Acbagel

Can you go into more detail about that? Not exactly sure what you’re looking for.

Delpheas said:

My issue with your interpretation of Rey in this film is at least partly connected to what you had Luke trying to teach her in FotJ. My idea would be to try and get it across that by the end she’s learned that lesson of internal balance.

The film already contains external manifestation that she’s trying to achieve it, she heals the serpent, followed by using Force Lightning. She wants to take Ren’s hand, but goes to her friends instead. She mortally stabs Ben, then heals him. Her issue is that she’s struggling and I would rather see her work through that struggle and come out ready to build a new order of Force users that isn’t Jedi or Sith, than die because she’s a failure.

Ah, but this is where I would disagree. Rey didn’t fail in her death, she succeeded. She fulfilled her destiny, just as Anakin did. Her choices brought balance to the force. This Legends theme of balance is that you cannot change fate for long, as there cannot be free will in a galaxy where this force guides things. Think to what Kreia said, “I hate the Force, I hate that it seems to have a will, that it would control us to achieve some measure of balance when countless lives are lost”. - (Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II) I wouldn’t say Anakin failed to bring balance to the force as he died. Neither would I say that Rey and Palpatine failed to do the same. Fixing this cycle of destruction isn’t about learning to wield a “gray” force as there is only light and dark, it’s about learning symbiosis with the living and cosmic force as you fall neither too heavily into the light’s passivity or the dark’s aggression. It can easily be argued that, as Kreia believed, the only way to truly make peace is to somehow destroy the force itself. But at least at the end of my saga, the galaxy can rest without one side in charge. There is no chance that Rey possesses the wisdom to effectively create a new order of force users along these lines. It would continue to feed the cycle, so in my edit the force is doing exactly what Kreia hated: Using its will to control people to achieve a measure of balance as lives are lost.

It could be accomplished with two pretty simple changes to the Exogol confrontation and two during the finale.

1. When Rey says she’s here to end the Sith and Palpatine asks “As a Jedi?” change her “Yes” to a “No.” and edit Palps next line accordingly.

2. Then cut the Jedi from the sequence completely.

3. Show Rey’s friends on the Falcon with her as it goes to Tatooine.

4. When Rey is burying the past on Tatooine, cut the Force Ghosts and have her say “Just Rey” instead of “Rey Skywalker.”

With the changes you made for FotJ, plus the theatrical’s concept of Rey confronting her fear, this gives the very clear impression that she’s trying to move beyond the failures of the Jedi, and by the end has succeeded. She’s supposed to be the one who has resolved the Grey through refined Jedi sight, as referenced in the TFA novelisation’s Book of the Whills quote.

However it’s your edit, and those are just my thoughts on resolving Rey’s story.

Another problem with Rey living is that in that case, then Kylo’s arc has no resolution. In my cut it makes sense for him to be downtrodden as a living reminder, a Cain-like figure in the Bible, but if Rey is still alive then Kylo’s dark pursuit of her would doubtlessly spiral the galaxy into more conflict. There’s no way he would be satisfied to leave things alone as his primary motivation has always been her. And as I explained in OP, his healing power to revive Rey and then him dying is utterly ridiculous within the bounds of Legends.

As for Ben, I’d leave him on Tatooine at the end.

This is what I’m leaning towards. Him seeing the force ghosts, then ending on him looking at the suns. Not sure if this would provide enough resolution though. As Rogue said, I am a little concerned on this ending being considered unsatisfying, but I’ll see when it’s put together.

RogueLeader said:

Okay, yeah, I see what you’re getting at. I suppose it would be interesting to see any alternative than the story ending at practically the same place it started, in terms of Rey in TROS ending in basically the same place Luke ended in ROTJ. Rey doesn’t end the film with any newfound knowledge that sets her apart from the past Jedi, like Trevorrow’s Duel of the Fates script at least attempted to do. Since the film’s climax has Palpatine and Rey both reiterate their identities as Sith and Jedi, there is some interesting finality in the fact that they both destroy each other, essentially ending a feud the lasted millennium.

Boom! That’s exactly it. If we look at the trilogies and how they conclude:

PT: Ends with the Dark winning
OT: Ends with the Light winning
ST: Ends with… the Light winning again

Like if you were going for any sort of balance or pattern, at minimum you should have the Dark winning again. That’s why the trilogy felt so empty to me, there’s no greater meaning. It’s just a rehash of the exact same conclusion of the last trilogy, even against the same villain! So with my edit having the ST end with both sides losing… or do both sides win? Depending on your point of view, we’ve now seen some new way of balance being achieved. The force achieving balance in unexpected ways is CRUCIAL to Star Wars. The Jedi thought Anakin would end the Sith according to their proud understanding, but it blew up in their face as the the force achieved balance in a much different way later in time. Palpatine made the same mistake and was caught off guard by destiny as well. The ST should end with another way of balance appearing in an unexpected form, not something utterly predictable and obvious. This is the end of a SAGA. If we end it all in the exact same way it ended in the middle then nothing was accomplished. In my edit, the tired cycle is finally broken. Normal people can stop getting dragged into these Jedi vs Sith wars as we enter an actual new era for the galaxy. One where there is real, tangible hope that things might truly be different this time instead of a ticking time bomb waiting for the next Jedi vs Sith galactic war.

When I look at Rey and the idea that she’d create this new type of Jedi Order, I just don’t see it. She never ever reaches any sort of conclusion about why the Jedi were wrong, doesn’t have a single opinion or thought about the philosophy of the force, or the slightest idea of the doctrine of the Sith or Jedi. Her caveman-like view is “Jedi good. Galaxy need good.” She never evolves beyond this understanding and her Jedi Order would inevitably create another Sith and the cycle would begin again. Her death, along with Luke and Leia puts an end to this.

With Ben/Kylo, you have a character who renounced both the Jedi and the Sith, and although he is no longer Supreme Leader, he didn’t totally flip 180 and become good again either. Maybe more along the lines of a Byronic hero or anti-hero at this point, because at the very least, he may ensure that future generations don’t make the same mistakes that the Jedi, the Sith, and himself made.

Exactly! While Kylo doesn’t physically die like Rey will, spiritually and symbolically the person we saw for 3 movies is gone. It can be argued that he wasn’t really a true Sith to begin with, but as Rey died, so did his desire to pursue power and the Dark. He is effectively a dead man walking, hollow, a shell. He won’t be the Dark side user we saw, but he also hasn’t turned into a Light side user. Right, his role is now one of a keeper of memories, of mistakes, the embodiment of galactic conflict and a reminder to the galaxy of why you can’t bottle up the force into a silly religion or Order.

If an edit cut Palpatine from the film, I think keeping Rey and Kylo alive would make sense. But since yours keeps Palpatine for reasons I agree with (primarily because it is difficult to keep a 2-hour runtime, which I also agree is essential to a Star Wars film), I think having Rey die could allow the film to end in a less predictable way.

While I don’t love how Palpatine is included, his representation of the Sith is needed for the theme I’m trying to present. And yes, hopefully a Rey sacrifice will give the confrontation more weight and affect viewers in a more emotional way.

Do you have any ideas for how you’ll have Kylo be on Tatooine at the end of the film?

I do! there’s a handful of fan edited clips of Kylo on Tatooine that I’ll pull from, and I’m going to insinuate that his only interaction was with the Resistance was getting the Falcon back from them. So he will arrive on Tatooine on that ship, and my only debate left is whether I want to end with him flying away from Tatooine, or remaining there…

Delpheas said:

For one, it’s a major way the film apes ANH, but on a more ridiculous scale.
Second, it has no emotional impact. Just adding in the deleted scene of Leia’s messenger being sent there doesn’t do enough to give the audience an emotional anchor. And again, it has no bearing on the later films. The only reference to the NR destruction in TLJ is the crawl and a Hux line toward the beginning. With the NR still intact throughout 8 & 9, the lack of response from allies can be recontexualised by either editing or the viewer as the NR continuing to not help. And the arrival of the fleet over Exogol in RoS could be contextualized as the NR finally sending aid.

And finally, I think the destruction of the NR was a very shallow way that the writers were signaling that they weren’t going to be beholden to Legends material, since the NR plays a not insignificant role in Legends. They then of course still borrowed the concepts of Jacen Solo, a hidden fleet, force clones, and Palpatine’s return… I just really feel like it’s useless and goes nowhere.

Personally I think removing the Super Weapon concept at all, if possible, is ideal. Starkiller would just be a FO base that they assault to rescue Rey and because they might have a chance at killing Ren and Hux. Idk…

Alright, I’ve been going over this the last couple days and looking at not only this film, but the trilogy as a whole with and without this scene. I think I’m going to keep it in, and here’s why.

