Analogue1

Food for thought:

Would it have made more sense overall, if Luke and Leia were not brother & sister, but lovers. And Ben, was Ben Skywalker. This way, his Grandad is still Darth Vader, and Luke would have felt more personal failings, preventing his own son’s turn to the dark side. (It makes much more sense, Luke would have named his son after Obi Wan) Also, Rey could have remained a Palpatine; and still had the love story with Ben. The Rise of Skywalker is therefore a much better allusion to the redemption of Ben; but ultimately the prevention of Rey’s turn to the dark side and take up of the Skywalker name. This way, Rey is also then therefore much more the adopted child of Luke & Leia. The ‘parents’ she never had.

Is this all too neat? The only thing you really lose, is Han’s involvement, and his love affair with Leia; but honestly, is that a big lose. Han was always a ‘solo’, hence the name.

I just watched this cut and thought it was incredible. It felt way closer in tone to the OT.

Story lines were also much cleaner and make way more sense.

I also watched Rise of Skywalker yesterday, and thought this edit was a much better fit with the new film.

My only critique perhaps, is the movie felt a little bit dry perhaps, especially in the first half with most of the humour cut out. I also think pace is a bit of issue with the middle third, but that might just be the way the original was.

Overall though, much cleaner and way more satisfying. It really built expectation for Rey in film 3 which is what I liked as well, I never really got that sense from the OG TLJ. I also had much more sympathy for Luke, which was surprising, and felt Luke and Rey had a better relationship development. I’m not sure what changes contributed to that.

One other thing though, which I would have loved to have seen, would be some better hint at Rey’s lineage, as revealed in film IV, especially perhaps under the island. I would have loved to have seen a Dark Rey there; but that might be a stretch too far for the cutting room.

Overall, great job, it would have certainly added a notch to the critic rating for sure.

Mavimao said:

I have a much more positive opinion of this film now that I’ve had a few days to reflect.

In essence, this film tells a very dour story: the First Order have caught up with the Rebellion that is on the run and alone after the destruction of the Republic, and they are slowly picked off one by one. What started with a whole base at the beginning, is just a handful of people that can fit in the Millennium Falcon by the end.

Another downer: people are making decisions that they think are the right ones, but they turn out to be completely wrong:

• Poe and attacking the ship then sending Rose and Finn to find a hacker. His actions have immense negative consequences that end up killing a lot of people.
• Luke cutting himself from the Force and wishing for the end of the Jedi.
• Rose and Finn finding A hacker (not THE hacker) and hoping for the best, which it doesn’t.

However, despite all of these terrible decisions comes a spark of hope:

• Poe sending Rose and Finn has inadvertently allowed the cause of the rebellion to spread.
• Luke has now become one with the Force and fully allows himself to be part of it instead of rejecting it, thus allowing him to save his friends and save his soul.
• Rey will carry on the Jedi, but perhaps is all the wiser thanks to Luke teaching her that the Force is not something that only people with a specific bloodline have, but that everyone has. This is reinforced with the boy and the broomstick and Rey’s lineage. This is in contrast with Luke who was told that, as a Skywalker, he was special, and that the force was strong with him and his family, and that only he could destroy Vader.

TL;DR: it’s good.

You make a few good points here that i hadn’t considered before.

Hey guys,

I've recently downloaded ANH, thanks Harmy.

I haven't watched the whole film yet, as I'm waiting for the appropriate moment to watch it with my 5 year old son, in anticipation of the new films coming in December, which I'm really looking forward to. So thanks again to Harmy and others for putting these out.

However, I had a couple of points, and I hope these are not taken as flat out negative criticism, I just wanted to point out a couple of things I've noticed and to see if people had any opinions.

1. Sometimes to my eye, the picture can be a little too sharp. Especially noticeable to me, but not limited to, when Luke is talking to his aunt and uncle 25 mins in.
2. Also for me, the colours at times, seem too natural.  I know apparently the colour tone has been taken from some original source, and it may just be my sub-conscience subjective bias remembering the look of the film from video, but to me, the colours can look a little plain, flat and natural.  I was reading another post somewhere else, with some other fan edit, about the style of shots popular at the time, for this type of cinematography, when the film was made.  And this point relates to all my points really, in that, I think the film did and should have a semi-otherworldly cellular glaze. A movie lens if you will.  Sorry I'm not a pro when it comes to the terms. For me a little skewed hue and softness to the shots added to the make-believe dimension.
3. Thirdly, my final point, and still related to my overarching analyses. In music, when making a record, when collecting a variety of individual instruments from different sources of different studio conditions, there are a variety of studio tricks to help the composition glue and sit together nicely.  One of these, for instance, is compression.  It can make 4 different instruments recorded in 4 different studio environments, say, sound like they were all recorded in the same room.  Now for those not following, I kinda feel this despecialized edition needs an equivalent trick.  I'm sure the combo of consistent lenses and film-type and universally applied effects to films do the same thing.  Has any been applied to the DE, considering, as Harmy says, he has taken footage and shots from a collection of sources?

Anyway, see what people think?  Sorry if I seem overly critical or misguided, I'm an absolute novice when it comes to film editing/cinematography, so I could be talking rubbish.