GLogus

I’d love a link to the current cut please.

smudger9 said:

kineticsolace said:

would love to check this out!

This is very much a work in progress. I’m 3/4 done with the second cut.

Are you finding that the last two episodes are at all salvageable (gotta admit, I thought they were a let down after a strong middle), or are you strictly working on them in order?

szopman said:

I think “Master and Apprentice” (as it could refer to Anakin and Ahsoka, Ahsoka and Sabine, Baylan and Shin) could be a nice title as well, but probably it doesn’t sound very Star Wars either 😉

So many cool updates on this project, can’t wait to see the final outcome 😉

Take your time and may the force be with you!

It’s a bit generic, but it certainly fits the theme of the show.

smudger9 said:

Half way there with the second cut!

Here is the episode 4 segment. A lot of big and little cuts here… got the episode down to 19mins. Half was point clocking in at 1h 27 so I’m on target!

Let me know your thoughts.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EK1EjzPk0ZkD9x16xAGz4AsQmzrHNnzi

I hate to see so much of Episode 4 go as I think it was the most cinematic of all eight episodes. Episode 5 may have had the member berries, but 4 was the only one that was as good as the franchise deserves.

Besides, all you had to do was remove the shots where Ahsoka is folding her arms and smirking. That would easily get your cut down below 3 hrs.

vranir said:

Have you considered removing all instances of Merrik (the ghost inquisitor)? I wonder if everything might be tighter and the reveal with the reanimated stormtroopers better if he wasn’t in the story.

What if Balaan Skall’s line about the legacy of violence from Anakin and Ahsoka was said right after she throws Shinn? Like he sees the violence and Vader-like action, says that, then a moment later knocks her off the cliff and says that it was always that way with her.

I do also miss the craziness of that hyperscape jump and the X-Wings. I’m not sure if that could be worked back in without getting back into the mediocre New Republic stuff.

Disney is following their own trope of introducing a cool-looking and mysterious character only to have him or her prove completely useless and inconsequential. Having said that, I kinda agree with George Lucas when he says Star Wars is, foremost, a show for 12 year old boys. Marrok is pretty cool looking—like I said, and very Star Wars, and probably something a 12 year old would like (if any 12 year old boys had bothered to watch this). Sure, I wish they would have done more with him, but I’d still hate to see him go.

Although I’m mainly indifferent, I guess I like the idea of cutting the magic exiting his body as he dies because, even though it foreshadows a later part in the story, I think the revelation of the dark magic being used on Storm Troopers hits harder when it hasn’t been alluded to beforehand and comes as a total surprise. Probably not that important of detail either way though.

I tried to view this but couldn’t get into it. This will be a great way to watch, lol.

idir_hh said:

What do you think of leaving out the scenes that have ashoka fighting her way back to paridea, that way you keep the suspense and anticipation of her return, maybe only keeping the shot of her calling to Sabine with the force as confirmation that she has arrived. So you would cut from her jumping to light speed until she comes to save the day pretty much. Which shaves a good bit for faster pacing.

I actually like this. Sadly, it cuts more of Ahsoka out of her own show, but it’s already kinda Sabine’s show anyway.

Fantastic work as usual, Smudger. Episode 3 was one of the weaker episodes, imo, and I found this cut to be far more engaging.

Seamless.

zacharr said:

Just found this edit - sounds like an awesome project!

I don’t know if you’re done with Episode 8 yet / still working on it, but if there’s still a chance, I’d like to throw one thing into consideration that I felt was weak about the finale: Sabine’s force push.

Hear me out: Sabine had been struggling with the force all series, and Huyang even commented that she had the weakest force potential of any jedi student he’s ever seen (and, in 4 seasons of Rebels, we didn’t get any inkling that Sabine could use the force). So it feels like it comes way out of left-field, and really kills the suspension of disbelief. In my opinion, a better pay-off for Sabine’s force is the lightsaber force pull. It’s comparatively more minor, but it has a few really nice thematic tie-ins: (1) her struggle was trying to pull the cup to her, so it’s neat to see that by the end of the show, she finally manages to pull something to her; (2) Luke’s first big force feat (beginning of Episode 5) was pulling a lightsaber, so it’s good symmetry, and the force push just kind of overshadows it; (3) eliminating Sabine’s push gives Ezra the chance to shine, really conveying how good he got in ~8 years on Peridea, with him making a fantastic, near-impossible jump.

I haven’t seen any other fan edit that has removed the force push yet, so I’d be excited to see it.

