AspiringCreator

BedeHistory731 said:

My idea for that scene, however controversial, would’ve involved ghost Anakin taking a holoprojector from the DSII wreckage and showing Ben a small recording of Padmé. Anakin would talk about his regrets and how he could never see her again, warning Ben profusely about his path. It would parallel Rey and Luke’s discussion, furthering the dyad theme.

If ghost Anakin is more involved in showing Ben the light (or has his own arc through the ST of helping the heroes), perhaps a reunion with ghost Padmé would be a good (albeit cliché) touch.

That could work very well, especially since the recording could easily be of a small moment from either the prequels, TCW or maybe something else and it would work because then depending on how they chose to deal with it and have Kylo either be redeemed or not, it could shake Ben to his core to hear so earnestly from his grandfather just how much this path took from him and if it doesn’t redeem him? Then it’d be emotional for Anakin as he’s watching as one of his descendants is not only going down the same route he is but he’s making even worse mistakes.

I’d really love to see this project seen to completion. While I’m not super sensitive to color grading stuff such as what happens with Blu-Rays. After seeing stuff like Hal9000’s Ascendant and this, I do look at the film as-is now and can’t unsee this kind of ugly tint that has been placed over the whole thing.

Not sure if this is the right place to ask but does anyone have or know where I can find Bobson’s theatrical reconstruction of Revenge of the Sith? I’ve been going out of my way to get the closest approximations to the theatrical cuts at least until TN1 or someone fully decides to give them the 4K77 treatment and I really only need ROTS to complete them.

regularjoe said:

In the Art of The Force Awakens book they have some concept art for a force ghost Anakin that doesn’t maintain a static visage. I rather like that idea, like he’s still atoning for the things he did somehow.
Having said that, the only Vader cameo I ever wanted for the ST was a scene where he comes back as a force ghost and tells his grandson, “not in my name you brat.”

I remember that, especially the quote that talked about it where it said that it was inspired by an idea in the Earthsea novel series where the darkness that’s inside you doesn’t just go away when you atone, it’s always gonna be a part of you no matter what. That was a really cool idea that I wish they’d considered for at least the ninth episode, it would’ve worked really nicely to have Anakin sit down with Ben and just state how wrong the crimes he committed were.

JadedSkywalker said:

I disagree on one hand Threepio being built by Anakin stretches canon to its breaking point. On the other its funny that Anakin become Vader more machine than man and Threepio is very human like, a robot he built. Just like even though it breaks canon Vader being born at the same time Padme dies is a very powerful visual. Its like Lucas was being too clever.

That’s fair, I will say even that I am one of those people that normally won’t care if something breaks canon a little if I like the storytelling and themes at play though with Anakin and Threepio, I feel like even with that comparison it’s mostly bandages at best for what is pretty decently big wound. There are bigger issues though that I’m willing to concede to.

JadedSkywalker said:

But i don’t by the poetry it rhymes stuff. Or whatever some fan created online to describe the movies. There is visual symmetry and continuity, almost accidentally at times due to Lucas recycling ideas. But the most interesting aspect to me would have been Luke and Anakin having similar journey’s that ended up in a different place. Lucas failed in executing that. Anakin’s turn and his friendship with Obi-Wan are completely bungled, rushed or skipped over. The Opera scene was interesting, that is a seduction to power and evil. But the whole join the dark side to save Padme doesn’t work. Not sure what other answer to Anakin’s turn Lucas could have done. But it should have been like what was described in the OT, and the return of the jedi novelization.

I definitely would agree with that. Like I said, the prequels are in desperate need of simplification. The focal point of this story feels like it should be Anakin and how he’s a good honest person that gets manipulated by the Dark Side but the movies focus so much on setting up other elements, at times pointless side-quests and overdoes it on Anakin being such a good person before he turns that it means his evil switch has to be flipped to 100 real quick to where it’s almost unnatural.

I go back and forth on this. In terms of general thoughts, I definitely dislike this, especially when it comes to a franchise like Star Wars where you hear about how the ST undoes the OT… and yet the old EU did that on a pretty consistent basis with new empires, new superweapons, Sith and so on. ESB in a way could be argued undoes ANH as that movie was designed to be one solid movie and yet ESB shows the Rebels are in a terrible state after that film. I personally just don’t care in the slightest about if things are undone or “ruined”. To me, I care about the story.

That being said? I do feel that in order to do this properly, we need to have the story feel like it’s actually continuing from the previous films. I think TFA and TLJ did this very well overall and to an extent upon reading it, it seems like DOTF by Colin Trevorrow looked like it was gonna do the same… but TROS hurt it by bringing back Palpatine and transforming the story into being this overly grandiose, friggin’ ridiculous display where it’s about the Jedi being destined to take down the Sith again when they haven’t been relevant to this story for two whole movies and it undoes Anakin’s big moment because yes, he only did it to save Luke… but it’s more than that. If we are to count the prequels? This is supposed to be a personal achievement for Anakin for after years of being under the oppressive thumb of the Emperor, the old man who groomed and manipulated him into being the Dark Lord of the Sith that helped to bring about the end of the Jedi, the man who made him believe this was all he had left, he finally is shown by his son that it’s never too late for anyone and so he’s able to get the strength to make things right and overthrow the Emperor once and for all with the ST being poised to be more about the legacy of the Skywalkers and the old heroes who lived in the era of them. TROS then comes along and oops! Palpatine had a convoluted back-up plan as per usual and now that big personal sacrifice and achievement means absolutely nothing because a rushed production meant fanservice galore instead of telling an actual story.

Personally no, I don’t think so. I know this isn’t really what the question is asking but I have to say in terms of Vader coming back? I really feel the ST missed the mark on not having Anakin just once speaking with Kylo. But as for an impostor or even Vader coming back? I’d say no. To me, Vader’s story had been told in the previous six movies and while they were decanonized? We got so much in various novels, comics, the radio dramas and more. Having more Vader to me just would come across as tacky and too focused on fan-appeasement when with the ST I want something different, fanservice is fine but I want it to be used in ways that enhance the story instead of reminding me I could be watching another film.

I have gone through a fascinating journey with the Prequel Trilogy. Like probably a good 50-70% of the site and maybe Star Wars fandom in general, I grew up in the era of the prequels. They were not necessarily the movies that got me into Star Wars but they were the big talk of the town and like many kids from that era I grew up loving them. Then over time I went back to watch them and I found I hated them and now they live in this interesting area where I think they are simultaneously overrated and overhated.

At their core just looking at them from an idea standpoint? They had so much potential. I love the idea of giving Darth Vader’s sacrifice more weight by seeing the man he once was and how he was seduced to the Dark Side. Seeing the Clone Wars even for a moment was really cool as was seeing the prime of the Jedi and all these new interesting worlds that are being created through digital effects to show just how far technology has come and where it can go in the future. Where the prequels really falter is in their execution which is very clunky at best and overcomplicated and nonsensical at worst.

The worst of them are The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones which to me are pretty interchangeable in how badly they’re done because they suffer from so much bloat. At its core, it works to an extent, we see how in TPM the Jedi operate at their prime and how they’re resolving what appears to be a normal dispute in the galaxy. It then quickly goes to hell and keeps escalating until we get the big battle at the end which reveals the Sith have returned and we get the beginnings of Palpatine’s rise to power. AOTC continues the story and shows how Anakin’s corruption is starting to shape him, we get more hints that something more sinister is developing and we get the reveal of what will become the Empire and ROTS is the culmination of Palpatine’s plan and the death of Anakin Skywalker. But the movies go out of their way way to either be painfully slow and dull with scenes that waste time and dialogue that often just restates what they’re already doing which also is written and sounds like it’s being done by robots who want to understand the hu-mans or so overloaded with unfunny slapstick that it makes you wonder if Lucas forgot he was making an epic space opera. They also commit the big prequel sins by making unnecessary connections that just don’t need to be there just because some of these elements are in later movies. Now I’m not one of those people who says the prequels have to be able to be completely enjoyed in chronological order and thus should have no connections at all. They were designed for a world that knew Star Wars already so some connections should be expected but some of the ones they incorporate are so baffling. Anakin building C-3P0 is completely unnecessary to the story, the pod and him being shown in Watto’s shop do a lot to imply this kid is genuinely great with tech already, him being stated to have built Threepio gives us really no new information but also it draws a tenuous connection between two characters that did not have one before and did not need one. Just because you can add more information doesn’t necessarily mean that info is important nor does that mean you should do it. We don’t need that Chewbacca knows Yoda. Can I buy he’d meet a Jedi at least once in his life? I absolutely can and I don’t think it ruins the OT having Han not believe in the Force but to meet Yoda, the Jedi Grand Master? That’s a step too far.

