Delpheas

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

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

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

Why? The New Republic is barely in TFA as is, and has been refusing to support the Resistance due to their mistrust of Leia’s lineage.

The NR surving into TLJ and RoS needs no explanation, as those films continue the thread of allies not showing up to help… until they do. With the NR destruction removed the viewer can connect the dots and just assume that they’re continuing to refuse to help, until in RoS the First Order actually has a means of threatening the whole Galaxy.

I came across an idea a while ago of trying to reframe Starkiller base as simply a First Order base and not a super weapon.

I personally think the destruction of the New Republic is a useless plot thread that has no impact on the viewer except as a shallow way of telling Legends fans that the NR definitely won’t be playing a role in the new ST.

So if it’s possible to reframe the assault on Starkiller/Ilum as simply a rescue mission for Rey and base assault, that’d be neat. I might try it anyway, but I wanna know if anyone’s made progress with the idea first.

Ahsoka has white lightsabers because she purified the Sixth Brother’s bleeding crystals during the events of the Ahsoka novel. That’s been established since 2016, so while I love the thicker blades I can’t get behind changing her saber colors.

So regarding Dark Disciple. The unabridged audiobook is 11hrs long. My initial cut has simply ordered it into eight episodes based on the original two arcs. This turned out 4 episodes that are about 2 hrs on average and another 4 that are 45-50min on average.

So we’ll need to consider episode length and of course placement. Canonically Part 1 takes place before Yoda’s vision arc and Part 2 after Son of Dathomir.

Because it’s so long and in audio format with no visuals it’s also harder to move around in and edit because there are no visual markers. So figuring what to cut and what to keep will certainly be doable, just a bit more obnoxious. 😕 But it’s worth it imo.

If anything Bad Batch will probably give us Boba vs Bane where he gets his father’s armor back. I can’t imagine any of the other’s getting adapted though since they feature characters who are either dead or in hiding or are adapted elsewhere (Yoda & Bad Batch, Ahsoka’s Sith temple arc, Rex Top Gun arc, Padme’s Chancellor investigations, Dark Disciple…)

Though I could maybe see them having the Bad Batch go to Kashyyyk to suppress the wookies as one of their early mission for the Enpire before they defect. And the Yuuzhan Vong arc could maybe work…

I personally really hate Ahsoka/Lux, no matter what it shows for Ahsoka’s arc. Since she’s completely oblivious to being flirted with throughout the later novel due to “Jedi hangups” and the Lux stuff (especially in the Death Watch and Onderon episodes) is just so forced and cringy I would prefer it be gone. It doesn’t really add anything to her characterization imo.

As for Mortis, that is a slightly confusing arc because it’s implied that Father, Son, and Daughter are the physical embodiments of Balance, Dark, and Light, at the same time that Father explicitly says they were just Force users who were too powerful to continue existing in normal space. And for it being a vision, since they already can’t find the planet afterwards and Anakin’s memory of it is muddled, that works. Plus as you say, it removes the PTSD issue for Ahsoka. And actually helps support Anakin’s later fear for Padmé’s life. Cus if Ahsoka died in this vision, his paranoia for her life and later Padmé’s has greater context. (Also Daughter saving Ahsoka by giving up her Life Force energy could be seen as both subtle foreshadowing for RoS and the Force trying to show Anakin how he could save Padmé’s life.)

I’m working on editing the Dark Disciple audio book into a Clone Wars style format of episodes. At some point I’d be interested in maube working with you to make that arc into a set of optional TCW:R episodes.

Also, I was thinking that during Yoda’s final arc that Sidious’s line from fortnight about the Day of Revenge could be inserted as ambient audio? It’s a great line that has no context in RoS but fits with the context of TCW & RotS.

Also, your outlined thoughts for the children act seem good to me.

I agree with Kalee. It directly helps the setup for the Mortis arc where her vision tells her Anakin has imparted some really bad habits that if not corrected could ruin her. Blatant disobedience because she thinks she knows best is absolutely one of them. Maybe make it a cold open? That could help with the pacing. (It also helps setup the idea that the council might have less reason to trust her than Ahsoka thinks for when Wrong Jedi rolls around.)

