Farlander

Though I enjoyed the new Star Trek movie (I liked the Original Series and that was, well, the only Star Trek series I watched fully) the biggest mistake it had, IMO, was the Time Travel plotline. If it would be more of a straight reboot, without any alternate timeline shit, I would like it a lot more. Because a reboot doesn't mean "this is right, this is not", it means "this is old, this is new, and who knows maybe sometime there will be a second new, enjoy whatever you want".

Anyway, I think a SW reboot of any kind will come only in, like, years 40-50, no less than that. First, because the Prequel trilogy IS practically a reboot of the franchise itself, wherether you like it or not (and by the time of it's appearance, EU was a lot lesser mess than it is now), so the only time one could start over Star Wars is when Star Wars will start getting forgotten/too old.

was having a think about anakin's defeat at mustafar by obi wan, and how contrived it appears 'i have the high ground' (wtf!)

But you'll have to remove "I'm sure Skylwalker is with them" before the Hoth battle for this to work I think.

I also will have to edit the title crawl where it's stated that Vader's searching for Luke Skywalker and... that's it. That's actually what Lucas had to make in order to make the rewrite of his Palpatine talk work, because in 2004 version it's confusing, how Vader can not know about his son if he's searching for him?

but Anakin's Theme was playing during that scene, because it was that anakin was "falling in love" with padme.

That's correct... from a certain point of view :p And even if I'll leave Anakin's Theme in the angel scene, I will surely put AtS in the gift scene instead of his theme, where Padme says she cares for Anakin. It's like playing an imperial cue during discussion of Anakin's future.

About the colors. At first, I wanted the colors to be one represantation of Saga "unity". So it would be all in more or less one style. So you could always say that this is a Star Wars movie, so, for example, Coruscant in Ep1 would have the same lighting as in Ep3 and etc. But then I thought.... this would be bland. After all, colors ARE part of storytelling. On example of Coruscant, though I will update Ep1 buildings to be consistent with Ep3 ones (for example the view outside the Jedi Council), Ep1 Coruscant WILL look different than Ep3 one. I will try to make Ep1 look more like a magic and colorful metropolis, while Ep3 (being closer to being an Empire and being in a darker chapter of the Saga) is a gritty place losing it's colors (I do not like the idea of having the Empire as pure evil, but I do like the idea of Republic losing it's colors and diversity, because Empire is, after all, a dictatorship). So, each movie won't have the same feel (in terms of color representation) but I will try to make this look more natural and progressive than the mess we have right now. I will need consultation on that part, though, to make it all better.

In SW there's kind of a running gag "I have a bad feeling about this", and in Prequel Trilogy there's a kind of running music gag in form of Escape from Naboo music. I happen to like this music and am planning introduce it in the IV-VI Episodes.

Speaking about musical changes, I'm going to introduce litte Across the Stars cues in TPM, in two scenes: "Are you an angel?" (I like the question itself, I mean, the boy basically fell in love on the first sight and kept his feelings for 10 years without even seeing the one he loved, which thenr eally blossomed; but the dialogue following the question won't remain the same) and the scene where Anakin gives the gift to Padme. After all, the music drives the story too (a lot more than colors, of course), and since Across the Stars is their love theme, it's only logical to make it originate and hint at where their love is.

Anyway, I'm ready to start my TPM draft cut, which is, essentialy, a cut to mainly get the feel if I'm going in the direction I want. My draft cuts will use dvd as the source (because quality doesn't matter, I just need something to work with to get the idea), but in the end I would like to use HD sources, so I would be grateful if someone could tell me (PM, for example) where I can find the best quality possible (for all SW movies, preferably). Thank you in advance.

In that case, though, appears a problem with deleted scenes, their best quality is DVD quality, and there are some deleted scenes I would really like to get back (ESPECIALLY for Episode III to see the origins of the Rebel Alliance, which we will follow for the next three movies, and seed more distrust between Anakin and Padme; and the parent scene in Episode II which would replace the pointless meeting with the Queen).

Talking about seeding the Rebel Alliance reminded me. I'm planning to change a bit TPM backstory to make the Naboo blockade look more like seeds of the Separatist movement. Also, about Dooku. I gave it a good thought, and my original idea of having Dooku being a Sith who uses his position to turn Palpatine's plan against him... there's too little footage to make that noticable, so I think I'll go with the old and many-times-used rogue idea. He still will be a Dark Side user though, so it's good enough (and maybe even better than being Palpatine's apprentice) to start subtly showing the certain point of view in using the Dark Side to make greater good in your own way (which was and still remains the main idea).