I also really do not care for how it right away makes Anakin so important to this universe. Now the Chosen One angle I’m personally fine with. Various religions believe in various ideas and some of them include prophecies like this so I can buy that the Jedi actually would buy into this one. The problem is them leaning so hard into the idea that this is actually true with Anakin being born via virgin birth and even comments after the fact that state his sacrifice in ROTJ is fulfilling that destined prophecy. To me there is enough emotional weight just in the idea of a broken man who has been lied to and manipulated his whole life by the most evil being in the galaxy being motivated to redeem himself and lift himself out of the darkness because where everyone else said he was far too gone and after years of coming to accept this is just what his life is now, his son saw the good in him and even turned off his lightsaber in spite of how easily he could’ve killed him, like he recognized that he was making the same mistakes he once did and decided not to repeat them. Now though? Now the Skywalkers suddenly have too much importance to this whole galaxy. It’s no longer a case where we just so happened to spend a story focusing on this family, suddenly they are the most important family to ever live because the matriarch is almost Space Jesus and now Luke doesn’t just have a special history, he now has the most special history out of anyone. It takes his story about being just a regular farmboy who yearns for adventure that grows into becoming a noble hero who saves the galaxy and really strips it of ironically what made it special by trying to make it more special. Top that off with the reveal of the Midichlorians which just serve to overcomplicate what was an easy to understand mystical system that revolved around belief and accepting another point-of-view with the only things that limit you being how attuned you are to the Force naturally and your own mental blocks and it turns Star Wars I feel into just a standard fantasy tale or like a bad D&D game.

Really what the prequels needed to do was simplify. For instance, if they really needed a Fett in the movies? It would’ve been easier to just have Boba Fett as a grown adult and have him live through AOTC. You don’t need Dooku and Grievous, Maul should’ve been the main villain through all the films. Threepio? He either was a droid Anakin repaired or he’s just with the Republic since it would make sense for a translator droid to be present. They also really should’ve tightened up Anakin’s story, AOTC and TPM I feel you could combine to a degree with changes to make a better Episode I, ROTS can be altered to be Episode II as this is where we get some of Anakin’s brightest and darkest moments just maybe without the end of the Jedi and him becoming Vader and then III can just be all about his disillusionment and how he is on the cusp of becoming Vader. I know in some ways this would negate TCW and some of the EU content but that’s where the biggest issue of the PT rears its ugly head. It isn’t that the PT is just so massive that it required more content to flesh it out, it’s that these movies were made so overcomplicated and focused on so many of the wrong things that other storytellers had to refocus the story to make it coherent. TCW shouldn’t have had to be the series to make Anakin’s fall believable, it should’ve been a fun piece of side-content that fleshed out the universe for those who wanted that while the PT gives us the major beats. As it is though the PT is so bloated and lacking in central focus that honestly you’re better off reading a summary of what happened, watching the battles and then TCW and leaving it at that for your prequel era visit. And I know George had very specific intentions for these movies and I have no problem with that. It’s his story, he obviously should be allowed to do what he wants and I get why a lot of people really love the prequels. I’ve seen and read analyses by many that cover what makes the prequels great to them and they’ve certainly helped me to enjoy them more during rewatches and I think that’s great. But I can only appreciate so much before I notice the poor execution staring me in the face.

liambrazier said:

I applaud the work on this upscale but a lot of the painterly details get lost unfortunately. What resolution are the Disney+ versions does anyone know (and/or have access to them??)

From what I can see? It’s the same resolution as the DVDs just maybe slightly cleaned up. It’s definitely not a full remastering.

This is such a cool project. I’ve always kind of found it weird that the prequels, like the OT were changed with each release but that there were no restoration projects for it. I’m definitely gonna be keeping an eye on this one.

I’d love a link to this. I adore the microseries and I also kind of bemoaned the fact it had never been released at a higher resolution.

SpenceEdit said:

AspiringCreator said:

I love the idea of having the 20th Century Fox fanfare not just as a cute fanservice thing but also it kind of helps with this feeling like the end of this nine-part epic in a way by getting a reminder of where Star Wars came from. Question is though if you’re including the fanfare? Are you including the logo and if so? Will it be the 20th Century Fox or 20th Century Studios variant? Minor detail I know but it has sparked my curiosity.

It is the fanfare and logo from 4K83, no changes. I too like the idea of it being a throwback to the originals.

Ahh… I see, kind of gives me vibes of when TCW’s four-part finale began with the old 70s Lucasfilm logo for both nostalgia and to really emphasize that it was an event. I dig it.

I love the idea of having the 20th Century Fox fanfare not just as a cute fanservice thing but also it kind of helps with this feeling like the end of this nine-part epic in a way by getting a reminder of where Star Wars came from. Question is though if you’re including the fanfare? Are you including the logo and if so? Will it be the 20th Century Fox or 20th Century Studios variant? Minor detail I know but it has sparked my curiosity.

SparkySywer said:

The MCU’s “writing” is like the “writing” of a porno or an 80s video game. It’s expected to be there, but it’s not that important. It’s weak and barely existent because story isn’t the point. The point is to push your buttons for a bit, and the story’s only there because people aren’t yet ready to just watch two hour long SFX sequences like they are now ready to just play games and watch people having sex.

Star Wars, for what it’s worth, is at least supposed to be about the story. The overarching story may now be a train wreck, but the only reason the MCU isn’t a train wreck is because there’s nothing in the train to wreck it.

As someone who has watched all the MCU and ended up loving the majority of it? I’d say that’s being a little harsh but then again, I really dislike when people jump to pointing at the MCU as this pillar for perfect movie series when it just isn’t.

Stardust1138 said:

AspiringCreator said:

Stardust1138 said:

AspiringCreator said:

Stardust1138 said:

JadedSkywalker said:

I liked the aspect of the force being more democratic and mysterious and its choosing a neophyte no one to restore the balance. I liked that Last Jedi basically made the whole mutant inherited bloodline thing, irrelevant. Only for Rise to make Rey a Palpatine and undo the idea of Star Wars going back to the style of a the original where Luke was a no one, who had the courage to leave Tatooine and confront the Empire. Originally Luke was a brave kid who went on an adventure he wasn’t the son of a super-villain/mutant with the most mitochondrial DNA or midichlorians whatsits in existence to some prophecy. Its undermines the force and free will. Its junk.

The thing is George never said the Force was exclusive to bloodlines. I think what he says about is just the opposite from how both J.J. and Rian took it to mean.

He said:

"A lot of people get confused about the Force. They see it as some special thing that you can find and pick up and put it on your head and suddenly you have the Force. Whereas it’s always been designed so that every [living] being has the Force.

The amount of Force, which is like talent or intelligence, is different in every person. Some of it is inherited, but it’s no more than a talent. It’s not something you can acquire – it’s something you can learn to use. I have the power to lift that cup off the table using the Force, but I can’t do it unless I have been trained to do it."

And with the Whills. They tie into the idea of free will and destiny:

“The Whills are a microscopic, single-celled lifeform like amoeba, fungi, and bacteria. There’s something like 100.000 times more Whills than there are Midi-Chlorians, and there are about 10.000 times more Midi-Chlorians than there are human cells. The only microscopic entities that can go into the human cells are the Midi-Chlorians. They are born in the cells. The Midi-Chlorians provide the energy for human cells to split and create life. The Whills are single-celled animals that feed on the Force. The more of the Force there is, the better off they are. So they have a very intense symbiotic relationship with the Midi-Chlorians and the Midi-Chlorians effectively work for the Whills. It is estimated that we have 100 trillion microbes in our body and we are made up of about 90% bacteria and 10% human cells. So who is in service to whom?”

The reason we follow the Skywalker family isn’t because they’re more important than others who can also use the Force but because the saga was about Anakin and his family. Anakin and his family just had a greater destiny akin to God in a general sense. Some have greater destinies than others and it’s also your choice on if we want to act on it or ignore the call to something greater. Fate has a way a stopping in where it’s needed.

The argument I’d have here is that while George’s sentiment is nice as it’s a way of showing the inclusion of Midichlorians doesn’t mess with the Force and that it’s still ultimately about how everyone has the Force and the potential to use it? That doesn’t really matter here. While your reading is still absolutely valid, the prequels as they change the context of the OT and arguably what one sees maybe from the old EU makes this into a matter where it really feels like being strong in the Force requires you to be a part of a bloodline. Looking back at the OT, part of the appeal to me of the Force is that while in this moment we see Luke is the hero and that he’s learning the ways of the Force? He’s also an everyman and we hear it flows through every living being so you get the idea that you don’t have to be a Skywalker or a Kenobi or whoever to be a hero, the Force flows through everyone therefore everyone has the potential, some might have a bigger headstart on it than others but anyone can learn to use it.

The PT then made Anakin the Chosen One, a child born from a virgin birth that apparently was caused by manipulating Midichlorians and because of the framing of the movies, it’s more based on being born into that bloodline and the Skywalkers suddenly become the only family that really matters to this massive galaxy for almost every single issue revolves around them. Sure one can say it doesn’t matter and that it’s just this is the family the movies follow but the movies still have that kind of framing and later stories keep up with this. For being a galaxy from a long time ago, this universe feels tiny and the Force becomes more like inherited superpowers. Now of course that’s just how I personally read it from spending time with the universe and if you like that aspect then more power to you. But I’ve just got to say that I don’t really care what George says in this instance. Word of God can only go so far and considering how the movies portray it? It’s why I’m more grateful for movies like TLJ bucking that trend and bringing things to being more like the OT while still attempting to show respect to the PT because with how the movies and other portions of the saga framed things? It really felt like it was more about the bloodlines and not about someone in a sea of nobodies rising up and choosing to become someone.

