Acbagel

Latest version changes:

• I have to start here since this is my biggest update… After the extended time off, much consideration, and then getting back into the editing room on this film and the trilogy as a whole… I have decided that after all, I do in fact agree with those of you who thought this edit would be better without the Hosnian system destruction. You were right. I have completely re-cut how Starkiller base is destroyed in its firing sequence, but does not actually get the laser off. The battle between Kylo and Rey is happening around these events, while Starkiller crumbles as it attempts to fire. It works better, it really does. Would love for you all to give it another go with this scene sequencing and see what you think.

Updated the [NeverarGreat] Starlight edit scenes I used to his latest release:

• Added [NeverarGreat] island sketch to Rey’s hut
• Feathered a few of the linear wipes to have that Star Wars transition feel
• Added the [SirRidley] concept of Rey seeing the Island as she looks out into the Jakku sand
• Replaced old [NeverarGreat] Poe interrogation scene with latest version
• Added [NeverarGreat] audio about the senate into the Resistance briefing scene
• Added the extended version of Kylo visiting the falcon [NeverarGreat]
• Added the [NeverarGreat] Sith eyes to Rey.
• Added [NeverarGreat] TR-8R audio to Lightsaber Finn v stormtrooper (this is incredible work!)

• Swapped the opening scene order to show Jakku environment before Rey scavenging + a slight color correction to these scenes but nowhere near final. Really want to make Jakku feel less like Tatooine but I’m not there yet. I somewhat like the white-sand effect from other editors, but it doesn’t work with the day/night cycle effects I’ve put into place in other scenes. (I have seen concept effects with Jakku sand being a dark grey with a yellow sky and it looks incredible, maybe one day…)
• Reworked a lot of shots in the final saber lock sequence to better demonstrate in my cut how Rey doesn’t necessarily beat Kylo, just pushes him away long enough for the planet to separate them.
• Added the [SirRidley] restored scene of Han putting his dice back on the Falcon.
• Reorganized some of the scenes in Rey’s escape from her Starkiller cell
• Further edited new voicelines of Palpatine and Luke into Rey’s numerous dreams
• Removed the Maz line about Chewie being her boyfriend
• Reworked the walkway scene with Kylo and Han to better nail some musical notes as well integrate the [NeverarGreat] Han/Leia voicelines. When I now play Kylo’s theme right at a key point he really appears like a beast out of hell as Starkiller burns around him. Kylo is a scary dude in this edit. Transitions right into Leia mourning for a heart-wrenching contrast.

And the final major change:

• I added some new visual effects and additional scenes to Rey’s final dream sequence, further indicating the it is in fact a dream. I have also cut out the portion of the dream with her handing the lightsaber to Luke (this will be remedied in my TLJ version). Now Luke locks eyes with her, and suddenly she jolts awake in real life, presumably with knowledge that will help R2 + BB find Luke. I think I nailed this dream sequence and it will bring a ton of unity and cohesion into the beginning of Episode 8.

(I am looking at new file hosting options)

Just a little update, been about 9 months since I last updated my Legends trilogy, but I am currently planning to release an updated version of all 3 workprints with a few changes/additions to each film. To reiterate, this is not the final cuts (still probably a year away from that day) but it will be a newer version of each of the edits. I will update each individual forum thread detailing the changes as I complete them. Overall it will mainly be touching up a few scenes in each film and making some other scene/placement/effects changes.

I didn’t think I’d be releasing another version of each workprint before the final cut, but people have continued to DM me to see them so I’d like to deliver the best possible experience in the meantime. The workprints are fully watchable, and I am mainly working on further additions for the final edits but this trilogy is 90% complete as-is. I am excited to release the final cuts one day with everything incorporated but even now I am very happy with how everything has turned out. Thanks for following and supporting my work over the last year!

Atom-88 said:

Hi again Acbagel, and once again thank you for sharing your ST edits with me. Like I previously mentioned I haven’t seen or read any of the legends material, so what you may be trying to achieve with your edit I might not see or realise why you made that change.

OK out of the 3 ST this one is the hardest mainly for me personally because I have only seen the theatrical version once (I do own the Blu-ray, but have only seen this movie in the cinema) the other times I have viewed TROS have all been fan edits so some of your changes I may have missed (which should be a good thing as this means everything has blended and flowed smoothly).

So I’ll start with the good.
😬

Ummmm…

Haha yikes! Would you say the theatrical release is better than this cut then, or just that you don’t like the original or this attempt to fix it?

Ok things I wasn’t a fan of or didn’t like (this is just me personally and only giving my personal thoughts and opinions)

• We see Kylo drop the decapitated head of the alien spy on the table during their briefing with commanders, Later we see the same Alien giving Poe and Finn info about the first order. I think I know what you are trying to achieve with that cut but for maybe a first time viewer it may be a bit confusing.