And about the Separatists being controlled by Palpatine... well, in TPM Trade Federation is in league with Darth Sidious, of course, and then it will look like the Separatists don't have anything Palpatine (no dialouges between Dooku/Grievous and Sidious), but I will leave the scene where Nute Gunray on Mustafar says "Everything has gone according to plan, m'Lord" phrase (or how does it go?). It's one line, but I think it will make a pretty nice little "that ********** was with Palps all along, felt betrayed my ass!" impression, and I won't have to think up anything to justify Anakin's coming to Mustafar without nobody trying to kill him or anything in that manner. Plus, what Palpatine is Palpatine without his love of scheming devious plans?

Since we're talking about this scene, in my edit, I plan to remove (already did in the RotS experimental draft cut) the democracy line, "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy" and "Only a Sith deals in absolutes". So Anakin says "Don't make me kill you" (in fact, this line replaces the "you're my enemy line", we see it from another angle), Obi-Wan stands for a few seconds realizing that Anakin he knew is gone, and says "I will do what I must". Looks quite nice.

Thanks, vaiderios! :)

You refer to the order of viewing the movies, but let me ask, have you ever watched them in the order 451236? In that order, for a first time viewer, you can experience just about ALL the surprises. You get the "I am your father" surprise without spoiling the "Henceforth you shall be known as Darth Vader" surprise.

Well, I think that Episode V kind of spoils the "Henceforth" sequence, because it becomes clear that whoever guy whose last name is Skywalker but first name is not Luke is his father. Well, as I said, the Order I first watched them was 145623 and then I was just randomly viewing movies.

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I will most likely keep the TPM beginning idea, it feels like it will work out pretty well.

I also noticed another parallel in TPM/ANH: Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are those who get Anakin and Luke respectively started on their journeys, and they are meant to be their teachers and masters, yet they die before they can do anything, so Anakin is trained by Obi-Wan and Luke is kinda trained by Yoda. But Luke hears Obi-Wan from time to time, Obi-Wan acts like his Guardian, if you will. Now, what if Qui-Gon acts as Anakin's Guardian? What if Anakin hears from time to time Qui-Gon as Luke hears Obi-Wan?

It's not a problem to add Qui-Gon's (after his death, of course) phrase "May the Force be with you", though it would be more nice to cut out a "The Force will be with you. Always." phrase. I think it would be nice, if done properly.

And I think Liam Neeson filmed enough footage in other movies that would make themselves appropriate so he could talk to Anakin EpII and III. About Episode III, you all know about the voice of Palpatine in the JEdi Council room, when Anakin makes his final decision. At first I wanted to remove this voice, but then I though, what if I were to add Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon? Maybe even make sort of a conversation. But as soon as Anakin becomes Palpatine's apprentice, Qui-Gon doesn't talk with him anymore. Until either Episode V or Episode VI.

Now, there's one instance in Episode V where I can see Qui-Gon's voice fittable, it's after the talk with the Emperor (it's possible to tweatch the scene so there wouldn't be a swipe right after it ends and add a little more time). Maybe as something as simple as "Anakin?" (or without the question mark). It would work really well with Vader learning that his son is alive only at that precise moment. And this could be marked as the moment when Vader begins his journey back to the lightside (just as Anakin's path towards the Dark begins in AotC), when he starts to remember his old self and has gained again something to live for, even if he doesn't fully realize it.

Episode VI has more instances where Qui-Gon's voice could be seen as appropriate, I have to think about it. I do have an idea to add Qui-Gon's phrase from Episode I, which he'll certainly say to Anakin in my edit, which is "Always remember, your focus determines your reality", at the moment when he looks at Luke being tortured by the Emperor. And after this, Anakin understand that "Screw everything, this is my son, I couldn't have saved Padme, but I can at least save him" and goes wild on the Emperor. I think this idea looks good, at least on paper. But, as we all know, not everything looks good on screen as it does on paper.

I would be very grateful if you did. My e-mail is farlander1991@gmail.com

They certainly will serve as an inspiration to me as to how bring the Saga together visually :)

TV's Frink said:

Have you been reading the full script cutlists, or just the summaries on the FE.org pages?  If just the summaries, you might want to take a gander at my full scripts.

Well, only summaries, actually. I know about your scripts (and I think you're crazy doing them, but on the other hand, so are we all :D ) and I think about looking at some of them at some point.