I appreciate your read on things but I see the opposite. I actually like The Last Jedi in an alternate universe sort of way for the most part. However I think one thing it gets wrong is making Rey a “Nobody”. We’ve seen Nobodies use the Force and be Jedi before. The entire Jedi Order and arguably younglings are a bunch of nobodies. The stories just tended to keep the narrative focus on Anakin and his family. This isn’t shrinking the universe but instead I find making it so we are following one generation at a time of the same family and how the consequences of what is just as external to each era make up the reality of the era afterwards until the cycle closes. Much like how real life works. Luke still begins his journey through humble origins and goes through the motions of learning of his greater destiny as he did before the Prequels reframed it in certain ways. The only difference is we know Darth Vader already is his father when we get to his journey but arguably the story of the Originals was recontextualised to make it just as much his story as it is Luke’s and later Leia and her children. I still believe in the notion of anyone can be a Jedi but it’s a hard life and not a simple magic trick as The Force Awakens likes to present it as being. Being able to use the Force is one thing but picking up on Jedi Mind Tricks or Force Pull without any training feels like it’s compromising the principles of how being a Jedi is different from being a regular hero like Luke was in the Rebel Alliance or when Anakin won the podrace. Both scenarios are heroism but a Jedi is a different kind of hero.

Fair points also, I’d even agree that yeah being a Jedi is a hard life but where I differ is that it’s based on more the sacrifices you make and what you end up doing. Because as a Jedi, you’re in tune to the Force and thus you’re in tune to a mystical energy that connects all living beings. Some abilities allow you to even do things like see the history of an item which means you might see murder, destruction and far more horrible things. It’s a lot of responsibility to carry as a person for you have this great power that takes a lot of wisdom to use. I feel when you do things like say make Force Pull a difficult ability or make Jedi Mind Tricks the result of training and frame them as these hard abilities to use (Which I argue they’re not, Rey lives in a timeline where people know the Jedi and we’ve already seen through the Prequel Trilogy that one of the common abilities regular people know about at least is the Jedi Mind Trick.) then honestly, I feel the point of the Force has been missed. I think back to what we learned in ESB where Yoda’s whole spiel to Luke is about how learning to use the Force is not as much about standard training, it’s about believing in this mystical energy and surrendering yourself to it. Hence “Do or do not, there is no try.” because it’s either you accept this or you doubt yourself and things become harder and I feel TFA returned it to being that whereas so many Star Wars entries after the prequels kept pushing the idea that it is this hard thing to learn, that these simple abilities are actually master level powers when they’re not. It’s all about how efficiently you use them and how much you put into it.

That’s also what makes Rey being a nobody in TLJ notable. Because yes we’ve seen nobodies with the younglings and such but most of the truly important characters to Star Wars are connected in some capacity and this extends even to the EU where most of the successful main heroes are connected to characters we know already. Rey was poised to be the first main hero that wasn’t connected to anyone aside from maybe being Luke’s student on Ahch-To and in a way it seemed like that was gonna make the Sequel Trilogy be about the theme of legacy and how the Skywalkers and Jedi continued to inspire over the years in the same way that Star Wars had which still can be done of course with Rey being someone connected to the past but it takes away a great deal of that weight I feel and that it causes Star Wars to feel smaller as a result.

You again make some valid points but I think things such as where you say “Some abilities allow you to even do things like see the history of an item which means you might see murder, destruction and far more horrible things. It’s a lot of responsibility to carry as a person for you have this great power that takes a lot of wisdom to use.” was never really the case entirely in George’s canon. He never connected the Force to an object except for Holocrons. However they just held wisdom like information about locations of Force Sensitive children and secrets of the Jedi Order. Otherwise connecting things such as a lightsaber is a Disney canon invention or something from the Expanded Universe. Keep in mind though Rey also believes Luke to be a myth and the Jedi not to be real until Han tells her otherwise. During the Prequel era it’s a different context as we’re in a period where the Jedi have served as the guardians of peace and justice for a thousand years. It was through careful manipulation that Palpatine deceived everyone. By the time of The Force Awakens way of seeing the story it doesn’t make much sense for many people to know of the Jedi and what they actually did. We don’t get the full context surrounding Luke or his fallen Jedi Temple to make sense of it.

I’d say believing in yourself is part of it but that’s what makes it hard. It’s like when Luke tries to pull the lightsaber out of the snow on Hoth or trying to focus his concentration on the remote aboard the Falcon or when he’s fighting his father the first time or even when he’s attempting to lift the X-Wing out of the swamps of Dagobah. There’s a theme of difficulties. It’s all very difficult for him initially and it’s not until he learns to quiet his mind that he’s able to fully connect with the Force and feel it’s presence versus say Han who didn’t believe in it.

With the Force there’s some natural ability to it as Anakin was able to pass his Force test with the Jedi Council with flying colours but it’s difficult at the same time to do certain powers.

It’s not so much I think a Prequels issue but an issue that’s in A New Hope. We just don’t know the answer as to you.

I think it’s better served having it in a spinoff instead of the Skywalker family saga. There’s nothing inherently bad about following a new character who has no direct connection to what we know but I don’t believe personally it works in a story that we’re meant to be following a family through different eras that are interconnected through external and internal sequences. The Republic is the Empire and the aftermath of both will naturally have an affect on Luke and Leia. It makes no sense to me personally to follow a character unrelated to them in the final trilogy. I think it’s fine in another trilogy not beholden to the rules and contexts of what came before though. I think you still get the legacy with following a Solowalker Daughter and Solowalker Son but it’s more direct to concluding things established with the Mortis Arc and Anakin being the Chosen One. The story in essence begins with a Mother and Son and ends with a Mother and Daughter. It seems George was recontextualising the story to be a family affair versus just Anakin as the only literal Chosen One. It’s also as much Padme’s story. She gives away democracy in The Phantom Menace and Leia restores and becomes Supreme Chancellor in Episode IX as her daughter inherits the Jedi Order from Luke before he passes on. The feminine is what ulimately restores the Balance.

Once again very fair points. A lot of it I’d even say I could concede to though ultimately I disagree. That being said it gives me a lot to think about in regards to the whole universe and this discussion was at least fascinating and very polite. I think ultimately this comes down to just a difference in what we look for in Star Wars. Personally I really like the story of Luke, Anakin and the Skywalker family but I don’t feel it needs to end being strictly about them. The legacy sure is important and I’ll say that maybe it was a misstep to call this the conclusion to the Skywalker Saga when it could’ve been named like “the Legacy Saga” or something along those lines. Make it clear it concludes a nine-part story but that we’re no longer in Skywalker territory instead of leaving that up for interpretation. Regardless, I feel like their story is done and I don’t need more and I appreciate ST moving things away from that while still to me respecting the legacy. I also am someone who doesn’t really like the prequels or the old EU and has so far felt that this new era of Star Wars has been very enjoyable with the occasional bump.

Clearly you might disagree with a lot of this but I’m still glad to have read your thoughts. It certainly was more articulate and interesting to read than say the several shouting matches I’ve witnessed across social media about this. At the end of the day, it’s just we’re Star Wars fans who look for different things and I like that.

Stardust1138 said:

AspiringCreator said:

Stardust1138 said:

JadedSkywalker said:

I liked the aspect of the force being more democratic and mysterious and its choosing a neophyte no one to restore the balance. I liked that Last Jedi basically made the whole mutant inherited bloodline thing, irrelevant. Only for Rise to make Rey a Palpatine and undo the idea of Star Wars going back to the style of a the original where Luke was a no one, who had the courage to leave Tatooine and confront the Empire. Originally Luke was a brave kid who went on an adventure he wasn’t the son of a super-villain/mutant with the most mitochondrial DNA or midichlorians whatsits in existence to some prophecy. Its undermines the force and free will. Its junk.

The thing is George never said the Force was exclusive to bloodlines. I think what he says about is just the opposite from how both J.J. and Rian took it to mean.

He said:

"A lot of people get confused about the Force. They see it as some special thing that you can find and pick up and put it on your head and suddenly you have the Force. Whereas it’s always been designed so that every [living] being has the Force.

The amount of Force, which is like talent or intelligence, is different in every person. Some of it is inherited, but it’s no more than a talent. It’s not something you can acquire – it’s something you can learn to use. I have the power to lift that cup off the table using the Force, but I can’t do it unless I have been trained to do it."

