Work has commenced on V2. I was supposed to take a longer break, but f*ck it, I’m a perfectionist and I can’t let things rest if I see potential.

The suggestions I’ve had from some of you are more than good, and there aren’t many I disagree with. I’ll go into more details before release and update,

but here’s the more major alterations:

• Cut 2 min 40 seconds from Mapuso (as suggested above). It does indeed lose some momentum, and the pace of removing the Stormtroopers taking extreme interest in Obi-Wan and Leia and all that (although a good enough scene in its own merit) does increase the flow a lot and help in the film structure.
• Reeva does now throw the knife (again), and THEN the Jedi (Nari) run like it is presented in my edit (as suggested by GLogus).
• Cut Reeva landing in her own, private ship with the Stormtroopers on Jabiim. Instead, she simply has arrived WITH her troops - and the bombardment and shooting of the Rebel Door is all increasingly dramatic and better paced, as to not waste too much time on silly shananigans (me).
• The Laser Gate on Dayiu is instantly shot at by Obi-Wan, and instantly opens. This doesn’t make the Laser Gate seem like this giant obstacle that it does in the series/film. Obi-Wan (and Anakin) used to shoot door panels all throughout the series, so this is totally in character and should actually work as a homeage of sorts (Glogus and me).
• Smoothen out audio transition with Reeva talking to her thugs (as suggested by GLogus), as some might find it confusing.
• Cut the line “The Jedi hunt themselfes” from Reeva speaking to her thugs, as I cut the Grand Inquisitor’s delivery of the line on Tattooine (this I actually had forgotten about, thank you, Glogus).
• Smoothen Haja and Obi-Wan conversation before The Alternate Rescue.

… and more, as suggested. This is just from the top of my head.

Things that will NOT be changed:

• The line “How old are you?”. Simply because it is meant to be playful, and it does create some great banter between them. In the heat of everything going on and all the questions Obi-Wan is asked from this (at the time, to him) troublesome little girl, this scene made my girlfriend chuckle a lot. This being a family saga (and a family film), I don’t find it a smart move to remove EVERYTHING that goes slightly against logic. Sometimes, a little family lightness goes a long way.
• Obi-Wan using the force on the window in the new, alternate Escape. Reason: Obi-Wan using the force in an impactful way does ruin the implication that when Obi-Wan DOES use his force powers in full (later saving Leia), is when Anakin can sense him. Therefore, Obi-Wan using the force can not be kept for reasons of believability and continuity.
• The line “Who’s in the gutter now?”. Although it’s original reference is gone, the line still holds value in the sense that it shows Reeva’s hatred for the Grand Inquisitor. Having removed a lot of the Inquisitor Banter and cringe in the film, this line serves as a nail in the coffin imo. Removing it would most likely leave certain audience members confused as to why she killed him in the first place. When she delivers the line, we will immediately ASSUME that this is the way the Grand Inquisitor has ALWAYS treated her - like a gutter rat.

@VulgarisMagistralis: I haven’t noticed anyone having issues with this, and on repeat viewings I still can’t find issue with this if I try. I think the reason Leia is running is because, for the first time in her life, she is being SHOT AT, and this is why she is running and panicking. I think it works. Thank you for your suggestion tho’.

And PMs sent.

Know that I read your reviews and comments both here and in the PM’s, and I’m very glad most of you like it and I am also very happy for good, constructive feedback.

I will revisit with some changes when my Kenobi Fatigue wears off a little (if all, then i probably won’t touch it until 2023) and then we’ll have some requested alterations.

I will come back to the changes that will be made, and the changes that are requested that will NOT be made probably sometime next week or thereafter - When I feel like pumping out the final changes.

Nothing major, and nothing that would require a ton of work - luckily. 😃

Thank you all for the beautiful compliments and encouraging words, and know that I read and appreciate every comment and feedback. Even though this is my fanedit and my vision, I think being a faneditor it’s a beautiful thing to also listen to the community and shape things in a way that is still true to your vision but in a general sense makes the product more approachable from all different, subjective angles. So I’m happy to do a V2. 😃

Meanwhile, enjoy the edit, enjoy other edits, and have a great week! See you soon.