That actually reminds me, do you have any thoughts for making it appear Ahsoka has, even only briefly, some PTSD thanks to dying on Mortis? The only real fallout from that is arc is Anakin trying to ground her during Citadel and his fear for her during the Youngling Hunt. She kinda shrugs it off and it’s always bothered me.

Another thing is, I just realised Padme doesn’t appear in your S1. That’s something that bothers me from the perspective of her being one of the four main characters of TCW, and one of three of the PT. It bothers me a bit less from the perspective of it being a war that is canonically keeping Anakin and Padme apart for long periods of time, heightening his jealousy with the two Clovis arcs.

And the finally, an Ahsoka question. Will you be trimming/removing the Ahsoka/Lux flirting? After tyr first episode where she turned him down it just felt very forced, and for myself as much as Anakin influenced her, I don’t think romance is something Ahsoka would actually really consider until after RotS as briefly depicted in the Ahsoka novel.

Sorry, I know my thoughts jump around from one place to another…

(Once again wishing that the final Cad Bane and Ventress arcs had been fully produced…)

Biggest let down for me personally.

I found a voice actor who does a top notch Hayden Anakin impression, so we’ll see how that pans out. AI voice generation is also a possibility, though I’d prefer an actor cus you can get the necessary emotionality much easier.

If I go with an Actor I would probably not use any existing Hayden audio, just to avoid the viewer’s ears clocking the difference. As much as I love Hayden’s delivery of “May the force be with you” in RotS…

Knight of Kalee said:
I know the wider canon does not matter but I believe there’s some place where it’s established Force ghosts could only talk to willing light-side users.

Even if that’s not the case, that’s kinda what I’m running with. Kylo Ren could never reach Darth Vader because DV only exists in the memory of the darkside. So it’s only when Ben has begun to let go of Kylo that Anakin is able to speak with him.

Hmmm. I like that. I initially had left it out it because with Han it was too repetitive of TFA, but it takes on a different meaning here.

Thanks!

Looking at the tracker sheet, I know it’s a ways off, but the Ahsoka & the Martez sisters arc is actually before The Bad Batch. You’re obviously free to change it, but you’d have to cut the really heart-string tugging moment of Anakin in orbit sensing Ashoka as she leaves Coruscant, because by the time we get to SoM and RotS, Padme says he’s been away long enough there were rumors of his death.

Also a possible title for episode 0 is “Knight of the Order”

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

My response to most of what you said is: Ahh. That is good! Realising that Luke is helping because of Leia and Rey makes a lot of sense. Thanks for clarifying. Same with Luke’s philosophy, Yoda, and the meaning of the lessons. He wants Rey to learn to go beyond the Jedi. And in RoS we do actually see that the Jedi texts only lead Rey to struggle more with her darkness. I will definitely add this to my collection once it’s finished.

Acbagel said:

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

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

Right before, it felt like a hard cut where something else had been.

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

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

It did for me. My wife wasn’t able to let go of the fact that in the theatrical it was just one scene. Personally I liked it quite a lot.

Kylo taking the shot on Leia is well done.

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

It could go both ways. I like him taking the shot, but there’s no reaction from him when it’s discovered she survived. It did feel weird for it to go unacknowledged.

Anakin guides Ben to the light script draft:

Ben senses a presence and turns to it. In the wide shot Anakin’s ghost appears.

Ben: “Grandfather.”

Anakin: “Ben.”

Ben: “Ben is dead.”

Anakin: “No. Kylo Ren is dead. Ben Solo lives. That’s why I’m here. (gentle pause) Ben, she will need your help.”

Ben: “It’s too late. She’s gone.”

Anakin: “It’s never too late Ben. You and Rey can bring balance to the Force. Finish what I started.”

Pregnant pause.

Ben: “I know what I have to do but I don’t know if I have the strength to do it.”

