Acbagel

Definitely will miss Carl/Karga, was a cool character and he did a great performance. I don’t think I’ll need to adjust anything around his passing though as I am of the opinion that we will not be getting a Mando Season 4. I believe the coming two Din/Grogu/Ahsoka movies in 2026+ will continue their story instead of the show for the foreseeable future.

Darth Sadifous said:

I like EddieDeans structure proposal and I am eager to see how it plays out. I do need to go back and watch your original book five when I have a moment as it has been a minute. I am all for extending the Grogu and Din separation as much as possible, as Jon Faverau said in an interview I believe they were supposed to be apart for three years and honestly it does not even feel like three weeks in the original show.

Going well so far, I just about have a full rough draft of the new Book 5 which is a much more traditional Book of Boba Fett edit akin to my previous attempts at it. It definitely keeps the focus off Grogu and makes his absence noticeable, which should carry deep into my Book 6 as well. The original Favreau quote gets misinterpreted a lot as the “2 or 3 years” comment was in reference to real-life time from Mando Season 2 ending. He later clarified the in-universe timeline saying, “So now, I think somewhere in there, more than one and less than, you know, somewhere between zero and two years.” Still not a great quote and they have left it open-ended for whatever reason, but he seems to start to say “more than one year and less than two” before going back to more of a vague timeline. I think it’s safe to say it should seem that Din and Grogu are apart for at least a full year, whereas in the presented Disney content it feels like a couple of weeks as you mentioned.

As for trying to make Boba part of the retaking of Mandalore. I believe there are a few directions you may be able to go with the use of AI or depending on your/ this community’s editing skills with visual inserts as well. I know Jar Jar Bricks is amazing with AI.

You may want to connect with one another, as I think you could maybe use Din in his ship (helmet on obviously) conversing with Boba over the ship’s speaker using an AI convo for both men. You could have Boba saying he can’t make it unfortunately as he has his own problems putting down a gang war in his newly won territory on Tatooine (adding a mini hologram of Boba with helmet on would be even more ideal; think Palpatine during order 66 scenes with Plo Koon). Another more ambitious approach would be adding the Slave I to the fleet the amasses during season three to retake mandalore. The ship with a few Boba lines could really sell he is there helping. However, this may be out of the scope of your project, but I know it could be pulled off with the skills of people within this community. Just my two cents, let me know what you think!

For sure, I’m trying to integrate Boba as much as possible into the ending so I had a couple of easter eggs I’ve been working on myself. However, my biggest challenge has been his AI lines. I have not found any way to recreate his unique voice, and I’m not sure anyone else has either. I posted on one of Eddie’s threads about it, but if anyone has successfully made an AI Boba model, I would love to hear it!

Let me know if I missed anyone on links!

Darth Sadifous said:

So I just finished watching the updated Book Four…Bravo! This is my favorite book so far and I loved how you reworked the scene in the imperial commissary where Din no longer removes his helmet. The payoff of removing Din’s face reveal till the parting of him and Grogu on the imperial cruiser definetly worked for me…chef’s kiss!

I believe you used the updated deapfake of Luke’s face in the conclusion too and while it looks a little devoid of movement, I think it really sells it is “Mark Hamill” as Luke again. The Book of Boba Fett scenes vastly improved so I do not think they need touch up down the road. Overall, awesome job and you deserve all the flowers…this series is awesome; can’t wait for the revised book five.

Thanks for the review! Glad you had a good time with the movie. Yes, that is the fanmade deepfake Luke, and while you’re right that it does look a bit stiff emotionally, the Disney version really didn’t look like Luke so you have to pick your poison a bit on this scene. As you mentioned though, BoBF did a fantastic deepfake of Luke that gives emotion and resemblance (probably because they hired the guy who made the Mando Luke deepfake).

One minor continuity issue I may have noticed is during the battle of Tython there is one transport ship shown landing around the 46 minute mark, then we see through the scope there are two transport ships at 46:38 ish then at 47:30 another transport ship lands and drops off more troops, but there only appears to be two ships total and Boba Fett takes out only two later. So by the edit I believe it would imply three ships total, but one is unaccounted for by the end. It could be implied one took off during the battle off screen, but I thought it was worth mentioning as I know you heavily edited the scene to fix the student film quality directing of the original which worked for me btw!

Nice spot! Yes, I do need to move that first infrared scope scene back ~90 seconds to preserve the placement of the transports.

So what’s the plan for Book 5? I spent 12+ hours over the weekend going through books 5/6 to examine my options. I enjoyed the uniqueness of my previous book 5 a lot and I think it did a ton right, but unfortunately, I may have written myself into a little corner with it. I loved the idea of pacing out Boba’s story into the later content of the saga, but there really is just no way to build anything out of it. I wanted to frame something about Din trying to get Boba to join the retaking of Mandalore and use the Tatooine battle as part of that, but the lack of dialogue with Din and Boba outside of battle scenes is extremely limiting. There’s not even a scene post-Tatooine of them together whatsoever. Battle ends with them apart, and there’s no ending dialogue at all. Din just leaves the planet without a scene with Boba so it can focus on Grogu. Really dislike it, but it is what it is. Thankfully, with the great feedback about some of my previous poor ideas, EddieDean proposed this:

EddieDean said:

… maybe there’s a less radical ordering here, where you can get both the most out of the Boba story AND extend out the time that Mando and Grogu were apart, which I know is a (sensible) priority for you. So how about something closer to the ordering of the original release, but just using your Book 5 edits to keep Din and Grogu apart for longer:

• Movies 1-4 as before. They’re perfect. Din’s lost his ship and his kid. He thinks the Mandalorians are scattered. [Offscreen] he’s ordered a new ship from Peli, but it’ll be a while.
• Movie 5 pretty much just from BoBF, but Din and Grogu DON’T reunite. Mando is back to bounty hunting, listless, no clan. He chases the bounty against the dog-butcher people to find the Covert, meets them, makes a gift for Grogu, and gets kicked out. No mention of redemption - he’s now at his absolute lowest. He goes to get his ordered ship (so he can go visit Grogu as much as use it for hunting) and gets pulled in to Boba’s whole storyline on Tattooine (which becomes the main plot of the movie, happening throughout this storyline). After helping Boba, he heads to Luke’s planet, and gives Ahsoka the gift, but is discouraged from meeting Grogu, who we only see distantly. He’s now realised he really needs a family (thanks Boba) and, without Grogu, wants to give the Mandalorians another try.
• Either at the end of Movie 5 or the start of Movie 6, he goes to the Covert now on the Rocky planet (using more of his original entrance there). THIS time he’s much more desperate - he asks to atone. Only NOW does he learn he can do that at the waters of Mandalore. NOW he has a fresh mission - and still no Grogu.
• Most of your current Book 5 now becomes your Book 6. We don’t have your current content on the ringworld or with Pelli remaking the ship, which removes ~35 minutes (of 2h20) which gets us to the Vane/Gorian Shard plot much sooner. We instead fill that lost time with Luke training Grogu, and perhaps the Mando-birds sideplot. At the end of the movie, we see Grogu making the decision to rejoin Din, and cut to them flying together (using the technique for this you used previously where they blast off together).
• Movie 7: Now follows directly from the aftermath of the Gorian Shard fight, where the Mandalorians have safe haven on Nevarro but Bo-Katan’s been tasked to gather the clans and reclaim their home, and Grogu and Din are with them. We open with Bo and Din going to rescue Axe Woves (they don’t get distracted by the rest of Plazir) and Bo finally takes the Darksaber back. Now we’re ready to lead people to Mandalore. We continue with the two finale episodes, which are a nice straightforward story using all the pieces we currently have in play, but we intercut this with the full Pershing story. The Pershing story fits here most of all because (1) it builds on the current knowledge of the Imperial Remnant and New Republic, but mostly (2) because it ties closely back into the cloning plot and the reveal of Gideon’s plans. The scene of Carson finding that Gideon escaped can come just after it’s discussed by Pershing, to better tie it all together and keep the whole movie on theme.

Also, this way, each movie would come out closer to 120-140 minutes.