• Your friend, Anjohan / Andreas.

ALSO, PS: If any of you found issue with some sound being too loud and downloaded the Stereo version, know that the 5.1 version adresses the compressed musical alterations and deliver a better sound experience by far. 😃

PM sent.

Cheers. I might do a “Depressive Cut” somewhere down the line as I would love to try a more mature and radical approach, more in line with my (outdated) The Ancient Lore edit.

But as a well-paced, cringeless and tonally stable Star Wars addition I’m more than satisfied with the edit. I might remove that line when/if I decide to finetune or alter something. As of right now I’m Kenobi fatigued.

PM sent.

PMs sent and responded to. Thank you for your kind words.

Update

Also, 5.1 done and released. Re-download if you want the full surround experience. Also cut Nari meeting Obi-Wan (on a second viewing I found his presence to ruin the pace and present more questions than answers).

PMs sent.

And thank you for your kind words and support - as always. It means a lot. You’re the goat!

Some people have reported trouble downloading the file. I think this is due to too many requests but I really don’t know.

I’ve tried moving the file in and out of the folder, so please try again if you had/have any issues. Thank you.

The Edit Is Done

So, yes. I don’t know what to say really. The edit is done. Today. Five minutes ago.

Thank you all for coming up with ideas, feedback, constructive criticism and both challenging yourselfs as well as me and the community in coming up with ideas that not only would help to keep true to the spirit of Star Wars but also at certain places massively improve upon original scenes.

I’m rendering the 10 GB (9.7 to be exact) STEREO surround file now, and then work will continue tomorrow and monday on finalizing the 5.1 surround and then doing that render as well. And then I will have to do the credits (which will take some time, going through this entire thread again - hehe) - and then! - we’re kinda at the finish line.

Of course things might change in the future and a V2 or something might come along, but as of right now and for some upcoming months; I am both PROUD and totally DONE with Kenobi: A Star Wars Story! Fatigue has kicked in, and I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I’ve enjoyed working with you and the film.

The goal was to craft an Obi-Wan Kenobi Story in true Star Wars spirit, with the improvement of pace, tone, continuity and canon, removal of cringe or bad execution of plot points and overall create something that both felt refreshing as well as redeeming. I, for me, am now satisfied in having reached my inital goals and the goals we’ve set for ourselfs throughout these eight weeks as we’ve planned the edit along, and I must say it has been a blast as well as sometimes a complete, mental agony. Thank you to all who helped out.

Thank You

And May the Force Be With You.

How to Obtain/When to Obtain?

You should be a Disney+ member.

The 10 GB MP4 Stereo is now rendering, and will be up on my Google Drive within an hour or so. You may send PM’s whenever you wish, and I will come back to you as soon as it’s up.

Want to wait for the 5.1 Surround?

• 4th or 5th of July. PM me then.

JEDIT(S):

• Subtitles will be made! Unless someone wants to make them (and get credited both here and in the Google Drive folder), I’ll have to make them myself - and expect them in a month or so.

My pleasure. 😃 Thanks for contributing.

leftshoe18 said:

everbake said:
And when during the last fight scene when Vader puts Obi-Wan into the hole, have him say “Now I have the high ground”

That would be WAY too on the nose. I know Star Wars isn’t exactly known for its subtlety but that would be a little much IMO.

Yeah, nothing like that.

The ending is done and concluded for release. I think WE have a satisfactory solution (that keeps with canon).

Of course. Just send me a PM.

danieldubb said:

Anjohan said:

Also, I might release the edit before the 4th. I got some more time on my hands than previously thought.

Jedit:

I’ll release the Stereo 10 GB mp4 first, followed by the 5.1 two or three days later. It’s some extra work to create the 5.1 due to the new audio alterations, and I will have to preview it on my home cinema system.

hey anjohan, let me know if u have any audio issues you cant solve, i’d be happy to help u tweak anything audio related and have done some stuff for other people in our community cheers

Thank you for that, Daniel. As of right now I have yet to encounter a problem I can’t solve, but if I do now (or in the future) I’ll be sure to send you a PM.