And with the Whills. They tie into the idea of free will and destiny:

“The Whills are a microscopic, single-celled lifeform like amoeba, fungi, and bacteria. There’s something like 100.000 times more Whills than there are Midi-Chlorians, and there are about 10.000 times more Midi-Chlorians than there are human cells. The only microscopic entities that can go into the human cells are the Midi-Chlorians. They are born in the cells. The Midi-Chlorians provide the energy for human cells to split and create life. The Whills are single-celled animals that feed on the Force. The more of the Force there is, the better off they are. So they have a very intense symbiotic relationship with the Midi-Chlorians and the Midi-Chlorians effectively work for the Whills. It is estimated that we have 100 trillion microbes in our body and we are made up of about 90% bacteria and 10% human cells. So who is in service to whom?”

The reason we follow the Skywalker family isn’t because they’re more important than others who can also use the Force but because the saga was about Anakin and his family. Anakin and his family just had a greater destiny akin to God in a general sense. Some have greater destinies than others and it’s also your choice on if we want to act on it or ignore the call to something greater. Fate has a way a stopping in where it’s needed.

The argument I’d have here is that while George’s sentiment is nice as it’s a way of showing the inclusion of Midichlorians doesn’t mess with the Force and that it’s still ultimately about how everyone has the Force and the potential to use it? That doesn’t really matter here. While your reading is still absolutely valid, the prequels as they change the context of the OT and arguably what one sees maybe from the old EU makes this into a matter where it really feels like being strong in the Force requires you to be a part of a bloodline. Looking back at the OT, part of the appeal to me of the Force is that while in this moment we see Luke is the hero and that he’s learning the ways of the Force? He’s also an everyman and we hear it flows through every living being so you get the idea that you don’t have to be a Skywalker or a Kenobi or whoever to be a hero, the Force flows through everyone therefore everyone has the potential, some might have a bigger headstart on it than others but anyone can learn to use it.

The PT then made Anakin the Chosen One, a child born from a virgin birth that apparently was caused by manipulating Midichlorians and because of the framing of the movies, it’s more based on being born into that bloodline and the Skywalkers suddenly become the only family that really matters to this massive galaxy for almost every single issue revolves around them. Sure one can say it doesn’t matter and that it’s just this is the family the movies follow but the movies still have that kind of framing and later stories keep up with this. For being a galaxy from a long time ago, this universe feels tiny and the Force becomes more like inherited superpowers. Now of course that’s just how I personally read it from spending time with the universe and if you like that aspect then more power to you. But I’ve just got to say that I don’t really care what George says in this instance. Word of God can only go so far and considering how the movies portray it? It’s why I’m more grateful for movies like TLJ bucking that trend and bringing things to being more like the OT while still attempting to show respect to the PT because with how the movies and other portions of the saga framed things? It really felt like it was more about the bloodlines and not about someone in a sea of nobodies rising up and choosing to become someone.

I appreciate your read on things but I see the opposite. I actually like The Last Jedi in an alternate universe sort of way for the most part. However I think one thing it gets wrong is making Rey a “Nobody”. We’ve seen Nobodies use the Force and be Jedi before. The entire Jedi Order and arguably younglings are a bunch of nobodies. The stories just tended to keep the narrative focus on Anakin and his family. This isn’t shrinking the universe but instead I find making it so we are following one generation at a time of the same family and how the consequences of what is just as external to each era make up the reality of the era afterwards until the cycle closes. Much like how real life works. Luke still begins his journey through humble origins and goes through the motions of learning of his greater destiny as he did before the Prequels reframed it in certain ways. The only difference is we know Darth Vader already is his father when we get to his journey but arguably the story of the Originals was recontextualised to make it just as much his story as it is Luke’s and later Leia and her children. I still believe in the notion of anyone can be a Jedi but it’s a hard life and not a simple magic trick as The Force Awakens likes to present it as being. Being able to use the Force is one thing but picking up on Jedi Mind Tricks or Force Pull without any training feels like it’s compromising the principles of how being a Jedi is different from being a regular hero like Luke was in the Rebel Alliance or when Anakin won the podrace. Both scenarios are heroism but a Jedi is a different kind of hero.

Fair points also, I’d even agree that yeah being a Jedi is a hard life but where I differ is that it’s based on more the sacrifices you make and what you end up doing. Because as a Jedi, you’re in tune to the Force and thus you’re in tune to a mystical energy that connects all living beings. Some abilities allow you to even do things like see the history of an item which means you might see murder, destruction and far more horrible things. It’s a lot of responsibility to carry as a person for you have this great power that takes a lot of wisdom to use. I feel when you do things like say make Force Pull a difficult ability or make Jedi Mind Tricks the result of training and frame them as these hard abilities to use (Which I argue they’re not, Rey lives in a timeline where people know the Jedi and we’ve already seen through the Prequel Trilogy that one of the common abilities regular people know about at least is the Jedi Mind Trick.) then honestly, I feel the point of the Force has been missed. I think back to what we learned in ESB where Yoda’s whole spiel to Luke is about how learning to use the Force is not as much about standard training, it’s about believing in this mystical energy and surrendering yourself to it. Hence “Do or do not, there is no try.” because it’s either you accept this or you doubt yourself and things become harder and I feel TFA returned it to being that whereas so many Star Wars entries after the prequels kept pushing the idea that it is this hard thing to learn, that these simple abilities are actually master level powers when they’re not. It’s all about how efficiently you use them and how much you put into it.

That’s also what makes Rey being a nobody in TLJ notable. Because yes we’ve seen nobodies with the younglings and such but most of the truly important characters to Star Wars are connected in some capacity and this extends even to the EU where most of the successful main heroes are connected to characters we know already. Rey was poised to be the first main hero that wasn’t connected to anyone aside from maybe being Luke’s student on Ahch-To and in a way it seemed like that was gonna make the Sequel Trilogy be about the theme of legacy and how the Skywalkers and Jedi continued to inspire over the years in the same way that Star Wars had which still can be done of course with Rey being someone connected to the past but it takes away a great deal of that weight I feel and that it causes Star Wars to feel smaller as a result.

Stardust1138 said:

JadedSkywalker said:

I liked the aspect of the force being more democratic and mysterious and its choosing a neophyte no one to restore the balance. I liked that Last Jedi basically made the whole mutant inherited bloodline thing, irrelevant. Only for Rise to make Rey a Palpatine and undo the idea of Star Wars going back to the style of a the original where Luke was a no one, who had the courage to leave Tatooine and confront the Empire. Originally Luke was a brave kid who went on an adventure he wasn’t the son of a super-villain/mutant with the most mitochondrial DNA or midichlorians whatsits in existence to some prophecy. Its undermines the force and free will. Its junk.

The thing is George never said the Force was exclusive to bloodlines. I think what he says about is just the opposite from how both J.J. and Rian took it to mean.

He said:

"A lot of people get confused about the Force. They see it as some special thing that you can find and pick up and put it on your head and suddenly you have the Force. Whereas it’s always been designed so that every [living] being has the Force.

The amount of Force, which is like talent or intelligence, is different in every person. Some of it is inherited, but it’s no more than a talent. It’s not something you can acquire – it’s something you can learn to use. I have the power to lift that cup off the table using the Force, but I can’t do it unless I have been trained to do it."

And with the Whills. They tie into the idea of free will and destiny:

“The Whills are a microscopic, single-celled lifeform like amoeba, fungi, and bacteria. There’s something like 100.000 times more Whills than there are Midi-Chlorians, and there are about 10.000 times more Midi-Chlorians than there are human cells. The only microscopic entities that can go into the human cells are the Midi-Chlorians. They are born in the cells. The Midi-Chlorians provide the energy for human cells to split and create life. The Whills are single-celled animals that feed on the Force. The more of the Force there is, the better off they are. So they have a very intense symbiotic relationship with the Midi-Chlorians and the Midi-Chlorians effectively work for the Whills. It is estimated that we have 100 trillion microbes in our body and we are made up of about 90% bacteria and 10% human cells. So who is in service to whom?”

The reason we follow the Skywalker family isn’t because they’re more important than others who can also use the Force but because the saga was about Anakin and his family. Anakin and his family just had a greater destiny akin to God in a general sense. Some have greater destinies than others and it’s also your choice on if we want to act on it or ignore the call to something greater. Fate has a way a stopping in where it’s needed.

The argument I’d have here is that while George’s sentiment is nice as it’s a way of showing the inclusion of Midichlorians doesn’t mess with the Force and that it’s still ultimately about how everyone has the Force and the potential to use it? That doesn’t really matter here. While your reading is still absolutely valid, the prequels as they change the context of the OT and arguably what one sees maybe from the old EU makes this into a matter where it really feels like being strong in the Force requires you to be a part of a bloodline. Looking back at the OT, part of the appeal to me of the Force is that while in this moment we see Luke is the hero and that he’s learning the ways of the Force? He’s also an everyman and we hear it flows through every living being so you get the idea that you don’t have to be a Skywalker or a Kenobi or whoever to be a hero, the Force flows through everyone therefore everyone has the potential, some might have a bigger headstart on it than others but anyone can learn to use it.

