tangelo1023 said:

My only narrative issue was that it did seem like two arcs joined together.

It does, but I think that’s a fair price to pay for including as much good ‘episodic’ content as possible. That’s why I think that the wetlands planet works well as a bridge, and its bridginess could be enhanced by it becoming more of a short world-building interlude via the full Mando childhood flashback. There’s a place in the dialogue where it’d fit neatly, and that’d help the viewer recognise ‘Oh there’s more to see here’ even as the story’s implying that things are quieting down, before the twist that he’s still being tracked.

It could be smoothed a little more by Mando receiving a call (over the radio, cribbed from existing dialogue) from the guy who gives him the prison break job, before he goes to the wetlands planet, which he then rejects (button press graphic, radio cuts off), before explaining to Baby Yoda “we’ll lay low in the wetlands”. Any kind of line saying “Got a job for you” or “No questions asked”, or whatever, passed through a radio filter. That might set up that plot earlier (again making the whole more cohesive) and make his appearance there later feel like more of a resentful acceptance.

Anyway, Acbagel, I would advocate for seeing a shorter wetlands planet, perhaps with less of the complications of settling there, and more just getting pretty quickly into settling down. The montage is lovely (let time pass) though I wouldn’t have Mando teach them anything about weapons. I wouldn’t say the content was boring, but a trim could make this long stay more of a shorter worldbuild/setup for the viewer. The core of it is that Mando is tempted by peace, intends to leave Grogu there, then discovers he’s being tracked even out here.

Thinking about Mando flashbacks, I think there’s a clean way to get that extra narrative beat in at the wetlands, whilst avoiding some of the challenges of technical unpicking:

• Pauldron scene: Scene begins, tools are revealed, forge is turned on, “the excess will spawn so many foundlings”, hammer comes down - leave on a nice long hammer ring sound, cut to Mando in space, and the over-the-shoulder shot of his new shiny pauldron. Nothing to unpick. Maybe include the shot of the Armorer holding up the new pauldron, if the transition needs it.
• Full armour scene: Play in full. Partial flashbacks intercut with forging. Not too much flashback context. This is now setup for the full scene later.
• Wetlands wife scene: “I wasn’t much older than they are…” cut to full scene from s01e08. Cut back. “You haven’t shown your face to anyone since you were a kid?” then use mixed dialogue from both this scene and s01e08’s post-flashback scenes: “No. My parents were killed. I was a foundling. The Mandalorians took care of me. I was happy that they took me in. When I came of age, I was sworn to the creed.” “I’m sorry.” “This is the way.”

So, while the “plot” beats of this movie end up being a little ‘sequence of events’, the real narrative is focused on “Who is the Mandalorian?” He’s a man torn between a job and a creed, we’re not sure if he’s good or bad, and we un-peel the layers as the movie goes, and as we build his relationship with Grogu throughout, ending of course on the lovely ball moment. But it’s for this reason that I’d include the tag showing that he didn’t kill even those who betrayed him. “Who is the Mandalorian?” A warrior, but one who shows mercy. That’s a nice beat, and a compelling end to a movie focused on introducing his character.

They’re not part of this project, but they’re definitely worthy additions to the canon. There was a clone wars arc focused on the Bad Batch, the penultimate arc of the series, which is a soft pilot for that series. But it’s not vital- all the main beats are covered by the pilot episode of Bad Batch. It doesn’t belong in my edit as it distracts us from the core plot a key moment when we need to preserve momentum to the finale, but I will eventually cut it as an episode zero of that show.

Clone Wars was always the show that needed the most work, in my opinion, and I think it’s in a much better state for accessible consumption now, without missing any of the core. The other two are a little inconsistent, oddly paced, and a little childish, but they don’t swing in quality quite as much as TCW so they are ultimately less painful.

But yes, Bad Batch, and Rebels (which follows many Clone Wars threads) are worthy additions to the canon.

g00b has a Rebels edit which seeks to satisfy many of those goals, and Acbagel a Bad Batch edit planned. I intend to support and review both edits one day, though TCW (and rest!) are a priority for now.

Just watched your first movie (v3) and absolutely loved it. The opening half in particular is fantastic, with the worldbuilding being extremely strong in terms of the way the user is fed information. The narrative really works, it’s gripping, and it flows really well. I enjoyed this so much I’m going to watch through the corresponding original episodes, in order to challenge it as deeply as I can and give detailed feedback. I’ll do that for all five movies, if you’re interested.