TMBTM said:

Only I don't feel like ROTJ should be the darkest of all the movie at all cost. Well, there must be a point, near the end, where all things turns bad - and it is more or less the case in the actual movie (rebels capture on Endor, space battle avorted, Luke in trouble) - but I don't see anything wrong about a real happy ending for the whole saga. We already have three movies with a kind of dark ending (AOTC, ROTS, ESB).

If we look at Star Wars as at a Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) tale (like Lucas likes to call it), then it makes sense to wrap Anakin's story to an end, how he was brought to peace, but this end is not the end for Luke Skywalker or the Rebel Alliance. I'm not against happy endings, but the Empire, as I already said, can't be destroyed just by killing the Emperor. The planets won't celebrate everything just like that, I'm sure there would be a lot of planets/people who didn't have anything against Empire's rule, because... because it's only natural. So, I don't want the ending to be dark, no. But I don't want it to be a happy ending as in "everything's done everything's good".

Besides, though Rebels are officialy overrun and everything, it doesn't feel like that in the movie. It still feels like a swashbuckling adventure.

vaderios said:

You have my Mockups ;)

And my saber

and my axe

oh well

Good luck :D:D:D

 

Thank you. I love your mockups :) By the way, is there a place where they all are gathered in one single place?

Also, it happens that the Lord of the Rings is another one of my favorite movies, and I'm one of those who loves both the book and Peter Jackson's trilogy.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your comments. It will be some time before I get to actually editing stuff, because I want to plan as many things as possible.

TPM is really a nutcracker, you know. I think it tries to show too hard that it's "The beginning of the Saga." It like tells you "This is the beginning, this is how it was, this is young Obi-Wan, this is his master whose name we don't get till the middle of the movie, this is Yoda who we already must know who he is and therefore he gets little introduction or even hardly mentioned by name but he was the head of the JEdi Council, see?" and so on and so on. I never noticed it before I tried to make an edit out of it, but TPM tries to hard to be the beginning of the Saga.

One thing I like about ANH is that it just throws you into action with this battle. And I thought that, well, ANH depicts the beginning of Luke's journey (though also the continuation of Anakin's, but that's not the point) and TPM kinda depictst he beginning of Anakin's journey, so why not to mirror it at some point, because, well, SW films love to mirror eachother.

So I think of going a bit radical and starting the TPM movie right from the Escape from Naboo. After the opening crawl, camera pans down to Naboo, we see the Royal Starship flying past the camera right into that blockade. Essentially, to cut out the first 20 minutes of the movie (maybe incorporate the cut footage elsewhere somehow) and we meet Anakin a lot sooner this way, because the point of the movie is beginning of his journey, how dreams do come true for him.

I think that might just as well work, though I must see how it will work with the introduction of characters of Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Padme and Jar-Jar (and the escape itself serves as an introduction for Artoo). Jumping straight in is one thing, knowing who the hell are these guys is another.

Don’t want to sound arrogant, but I feel myself a bit special when it comes to OT.com and FE community, because it occurred to me that most (if not all) Star Wars Fan Editors and most of the Fan Edit viewers have started their journey in the galaxy far-far away through A New Hope (or one of the other OT movies). I, myself, was introduced to Star Wars when I was 8 years old, in 1999, through The Phantom Menace. And I was totally into the Star Wars universe after that. Then I saw the ’97 Special Editions of the Original Trilogy, and then the other two prequels. In 2005 I was 14, and I totally loved Star Wars movies. Each and one of them. I did consider A New Hope and Attack of the Clones as some of a bit more boring installments for me, but I still liked them.

But, time went on, and I began to see that there would be more and more things that I didn’t like very much. In each of the movies. C-3PO in Empire Strikes Back was as annoying as Jar-Jar in The Phantom Menace, Palpatine acted incredibly stupid in Return of the Jedi (especially in comparison to his devious self in the Prequel Trilogy), Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side is too abrupt in Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope is a little dragged out at times (forgive me all ANH fans, it’s just my opinion), and so on and so on – many different little details that started irritating me more and more. And yet I still liked Star Wars, just tried to ignore some details, because I love the story as a whole.

And at one point I decided to finally watch Star Wars chronologically, from Episode I to Episode VI (because I never really watched them in that particular order). And then I thought “Well, this is a mess”. I don’t hate Lucas, but despite what he says or tries to say, he was making things on the move. The only bearable way to watch fully Star Wars Saga is from A New Hope (since it’s a lighthearted fairy-tale story) till Revenge of the Sith (since it’s the darkest installment with more complex moral questions), i.e. as they were filmed (and, after all, that way there’s some feeling of a natural progression of atmosphere). And even in that case, it’s a mess. And I thought to myself, how wonderful it would be if Star Wars Saga was more… consistent. Would look more like one whole, not six different movies.

