More news!

I unexpectedly got a huge amount of free time dropped on my lap, and have been able to work through all of the remaining v1.0 episodes, bringing up the entirety of the show now to my more polished v2.0 standard. Which means the whole thing is release quality baby! The main change to season three that I’ve been wanting to make for ages is to have the first line of the opening text reference the season’s theme of ‘Shades of Grey’, so I’m glad to have that finally in place.

The episodes are all rendering now, which is a bit of a bottleneck, but it shouldn’t take me more than a day or so to upload them all.

Anyway, I’m going to type up all the remaining episodes’ summaries here now. Each post will say that they’re available, which isn’t quite true yet, but it will be very soon. Keep your eyes on the spreadsheet, and I’ll post here again once they’re all actually uploaded.

That means that we’re only days away from the ‘full’/‘true’ release!

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Does the Clone Wars have 5.1 audio which could isolate his voice better? Most of the sources I use in ElevenLabs are mono or stereo, anyway.

Yep. Rarely there’s a little bleed into the voice track, but generally it’s clean. The file I shared has all his voice lines from the movies and TCW, so you can just demux it to grab the voice tracks. Video track has the exact text (and reference timecodes), as does the spreadsheet.

OK, sounds like AOTC is a sensible next move. I won’t be able to get to this right away, but I can probably pick it up within a week. I’ll try to put in as much detail as before, just so we’re best equipped.

We must be watching different versions of Ambush then! The one I saw had terrible animation, too many battle droid jokes, a playful game between opponents in a war, trivialised villains, and a really bland setting. I’d love to see the version you’re watching! 😋

I’m joking, and don’t mean to be mean if course. But this one doesn’t meet the quality standard I have for this project.

Having said that, I do like the scene where Yoda addresses the Clones as individuals in the force, and only yesterday realised that I should include that as the cold open to my ‘Tales of the Lost Clones’ episode, an anthology of good clone content I couldn’t otherwise find a good home for. So that’ll end up in the main cut for this, sooner or later.

Fifth bullet point from the top here:

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Community-Focus-Thread-1-The-Phantom-Menace/id/92079/page/1

Nope! I’m not going to have time to do that soon, but the file and index document are still available for anyone who’d like to try!

Exactly! And it leaves it up to the viewer, both in terms of whether or not Jar Jar’s got hidden smarts under his apparent idiocy, and whether or not the Jedi just had a feeling they should let the whole situation just play out.

There’s a phrase that’d lipsync right with Jar Jar’s mouth movements in his conversation with Padmé: “Why are you here?” “Me no know. Mesa think that if the Gungans and the people of Naboo would just talk, then boom! We could have a chance at peace!” [Padmé smiles]

You know, that’s not a bad idea. Issue with Jar Jar is that nobody really meaningfully interacts with him. And he’s still an idiot. But what if he’s on a kind of personal quest, kind of like the Quarian pilgrimage from Mass Effect, where they leave the tribe in order to find and bring back something of value? And what if he- perhaps in an extremely naive way- decides he’s going to seek Padmé so he can make peace between the Naboo and the Gungans?

It’s a very naive, overly optimistic thing, which the audience and other characters can pass off as being silly, and they can completely dismiss him.

But, it would explain why he’s eager to join/guide the Jedi to Padmé, why he sticks around, and ultimately why he suggests the Gungan army to Padmé.

In his scene where he meets Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, he could clumsily explain part of this - “Mesa on a personal quest, but then thesa droids attacking, and mesa getting lost!”, into leading them to Theed.

In the scene where Padmé asks Jar Jar why he’s still with them, he could explain it more clearly- that he’s seeking her because he wants to make peace. Her facial expressions there give the impression that she thinks he’s cute- but dismissable.

Padmé and Jar Jar have a more serious conversation on Coruscant about their peoples, which also could include a little extra.

Then, you wouldn’t need to do much more- Padmé and the Gungan king would talk as before, and at the end he’d declare “Peace!” to Jar Jar’s cheers.

I don’t think it would save the viewer much time - it’d mainly be all the existing content smushed together - but it might feel more ‘bitesize’ this way, and I think there’s a nice flow to it. What do you think about the content of each of the suggested episodes?

If there’s interest! Happy to take suggestions for topics.

Also just realised that, from the Martez arc, I could remove the scene of Ahsoka and the Martez sisters meeting with the king’s representative on Kessel. This’ll streamline that slow portion, instead having the pickup of the spice apparently arranged by Pintu (who’s already the guy in my edit who gives them this job). It’ll also work quite nicely, since it means that the pickup of spice, and the plan to deliver them to crime lords, is much more of a suprise to Ahsoka and Trace, better justifying Trace’s rash decision. I can still include a line from the cut scene to explain that spice can be used for both medicine and narcotics, to explain why they’d originally think the trip was legit.