But for now, key points:

• I completely agree with your approach. This edit attempts to preserve as much content as possible, which does mean that they’re not quite structured as modern hollywood movies are, so they feel a little more like very long (but well-paced and narratively satisfying) episodes in a series. To me, that’s completely welcome and exactly how I’d do it.
• I think the parts you did cut were exactly right. Extended opening, Jawas, wetlands planet fight, many trims. While it did slightly feel like a ‘series of events’ in the second half, it hung together, and again, it’s totally worth it from my perspective. This is definitive for me.
• I think you could get away with cutting a bit more from the wetlands planet, keeping it even tighter on the idea that they attempt to settle (emphasising wannabe-girlfriend and Yoda with the kids) but then realise they’re going to get pursued, forcing them to take the prison break job which concludes the movie. Gina Carrano’s character we know isn’t going to be major to Mando, so she can be pretty heavily minimised - you might even be able to cut the fist fight with her, perhaps going straight from ‘who’s she?’ to their conversation, via some transition or intermediate scene.
• I had another idea for this section, though I’m not sure how this’d work technically. As I mentioned earlier, your flow of information to the viewer was great - but you could possibly get the flashbacks to Mando as a kid to happen as part of the conversation with the wetlands wannabe-girlfriend character, at the point where she inquires. It would make the wetlands planet a bit more purposeful as a carrier of more worldbuilding. That said, those scenes are quite technically intercut with the forging scenes, so I don’t know quite how easily extracted they can be. (You possibly don’t need to have both forging scenes play out in full either - maybe just a hammer blow for the pauldron, then the full scene later for the full suit.)
• I thought it might be nice to have something immediately before the wetlands planet, and between the wetlands planet and the prison break, to pace those transitions, allow time to pass, and show what’s going on with their pursuers/the galaxy. Ideally that second one would be a little more of Greef, or the Imperials, if such content exists. But failing that, before wetlands it could be the Kuiil recovering IG scene, and perhaps the IG repair between wetlands/prison break.
• I slightly missed the conclusion to the prison break - perhaps a post-credits scene showing the imprisoned teammates would be suitable?

Anyway, if you want this and more, I’ll keep it up, though I appreciate you intended these versions as final! Loved the movie either way, and I’m really looking forward to your next ones.

On Ahsoka 3, it would play out as Ahsoka 3 followed immediately by the Vader-lightsaber moment. That would still leave the final episode on a strong point - Ahsoka and Rex burying the dead. It just would mean that burying the dead didn’t lead directly into the snow falling on that planet and the Vader moment. But if these are all codas, I think it works fine.

I agree that episodic or blended movies would be ideal, and they’re definitely on the cards, but yeah, for now, I’ll keep it simple! 😉

Tales of the Jedi thoughts!

OK, so I’ve just watched through the six Tales of the Jedi shorts which were just released. Firstly, they’re all brilliant. Lovely little vignettes, and I hope for more. But, importantly, they’re all very relevant to The Clone Wars, or at least the prequel era.

I’d appreciate any additional thought you guys can afford here:

SPOILERS BELOW

So, chronologically we now have:

• TOTJ - Life and Death: Ahsoka’s birth and discovery as a Jedi
• TOTJ - Justice: Dooku and Qui-Gon search for a captured Senator’s son
• TOTJ - Choices: Dooku and Mace clash over the Jedi’s role
• THE PHANTOM MENACE
• TOTJ - The Sith Lord: Concurrently with to just after the end of TPM, Dooku becomes Sidious’ apprentice
• ATTACK OF THE CLONES
• THE CLONE WARS BEGIN
• TOTJ - Practice Makes Perfect: From the beginning to end of The Clone Wars, Ahsoka trains against Clones
• REVENGE OF THE SITH
• THE CLONE WARS CONCLUDE
• TOTJ - Resolve: At the end of RotS, Ahsoka meets Bail at Padmé’s funeral, then some time later, defeats an inquisitor and rejoins the fight

So let’s take that bite by bite, Ahsoka’s episodes first.

–

Life and Death

This is the first chronological story now in film or TV media. It’s not particularly illuminating, though it is good. But, like some moments in the Star Wars saga, like Andor’s flashbacks and Mando’s flashbacks, it really belongs around the introduction of the focal character (i.e. early in The Clone Wars) or at a moment when it can support the present-day story.