If you re-watch and actually compare the two scenes you will see that the two aliens you are talking about actually have different color skin tones. However, I don’t think that even matters too much because in Star Wars many species appear nearly identical to a human eye. Imagine looking at two of these Bith and trying to tell them apart https://www.starwars.com/databank/bith . Either way, I do understand from a storyteller perspective that when a new alien species is introduced in these scenes that it could potentially be confusing to people who aren’t used to processing this type of thing, but from a large plot picture point of view it isn’t really a plot hole at all and I’m okay with people having to stop and think after the movie to put two and two together here.

• The end Kylo lives, I appreciate the work you did to achieve this but for me personally it just didn’t work, especially when we see him boarding the falcon, I was like WTF 🤷 lol.

By “just didn’t work” what do you mean exactly? Didn’t work from a story-telling standpoint, from a graphic effects standpoint? Some more info would help here, just not sure what you mean to say.

I’m sorry I haven’t left anything positive for this edit, I know it is a mess of a movie to begin with but the major changes that were made just didn’t work for me personally.

No worries, I understand it’s nothing personal! Do you have any suggestions on how a fan editor would possibly fix the movie? Have you seen any episode 9 edits that you think improved upon the original and what did they do better than this cut? When I get around to releasing final versions of my trilogy next year I want to make sure I release the best product possible so any ideas from viewers are helpful. How can we take what Disney released and transform it into something that works with my Legends cuts?

I honestly and truthfully enjoyed and love your TFA and TLJ edits and am looking forward to seeing the full finished edit but for me this one is a big miss.

Thank you once Acbagel and please take care.

Thank you for your time with my trilogy and writing all of your reviews. I look forward to completing this project in the future and your feedback has been helpful. Glad you really enjoyed the first 2 at least!

I’d love to see this final cut, thanks!

Atom-88 said:
As previously stated I have not read or seen anything Legends related (Other than your TFA edit of course) and OMFG🤯, No… No… No… This is not TLJ it can’t be, why could we not have got if not this but something similar officially released, you somehow managed to make this edit not just enjoyable but holy s@#ts it felt like I was watching something completely new.

Great, one of the main goals was definitely to give that “new” feeling to the story Rian tried to tell. It just wasn’t something I enjoyed and I wanted to create something much closer to home.

Things I loved:
(Warning as there Spoilers)

• Everything, you managed to keep in the things that almost everyone complained about and made them enjoyable.
  Luke training Rey 😳😮 wtf, canto blight (ok it’s still canto but less of), Phasma which I was glad you kept in as I never really had a problem with the character and actually like the idea of the character so having her and Fin face off and Fin finally getting his resolve which I think needs to be kept in the movie.

• Luke saving Laia (I first saw this in FGR’s edit), don’t ask me why I just much prefer this and I totally hate Laia Poppins scene.

• Luke saves the rebellion by sending their cruiser via lightspeed crashing through the First Order, this scene was awesome as we see General Hux telling his officers that the ship is empty and I wasn’t expecting to see that happen next.

• Luke force ghost in-between world’s.

Glad those things helped improve your experience!

Things I didn’t Like:

• The Milking scene😞 lol.

Haha while I do understand that scene left a bad taste in a lot of mouths, I trimmed out the more obnoxious parts of it but thought just having Luke drink the milk shows that he is in tune with nature and therefore the living force. It doesn’t bother me at all when the bad half is cut out, especially with the new version of Luke I have created.

Things I won’t say I didn’t like but maybe worth rearranging (keep in mind that I have not seen anything to do with Star Wars Legends so what you are achieving won’t probably work out l but just my ideas anyway).

• Luke saving Laia, I love the scene but I think bit could work a lot better if you move the scene to an earlier point, so it would work as Rey has found Luke on this Island and he is annoyed because he didn’t want to be found but realises that the resistance must be some form of serious danger for his sister to seek him out, so at the scene where we see him sneak aboard the falcon and R2 plays the help me obi hologram and Luke at this point realises how desperate the resistance is, Luke now saves Laia afterwards he see’s Rey sleeping outside his hut and then tells her “I will train you in the ways of the force”.

That’s a really cool idea actually. I’ll have to take a big picture look at the scene order again but I will definitely consider it because I think that has potential.

• Luke saves the resistance by crashing their cruiser ship. I know I said I loved this scene and I really do just with this plus him saving Laia and then force projecting to face off against Kylo, don’t get me wrong yeah I love all of these additions and the official release should have had way more Luke but with all 3 plus him training Rey it just seems the resistance is relying on him just a bit too much. I know the resistance is meant to be on its knees and that’s why he does these things but just seems like they are relying on him a bit too much.