Based on my plan for Episode 9, I want the galaxy to end in a state of total reset. No Jedi, no Sith, a gap and void for something new to rise. With the destruction of the NR, I think that sets up a more broken galaxy that is ready to rest and recover. It adds more desperation to the Jedi v Sith conflict and when it ends, there’s hope for something new, something to break the cycle of these force wars.

To address your concerns:

1. Maybe if you only look at the movies Starkiller firing seems to try and unnecessarily one-up ANH, but in the context of Legends stories as a whole it doesn’t even need to be compared. It makes sense as a natural evolution of the Sith to move up to something of a grander scale.

2. True, they emotional impact of a whole system being destroyed isn’t very present, but I wouldn’t say the movie needed that to be felt by our protagonists either. The main conflict is with Rey, Kylo, and Han reflecting the light v dark conflict, and this destruction paralleled with the death of Han goes along the thematic lines of the dark securing a victory.

3. To be honest, I doubt the writers even thought of it that deeply. I don’t think they were smart enough try and intentionally make a statement about the NR of Legends through Starkiller base. Abrams didn’t even know who Darth Plageuis was after TFA so I doubt he knew much about post-RotJ novels. I don’t see it as necessarily disrespectful to Legends, more of just an alternate reality.

Delpheas said:

My internet is fixed and upgraded to ultra highspeed and everything seems to be in order.

My wife and I will be ordering in and watching tonight!

RogueLeader said:

I was looking forward to seeing your post about your ideas regarding TROS!

To be honest, I’m really surprised that you’re killing Rey. With how much you have been pushing this idea of portraying balance in a different way, I felt the obvious way to do that would be to have both Rey and Ben live, so they can work together to forge a new path. I personally feel like the way the story ends would be really ambiguous for most audiences to actually be satisfied with, especially if you paint Kylo as not really being redeemed.

But as far as I’m aware there isn’t a version where Rey dies, so it might be interesting to see how that version would turn out.

As I watched theatrical trilogy, I never ever wanted Kylo to be redeemed. I thought it was a terrible decision to go down that path after seeing what he did to Han. There’s no way I could ever forgive him, but I loved him as a villain. I don’t think he deserves a redemption arc, as I find his pursuit of Rey to be predatory and not a selfless act befitting of the Light. I don’t see how any of his actions paint him in a good view, so he will remain as a burdened and disgraced individual, suffering the consequences of his corruption. He has no one. Maybe it ends ambiguosly, but at least something different happens this time. The cycle of dark beating the light and then light beating the dark appears to end, and at last people can rest as both sides have fallen.

My idea of balance for this film is not having Rey and Kylo live to lead a new order of light and dark, but to have them essentially both die in a way, physically or spiritually, and signify that the age of both the Jedi and the Sith has ended. In a way, they each contributed to the destruction of both the Jedi and Sith orders. I wouldn’t say either order is good for the galaxy, and for there to truly be peace a new order would need to rise in the void. It is almost as Kreia originally wanted it… No Jedi and no Sith. People are free, for now.

A future story I’d tell would be Kylo becoming a sort of oracle, teaching others about the failures of both sides as a warning of flippantly creating dogmatic orders. The key to peace with the force is symbiosis with life, not adhering to a man-made code.

Delpheas said:

Not sure. My internet is acting up and I’m supposed to get it fixed tomorrow and then I should be able to finish uploading.

Awesome, hope that fixes things. Thanks for the update! Very excited to watch. I actually considered making this same exact edit but I saw you had already done the work, so I’m excited to check it out.

“The overriding philosophy in all the Star Wars movies is the balance between good and evil. In each of us we to have balance these emotions, and in the Star Wars saga the most important point is balance, balance between everything.” - The Maker

Watch the trailer here: https://youtu.be/_MIbDfI1wvo

I am working on editing each movie in the Sequel Trilogy according to my understanding of what it would look like if it shared the themes from Star Wars Legends. As I have completed TFA and TLJ, I have continued into TRoS.

I’d love to have your feedback and suggestions as I create this, so please be open and offer criticism where you feel it is useful.

Goals of my ST edits:

1. To more closely align to the themes of Star Wars Legends material. (https://boards.theforce.net/threads/the-crucible-canon-merging-eu-and-new-canon-as-smoothly-as-possible.50053287/)

2. To demonstrate the mistakes of a narrow minded view that Jedi/light side = good and Sith/dark side = bad.

3. To tell stories of Luke, Leia, and Han that are respectful to their OT character arcs and to better align their storylines to that of Legends.

4. To give the new characters more realistic character arcs that stay within the bounds and limitations of Star Wars Legends and paths that logically flow between the films.

5. To tell a good, cohesive, authentic Star Wars story that generally stays within the limits of Legends.

Inspiration behind ST edits: Like many of you, I am a huge Star Wars Legends fan. I grew up reading everything I could get my hands on, comics, novels, short stories, playing the games etc. For me, transitioning into the Disney Era was tough at times. Most notably in the ST handling of the characters I loved. My favorite theme in Star Wars has always been the balance of the force and the failures and evolution of the Jedi. Initially, I had high hopes that Luke would surpass the failures of the Jedi doctrine and lead a new generation of balanced force users as the original Je’daii did. But alas, that was not the case… However, I think there is opportunity to tell the ST trilogy in a way that aligns better with the themes that Legends created. From Dawn of the Jedi to Tales of the Jedi through the KOTOR era, the PT and OT, there was a very clear theme of balance and what happens when either the Dark or Light tries to bend the force to their own narrow interpretation. I found the ST lacking in a clear reason for why it even existed in the Star Wars saga. I want viewers to leave my edit trilogy feeling like they now know something new about Star Wars, the force, and the OT trio.

What I want to fix in TRoS: After watching and disliking theatrical TLJ due to how intensely it deviated characters from Legends (see my TLJ thread), I had very low expectations for TRoS. I couldn’t fathom a way to correct certain character arcs or redeem some of the most important Star Wars themes, but I at least still wanted to enjoy something from it. Even with these doubts, after seeing TRoS, I was even more disappointed with it than I was with TLJ. While TLJ made some bold decisions regarding characters that altered their legacy, TRoS goes even further with the Legends damaging lore changes. When I begin to think of how to edit this film to stay within Legends, there are a ton of factors to consider. Obviously, I will not be able to fundamentally change the core acts of the film (the McGuffin plot and the lightspeed pacing of events), but what I can do is adjust certain aspects to at least make it more in line with my other edits when it comes to the legacies of Luke, Leia, Rey, and Kylo. Most importantly, I need to fix certain things that break Star Wars saga lore… Here we go.

These are the main areas I will be changing in my edit.

1. The Legacy of General and Jedi Master Leia Organa. If you recall back to my TLJ edit, you will remember that I hinted that Leia was “The Last Jedi”, not Rey. This is because Luke trained Leia TO be a Jedi before Kylo’s fall, and then trained Rey NOT to be a Jedi after Kylo’s fall. At most, Rey could be considered a Gray Jedi, but it defeats my entire purpose of Luke’s arc if he just trains another Jedi after learning his lessons on the island. My surprise edit in TLJ revealed that Leia was also a Jedi, sort of undercover and not really acting as one, but someone who Luke trained for a time and I hinted that we would see her as a Jedi in TRoS. So in 9 that’s a role we will see her embrace, the last Jedi. Now, Leia stopped her training prematurely so she doesn’t know nearly as much as Luke, but enough to get Rey somewhat on the right path as a force user. We see her in more of a passive teacher role, but she still has some powers to display. The main change in her character arc from theatrical is that in my edit, Leia will be the one who saves Kylo from Rey’s stab as she heals him giving her life for his. Leia will channel a force illusion of Han to distract Kylo from killing Rey, but she doesn’t anticipate Rey lashing out in anger against Kylo. As he is dying, Rey leaves and Kylo will be healed by his mother, who gives all of her life force to save him. Sort of how we saw Luke intervene across the galaxy to save Leia in my TLJ, we now see Leia perform a similar action to save her son, but it is one that costs her life. As Leia fades away, the Jedi fade away with her. A true Skywalker was the last living Jedi.