I don’t think we really have any options for the latter, since taming a beast or showing an innate connection to the natural world doesn’t feature as a major storyline in any of the Ahsoka episodes. It does feature Togruta heavily, which does mean it could possibly pair with the Kadavo slavery arc where they’re captured and Ahsoka is involved in their escape. You could possibly, possibly pair it with the Lurmen arc, but I don’t think that connection is strong enough.

However, TCW:R (and TCW) had a very weak opening, with the Christophsis and Malevolence stories. Both could be suitable - it could open Christophsis, or interleave with it, or it could open Malevolence once we’ve been formally introduced to Ahsoka in the prior episode. (Though, I’m suprised Dave didn’t choose to include Plo Koon in any of these stories, especially the one where Ahsoka is discovered). I think the former is probably a sensible move - either as a cold open to my Christophsis episode (in which case fairly early we get the “I’m Ahsoka Tano” moment), or slightly intercut around the opening - a cold open for her birth, then my episode’s current opening until Ventress is fought, then back to Ahsoka, then a light twist as she walks out of the ship, now a padawan. It could replace the Ventress fight, for a trimmed intro to that plot, but I think even though Ventress doesn’t tie into the episode’s plot, the way she’s used here works well with the focus on her early in this season (and, remember, the original show also had her show up then disappear here too).

I think one of these Christophsis options is where I’m leaning, so we meet Ahsoka and then Anakin does - and this would also help cement her as the core figure of TCW:R.

Now, this content does have a different graphical style, but the Clone Wars are very much a multimedia project, and so is TCW:R. If anyone was watching chronologically, they’d have to shift media as they went. Obviously it’s a bit much to do it in one episode, but here I think story is key - having a compelling opening to the saga and the show trumps visual inconsistency. Plus, it doesn’t feature the same character models, so there’s less of a clash.

–

Practice Makes Perfect

The core of this story is showing Ahsoka during three different stages of the Clone Wars (as illustrated by her three character models matching TCW’s), showing that throughout the wars, Anakin trained her (relentlessly) against Clones, which ultimately helped her win her final fight of the Clone Wars. Again it’s very poignant and good fun, though not vital.

You could make this a flashback in the final episode, but I think that’d distract us from its tension, and besides, the show really feels like it has a gap early where we don’t really see Anakin train Ahsoka. So it’d be nice to see some of that early, to help us build that relationship. In that case, you have two options: Split it or keep it together. Obviously either way, that last segment (set during the final episode) is too light to carry any story on its own, so if you did split it, at the end of the show you’re reliant on the audience remembering the setup, but I think that’s OK. (Though it’s a cute enough moment that I might just add into my own final episode for a little extra flavour.)

But as for the main training sequences (set early in the war, and then when she switches to two lightsabers), again we have some choice. If we want any of it right at the start, we have to split it, which would be fine, and maybe a little early training cut into an early episode would be fun, but then that leaves the two-lightsaber part a bit orphaned.

But here’s an idea: Those two parts together land either side of the transition point where Ahsoka changes character models. (Note: In the earlier part, she’s in a slightly more covered-up version of her usual early outfit, which could also imply a small time skip, but it’s clearly not long after as the clones are still Phase 1) So, why not set it at that transition point? Why not, even, merge it with my existing bonus episode set exactly then - Tales from the Clone Wars, which features some remaining Ahsoka/Padmé content from the Forces of Destiny shorts, plus the as-yet unused early episodes from the 2003 Tartakovsky miniseries (so it’s already multimedia!) To be cute, I could open on Ahsoka’s early clone training until she blacks out, then play out the FOD/2003 content, then fade back in to her waking up in her more mature character model. (Cheekily, that’d also slightly explain why those are cartoon, and also allow them to be a little less than canon if the viewer prefers.)

I think this is quite an elegant one - an enhanced s03e00. It would also really cement that time as Ahsoka’s transition point, with a lot of episodes where she really starts to develop on her own beyond Anakin.

–

Resolve

This one shows Ahsoka, far from the Republic or war, until she’s finally drawn back into the plot (she’ll next appear in Rebels) by an inquisitor. It’s cool and interesting for this to be our first appearance of an inquisitor chronologically, I think! Like my existing thoughts on when flashbacks belong (at the point they become relevant to the present), I’d tend to treat this whole episode as a coda rather than trying to shoehorn the scenes at Padmé’s funeral into ROTS or the final TCW episode. Therefore I think this is indeed TCW:R’s expected s05e05 - “Coda: Ahsoka”.