Going through the pros & cons of this structure:

Pros -

1. Overall storyline is much easier to structure, will need to rely less on AI lines, and have fewer gaps in connective tissue.
2. Fixes my biggest scene hiccup in current book 5 of the X-wing pullover scene and the pirate dogfight balance
3. Better paced full Boba story that doesn’t feel like a distraction, continues the flow of Din and Boba’s journey (at least for one more movie)
4. Longer solo journey for Din, more time away from Grogu, longer time as not a mandalorian
5. Gives me more flexibility to move around scenes within season 3, and probably can make the Dr. Pershing story fit

Cons -

1. Boba’s storyline falls off significantly after Book 5 (I will work in a couple of scenes and easter eggs that I already made, but he can’t be a major plotline and with him in Books 3-5 so heavily it definitely is noticeable that he is less of a main character)
2. Less of a unique storyline structure compared to my previous Book 5 where Din fits in a Nevarro trip before Tatooine
3. Doesn’t feel like Din does much to reunite the clans compared to my previous structure of him trying to get Boba to join
4. Maintains my previous criticism of the Mandalorians inheriting Nevarro feeling a bit worthless since they almost immediately leave to Mandalore anyway
5. Bo-katan is absent from Book 5, while Boba is pretty absent from Book 6-7. Instead of them both having important side character arcs in 5-7, it feels like they swap places.

So right now I’m putting together a Book 5/6 with the Eddie proposed structure to see how it all meshes, and I like it overall so far. But just wanted to toss out my thoughts and see if anyone has any additional feedback that could spark some creativity.

I have some pretty cool Book 6 scenes setup to keep Boba somewhat involved by utilizing Plazir 15 content + Boba and the Hutts, but again it’s nothing major and more just some easter eggs so he doesn’t feel completely written away like Disney did.

Wrapped up production today! Finishing the exports and uploads, and links will go out tomorrow.

Book 4: The Way update changelog:

• Extended a couple of shots on Corvus for better scene transitions
• Added more to Mando’s walk through the village so he meets a downtrodden villager

EddieDean said:

Then, in your Book 4, you could introduce “I’ve placed a tracker” and that subplot just after Mando leaves the planet with that ex-Imperial warlord. We know she’s got ties to Thrawn, and thus the Shadow Council, so it’s absolutely feasible that an Imperial spy could be operating there to report back to Gideon. The dialogue there would reinforce that Gideon wants Grogu - and then he’d strike immediately, on the very next planet, where Din finally meets Boba and the Imperials show up to kidnap Grogu.

• As the tracker scene moved out of the last movie, it’s now placed in Book 4 after Din’s “You’re special” talk with Grogu as they leave Corvus.
• Extended scene of Fennec getting surrounded by stormtroopers on Tython before Din saves her (man the choreography is so unfixably bad here, but I made some edits to make it seem more chaotic and it’s tolerable). Previously I had cut too much to cover up the crappy directing but it didn’t give enough context for the viewer to fully process the sequence of events.
• Cut “The little green guy?” back and forth between Mayfeld and Cara. I thought it worked to leave it in because I assumed people would take it as Mayfeld simply repeating what Cara said and not showing familiarity, but there were numerous comments of people saying Mayfeld shouldn’t know about Grogu so obviously something about the tone of his voice was still communicating recognition, so it’s all cut now.
• Rescored the TIE fighter saving Din and Mayfeld scene. Lots of comments from people who didn’t like Disney’s overly happy-sounding score here so I gave it more of a menacing imperial vibe while still trying to communicate the “victorious irony” of them being saved by the people trying to kill them. Hope it communicates a different feeling than the original.
• Took a new approach to the Imperial officer scene this time around. This segment has been the biggest challenge for every version of the film to get right. From the beginning, I have hated Din taking his helmet off here, especially in movie format as it really, really cheapens when he does it for Grogu in the climax. Since I hid the previous face reveal before, having that moment be the first time we see Din’s face is incredible. My wife watched this story for the first time through my edits and it was such a cool moment seeing her reaction, as she didn’t even know who Din’s actor was and his face was not at all what she imagined. She said, “I thought he was going to look like a badass, but he just looks like any average dad,” which I think is a perfect summation of Din’s character arc in general. Anyways, this officer scene is amazingly well directed, one of the best scenes in the whole show. So I’ve always had the struggle of trying save a great face reveal by trying to keep as much as possible of a great scene that ruins the face reveal. My previous attempt was a little janky, and most people noticed there were some unnatural cuts around here. I’ve done my best to extend the scene as much as possible now with some new shots and voice modulation on Din’s lines, an AI line for the imperial officer, and some new scene ordering. I’ve tried to get it to play out so Din is about to be caught (still wearing the helmet) for giving crappy answers, but then Mayfeld jumps in and the Imperial Officer immediately recognizes him and wants to get him a drink. So Din stays at the terminal while Mayfeld and his old commander catch up, leading to the shootout. Hope this one is at least an improvement over the last version! I’ve tried everything here short of hiring a 3d artist to CGI that helmet and put it on Din lol (and I did look online to see if any were already made… no luck). Overall, I do think this update is my best solution yet and that the scene works now.
• Fixed a couple of a/v transitions and added some new sfx throughout the film (better explosions, blaster shots, ship noises, etc)

Trailer!

Poster!

Thanks for watching my edits, Book 4 links tomorrow, and Book 5 next week!

EddieDean said:

One other thought: Depending on how good your Boba AI voice is, it might be nice to add, during the Boba-Fennec fireside chat in movie 2, something along the lines of “but first I’m going to get my armour back”, explaining the two-movie diversion where he seeks his armour before establishing a house.

Thanks for the review and all the feedback! I haven’t been able to make any model of unmasked Boba that sounds like him. The voice is so unique, that I can’t get any tech to replicate it well at all. Honestly, Temeura talks like Boba in real life so I looked into just using some interview/video clips, but I didn’t find any lines that would help. I like this idea though.

Kestrel said:

Still waiting for an updated book 3 link. Was hoping to watch it tonight so I’ll take it from anyone 😅

Sorry, I missed you, sent! If I missed anyone else, please feel free to reach out to me again, it’s not a bother!

The updated Book 2 with Fennec scene minus head injury and Greef betrayal now clocks in at 2 hours 26 minutes which I like more, and the Act 2:Act3 ratio is now much closer in length so I think it’s the right call. Uploading the adjusted Books 1 and 2 right now.

I’ve reviewed all the feedback in the thread about Book 4, and the consensus changes I’m tracking are:

• Couple visual/audio transition adjustments
• Add a brief scene in the forest village of the citizens being abused
• Add the tracker scene that was removed from previous film
• Remove Mayfeld’s apparent familiarity with Grogu
• Rescore the “victory” music after the TIE’s save Din and Mayfeld
• Extend the Officer at the cafe conversation a bit more

Maybe a couple of other very minor adjustments Kypo suggested, but this one was close to being good to lock as it was.

As I work on those few updates, I’m also going to deploy the final fixes on Book 1 & 2.

Book 1:

• Extend the blue guy scene on the Razorcrest to not end so abruptly in carbonite. For some reason the line of “Do you guys take off your helmets?” straight into the carbonite was jarring, so I let the conversation play out a little longer before that transition and the timing works a bit better now.
• Remove the duplicated Razorcrest arrival shot on the mercenary space station.

Book 2:

• Extend Fennec-Rookie conversation
• Cut down the head injury scene to the bare minimum
• Cut the whole Greef betrayal plot and nighttime bird attack…? (I’m taking a look at this right now, want to see what these 3 changes to to the total runtime/pacing)

Darth Sadifous said:

Hey Acbagel,

I went back and checked regarding my previous comments in regards to continuity. I believe I was referring to the end of Book Two where Boba is talking to Fennec about how you can only gets so far without a tribe by the fire (2:25). His robs are acid burned, but he does not visit the sarlac pit to retrieve his armor and get the acid burns on his cloak until book three (0:25). Not a big deal, but just wanted to point it out.

Ah gotcha, that’s a good catch on the details, but I don’t think it’s anything worth moving scenes over. Since this is a costume difference in between whole movies I think there are multiple in-universe explanations for why the robes might look more or less tattered over time.