2. Rey’s Identity and Conclusion. The “Rey Nobody” route works much better in my trilogy. Funny enough, I thought it would’ve been a great idea for her to be a Palpatine after TFA released and I actually wrote a number of threads on it. However, after TLJ I didn’t see any way for that decision to have any sort of satisfying conclusion anymore so I abandoned the idea. Well, turns out I was right, but I didn’t want to be anymore! There’s been a lot of talk on this subject already so I think the arguments are pretty clear for why her being introduced as a Palpatine doesn’t work in this film or the trilogy as a whole now that we see everything. In this film she will be extremely tempted to wield the Dark Side, and rightfully so as she was far too old to begin the necessary training to resist it. This temptation is interesting enough without her being a Palpatine. The “Rey killed her parents” storyline really makes it all so much more believable. So that’s her identity, an offspring of worthless drunks that she killed in a fit of rage as a child. Now with Rey having a consistent identity through the first 2 films, I need to explain my controversial decision with how I am ending TRoS. Rey dies. And she doesn’t come back. Here’s why… She was a nobody who embodied extreme courage and a headstrong will to fight evil, no matter the cost. She barely trained in the force and was far too old to learn to be a Jedi. There are consequences for facing down and Emperor like that. On Exegol, after being injured in the initial confrontation, the Jedi speak to her as she gets up to absorb the power of the Chosen One, as he takes over he body he uses her to deflect the lightning back at Palpatine and kill him. The power flowing through her saps all of her strength and she staggers to the ground and passes away. In fact, Kylo says in TLJ that she can’t be the one who bridged their minds because the effort alone would kill her, so of course what happens in her battle with Palpatine would do so as well, especially when you see how I’ve cut it. Kylo, a dark side user, should have no clue how to perform that sort of god-tier force healing. This is a light side power and there’s simply no way for him to have that sort of incredible light side mastery to bring Rey back to life. Since I have Leia performing that act on him earlier, it also cheapens her powers if he can just whip out his own life transfer out of nowhere too. So, in a heartwrenching scene, Kylo realizes what his evil has wrough as Rey just… stays dead. I’m not only doing this for practical reasons, but also thematic ones. Kylo now remains as the last Skywalker and we wonder what he will do with this burden. Look at it this way, Rey has been a very childlike presence throughout the trilogy. The way she puts on her helmet in TFA and acts like a pilot, her childlike view of the Jedi in TLJ, her childlike emotional swings in TRoS… She really isn’t ever a mature, philosophical force user. She constantly rushes head first into conflict and has little to no understanding of anything at all about the living or cosmic force. This isn’t really a criticism of her character. I think that’s a rather interesting character trait, but if you bravely, and somewhat foolishly, rush to face down the Emperor with barely any training… Yeah, you should die. The only reason she was bailed out was because of the training of the force ghosts. Rey’s character represents innocence, a belief that the Jedi should be good, even though they really weren’t. As she dies, that belief dies with her. There are no more Jedi. Only Kylo remains to pick up the pieces of a broken galaxy.

3. Kylo’s Identity and Conclusion. I have exasperated myself trying to build Kylo up as a more threatening villain and believe I succeeded in the first two films. In this film, he is even more established as a villain, but one with a glaring weakness… Caring for Rey. There’s been a ton of analysis about Kylo as a Dark Skywalker compared to Anakin and then Rey as a light Palpatine and the theme of reversals and family yada-yada-ya… To me, the main point here is that we saw what being controlled by attachment did to a Light Anakin, it turned him. Now we see the flipside of someone Dark being controlled by attachment, and it will break him and cause him to leave his Empire behind. His relentless pursuit of Rey will be his undoing. However, these actions show someone who is controlled by passion, by an infatuation, and his pursuit doesn’t make him a good person. I felt like it was so jarring when he become “good” because he didn’t do anything to deserve that title. He stalked Rey, killed billions of innocents, and then Leia says “Ben”, he sees his father and suddenly he’s a good little boy? No way, and especially not after how I’ve re-written him. There is no turning to the Light redemption arc for Kylo as I have made it clear through the earlier movies that he is not a good person. Once you start down the Dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny. This doesn’t mean he must continue to be a ruler of evil, but there is no way he is suddenly good after all he has done. It’s now more along the lines of how he is tired of people controlling him, and he feels like he can forge his own path with Rey. Kylo will be deeply disturbed as he realizes his mother died to save him, but we won’t see him turn to the light here. His motivations will remain much darker, more conflicted conflicted and somewhat mysterious. We will see him contemplate his future on the Capital of the First Order before showing up on Exegol solely to continue his pursuit of Rey. He doesn’t fight Palpatine because he wants to be redeemed. He goes there for selfish reasons. After Rey dies in his arms, his pain is deeply apparent and he will go to Tatooine to bury Rey and Leia’s lightsabers himself. We leave his character in a saddened grey state. We know he left the First Order as it fails, but there really isn’t a place for Kylo in the New Republic after his crimes, so he becomes a wanderer, more of a recluse or Gray Jedi to carry on the memories of Luke, Leia, Han, Rey, and the Jedi.

4. Palpatine’s Return. I fully understand the return of Palpatine comes out of nowhere when you look at the trilogy as a whole, and the pacing of the reveal isn’t executed well, but the edits without him simply don’t have enough content to sustain a full movie. To me, a Star Wars movie can’t be 95 minutes, it doesn’t feel like a part of the saga at that point. Since this is a Legends cut, obviously Palpatine returns there so it isn’t really a problem that he returns, but how it’s pulled off. I have made a number of significant changes to adjust how the Emperor is presented in this story. First, Palpatine is a clone that wants to be restored to full strength, much more along the lines of Legends. Second, Palpatine didn’t “make” Snoke, he WAS Snoke. His spirit embodied one of the clone failures and he hid his identity as he constructed his fleet. Third, in theatrical his motivations for wanting Rey were all over the place and his plans became incoherent. Now, he has wanted Rey alive the entire time so she could kill him and he could possess her. Ever since she was a child he has been looking for a body to be his host. Fourth, with my Rey nobody storyline he
   isn’t a creepy grandpa, just the same Palpatine we know and love. Fifth, and most importantly, the legacy of the Chosen One is preserved through his death. Using incredible work from Youtubers and fan editors, Anakin will transfer his ghost into Rey’s body as he says “This is the end for you, my master,” and kill Palpatine himself. I hope you are as blown away with the results as I am with how differently this battle will play out! Everything has changed.

5. Lore breaking moments. This was my #1 worst part about TRoS. Rey’s god-tier force healing, Kylo’s god-tier force healing, Leia dying out of nowhere from sending a force-mail, “Rey Skywalker”, Finn suddenly having the force, Finn sensing a radio transmission through the force, “they fly now?”, Rey killing the Emperor and ruining the legacy of the Chosen One, “No, that Holdo maneuver is one in a million!” etc. There are FAR too many to list right now. I need to tackle them as they come up in my edit. These moments will be detailed in my changelist.

I will be inspired by and using content from FGR’s Rise of the Emperor, krausfadr’s TRoS:RESURGENCE, and HAL’s TRoS:Ascendant, along with my own personal contributions from editing theatrical release. At some point I may look to include a few ideas or clips from the Movies Remastered cut, but as that is still without a release date I will begin work without it. I also firmly believe that a Star Wars film must be at least 2 hours and anything less harms the movie. There must be a way to pace out the story to that length, even with the edits, or I will have failed.

Changelist:

ACT I

• Replaced title to “Legacy of the Force” (Inspired by https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Legacy_of_the_Force)
• New crawl:

Episode VIX

LEGACY OF THE FORCE

All who dared to speak the name
Luke Skywalker are silent, slaughtered
by the merciless KNIGHTS OF REN. The
tyrannical FIRST ORDER crushes any system that rebels.

Leia, sensing a looming dark presence,
sends her brave agents across the stars
to unite the disparate worlds in the
name of Resistance.

Rey, heir of the teachings of Luke Skywalker,
continues training with her new master, Leia.
Together, they stand as the last hope
for balance in the galaxy…