I agree that pulling the lightsaber was “just right” and that the jump should have been Ezra’s moment completely. I don’t know how feasible it is in terms of a fanedit, but I do agree with you. I suspect there’s an earlier draft of the script somewhere where it’s Ezra giving Sabine the boost and not vice versa, but the powers that be had Filoni change it last minute. For me the key word is discipline. Fans who are more knowledgeable than I will argue "anyone can use the Force,’ but it doesn’t change the fact that Sabine never cultivated the necessary discipline, be it as a Jedi or not, to use the Force that adeptly.

smudger9 said:

So last night I was working on removing Hera and the New Republic from Seatos. Here is a proof of concept for the sequence from Ahsoka being pulled from the water to her departing in the space whale. There will need to be alteration of Huyang’s dialogue and removing the Ghost from a couple of shots. Thoughts?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xTHdvaVItybDqsEHn8_BUZT3ahRPGEqG

In terms of the entire 17 min clip, I think in general there is a lot of lingering shots and extraneous dialogue that can still be trimmed to give it a tighter, more engaging pace.

losthead said:

GLogus said:

losthead said:

The idea that anyone can use the force is introduced in A New Hope

That’s still not how the Force works. You don’t go from level one to one hundred in a matter of minutes, especially if you’re Sabine and didn’t really learn anything.

Luke went from struggling with a training droid to guiding a proton torpedo into an exhaust port within one day. Sabine went from sensing Ahsoka’s presence to pushing a guy a few feet within a few days.

Luke is naturally strong with the Force. Sabine isn’t. Nor does she seem to resonate strongly with the ways of the Jedi.

You don’t see a problem, from a narrative point of view, with the idea that anybody can become a powerful Force user, despite having no aptitude for it, and putting in minimal effort?

…I suppose that’s an opinion one could hold.

Hey, Smudger. How’s the project going? Any new insights on how to move forward?

Double post

losthead said:

The idea that anyone can use the force is introduced in A New Hope

That’s still not how the Force works. You don’t go from level one to one hundred in a matter of minutes, especially if you’re Sabine and didn’t really learn anything.

The only great episode of this series was EP 4, for which I give the director of this episode, Peter Ramsey, the credit. EP 5 was a fan favorite for giving up some great Hayden Christiansen scenes, but without the member berries, it’s ‘good’ at best. EP 6 was also good, but the remaining episodes ranged from bad to embarrassingly bad. I am hopeful that an fanedit of this series won’t be too utilitarian in its approach, i.e., keeping only what’s absolutely necessary and cutting even the very good stuff. Rather, I’m hoping it is more liberal in cutting the bad, and more conservative in cutting the good.

DarthMarv said:

So I thought I’d share a few ideas I’ve thought in my head for editing Ahsoka and fixing some lingering questions:

• So for Huyang, a big question for me is why he’s with Ahsoka rather than Luke: So an idea I liked was that he’s sticking with Ahsoka because she’s the last from before the Empire and he feels a connection to the generation of padawans he’s taught, Ahsoka being the last one left. I’m not sure where a dialogue an AI created voice line could fit but it would be good explanation.
• Another thing with Huyang voice AI ideas is to try and see if it’s possible to move his conversation to Ezra about Sabine’s family fate on Mandalore to much earlier episodes to get the audience to understand why she’s willing to anything to get Ezra back.
• Another AI voice/ voice over idea could be used on Morrok: his dialogue could explain he’s magik created from the Great Mothers in Peridia to give him a more solid explanation rather than just not explaining him.
• I’d also fix the remnant troopers making them feel more human by adding voice lines for them & conversations, making them more competent shots too.
• For story beats I’d also make sure for Sabine force moment- I’d have Ezra do the full jump no help and Sabine (who doesn’t use the force in this edit) would have to make a choice to go save Ahsoka or go with Ezra.
• Oh and I’d also tweak Huyang’s line about Sabine being worse than a youngling in terms of force potential, maybe a line emphasising her untapped potential might make the finale land moments better.

Some great ideas if they can be done well. I especially like ideas 2 and 5. Both Ezra and Ahsoka seemed totally fine with Sabine’s reckless and irresponsible behavior. I was dumbstruck by the lack of accountability! Your idea might help to emphasize her reasons for doing what she did.

Also, I have no issue with Sabine having some Force ability, i.e., being a skilled Mandalorian warrior first and a novice Force user second, but her pushing Ezra like that was just silly and unearned. Huyang was right in pointing out her inadequacy. (When the Force can do anything, and anyone can use it, it makes the most interesting thing in Star Wars completely meaningless.)