And then, thanks to Adywan’s A New Hope: Revisited, I was introduced to the world of Fan Edits. I was just amazed by the work he had done on the movie, proving me that I can, well, make my own version of Star Wars, the one I would like to see. After all, Star Wars in our modern world is like greek mythology – different and contradicting representations of one story don’t make it any worse.

Now, despite everything I have said and all grudges I have, I still enjoy Star Wars Saga as it is now. And I want to do these edits because I like Star Wars, and I enjoy Star Wars. I just want to try and make them better, but it won’t do anything bad to me if I fail. And I’m actually not going to watch other Star Wars Fan Edits (asides from Adywan’s Revisited edits), though I still read through cut changes if I see someone is doing something (just out of interest), to keep myself at least somewhat open-minded. Besides, I think that to do something like this, you must like what you’re doing, and I remember reading about edits (mostly Prequels or RotJ) who have this goal as to “make it bearable”. And I especially won’t watch them, because I don’t want to see a work of a Fan Editor who “makes it bearable” (no offence to anyone). It’s just my opinion, but I think that if you don’t like it (or you even hate it) then bothering to do something is a waste of time and the result won’t do any justice to the movie or yourself. Also I noticed (judging by the cut lists, I’ve read a lot of them when stumbled upon fanedit.org) that there are a few who have tendency of cutting everything in sight, instead of trying to make things work, and in my opinion things like this won’t do any justice either.

So, anyway, my scope is to make Star Wars Saga consistent, as a whole – story-wise, graphics-wise, other-wise. With natural progression of things, of atmosphere and other stuff. Now, I know I’m going to need help from you guys, because I won’t be able to do absolutely all by myself. I also realize that some of you will like what I’m doing, and some will hate, so I’m OK with that. Everyone has his own opinion.

Now, on to the general plan of my edits (I’ll do the prequels first, btw).

Episode I: The Phantom Menace

A New Hope is a perfect beginning to the Saga, because, practically, it’s a fairy tale that introduced us to this big new world, with a pretty straightforward storyline. And a lot of exposition material. Now, The Phantom Menace doesn’t feel like the first in a Saga (though it can work, after all, it was the first Star Wars movie I’ve watched, and I don’t remember anything I didn’t understand at the time), because it relies mostly on knowing what it’s all about.

Now, The Phantom Menace can’t be remade into a fairy tale. But it has to be a pretty straightforward and lighthearted adventure (which could actually act as a first, because right now The Phantom Menace, though a prequel, is nothing more than a sequel), with little political aspect (asides from the most important ones, I suppose; after all, ANH had a few politics in it too). Oh, and no midichlorians and Chosen One prophecies. I suspect that midichlorians were created for the Episode III plot (to create life and save from death and stuff like that), but it works with “The Force” too. And, frankly, I don’t really understand the Chosen One prophecy, besides, it creates a mess (it kind of works somewhat when we watch only the Prequels, but it totally doesn’t work in the sense of the whole Saga). I will leave Anakin’s virgin birth, because I like the possibility that either Darth Plagueis or Darth Sidious could be Anakin’s father.

I remember an Episode I ad where Anakin asked a question “Dreams do come true, don’t they?” The basic idea of this edit can be seen as an answer - “YES, Dreams DO come true!” So I’ll try to ANHize TPM as much as possible (after all, Anakin is a naïve child at this point, and because of that I won’t add the Greedo-beating deleted scene). It will be a hard thing to do, though.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones

Episode II, of course, has to start getting darker. As Anakin grows up, life doesn’t seem such of a dreamy thing as it was when he was a kid.

Now, the detective plot isn’t the best mystery plot in the world, but… it’s… kind of OK. There is one thing though, one tiny detail that just… kills me. Jango Fett says he was hired by a man called Tyrannus. Now, don’t tell me that Obi-Wan (who in RotS realized the Palpatine became an Emperor just judging by the hologram in the Jedi Temple security room) didn’t remember the name and in the whole three years of war ABSOLUTELY NOBODY didn’t learn that Dooku’s Sith name is Tyrannus. I’m sure they did. And I’m sure they would’ve think that something is wrong with the Clone Army if Count Dooku has ordered it. But it seems they didn’t. No wonder they’ve got all killed.