• As my two previous cuts did, we open up with Rey as the focus. Palpatine won’t be revealed until much later as suspense about this mysterious Sith fleet is built. Panning from a planet shot down to her training, the whole ST now opens about the growth of Rey with each opening scene showing her development as a character.
• I removed Rey’s overly annoyed grunt as she is meditating. She gets her frustration across to the audience in a much more adult-like manner in her following discussion with Leia.
• Kylo co-induces a vision with Rey during her training. This vision uses scenes from my past edits and other edits listed in my source material. These changes to the vision better display that the two are still linked and that Kylo is using their connection to pull Rey to the Dark. This is the first scene that we see of Kylo.
• After Rey tells Leia she needs a break from training, we now cut to Kylo’s mask re-forging scene with the added Knights of Ren Dialogue. Removed the Stormtrooper’s awkward commentary in the hallway. Moving this scene here keeps the focus of the film on the Rey and Kylo conflict which is the most interesting dynamic of the trilogy.
• Trimmed the jest about Kylo’s appearance in the board meeting. Looks like this movie picks right up with the denigrating our main villain trend… Now, after Hux says, “No sir,” another Officer interrupts as if he is tired of the silliness. Same. I have trimmed the choke of this Officer to not slam him into the ceiling. No need to try and one-up the OT at every chance. Removed all mentions of Palpatine to preserve the reveal. At this point we have 0 tangible clues of Palpatine, and everything has been about rumors of a mysterious Sith fleet and cultists.
• Right after the last Kylo line in the board meeting, “Crush any worlds that defy us,” I cut straight into the extended Mustafar battle scene from [21C Peasant]. We end with Kylo discovering the Wayfinder as we hear a ghastly voice saying, “Gooooood…” It now seems like Kylo finds this Wayfinder as more of a destiny rather than seeing all this stuff right after the crawl. We now have Kylo as a Supreme Leader already in the minds of the viewers, so his battle scenes are more badass.
• Instead of the Wayfinder zoom-in shot transitioning to Kylo flying to Exegol, it now fades into Hyperspace for the opening scenes of Poe and Finn. I’m trying to slow the lightspeed pacing of the Palpatine reveal and build the mystery of the Sith fleet rather than info dumping in the first 3 minutes.
• The chess scene takes place while the crew is in hyperspace, minus Klaud (his appearances are nothing more than a joke about a goofy looking alien). They drop out of hyperspace after the game with a shot having been modified here [FX by poppasketti].
• Replaced Finn’s first line “Artoo” with “Look sharp” [dgraham414 idea]. Small change, but this line feels far less contrived when you compare the deliveries.
• Removed lightspeed skipping sequence. It is an absurd concept never before seen in Star Wars. Now, the Falcon bursts through the ice wall while jumping to hyperspace, and the pursuing TIEs peel off, ending the scene [visual FX by poppasketti]
• Moved the scene of Rey reading Luke’s notes and the Falcon arriving to just after Poe’s hyperspace jump. Now it seems as if more time has passed since Rey and Leia last spoke which, again, helps slow the pacing of the first Act.
• Took some focus off the “lightspeed skipping” in the landing conversation. I did leave one mention about how it damaged the falcon, but I’m going to go with the idea that “lightspeed skipping” was how they blasted through the ice wall, “skipping” some of the “lightspeed” safety protocols. Rey and Poe talk so fast in this scene that it’s easy to miss details and I do think it’s important to get the point across that the Falcon was damaged on the mission while Rey trained in the force.
• Trimmed and completely rearranged the Resistance briefing scene to remove Poe and others’ references to Palpatine. Exegol is still described by C3PO as a Sith world and this is what scares/surprises everyone. Moved the line “secrets only the Sith knew” to be spoken as Rey is picking up the book. [krausfadr] As my Palpatine reveal is being delayed, we now see that both the Resistance and First Order are aware of Sith cultists raising a fleet on Exegol, so we start to understand that the race is on for who will reach it first.
• Cut Rey’s line to Leia “find the Emperor.” Now Leia is just saying no to a Rey to Exegol mission because she doesn’t think she has trained her well enough.
• The Falcon’s flight from the jungle moon to Pasaana is now one continuous sequence. With the way I’ve restructured Act 1, it’s best to keep the focus on our protagonists for now.
• During the first Rey-Ren force conversation, cut references to Palpatine, and cut Ren’s line about turning Rey to the dark side. He just says he’ll find her and she’ll take his hand. [krausfadr]
• Trimmed the length of the joke around C3PO turning around and looking like a doofus. I actually do think 3PO shines with some humor throughout this movie with a little help in the editing department which is about the only time I’d say it works in the ST.
• Cut Finn’s line, “I’ve never seen so few Wayfinders” since that was delivered in a way for him to be the butt of a joke again. In my trilogy his character is taken much more seriously.
• After Kylo Ren says “I will find you,” cut him saying “…and turn you to the dark side.” What a ridiculous way to try and seduce someone away from their friends. You’re not supposed to blatantly announce your plans like that. Kylo’s whole shtick has been trying to get Rey to trust him and take his hand, and this makes it too in your face how that is something she wouldn’t want to do. It’s much more menacing when he is trying to befriend her.
• Moved the scene back in which Rey’s necklace is reported to be traced to Pasaana aboard the Star Destroyer for better pacing. Now we see Rey’s panic as she runs to her friends to warn them that they’re about to be in trouble.
• Used a foreign language dub for a milder delivery of Lando’s chauffeur’s one line. [HAL] Theatrical was another extremely weird alien joke.
• Removed the “tHeY fLy nOw?!” gag. In Legends, we know that jetpacks have been commonplace technology for… Nevermind, no explanation needed.
• Rey does not recognize Ochi’s ship. This is to preserve the lore of the new story with Rey and her parents. Ochi’s ship is not intended to be the same one that left her on Jakuu.
• As they all sink in the sand, I removed Finn telling Rey, “I never told you—“ as well as all following references to it. Finn is not force-sensitive in my edit because as Han said best, “That’s not how the force works.” You don’t just realize you have the force at 24 years old. Even Rey, who wasn’t trained for decades, wasn’t surprised when she had the force because she has known there was something different about her tknowledge of her powers due to the trauma of how she killed her parents with it as a child.
• Cut the middle school YouTube comedy sketch where Leia tells the Resistance guy to be more optimistic. It now ends with him saying “The Falcon’s not responding," preserving the tone of the scene and the movie as a whole.
• Cut the flashlight v lightsaber gag. By now, you know that I think that this type of attempted humor is inconsistent with previous Star Wars content. Poe hasn’t been a jokester in my trilogy so there’s no need to start now.
• Poe now doesn’t hate bones. He’s a veteran of many battles, I’m sure he’s seen worse than a skeleton…
• Rey does not have god-tier force healing in my cut since that sort of power would take a lifetime to learn as a Jedi. Instead, as she hears instructions from Luke’s voice, she now wields a simple form of Beast Control on the serpent, similar to what Anakin did to the Reek. She pacifies the beast as it senses a symbiotic relationship with her through the force and it leaves them all alone.
• Rey doesn’t perfectly slice Kylo’s wing off because that move is something that would be difficult for even a Jedi Master. Instead, she only backflips over his ship which is a much more believable feat given her training thus far. Intercut her landing with Finn yelling her name to pace out the move.
• In addition to Rey’s overly powerful attack, there’s no possible way Kylo survives the type of crash he has there. At best he would be mortally wounded, not unscratched and able to rip a frigate out of the sky with the force. I was in pure shock in theater when I saw how insane this was. Using [visual FX by DonKamillo], Kylo’s intact fighter is now rotoscoped into the scenes where the wreckage used to be.
• Added new shot of Ochi’s ship taking off with the heroes as Kylo Ren watches in order to slightly slow the pace [visual FX by poppasketti]. Thought it was a nice touch to end Act 1 with another pacing adjustment.