I also want to add that the zombie noises that the Night Troopers make is ridiculous—far more laughable than creepy. In fact, the Night Troopers coming back to light was pointless because they didn’t actually pose a threat.

smudger9 said:

So, after watching the finale, this is definitely a one movie series. There just isn’t enough meat for 2 films. The finale itself was a very action heavy 40mins, a lot of which can be heavily trimmed or cut like the TIE fighter attack.

The whole Peridea sequence could probably be shortened to an hour, which would fit nicely into a third act. That leaves an hour or so for the middle act on Seatos.

So for the through-line story I feel the focus of the movie, in order, should be.

1. Thrawn’s return.
2. Ahsoka and Sabine’s relationship.
3. Ahsoka’s rebirth.
4. Baylan’s quest.

And as has become a theme with these edits, the New Republic scenes (and thus Hera), add little to the overall plot and will be largely cut.

I’ll hopefully have a first cut completed by the end of the week.

This all sounds spot on to me. The only thing I would caution against is cutting the Anakin/Clone Wars scenes as they are an important part of Ahsoka’s journey. However, it seems like you have are feeling more inclined to keep them at this point.

I must confess I didn’t really like the finale. It was mired by the usual, contrived nonsense that characterizes most Disney Star Wars these days. Ahsoka, the character, lacks the charisma she had in The Clone Wars, and Sabine is never held to account for her reckless actions (and I definitely feel like those Force powers were unearned). The series lacked any real tension throughout, and the stakes never felt very high (although I would count episode 4 as a noteworthy exception).

I think you have the right idea. There’s a lot of fat to be trimmed here. There are no filler episodes, strictly speaking, as every episode does something to further the plot, but within each episode there is still a fair amount that can be cut.

When you think about it, not a lot has happened over the course of 7 episodes. It’s basically just “Star Wars: The Return of Thrawn”. Seeing Hayden as Anakin again was nice (more satisfying than in Kenobi), and I really like the the actor who plays Ezra, but over all, the show has not covered a lot of ground.

Octorox said:

I don’t think this show is perfect by any means, but it’s pretty good: solid mid-tier Star Wars with some particularly high highs. I’m personally going to enjoy the ride, let the show wrap up and sit with it for a while before I start putting my faneditor’s hat on.

I would watch and thoroughly enjoy an Octorox fanedit of Ahsoka, no questions asked.

I watched your rough cut, Smudger9. I was so blown away by your Mando/BoBF cuts that I’m confident that this will be a success, too.

Having said that, you’re dealing with a different showrunner and writer here—Filoni as opposed to Favreau—and I wonder if a different approach to editing is needed.

First off, there is a lot of talk on this thread about editing the series into two full-length movies. I understand the rationale. The Mando series were very episodic with a lot of extraneous plot elements, i.e., filler episodes. Ahsoka, on the other hand, doesn’t have filler episodes per se, but nevertheless has a lot of “filler” in terms of slow pacing. Filoni thinks the way to emphasize a point is simply to linger on it for far too long. The acting is also monotonous, the dialogue is shallow, and the characters overly stoic. There are a lot of good ideas being presented here, but they are being stretched out to an excessively threadbare duration (I would contend that the only episode that didn’t have significant pacing issues was episode 4). If the problem with Mando was its filler, then the problem here is its pacing. It may require a different approach, but I don’t believe there is any justifiable reason to try to divide this series into two movies. There’s not enough here to necessitate it. Infact, I think your usual goal of keeping your edits to under 3 hours would greatly benefit this series.

I think the first two episodes are very good at establishing our protagonists and villains, and what they’ve been up to, and what they’re looking for. I think these are important elements to keep, but the stuff with the map, while necessary at a rudimentary level, is a little cumbersome. I’d keep the worthwhile character development but jettison everyone else I possibly could. I honestly believe you could shave another 15 minutes off of your rough cut.

I haven’t really mapped this out in my head yet, but I wonder if Sabine really needs to battle Shin on Lothal at all. Perhaps it is enough for Sabine only to draw her lightsaber, and to have Shin run away immediately as Ahsoka approaches. I say this because their battle later on could be much more dramatic and impactful if it was indeed their first confrontation, especially with the, “You have no power,” line. I say this because, as it stands, neither Shin nor the viewer has any reason to think Sabine won’t get her ass handed to her a second time, i.e., it diminishes the tension in episode 4. Rather, I’d keep the earlier encounter with the droids after Ahsoka retrieves the map (but trim the ridiculous self-destruct sequence which would have destroyed the map, too, had Ahsoka not escaped with it—the bad guys also want the map, so they should not be so reckless). I say this because it’s a decently cool action sequence that breaks up the monotony.