So Eddie, you got any updates for us lately?

I sure do!

I’ve spent a good amount of time away lately, but TCW:R is never far from my thoughts. Soon(ish), I’ll be returning to work, to polish up those final eleven(ish) episodes to 2.0 standard, to properly finish the main release. To fit TCW:R into my life, I’ll be alternating between periods of attention and other hobbies, but rest assured I intend to work through my many future plans for the show too.

Anyway, this is way further out, and not yet a promise, but I’ve recently been thinking about how I’d convert the show into a series of movies, if I ever did come to do that.

I’m very happy with the choices I’ve made regarding what content to include, and the way the narrative flows. I’d want to preserve that. So I wouldn’t be looking just to highlight the more punchy major arcs - I’d want to amalgamate existing episodes into around two-hour narratives, intercutting storylines rather than just merging arcs/episodes end-to-end, since I find that paces them better and makes the experience more smooth. However, they’d all try to further our main plotlines (Ahsoka, Ventress/Nightsister/Maul, Mandalore, and Anakin/Obi-Wan to a lesser degree), and I’d try to end them on punchy scenes drawing main characters together. Some might have that good punch, but others might feel more like two hour episodes.

I’d switch to using the classic Star Wars opening crawls (more room for text!) and maybe add more cinematic music.

Anyway, I think I’d break the story as follows:

Movie 1 - Christophsis, Malevolence, Satine on Mandalore & Coronet, Cloak of Darkness

• Possible cold open on Life and Death from TOTJ, showing Ahsoka’s discovery by the Jedi.
• Start with Anakin and Obi-Wan tracking Ventress on Christophsis, whilst the Malevolence attacks Plo Koon (this is our ‘crisis’)
• Christophsis is saved, and our trio head to deal with the Malevolence. Dooku talks to Death Watch during this time, setting up-
• Obi-Wan heads to Mandalore (during the Malevolence crisis if possible - I might be able to have Luminara the one who brings the fleet to fight the Malevolence rather than Obi-Wan, which’d smooth this out PLUS set up Ahsoka with Luminara later.)
• As Obi-Wan (and later Anakin) deal with Mandalore, Ahsoka travels with Luminara and fights Ventress (explaining Ventress’ absence after Christophsis)
• Anakin comes to collect Ahsoka, our movie ends on him respecting her success.

Movie 2 - Ryloth, Domino Squad, Satine on Coruscant

• All three plots begin in parallel - Anakin’s been training Ahsoka and they deal with the battle in Ryloth’s skies whilst Obi-Wan works with Satine on Coruscant, and the Domino Squad fail and are sent to the Rishi Moon.
• Anakin and Ahsoka join the Ryloth ground battle (perhaps adding a little of Obi-Wan’s Ryloth journey around this time), as Domino Squad struggle on the Rishi Moon
• After Ryloth, Ahsoka is disciplined and taken off duty, leaving Anakin and Obi-Wan to join the Rishi plot, following Grievous’ attack to Kamino and the nice conclusion there.

Movie 3 - Nightsisters, Holocron Crisis

• Ahsoka’s being disciplined by assignment to the Jedi Archives, whilst we open on Anakin and Obi-Wan versus Ventress, and Ventress getting kicked out by Dooku
• Anakin and Obi-Wan return to Coruscant (and the plot joins Ahsoka), both movies play in parallel
• End on the Holocron conclusion and Ahsoka’s decision to be involved in teaching younglings
• Final tag is the reveal that Savage must find Maul

Movie 4 - Lair of Grievous/Massacre, Corruption on Mandalore, Boba Fett vs Mace Windu

• All three plots begin in parallel - Ahsoka and Padmé do good on Mandalore, Anakin and Mace come into conflict with Boba Fett and crash land, Republic forces (tipped off by Ventress) attack Grievous’ lair
• More parallel - Ahsoka returns from Mandalore, recovers Anakin and joins the Boba Fett hunt, whilst Grievous strikes back and destroys the Nightsisters
• End on Savage getting close to finding Maul.

Movie 5 - Geonosis and the Return of Maul

• Simple parallel play - The setup and battle of Geonosis, whilst Savage recovers Maul.
• Ideally as much as possible intercutting between Ahsoka/Barris’ worms encounter with Anakin and Obi-Wan hunting Maul - or we just stick the Maul pursuit on at the end.

Movie 6 - Heroes on Both Sides, Rako Hardeen, Ahsoka vs Trandoshans

• More parallel stories - Obi-Wan and Anakin begin the Rako Hardeen arc whilst Ahsoka and Padmé work in the Senate.
• After Rako (Obi-Wan) evades Anakin, Anakin and Ahsoka go to Felucia, where Ahsoka gets kidnapped. Now Anakin has lost both partners in a short period of time. We continue both plots.
• Once Ahsoka is recovered, the remaining main characters all travel to Naboo for the conclusion of the Rako Hardeen arc (the attempted assassination of Palpatine).