ACT 2

• As we enter the middle stage of the story, all we know so far is that there is a Sith fleet and cultists on Exegol. We also heard Palpatine whispering to Kylo on Mustafar. After Rey tells Finn that she had a vision of her on the Sith throne, Kylo now clearly hears Palpatine’s voice in his head telling him that the Final Order is almost ready and that he will be the new Emperor. The Emperor instructs him to come to Exegol and this is when we see Kylo fly there. This is the perfect place to place the reveal because we still don’t know what form the Emperor will be in or what his goals are, preserving the mystery that I’ve been building up for the last 35 minutes.
• Palpatine tells Kylo “I am Snoke” instead of “I made Snoke” [audio by Fixing Disney Star Wars YT channel] & Replaced the vat of cloned Snokes with cloned Palpatine’s [FX by poppasketti]. Palpatine says that his current body is a dying “clone abomination” to tie in better to the Legends story of him instead of the repeated RotS fan-service line. [audio by Fixing Disney Star Wars YT channel] These changes clearing up Palpatine’s cloning completely change the perception of who/what he is and make his intentions for Kylo and Rey actual, devious, and smart plans instead of his theatrical nonsensical motivations.
• Removed the slight electrical crackle as Palpatine reveals his hands [FX by skenera]. Too fan-servicey and doesn’t make sense for his failing clone body to show off powers like that.
• Palpatine says to “Find the girl” instead of “Kill the girl” [audio by Fixing Disney Star Wars YT channel]. Again, this is to keep him with a consistent and cunning plan throughout the film. He’s been pursuing a new body for decades as he led the Resistance to believe lies about Snoke and underestimate his true plans. He’s had his eyes on Rey since she was a girl after learning of her past.
• Cut Palpatine and Ren’s dialogue about Rey not being what she seems. This is to preserve the “Rey nobody” storyline.
• Transition from the Exegol scene to the scene where Poe and crew brainstorm a new plan. Cut the hand holding gag as it’s another drawn out, painfully forced humor attempt.
• After we see the Knights of Ren ship in pursuit, we transition to the Falcon being pulled into the Star Destroyer, but Chewie is not revealed to be alive until Rey senses him from Kijimi. The reveal with Hux and Pryde has been replaced with the BB-8 scene on the Ochi ship. Such a cheap reveal for the fake-out death, it’s much more powerful when we realize Chewie is alive later on.
• Cut Rey talking about knowing Ochi’s ship. She doesn’t know, as her parent’s ship is a totally different ship in my edit [recolor FX by krausfadr].
• Move the Chewie as prisoner scene right after Rey senses him in orbit. Now it’s an actual shock that he’s alive, and much better revealed by Rey rather than Hux.
• Trimmed the mind trick gag. It’s one of the cringiest in the whole film and so inappropriately timed for a life and death rescue of Chewie.
• Trimmed Poe’s one-liner upon being captured. He is not a goofball and it is uncalled for to make so many jokes when the fate of the galaxy is at stake.
• Cut the sound flashbacks when Rey picks up the dagger in Ren’s chambers. During Rey’s force conversation with Ren while she is on the Star Destroyer, removed references to her parents being good and Palpatine killing them. During their force conversation lightsaber battle, Ren taunts Rey, telling her, “It was Palpatine. He was looking for you. You remember what you did. You wanted your parents dead." We then see Rey as a child destroy her parent’s ship after they sold her. [Krausfadr] This change is crucial to why Rey has struggled with the Dark side this trilogy. She doesn’t have “dark side blood” because that’s not how the force works. Instead, she’s been harboring and suppressing a dark secret that has been eating her up inside. Kylo uses this to manipulate her anger so he can have her join him to defeat Palpatine and rule together.
• Trimmed yet another gag about Hux being the spy. I think Disney heard the comments about how people wanted more Poe and Finn chemistry and shoved in silliness at every turn instead of thinking through what actually made their TFA relationship enjoyable. Sad that I can’t add anything, but at least I can remove some.
• Cut Finn asking Hux why he’s the traitor. Worst. Motivation. Ever. Turns Hux’s entire arc in the trilogy to that of nothing more than a petulant child.
• Redubbed the entire conversation on Kylo’s ship between him and Rey. He talks about her killing her parents, how Palpatine has been watching both of them since they were children, and begs her to join him to kill Palpatine together. [audio by Fixing Disney Star Wars YT channel] And with this change, our narrative has come full circle! We now have consistent motives for Kylo, Rey, and Palpatine in an intersecting thread that ties them all together. No more “Kill Rey- no wait bring her to me- no wait actually kill her” nonsense. It’s clear what each of them wants and they stick with it.
• Rey doesn’t tell Finn that Palpatine had her parents killed. She says “I killed my mother. And my father” and that she’s going to kill Palpatine. [krausfadr] Rey wants someone to channel her anger at, and she is putting the blame of her killing her parents onto Palpatine. It’s a poor coping mechanism as it leads her further into darkness.
  The moon containing the wreckage of the second Death Star has been recontextualized as Endor, replacing what was Endor with an ice moon during the space establishing shot and moving the Ewok snippet up from the film’s climax. [Visual FX by poppasketti and snooker] Basic Star Wars lore consistency for the win!
• Removed Rey using the dagger as an impossible compass while surveying the wreckage of the second Death Star. “Sith whispers” have been added strategically to imply the dagger mystically guiding her to the Wayfinder. [HAL] The logic of theatrical made my stomach churn.
• Removed the hissing teeth Rey. I can’t believe how that made it through a storyboard. In fact, I removed the entire battle between Rey and Dark Rey. Now, Dark Rey only says “Don’t be afraid of who you are,” and then lunges at Rey once and that’s what knocks her over. When I watched theatrical, I thought Kylo was a vision too for the longest time, there’s no way to tell what’s real at this point and then when I realized he wasn’t a vision I felt like I missed so much. I’d rather keep the focus on a real Kylo instead of a random, tensionless battle against this weird vision.
• Cut Maz’s prediction commentary about Leia’s upcoming actions. These scenes are much more powerful with the focus only being on Leia, Kylo, and Rey.
• Rescored “Gra’tua Cuun” soundtrack into the Death Star fight. This battle feels so empty… It really needed some “Oomph!” and this track nails it.
• The way the Kylo v Rey duel ends is one of the biggest changes of the film. As Kylo is about to strike Rey, he hears Han yell “Ben!” and turns around to look. Upon seeing a specter of his dead father, he drops his lightsaber which Rey uses to stab Kylo. Rey immediately realizes she did this act in pure anger and the regret is immediately apparent on her face. That’s what her sadness and tears are about, not sensing Leia’s death. After Rey leaves, Leia gives her life to heal Kylo through the force. Similar to what we see the Daughter of Mortis do to save Ahsoka in the Clone Wars, we now see Leia do this to Kylo. This power is an intense Light side ability and it costs the user their life. He gets up and throws his lightsaber without any more visions of Han. We see Kylo broken up inside, but there is no indication that he is suddenly a good guy. This major change gives a more fitting way for Leia to pass, makes Rey continue down her path to the Dark side, and reframes the reason Kylo chases after Rey. We then go back and forth between the Resistance learning of Leia’s death and Kylo contemplating what just happened.

ACT 3

• I have to point out that now when Palpatine says, “The Princess of Alderaan has disrupted my plan,” to Pryde, it has a 100% different meaning. In theatrical, it was about Kylo turning to the Light Side, now in my cut we realize that Palpatine’s plan was for Kylo to die all along and Leia saving him threw everything off. Palpatine was using Kylo as nothing more than a tool to bring Rey to him in a vulnerable state as she was the host he truly desired, not another failed Skywalker. You can see the disdain Palpatine/Snoke has had against Vader, Luke, and Skywalkers in general throughout this trilogy so it makes a ton of sense that Palpatine only manipulated Kylo with the intention of throwing him away for Rey in the end. Now THAT’S a Darth Sidious plan, baby!
• Cut the Kijimi planet destruction… Too… many… And every single Star Destroyer having a Death Star laser is absurdity to the highest degree.
• After Palpatine talks to Pryde, we go to a brief scene of Poe learning that the Final Order is imminent, and then he goes to Leia’s body for advice. Then we go to Ach-To, then back to Poe and Finn. Much better flow of events for character building and passage of time this way.
• Added scene of Kylo glaring out at the First Order Capital as he contemplates what his next actions should be. He doesn’t look like a good guy. [FX by Hyperspace-Cuts, soundtrack by SoundtrackMix]
• Added extra night establishing shot after Rey’s return to Ach-to to show more time passing. Regraded the scenes on Ach-to so they begin at dusk and continue into the night.[krausfadr]
• Luke doesn’t ask Rey, “wHaT aRe yOu dOiNg?" as his tone is way out of character for how I’ve built him.
• In Rey’s conversation with Luke, cut Luke’s mention of Rey being a Palpatine. Also cut Luke talking about how he was wrong to be on Ach-To for consistency with my previous edits.
• Removed Luke teaching Rey about the “destiny of a Jedi”, now the focus is all on her as an individual and “Your destiny”. Edited some more lines to make the focus of her going to Palpatine to be singularly about ending the war, not anything about the role of a True Jedi as my previous cuts have already established that the Jedi are all but finished.
• Leia’s lightsaber blade has been recolored to purple throughout. Carrie Fisher expressed a preference for this color of saber in a TFA-era interview, and it is more visually striking in the Exegol setting which helps the audience track which saber is which, particularly following a restored Leia line before Rey prominently uses her saber. [FX by skenera]
• I also need to mention that in my cut, Luke’s explanation of why Leia stopped training actually makes sense this time around. In theatrical it was because she had a vision that Kylo would die if she doesn’t stop training. So at the end of that movie… Kylo dies anyway? So why did she stop training? Her vision was wack? What? Well, now in my cut Kylo doesn’t die so this plot hole is erased, and enhances her character!
• Before Rey is finished on Ach-to, cut to the scene of Finn with the little cone face droid to show more time passing on Ach-to and to also show Rey sensing Finn.
• Added a sunrise establishing shot of Ach-to with Rey sleeping. Rey now is on Ach-to in the morning as Luke raises the X-Wing out of the water. Regraded the sky so it is blue instead of overcast as Luke raises the X-Wing. [krausfadr] Adding time passage in this movie does wonders to slow down how fast it felt in theatrical.
• Removed C-3PO getting his memory back. Too many fake-out deaths and it’s not unbearably sad for him to start over with his friends.
• Removed the line about the Holdo maneuver. It didn’t happen in my trilogy.
• Cut Finn getting “a feeling” about the transmission changing locations. That’s impossible, even with the force. He still figures it out, but we can assume it was a technical readout or a good strategic analysis rather than sensing radio waves.
• Removed some cringe from the Horse charge. Forced dialogue was forced.
• Removed all Palpatine talk about him being related to Rey. Now his focus is just on getting him to kill her so he can possess her. Consistency edits for my changes above.
• Replaced the Imperial TIE Kylo took to Exegol with an Imperial shuttle, because ANH had made a point to establish that TIEs don’t have hyperdrives, whereas shuttles have been depicted onscreen as using them. [FX by poppasketti]
• Added a Psalm of the Sith audio edit from [Hyperspace-Cuts] when Palpatine introduces his cultists. More epic.
• Cut Kylo saying “Ow,” when he jumps on the chain. Why make a joke here? Everything is sad, dark, and intense, so we make an “Owie that hurt” chuckle moment? No. No we do not.
• Just highlighting an earlier edit, now when Rey is preparing to hand Kylo the lightsaber we realize that she is overwhelmed that Kylo survived her mistake, and her face says it all. The moment is so much better.
• Moved the scene where the Rebel reinforcements arrive to after the Palpatine death. In theatrical, it is placed right after Kylo and Rey lose to Palpatine, so the joyous and hopeful tone comes out of nowhere and is so tonally inconsistent with the main drama going on. Moving it back to after the Rey v Palpatine conflict makes it seem like what is happening in the main conflict of the entire film reflects upon the battle, just like in RotJ!
• Alright, the main event… The Rey V Palpatine battle. This is the biggest change of the entire movie. Using incredible [FX/audio work from Force Ghost Live & jonh], the way all of this ends is almost completely unrecognizable compared to theatrical. With new voice lines, soundtracks, and new force ghosts, Rey is now truly the embodiment of the former Jedi so that the Jedi and Sith can destroy each other once and for all. And there’s only one person who was destined to deliver the killing blow… The Chosen One. The prophecy is preserved as Anakin’s force ghost possesses Rey’s body to kill Palpatine once and for all, and as both Jedi and Sith fade away… at least, there is balance.
• Added a cacophony of voices to the appearance of the civilian fleet to the battle. Several craft can be heard signing in via comm, and a few cheer “For Skywalker!” during the charge in order to tie into Luke’s Inspiring act at the Battle of Crait [credit to everyone HAL credits in his cut] This moment now occurs right after Palpatine dies. Poe turns the corner and surprise! A huge fleet of reinforcements! The new placement of this scene is amazing for the impact!
• Cut Poe saying “They’re toast!” That… is not a Star Wars phrase.
• When Rey dies, she doesn’t come back and Kylo lives. See OP for explanation.
• Adjusted all following scenes and lines about Rey being alive.
• After a trimmed Resistance celebration sequence, Kylo flies the Falcon to Tatooine [vfx by JXEdtior] and buries the sabers himself as Luke and Leia look on. He then leaves Tatooine and flies away as we transition into the “Broom Boy” sequence from TLJ, showing that the legend of Luke Skywalker will be told for eternity.