Removing the confrontation between Shin and Sabine on Lothal introduces a chain reaction of plot problems, admittedly, but most of this is just contrived map stuff anyway, so I’m wondering (without having really worked it out yet) if some of it can’t be skipped over. For example, Ahsoka happening upon the droid at Sabine’s residence (why was it there?) was completely contrived so that Ahsoka could take its head and Sabine could crack it open and they could figure out the whereabouts of the enemies. Again, all very convenient, contrived, prolonged, and certainly not very interesting.

Also, am I wrong in thinking you removed the sequence at the manufacturing plant and the initial confrontation with Marrok? Perhaps I am wrong about this and your edit just cuts off before you get to it. Nevertheless, I thought the manufacturing plant was interesting because it gave broader context to the political backdrop of the post-Empire world, and Marrok provided a lively action sequence to break up the monotony (I also think Marrok might still be a more interesting character than we realize, seemingly held together by Nightsister magic).

A lot of faneditors are preoccupied with preserving canon and the integrity of the characters and lore. I’m less about that and more concerned with preserving the elements of a good film. If editing Mando is about retaining only the most important plot points, then I think editing Ahsoka is simply about keeping what happens to be the most interesting. If you look at the IMDB fan ratings for Ahsoka, the first three episodes (especially episode 3) rank quite low in comparison to the episodes 4-6. It would make sense to me to heavily truncate the early stuff in order to get to the really good, fan-favorite stuff that follows it.

I’d also be careful of fans both here and elsewhere on the Internet who treat Star Wars like a religion and will therefore attempt to defend Lucasfilm’s most egregiously stupid creative choices. Ahsoka using her lightsaber to slice through enemy aircraft is just dumb, period. Doing cartwheels through space is also glaringly moronic.

I think one thing that I have heard many times that bears repeating is that, for whatever reason, the villains are much more engaging, compelling, and interesting than our protagonists, particularly Ahsoka and Sabine. When the bad guys are on the screen, the show is pretty damn good. When the good guys are on the screen, it’s pretty damn boring. I would make an exception for Jacen though, which I believe will become a very important character in the future. And obviously Hayden Christensen put in an amazing performance.

Overall, my thoughts are that this is a good series that just needs little nips and tucks here and there in order to speed up its meandering pace (There’s also some stupid and overly contrived stuff that obviously should get cut as well). I find this is the case with all of Filoni’s live action work, and the style is markedly different than Favreau’s. As such, it may merit a different editing approach.

Matt.F said:

szopman said:

smudger9 said:

Yes, it was a rather meaty episode. For the sake of my edit I was hoping for lots of filler. Not a huge amount that can be cut on first viewing, but that often changes on subsequent viewings. One thing I will say is that this series feels the most cinematic of the D+ shows.

I guess I could cut more by weaving it into episode 5 but it is going to be very difficult to cut this season down to 3h.

Maybe the 7th episode will offer us some more fillers. I feel it in my bones that the next episode will be New Republic-centered.

If you cannot cut it down to 3h, well, c’est la vie 😉 As long as it’s a good, quality content and a coherent, well-paced story, it doesn’t matter if it’s 2.5h or 3.5h 😉

I agree, the Lord Of The Rings EE are 200+ minutes each and they fly by. Don’t self-impose a runtime that means the edit becomes incomprehensible or you lose great scenes that viewers will miss. And it goes without saying, don’t cut any of Ray Stephenson’s scenes!

I’m sorry, but I’ve watched eps 1-6, and I already know there isn’t going to be two full-length movies worth of content here. It’s good, but it’s sloooooooooooooow. What has happened in eps 1-4/5 that would in any way justify a full-length movie? Barely anything happens in the first three episodes, and things don’t get rolling until episode 4. It also doesn’t help that Sabine and Ahsoka are the most unengaging part of this series, and that the villains are way more interesting.

I am a huge fan of your episode 3, but I do believe it could still benefit from a slightly more “sanded down” version. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with. Since you’re asking, I always thought the end (after Obi Wan defeats Anakin) of your V1 dragged a bit and could be further edited down. I will always maintain that your prequel edits are the best out there.

I just watched this finally. I thought Mandalorian Season 3 was really weak, way worse than S1 and S2, and nearly as bad as BoBF. But you’ve redeemed this season and now I think your four edits of the Mandoverse represent some of the best Star Wars content out there. Audio is perfect as usual. Your edits really are a work of art. I can’t wait for Ahsoka.

I am also very interested in this cut. Can I get a link?