Now, concerning the Clone Army. I don’t have anything against Jango Fett being the host of the Clone Army AND working for Tyrannus/Sidious to assassinate Amidala. He IS a Bounty Hunter, after all. And he was hired practically by the same guy. The problem lies with one of these guys, Dooku. Now, Dooku’s an interesting character right till the moment when he turns on his lightsaber and starts being a bad guy (before that his alignment was kind of unknown, and I like that). And I think that Dooku is a perfect opportunity to start seeding “Evil/Good is a point of view” idea which then gets a more serious progression in Revenge of the Sith. The thing is, I want to make him less of a bad guy. Even a good guy. I want to make him reluctant killing his comrades, I want to make him less arrogant and less “I AM A POWERFUL DARK SIDE USER”, and, most importantly, tell the TRUTH to Obi-Wan (he REALLY wants to get rid of the Sith). It’s just that it’s his way of doing what he thinks is a right and good thing (after all, you don’t simply kill a Sith who’s a Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, that would’ve been a mess).

But, globally speaking, AotC needs a lot less rehash then TPM needs. Oh, and I know I’ll get a lot of kicks for that, but though I will tweak with the love story, I will NOT cut out the Meadow Scene (I mean the one with Shaaks). Because I like that scene. In some sense, it reminds me of, well, me, when I was 17 (basically a few years back), and I don’t find it totally inappropriate.

Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

I won’t deny it, Revenge of the Sith is both my favorite of the prequels and favorite of the Star Wars movies. That doesn’t mean there’s few things I would like to change – there’s a lot. A very big lot. But, speaking globally, there’s kind of two big problems in the movie.

Problem 1 – Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side (the whole point of the movie). In the movie, it basically goes like “I shouldn’t, oh how could I, oh what have I done – snap! – Ah, screw everything, I’ll go on a killing spree!”. I already know how to make his turn more believable in my opinion (so it’s not that big of a problem), because… it IS a turn in the movie, and with all this grayishness established, it shouldn’t be.

Problem 2 – The Ending. The very ending, I mean. Now, Revenge of the Sith ending is really a “The circle is complete” ending. It’s an ending to the Saga. And I think it’s a good ending to the Saga. But it shouldn’t be like this for a middle movie. The ending has to be darker. Not as dark as “nothing good can happen”, but I think it has to be the darkest ending of all of them. And unlike the Anakin’s turn problem, this is the one I think I’ll have troubles with.

And, actually, this will be the movie I’ll start my edits with. Yeah, totally out of order. How Lucassy. I will try to plan as much as possible ahead, though.

Episode IV: A New Hope

This will be the hardest one to edit. Because after all this different perspective and points of view and darkness we get a… EVIL and VICIOUS Empire (of course dictatorship is not democracy, but… it has it’s own merits) against GOOD and NOBLE Rebels. The fourth Episode HAS to be lighter than the third one, because it HAS to be, well, A New Hope (it’s only natural of it not being so dark), but not so fairytailish as to destroy the natural progression of the atmosphere. Honestly, I think that’s an Episode I will be making last. It’s just so hard to think of good ideas how to make it work. Not to mention all the tomatoes I’ll have to evade.

Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Though Revenge of the Sith (despite all those things I want to change) is my favorite Star Wars movie, Episode V is, undeniably, the one that needs the fewest tinkering with. By the way, I do like the idea of Vader learning that the one who destroyed the Death Star is actually his son in this Episode, but I’m not sure whether to go with it. Besides, this idea needs more than changing the Emperor talk scene to make it work (but that’s not a very big problem).

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Now that I think about it, Episode VI totally doesn’t work as an ending. At all. Now, if we look at the Saga, the way it should go (in my opinion, of course) is from a light adventure to a very dark tale (which is Revenge of the Sith) with a moment of respite in form of a New Hope the darkness grows again through ESB and it should reach it’s highest point (point of total despair, even, I must say) in RotJ. RotJ, as it is now, is a lighthearted adventure, it even doesn’t make much sense if we look at the Original Trilogy alone.

Now, the way I see it, the Rebels are facing overwhelming odds in face of the Empire and it’s new Death Star (actually, I would be glad if there would be absolutely no Death Stars, but… that’s not really the case), their Alliance is at the brink of destruction, the only hope of surviving is to kill the Emperor (which will NOT destroy and dissolve the Empire but will add some chaos to make the fight worth it), Darth Vader is Luke’s father and that’s a big problem and everything else. And the ending itself should not be a happy ending. It should be like the current RotS ending – despite everything that has happened, there is hope.

I actually had an idea of ending RotJ with Vader’s funeral pyre. The camera pans up, to the night sky, the Force Theme playing, and then… the end. But I don’t know if that would do justice either.