Thanks for your support and interest in the Star Wars Legends Sequel Trilogy! I will continue updating the films, but I am waiting on some other edits/VFX to be released to integrate in.

tomdocking01 said:

Could I please have a link, sounds really interesting

Sent. If you like it, make sure to check out my TLJ edit too!

Delpheas said:

I will, once I have v2 uploaded. Should be in the next day or so.

Awesome! Think it will be ready by tomorrow? My wife is watching Star Wars for the first time and we’re just finishing up TCW up to SoM, and all signs point to me using your edit as our next film!

Red lightning is certainly appropriate here. The hinted lore is that it’s the most version of lightning, and aside from looking much better visually for the shot, it would signify a Palpatine at his peak, especially considering how he used the lightning to such powerful effects.

I believe I’m going to begin work on my Episode 9 cut tomorrow so be on the lookout for a new thread. I would say the next film is still weeks-months away from having a released version, but I’m ready to begin the process.

After I release that workprint and see my whole trilogy I will go back through and release the final cuts.

I’d love to see the latest version when it’s done soon, thanks!

Could you send me a link to this? Jus about to finish my Clone Wars rewatch and would love to wrap it up with this!

Delpheas said:

I think DigModification’s Heir to the Force edit simply has it happen as a result of the Base being destroyed.

And can you go into a little more detail regarding the main reasons this scene is bad enough to be cut? I don’t love it myself, but am currently at a position of not thinking it leaves a viewer with a negative experience by going through it. I’d really take into consideration your thoughts though. Thanks!

Delpheas said:

So I watched this with my wife, who also watched HotF with me. We really enjoyed it, and definitely appreciated the attempts to make Luke feel more consistent with the OT and Legends. The pacing was MUCH better and the inclusion of a number of deleted scenes helped with that.

Nice, glad to hear as a whole it was an improvement or at least a new enjoyable experience for you. Thanks so much for writing out this lengthy review. It will really help me refine for the final version. I’ll go through your points and see what I can fix.

Here’s the notes we had on things that we thought were weird or needing improvement.

Like I said in my other post, I think the shots of Luke & Rey staring at each other from a distance don’t work if we’ve already seen them as a vision. It is especially weird to have the shot of her holding the lightsaber out to him from a distance and then without the shots of her walking to him have her handing it to him. So just trim out the repeated shots of the staring and have her hand it to him asap.

After Luke hands Rey back the lightsaber, cut her putting it in the pack, just go right to him storming past her. I get the impulse, but it’s not really necessary.

I’ll definitely take another look at this whole interaction and try to tighten it up so the exchange feels more natural.

The cut to Luke saying “you think what, I came to the most unfindable place in the galaxy for no reason at all?” is rough, it feels like something is missing.

You feel like it is missing something at what point in that phrase? Before, in the middle, or at the end?

During lesson 1, right before Luke smacks Rey’s hand, she says something really garbled. I get what you were trying to do with trimming the joke down, but unless you can just have her reach out and get hit without the weird cut of her talking, I think it would be better to leave the full joke.

Hmm, I’d rather cut it all if the whole joke has to be in it. They’re talking over each other in theatrical so I tried to splice it so it happens really quickly but maybe it’s too confusing without the context. I’ll see if anyone else feels the same and if so I might just remove it all. I wanted to show Luke with a little bit of ESB Yoda-like behavior, but it’s not terribly important if the cut detracts from the scene.

I really like the training montage, however by having it in the middle of the lesson, and ending on the lesson, it doesn’t quite give the impression of time passing. It needs something else, maybe a recolor at the end to give the impression it’s not the same day.

I was banking on the inclusion of some of the training segments occurring at night being the indicator that days had gone by. Did the night time shots not give the impression that time was passing during the montage?

Also intercutting Kylo’s mask when the ground breaks kinda took away from the impact of being with Rey & Luke. Cutting right to Kylo after Luke says his thing about sensing that raw power before is enough to establish what he means.

The intention was more to explain the Kylo/Rey mind link. Her venture to the dark was tied into the future connection between her and Kylo. But again, sometimes a good intention is more distracting than leaving things unchanged so I’ll re-evaluate that.

During the fleet escape I don’t think cutting to Kylo’s broken mask on the floor adds anything, it kinda felt like an artifact.

It kind of was. More of a callback to a Vader scene of telling someone to prepare his ship, and we also get to see that state of his mask which is great imagery. But it is sort of forced into that area of my cut, so I’ll try and find somewhere else I can move it rather than cut it outright.

Kylo taking the shot on Leia is well done.

Thanks. Do you think it is better for his character to ‘kill’ her rather than his hesitancy in theatrical?

And Luke saving Leia/them doing it together makes it feel like a much stronger moment and cuts down on how much focus is on Leia’s still body shooting through space. My wife and I really liked this moment, it was really poignant.

Awesome! I’m always nervous to include any of the Space Leia scene, but I also felt like this edit really worked. The power of the Skywalker bond!

During Rey’s training the cut from “the legacy of the Jedi is failure” to the fleet is both musically and “lyrically” upsetting. By lyrically I mean, it feels like there is more to what luke was saying and it got cut off, and the musical cut is too abrubt. I was really enjoying this training sequence and it was over too soon imo. Maybe even having Luke repeat the line “It’s time for the Jedi to end” again here could help.

Agreed. It is too abrupt and I really struggled with getting it even to that flawed state. It’s very difficult to find a smooth transition to the next part of the story here, but I do need to find an alternate solution. I’ll try to play with your suggestion, maybe even recut the timing of the “It’s time for the Jedi to end” line so it seems different than the other time he says it.

Finn messing with Rose’s hair during their break in is an odd moment that doesn’t add to characterisation and isn’t really good humor. I would cut it.

True, I didn’t even pay attention to that at first, but now that I see it I don’t like it. Cut!

I think there should a moment or two longer with Snoke after he “welcomes” Rey aboard.

Believe it or not, I didn’t actually cut anything there. Theatrical cuts at that same spot so there really isn’t any footage I can add in. I do agree with you though that it should linger at least another second, but there simply isn’t any footage of that.

In the Yoda scene, as much as I enjoy the scene, I don’t know that it adds anything to this version of the film. In the theatrical it’s part of Yoda teaching Luke, but in your edit Luke already learned the lesson of failure. It’s what he’s been teaching Rey, so for Yoda to tell it to Luke doesn’t work, especially with Luke’s facial reactions. Maybe some trims will help. Idk.