The PT then made Anakin the Chosen One, a child born from a virgin birth that apparently was caused by manipulating Midichlorians and because of the framing of the movies, it’s more based on being born into that bloodline and the Skywalkers suddenly become the only family that really matters to this massive galaxy for almost every single issue revolves around them. Sure one can say it doesn’t matter and that it’s just this is the family the movies follow but the movies still have that kind of framing and later stories keep up with this. For being a galaxy from a long time ago, this universe feels tiny and the Force becomes more like inherited superpowers. Now of course that’s just how I personally read it from spending time with the universe and if you like that aspect then more power to you. But I’ve just got to say that I don’t really care what George says in this instance. Word of God can only go so far and considering how the movies portray it? It’s why I’m more grateful for movies like TLJ bucking that trend and bringing things to being more like the OT while still attempting to show respect to the PT because with how the movies and other portions of the saga framed things? It really felt like it was more about the bloodlines and not about someone in a sea of nobodies rising up and choosing to become someone.

Servii said:

Something else I hadn’t mentioned yet was the issue of Luke’s ideology in TLJ. One of the things TLJ got praised for was tying itself back to the prequels by having Luke call out the failings of the prequel-era Jedi Order.

The thing is, there are plenty of legitimate issues to be raised about the prequel Jedi: the fact that they separated Force-sensitive babies from their parents and never let them know their own families; the fact they encouraged an unhealthy level of emotional repression and detachment from the outside world; and the fact that they remained servants of the Republic even as it grew more corrupt and self-serving, going so far as to lead a war against a faction trying to secede.

These are all legit grievances that could’ve been brought up. The problem is, TLJ doesn’t mention any of those. Luke says some stuff about how the Jedi allowed Sidious to destroy them, which means they apparently deserved to be destroyed, for some reason? He says the legacy of the Jedi is failure, despite the fact that the Jedi had been able to keep the Republic together and thriving (for the most part) for thousands of years. And he says that the Force doesn’t belong to the Jedi, which isn’t some groundbreaking statement. Everyone already knew that. The Jedi never claimed that the Force belonged to them.

I get that the point is that Luke is supposed to be wrong, so we can see him have a change of heart at the end. The problem is that Luke’s whole anti-Jedi stance in the first part of the movie is such a flimsy, poorly constructed strawman that there’s no way Luke would have believed it for 6 years. He would have seen through it before then, because of how little sense it makes.

There’s also the fact that Luke, given his unconventional path to knighthood, would definitely not have been the traditionalist, prequel-like Jedi the new canon portrays him as. He would have reformed the Order to correct its flaws, rather than just throwing the whole thing out without trying to change anything. But, I’ll save that for another post.

All fair points I’d say. If you don’t mind though, I’d like to provide my counterarguments and to begin? I’d argue that part of being cynical at times is that you rationalize it through these strawman arguments. Bear in mind, aside from Porgs, the caretakers and I’m assuming the ghosts of his masters, Luke never had anyone to truly test those points against. Moreover we also don’t know when he exactly came to this decision and for all we know this could’ve been something he decided after a long period of self-reflection on the island and after he learned all he could about the Jedi of old. Plus there is the fact that this is a two hour movie that doesn’t have the luxury of being able to spend all the time in the world on one argument so narrowing it down to him bringing up the Jedi’s legacy being failure and his example being that the Jedi allowed Darth Sidious to rise to power and the creation of Darth Vader makes sense for most filmgoers who have even a cursory awareness of the prequels and it sells to us how cynical he is. He’s not focusing on the finer details because that’s not what his state would allow, he’s so jaded he can’t help but look at things through that mindset and we see that he himself due to having really no one to challenge this point truthfully might not even believe it fully like when Rey mentions that he himself redeemed his father and he has that moment of pause before cynically talking about how he became a legend.

Looking back at the OT, there’s nothing there that implies he would’ve just reformed everything because of how he became a Jedi. Bear in mind, he wasn’t training in the ways of the Jedi to be the guy to bring back the entire Jedi Order in the movies, he was doing so to help the Rebellion to stop Vader and the Empire and then after his encounter in ESB, he kept training for a year for that inevitable second duel and decided in that time he would try to bring Vader back to the light. Restoring the Order became a goal he had later basically after he became a legend. Bear in mind because the EU post-OT was set up around the idea that we’d see the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa continue well after the movies? It meant by default Luke would face more and more hardships and learn so much more about the Order to actually make it better. The post-OT new canon isn’t centered around that so they took a different path and portrayed Luke as a well-meaning guy who certainly has changed since the OT but he still makes mistakes and one of his mistakes here is that he bought into his own hype and when he made one critical error that due to timing he couldn’t reconcile and later learned about how the Jedi had consistently screwed up? The man’s whole belief system crumbles and thus he exiled himself, believing the galaxy is better off with no Jedi, no legends, nothing like that. For his father it led to him becoming Darth Vader and for Palpatine to take control of the galaxy and for him, it caused his instincts to take over reason and it resulted in his nephew, the son of his best friend and sister, completing his turn to the Dark Side and thus it set that potential future he saw into motion and unlike the last time where a look into the future led to him making a mistake? It was a much more critical error and he was left looking over much more death and destruction on his own.

SparkySywer said:

AspiringCreator said:

Anchorhead said:

Regarding Rian’s tweets and social media posts when he was criticized; Incredibly unprofessional. When you set out to make a sequel in a loved franchise and you openly admit you’re going to turn the franchise and the fans on their ears, be ready for some blowback and be ready for it to be harsh. All that maaaahh deeeeeeek!!! bullshit is just weird and childish. WTF, Rian?

Thing is… he didn’t respond to legitimate criticism like this.

This. You can criticize these tweets as unprofessional (and you’d be right), but the narrative going around in the wider fandom that Rian Johnson attacks fans or responds to thoughtful critique with unprofessionalism isn’t true.

Plus I think in general that if you go onto a director’s account and you trash talk them to their face? They have every right to be unprofessional to a degree. Obviously if they tell you to say kill yourself or get personal then that’s not right but if they call you an asshole or mock you? They aren’t the ones at fault, it’s the person that decided it was a good idea to attack them. Directors, writers and film crew are all people so to a degree they have a right to clapback at toxicity and hopefully fans who engage in that behavior will maybe take a moment to stop and reflect on that behavior and realize “Oh… yeah maybe I shouldn’t be like this.”

BedeHistory731 said:

It’s a Czech print, so the crawl and subtitles/credits are all in Czech. Still, it’s incredible to have that print and it’s in decent shape as well.

It really is so incredible. Plus knowing the talent of the community? I wouldn’t be surprised if some crazy group of people edited the thing further to give us proper English subtitles or at least an English crawl but even so? Still great to see the movie as it was originally seen.

CloakedDragon97 said:

They did the whole movie as well.

Wow, that’s a surprise but a welcome one.

Star Wars Episode I: Cloak of Deception (2013) by Hal9000

WARNING: The following will contain spoilers for Cloak of Deception and The Phantom Menace. If you somehow haven’t seen either movie and wish not to be spoiled then please stop reading now and do so. You have been warned.

Preamble

The Prequel Trilogy in terms of my experiences with it have been… interesting to say the least. Growing up, I was old enough to see at least Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in theaters. Because of my mom not necessarily being the biggest fan of the movies? I wouldn’t truthfully get to see them until various visits to one set of grandparents’ place which had the movies on VHS and later DVD if I remember correctly. So before that my first experience with Star Wars was in the so-called “proper” order where I watched the unaltered Original Trilogy on VHS first and then I’d watch Episode I, II and III but because I was a kid? I really loved the PT growing up. It helps I was also inundated with the era through the Clone Wars microseries, various video games and so much more and thus I grew to love it all.

Then 2008 hit and I’d rewatch these movies and my opinion would very drastically change. With the exception of ROTS maybe if you caught me at a certain time? I really found that I did not care for the PT the same way I used to. Not for a lack of trying mind you. Every time I’ve had a Star Wars marathon I’ve incorporated these movies in some form or another and therefore each time I’ve had my opinions shift every so often with this most recent watch I did prior to going to see Episode IX being where I was the most positive about these movies. Now as for the topic of fanedits? Well… I never really experienced any until 2021 when I watched Dragon Ball Recut as a means to introducing someone to that franchise in as efficient of a manner as possible and The Rise of Skywalker Ascendant which was the first fanedit I checked out for a movie I had major issues with. In other words unlike some Star Wars fans I’ve never watched The Phantom Edit, quite possibly one of the most famous fanedits of all time. I’ve heard of it but I never got around to watching it or any other prequel edits… until now.

Hal9000’s work I only really know from his edit of Ascendant and for a first impression? You couldn’t get much better than that since Ascendant is so professionally put together that at points when I watch the original movie? It feels like it’s a slapdash fanedit instead of being the other way around so when I saw he had edits for all three prequels? I knew I just had to take that plunge eventually as I was so curious and excited to see what this lovely dude and his band of friends could do for this story because the prequels really had some ambitious ideas and really great concepts. Concepts that unfortunately in the source material weren’t executed necessarily in the best manner so seeing what an edit could do for it piqued my interest, especially when it comes to the likes of TPM and AOTC which to this day are my two least favorite Star Wars movies. For the sake of transparency, I am reviewing the most updated version and with all that out of the way? Here are my thoughts on Cloak of Deception, Hal9000’s take on The Phantom Menace.