…Either that, or it belongs in Rebels, at the moment just after the end of season one, where Ahsoka is revealed to the main characters and audience (probably as its own little standalone season one coda, or a season two prelude).

Anyway, that then does raise the question for me regarding what to do with TCW finale’s original in-episode coda (let’s call it “Coda: Anakin”), where Vader finds Ahsoka’s lightsaber. Thematically, it hits really nicely where it is, pinned to the end of the episode (though set much later, during the stormtrooper era of the Empire). Chronologically, it comes after Coda: Ahsoka (at least its intro with clone troopers), and probably before Kenobi (since it implies a glimmer of light is still in Anakin, which we know gets buried much more over time). Perhaps we conclude “Coda: Ahsoka” with it that moment, as a paired “Coda: Ahsoka and Anakin” (to balance “Coda: Maul and Obi-Wan”) or perhaps we simply have three codas.

–

The Dooku Content

Hot dang! GREAT trilogy of episodes, and lots to think about here. Firstly, I don’t think they’re super relevant to the Clone Wars in particular. Dooku, during the Clone Wars, is a loyal villain, but he doesn’t have any strong moments which would be better served by any of this content. BUT they’re useful to the prequel trilogy and the saga as a whole.

Let’s just remember for a moment that I think that Ahsoka’s first episode belongs as a TCW flashback, which makes these the chronologically first movie or TV media. In this case, these episodes actually do a suprisingly useful thing: They do a far better job of introducing us to the Star Wars setting than The Phantom Menace does! While they don’t introduce us to the main characters of the prequels, in a very compelling way they give us exposition on the Republic, the Senate (and its corruption), the Jedi (and their tense role within that power structure and primary use as negotiators before warriors), and the Jedi’s basic powers (lightsaber combat, pushing, choking). It’s an excellent intro for a new viewer!

So, simple option here would be - watch Dooku 1 & 2 before TPM, and Dooku 3 just after, to neatly set up AOTC. (Call that all season zero of TCW:R if you like, “Prelude to the Clone Wars”.)

But, if we can tolerate live action and animation combined, perhaps there’s a blend of TPM and these episodes that could make the experience stronger together. You’d open on Dooku 1, playing out the whole thing, then doing something (an iris wipe, or maybe just something with the crawl if you used Dooku 1 as a cold open) to highlight that Qui-Gon was in both, and hand the story over to him. Then, sometime during the first two thirds of the story (before Mace is seen on the council), intercut with Dooku 2 (which puts Mace on the council and frustrates Dooku). Then, when the gang are on Coruscant, put in Dooku’s conversation with Qui-Gon from Dooku 3, and finally, after the ending (though you could skip the celebration element, for tonal consistency) conclude Dooku 3 on the Yaddle fight. To achieve this last point, you’d change Yaddle’s dialogue so she was implying the other masters had already headed off to Qui-Gon’s funeral.

That intercutting could be a movie, which I think would likely not please enough people to be worthwhile (as this is TPM we’re talking about), but it could be just a series of wildly different length content: Dooku 1 & 2 become TCW:R s00e00, and Dooku 3 becomes s00e03 to be watched after TPM (s00e02).

Thoughts!

I’ll post about that in a couple of hours! I have thoughts!

What runtimes are we ending up with here?

Thank you all so so much.

Hinvention, there’s a short arc in TCW that makes an optional episode zero of Bad Batch, but while it is set during the Clone Wars, it’s not part of TCW:R. I’d just watch it when you choose to pick up Bad Batch. The spreadsheet marks this all out - ctrl+F for ‘Bad Batch’ should illuminate all you might need to think about.

This sounds so good!

Alright! I did cut together the ending credits in a way that lets me chop and change. Let’s see how Tales of the Jedi goes next Wednesday then I’ll make the call.

Thank you my dears!

Well then.

That’s all that, eh. Forty six episodes, down from 137, in just under two years. Sixteen hours trimmed. Over twenty eight hours released.

Of course, that isn’t all that, not really. Two episodes need final polish, and eleven need a little tweak to opening and closing credits and another once-over. And naturally there’s more of your feedback to be accommodated. Oh, and whatever the Tales of the Jedi shorts add for us in a few days’ time. But that original goal, of producing complete episodes comprising a full end-to-end show, has been achieved.

