EddieDean

On the Just Rey vs Rey Skywalker front, one of the issues I have with Rey Skywalker is that I can’t help but read it as a metaphor for Disney buying Star Wars then tacking on their trilogy that wasn’t strictly necessary and saying “this counts as Star Wars”. That’s not to say I’m not glad we’re getting more Star Wars - I am - but it feels like a corporate mandate rather than something that was necessary to the story.

That totally may just be me, but Rey saying “I’m a Skywalker too” without necessarily earning it just maps directly to Disney saying “These movies are more examples of those Star Wars movies you love” in my mind - which doesn’t land well after TROS flubbing so hard.

Whereas ‘Just Rey’ maps better to the metaphor of “I have the support of what came before, but I’m something new and bold and I’m going to go in my own direction.”

Kraus, what’s your opinion on Holdo?

I really like the edited ending with the ghosts of Ben and Anakin in it. I think Anakin belongs, because of his redemption at the end of ROTJ, and his presence in the Rey vs Palpatine fight edit which seems to be gaining a lot of traction.

If we want to have the sequels be part of our canon, which really we should, since we don’t have an alternative, then we have to be comfortable with the idea that Rey is not, by birth, a Skywalker, and that a lot of the OT’s conclusive ending is undone in order to justify the new Disney trilogy. And one way to become more comfortable with that is to refactor Anakin’s story and Luke’s story as including the concepts of support for future generations of force wielding protectors, as steps on a longer journey. That doesn’t belittle their achievements at all. Having the support of the prior generations as force ghosts at key moments helps reinforce that - and I think Anakin really belongs, thematically as a capper to the prequels and from a story perspective as one of the great successes of Luke’s.

Here’s a controversial take though - a lot of people have talked about how it’s a bit odd that Rey returns to Tattooine, which Luke hated, where Anakin’s mother was enslaved, where Leia was enslaved. It’s a capper to a 40-year journey for the audience to see that twin sunrise, but it doesn’t make sense for Rey, who has no emotional connection to it. What if, instead, we change Tattooine to Jedha, using some mattes and masking? We know from Rogue One that it was significant to the Jedi Order, and taken by the Empire. What better place to honour the past and begin a different future (away from ivory-tower Coruscant) than a proper holy site?

+1!

Isn’t it canon or common fanon that Obi-Wan’s using that line as effectively a coded message saying “Don’t reveal that you know me”?

In terms of colours for Exegol, I’m firmly in the camp of:

• A greyscale planet, with no tint, to imply absolute lifelessness
• Non-green fluid for the clones (either red for the nice contrast, or we make as much as possible of this tech look Kaminoan), to clash with the later green
• Green mists around the throne, as it’s a nice alien colour we’ve not had in a finale for a while, both evil and not just sith-red, and also as a bonus hints at the Nightsister connection for those that care.

Hal 9000 said:

Not that I’d want to actually put it into a ‘desert island’ version of ROTJ, but I’d be interested in seeing a DSII explosion that could even potentially allow for its wreckage as seen in TROS.

Yeah, and the fleet retreating idea. Now that things follow the OT, it’s OK that we add a little connective tissue.

Hal 9000 said:

I guess Luke was acting rashly, against his masters’ insistence. Whereas Rey is like a new Force messiah. Just different situations.

I think Rey glowing is more appropriate than a shield that doesn’t deflect anything.

Good enough for me!

I’d certainly swing towards the DS2 being a half-repaired DS1. I’d have the original DS1’s destruction modified to create chunks which could feasibly be repaired into something approaching the DS2, then explain an attempt to repair it in ROTJ’s crawl.

This is all very wonderful, but how do we justify this (and indeed the ‘interference’ of the ghosts in the original version of TROS) against Obi-Wan’s quote from ROTJ: “If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone. I cannot interfere.”?

Bingowings said:

Palestine turns the crystal sacred to the Jedi into super weapon. Luke restores it.

Damn Disney always having to push a political agenda! 😉

Have you considered picking up where Smudger left off? At least a couple of his moviefied serials were about as good as anyone could get them, I reckon.

Could I get a link please, ChainsawAsh?

Definitely a good plan, Kanemedhurst. I like most of the Clone Wars, so I’d advocate for keeping as much as possible - making as many arcs as you can and pruning the bad episodes and sketchy scenes from otherwise good episodes. You’re right that Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka and Maul/Mandalore are the main threads of the show though, so depending on how radical you want to go with the editing you could see what you could do to really bring those into focus. Don’t forget the best clone/Palpatine/Yoda episodes though!

Palpatine’s lifelong torment/manipulation (via Snoke/Vader voices) really works, IMO, and makes both characters’ stories in the sequel trilogy better.

Sounds grand! Where are you with your plans for Ep2 and 3?