Anakin: “You do. We all do.”

Ben throws away Ren’s lightsaber, turns back and Anakin is gone.

As the camera pulls away for the wide shot, Anakin’s voice says:
“May the Force be with you.”

There are quite a few Rise of Skywalker edits out there, and a number of excellent ideas. After finishing my Fall of the Republic mashup edit of TCW/ROTS I was inspired by some of these ideas to make my own edit, drawing on what already exists and my own ideas.
I’ll be drawing on krausfadr’s Resurgence, joshuabri’s No Palp’s edit, DomincCobbs’ stuff, and Ascendant for a number of ideas, that I’ll detail down the road. Major shoutout to RogueLeader for a number of excellent ideas, some of which I’m trying to bring to life here.

Presenting

Star Wars - Legacy of the Force

A Delpheas the Wise Work in Progress Fanedit

My crawl adapted from krausfadr and joshuabri, with help from creativside:

The First Order rages
across the galaxy.
The Republic’s fragile peace
has been betrayed
and only the whispers
of Luke Skywalker’s
sacrifice serve to maintain
HOPE.

Despite the guidance
of General Leia Organa,
Rey struggles to find
BALANCE and hopes to
contact Luke’s spirit
to quiet her growing
fear.

Meanwhile, SUPREME
LEADER Kylo Ren heads to
the Unknown regions to
uncover his former master’s
final secret…

This is going to be a No Palpatine edit. And I know what you’re thinking, “that’s not gonna work”, but it does, surprisingly well I might add. Check out joshuabri’s edit if you don’t believe. However, I personally want an edit even more radical than just removing the central antagonist.

My long term plans are to make edits of the entire Skywalker Saga. I’m simply starting here because I think it has the most challenges and opportunities for me to learn new skills.

The work in this edit is going to proceed in three phases

Phase 1 will include:

The New Republic hasn’t been destroyed and will feature in the climax. Aside from the Starkiller base being a way to mimic ANH, the destruction of the New Republic always felt like a middle-finger to fans of the EU, where the NR played a major role in galactic politics during this era. So in my version, they’re still around, just re-tooled.

There is no Palpatine. I don’t necessarily hate Palpatine coming back in a clone to turn try and take over someone, it was in the old canon afterall, but I think it makes no sense for Rey’s story. In the EU it was all about Luke, Sidious, and Anakin and it worked. But Rey has no connection to Sidious, and shoehorning in this idea that she’s his grandfather was stupid. And a last minute choice according to Daisey Ridley. So he’s gone. Ren and the First/Final Order, and Rey’s internal struggles are the antagonists of this film.

Ren fights Vader (thanks to SceneFX for Force of Darkness footage) This helps establish what’s going on with Ren and his internal conflict.

Rey killed her parents (krausfadr). This helps fead Rey’s fear that she’s just going to hurt those she cares about.

Anakin replaces Han for Ben’s redemption scene. This accomplishes two things. 1) Ben isn’t manipulated to the light by Leia dredging up a memory of Han, it’s his choice, affirmed and encouraged by the person he’s been trying to connect with for years. 2) Anakin gets to play a small, but important, role in the finale of the Skywalker saga. And his final actions are helping to guide someone away from the choices he made. I’ve seen fairly convincing vfx of Anakin with Ben floating around on youtube, all it would need is possibly some better VFX integration, and a way to match up Anakin and Ben’s new and altered lines. (Check the first comment for my proposed script)

Ben lives. But he’s got a long road ahead of him, and we only get a hint of what that’s going to entail.

Rey is Nobody. I just didn’t understand the need to have Rey be a Skywalker if she wasn’t Luke’s daughter (which clearly she was going to be if you’ve watched TFA, read the TLJ novelisation, and watched the old interviews where Ridley was asked about Rey’s parentage and she said something along the lines of it being “obvious.”) So here she isn’t a Palpatine, she doesn’t take the Skywalker name, and when she’s on Tatooine there are no force ghosts. Rey’s looking forward.