In terms of Moff Giedon’s facial hair I was say I was prepared for it to be jarring since his look is different in season two and season three. I went back and watched the new book three for a second time and I can so those fears are unfounded. You did a great job with the face. I just wasn’t a 100% sure you had tinkered with it since the hologram scene is not 100% clear image of his face and the stinger is a long shot from far away. Also it has been some time since I watched the original presentation of those scenes. Look forward to book four!

Great! Yeah, a lot of the close-ups are now removed anyway with the new tracker scene placement, so his appearance is good to go across the films as it doesn’t ever change within the same movie.

Also, I think I am for extending the Fennec being shot scene and keeping the Greef/ Mando conflict scene. I think it is important to see his change of heart and while I know many do not like the sequels, I think it helps reinforce force heal in the universe as we see both Grogu and Rey use it more than once. I would trim the Mando head injury if one needs to be cut as I feel without the helmet removal included, the scene is not that important and he is back with the gang only like a minute later so that gets my vote for the trim.

I can’t keep those two lengthy scenes in, the film just goes on for too long. And the more I look at it the more I like the total balance of the film to have the longer Act 2 with the Fennec scene and trim down Act 3 with the cuts. That just helps the pacing of Boba’s story in general anyway. Missing Greef’s change of heart over being healed is the toughest part to lose, but they don’t really bring that up ever again in the entire show so it’s sadly unimportant overall. I think we can get away with Greef’s demeanor toward Din and Grogu being a natural result of their shared experiences rather than the whole “I was going to kill you until I got poisoned by a bird and you saved me” explanation. I have completely altered the Rey force healing to not occur like that in my Sequels trilogy anyway as that type of force healing power completely broke Legends lore, so I’m actually glad to be able to cut Grogu doing that as well as I want these edits to feel as Legends friendly as possible. I always thought there’d be some sort of explanation for Grogu’s unique healing power, but then it’s just never addressed at all and then poof Rey was doing it in the theater a couple of months later and I hated it there too. But alas, I think the cuts help the pacing in general as Eddie suggested.

Book 3 seems good to go as is, so I’m still on pace for the Book 4 release this week!

Darth Sadifous said:

I finished the revised book three recently and I do love what you have done with it! The standout scenes in my opinion is Boba being responsible for the speederbike crash of Din’s when he is carry his armor back to town. I also like the end montage from the introduction of the shadow council scene from season three, to the brief scene borrowed from season three with the mandos amassing their fleet and finally Boba with his “tribe” and Din with his “tribe”. You have done a great job. Cannot wait till the updated book four!

Minor Note: I was a bit concerned about continuity issue as you have moved scenes around from different scenes. The Moff Gideon scene was the biggest concern, especially how close the hologram scene is during the mando heist on the cargo ship and the shadow council scene and the stinger at the end of the moff overlooking his dark troopers (regarding is his facial hair appearing, disappearing and reappearing). However, I think it works as the hologram is not very clear, then you have the shadow council scene, then you have a long shot of him admiring the dark troopers. Only other minor continuity scene I believe I found, but I could be mistaken is moving Boba’s scenes around his cloak is burned by the acid in some earlier scenes now that are moved around before he visits the sarlacc, but overall it is not too noticeable. I do love this series and look forward to seeing how you save the modern day Boba Fett scenes and season three of mando. Keep up the great work and may the force be with you!

Thanks for the review! Book 4 had the least amount of needed updates, so that should definitely be out sometime this coming week.

Regarding the continuity of those scenes, I don’t think there should be any instances of Gideon’s facial hair changing. As you can see in the picture, I had deepfaked his season 3 face onto his scenes in this film to remove his facial hair and color-masked his hair to be black instead of grey in the shadow council scene.

Are there specific timestamps from where you noticed inconsistencies in his appearance? I can touch those up if there is something that jumps out.

For Boba’s robes, I hadn’t ever noticed that before but I can look at the scene order and see if I can maybe mask some of that too if it’s distracting. You said you might be mistaken, but if it stuck out to you, can you see which scenes you were saying the acid burns are there vs not?

EddieDean said:

Loved both movies 1 and 2. Both are structured excellently, feel focused and movie-like, and flow well. I especially enjoyed the balance of Boba/Mando in movie 2, and the movement of Sorgan to exclusively book two. I wouldn’t change any of their structure, stories, or trims. And your audio editing has got noticeably smoother. Definitely my mains.

However, you have a major issue with colour in book one. I know you’ve responded to comments here, but it’s a significant deterioration of colour, and more than just saturation, it’s added really strong unnatural shades of teal and orange. Have a look at the difference: https://ibb.co/NK2Gby3. If it’s deliberate recolouring, please reconsider! If not, something is going wrong in your pipeline - either an effect is being applied (and it should be easy to un-apply it), or you’re reading the files in a slightly incorrect colour space that’s maybe being compounded if your later versions are editing the rendered outputs of your earlier versions. This might be related to your crushed blacks issue from before, which also suggests a slightly incorrect colour space is being read. I know I’ve been a bit of a hound about these edits but I feel like they’re such a good idea and so well-executed that I just really want to champion you getting them to that 100% quality.

Great, then I’m going to do a couple of tiny bug fixes/adjustments on Book 1/2, but overall it sounds like the story is locked on the first 3 and ready to be considered complete!

As far as the color goes, I definitely prefer colorful visuals to the drab washed-out appearance that Disney Star Wars seems to lean toward. I have done color adjustments to every planet uniquely, but the pic you sent looks quite drastic and I suspect I made an adjustment layer on top of the scene in addition to adjusting the scene itself, which would double the intended effect. I will take a peak. As far as the blacks/banding go, I haven’t been able to address it at all. It’s burnt into the source footage on my timeline to begin with and I’d need to remake dozens of hours of work to fix it. I love crystal clear 4k footage as much as anyone, but as I’ve said before this project originated in my basement pre-covid and was my first foray into fan editing. I had very early versions of these films made just for me and my wife to watch back then, years before I even knew this website existed. If I ever hit a total lull in the action on editing, I have mentioned before I’d like to manually go frame by frame to replace all the bad-looking scenes with 4k, but at this point, I’d rather work on the story than spend a couple months solely on a visual update. Trust me, I know as is it knocks a point or two off of the films as far as reviews go, but it’s just a monster task to fix right now.

Other than that:

• Book one is great, as I say. You do still have the duplicated shot of Mando approaching the pirate station though. I think you can trim the second one away no problem.
• In book two, as I mentioned in a previous post, that duplicated scene.
• For me, even though your new book 2 improves the balance and pacing through to the ending, I’d probably still prefer to trim the Mando-Greef conflict and Mando’s head injury being serious, but that’s just me and I get why you’ve done that.

Looking forward to 3!

1. Ah yes, I will fix that one. I recall an old post about that now.
2. Already fixed and new version is up
3. I do believe if the adjustment to the Fennec v Rookie scene is made, then yes absolutely the Greef + injury scenes need to be cut. For anyone who hasn’t seen Eddie’s idea here, refer to this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GJq4g3QRwLhOrpgI2eNySS7UaQkIXHxb/view

How do we feel about extending the Fennec death back to full, and trimming the Act 3 segment on Nevarro like Eddie suggests? I can’t keep all three scenes at full length, the film already drags on a bit too long as is. These are all changes I’ve gone back and forth on a lot so I’m open to a couple yays or nays to push me over the edge here.

Also, thank you to everyone else who has left kind words about the edits. It’s been an incredible experience working on this saga with such caring feedback and suggestions. The brainstorming that has occurred in this thread has been phenomenal. The films have grown so much and really feel like something special due to how many ideas have come from the Star Wars fan community.

Patali said:

Acbagel said:

Book 3: The Tribes update is released, and the film is now available for viewing. Post here or DM for the link!

Patali said:

I have a question about your book 3. I have never watched Mando Season 3, I dont intend to, I’m going to watch your cuts for the rest of the series. You put Grogu’s rescue by Luke in book 4, right? Watching that trailer, and maybe I’m wrong you can tell me, If I am looking correctly, do you move some of the Mando Season 3 Grogu content to /before/ he is captured by Gideon/rescued by Luke? Or maybe I am just confused. But if you did and it works, that would actually be a great way to salvage some of that S3 Grogu content.