Movie 7 - A Friend in Need, Zygerria Slavery, Umbara

• Ahsoka and Satine follow the Mandalore plot, whilst Anakin fights on the front lines on Umbara.
• Then, Anakin and Ahsoka rejoin for the Zygerria arc, whilst the Umbara story continues with Obi-Wan
• The Zygerria arc concludes, and Anakin returns to Umbara to wrap that story up.
• End on the opening of Revival, where the Mandalorians (seen in A Friend in Need’s content at the start of this movie) discover Maul.

Movie 8 - Revival, Maul Shadow Collective, Onderon

• More intercutting - Onderon plays out in full, covering a lot of time which is nicely padded by the many victories of the Maul Shadow Collective.

Movie 9 - Shades of Reason, Mortis, Order 66

• All three episodes in parallel. The trio go on a vision quest, whilst Maul moves on Mandalore, and the Order 66 mystery develops.
• Close the main plot on the Order 66 conclusion, and end on Maul’s/Almec’s ascent.

Movie 10 - Ahsoka’s Fall, The Lawless, Sifo-Dyas

• Open on the first quarter of Ahsoka’s fall, with the bombing investigation.
• Anakin and Obi-Wan then get drawn into the plot around Sifo-Dyas and the Pykes, whilst Ahsoka investigates more solo.
• When Anakin returns to hunt for fugitive Ahsoka, Obi-Wan travels to Mandalore to liberate it, but fails and leaves.
• End on the conclusion of Ahsoka’s fall.

Movie 11 - Scipio/Yoda’s Quest

• Open on Palpatine cleaning house on Mandalore, from the Lawless.
• Another parallel story, as the final pieces are put into place, as the banks fall under Republic control (Anakin/Padmé) and Yoda learns that this is all wrong. I’ll be careful to balance Dooku’s appearances between both plots.
• Obi-Wan is minimal in this episode, presumably recovering in the Jedi temple after the loss of Satine.

Movie 12(/13?) - Finales

• This one’s a bit more tricky, since RotS interrupts the Siege of Mandalore. So it’d probably be best to just watch the Martez episode then the rest of season five intercut with RotS as I currently have it.
• I might make a Martez/Siege of Mandalore episode, to be watched in full probably after RotS (since it picks up with Ahsoka after we’ve apparently had her leave the main storyline).
• Or, I might make two movies here, mixing animation with live action, with the first being Martez, Maul’s capture, and the opening half of RotS; and the second being the Order 66 focus from both RotS and the Siege of Mandalore.

OTHER NOTES

• We’d skip the Bounty Hunters on Felucia arc - it’s cute and reintroduces our characters for season two, but it’s not vital.
• We’d skip the Crash on Maridun - it gives us a little Anakin/Ahsoka time but it’s very light.
• We’d skip the three mini stories from Tales from the Lost Clones - they’re good but they don’t really have a home.
• We’d skip the Son of Dathomir audio comic - it’d be recommended to watch this, but it’s too graphically dissimilar to merge with other content.
• I could maybe make a bonus less important movie, probably #6.5, featuring the Younglings and Citadel arcs, plus Ventress as a Bounty Hunter.

Again, totally not a promise, just some thoughts on how I’d restructure this into movies for those who want TCW:R consumable in that format.

Very interested in thoughts.

Just realised I really should add the scene of Yoda talking to the clones in Ambush as a cold open to my ‘Tales of the Lost Clones’ clone individuality episode.

It’s an interesting thought. I feel like, ultimately, the Bad Batch hasn’t yet justified its own existence - much like TCW itself in the early seasons. The first season of Bad Batch might make a good movie, and later seasons might take it somewhere interesting, but it’s not exciting yet. I’m still seeing what I can do to support others’ edits there, but I don’t think it really belongs in the TCW family of content.

Sure- fire me a PM and I’ll send you one.

A few thoughts from a recent rewatch of the full trilogy, to smooth out the whole in the light of TROS:

• TLJ’s opening crawl seems to me the best place to reference explicitly that the New Republic has no fleet now, since none shows up in that movie or TROS. (Expanded canon explains that it was mostly destroyed when berthed at Hosnian Prime, and that the remaining fleets were mainly reabsorbed by their original sovereign states out of fear.)
• TFA’s destruction of Hosnian Prime has always bugged me when the Starkiller laser splits to attack multiple targets - that just doesn’t feel natural to me. I’d remove that shot from TFA edits.
• Expanding on the prior two points, it’d also be nice to see an orbital fleet’s destruction (maybe with expository dialogue) during Hosnian’s destruction.
• It’d take some VFX work, but since there’s a large implied time jump between TLJ and TROS, compared to TFA to TLJ being much less time, I’d prefer to keep C-3PO’s red arm throughout TLJ.
• I still wonder if there’re more opportunities to seed Palpatine’s return through the first two movies. We know he’s “every voice in [Kylo’s] head”, so I wonder if his visions - and Rey’s when she’s connected to his mind - might give us a few more opportunities to hear hints at his presence.
• I’d remove Rey’s line “me too- big secret” from TFA, since it implies she’s aware of her own mystery, which doesn’t really work with how that mystery box unfolds.
• I also wonder if there’s any opportunity to seed anything at all about Palpatine’s hidden Sith cult or fleet. Maybe when talking about how Kylo/Snoke are force users, someone could comment “even old Sith Cults have been silent for decades”.