I was trying to show that Yoda also has reached the same conclusion that Luke has, that the Jedi must end. Yesterday, I re-watched the Clone Wars arc of Yoda’s journey, and I feel this scene is very consistent with what he learned. I’ll go through this scene and see if I can alter some of the face shots or something that will make it feel more thematically focused. I want Luke to feel comforted that his old master is supporting his decisions.

If you can, adding a shot of Holdo on one of the transports before it blows will help, because my wife was wondering what happened to her and I shouldn’t have to explain what was going on based off your notes.

Of course, the story should make sense without having to read an explanation. I don’t see any way to visually add a believable death scene for Holdo. There is an audio line that states that Holdo is onboard a transport, perhaps you missed that? I think the best I can do with her is keep that audio line and have the audience deduce that she died before making it to Crait. It’s not perfect, but I don’t have any other way to write her out of the story.

I think you should include Kylo’s version of the events at the temple, it’s part of him getting Rey to doubt Luke as a teacher, part of him tempting her and is necessary I think.

I considered it, but the problem is that then there is no resolution to his lie. That would be the last time this flashback is ever referenced and so people might start to believe that’s what actually happened, and that is something I wanted to run away from. In theatrical, Rey confronts Luke about Kylo’s “lie” and Luke confirms the truth. I have cut that whole discussion so now there is no way to resolve that Kylo’s lie is actually a lie. It would be weird of Rey to hear this side of things and then never bring it up to Luke after that, so I don’t think there’s any way for me to include this.

I don’t know if this is a you issue or a FGR issue, but in the shots of Luke after he retracts his blade, you can see it’s Anakin’s hilt, not Luke’s.

It wasn’t originally from FGR, but a professional VFX company. Unfortunately that’s all the VFX work that was included. I don’t have any way to add the hilt into the other scenes in a way that fits with their work, so sadly I think that has to remain as an annoying inconsistency.

And in the film Luke’s “I won’t be the Last Jedi” as it showed Leia was a really nice moment.

Great! I’m trying to set up some Episode 9 changes with that inclusion. I’ll start writing on that soon.

Also, having watched the whole film, my suggestion for needing some visual context for the WbtW, such as showing the island fading away from Luke still stands. My wife was completely thrown, and while I appreciate the attempt to have ambiguity, there’s a difference between ambiguity and having no in-film context for what’s going on. But it was still cool to see Leia and Rey sensing him there. Well done!

Has she seen Rebels? I don’t doubt that without proper understanding of the WbtW it would be very confusing. As a standalone movie, it should never include anything that completely confuses new viewers. However, I would also say my cut is not intended to be the best experience for people who don’t have a very deep understanding of Star Wars. The reason behind my Legends edits in the first place isn’t something that someone could clearly gleam only from only the movies, so my edits are meant to be watched with the context of KOTOR, TCW, and Rebels etc.

Overall really well done. Looking forward to what you put together next.

I’m getting ready to engage with the No Palps edit again, cus after watching these two edits, I can’t imagine a version of tRoS with him in it that works at all.

Thanks! I still need to watch the No Palps edit, and part of the reason for my delay on working on my TRoS edit is that it is a daunting task to fix, even moreso than TLJ.

Edit: After some more thoughts, I have to wonder about the effectiveness of some of this ecits goals. I think it succeeded it a lot of ways, but there are some aspects about Luke that I want to address.

In this edit you are attempting to do away with the part of TLJ where Luke is there to die and has cut himself off from the Force. That he’s ready and able to help those he cares about.

This raises the issue however of why he wasn’t helping in TFA. Why didn’t he prevent Starkiller base from firing, why didn’t he save Han, (and why doesn’t he know Han is dead) why did he only start helping after Rey showed up?

If he wasn’t helping before what is the impetus for doing so now?

It’s a valid question. I would say that all of Luke’s activity in TLJ is due to the threats against Leia. He has a special force bond with her. Luke wouldn’t necessarily be able to sense Han nearly in the same way that he can with Leia, so there’s no reason for him to know when or how Han died. He doesn’t have a force bond with him. The only acts of greatness in TLJ are Luke intervening for Leia. Not fighting a war, not getting involved in NR politics, but simply saving Leia. Also the fact that Rey physically shows up in front of him is something that motivates him to teach and become more active instead of simply studying and maintaining his balance.

And if reading the Jedi texts is what brought him his better understanding of the force, why attempt to burn the books? Again, this scene only confuses your narrative more. Are the texts good? Or bad? If they’re bad and him burning them is good, then in the next film Rey having them should lead her down a bad path, but if the texts are helpful, like they are in RoS and are what helped Luke, then burning them needs to go.

After seeing that Rey had failed his training, he felt like the lesson itself is too dangerous. He realized some of the flaws of the Jedi in the texts, but Rey’s fascination with the Jedi took her down a dark path so Luke felt that it was better if those texts were destroyed entirely, because Rey didn’t understand his teachings. The texts aren’t inherently good or bad, it’s what lessons you take from them that matters.

And during the third lesson, when he’s explaining that according to the texts “a true Jedi only acts to maintain balance, but that’s bs cus thr galaxy needs people who are always ready to help.” you need to clarify what lesson us and Rey are supposed to take from this. Is she only supposed to act when she can maintain balance even if people die, or should she save her friends? It was unclear. I would suggest trying to have him say that the OLD jedi are the ones who only act when trying to maintain balance, but a TRUE Jedi would be what the galaxy needs and save people. Or something.

I think this leads to a deeper discussion on what a True Jedi or an Old Jedi is, and what they would/should do. Luke is trying to teach Rey a simple lesson about intervention. He isn’t pointing to a definitive right or wrong, or attempting to resolve millennia of philosophical debate here. He’s merely showing Rey the different sides, her options, and the consequences of her actions.

And if possible these are things that need to be addressed in the film, and if you can’t make a change work cohesively in a way that is at least somewhat coherent to the viewer, my thought is that you might have to walk back a change or try a different approach.

TLJ is a film that was meant to spark debate. I think I would want my cut to do the same thing, but for different reasons. No, Luke’s new philosophy isn’t explained in depth, but I don’t think it has to be. Luke doesn’t even have all the answers in my cut. He is a powerful, and flawed force-user looking to do his best to make the galaxy a better place. That is to say that I don’t think there needs to be clear, definitive answers to these questions. Again, I will reference Yoda’s journey in TCW. You leave those episodes with a million questions. Does Yoda want the Jedi to end? To change? What’s his new philosophy of the force? Why doesn’t he tell others everything? None of these things are answered, but we can speculate his reasons, and that’s the fun part of it! I do wish there were ways to flesh out Luke’s stances because I find them so interesting, but I don’t think a lack of specific answers detracts so much from the film that the original goal has failed. I will show to a few more people, my own wife included, and if there is far too much confusion then I definitely would look into recutting a lot, but at least from my perspective now I don’t think there is anything that is so blatantly contradictory or confusing that it takes anything away from my goal.

Good luck!

Thanks so much for the well thought out review! I really enjoyed going through everything and I know my next release will be even better because of the time you took to help me. I appreciate it!

AntonioGK said:

Hi! can you send me the link, please?

AdroBit said:

Hey, can I get a link to both your TLJ and TFA edits? Would love to check them out!

Sent to both!

Delpheas said:

Watched the movie, here’s my thoughts:

Love the restructured opening, it feels so much less formulaic that way. Showing us Jakku before its peace is disturbed by the FO was a great choice.

Thanks. I was inspired by fan creations of the alternate openings of TFA with Luke’s floating hand or the Star Destroyer being pulled down and I thought a more serene sequence worked better than the rush of theatrical.

In general your edits were seamless and only added to the enjoyment of the film. TFA was already the best of the ST, but you elevated it by helping it not feel like a ANH rehash. I appreciate what you did to imply that the reason Han left was tied to Ben’s fall, and not him just being a jerk.

The visions throughout were great and helps the ST establish their own storytelling format distinct from the ones the PT and OT use.

I was torn between wanting to make the ST feel super different and also making it want to fit into the saga as a whole. I tried to blend a little bit of both so I’m glad that worked for you.

I have really only 2 thoughts for things to improve on:

From Hux “if the droid is on Jakku we’ll find it” to Rey eating, I think the wipe needs a softer gradient edge, possibly to be at an angle so it feels more Star Wars. It just looked weird.

You’re right, I do need to feather that wipe!

Delpheas said:
I would suggest not having the weapon fire on the New Republic at all. The destruction of the NR has no bearing on the next two films at all. In the next movie the Resistance says they’re not getting help from their allies, which could be seen simply as a continuation of the NR refusing to help. And then in the third film when the fleet shows up, it can be said by somebody that the Republic finally came through.