Well thanks, I’m glad you enjoy my edits enough to do that! Yes, Grogu is rescued by Luke at the end of Book 4. I’ve got clips from Book of Boba interspersed throughout my saga, so if you’ve not seen that show perhaps those are the clips you are unfamiliar with? There are a few complications with using Season 3 footage early on, mostly to do with costumes/armor as it is acquired at certain points in the story. But I have just a couple of Season 3 shots in the early films, I don’t think any of it is Grogu though. If there’s a specific scene you have in mind I’ll be happy to tell you where it’s from though, I know this footage inside and out by now

I have watched Boba Fett, there was just stuff I didnt recognize in your Book 3 trailer that I assumed was Season 3. It’s been some time since I watched Season 2, I only watched it once since it released, maybe I’m just not remembering it (for example I didnt recognize that shot of the structure on the ocean blowing up)

Ah, so that structure explosion scene that you mentioned… Yes, it’s from the whole episode on Trask (the water planet), but I altered the speed/scale of the scene, the coloring grading, and custom-made the explosion soundtrack so that might be why it wasn’t as immediately recognizable.

Sounds great though. Will the links I received for the old versions be updated or do I need to get new ones?

Sometimes I lose track of DM’s and links, so if you don’t have something then just let me know. All of the updated versions are now in their own folders that give you access to the poster, trailer, and film. I paid for enough space in the drive finally so I can just reupload into the folders without needing to send new links out each time I make a version of a film.

As far as going all in on your edits, I just feel your approach with Boba, integrating his content entirely into Mandalorian and truly making them one show, is the best way to salvage that content. I wanted a full Boba show, I love that character. I actually enjoyed his 5 episodes mroe than the Mandalorian… but… It’s not happening. We got what we got. I feel your approach is the best way to save that content.

Thanks! There’s been a lot of discussion about what to do with Boba’s “modern day” BoBF storyline, and eventually, I did decide to maintain as much of it as possible. In Book 6/7 you should see more of him. Still working out all the details and I’ve created a half dozen versions of so many scenes… but I’m confident I’ll get something to work.

EddieDean said:

In movie 2 you have the “don’t touch the buttons” scene twice- once at the start and once at 80 mins in. Otherwise, it’s excellent so far. You’ve nailed the balance and transitions of the Boba and Mando content.

Thank you! That was a total oversight on my part with the moving the Sorgan landing to Book 2. I am fixing it right now, splitting the scene in half so we get the Sorgan content in the beginning and then the humor bit individually at the 80-minute mark. The fixed version should be up in the folder this evening. Glad to hear the back-and-forth pacing of Din/Boba is improved!

Book 3: The Tribes update is released, and the film is now available for viewing. Post here or DM for the link!

Patali said:

I have a question about your book 3. I have never watched Mando Season 3, I dont intend to, I’m going to watch your cuts for the rest of the series. You put Grogu’s rescue by Luke in book 4, right? Watching that trailer, and maybe I’m wrong you can tell me, If I am looking correctly, do you move some of the Mando Season 3 Grogu content to /before/ he is captured by Gideon/rescued by Luke? Or maybe I am just confused. But if you did and it works, that would actually be a great way to salvage some of that S3 Grogu content.

Well thanks, I’m glad you enjoy my edits enough to do that! Yes, Grogu is rescued by Luke at the end of Book 4. I’ve got clips from Book of Boba interspersed throughout my saga, so if you’ve not seen that show perhaps those are the clips you are unfamiliar with? There are a few complications with using Season 3 footage early on, mostly to do with costumes/armor as it is acquired at certain points in the story. But I have just a couple of Season 3 shots in the early films, I don’t think any of it is Grogu though. If there’s a specific scene you have in mind I’ll be happy to tell you where it’s from though, I know this footage inside and out by now

spiritof69 said:

I have finally finished all 5 Books: incredible work, they are now actually something I will genuinely want to re-visit again and again in the future and I look forward to doing so (I had given up with the original material as was likely never going to rewatch the original series).

They are so good in fact that I have removed all stored recordings of the original series and your edits are the ones I am keeping. The original will be unwatchable after having seen yours!

Thank you so much and if you have future links for Book 3 oniwards I would love to receive links if you can find time.

Many thanks for all your efforts,
Tim.

Wow, Tim, thanks for the review! I will keep you in the loop for all the updated releases and for the completion of the saga.

Patali said:

I know this isn’t an idea you’ll be able to implement immediately since you just did a release, but I was watching For A Few Dollars More, and it had this great opening text
“Where life had no value, death, sometimes, had its price.
That is why the bounty killers appeared.”

I feel like something like this, in the star wars blue text, would be awesome at the start of your first movie.

It’s a cool idea that reminds of The Clone Wars intros, but I’m not sure that would fit with the visual style I’m going for in these edits.

stevepaynter said:

Acbagel, just wanted to say I love your new poster images, they remind of the 90’s novel book covers you used to see back in the day. They look great in Plex.

For sure! That’s exactly what I was aiming for with them and so many people have asked for Plex posters that it’s been worth putting the time into. Speaking of…

Book 3 Poster, Trailer, and Changelog time!

Changelog:

• Fixed a glimpse of frog lady where she shouldn’t have been seen

deagan said:
Another thing I noticed for this part, is that Boba says “I can’t see a thing!” entering the Sarlac pit, then immediately turns on the light of their ship. This felt a bit redundant and out-of-character, wouldn’t Boba the brooding and intelligent bounty hunter just turn on the light quietly?
“OMG, it’s so dark inside of this monster rnrn, omg!” turns on flashlight

• Haha fixed this sequence up to make more sense, bugged me too after reading your comment.

• Moved Boba’s two Sarlaac scenes to be closer together so it didn’t seem like he was there for hours/days.

EddieDean said:

Now onto Book 3 (I’m doing a hasty review through with fresh eyes): I know you want to keep Gideon’s presence high throughout the series, but I’d change his appearances in this one. You have him in two main sequences in this movie - the first being the Shadow Council scene (where we learn that the Imperial Remnants are coordinated, get some good context for wider plots including Thrawn, and have Gideon declare he wants to stamp out the Mandalorians), and the second being the tracker scene and Gideon talking about catching Mando and Grogu to continue their cloning.

I think both of these need a little shift, and will try to justify why. But firstly, let me address the fact that I don’t think we need Gideon to have a strong presence in this movie. Yes it’s nice to see him, and to keep him feeling like an overhanging threat. But, so long as each movie at least escalates that threat, I think that need is satisfied. Compare now to your current Book 5, where we don’t see Grogu in the movie until the very end, which leaves us on an interesting development. I think doing the same here would be fine - you still come away from this movie on a punchy note where the Gideon plot has escalated.

So, regarding the tracker plot, I know it’s used here currently to illustrate Gideon’s will and skill to hunt Grogu down. However, the plot about capturing Grogu and his clone relevance really doesn’t continue until your Book 4. I know you’re using it to make the Imperial presence on the Mon Calamari planet more of a trap, but to be honest I don’t think that quite sells, with the dialogue we have. I also don’t think it’s necessary - from Din’s perspective his whole storyline in this movie has been to find Mandalorians, something he finally does at the end. Personal stakes for Gideon don’t add much here (especially as the Imperial resistance is quite weak), so having them as a thorn in his side which helps ingratiate him to Bo Katan’s faction is plenty.

Secondly, regarding the Shadow Council plot, I think that would work better AFTER that Mandalorian-Imperial conflict, as the triggering act behind making Gideon then declare that the Mandalorians must be stamped out. That then leaves our episode on the nice punchy finale (Thrawn reveal, escalation and all), which leaves the threat now overhanging the future movies. It’s the Mandalorians directly striking at Imperials which makes it into a vendetta for Gideon. I would also, as some have suggested, trim the lines about requisitions, as they’ll take now three movies to pay off. (Boba and team have also destroyed the Imperial base on Nevarro, including Gideon’s clones, this movie, so he’s taken a double hit onscreen, further justifying his rage at the end.)