I know I’ll certainly shorten the Han Solo rescue sequence. I mean, how long is it? 40 minutes? 30? I’ll also make less of this “Good/Bad” stuff. Yes, Luke wants Vader to remember who he was, but it kinda goes like “There’s good in you” – “No there isn’t” – “There is!” – “Hey, whatd’ya know, there really is!” And the way Palpatine tries to turn Luke to the Dark Side is totally inappropriate, especially comparing to his seduction in Revenge of the Sith. Every time I watch the Death Star duel sequence, I think “He just has to keep his mouth shut, and Luke will kill Vader, and maybe the Emperor along with him”. Another hard edit to make. That’s three from six (TPM, ANH and ROTJ). Because everything is more clear with other Episodes.

Also, what is Light Side, and what is Dark Side? I don’t want it to be Good and Evil, because… well, Good and Evil is pretty straightforward, and I like the fact that in RotS the Dark Side doesn’t necessarily look as Evil. The way I see it, Light Side is selflessness, represented by Jedi, while Dark Side is selfishness, represented by Sith. They’re just two different ideologies. But the main trick in life is to combine these too together, which, I think, Luke did pretty well.

So, this is it for my first Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker watchable as a whole edit post. It will take a very long time to do, heh. So, thank you for your attention, any opinions and ideas are welcome, and let’s hope I’ll get through.

Not an idea or something, I just was reading 'bout people complaining about the floating chair... Didn't it occur to anybody that chair itself is not a floating one, it's Yoda who makes it one? ;) I mean, this kind of procedure is really a piece of cake for him.

i would love to see windu go alone, this would remove the crappy jedi deaths, plus make it seem a bit more dramamtic (he is going to take ALONE?!)

I don't think so. Acting so spountainiously wasn't wise at most, going there alone would be just plain stupid.

but if we see anakin turn into vader, where is the surprise for ESB? i back ady for this.

Oh sure, apart from Anakin turning into Vader, there is absolutely no indication that Vader could possibly be Luke's father.

Btw, it's a bit sarcastic tone, no offence ment, mate.

Oh, and I've read AxiaEuxine's blog. While I do not fully agree with that editorial, I do think she (he? O_o) has some points. That's from a point of view of a guy who got accomodated with SW with EpI, in 1999, while he was just an 8-years old boy. I have my share of complaints, yes, but I do think that PT does something better than OT (and not only graphically-wise) and OT does something better than PT. But nevertheless, it's still one big saga.

Oh, and yeah. I don't like contradictions very much. But remember the greeks. They didn't have absolutely anything against contradictions in their mythology :p On the contray, some suppose they thought contradictions were necessary. Still would be glad if the contradictions in SW would be reduced to a minimum.

Having the sith create Anakin means that he was always destined to become evil and that takes away the whole story of how a good person can go bad.

Thinking that the sith have created Anakin is just a speculation, really. Yeah, it is kind of hinted, but the Sith would likely be much smarter than to create some boy on a backwater planet.

AxiaEuxine said:

I know the midiclorians are gonna be taken out but how do you leave the Opera scene between Palpatine and Anakin intact without them?

 I think cutting midichlorians out of PT is easy as hell. I mean, I suppose it was already done for TPM, AotC has no mention of the midichlorians. Palpatine says in RotS:

"Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life ... He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying."

So... cut out the "influence the midi-chlorians" part, and...

"Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to create life ... He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying."

Whoala.

Well, I'm kind of new here, but I saw adywan's ANH edit... it was great. No, really, it was. Now, I know of some adywan's intentions, like, no Vader in ROTS... but... that will be quite pointless. Anakin turns to the dark side and stuff, if only it would be a Godfather-like movie, where the story of the present and the past (or how you would like to call it) are parallel.

Anyway, I've got some ideas, maybe someone will use them. Before I start, I want to point out that I started watching Star Wars with... TPM. That's right, TPM. Then came the SE OT and then AotC with RotS. So I'm kind of one of those who didn't really care if Han shoot first (though that moment did look quite choppy in SE) or about midichlorians. I'm fine with both the "mystical" OT version and "scientifical" PT version. And I do like more the idea that was introduced in PT (and not so badly realized, though not without flaws) about, you know, greyishness of things more than OT's "this one's good, this one's bad, this one's good turned bad then turned back to good". Not that I don't like OT. ESB and ROTS are my favorite SW episodes (with ESB being the best of OT and ROTS being the best of PT).

Let's start.