How about we find some alternative to him throwing the lightsaber away early - perhaps in their fight on the DS2 wreckage Rey damages it - and then he disappears when he’s thrown down the shaft by Palpatine. Rey defeats Palpatine without him, then leaves. After most other plots have resolved, we show Ben climb back up the shaft, then make his own way out of the wreckage for the final heart-to-heart with Han. So roughly at the same time, as we’re wrapping up all the plotlines, we finally have Rey accept her new legacy, and Ben finally reject his Vader one. We end on the ambiguity of what Ben does next as a free man.

I really like that idea.

Yes please!

I think our best option to justify Rey Nobody’s power using existing footage is twofold:

Firstly, imply more training. I’d have Rey with Luke from the beginning of TLJ, to allow more time in-universe to pass until the First Order assault on the rebel base which kicks off the timed plot. I’d try to have as many different scenes of Rey on Ach-To as possible, spread over as much of the movie as possible. I’d try to imply that her training continued in TROS under the tutelage of Jedi from beyond the grave, where possible (you could, at the very least, use the opening crawl).

Secondly, lean into the ‘she’s using the dark’ angle. Luke explicitly says “You went straight to the dark” in TLJ, and we have the accidental lightning scene in TROS - more could maybe be done with effects work, especially that ‘sith rumble’ sound effect, when she’s being particularly powerful.

There’s also the idea that Kylo’s mind probe in TFA goes both ways, and she learns a bit of technique from that, but I think that’s already been solved as well as it can.

tobiwan1984 said:

StarkillerAG said:

DominicCobb said:

StarkillerAG said:

DominicCobb said:

Get over it.

We’re in a fan edit thread. Not getting over things is the only way we can fix them. I think he should be allowed to criticize. Whether his criticisms are valid is another question, but you shouldn’t just try to shut him up like this.

In fairness, it’s not just that his criticisms are bad, but there’s no way to accomplish what he wants. In which case my suggestion is legitimately the best thing he can do.

You’re probably right. His criticisms do belong more in the rewrite thread.

Honestly, I think I can say whatever I want to say as long as I don’t offend anyone…

You’re welcome to think and say whatever you want, even if it does offend people, so long as it doesn’t break the rules. So by all means, you do you. However, since you mention offence-

I’m offended. You use the phrase ‘identity politics’ twice.

Identity politics is a political approach based on people prioritizing the concerns most relevant to their particular racial, religious, ethnic, sexual, social, cultural or other identity. It typically aims to reclaim greater self-determination and political freedom for marginalized groups through understanding each interest group’s distinctive nature and experiences of injustice.

Not one iota of that happens in Disney Star Wars, so I have to read from this that by ‘identity politics’ you mean you object to the prevalence and/or roles of women in these films.

I’ll say it again: Representation is not politics. Representation is not an agenda.

There are plenty of problems to have with these films. There are plenty of problems to have with the power Rey has without training. None of those problems come from the identities - gender or otherwise - of the characters. None of those problems come from the identities of the members of the production teams.

I’m making an assumption there so forgive me if I’ve interpreted your choice of words unfairly. But if not-

Strong women exist. Female characters who serve something other than male characters’ romantic subplot exist. They’re not a threat to you. Get over it.

If the movies existed in isolation without the TV shows (which for me, they don’t), I’d be an advocate for making both Dooku’s and Qui Gon’s sabers the same purple as Windu’s, to imply this kind of grey area of force users, with Dooku being the lesson that there’s a risk they’ll turn sith. As for eyes, eh, I don’t think he’s that dark/powerful to deserve it.

I feel like a couple of things are well and truly spoiled now, and Yoda’s identity is one of them. Culture has absorbed that bit of knowledge, you’d have to go extra young to find someone for whom you could preserve the suprise. (Source: My four year old knows so much Star Wars passively that she immediately called out the Darksaber when it appeared in the Mandalorian)

That Green is nasty and alien. I love it. It looks mysterious and sick, which I think really helps hint at how Palps is still about.

Agreed, idir, A little more subtlety in the green might be best. I think I’d favour a greyscale planet (“dead”) with green fog around the emperor (“mysteriously arcane”), a colour scheme I’d call ‘necron’.

Lesser said:

I had a thought on just changing all the fog in the interior to a greenish and possibly add nightsister chanting from the Clone Wars to add to the resurrection aspect. Not a necessary edit but it could be neat to play around with, and if not it’s just another color change option.

https://streamable.com/egpe4u

This idea deserves a lot of respect!

From an EU perspective, we know that the Nightsisters had resurrection-like magics, and we know that Palpatine cowed them during the Clone Wars.

But the key here is that even without knowing that, it still works. The green is a lovely evil shade that takes us off the usual blue-red Jedi-Sith spectrum and implies that Palpatine has tapped into even more mysterious arcane methods to bring about his return.

I think that this, coupled with changing the vats to have Palpatine bodies, uses all of the established Star Wars rules to far better justify Palp’s return:
Cloning technology + ‘many abilities some consider to be unnatural’ + Nightsister magics => ‘More than a clone, less than a man’.