That’s a valid criticism. Maybe all of my edited scenes showing Luke constantly saving the day do weaken the appearance of the Resistance as a whole, but I think for the narrative of the ST as a whole that’s not a bad thing. To be frank, as a fighting force the Resistance sucks. It’s a very, very small band of soldiers who have left the New Republic to take matters into their own hands and their whole purpose is to take small rebellious actions that ultimately encourage others to take a stand as well. They aren’t meant to be a challenging military force, and them fully needing the myth of the Jedi and providence of the force works out for the old theme of destiny.

Sorry this is very long winded, I absaloutley loved this edit and it honestly felt like I was watching something new to what I had previously seen and this felt like what it was meant to be a Star Wars movie.

Thank you once again Acbagel for sharing this absaloutley amazing edit with me.

Not at all, I love reading feedback and am very happy that you enjoyed.

Now onto TROS edit😭.

😭 is right, haha. I tried my best, but with Disney refusing to release any deleted scenes/extra footage it is a very difficult task. I don’t think there’s any way to redeem it as much as I did here with TLJ but I at least tried to make it a tolerable entry in my ST remake.

Atom-88 said:

Well I have watched this twice and have to say I absaloutley loved it and it is definitely one of my favourite edits of TFA, you have done an incredible job Acbagel.

I will say that I haven’t read any of the Star Wars Legends and the only thing I have watched other than the PT, OT and ST is The Mandalorian.

Thank you for the kinds words. That is very interesting considering you are coming from a perspective of not knowing many of the old Star Wars Legends stories. Either way, I am happy you enjoyed it.

Things I loved:

• The scene layout
  The way you have moved the scenes around makes the pacing and flow of the movie now a lot better.

• The Humour
  The cuts you made regarding some of the humour makes it feel more like a Star wars movie and less like a comedy.

• Flashback scenes
  I loved the inclusion of flashbacks you put in (e.g Kylo interrogating Poe). There was another scene but it’s escaped my memory right now😬.

• Rey’s Powers
  I love the way you have toned down Rey’s Powers, I don’t have any issues with the character but could never understand why they made her so powerful to begin with. So was glad to see the removal of the mind trick (which was done very well) and the fight with Kylo was also done really good and liked the fact that neither Fin or Rey really show Kylo any sort of offence.

• Rey’s Dream
  I liked this a lot and thought you did a very good job, the way you faded it in with the reveal just brilliant.

• Hyperspace Ending
  I really do prefer them not finding Luke and it ending with Chewie, Rey and R2 in the falcon going into hyperspace. (This is one of the major things I also enjoyed with DigModifications and FGR’s Edits of TFA). I rather have a bit of anticipation going into the next movie, will they find Luke, will he help them🤷 instead of seeing him looking annoyed for 60 seconds lol.

Thanks for the positive feedback. Just want to chime in and give credit to where it’s due because not all of that was my original work. I did credit all of the original editors in my OP. I did a lot of my own changes, but also chose a lot of my favorite effects and scenes from some of those other great editors you mentioned.

Ok so not everything can be perfect for every individual but I will say for me personally this is pretty much there.

Things I didn’t like:
(These are not massive things and things that are just me being maybe a little bit nitpicky).

• Maz’s love for Chewie
  I just hate the line when they meet Maz and she asks Han “Where’s my boyfriend, I love that Wookie”. Don’t get me wrong I know it’s just a bit of harmless humor but for some reason it just annoys me.

True, I agree with you here actually. I’m not at all a fan of that line but it’s really hard to cut out because it’s right in the middle of a scene where a jump cut would look rawkward. I’ll play around with potential solutions in the future because it is something I would like to get rid of.

• Luke’s reveal in Rey’s Dream
  I know I said I loved Rey’s Dream scene and I really do but for me personally I think it may have been better to have it fade in and as we start to see the shape of a hooded figure standing there have it fade back out. This is just me personally I really do love what you have done, I just think it may be better that way because then the viewer could be thinking “Hey wonder what or who Rey is having a vision of” I know we already know the answer but it just gives it that bit of mystery especially with the ending of them going into hyperspace.
  (Also feels like it needs something as we go into the next scene of the map reveal, don’t know what tho just feels like it may need something).

I like that suggestion too. I will look into cutting a bit earlier to preserve more of that Luke reveal for TLJ.

Thank you once again Acbagel for sharing this amazing edit with me, this is definitely up there with Hal’s, Digmod’s and Neverar’s edits and the fact that it is just your workprint🤯. Can’t wait to see your final release.

Now onto The Last Jedi😁.

Looking forward to reading your thougts!

JumpyLion said:

Can I have a link, this sounds really good

Sent, enjoy!

I’ll take V3 when you get a chance, thank you very much for your work

Hello! Could I get a link to the edits? Thanks

Reno Skywarp said:

Can I get a link when you have a minute?