Since there’s a little chat of an updated version lately, and I’ve just rewatched the trilogy a couple of times, some thoughts/wishes for consideration:

• Back in the day there was some talk of different colour schemes for new planets on familiar biomes. For my money I’d be interested in a more red/purple Pasaana desert, and maybe a more autumnal or pastel Ajan Kloss.
• We also talked about Rey’s crackly saber actually shorting out at some point - did anything get finished there?
• Audio effects suggesting that force healing (“the power to prevent those we love from death”) is more of a darkside power could help explain why it’s not more commonly known or used.
• I’d love to have Kylo tell Han’s ghost/vision/memory “I love you” before Han replies “I know”, preceding Kylo throwing away his saber. Poetry yes, but also a beautiful inversion of how it was first used.
• As others have mentioned, it’d be nice to have C-3PO’s memory stay wiped.
• A longshot that’s likely dependent on AI, but possibly the only opportunity to answer “a good question for another time” might be to have Lando talk to Maz during the finale celebrations, perhaps: “You did a great job taking care of that lightsaber I entrusted to you, Maz”.
• To make the Dyad feel more deliberately planned, I’d be interested to see the image from TLJ of the black/white yinyang being from the stone pool in Luke’s temple flash up at a sensible point - “we’ve become a Dyad” perhaps?
• The Jedi texts also provide an opportunity to imply in-universe existence of both Dyads (an image like the yinyang being?) and soul transferrence (though I appreciate that’s more of a Sith power), via a method similar to Neverargreat’s drawing of Rey’s island from TFA:Starlight
• Might there be a way to improve on “I made Snoke”? Perhaps “I trained Snoke. A puppet designed to make you who I needed you to be.”?
• I’d remove the Rey/Kylo kiss, and Lando’s weird scene with Jannah, but I’m sure you’ve got a good reason for keeping those.
• It’d also be nice to, via VFX, see a bit more of the First Order merged with the Final Order - via the odd shot of First Order white stormtroopers, officers, and starships in appropriate shots.

I’ll ask it here too - now that AI seems like it can recreate a lot of voices, and I’ve isolated all of Jar Jar’s dialogue enough that I can likely use it to train an AI voice tool, are there any new or alternate Jar Jar lines we think would be valuable? It’d be great to give him actual agency.

vranir said:

“Galactic REPUBLIC” - it’d be a good opportunity to get that official setting term in there.

Starkiller, I love it! But I agree with Vranir, I think we need to namedrop ‘Republic’. And I don’t think ‘And so’ should feature, that feels a little abnormal for a Star Wars crawl. But otherwise, absolutely great.

Now that AI voicing is totally a thing, we have a real opportunity to rethink Jar Jar’s dialogue. Back when Iwas experimenting with his existing/Clone Wars lines, I realised that one of the main issues with him (other than being annoying) was that he doesn’t have much agency, or obvious desires. Does anyone have any ideas for alternate Jar Jar lines which would fit?

That first one is flawless. The second one is absolutely fine, but I can’t quite put my finger on why, to me, it doesn’t quite fit the tone of the scene? Almost like Kylo needs to go a bit more introspective/punctuating with ‘in more than one way’?

It is in my edit! Season one, episode six. The original version of that episode didn’t feature Cham, but after he returned in the Bad Batch, I completely changed the episode to put him in focus.

Ohhhh boy. The next generation of editing is opening up!

Edit:

For Leia handing over the lightsaber, it might be too wordy, but what about: “This lightsaber belongs to you now… If I still had mine, it’d be yours too.”

NeverarGreat said:

I just stumbled upon this and was blown away. It uses this AI to create remarkably clear dialogue, and based on the spot-on pronunciation of the made-up words in that sample as well as some words which were clearly misread, this example was made by speaking the words to the AI and having the AI tune the voice to a specific character. If this is true, then it is a vast improvement over the FakeYou AI which failed to make the cut in my edit.

So what do you think? I’m thinking about a few choice discussions in the OT and how they could be transformed with a few edits from this AI.

I don’t know the original but it sounded very human-like. I’d be interested to hear some for our main characters. I did some work a while back to isolate all the Jar Jar voice lines so if this is trainable I have them on hand.