TPM is actually a pretty nice movie. I mean, it has it's flaws, and... well... differences from the OT, but actually, I found it quite close to ROTJ. And the structure is quite the same. First part of the movie - rescue, second part - journey on a planet (well, in TPM case - two planets) with a race, and the third part - lightsaber duel, space battle and ground battle all going on at the same time. There's even a Jedi funeral in both movies. But, unlike ROTJ, it has politics. I know some people don't like politics in SW. Well, I like politics in SW, and think they should not have to be cut.

Well, probably the main gripe of all SW fans is Jar Jar. Mine too. Now, I don't think Jar Jar should be cut at all. And I don't think he should be remade to, you know, a serious creature (let's see, 3PO in EpV is... well, not annoying as Jar Jar is in this one, but he's quite annoying too. That's my opinion), but tone down the sillines. And cut the poo and fart jokes, I mean... This is Star Wars. No poo and fart jokes in Star Wars... I just don't think, considering his on-screen actions, that it's quite possible to make a fully serious character out of him, but I've heard about some miracle in MagnoliaFan edit, didn't see it though.

Now, this conerns all battle droids scenes throughout the movie. Remove the "uhhhh", "oh-oh", "ah" parts. They're droids, after all. So, instead of always saying "Oh-oh, blast 'em!", just make them say "Blast 'em!".

Tatooine. Well, there's this "Anakin has no father" scene. Cut it? No. I just came to a thought that it works better with the "Mystical Force" version of things, not the scientifical ones. So... there's one advantage of the OT mystical Force version, it seems. The scene with the probe droid should be put back in. It's, like, the reason Qui and Ani are running anyway. The fight with Greedo is essential to be put back. Not only because of Anakin's "dark side", but also because of Qui-Gon's teaching manners. "Well, you know you're right, fighting won't change anything. Let's go". It's great, really.

Battle for Naboo... Well, there is a gripe I have with Anakin. I propose to somehow move the line "Qui-Gon told me to stay here and that's what I'm going to do" line while he's still in the hangar. Before or short time after he launches the stargihter, on PURPOSE (not searching for anything), and on PURPOSE destroying droidekas and flying to the Battleship, without any autopilots. He IS eager to prove himself, isn't he?

When I first saw AOTC, I thought it was utter crap. Then, after watching it again, I thought it was... not so bad. But I have to watch it again to actually put some type of list. And here comes ROTS...

ROTS is my PT favorite, but it's the one I think that should be edited the most, if someone would edit it. Pretty ironic, eh?

Battle of Coruscant. It's long and... well, the first few minutes are ok (I would say that the very beginning is, well, great), but then there's all this buzz droids stuff. I mean, it's pointless! I propose to make so that after going through the Vulture droids (well, somewhere after the phrase "they're doing their job so we can do ours") edit stuff as necessary so they would get straight to the Invisible Hand and land there. It would be much more paced and less-dragged.

The Invisible Hand. I know, some would like to get the Shaak Ti deleted scene back. But please, don't. At least without big graphical work, which would require quite some time. Besides that, Shaak is seen elsewhere in the movie, I think, so... no Shaak Ti death on IH scene. Anyway, now what about those things that are already in the movie. The thing that buggers me the most (and not only me) is the elevator scene with R2 vs. Super Battle Droid. Up, down, up, down, and... well, pointless. Duel with Dooku could use some music, but not necessary. Removing Palpatine's "Yes!" is necessary, though. Everything else on Invisible Hand is ok in my book.

Coruscant... It's quite hefty as it is, but I think that returning all three Rebellion scenes (especially the third one, with Anakin standing near the Chancellor) is essential. Besides, if Battle of Coruscant would be shortened, there will be enough time and for these three things. The chat on the balcony... I'm not against romantic scenes, and, like, in AotC many didn't like the dialouge, but come on, Anakin is an ex-slave boy, how can he know how to talk nicely? But the whole "so love has blinded you?" stuff on that balcony is really corny. From Grievous straight to the dream, that would do the trick.