Well, not really. There’s still optional extended versions of five episodes, five optional ‘wider canon’ arcs, and as many as fourteen ‘I’m more tolerant of the bad stuff’ optional episodes still to be made. But then I’ll have a version of this for any audience.

Well, not quite. There’s still Bad Batch episode zero to create, plus the movies to consider mucking around with. But then I’m done-done.

Anyway, forget all that, I’m still counting this as The Major Milestone, dammit!

What’s to say, but thanks for all your support and sense of community these past two years. I wouldn’t have started, continued, or finished this project, if it wasn’t for all of you. Every last word posted in this thread has been valuable to the process, and to the final product. Please - still - don’t consider any decision made here final, keep your feedback coming, and I will keep these edits living. I am always, always, willing to refine this content to make it the absolute best possible experience for all of you.

I would sincerely love to know what you guys think of the finished product - especially how the Mauldalore content works when the show is watched end-to-end. I’m very happy to run a weekly community watchthrough of one episode at a time, if there’s interest in that, and I’ll definitely have the as-yet unpolished episodes polished by the time we get to them in a live runthrough if so.

RELEASED - S05E05 - CODA: OLD WOUNDS (MAUL AND OBI-WAN) (v2.0)

• RELEASE VERSION.
• Our little coda for the show, showing the conclusion of the Maul/Obi-Wan plotline.
• This one should be watched AFTER everything else. And probably after the Kenobi series if you were watching chronologically (but skipping Rebels).
• Comprising the Star Wars Rebels episode Twin Suns
• Running 14 minutes.
• DOWNLOAD LINK is in the tracker spreadsheet, PM me for access.
• Note: It’s recommended that you download this before watching, rather than streaming it directly from Google Drive.

This is a little extra, just to close out the Maul/Obi-Wan plotline that’s been such a key feature of this series and the prequel era. It’s intended for people who DON’T intend to watch the rest of the Star Wars Rebels animated show. To that end, I’ve removed all Rebels context, allowing the plot to focus on Maul and Obi-Wan, with Ezra just being a context-free tool of Maul - though he still has character. As to how he’s a force-sensitive with holocrons and knowledge of Maul and Obi-Wan, well, the viewer would have to watch more of Rebels for that.

Noteworthy changes:

• No Clone Wars Refocused trappings for this episode - it’s a bitesize standalone thing.
• We use the original episode’s opening, until Maul plans to use the holocrons to somehow draw Obi-Wan out.
• I replace the original Rebels logo with this coda’s episode title card.
• We then skip to Ezra already in orbit of Tattooine, looking at the holocrons in his hand. That’s all the context you get (to begin with) to link him to Maul.
• I trimmed some of Ezra in orbit to remove humour and Rebels-only context. Ezra then lands.
• I changed Ezra saying “The sith holocron!” to “A sith holocron!” just to smooth out the lack of viewer context.
• I trimmed some of the more goofy elements of Ezra being attacked by the Tuskens.
• I trimmed some of the scene of Ezra wondering what to do, to remove Rebels-only context but show that he’s aware of Maul and here to hopefully help Obi-Wan. Chopper doesn’t argue when he wants to go into the desert.
• We transition to Ezra in the sandstorm, with some more trims to keep the focus on this plot.
• I trimmed some of the scene of Ezra in the baking sun, so he doesn’t overdo his relationship with Chopper (it’s not our focus), and instead passes out a bit more quickly. I also cut the more overt Maul vision from this, as adding additional unnecessary complications.
• I smoothed the transition from baking sun to Obi-Wan finding him, and from that scene into Obi-Wan by the fireplace.
• I trimmed some of the Rebels-oriented dialogue, mainly to not have Obi-Wan here less anchored to a specific point in the timeline, and to avoid possible conflicts with Rogue One and the Kenobi series. Now they’re mainly just discussing Maul being here for Obi-Wan, and Ezra having been manipulated.
• The Maul-Obi-Wan scene plays out in full.
• After that scene concludes, we skip over Ezra’s conclusion (he’s left the scene and our story) and wipe straight into Obi-Wan monitoring the Lars homestead.
• We use the original episode’s end credits and music, including the Star Wars Rebels logo. I figured that keeping that was fine - this is a Clone Wars Coda but it’s still Rebels content, so there’s no harm in being honest about that.

Onwards to - ope, nothing! We’re all done!

