EddieDean

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?

I’ve considered Rebels: Refocused, but others have picked up that task and done it well. I don’t think its need is as intense as TCW:R as it doesn’t need to repackage itself as a more confident show, like I thought was important with this one. So it’s a maybe, but it’s a fairly low priority. I also thought about seeing what could be done if anything with Resistance, since nobody seems to have picked that one up.

The coda scene is mainly necessary here because it closes out an important TCW plotline, and really should be watched whether or not you’re planning to watch Rebels.

That said, I do naturally have plenty of other ideas:

• Adding even more to TCW:R - the complete v1.0 is only the beginning, and really only the complete v2.0 will be the first true release. Then there’s all the supplementary content.
• I’d like to work on The Phantom Menace. I think there’re lots of fertile ideas there still to be explored, and I’d also like to crunch through every available fanedit in order to give it the best possible chance.
• I’ve been sharing ideas with another forum member regarding a full TCW series of movies they might be considering making, and I’d want to support that as much as was welcome, having thought about it so much.
• A lot of editing is done in isolation these days - I might try to make and maintain some kind of master document that can easily allow people to compare SW fan edits down to a shot-by-shot level. I really want to encourage us to work together much more around the releases of SW movies and shows.
• I think there might be room for very light-touch edits of some of the SW TV shows that preserves all of the content whilst gently reordering towards chronology - for example intercutting Boba Fett more cleanly with the Mandalorian, but still as a TV show. Or alternatively, for just naturally nudging things towards their arc structures, paying more attention to pacing than length, as in the case of Andor, released as arcs of 3/3/1/3/2/3/3/3/3 (so why not call that nine features, of variable length?) [though your edit might do all I’d hope for there, WitchDR.]
• I’d like to propose my watching order for Marvel movies which is almost chronological but which doesn’t introduce characters until they become relevant to crossovers (so it grows with minimal cognitive load), whilst still balancing it for variety, and make light edits to the movies to shift credit scenes to enable that order without spoilers.
• If it proves affordable, I’d like to buy the voicework to lightly change Iron Man 3 so it can follow Age of Ultron, which adds a suprising amount of value for Tony, Rhodey, and the Avengers plotline.
• I might remake my Hobbit movie-to-TV edit, and create a LotR movie-to-TV edit as its season two, including putting scenes from the two openings set in the Shire in a slightly more appropriate order for a chronological watch.
• I might consider a Rings of Power edit which keeps it as a TV show but paces it so that side plots don’t enter the story until they become relevant to the wider plot.
• I like interior design and my girlfriend needs a craft room.
• I’m desperately behind on my playing of videogames.
• Oh, and I’d like to write and publish a book that’s high fantasy lovecraftian horror.

Question: Since this show will have a coda (Maul and Obi-Wan from Rebels), and potentially another coda (Ahsoka from Tales of the Jedi), should I consider cutting out the very final scene from Victory and Death (you know the one) and making that a third coda, rather than keeping it within its own episode? It is very much a coda scene, though it follows most naturally from its preceding episode. It might merge well with the Ahsoka coda, leaving us with a Maul and Obi-Wan one, and an Anakin and Ahsoka one.

I think the key is self-contained arcs rather than specific lengths, so I’d cut to story not time. But it would be a bonus to have them all roughly balanced to normal movie length where possible.

We know now that the groupings for this season will be 3/3/1/3/2, as opposed to the 3/3/3/3 we expected and are getting for season two.

Episode 7 was so good, that I’m glad you’re trying to include it, but it does have its challenges, as you’ve mentioned.

Since the next content after #7 is a three episode arc, you won’t want to over-pad it, and then the final arc is only two episodes so you’ll likely need to add stuff to it for balance.

One thing that’s still not anchored is chronological placement of most of the Mon Mothma stuff. I feel like that’s the content that can slide around the most. The Cyril content probably wants to sit within the second arc as a B-plot, but also might do well to be pulled later, especially if he only joins the Cassian story in the two-part finale.

And Cassian on the beach can probably open the arc which features him in prison.

The big question is how full of content the next arc (three episodes) is going to be, and we won’t know that till we see it. In the meantime I’d focus on identifying the content that is or isn’t pinned to Cassian’s chronologically.

Fullmetaled said:

EddieDean said:

I am making no visual changes.

I thought you were same fan editor that did the update to the rebels lightsabers. either way sorry If i bothered you.

No problem buddy. The OP contains detailed info on all of my plans.

Yeah, these are all fair criticisms of that idea! Oh well! 😃

I’d appreciate a PM too please!

I am making no visual changes.

Here’s a little idea, I don’t know how valuable it would be, but it might be worth thinking about:

You could potentially move Padmé’s early conversation by video with the Neimoidians on their bridge to when she’s on Tattooine.

During the “The death toll is catastrophic”/“It’s a trap, send no reply” segment, you could follow that up a short time later with Padmé’s “The Trade Federation have gone too far this time” - and then follow that with the launch of the probe droids and eventual attack by Maul.

Does that make for an interesting throughline?

Since these are characters so relevant to TCW and the prequel era, it feels completely appropriate to include all six episodes’ content into TCW:R somehow. I’ll just want to do it elegantly. So that might mean using Ahsoka flashbacks to improve our episode one, yeah.

One thing I think we’re going to have accept is varying graphical quality. TCW, and TCW:R, have always been multimedia projects.

Early reviews for Tales of the Jedi have been extremely positive. I’m really excited about this content, and about incorporating it. Right now we know that there’ll be an episode focused on Ahsoka’s youth and an early hunting trip - I was originally thinking I’d most likely repackage some of this stuff within a light ‘season zero’ of TCW:R, but showing Ahsoka’s life and initiation into the Jedi might make the best beginning to my episode one, the weakest episode of TCW:R. It’d be lovely if we could start the series on stronger content.

Oh, and I should have the planned Siege of Mandalore episodes out by the end of this week.

You might be able to put more back in that way- and/or include some of the Mon Mothma content- especially if this week’s standalone episode gives us some good value before the following arc of three more.

Excellent news, Acbagel- I can’t wait to see this, I think it’s going to be my go-to and I’ve been putting off a rewatch of both shows so that I could watch it all your way. Don’t rush, but I’m very glad your time away was good for you and to have you back!

Really lovely, and it’s great to hear you have even more ideas and refinement, even though you’re not actively on it. I really appreciate your efforts buddy.