One thing that I had with Anakin's turn to the dark side is that it was... well, it was fast, but we do know about Palpatine slowly playing over Anakin's mind all over the time. Anyway. The Jedi Council room with Ani and Padme is cool, IMO. Fix the sun thing if possible (so light would fall always from the right direction), and remove Chancellor's line. Then. Cut the Sidious-Mace lightsaber duel. IMO, it would be so much cooler that after Palpatine says "It's treason then" we cut to Anakin getting to the Office, and... we see Mace over an already deformed Palpatine (without that "Only I can help save your wife from death" and "Don't listen to him, Anakin!"). Well, even if to leave the battle in the movie, still, Palpy must be deformed BEFORE Anakin's arrival, IMO. And he must look weak, tired and battle-scarred to Anakin. That would make much more sense. The first time we see Palpatine cast lightning from his hands is when Anakin chops Mace's hand. No "What I've done" thing. Just "Pledge myself to your teachings", and well, maybe 'bout Padme. After that, Anakin doesn't say a single word. I think, what made the fall look so fast, is all those "Thank you, master", "Agreed, the next move bla-bla" and stuff. Like, he was "OH MY WHAT I'VE DONE" and suddenly "I'M A BADDIE YEAH!". Cutting that will make Anakin's turn more believable, IMO. Maybe have him somehow shut all the way through, even no "Pledge myself to your teachings", dunno. I mean, sometimes silence is more powerful than words. And... If Palpy says that he knows how to save from death, why he says that together we can DISCOVER the secret? Well, that whole turning to the dark side scene needs a revamp, don't you think? I may write some time later a little more clearly how do I see it.

Jedi Purge stuff is cool. There's one thing I'm not really sure about. I mean, Anakin cries a bit after killing the Mustafar leaders, but doesn't have a tear while killing younglings. I think it should be the other way around, and... digitally adding some tears going from his eyes before activating his lightsaber won't be too hard?

There's one thing in the Jedi Temple security room I think is not quite right: as soon as they see the Hologram, both Obi and Yoda start to call Palpatine the Emperor instead of Palpatine. I think, if possible, this should be replaced. Oh, and I'm not sure about the yellow eyes during the Mustafar scene. Are they really necessary? I mean, they're cool, but... Dunno.

Anakin vs. Obi-Wan duel is... well, the duel itself is cool, at least while it's inside. I know some didn't like the "Only a Sith deals in absolutes", considering that it totally broke the point of "broad point of view stuff", but we have to remember that it's a JEDI who says that line, not a Sith. The real confusing stuff, for me anyway, is that there's a half-alive pregnant woman lying over there, there's those two best friends yelling at each other, and they talk about... democracy and stuff. That's a little strange, I think. Oh, and... I heard there was some unused Ani-Obi duel footage. It would be nice to get it back somehow. If possible.

But then again, there's this "Anakin, Chancellor Palpatine is evil!". "From my point of view the Jedi are evil!". Well... it will be hard to do anything with these. I don't have anything "I have failed you" and "I should've known the Jedi were trying to take over", but this evil stuff... Don't know. It's just... well, it does make sense, but something is not right.

I'm not sure about adding Qui-Gon's talk with Yoda, I've heard this was done before. I think that Yoda's talk with Obi-Wan about Qui-Gon should be cut as well, or redone. I mean, why this ghost thing is something that has to be... teached? Especially when Anakin didn't have anyone to teach it to him. It just doesn't go along well.

And I think that "She has lost will to live" thing is crap. For god's sake, Anakin has choked her for quite some time, and she's dying because she doesn't want to live? When she gave birth to two babys and thinks Anakin has some good left in him? And she doesn't want to live? Bullshit. And I dunno about the names... Well, you can leave them in, you can cut the naming altogether.

There is an idea how to remove the mother controversy, but it would require editing ROTJ, not ROTS. Just a bit of change of the dialouge.

Luke: Do you remember your mother?

Leia: Just images, really... *other stuff she says there*

Luke: (maybe after a bit of silence) Your REAL mother?

And Leia doesn't have anything to answer.

Now, in the OT, there were three big revelations. That little green creep is Yoda, Darth Vader is Luke's father, Leia is Luke's sister. We all know PT ruins all those surprises if to watch the SW saga chronologically.

The Yoda stuff is ok. As long as the scene in the mud on Kashyyyk is cut, one may think "oh my, what has happened to Yoda during his exile! He's gone insane!". I mean, one may KNOW it's Yoda, but he doesn't act like Yoda.

The Darth Vader stuff is a bit... well, more complicated. I already said that not mentioning Vader in ROTS won't do the trick in my opinion. It would require a drastical change of ANH, really. Not only the dialouge in Obi's hut, but also Vader's lines and their talk during their duel and stuff. It's not that hard to keep Leia a secret to the public, but the fact that Darth Vader is Luke's father... It has to be thought deeply, just keeping Vader out of ROTS won't do it, really.

Now, what are the revelations of PT? The main revelation should be, Sidious = Palpatine. I think it's there, I don't know. I knew for a long time Sid was Palpy. Any other stuff?