RELEASED - S05E04 - LOYALTY AND FATE (v2.0)

• RELEASE VERSION.
• Our fourth episode of season five (the final season), and the final true episode of the season and series.
• This one should be watched AFTER Revenge of the Sith.
• Comprising the original episodes Shattered and Victory and Death.
• Running 48 minutes.
• DOWNLOAD LINK is in the tracker spreadsheet, PM me for access.
• Note: It’s recommended that you download this before watching, rather than streaming it directly from Google Drive.

This is the final episode of my edit, comprising the final two episodes of the show, which play back-to-back almost literally shot-for-shot (we don’t need the second episode’s new establishing shot). It’s perfect, and there’s not much to say about it.

I technically could have used this episode’s opening scene (Ahsoka takes Maul to Bo Katan) as the conclusion of the previous episode. That would have been neater from a chronological perspective, and left another useful implied timeskip before Maul (now in a Jedi prison) is handed off from Bo Katan to the Republic. However, in this case, the previous episode’s ending (Ahsoka staring doubtfully into the future), and this episode’s opening, are just too strong.

Noteworthy changes:

• The episode is titled ‘Loyalty and Fate’. I wanted something as punctual as the original ‘Victory and Death’, and I also wanted something with the same syllabic cadence. ‘Loyalty’ was key for me because it explicitly gives us the question overhanging Rex’s whole journey, but also references Ahsoka and her relationships, Rex with her, the entire story going on in parallel in Revenge of the Sith, and even Maul as he’s released. And ‘Fate’, naturally, is the fate of all these Clone Wars plot threads, the Galaxy, and most importantly here Ahsoka.
• The opening text uses an alternate musical cue and structure from Shattered, with the usual TCW:R opening content added to it. We’re going maximum ominous tragedy now.
• We transition completely smoothly from Ahsoka and Rex awaiting their door being broken down from the first episode, into their door being broken down from the second episode, without skipping a beat.
• The only actual change to body content in this episode is the removal of two lines which implied that some clones knew the name ‘Darth Sidious’. That opens up too many questions, so we’ll just have the plot bypass that idea cleanly instead.
• Before the end credits, I add this show’s only TCW:R/EddieDean vanity card, and thankyous for the artists, my supporters here on OT.com, and the viewer.
• The end credits use the usual TCW:R conventions, but finally we play out to my beloved track Clones - Sad, which I’ve intended to include at this moment since before I made this show’s first edit. So do be sure to stick around after the thank yous!

Onwards to a little extra nugget of content - the Maul and Obi-Wan coda.

RELEASED - S05E03 - THE MASTER PLAN (v2.0)

• RELEASE VERSION.
• Our third episode of season five (the final season).
• This one should be watched AFTER Revenge of the Sith if you haven’t seen the movie before. It can be watched BEFORE if you have seen the movie or if you don’t mind spoilers, and it does enhance the movie’s tension quite well this way.
• Comprising the original episode The Phantom Apprentice.
• Running 25 minutes.
• DOWNLOAD LINK is in the tracker spreadsheet, PM me for access.
• Note: It’s recommended that you download this before watching, rather than streaming it directly from Google Drive.

This is the second episode of the arc, The Phantom Apprentice, but skipping the opening scene from the previous episode, Old Friends Not Forgotten, because I’ve added that to conclude my first episode in this arc. Now we simply open on the meeting which followed that scene originally.

This episode fits chronologically after Palpatine’s rescue, but before Anakin discovers Palpatine’s secret - during the period of tension and doubt in Anakin’s mind.

I’ve deliberately split this arc here because it allows you to mentally fit in a few days’ time jump if you want to - which the movie also implies around this time.

Noteworthy changes:

• The episode is titled ‘The Master Plan’, since its main focus is a lot of conversations and tension, first focusing on Maul’s purpose on Mandalore and then on Sidious’ plans for the war.
• The opening text reminds us what’s happened in RotS (Palpatine is saved, Dooku is dead), then it reminds us what Rex and Ahsoka are up to. I mention that Maul’s forces are striking from the undercity, which is mentioned in this episode, since it also gives Ahsoka something to have been doing if we do want to imagine a time-jump between this and the prior episode. I also reference ‘What Maul truly wants’, a theme of this episode, first ‘revealed’ to be revenge against Palpatine, then partially implied to just be ‘chaos’ he can thrive in, but also potentially in the last moments revealed to have been his own death.
• Other than the removal of the opening scene, the episode remains unchanged.
• We end on the alternate end credits music and timings also shared by the first episode in this arc.