Presentation

The editing across the board is phenomenal. Granted maybe this is something I should’ve come to expect at this point considering this is the seventh version of this and what I’ve seen with Ascendant but it really can’t be stressed enough that so far the edits I’ve checked out from Hal9000 show a level of professionalism that it’s kind of frightening. The cuts and splices feel seamless, audio cues are preserved very nicely and overall? It feels like a professional finished product. Like I can believably see this being a version of the movie brought to the big screen instead of being an impressive but still ultimately amateur endeavor done on someone’s downtime. It also I have to say compared to recent releases of the original movie looks so much better with that layer of film grain added. I personally have never been someone that sensitive to movies that have had a high amount of DNR applied to them but I have noticed over the years how the prequels seemingly with every new release in HD look considerably more dated than what I saw on my original DVDs and what I remember seeing in theaters and this really helps to counter that.

Mind you, it can only do so much since we are still talking late 90s and mid-2000s CG effects in movies that are kind of infamous for their very liberal use of them but at least with this edit, it makes things so much easier to gloss over at least for TPM for visuals blend a bit more with the environment and actors and it helps one to appreciate the movie more from a place of it being an ambitious technical marvel for its time rather than your eye being drawn to how it was probably filmed 90% of the time on green and blue screens. It even manages to do this while utilizing various AI-upscaled deleted scenes at certain moments. Now I’ll probably talk more on these scenes if I find any that are particularly noteworthy but in terms of the aesthetics? This impressed me. Normally, I am someone who is kind of against AI upscaling in terms of going from SD to HD. When it’s 1080p to 4K? It’s a problem but I find that visually it’s still fairly pleasing but SD to HD? If done improperly and especially if you stick it in with scenes that are very clearly not upscaled? It can stick out like the sorest of thumbs. But in this instance it actually works quite well. I have to really look in close to notice any real oddities and considering that when I’m watching a movie I’m not seeking out every tiny flaw? It’s hardly gonna be noticeable on a regular viewing which is a great thing and it all contributes to again just how professional this looks and feels.

Act One

Immediately it starts out very strong with the opening crawl which I adore. Generally speaking, the original movies have always nailed the opening crawls, AOTC and ROTS in particular are shining examples of crawls that are going to hang around in your memory long after you’ve seen them in all the right ways. The only two outliers to this are TROS and even so that mostly depends on who you ask and TPM which with its whole first paragraph does not set the stage right by bringing up the Trade Federation’s taxation first with the structure and language of it really throwing things off, creating this sense that this movie was set back way, way too early in the timeline as this doesn’t seem like the kind of conflict that would maintain our interest. This new crawl however does and it does so in spades by taking the first paragraph and changing it out to place the focus on the state of the Republic and that there is an unknown adversary with the second paragraph reframing the details about the Trade Federation to be more about how they’re taking advantage of the current situation to benefit them. To me, had this kind of crawl been what was seen back in 1999? It would’ve set a much better first impression and gotten people more willing to accept what they were about to see whereas the original just felt really off and really sets you up with the idea that you should probably be prepared to be rather bored as you sit through trade disputes.

And with that we get right into the pacing of this which is significantly faster than what was seen in the original movie and it makes various adjustments that I’m sure some will be mixed on and there are a couple I am kind of on the fence about but for the most part the decisions made here help it to feel like a consistently moving adventure. In the original, there are points where it felt like the movie just stopped dead for the sake of scenes that were either unnecessary in the grand scheme of things and when coupled with some of the odd acting? Well if ANH and TFA as the beginnings to their trilogies are like thrill rides that keep giving you something exciting with downtime at only the most opportune moments? TPM was like having a car that was starting to get to its last legs. When it works, it really works well but it can take a good while to get going and god forbid once you stop, be prepared to have to waste time to get it working again. This brings it more in line to being like a thrill ride which is helped along by some genius editing choices such as removing some of Jar Jar’s introductory dialogue and having that first meeting cut off when Qui-Gon mentions that more droids will be coming with a screen wipe after Jar Jar’s line to show said droids approaching Theed. I am a sucker for filmmaking choices like this that prefer to show rather than simply tell and this edit provides those in many places.

It also cuts back on unnecessary reveals and connections with the ones it can’t necessarily remove it does a good job of mitigating. One of the prequels’ biggest issues I’ve always felt was how it fell into trappings that a lot of prequels from other franchises would continuously struggle with and one of the biggest issues was how the movies seemingly kept feeling the need to connect elements to the OT even when for the story it just wasn’t necessary with even the good moments often being undercut by dialogue that draws too much attention to it like it’s trying to spell it out for the people struggling to see in the back. Here? It’s just right. I smiled a bit seeing that R2 wasn’t just referred to by name immediately when he was being congratulated for fixing the ship. It makes to where regardless of if this was someone’s first experience with Star Wars or if they watched the OT beforehand? It doesn’t feel like a distraction but rather a natural part of the film.

In fact there is so little in the way of distractions here which really calls attention to how as a movie, TPM really had a lot of potential and a solid foundation for its story that really just needed another pass in the editing room to achieve it and that the optimal decision if any changes had to be made at all to the home release? A lot of them shouldn’t have been based around adding content back in as what that did was bloat the movie. Things here are faster, a bit more intense, a bit more focused and natural. Case in point, Jar Jar goes from being a very frustrating ball of useless childish failed comic relief that takes away from the drama and tension in all the worst ways and now he feels like how the film seemingly wanted us to view him, the clumsy average joe whose curiosity over what’s around him and innocence often gets him into trouble. It helps to bring out the best of the performance that the brilliant Ahmed Best gave and makes Jar Jar honestly kind of charming.

We also get a lot of little tweaks that really help this to feel like a more believable prequel to the OT. Trimming Watto saying he’s a Toydarian in response to Qui-Gon’s Mind Trick? It’s subtle and a great choice as it takes the attention off of the idea that Toydarians can just resist the Mind Trick and puts the attention more so on Watto’s strong will to see actual cash, highlighting what happens when a Jedi isn’t necessarily faced with the weak-minded. Also what convinces Qui-Gon to ultimately take Anakin under his wing is done so much better. Instead of being about Midichlorians, a concept that to this day I still roll my eyes at as it takes a good deal of the mysticism out of the Force? It instead has Qui-Gon’s interest piqued when it comes to Anakin’s skills in this podrace as he notes only Jedi reflexes could allow for the kind of piloting Anakin claims to have engaged in and that is properly built upon when Qui-Gon gets a confirmation from someone who saw him race and speaking of the future Sith Lord, the edit does a great job of making Anakin feel like a more believable prodigy and a more natural little boy. For instance, removing the little bit of dialogue that implies Threepio was just built by him completely works really well. It builds upon what he said about how things wouldn’t work that well at Watto’s without him around to fix everything by showing his technical prowess in that field, it tones down the connection to the OT in a way that feels more like how Star Wars tends to structure its stories and it allows us to get more invested in Anakin’s story without it feeling like all of a sudden this galaxy is being forced to center around this one family.

Of course it’s not entirely without its faults. I feel the escape from the planet is maybe just a tad too fast without certain scenes and dialogue, certain chopped down comedic beats with Jar Jar kind of don’t work without the more ridiculous slapstick but overall a lot of those issues are more a result of the movie and unavoidable issues with the edit process rather than being genuinely poor decisions that hurt the movie. It comes back to that detail I stress about faneditors and how they are very much at the mercy of what’s available to them. That being said, the only real major problem here is the podrace which is mainly just a me problem because I have always felt this scene was just too long. This edit makes a couple tweaks that speed things along and allow for it to be a little more exciting but honestly I think I will forever feel this scene is just obnoxiously long no matter what.

Act Two

The second act of TPM is where I honestly feel a great deal of editing was needed the most. A big complaint that has been thrown around about the movie is that it puts too much focus on space politics which really is unfair considering this movie really doesn’t have much in the way of political debates. That being said, I think I can see where the complaint comes from as with the way the film is written and delivered coupled with just how long we spend on Coruscant due to the editing? In the original movie these sequences on the planet come across as being overly long and very boring with the debate scene itself being very low on passion and energy. With this edit? It is trimmed down to a much more manageable length and a lot of this film’s most important plot beats get so much more focus. In particular, I want to draw attention to something that I was not expecting this edit to really fix so heavily and that’s the whole Chosen One angle with Anakin.

Now me personally, I’m not big on Anakin actually being the Chosen One nor am I a fan of those kinds of narratives, especially with how the original film did it. Here though, it feels much more natural and more like Qui-Gon from seeing the signs believes Anakin to be the Chosen One while the council finds this dubious at best. It doesn’t completely change my opinions on it and I’m sure someone pointed this out with the original movie but here it’s done a lot better due to how things are framed. I also really like how this cuts down on so much fluff, including Obi-Wan’s apology to Qui-Gon. To me, that ensures the death of Qui-Gon has more emotional impact and it adds a whole other layer to Obi-Wan’s struggling relationship with Anakin since with him being unable to properly apologize to Qui-Gon and being put into this uncomfortable position in part thanks to him choosing to take on Anakin as an apprentice? You get the sense that this poor guy is carrying a lot of responsibility and regret for a single man.

