Din’s scenes to symbolize the journey that he and Din went on individually before crossing paths chronologically. This type of thematic storytelling occurs again with Grogu’s training with Luke, so while we will see them training in Book 6, these are simply non-chronologically placed scenes that showcase a few instances of lessons Grogu had with Luke during the ~1.5 years he was on Ossus. So let’s glance at the overall structure and get Ahsoka into the mix, assuming we start TWoM on Year 1 Day 1:

• Book 1 - Year 1-1.1 (Din’s hunt for and subsequent rescue of Grogu occurs over the span of a few weeks)

• Book 2 - Year 1.1-1.25 (While Din and Grogu’s travels take place over the course of a few weeks/months, Boba’s early Tusken scenes take place years before meeting Din & Fennec on Tatooine which happens in the “present”)

• Book 3 - Year 2.1-2.25 (Din’s journey to find Grogu a Jedi takes 8-10 months of wandering the galaxy together, and we pick up on the tale end of that to see snippets of their adventure in this film)

• Book 4 - Year 2.25-2.5 (Din meets Ahsoka, and the mission with Grogu concludes chronologically over a few weeks/months)

• Ahsoka “Movie 1” - Year 3.5-3.75 (The Ahsoka show is supposed to run concurrently with general events in Mando S3)

• Book 5 - Year 3.25-3.75 (Din has been traveling solo for a long time when we see him on this random bounty contract through Mines/Nevarro, Grogu is with Luke but we don’t see it yet)

• Ahsoka “Movie 2” - Year 3.75-4.5 (The finale of Ahsoka is technically supposed to occur after the finale of Mando S3, but overall events of the shows overlap)

• Book 6 - Year 4-4.25 (Din and Bo-Katan reunite the clans, we see non-chronological snippets of Grogu’s training that occurred over the past 1.5 years, Mandalore is reclaimed)

So while you won’t get a perfectly “chronological” experience no matter what you do as the shows weren’t filmed in such a way (I also haven’t done a deep dive into the Ahsoka series yet to fully analyze the events/timeline) this is roughly when the events would occur. The Mandalorian story is intended to occur over ~3 years, and the Ahsoka story runs concurrently with the last year of that story and concludes after the end of TWoM. So perhaps, yes, watching parts of the Ahsoka show between Books 4-6/Mando Season 3 could help us mentally make the timeline gap “feel” longer, since I do not think the shows themselves did a good job of communicating the passage of time to the audience.

EddieDean said:

Ahsoka, while it’s clearly part of that world and time period, absolutely stands alone for now. It’s set after Ahsoka’s appearance in Mando and the Dark Council meeting where they reference Thrawn, and there are light references to the New Republic and Mon Mothma, but it’s got no natural overlap with any of the focal storylines of Mando.

Right, it certainly doesn’t belong in “The Way of Mandalore” saga in any official capacity, but it works well enough with what I described above to add to a watchthrough of this era of Star Wars. I hope to have an Ahsoka edit out one day, but it isn’t a priority and will probably come after Season 2/the next New Republic-Mando movie.