Sent! Hope you enjoy

Khernel said:

Hi! Can you send me the link please? Thanks!

Sent!

NeverarGreat said:

PM sent with both versions if you have a specific comparison in mind.

Thanks! I think some of the confusion with the changelist between V1 and V2 is that both versions are intermixed in OP. Example being Kylo’s prayer, you have it listed in both Act 1 and Act 2.

Can I get a link to watch? Thanks!

NeverarGreat said:

Acbagel, do you mean what was changed from V1 of the workprint to V2? If so there are quite a few changes and tweaks not all of which I remember at the moment, but most of the total changes for the project are kept up-to-date on the first post of the thread.

Ok, I was just wondering if you had a time stamped changelist for V1 and V2 so I could go back and forth and compare the changes. Either way, I’ll take the link to V2 to check it out.

NeverarGreat said:

Great! I actually changed it a bit yet again.

This project is getting very close to a full release. I’m uploading another workprint right now so if anyone wants to check that out just ask. There are quite a few new changes from the first workprint, from beginning to end, literally. The new crawl is included, as well as a whole new piece of music in the end credits.

The only major things left to do are the timecode removals. Other than that, it’s just some finessing of the present changes. Off the top of my head, I’d like to work more on Poe’s interrogation, the Hosnian Destruction shot that was brought up earlier, the Sith eyes, and swapping out the TLJ footage in Rey’s final dream/vision for more TFA appropriate imagery.

Very exciting! Would love to see a Workprint-V1 changelist when it’s ready!

maxvirtuemc said:

Hopefully, I’m not asking too much but I would love a link to this trilogy you edited, sounds incredible! Thanks!

Not at all, sent! Have fun, would love to hear your review after you watch

nluckett said:

Sounds super interesting. Can I get a link? Thanks.

Sent!

TestingOutTheTest said:

Once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

Except Darth Vader redeemed himself in RotJ.

Hey, I’m just the messenger, take it up with Yoda! But I think his meaning was not that you can’t turn back to the light ever again, but that the dark side has eternal consequences and it consumes your entire being. There is a price to be paid for wielding the dark, and for Vader it was his life.

I just uploaded V2 of this edit. V2 just fixes a few bugs with the crawl and a couple scenes throughout the movie. Nothing major, just touch-ups to fix the initial mistakes.

Since I now have V2’s of each edit, it might be a while before I go to V3’s and final releases of everything. I am personally waiting on other people to finish their edits to see if I am inspired by some of their ideas or scenes to add into mine. I am most looking forward to the Movies Remastered Episode 9 edit (release sometime Q 2/3 2021?), and the Fixing Disney Star Wars trilogy (releasing edits throughout 2021 and 2022). As those come out I will integrate what I feel works well with my Legends Trilogy and upload versions until I feel my work is 100% complete.

As far as future projects go, I don’t have any plans to release edits of any other Star Wars movies. I do have personal edits of Solo, Rogue One, Return of the Jedi, and small edits on some Clone Wars/Rebels episodes, but I don’t feel like my changes are significant enough to warrant writing about and releasing. They are just part of my personal way of watching the Star Wars saga. So until Disney releases something new I will only be slowly updating the Legends Trilogy.

Thanks to everyone who has supported the project and written reviews. I’ve really enjoyed the interactions and I hope my work will remain something for future fans to continue discovering so they can experience the ST in a new light.

Anakin Starkiller said:

Given the difference in the OT heroes’ children, does this mean it’s not directly Legends-compatible?

I’m sure you can find some inconsistencies between the two, but I built my trilogy to work in line with The Crucible Canon https://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-crucible-canon-merging-eu-and-new-canon-as-smoothly-as-possible.50053287/ . In this theory, the Legends children can still exist. In fact, I know of another fan editor who is currently filming scenes with a Jaina Solo to include in TLJ that I will borrow from for my final version.

T-202 said:

Can I get a link? Sounds really interesting!

Sent! If you have time, I’d love to for you to post a review here when you’re done.

stretch009 said:

This was absolutely stellar like your TFA edit was. I’m REALLY hoping you can color correct it. Maybe an editor like Hal 9000 would assist you?

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed. Did you get to watch the TLJ edit as well?

I would love to do some better color correcting for the final releases. I’m not skilled in that area so I would definitely rely on others for that if they’d want to pitch in.

I’d love to see as well, thanks!

I’d like to see as well, thanks!

Oasissky said:

I personally agree with the Kylo choices and how this edit ends. These are my favorite fan-edits of the Sequel Trilogy so far. People should check these out.

Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed the new experience.

That looks so good! I can’t see anything at all to change anymore. Looks theatrical quality and is a fantastic change.