MandThUlti said:

Anjohan said:

Also, I might release the edit before the 4th. I got some more time on my hands than previously thought.

Jedit:

I’ll release the Stereo 10 GB mp4 first, followed by the 5.1 two or three days later. It’s some extra work to create the 5.1 due to the new audio alterations, and I will have to preview it on my home cinema system.

This is awesome, thanks for all the hard work!

Cheers, it’s been a pleasure! Thank you for participating!

Sirius said:

Hi Anjohan. I have a small suggestion to make, if possible. I don’t know if you already completed the score of your edit, but I found a cool re-score of the scene where Obi-Wan see a mirage of Anakin in the field, and I think it could be cool to add something like this in it:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mA6gZq5u75A

Although, I think that the beginning of “Padmé’s Ruminations” theme would be even better in this scene. But in my opinion, both are good and could enhance the moment even more than what it is in the show.

I actually have a score for that scene that I think fits the exact tone - and it is not from the Prequels (which I like, as I use four soundtracks from them already - which I think is enough). But thanks for the suggestion, brother!

Also, I might release the edit before the 4th. I got some more time on my hands than previously thought.

Jedit:

I’ll release the Stereo 10 GB mp4 first, followed by the 5.1 two or three days later. It’s some extra work to create the 5.1 due to the new audio alterations, and I will have to preview it on my home cinema system.

Commander_Vimes said:

Anjohan said:

There have been some excellent posts around here adressing certain character flaws if you will, and although I am very close to a release now (praise the maker!), there is still a lot of adjusting to do (I won’t bother to release a product I’m only 99% satisfied with).

So, I expect release date to be between 4th-10th of July.

Things left to do:

• A few tweaks to the opening (mainly audio smoothening) -> Already done some changes to the overall pacing
• Smooth Haja’s abrupt and sudden switch to “i’m gonna help you” (we talked about it above/previous page)
• Remove some inconsistencies with the characters (mostly Obi-Wan &Leia - recent discussion up above made me realize three things I wanted to change - mainly scenes where Obi-Wan either look rather clueless or helpless - simply remove reaction shots or unwarranted questions)

Also, Ive replaced the elevator with something less “sci-fi” (as someone thought it to be) and I think it looks splendid.

There’s probably a lot more to mention, but we’re getting close!

And thank you all for your brilliant ideas, suggestions and feedback!

Just chiming in for the first time and created an account to throw my 2 cents. Hello There!

Everything you’ve been doing has been excellent so far and I can’t wait to see the finished product. I’m not sure if it’s been discussed here yet but has any thought been given to altering Vader taking down the decoy ship in Ep. 5?

I love that he took it down and everything but thought that the real ship being right behind it made the awesome moment fall a bit flat.

How I would go about it is if he takes down the first ship like normal, and then when the other ship takes off he begins to pull it down but cut to fancy blinking lights in the shaking cockpit (using other footage I and others can look for) and it just manages to pull away but with damage to the ship. This would be another way to explain why the ship’s hyperdrive is damaged apart from evil Lola.

Thank you for that, man. And it’s a great compliment that you made a user account just to come with ideas and give praise. Thank you.

I do see where you’re coming from and I do agree that that would be an improvement. I do not know if it’s feasible due to the lack of footage to work with (mainly the fact that when the second ship takes off it’s simply ONE, long shot) and this would probably require extensive VFX and audio work (which God, I’m kind of exhausted from now doing the new Rescue). But! Let me look into it. It’s definitely a neat idea.

DZ-330 said:

You could cut the whole swimming scene and go directly to the stormtrooper opening the door and Obi-Wan choking him out. You can assume he’s wet from being in the “sewers”.

Order the scenes as:

• Obi confronts Haja
• Obi in the streets
• Random creatures
• Elevator
• Imperials monitoring the computers
• Stormtrooper opening door and Obi’s: "I’m in’

This will also help to explain why he didn’t have to swim back with Leia.