Aside from the fact the movies never explore the implications of the destruction of the galactic government, the plot point is one of those that serves to undo the OT, and just doesn’t need to happen.

Ice said:

I haven’t seen the edit yet, but i agree with Delpheas about the destruction of the New Republic, and how it leads to nothing. It’s better cut.

I do think the scene of the system being destroyed isn’t very powerful or necessary, though it’s more in there for the sequences around it. The way the whole final battle is cut is like a Death Star run gone wrong. Han dies, the NR is destroyed, and Finn is gravely wounded. If I do change this, how would you recommend recutting Starkiller so that Rey and Kylo are still separated? Right now it is the weapon firing that causes the planet to explode.

Jake Skywalker said:
I finally seen your edit. Great job! You managed to make to movie less an ANH remake and I especially like to work you have done with Rey, making her not the unrealistically overpowered character of the original cut.
I still have problem with the film per se; I can’t stand the idea of the First Order being an Empire ripoff and the laking of a brand new worldbuilding. But this is one of the core problems of the sequel trilogy and you have done a good job, given the poor source material. Bravo!

I appreciate the review, and I’m glad you enjoyed! I wish there was more I could do for the world building and such, as that was George Lucas’s biggest complaint about TFA as well, but alas there is only so much I’m able to touch up. The goal was to make something that could fit as a legends storyline somewhere after the old books, and I hope it lived up to the task.

lavoyd said:

May I please have a link to your TFA and TLJ edits? I really appreciate the outside the box approach you’re taking with these cuts.

Sent, thanks for your interest!

Jake Skywalker said:

Just finished your TFA edit… and your TLJ one seems really incredibile, due to the work you are doing with Luke. Can I have a link? Thanks!

Sent. Thanks for watching! Let me know what you think after viewing.

Delpheas said:

I suggest watching at least Resurgence and the No Palps edit for TRoS, just for two very different approaches to making changes.

Thanks for the suggestions. I watched Resurgence last week and will draw a few ideas from it. I’ve also seen the anti-cringe cut, but still need to check out the No Palps cut, HAL’s, and the Movies Remastered edit when that releases
(Might do a V2 of my TRoS edit eventually as the MR cut is still a ways away)

There are a few things in TRoS that draw on Legends plot points, like the hidden fleet, force clones, a revived Palps, even Rey’s parentage, but just pulling random pieces of lore and smooshing them together doesn’t make for good callbacks and doesn’t make up for the lack of showing Rey’s victory as a balancing of the light and dark.

True, and on the surface I’m cool with a lot of the ideas. I just don’t think they were implemented with care. My worst part of the entire film is the “I am all the sith”, “well I’m all the Jedi” lines. My goodness that shows a lack of understanding of anything about balance across the entire saga. If they were both equal representatives of their sides of the force then they should have evened out at a standstill. Or even if Rey won, the force would soon correct this by producing someone to wipe out the new jedi to even the score. Either way it’s a mess and displays a clear lack of understanding of the main theme of the force.

I haven’t watched HotF or FotJ yet, but I havee skipped around to look at some of the big changes.

1. Luke constantly saving Leia is excellent, it establishes him as a character who cares deeply but has succeeded in basically every way that his father failed. He was able to hold his attachments lightly enough to do what needed to be done to maintain balance, but not so lightly he forgot to care. And the way you implement these changes is really strong.

Nice to see you agree, thanks. Theatrical was legitimately depressing when it came to Luke and Leia’s relationship. I wanted to show that even though they were apart, Luke was always watching over his beloved sister, and she knew it. That’s the Skywalker bond.

2. When Rey arrives I would trim the lingering shots on her face and hand as she’s holding the saber to Luke. We already saw those in the vision in the last film, so I think this sequence would be helped by having her walk up and hand it to him sooner.

I actually did trim a lot of just what you’re saying. I’ll go through again to see if it can be smoothed out any more, but I had the same idea as you and did some work in that area.

3. I appreciate what you’ve done to remove the movie’s ridiculous attempt to have the entire plot fallout in like 3 days. A huge part of TLJ’s (and TRoS) problem was the pacing and it’s helped quite a bit here.

Ah yes, the constant insistence on how many hours of fuel remainins makes even Rey’s segments with Luke feel so unnecessarily rushed. The way I restructured Act 1 helps to push off that countdown timer until later, giving Rey actual time to learn… and sleep.

4. I wonder if it is necessary to keep Luke’s line “I will not be the last Jedi.” Him saying it at all goes against both his and Kylo’s insistence that what came before has to be surpassed, and in TLJ was certainly used to show that he had decided he was wrong about the Jedi. Though I am intrigued by his saying while showing Kylo a shot of Jedi Leia.

So I did toy with this line a lot, almost removed it. Decided it still worked and instead of the line being about Rey, in my cut it was about Leia, and here’s why… in Episode 9, Rey still clearly needs a teacher. Rey even calls her “master” and it was really off putting to me since it didn’t appear like Leia knew anything about the Jedi in 7 & 8. Showing that she is also a Jedi, as Luke is, should be a surprise for my viewers, and leave them anticipating more in the future. Also, since my film isn’t titled The Last Jedi, there isn’t so much emphasis on that one line. Luke is simply telling Kylo that he has underestimated his mother by fixating on killing Luke, and that may come back to haunt him in the future… Luke and Leia both trained as Jedi, but after Kylo, Luke realizes there shouldn’t be any new ones, although Leia already is a Jedi.

5. Finn and Rose’s plot is much helped by trimming Canto Bight and using some of their deleted material.

That’s the goal! I still want to maintain the basis of their friendship for a love triangle aspect (that never really goes anywhere…) while not dominating the movie with a “b plot”.

6. Keeping Kylo as the big bad is a good idea and well executed. It helps with this feeling less like an irreverent rehash of ESB and RotJ and more like it’s own solid Star Wars film.

Awesome, happy that worked for you. I read the novels and cannot find any reason for Kylo to be light or wavering after killing Han. It is so forced in there that it feels unnatural and weakens Kylo’s presence. They hinted at it non stop for 3 movies, making the payoff feel tired. If he turns in my cuts, it won’t be so obvious or clear cut. His weakness is caring for Rey.

7. When Luke is fighting Kylo and we get the shot of him in the WbtWs, I think their needs to be a shot where we see him meditating on the island and then it melts away to reveal the WbtW and he gets the blue tint of the Force Ghost. This way there’s some intro for people unfamiliar with Rebels and the WbtWs, it could be assumed he’s ascending, that he’s become one with the force without dying simply because he’s so powerful. And the blue tint provides visual continuity with his appearances in the next film. And we’ve already seen him helping out, so as you said above there is no big reveal that he can. So this final one needs some more oomph on his end.

Hmm, I kind of like that idea. Struggling to think of a way to implement it, ill ponder it for a V2. To counter that point, in my cut I wanted this reveal to be more ambiguous and open to interpretation… maybe I missed the mark. Luke is a force ghost in the WbtWs, meaning that he has already passed away as one in the living force. Did this happen ala Ben Kenobi when Kylo cut through him and he faded away? Or perhaps… was Luke a force ghost in the WbtWs the entire film, having ascended long ago? Was he an illusion from the start, being projected as a real person from the WbtWs? What say you on that theory?

Anyway, those are a bunch of my thoughts. I’ll be more thorough once I’ve been able to watch both films back to back.

Thanks for your hard work!

Thank you so much for the well thought out message. I really appreciate that and love reading everyone’s thoughts. Let me know after you get a chance to sit down and watch through everything, would be interested to see if any of your thoughts change!

ObiOneKanoli said:

May I also get a link to both your versions of TFA and TLJ?

Thanks in advance!

You’re welcome, have fun!

Delpheas said:

Very excited to watch this and HttF, and really intrigued to see how you fix TRoS’ mess of new material and badly done Legends references.

Excited to see how my cuts change the experience for you, for better or for worse!

One of the reasons I’m taking a bit of a break before starting TRoS is one, to rest after putting nearly 100 hours of work into TFA and TLJ, and two, to take time to watch other Ep. 9 edits and gather my own ideas. I think TRoS has less potential for Legends fixes than TLJ did, so while I have some big picture ideas for my next edit, I still have a lot of research and planning ahead before I even open my editing software.

In TLJ I was able to flip character motivations and arcs, but in TRoS it’s going to be more about managing the saga/lore destroying themes… I have plans for Leia, Kylo and Rey, but there’s still a lot I need to process. Ep. 9 is my least watched Star Wars film at only 3 completions, so I need to get a better grip on JJ’s story before trying to transform it into my own.

Delpheas said:

Oh, I am so excited for this. I would love a link!

Cool! Sent it to you.

jonh said:

Hello! could i get a link? 😃

Cinefy said:

pm me a link. sounds very promising!

majoras_wrath said:

Can I also get a link?

Sent to all three!