This way, you’d have a straightforward Din-Grogu adventure as they seek Mandalorians, with issues and false leads along the way (and nearly bumping into Boba again), with their actions ending up triggering an escalation of the conflict between Mandalorians and Imperials.

Then, in your Book 4, you could introduce “I’ve placed a tracker” and that subplot just after Mando leaves the planet with that ex-Imperial warlord. We know she’s got ties to Thrawn, and thus the Shadow Council, so it’s absolutely feasible that an Imperial spy could be operating there to report back to Gideon. The dialogue there would reinforce that Gideon wants Grogu - and then he’d strike immediately, on the very next planet, where Din finally meets Boba and the Imperials show up to kidnap Grogu. Again, I think that’s neater, and keeps each movie more focused. You could cut the two elements of the tracker scene around the one of Din on the Crest trying to get Grogu to grab the ball with the force.

A final note on moving the tracker scenes to the following movie - this new suggested ordering would now make more sense of the lines about Pershing’s cloning work being lost, since in this ordering, this discussion would follow the events of Din and co destroying the final Nevarro facility (including clones) the movie prior.

• I have implemented this whole idea. To summarize, the Shadow Council scene moved near the very end of the film, tracker scene moved to Book 4.

• I have updated the “Boba Shoots Din’s bike” scene according to the feedback surrounding the prior version. The consensus was: Make Boba more clearly shoot and watch Din, add a voice line from thug “Grab the armor”, and add a Boba scene explaining why he doesn’t rush in to attack Din. See this scene demo here

• Added a Din voice line, “This is why I don’t trust repair droids,” to explain why his landing gear fails again when trying to land on Trask, indicating that Pelli’s pit droids didn’t fix it properly.

kypo said:

As far as changes go- the ending seems rapid. This type of middle film could benefit from some Act 2 screenplay maneuvers. For example, at the end it would be great to see what each of the characters is doing, perhaps over a music montage. This is a BUILDER episode- so let’s see our characters build. Brainstorming here- something like showing Grogu play with the metal ball as music builds, briefly showcase Vance peaceful in the desert, Fennec and Boba (especially Boba) on his spaceship nodding, perhaps some happy Tuskens, INTERSPERSE THE BALL SPINNING AND MANDO LOOKS AT GROGU, Bo Katan on her new ship looking stoic, Cara Dune in her town…etc. Even an evil shot of Gideon would be good to include (he is building too). End with Grogu and Mando together. This film showed SO MANY CHARACTERS so a small musical denouement of “victory poses” can show the characters as “in progress” for what is about to come in the next Book 4.

• I have created this new “montage” ending to reflect this comment.

• Additionally, there are several other minor soundtrack and video transition updates for quality.

The film release will be tomorrow but for now…

Trailer link to YouTube

Tusken Slater said:

Having watched the Clone wars this is really good haven’t been getting bored and have been engaged with every episode and no cringe dialogue. I have a suggestion if i may to improve the edit, how about using AI software to copy Temuera Morrison voice to read the intro dialogue at the beginning of every episode similar to the original star wars battlefront 2 game with the 501st journal.

I have tried multiple times to get an AI Temuera voice but I just can’t get it to resemble him at all. His voice is so unique, I’m not sure there is currently publicly available technology to replicate it well enough. If someone has found a way to do so, let me know though!

hinventon said:

Looks awesome! I’d love a link to book 3 when you’re ready. I really like the structure of book 1, here’s a couple things I noticed:

• I think the cut where Mando puts mythrol in Carbonite is a little too abrupt, I think it would be better to extend it a little bit. I like the buildup seeing Mando’s gun closet and other bounties. Gives a good sense of the character as an intro.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the film. Yeah, I’ve experimented a bit with the scene over the different versions, the main goal was to help the pacing move into the main plot quicker and avoid the potty joke/weirdness of that scene… At the end of the day, I could tinker with 100 different shots every time I open the project and at some point, I have to just move along. But, I’ve added this as a note if I ever come back to this film down the road.

• I don’t know how much you color graded these, but I feel that it’s a little too saturated and not as crisp of an image as it could be. Book 2 looks better, though.
  Overall I think it works great, can’t wait to see the new updates.

The earlier films struggle with source footage quality. Sadly, this has been something that has always held them back since I first started working on this project in 2020, and didn’t know as much about fan editing as I know now. The visual quality improves as the series continues.

stevepaynter said:

Hey Acbagel, have you considered adding the title of each Book at the beginning of each movie?

I have, and I think way early on in the project I had the standard “The Mandalorian” cards in there before I made the “The Way of Mandalore” logo during the reboot of the project. However, I don’t like the feeling of the title cards interrupting the story, it makes it feel like a TV show rather than a movie. If I were to include a title, it would be at the very beginning of the film in place of the crawl, but also I don’t think my logo looks good enough to hold its own in place of a crawl haha. It’s kind of an intriguing idea to animate the logo a little bit and add it to the top of a standard Star Wars crawl with the grey colors…? Might experiment with that one day.

Book 2 additional materials are released. I still plan to release Book 3 trailer/poster tomorrow and the updated film on Friday!

Trailer link to YouTube

(I used Photoshop to combine a couple of pieces of Disney-commissioned art for that one and am really happy with the results, looks pretty sweet!)

Links sent!

Still working on the Book 3 update, but I’ve had a few more requests from people who have never seen The Mandalorian before and my series is their first introduction to the story… I find that quite humbling and I wanted to take some time to prepare some surrounding material for my releases and organize the links/download folders a bit more.

So I have created a Trailer and Poster for Book 1, and those are immediately available to access in your previous download links in DMs as well as linked below. Book 2 material will be released tomorrow, and I hope to have the Book 3 update ready to release on Friday.

Trailer link to YouTube

All footage belongs to Disney
Soundtrack by Samuel Kim
Poster artwork by Chelsea Lowe

Links sent! I am starting work on the Book 3 update today. I will let you guys know how it goes, shouldn’t take too long as this one was pretty close to being final form already.

Darth Sadifous said:

Watched the revised Book One and Book Two over the weekend and you really have outdone yourself! The ending to Book Two is so satisfying. I can’t wait to get the rest of the revised books and to see the conclusion of season three of Mando in this series. Keep up the amazing work!

Thanks for the new feedback, Darth! I’m glad the final touches were worth it, with the time off of editing for a while, being able to review my whole series before finishing Season 3 is helping a lot to clear my vision on the final arc of the story. And then it seems like my next entry into TWoM will be from something already in movie format perhaps in 2025…? That will take care of a lot of my work for me haha

EddieDean said:

These sound really great. While I wait for this to download, I’ll ask: Did you decide to trim the ending in the couple of ways I suggested? I posted a test which skipped the false Mando-Greef conflict, and another which made Mando’s head injury much more minor to allow the ending conflict to progress quicker. Worked for me, but it’s cool if you didn’t!

I pondered and struggled with these suggestions, and I’m not sure if it was the right call, but I decided not to implement them. The Mando head injury one had conflicting suggestions from various people, some saying they wanted me to re-extend the scene, and some saying they liked it short or wanted it even shorter… I couldn’t find a consensus and have never felt strongly about it past the initial changes I’ve made, so I left it as is which was the middle-of-the-road (perhaps cowardly haha) option. As far as the Greef trim, that’s the one that I might regret leaving in? I have no doubt the pacing of Act 3 works better with your edit, and admittedly this film drags on a tad too long right now, but I couldn’t pull the trigger on cutting that segment. It’s something where if I was a director, someone above me would’ve forced those scenes out, but I’m fine with the “extended cut” release I have here. Looking back, I’m still not a fan of the overpowered force healing ability, but damn if it doesn’t make me emotional every time I see it. And I recall watching it originally when season 1 first released, and that scene had magic and stuck in my mind, so again it’s just something I didn’t have the guts to cut entirely. Great suggestion for pacing and structure, but I subjectively left it in because of good memories with it.

Updated Book 2 is released! Post here/DM for the new link. Changelog below:

• New Act 1 scene order/transitions. The back-and-forth pacing of Din and Boba’s story was an incredible challenge when I first created this idea, and one of the sticking points from the last release was trying to get some better “connective tissue” and balance between the storyline transitions. I painstakingly wrote out every scene from the last release and tried to combine the puzzles to give thematically and visually satisfying transitions. I believe it is a marked improvement over the prior film in this area. From new shot orders within scenes to scene organization to altered transition SFX and visuals, I hope this creates a more unified structure.