Phase 2 will make any necessary adjustments based on feedback and any ripple effects from my edits of TFA and TLJ, as well as possible new VFX work from the community, such as Rey’s crackling Saber.

Phase 3 is likely to just be a version with Rey’s black outfit, so that’s way down the road.

I’ll be updating with the change list for act 1 soon.

Clips:
Ren is tested, part 2

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

If I could make it work, the idea is to have Anakin’s lines try and gently provide some of those answers. I want it to feel less like a scolding and more the fulfillment of something Ben’s been trying to get since TFA. Anakin’s still family, and it would still be a emotional moment for Ben, IMO, to see his grandfather after years of reaching out.

I was thinking the scene could go something like this:

Ben senses a presence and turns to it. Anakin’s ghost appears.

Ben: “Grandfather”

Anakin: “Ben.”

Ben: “Ben is dead.”

Anakin: “No. Kylo Ren is dead. Ben Solo lives. That’s why I’m here. (Gentle pause) Ben, she will need your help.”

“It’s too late. She’s gone.”

“It’s never too late Ben. You and Rey can bring balance to the Force. Finish what I started.”

Pregnant pause, Ben looks at Anakin.

“I know what I must do.”

Ben throws away Ren’s lightsaber, turns back and Anakin is gone.

As the camera pulls away for the wide shot, Anakin says:
“May the Force be with you.”

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I have a few avenues to follow for this Anakin/Ben idea, we’ll see what pans out.

I now also wanna go back and add some shots of Anakin!Vader from RotS to Rey’s saber flashback in TFA.

Yeah, maybe. I was thinking about embarking on a long journey of replacing Han in the Ben redemption scene with Anakin’s ghost, who is finally able to appear to him thanks to Kylo letting go of the darkness. But that’s gonna require getting props, a wig, an Anakin actor, a bluescreen, deepfaking, and AI audio creation, so… who knows. I wanna explore it, but it might be too much. So that’s where a unmasked utterance of “Grandfather” could be helpful.

Something that would be easier if it is possible is an I had a idea for a fairly major recontextualization of Rey’s Exogol scenes. I wanted to ask for opinions on the feasibility.

So, I really love the idea of a Rey Nobody, No Palpatine edit (and joshuabri’s execution of that concept is well done.) By removing Palpatine Rey’s journey is focused solely on finding her balance and confronting her fears. However, in joshuabri’s version there is no resolution for the Knights of Ren, and Rey doesn’t actually have to confront the Sith Throne on Exogol.

I was thinking that if Palps could be convincingly removed from the Throne Room, then that confrontation could be edited to be about Rey confronting her fear of giving into the Dark? Maybe she gets to the throne and there is actually an apparition of her on it and she confronts it? She could draw Anakin’s saber, only to pass it off to Ben who needs it to defend himself from the Knights. Then the double fight happens with Ben fighting the Knights and Rey fighting the Sith guards. But when Ben shows up after his fight is over Rey reacts and SHE throws him into the pit. She is understandably freaked out by that and is caught off guard by her Sith double who zaps her or something. Then the Jedi help her back up, we see them standing behind her to support her. But then, with a knowing look at her Sith Double she puts Leia’s saber away, similarly to Luke throwing his weapon away in RotJ. The Sith Double and the Throne then crumble away. Rey made the right choice for balance. Things can then proceed from their however else the editor desires.

Could that work?

I think the answer is no, but at any point in the ST, does Ben ever say “Grandfather” while unmasked?

Ok, cool!

Looking at your edit list, am I correct in assuming you’re going to keep Leia alive? If so are you doing anything to have her at the celebration at the end or something else?

joshuabri mentions the Mustafar recolor in the OP.

As for the idea of Kylo calling Pryde and telling him to wait, I might play around with that even if joshuabri doesn’t.

Looks really good, excited to see the finished version.

There was some talk a while ago of making Ajin Kloss into Naboo. Did that ever get anywhere?

Also Sade that black clothes for Rey test is amazing, if it every is something you wanna embark on finishing… that would be so cool.