Shorten Haja’s dialogue to Obi in the streets:
“Alright if it’s the sewers you want there’s only one place to go. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”

Let’s not have Haja spell out his “making amends” intentions to the audience like we’re too dumb to understand.

Edit: Haja is a Jedi fanboy. Of course he wants to help a real one.

I like the underwater sequence, so it’ll stay. It’s a great new scenery to the Star Wars universe, and it has great atmospheric value. Also a kick-ass score. And the reference to the “Sewers” could be more the fact that he has to go down there to gain access to the Imperial Base without being detected (at least that’s my interpretation).

I agree with the “making amends”. It’s going. No need to spoon feed.

There have been some excellent posts around here adressing certain character flaws if you will, and although I am very close to a release now (praise the maker!), there is still a lot of adjusting to do (I won’t bother to release a product I’m only 99% satisfied with).

So, I expect release date to be between 4th-10th of July.

Things left to do:

• A few tweaks to the opening (mainly audio smoothening) -> Already done some changes to the overall pacing
• Smooth Haja’s abrupt and sudden switch to “i’m gonna help you” (we talked about it above/previous page)
• Remove some inconsistencies with the characters (mostly Obi-Wan &Leia - recent discussion up above made me realize three things I wanted to change - mainly scenes where Obi-Wan either look rather clueless or helpless - simply remove reaction shots or unwarranted questions)

Also, Ive replaced the elevator with something less “sci-fi” (as someone thought it to be) and I think it looks splendid.

There’s probably a lot more to mention, but we’re getting close!

And thank you all for your brilliant ideas, suggestions and feedback!

GLogus said:

revel911 said:

DZ-330 said:

Just a shower thought…

Can Obi’s:
“Then my friend is truly dead. Goodbye, Darth.”

Be edited to:
“My friend is not dead. Goodbye, Darth”

This can help to explain why Obi leaves and does not kill him. It will also explain Vader’s line of “Obi-Wan once thought as you do” in ROTJ.

There is no perfect answer. He tells Luke that Anakin is dead so the dialogue works there. Dialogue doesn’t need to explain Obi leaving, he does not because that’s who he is.

Yeah, I feel like this is trying to fix something that isn’t actually broken. I think any further effort to fix canon here is just going to draw away from the emotional impact of the scene.

Agreed.

stretch009 said:

Sorry if this has been mentioned before. I hope there will be color correction. I had a terrible time seeing what was going on much of the show because of how dark things were. It was possibly the worst I’d ever ‘seen’. Even worse than the Mandalorian.

I can increase brightness a tad in the two duels, yes. It’s a valid point.

PodracingThisIs91 said:

Anjohan said:

https://streamable.com/l5beka

Exposition redesign as suggested by Vranir, and alterations to the overall soundmix.

I think it’s a bit of a stretch to call that huge water area “the sewers”. But maybe it’s because I know it isn’t and the hypothetical new spectator won’t notice. Anyhow if that means that we get a bit of Chapter 4 character development and we get our only one rescue (the good one) I’m up for it. I mean I like the idea behind it.

On a side note, I think Haja agrees to help Kenobi way to fast, I don’t know if there’s a way to make the cut less obvious or fast.

Also loving what this post is achieving and the amount of ideas and participants in it!

Cheers.

Yeah, the plot kinda jumps a little quick on Haja helping Obi-Wan both in the original and here. Although I think it works better now, considering he’s telling us his motivations for doing so (which he does not do in EP2 - at least not until way after the rescue of Leia). And then it feels… odd.

The only way I could see the smoothening of that is to remove Haja going “You can trust me” and “Definitely”, and instead try to restructure it after Obi-Wan’s “Can I trust you?” to Haja looking at him, either concerned or thoughtful.

I was wondering if perhaps the emotional climax of Obi-Wan and Leia’s reunion at Alderaan would have an even bigger impact if Obi-Wan leaves her on the ship when she’s upset that he is to leave and runs off?

And then I also think that Leia sneaking Lola into his pocket would be even more emotional based on that change as well, as it tells us as the audience that even if she’s upset with Obi-Wan abandoning her on the ship, she still understands and wants him to remember her and feel safe.