• Per my scene demo posted above, I have engineered a new extended scene for Din’s Sorgan landing to better pace out his content in Act 1. With new content in the landing to the nighttime scene with the locals, this will help explain how they got into the Sorgan village in the first place.

• New Cara Dune storyline. This was my biggest personal gripe with the last release, I could not figure out a cohesive way to introduce/involve Cara without the full Sorgan side quest. I tried something in the previous version, and it was functional, but still felt a bit choppy to me. I have a brand new attempt at all of her scenes on Sorgan plugged into this update which I much prefer. To summarize, it’s a bit more somber than the old chummy version where it seemed like they bonded too quickly. When I watch this version, I now see mutual respect more than buddy-buddy friends right away. As Cara tells Din he needs to leave the planet for her safety, Din understands why, and out of respect for a fellow warrior he does so. As Din prepares to leave, Cara sees how happy Grogu is and she starts to regret it all, Din tells her that he will be leaving but Grogu will be staying. She seems to accept this proposal after watching Grogu play with the children, but of course, this is before the assassination attempt on Grogu, and that prompts the whole storyline to move forward. As Din leaves the planet with Grogu, I have a new soundtrack to tie into Boba’s journey which completely changes the tone of this whole scene. I hope it tugs the heartstrings!

arabian said:

• When Mando’s ship is shot at before he heads to Tatooine, can you add some line about looking for a nearby planet? Because he mentions losing fuel and then he’s just pushing buttons, switches and then a voice says: “Mos Eisley, bay 3.” It just would make it make more sense. If that line is available.

This suggestion is added, great idea! Din now says, “We meed to make an emergency landing,” before he sublight travels to Tattooine.

• Here I go with the ending again, sorry. I think you should SW wipe from the darksaber moment with Gideon to Boba and Fennec with him saying “tribes” to the last scene you had with Mando, where we see him with his little tribe, him and Grogu. That way you end on Mando.

I have also altered the ending scene order to this as well. Another great idea! New soundtrack here as well.

EddieDean said:
Another thought for Book 2. We’ve talked a lot about the overlap point between Din and Boba, around Fennec’s unconscious body. I think the ordering you have right now from Din’s perspective is absolutely right, but I’d tweak Boba’s just slightly. I’d cut from the scene of Din and Grogu flying away (the shot of the Crest from behind going off into space) to the scene of Boba discovering Fennec - but only to the point where he turns her over and sees who she is. (This works nicely with the shot of the ship leaving, since abnormally for this show, the camera doesn’t follow the ship away - it’s almost as if the direction here says “there’s more to see on Tattooine first even though Din is leaving”). Then, once Boba turns over Fennec, cut to the scene of levity in the Crest cockpit into the flight toward the wetlands planet (music works for this), and the scene of Din and Grogu seeing Cara’s fight. Then back to Tattooine for Boba and Fennec now sitting at a warm fire, and you’re back to where you were. This version of events just slightly improves the timing of scenes relative to each other, and makes a bit more logical sense to me.

This suggestion was implemented, thanks!

kypo said:

It feels like it takes a long time to reach Mando- (14 minutes). Perhaps starting the Mando in the village scene earlier could help. A good earlier segue point would be when Boba arrives at the raider camp. If we add a Mando cut here, we see a tighter similarity in Mando “Moving in” to the village, as Boba is “moving in” to the slave camp. It would also mean where your second cutaway would land is now when Mando is “fitting in” as Boba is “fitting in”- tightening the two halves of our story.

I would also love to see even a glimpse of Boba in his nighttime chains to extend the perception of time to the audience.

Both of these are now in!

I would love to get just a little more of Fennec’s droid, we jump immediately to the droid returning. It’s minor but a scene separation or slightly additional footage of its exploration might help here.

When they sneak into the bay- they are caught immediately. It seems really quick. A second or two of sneaking before this would be good to imply they have gone undetected for a bit- but I don’t know what footage you even have for this!

Added a brief scene of each of these moments, thanks!

“Kuilil do you copy” - I think the pan up would go to his body for the most efficient storytelling. We can infer Grogu is with the scouts.

Done!

Aside from those changes above, I did a bit of volume balancing across the film, new transitions throughout, a couple of new soundtracks, adjusted shot orders in scenes, etc. A step up all around, thanks so much to everyone who wrote out so many suggestions and participated in the discussion about this film, months later it was amazing to have all of that available to review and implement. You guys are the best, hope you enjoy the new version of the film! Onto Book 3 after the weekend!

Book 2 update is complete! Exporting right now, will post changelog in the morning and start sending out links tomorrow once it’s uploaded to the drive.

Kestrel said:

Great to see you back in full swing. Your Mando edits are the best I’ve seen. (Which btw I’d love to have the updated book 1 if you don’t mind sending a link my way)

And enjoy Witcher 3! What I’d give to play that for the first time again

Thanks, very kind of you! I have been getting a ton of requests for the series lately in DMs, so I really appreciate everyone online who keeps recommending them on various forums and sites. Makes this Star Wars fan happy to see others get some new enjoyment out of an awesome storyline.

spiritof69 said:

Thanks Acbagel for the links, much appreciated. I just finished watching Book 1 earlier this evening, such a better format and flow than the TV series, fantastic work! I’ll be going back over the TV series to see the changes and to give some perspective. Then onto Book 2 and onwards 😃

Again, thanks so much for all your hard work.

Glad you had fun with it! Highly recommend waiting for the Book 2 link tomorrow since it’s designed to pair with the updated Book 1 in terms of scene organization. Can’t wait to share the film tomorrow, I really think I found some great solutions for a couple hang-ups in the previous Book 2.

T-202 said:
Honestly this works pretty well, sure some of the AI is a little lifeless but I think the lines work well. It gives the story a little more room to breath and helps better explain why Mando is on the planet and how he got to the village. The only thing that weirded me out was the changing aspect ratio but that was probably just to hide something I can’t remember off screen.

The pacing is needed and some lines sound a bit better than others, but I didn’t have any music/sfx blending completed in that preview yet so it should feel much more natural in the final cut. I also didn’t fix the aspect ratios yet, this was just an idea concept draft.

kypo said:
I like this addition. The AI is pretty good here and it makes total sense for this stage of the story. This addition lets the characters breathe, and the double night scenes with Boba helps show time pass for every story thread. It sounds like the bounce back and forth will help hold tension on Boba’s narrative.

Great work, ACBAGEL!

Kypo approved, it’s locked in! I did some more touch-ups on the lines and background sound and also changed some of the AI dialogue to have a better delivery/tone, so I’m happy with the overall inclusion now.

Patali said:

Was the AI those first lines “need to do some maintenance” ?

Because if so, that sounds GOOD. I was critical of the example you were testing for the first movie (in the Werner Herzog scene), but this one really works. The fact that I was questioning it at all, you got me.

Yes, that line is all AI. Some lines in the clip sounded better than others, but there are a few that even I can barely tell which ones I created! I don’t want to use AI lines much throughout the saga, but the potential to occasionally buff up a scene is something I don’t want to pass up on.

Also a quick workload/life update. I haven’t been editing nearly as much as over the summer/fall, and I won’t go into details but I have completed the personal project that was taking up so much of my time previously. Work-related project that has nothing to do with fan edits, but I am hopeful to get back into focused editing again on Monday. The time off here also came with a very enjoyable dive into the Witcher series where I read all 8 books, all the comics, 2 games (currently playing the 3rd for the first time), etc. Man, I wish I could edit that Netflix series to be anything watchable, but holy crap that thing is an actual abomination… Anyways, The Way of Mandalore lives! I am about 33% through the update on Book 2 and plan to have that released next week. Then onward full speed. I’m excited to get into the Bad Batch at some point soon too.

I believe everyone who asked for the new version has it now, but let me know if I missed you!