RELEASED - S05E02 - THE SIEGE OF MANDALORE (v2.0)

• RELEASE VERSION.
• Our second episode of season five (the final season).
• This one should be watched BEFORE Revenge of the Sith.
• Comprising the original episode Old Friends Not Forgotten, with one extra scene from A Distant Echo (from the Bad Batch arc), and one scene from The Phantom Apprentice (which followed this one originally).
• Running 34 minutes.
• DOWNLOAD LINK is in the tracker spreadsheet, PM me for access.
• Note: It’s recommended that you download this before watching, rather than streaming it directly from Google Drive.

This is the first episode of the arc, Old Friends Not Forgotten, but concluding on the opening scene from The Phantom Apprentice. The original ends on a cliffhanger as Ahsoka faces Maul - this version shows us that fight and Maul’s escape before concluding the episode (for a cleaner break when watching chronologically).

It also includes most of the Padmé scene from the Siege of Anaxes, as shown in A Distant Echo, part of the Bad Batch arc. On review, I decided that the Bad Batch arc doesn’t belong in TCW:R. (It’s just not that strong and distracts us from the important momentum toward this finale, so instead it should belong as an optional episode zero ‘flashback’ of the Bad Batch show… which you could always choose to watch here chronologically if you wanted to.) But the Padmé content belongs in this show, not the Bad Batch, so I wanted to preserve it. To that end, I’ve included it as the opening scene of this episode. (It doesn’t have any Anaxes references now, though if you wanted it to it’d still fit as what happened after that Bad Batch arc.) In the new context, the battle they’re talking about is this episode’s Yerbana fight, and Rex’s tension is regarding the Order 66 revelations (which’ll pay off in this arc) rather than Echo.

Noteworthy changes:

• The episode is titled ‘The Siege of Mandalore’, really just to get that conflict’s name in the show.
• The opening crawl is used to give us a little context on the state of the war immediately prior to its conclusion (including that we haven’t seen Dooku or Grievous in ages), to remind us of Rex’s knowledge of some of Order 66 (relevant in this arc but also to recontextualise Anakin’s opening worries about him), and to reference the ‘risky’ Yerbana strike (again to smooth over some dialogue in the new opening conversation).
• We open on the siege staging ground from the Bad Batch episodes, but without an establishing shot. Used here it can either be that same one, just after that content, or if you like it’s another similar staging ground since, as I say in the opening crawl, every battlefield feels the same now.
• We transition from the staging ground to a slightly truncated opening from the movie, skipping only the opening aerial combat (just to make the transition work) but keeping all of the bridge fight.
• The episode then plays out exactly the same, until-
• It transitions smoothly from Maul’s appearance into the opening fight against Maul from the second episode.
• I close the new conclusion with the original episode’s dramatic musical trill, for consistency and to keep the new ending moment punctual.
• New closing credits music and timing, shared with the second episode in this arc too. The music is a custom composition of a few opening and closing cues from this arc, so I’m glad to have been able to preserve them.

RELEASED - THE FINAL THREE-EPISODE ARC

This is the show’s final arc - the Siege of Mandalore - taken from its original four-episode format and simply turned into three episodes that break more naturally around story breakpoints. It flows a bit more cleanly around a watch of Revenge of the Sith this way.

What an incredible arc! Arguably the strongest arc in the entire show, and one which, does a great job to justify the existence of the show and elevates it to one of the Star Wars saga’s greats. It’s this arc which finally paid off on the show’s main throughlines - Ahsoka and Mauldalore - and in so doing created us a solid ‘spine’ which flows through the entire show. It’s that core throughline which I designed this edit around, trying to emphasise and enhance those moments and keeping them in focus, to help build toward this arc in particular. I hope that’s worked for you as a viewer.

Very importantly here, I strove to preserve much of what makes this arc unique, especially in terms of the unique music and audio cues, and some visual choices, to preserve its special tone. So really, I’ve made only the tiniest tweaks to the actual content, and all I’ve done here is repackage the finale into the TCW:R conventions, with slight changes to fit this unique tone, so it should work from all angles.

More detail below.

I love this. I just watched Rogue One last night, having been on a mental Andor binge. It’s absolutely appropriate that Rogue One becomes the final arc of the Cassian Andor story- featuring a partially new cast just as the two previous arcs of Andor have.

Interestingly, I didn’t mind a passive Jyn quite so much in this, since I was watching it in more of a Cassian mindset this time.