It shows great character imo, and it leaves us as the audience feeling unresolved up until they reunite on Alderaan.

JEDIT:

Only issue is that she holds Lola in her hand as she’s upset and runs off. I could crop the footage to keep her out tho’. Can’t rotoscope it without wasting one year of my life.

Sirius said:

Well, it’s stylistically designed to be that way and you can’t undo that. But we can diminish the effects of it.

Personally, for me, the show just gone too far in a few places.

Reeva is the key to all this.

vranir said:

I like it. Why do we have a second shot of the rat back out in the street after ObiWan goes through the door?

I just added it for some more atmosphere and buildup since i didnt use the initial closeup. You dont like it?

https://streamable.com/l5beka

Exposition redesign as suggested by Vranir, and alterations to the overall soundmix.

revel911 said:

Anjohan said:

NellsRelo said:

Anjohan said:

So, I read all your brilliant feedback and decided to do another crack at the rescue entry:

https://streamable.com/psv9u3

(I’ll do some more recomposing on Leia now - glad to hear it’s very close to fully working for most)

This is fantastic, it feels much less jarring, and the sense of movement imo helps sell Haja a bit better, since we don’t get the resolution to him considering betraying Obi-Wan with this cut. Spacing out the dialogue slightly through the establishing shots, like you’ve done here, mitigates the untrustworthiness in his delivery when Obi-Wan has him at blaster-point

Cheers, brother. This is how I feel as well. I’ll make the voiceover start a tad quicker tho as suggested above.

vranir said:

Maybe make the voiceover start earlier during the new shots. That will reduce the weirdness of the headset being used underwater.

Also consider cutting the line right afterwards about taking a short break. What kind of support takes a break during the middle of the dangerous operation?

Haja.

Hehe. Good suggestion.

revel911 said:

Anjohan said:

So, I read all your brilliant feedback and decided to do another crack at the rescue entry:

https://streamable.com/psv9u3

(I’ll do some more recomposing on Leia now - glad to hear it’s very close to fully working for most)

Sorry we keep sticking on this one scene. 1. Love the elevator up front and the inclusion of command center screen. 2. I think I like the other elevator better, feels less “sci-if”. Did you try it recolored and in reverse? (It’s not bad, just missing that Star Wars “grit”)

I did try it, but 1: the shot is way too low res - and 2: it looks too fake imo.

If I could get a better quality version to work with, then perhaps!

Can you send me the link? I will throw through an upscaler to see what happens.

PM sent.

NellsRelo said:

Anjohan said:

So, I read all your brilliant feedback and decided to do another crack at the rescue entry:

https://streamable.com/psv9u3

(I’ll do some more recomposing on Leia now - glad to hear it’s very close to fully working for most)

This is fantastic, it feels much less jarring, and the sense of movement imo helps sell Haja a bit better, since we don’t get the resolution to him considering betraying Obi-Wan with this cut. Spacing out the dialogue slightly through the establishing shots, like you’ve done here, mitigates the untrustworthiness in his delivery when Obi-Wan has him at blaster-point

Cheers, brother. This is how I feel as well. I’ll make the voiceover start a tad quicker tho as suggested above.

vranir said:

Maybe make the voiceover start earlier during the new shots. That will reduce the weirdness of the headset being used underwater.

Also consider cutting the line right afterwards about taking a short break. What kind of support takes a break during the middle of the dangerous operation?

Haja.

Hehe. Good suggestion.

revel911 said:

Anjohan said:

So, I read all your brilliant feedback and decided to do another crack at the rescue entry:

https://streamable.com/psv9u3

(I’ll do some more recomposing on Leia now - glad to hear it’s very close to fully working for most)

Sorry we keep sticking on this one scene. 1. Love the elevator up front and the inclusion of command center screen. 2. I think I like the other elevator better, feels less “sci-if”. Did you try it recolored and in reverse? (It’s not bad, just missing that Star Wars “grit”)

I did try it, but 1: the shot is way too low res - and 2: it looks too fake imo.

If I could get a better quality version to work with, then perhaps!