I am working through the Book 2 update right now. The main task was to get more of a balance with Din scenes in Act 1, and possibly make some better “connective tissue” between the transitions and story beats with Boba. So I had the main benefit of being able to get Din’s Sorgan landing sequence in this film instead of Book 1, but I also wanted to extend that out a little more for pacing balance. I have a little mock up scene here (still unpolished in A/V editing) that helps lengthen the landing sequence rather than having Din immediately make it into the fishing village for lodging like my previous Book 2. Let me know If you think any of this works and I’ll finish it up!

This occurs ~6 minutes into the film after Boba is dragged away by the Tuskens for the first time.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1saXqaYV0VQfxkviqTs54D2g6yheM_2IF/view?usp=sharing

Updates are completed on Book 1 and the film is exported. I decided not to go with any additional AI voice lines as I couldn’t get anything to feel natural. I have some placed in later films that I think work much better. Onto Book 2 now! Going through some older posts to find the consensus on a few scene changes.

hinventon said:

Simple poster I made with the end card logo to use on my plex server:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nvUpNH5TRzNDl68yLW2IGu2Wc2iUmY9z/view?usp=drivesdk

Excited for the next updates!

Love it! Movie posters are something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Would love to be able to release a unique one for each film for all the Plex users out there.

Patali said:

Acbagel said:
Yes, I agree on that. Tough to replicate gruffness in an AI voice model… I’m trying out some different effects to see if I can make it work. Din actually loses a lot of the gruff sound in his tone as the seasons go on, but early on it’s definitely present.

So, I’ve been watching your first movie and I’ll post notes later (been sick this weekend so I couldnt do it in one sitting, Im gonna start it over and watch in one sitting later this week).

But I will say, for this particular scene, it’s a cool experiment that I think could be useful elsewhere, but for this scene it’s totally unnecessary. How in your current version Din just says nothing… It’s fine. There’s nothing to fix so I think it would only be detrimental in this particular case.

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah maybe it isn’t needed. Was trying to get in that “thesis line” that Kypo talked about, but maybe it isn’t necessary. I think Din comes across as the lone wolf warrior without needing to actually state it. I think I’ll render the update and ship as is!

Patali said:

EddieDean said:

Heck yeah! Bagel’s back, baby! Love those final tweaks to movie 1. Lock 'em in! As someone commented on your AI voice line, I agree that it could be a touch rougher, but it does work.

I left the comment on the yotube channel, and yeah that is the only thing I feel is lacking is the gruffness, and it just moves a little fast. The first line sounds good but the second line when he is getting up, something about the line and its diction, combined with that shot of him getting up, just isnt working for me. But still I like the idea of incorporating AI for Din, since him wearing the helmet makes it such a ripe opportunity.

Yes, I agree on that. Tough to replicate gruffness in an AI voice model… I’m trying out some different effects to see if I can make it work. Din actually loses a lot of the gruff sound in his tone as the seasons go on, but early on it’s definitely present.

bagel, can I get links to your mando movies? I am interested in checking them out

Sent!

Well well well… I have mastered the father of 3 life. Baby is now 3 months old and sleeping great, and so am I! I’ve missed working on my edits. I’ve done sporadic editing on random scenes in Book 6 here and there, but nothing substantial on getting it all together. Time off always helps bring fresh perspective too. Since I still have a lot of work on the next film, I wanted to go back and drop the final releases of some of the previous films that didn’t have too much left to do, as well as start to respond to some of Kypo’s incredible reviews that have been posted.

Starting with Book 1:

There weren’t too many fixes/updates to make on this one that I’m tracking.

1. Make a snappier cut from Blue Guy Bounty “warm or cold” line to the ship flying overhead cantina. Thanks, EddieDean for this suggestion.
2. Move Kuiil rebuilding the IG-11 scene between Mando getting his new armor and going back to see Greef. Thanks, Arabian for this suggestion. It works well here I think for the reasons you mentioned, and also because as we see the cuirass being forged, I now fade that shot into the destruction at the mercenary camp which fits great thematically.
3. Added in Greef’s surviving blaster shot scene after Din enters hyperspace with Grogu. This was something I overlooked in the last version, just forgot to include it and it felt weird later on in the series when we suddenly see Greef is alive.
4. Change the ending to conclude at the Grogu ball–>hyperspace, saving the village entrance for Book 2.
5. The soundtrack when Din walks around Nevarro and finds Grogu’s carrier in the trash wasn’t working to convey what I intended. I was hoping it would point to Din’s emptiness in his absence from Grogu, but it didn’t seem to communicate that. It was too sweet sounding for the moment, especially coming right after the mess Din just goes through on the prisoner job. Here is a new soundtrack test, think it works better? https://youtu.be/eJOmByfJcpQ

And then I have one more test scene below in response to one of Kypo’s comments.

kypo said:

Hey! I want to introduce myself and share some of my feedback. I have written multiple screenplays, and I’ve worked on small productions for stunt acting. I am certainly no expert so take all of my feedback for what it is- my enthusiastic SUGGESTIONS to help you improve your awesome project. All of my notes come from a fellow big Star Wars fan who loves and appreciates your edits!!

I have never checked out your edits as I am a big fan of S1 and S2 of Mandalorian and felt that I personally do not NEED a shorter edit. Then Boba Fett came out. Then S3. Then Kenobi (thanks PixelJoker!). This led me to your edits, and the way you assembled the story requires that I watch ALL of them. So I will watch all of them and give my input as a fellow film enthusiast. Not all of my notes will be actionable, but sharing is the least I can do!

Thanks again for writing these for the films! I am taking advantage of all your time to improve upon my releases.

BOOK 1 EDIT

One of the things that makes movies FEEL like movies is a THEME LINE in the early parts of the movie. It’s one of those classic screenplay rules that belong in the first 5 pages of a script. It operates like a thesis in an essay- what statement of belief will be challenged by our hero’s experience? This is a tough thing to accomplish as the shows you are working with do not necessarily give great lines to an overall plot structure (They are building a short episode, not a full film). In Book 1, a theme line would happen around his talk with Greef Karga. Unfortunately, he doesn’t really deliver a line that works. Then our protagonist receives the “quest” from THE CLIENT. No thesis. Then the Armorer, but here it’s very late in the story… and while she offers wisdom the lines are geared at exposition, not giving theme to our movie. I am not sure how to improve it as you’ve only got what you got. Perhaps a new V.O. with the Armorer stating Book 1’s thesis more clearly when she accepts his payment- but I don’t know how feasible this option is. Or perhaps a new MANDO line to The Client stating his intent to always travel alone.

I definitely agree that a thematic thesis line would serve Act 1 very well! I have been experimenting with AI voicelines the past couple months and have a pretty good Din model made. Do you all think this line fits well here and sounds right? https://youtu.be/srQCZc-4AIY

The Fight scene edits = A+
I can see these fight scenes are punchier, shorter, quicker, and have less chaff getting shot by good characters to help raise the stakes. Fewer misses at the good guys. More tension is kept. Great work here!

Nice! Love to hear it. I probably spent more time fixing combat sequences than anything else in these films haha.

Small suggestion- perhaps after the Warm or Cold line you can cut to carbonite in the face blast. Could be a shorter/punchier scene to jump straight to the ship.

Yep! Was recommended by some others as well and I have it updated as indicated above. A quicker cut right to one good exterior of the ship flying so we can actually see what the Razorcrest looks like and that’s it now. No more journey across the ice lake.

Overall, I am very impressed. The problem to me personally is this cuts from the show when its at it’s best. Later Books in this series will have the advantage of cutting garbage (Looking at you, S3!). This book has the disadvantage of cutting relatively successful material. Much harder to do!! (And I am very impressed at what you created here!)
This gives me a LOT of hope for these next chapters and I cannot wait to review them.

Thank you for the kind words! I believe this is the shortest movie in my saga, and also the one I cut the least from which is interesting… Ends right at 2 hours now, but I think the pacing worked out so I’m happy with that.

I think I’m also going to try and run the film through Topaz to see if that helps with the lower-quality footage at all. So if I can get feedback on the two scenes above, I will probably have this re-released by tomorrow evening!

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions Kypo! I’m really looking forward to being able to go through it all with the earlier films.