There isn’t any issue here at least not one I can think of, the second act’s really solid.

Act Three

The third act of TPM is often considered to be its strongest and… yeah. Yeah I have to agree. The battle for Theed is a great one. It really gets to show off what this new CGI technology could do for battles like this and it really delivers since this was at the time the largest incursion I think Star Wars had and it was only topped by the next two movies. This is the first time that it truly felt like a massive war so the third act for this edit has more to consider overall.

And for the most part? It does a lot of great things though this is where at least a few not massive but still noticeable issues come up. To start with positives, I have to say the cutting of the battle droid dialogue throughout has been a change that I thought I wasn’t going to like and that it was gonna make some scenes awkward but honestly? It really improves upon the movie as not only does it mean the battle droids are allowed to feel more robotic and by extension have more menace to them but certain beats are just sold better without the dialogue. In particular, the pause that occurs before Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon ignite their sabers at the beginning and the one that occurs when the tank gets destroyed at the battle of Theed towards the end demonstrate just how much silence in these scenes can really make a moment pop. I also feel most of the cuts are very well executed and that it makes this fight feel more intense, us getting Boss Nass and the other Gungans here really works as an introduction and the dialogue flows very seamlessly and I love the idea of moving Anakin’s piloting of the N-1 starfighter to after Maul comes out and the destruction of the control ship to after Padmé captures Nute Gunray. It allows for more natural progression as we go from seeing the locals and Padmé succeeding in reclaiming their home before transitioning to the story that’s more important for just the entire saga with Obi-Wan taking down Maul. Not only that but this really helps Anakin to feel more important to the story for it now feels like he’s more proactive and that chose to take a chance in order to help his friends rather than just hanging around behind cover. This continues with his actions in space where he actually is competent in the battle which means it feels less like he just stumbled into his victory. Same goes for Jar Jar Binks and how we see less outright slapstick from him during this battle.

One problem I really felt that TPM had was very inappropriate comedy. Not that the comedy was all bad mind you, Star Wars has its trademark wit here with many dialogue exchanges still getting me to crack a smile every now and again but TPM really struggled with finding that balance and I feel the final battle is the perfect example of it for in what should be their shining moments? Jar Jar and Anakin… really should’ve died the way the original has things play out and while Anakin gets to recover a bit? Jar Jar’s clumsiness is so overplayed and yet so successful at taking down droids that it helped to inspire a whole fan theory that he was a hidden Sith Lord. This makes things much more balanced and much more natural. We still get bits of comedy like Anakin trying out that neat trick called “spinning” and Jar Jar freaking out when a droid lands on his back but now they’re welcome. In Anakin’s case it gives us a small glimpse at his overconfidence and maybe a tad bit of arrogance, issues he will struggle with well into adulthood along with his fear of losing those he loves and in the case of Jar Jar you understand it because he’s just a local dude fighting for his home. Gungans are proud warriors but it’s clear he’s not a warrior himself. Hell when Jar Jar’s goofiest moments happen during the battle like when he gets launched onto the AAT? It’s when the droid army gets the upper hand and destroys the shields thus at this point this is when Jar Jar’s bravery would feasibly leave him and thus he goes back to being scared out of his gourd. Jar Jar actually has dignity while still being comic relief and considering that I feel that not even most Jar Jar-centric episodes of TCW even made him likable? I have to just state that Cloak of Deception might just have my favorite use of Jar Jar ever and I can’t believe I’m even saying that right now.

Though I did say I had issues that are small but noticeable and mainly it’s just a few moments where you kind of have to remind yourself it is a fanedit and that it can only do so much to change up the film and there’s also the build-up to Obi-Wan charging Maul after the laser gate goes down feeling a little too truncated but that’s really it to be totally honest.

Verdict

While I have at least one more edit of this movie to look at and that’s Octorox’s aptly named “Faster, More Intense!”? I feel pretty confident in saying Cloak of Deception is one of the best takes on TPM and a great way to get this story. Aside from a few minor quibbles and nitpicks here and there, this edit takes a movie that is often swapping places with AOTC as my least favorite entry in this series and really brings out all of its best qualities while removing and mitigating the worst. I’m in fact very confident in saying that if I absolutely am going to include the prequels in a Star Wars marathon that this is how I’m gonna watch it from now on. To score it? I give it a 9.5 out of 10, this is well worth a watch and I have nothing but praise for Hal9000 and his editing buddies. I swear if his edit of Episode II keeps this up, I might end up convinced he’s an angel with all the miracles he keeps pulling off.

Anchorhead said:

Regarding Rian’s tweets and social media posts when he was criticized; Incredibly unprofessional. When you set out to make a sequel in a loved franchise and you openly admit you’re going to turn the franchise and the fans on their ears, be ready for some blowback and be ready for it to be harsh. All that maaaahh deeeeeeek!!! bullshit is just weird and childish. WTF, Rian?

Thing is… he didn’t respond to legitimate criticism like this. There are a good couple of interviews where he has stated that if people don’t like his movies that’s fine. I agree blowback should be expected to an extent… but Rian Johnson was harassed by people. Real talk, if you go onto a director’s Twitter to yell at them how much their movie sucks and how they ruined the franchise? You’re not just some honest critic who is looking to have a conversation about the movie or simply express your opinion? What you are is a rude nerfherder who is getting aggro with a human because they dared to commit the “crime” of making a movie you dislike and you also happen to be maybe comment #50,000. In that case, a director has the right to clapback and poke fun at because that is their account and someone making the choice to get aggro towards said account should expect that the person behind it may have words to fire back with. Harsh criticism is one thing. You say on a public forum TLJ is the worst SW movie and you keep your focus on the work? Okay, that’s fine. Yelling at the director on Twitter is frankly horrid discourse.

Honestly, the Sequel Trilogy is simultaneously to me a great series of films… and some of the most frustrating. When we first heard Disney had purchased Lucasfilm and that we’d be getting the Sequel Trilogy, I was cautiously optimistic but mostly skeptical about it. I personally really did not like the Prequel Trilogy, a lot of the old EU content I tried to get into when it wasn’t a fun game I thought was some of the most cheesy, fan-appeasement riddled nonsense that was loaded with hackneyed fanfic ideas and edgelord pandering, I was more certain I was gonna walk out of Episode VII hating every aspect of it.

Then The Force Awakens came out… and I proceeded to go to the theater six more times after that initial viewing to watch it. Is TFA a perfect film? No. Clearly not. Was it ever gonna live up to the hype? Considering the Sequel Trilogy had been speculated about for years and years and in that time Star Wars itself (More specifically the OT.) had been propped up to being this ultra perfect godly space fantasy series that has the magical power to please everyone? Nothing short of curing hunger across the universe, granting everybody immortality and making the Force real would’ve satisfied. What it was though was the perfect film for that time. Considering it had been years since we saw a new live-action Star Wars movie in theaters and all the skepticism that was around for this new era? It was the right call to play things a little safe, to give us a more classic style Star Wars movie to sort of ease us into this new era we were heading into. Plus I really didn’t mind considering as a fan who had tried out many novels, comics and games? Star Wars has run the gamut of so many story types and also when I went into the theaters knowing the insane expectations this movie garnered? I just wanted something that could entertain and I wound up loving it.

I adored a lot of the new characters, Poe Dameron had a ton of personality and Oscar Issac worked his butt off to make him just so likable, the new droid BB-8 was adorable and in many ways felt like a natural evolution of how the astromechs could evolve with later models. Finn was a great character to see both with his story of being a Stormtrooper who leaves the First Order and just all his interactions with everyone and most especially his friendship with Poe, Rey is a badass and her being the one the Force awoke in was a genuinely well done surprise that had some great set-up for what we could see in the following episode and then there’s the villains such as Kylo Ren who I’m just going to state is my favorite new Star Wars character. When the trailers showed him off? I genuinely was expecting a Vader clone and while that would’ve been fine in terms of a threat? Given that we’ve seen villains in Star Wars before that basically are just there to be a cool bad guy in dark robes that do cool bad guy things? I wasn’t really keen on us getting another with Kylo but then the movie pulls such an interesting trick with him that is acted so well by Adam Driver. We see a villain who actively is struggling with being called to the Light Side, a villain who’s vulnerable and human and has real issues. Even during one of his most pivotal moments when he kills his father, we see how vulnerable he is and the way it’s done in the film works so well with us getting the intimidating force of nature first but we get glimpses over time of the man that resides behind the mask before finally getting a total reveal and while yes he loses his major duel with Rey? Considering he did so with a blaster wound in his side and a strike to his shoulder in the middle of the freezing cold after chasing Rey and Finn down and he really only lost because Rey remembered Maz’s words and let the Force guide her movements while he was trying to just take her to Snoke makes him a badass to me.