Two episodes seems most sensible, with the final one being the final rebel visit to Yavin IV and Scarif, and the preceding content in the prior episode.

Anything that can be done to bring it closer to Andor in terms of music, direction, or editing, I welcome.

I don’t know about losing the Vader hallway scene though, that’s a big one for me. I like his saga-enhancing presence as a bonus antagonist in this movie, and I like seeing him in a moment of desperate violence. I don’t mind the slight contradictions to original canon- at least it’s handwavey enough and Raddus’ ship (with Tantive IV docked) does receive transmissions- what that bending permits for us seems more additive than pure adherence would have. You could add that dialogue too though, so you could get the best of both worlds.

Exciting nonetheless - though yes, I’d love to see you continue exploring RotJ!

Yeah, Rebels does need a trim, but it’s not as offensive as TCW in its original form. It has some kiddy humour, but it’s at least tonally consistent with itself, which is why I think most people are OK with either a list of which episodes should be watched or skips, or a tightening like g00b’s. His might be the R:R you’re looking for, to be honest, since his goals sound very similar to mine. He hasn’t needed to faff around with opening text or new presentation either.

I’d be down for a book feedback chamber! My synthaurs, and vampires as proof that the sun’s a deity, need an outlet!

Ohhhhhh yeah, it’s all coming together!

Don’t worry, it’s already cleaned. The original line just flows around it, they talk about the orders without naming who gave them. It works fine as they were all there for Order 66 and have already discussed the orders with Rex, so no context is lost. Lovely and smooth, you won’t notice the cut.

Oh man. So close. Sooo close now. I’ve been editing the final three episodes at the same time, since all three come from the same arc, but it just so happened that I’ve finished the final episode first. Naturally, I won’t upload them till they’re all ready, but it’s been such a privilege working on this final arc, because it’s so damn strong and really in many ways justifies the existence of the whole show. I’ve managed to get my favourite track (‘Clones Sad’) in there too, which I’ve wanted to since the beginning. I’m also pleased with my opening text - I think it’s useful to have an actual reminder of what’s going on in the Revenge of the Sith story at this point, since the overlap is important.

I have put in a vanity card, which I wasn’t sure about (it’s something I’ve avoided throughout), but I figure I’ve probably earned it after two years and 45 episodes. Though the main reason I included it was because it fit naturally into a bit of audio space between the end of the episode and the start of my credits.

I have managed to very cleanly remove the reference to clones knowing the name ‘Darth Sidious’, and in fact all of the places where I’ve split or merged content in this arc are now particularly clean - I’ve adhered very very closely to the original arc’s unique musical cues and tone, so my edit should feel like a very light touch inclusion into my format.

VERY EXCITING!

Thanks man, I absolutely cannot wait for your Way of Mandalore edit, it feels absolutely the way I’d like to see that content presented. I don’t have a go-to for Rebels yet - I haven’t watched the show in a good while - but g00b’s Rebels Recut is the one I’m most interested in.

Oh, and when you pick up your Bad Batch project I’ll be sure to watch along with you and contribute in your thread. I’m actually passively editing up the Bad Batch episodes of TCW right now (I needed a little of their content for my finale), so I’d be very happy to coordinate with you on that front so that TCW:R and your BB:CV can be compatible, if you want those episodes as an optional episode zero of your show.

Great to know others out there agree on the collaboration front. I’ve tried and failed to do community threads before, but perhaps I’ll try to get a community focusing lens out for some of the upcoming shows, especially since 2023 will feature three Filoniverse shows.

I’ll see what I can do with that ‘Darth’ line…

I appreciate the faith, Peon! That one’s highest up my list for sure. Man, I’m just putting the finishing touches to the last moments of this show, and god damn it’s so great. These are the moments that inspired me to create this edit in the first place. I can’t wait to hand this over to you guys.

I can tell you that the final three episodes will be titled:
THE SIEGE OF MANDALORE
THE MASTER PLAN
LOYALTY AND FATE

Whoah, I’ve just realised something: I don’t know if this is an error, I’d assume it wouldn’t be - but near end of the final episode, Jesse says to Rex “Darth Sidious ordered us to kill the Jedi”. Shouldn’t he be saying “Chancellor Palpatine ordered us to kill the Jedi?” Surely the clones wouldn’t have been just given the information that they were controlled by a Sith Lord?

Do you guys think I should modify this?