I’ve spent some time going through Book 5 again and trying to plan for 6. I have so many options for reorganizing the story, but I haven’t found one that feels right yet. I am, at this point, seeing if I can get the full Boba Tatooine story in Book 6 and interweave it with Plazir-15 (the not-terrible parts). For some reason, I just really do not enjoy the placement of Boba’s storyline in Book 5. After Din and Grogu separate, I really like the solo Din journey, but I don’t want to lose Boba as a character so I’m still experimenting.

That said, the experimenting has been slow the last few weeks. I recently had Baby #3 and was in the so-tired-I-can’t-think phase again so the editing has been sporadic. It’s been getting better though and I’ll get back to a good schedule soon.

Honestly, I’m thinking about finishing up Books 1-4 with the final updates first too, maybe help give me some inspiration for the final arc of the story after reviewing the earlier films again.

EddieDean said:

You’re the absolute MVP buddy ❤️

No you!

vranir said:

I think someone in this thread (or in another) also proposed keeping the modern Boba Fett stuff intact but moving it to a spot in between the first and second halves of Mando s3. That also seems to have potential in my view. It would slow down the return to Mandalore and also involve contacting the various groups/types of Mandalorians to “unite the tribes.”

The problem is that there is barely any context for Din joining Boba. In BoBF it’s basically, “I have nothing to do rn so why not”. And then there is actually no final scene with Din and Boba. Not one frame where they say goodbye or anything, it’s just battle scenes and then poof Din is in space with Grogu. Sadly, there’s not much to work with on the fan edit side here. I used some AI voice generation for my short ~20 minute edit of Tatooine which would have worked well enough, but expanding this all into a cohesive film in the middle of S3 doesn’t work well. If we want the full Boba story here, Din needs to help because he is purposeless without Grogu. I can’t make that main AI lines about such a different placement of this story.

kypo said:

Also- Have you ever considered adding other fanedit material- like this salvaged Jango Fett scene from Attack of the Clones? Could be a good way to “add” to some of these flashback scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gbh08F061A&ab_channel=vanilla

Kypo, first gotta say, absolutely killer reviews. Thank you so much for taking the time to do that. I’ll get back to responding to them in detail when I can. As far as the flashback, is there a certain place you’d recommend that? I believe all my Boba memory scenes are in Book 2, are you suggesting putting this clip somewhere in there?

RogueLeader said:

Speaking of which, Acbagel, if there are any other spots where you have caught yourself saying, “Man, it would be great if we had a line here to explain this”, feel free to reach out because I’d be more than happy to generate some lines for you. I had already been wanting to remake Luke’s dialogue in Mando and BOBF to make it sound more natural and like Mark Hamill. It would be a good opportunity to alter his lines to fit your interpretation of the character, if you felt this version of Luke shouldn’t follow the “attachments” rule, for example. Just let me know!

Yes, that will definitely come in handy. I’ve just recently begun experimenting with ElevenLabs myself, but I’ve heard the lines from Ascendent, and some of them are truly amazing! When we finalize a couple lines here I’ll DM you and see if you have any good models for those voices yet.

beachedwhale said:

Is there still an active link for the current day bobf V2 film I have heard circling around? I would love to check it out, I think these edits are amazing and I will continue to follow these posts with great interest!

You’re looking for the old Book 5 from last year (before Mando Season 3 was released and I decided to change the story around Grogu)? If so, yes, DM me and I’ll send that to you.

Darth Muffy said:

Also Acbagel I made a simple project of BoBF series here to fix making Boba back to being a bad ass again. I never got around to refining it after the inital v1 but maybe you could take some ideas from it for this quality project your doing here. Example Boba being a bad ass in battle and not keep taking dirt naps which sounds like you’ve already fixed but it shows we’re on the same page of Bobas Book 😉 : https://vimeo.com/721775369

Nice! I scrolled through some of the changes there and it looks like we have a similar vision for Boba. Are there any changes that were not in my film that you had ideas for me to add?

Thanks for all the posts, everyone! I’ll be able to edit some more later this week so I’ll keep making progress and updates on Books 5-7 whenever I can.

PsyGemini said:

Isn’t it better to wait for the final season next year before going deep with the editing?

Maybe…? But I think I can get the majority of it done now and then do a smaller update after Season 3 if it affects anything in my first few films. There are big events in Season 2 that will make Season 3 probably not contain anything that would alter my Season 1 films so I’m not too worried. I still want to get this done for people who want to watch Season 3 live without needing to sift through some slow episodes that might deter them from experiencing the core story.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I’m currently trying to put together a cut based on Eddie’s post. My original Book 5 in 2022 was received very well so I’m going to try to merge the ideas in that film with some of the new ideas we’ve all come up with in 2023 to try to get the best of both worlds here. I really like the order of events I created in the recent release, but it doesn’t work with a full Tatooine storyline for one movie. I am intrigued by Eddie’s idea to have Din be excommunicated and cut all immediate mentions of his atonement. Then we can experience a full 1.5 movies of this lonely journey he goes on, and further extend the separation of Din and Grogu. Also, as a callback to Book 2, I do still like the idea of us seeing Din and Boba go on parallel journeys. That would fit all in with my initial goals here with The Way of Mandalore. Having him hit rock bottom after seeing Grogu in the distance and not being able to be with him would give him a good motivation to head to his clan and plead for a path to atonement and belonging.

That will indeed mean I need to dig into Book 5 again as I have to completely restructure what I just released. But I don’t see any other way to include BoBF here in its full form. I could release an ~80-minute standalone movie of Boba like some people were requesting with Dr. Pershing’s story, but that has never been my intent for this project. I want a saga of 2-2.5 hour movies in this New Republic time period told from the perspective of Mandalorians. At the end of the day, this isn’t my first foray into massive plot structuring for my films haha. I do believe each time I’ve done this, they have been individually improved to a great degree, as well as created a more cohesive movie saga.

I am still quite torn on Boba not appearing in Books 6/7 in any real manner. Yes, I can get him some easter egg appearances on Mandalore but this new order does leave him out from the main plot thread. I may try and preserve some scenes from BoBF that I can add to Book 7. However, at some point, we will get additional Mandalorian content whether that comes in the form of the Filoni movie or Season 4 first, or maybe even Ahsoka/Skeleton Crew crossover and I’m sure they’ll explain where Boba was and perhaps I can plug that into my saga down the road. Such a missed opportunity to not bring him into Mandalore in season 3, but I can only work with what I have today.

Daiyus said:

I was in many ways hoping you’d expand into the Ashoka content so that we could watch a refined New Republic era with all the various major plotlines intact, melded together in chronological order. Of course, this was entirely wishful thinking on my part and no expectation is implied.

It’s looking like Ahsoka can be turned into a 1-2 movie experience. I believe it is intended to run chronologically concurrent with Mando S3 content? I’ll get to Ahsoka one day, especially if there happen to be any crossovers with Mando. When this site was down I started playing with the first couple of episodes. Combat is much better than other shows, but man even there we’re getting lightsabers flip-flopping directions between cuts and other goofs. Baylan’s hallway scene was very sloppy, but it will be fixed one day!

pableve said:

Regarding your Book 6 plans.
I belive it would be better to make 2 books out of your plan. So the Book 6 would be pretty muvh what you have in act 1 but with all the usable 70 min of Book of Boba fett footage and then have it intersect with Bo katan training Mandalorians.

And then have Book 7 be what you have planed in act 2 and act 3 of your current Book 6 plan.

I think that would be better and insted of having 1 nearly 3h film you end up with 2 films around 1h 40min.

I have a hard rule of thumb that a Star Wars movie MUST be at least 2 hours. No George Lucas film was under that and I won’t go under it either. I should be able to make three 2+hour movies with the new proposed order.

Again, thanks for all the replies. It’s going to take a while to make this all happen. I’m ~30 minutes into the new Book 5 structure, trying to combine two movies into one and save some scenes for future movies etc. Lots of scene and soundtrack juggling to do but at least I have all of the individual scenes edited how I want them (for the most part, which the new order some scenes will need to change) so the hardest work is done. No more frame by frame combat analysis needed, at least until Book 7…

And I will get back to the final updates on Books 1-4!