The old characters were also used very well. Han and Leia didn’t just feel like the two were plucked from the OT and tossed in with no consideration for either their age or what the story called for, they believably were Han and Leia after thirty years of development and circumstances. They didn’t overshadow the new cast, they served their role well as figures who passed the torch down to the next generation. I felt in general this was the most respect I had seen shown to these characters in a good while and as someone who was deathly scared of seeing them overuse the old crew for a story that isn’t really theirs anymore? I was very relieved to see that not happen and to go with that came one of TFA’s biggest and often ignored strengths. Yes it’s a very familiar movie with a plot skeleton that’s similar to what came before but it uses that to focus on mostly new content. Think about it, J.J. Abrams is one of the biggest self-admitted Star Wars fans on this planet. He had even stated when he got this job that while he worked on the Star Trek movies he tried his best to get into it but while he only appreciated it? He loved Star Wars and specifically the OT. He could’ve easily turned in a movie continuing the adventures of Han, Luke and Leia in a much more safe fashion that puts all the attention on the old but he didn’t do that. To begin this story, he instead made a film that transitioned us from the old and into the new and he did so with a great deal of care.

The film’s a thrill ride with its brisk pacing. Things keep moving but it never feels like we’re rushing at any point in time. The music is excellent as always from John Williams and while it’s a little more subdued than what maybe say the prequels had? The compositions are still top-notch. The action was kinetic and fun with it striking that balance between being grounded and bombastic. It brought back a lot of the mysticism from the OT and effectively made the Force interesting again. The dialogue is fun. It’s witty, it has passion and emotion and while some of the lines one could argue are a little too modern? I’d argue that I’m grateful for that because it results in Star Wars characters sounding like people and it shows that the filmmakers are willing to not be so stubborn as to maintain certain aspects just because they were in older films. This movie is just a ton of fun and when it finally ended that first watchthrough? I openly clapped and left the theater with an ear-to-ear smile.

Now yes it is not perfect. Some of the dialogue is a little awkward, I definitely would’ve preferred a more original story for Episode VII, Poe originally being written to die in the script is way too obvious in the movie and because of what the trailers showed before it meant his return didn’t have the impact they were going for and Captain Phasma is wasted in both this and the next movie which is a shame because just her look alone is so cool. But the thing is Star Wars has never been perfect, there is no such thing as a perfect movie and like I said, I don’t think VII was ever gonna appeal to everyone because we’re all coming into this with our own ideas of what Star Wars should be and this is a trilogy we’ve speculated about for so long that our preconceptions and expectations can sometimes override our thoughts. Not only that but those issues take away from my enjoyment of this movie. TFA is excellent comfort food and in some ways better than it. It’s so excellent in fact… it left me absolutely terrified for the next movie because that one was gonna have to do something big. The kid gloves had to come off and we had to see what new content this trilogy could bring to the table and with that came The Last Jedi.

And… The Last Jedi is my second-favorite Star Wars movie right behind The Empire Strikes Back. I am not sorry for that, I have heard every single possible criticism that has been levied at this movie, even a couple came up as I walked out of the theater that first time through and I just heartily disagree. I came into TLJ with again, no expectations and a lot of fear that this was gonna suck and came out of it pleasantly surprised in more ways than one. The characters and their arcs were moved along in very believable ways, I thought the film was very smartly written and that it introduced so many layers and nuances that I was not expecting to see, it looks gorgeous, sounds wonderful and it subverts expectations in ways that I thought was very well done, specifically props have to go to the handling of Luke which I know is controversial but to me? The levels of nuance that are present from what Luke’s reasoning for his exile is to the lesson he learns which is a lesson he struggled with even in ROTJ when coupled with Mark Hamill’s amazing acting makes for a take on this character that felt far truer to his character than I ever expected to see. Once again, this didn’t feel like Luke just turned into a spectacular master for the sake of appeasing people, this felt like a Luke that had been through thirty years of hardship and development and the back-and-forth between him and Rey was great. I also really liked Finn’s adventure with Rose and what that meant for his character arc. Canto Bight could’ve done with some trimming but for the most part it was fun to me. I really enjoyed Poe’s arc and if the criticisms levied at the movie have done at least something for me? It’s that every time I rewatch this movie I notice new things like the subtle bits of language, the intonation of certain lines and how scenes are cut together and how they really work in tandem with the writing to make these plots as clear as possible without spelling it out for people.

Then there’s Kylo and I adore what they do with Kylo in this movie. I love how they parallel his and Rey’s stories, I love how they play up his struggles and how they develop his relationship with Rey. I love we got something very different with him. TLJ didn’t just turn him into Darth Vader again through the magic of time-skips, we get to see how these events affected him and how it leads into one of the most shocking moments when he kills Snoke, a character that to be frank had nothing really going for him beyond looking cool in TFA and while that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been something spectacular? The choice they made is not only bolder? It set the stage for an Episode IX that would’ve been very unique because we have both our hero and villain lost and looking for answers in various places and in the case of Kylo? We don’t have a Vader, we have an unstable broken powder keg who can be terrifying in a completely different way because while Vader was more subdued and calculated? Think about the idea of someone like Kylo being able to raze planets on a whim just because he wants to posture that he is this tough Supreme Leader. One could say that’s embarrassing but you’d be arguing against the guy in a massive warship that can rain green hell from above and can choke you with his mind.

It has problems like TFA I will grant. Phasma is wasted, Leia’s flying scene looks weird due to the framing of it, while Crait is awesome one can argue the movie does go on a little long and not all the humor works. But as a whole? TLJ is incredible. I honestly think had life played out differently and either Carrie Fisher didn’t die and we got Duel of the Fates like we were supposed to or TROS was delayed to tighten things up? I think the Sequel Trilogy would’ve been looked upon much more fondly.

But that didn’t happen. Unfortunately, Carrie Fisher passed away and I feel like this affected Colin Trevorrow’s ability to make an Episode IX we’d be happy with and they decided to rush the production to meet that Christmas deadline and as a result? We got The Rise of Skywalker, a very frustrating movie. Notice I did not say bad, just frustrating. You ask me, just looking at this from the basis of this being the story they told? They told it well enough and I think there’s a lot of qualities people often brush aside and as a movie it’s fun to watch. As the end to this trilogy though and especially as the end to what is now a nine-part saga? This movie is deeply flawed and quite frankly is the only film to just feel like fanfiction. The pacing is breakneck like a spice addict who’s panicking about their next fix, characters go through arcs at the drop of a hat and when they’re not doing that they’re merely vessels who exist to progress the plot. It simultaneously feels like J.J. Abrams has seen TLJ and like he hasn’t with how it will go back and forth on whether it wants to build upon its themes or chuck them to the side with the times it properly builds upon it feeling very off and this is all because they were both trying to hit a deadline and also trying foolishly to work Leia in when she should’ve just been either retired or dead. I will continuously argue until the end of the time that TROS’s biggest problem wasn’t that there was no plan. The MCU wasn’t really planned out to begin with and neither was the OT. The biggest problem was circumstances and a lack of time. This film was greatly screwed over by the tragic passing of Carrie Fisher and the schedule it was saddled with which made for a losing combination that guaranteed it was not only going to not live up to any expectations but that being a fan of the ST was gonna become a nightmare.

But when I look at it from that perspective and I think about what the movie did in the face of those odds? I don’t hate it. When this movie does things well? It does them incredibly well and if nothing else the final defeat of Palpatine feels nice and definitive and I’m personally fine with Rey taking the Skywalker name at the end since I like the potential for what that could mean. I also really like the action, acting and music and considering this movie was never gonna live up to the obscenely high expectations it had set for it? I think a landing it stumbled and walked away from is still a decent landing and considering at that time I had seen worse movies and even worse finales? I’m willing to give it somewhat of a pass.

As a whole? The Sequel Trilogy is kind of mixed but ultimately I came out liking all three movies and loving two and you know what? I’m fine with that. I still love this era and I love these characters and I want to see more done with it. I don’t want to see Disney and LF just sweep it under the rug just because it’s so divisive. I mean if that happened with the prequels then I don’t we would’ve gotten half the amazing content that came out of that era. Personally I prefer to look at this as a learning experience, an example of what could work for Star Wars movies and what maybe should be tweaked or removed and considering this has convinced them to take such a big break with Star Wars movies and move it to a two-year waiting period between each film? To me that says they’re listening and you know what? That’s all I ask for.

This sounds like an awesome idea. Ascendant brought things much closer to what I’d consider to be the ideal version of this movie but some of the stuff that you’re talking about such as stripping out Leia and reining things in to be a little more intimate and a more thematically appropriate send-off to the Skywalker saga sounds really cool. What crippled Episode IX to me very much was how it was clear this was supposed to be Leia’s movie and how unfortunately Carrie Fisher’s passing not only I’d say messed up Trevorrow’s vision for the film but couple that with the rushed production with Abrams and the stubborn refusal to accept that this story just can’t be as much about Leia as it was supposed to be and it hampered this movie big time so this one I will definitely be keeping a close eye on.