Here’s something new from JJB. What do you guys think?
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DwmceJ0DiMyqbkGC-sEHo_rfelpqBzZV/view?usp=drive_link
That is amazing. Wow.
I like that the lightsaber colors mean something. Color theory ftw. It allows you to play around with motifs and symbolism.
The Sith bleeding their crystals is so much better. It’s symbolic of their nature and relationship with the Force.
Not only do they have to steal a crystal from a Jedi (a test of their “survival of the fittest” ideology; if you’re too weak to beat a Jedi, you can’t be a Sith), but they also force the crystal to submit to their will, their dark side emotions. That’s what they do to the Force and the entire galaxy: bend it to fit their selfish desires.
When Vader bleeds his own crystal, it’s symbolic of his entire nature as a Sith Lord. He imprisons it within his unyielding robotic fists and subjects it to his power-hunger, his rage.
It’s visual storytelling for how can’t let go of his ego and hatred, because otherwise he’d have to face his guilt, regret, and he refuses to feel that vulnerability. He can’t confront it because he can never bring himself to believe he deserves redemption.
To make himself feel powerful, he makes others suffer.
It feels true to the original trilogy. It’s mythic, spiritual, fantastical, symbolic, fueled by emotion and character-work. The crystals being synthetic feels too prequel-like: overly complicated and based in mechanics rather then spirituality and emotional storytelling.
I like the idea that stormtroopers are clones.
In the way it was intended during the originals. Not that they’re all Boba Fett, but test-tube babies from multiple different hosts. I believe nepotism was involved too, with troopers being grown from certain high-ranking officers DNA.
It adds to the soullessness of the Empire. People weren’t voluntarily enlisting, they were artificially growing people and indoctrinating them for the sole purpose of serving.
When Lucas was making AOTC he intended for the stormtroopers to he the clones, which is why be had Jango bump his head on the door of his ship.
Make the Jedi Temple more like Mt. Olympus in Greek mythology by placing it on top of a high mountain.
Additionally, make it look more ancient and full of life. The poles have dust, rust, the place looks more brown. Even have plant life growing across it.
So you’re not going with Padme dying on Alderon? When Leia is a toddler
Sorry, I just don’t know how to execute that, and I like that parallel sequence.
Updated first post to accurately describe the status of each edit and my new plans for the OT.
They’ll still be minor edits with mostly aesthetic changes (may look like quite a bit of changes when listed, but none of them are anything that have a major impact on the movie’s quality from a critical stance; all 3 are still masterpieces to me).
I have some ambitious Adywan-esqe ideas for them (as I do for the Prequels), but again, no major narrative changes.
ESB will likely be first done.
I don’t plan on using Revisited as the base for them anymore (though I do plan on integrating some shots from Revisited). Rather, oohteedee’s D+77/80/83 (thus I specify when I integrate an SE change).
I prefer the look of the 2019 versions, especially with oohteedee’s regrades. I will likely also do a bit of regrading myself.
I’ll still be offering my older version of ESB based on Revisited for anyone who wants it.
I know it can appear like I’m all talk (which I admit is partially due to my ADHD, and a somewhat perfectionist nature) but I do make earnest attempts to make stuff, and I want to release my own saga someday. I want them to be made more then anyone else wants to see them probably, since I can actually imagine it in my head.
My attempts to make Mustafar more orange like the carbon freezing chamber
Referencing
Color grading. Open to feedback.
For Padme’s death (and general Naboo/Padme aesthetic) I wanted to give it a more heavenly feel. I like how it makes Padme look more angelic, and Obi-Wan more kind.
Heavily contrasted by Vader’s creation, which is a stark black. I wanted to attempt to make it look like the carbon freezing chamber from ESB, but with everything on Mustafar, there’s enough orange in this movie.
Padme passes on into heaven, Vader completes his transformation to a cold monster.
Sorry for the black borders, I exported directly from Premiere Pro.
Speaking of Mustafar, I’m regrading it too. I want it to look more like the carbon freezing chamber in ESB. I don’t like how it looks like just this splotch of red.
This one I’m a little less confident in, but I think it looks good as of now.
Referencing
This sounds like my definitive Star Wars! Could I get a link to your ESB?
Wow, I really need to update this thread lol. My ideas have changed somewhat.
For ESB it won’t be too much, but I do plan on going from Adywan Revisited as the base to D+80.
I’ll send you the previous version of ESB, though.
I’m happy to see someone else caring as much as I do about the look of planets.
Might I suggest making Naboo go through seasons? In TPM it’s summer, representing the Republic standing strong. In AotC it’s fall, representing the slowly crumbling Republic. In RotS, it’s a snowy winter, representing the dissolution of the Republic. This also evenly spreads the workload, since TPM, which features Naboo prominently, wouldn’t need to be altered at all, while the hardest edit to pull off (adding snow) would be relegated to a movie that only features one brief scene on Naboo.
I like that Star Wars planets are one biome. It makes them stick out and helps the storytelling, as you instantly know where you are. Hence why I thought it’d be interesting to have a planet that looks perpetually autumn. You could experiment with the specific colors a bit to convey a certain mood, lighter or darker yellows/oranges depending on the scene.
Summer vibes also work, perhaps complete with alien flowers.
idea from a DeviantArt user named Andres
Without a link and with such a generic name it’s impossible to find the picture(s) you’re referring to.
I actually misremembered the name, it’s Angel, or SWRemixed.
https://www.deviantart.com/swremixed/art/SW2-AOTC-Geonosis-ReColor-02-126952813
https://www.deviantart.com/swremixed/art/SW2-AOTC-Geonosis-ReColor-04-127083486
He also gave Dooku’s castle more of a classic horror look, which is badass.
I’m not sure why you wanna change Alderaan though. It’s fine the way it is, and its appearance is so brief.
Just to add more alien worlds. Alderaan isn’t too unique, its a city with snowy mountains. But perhaps this idea would suit a different planet.
The lesser the screentime, the less mattes that would have to be made.
Which is why, when I consider the OT, it feels way more convenient to try and make Yavin IV more alien as opposed to the Endor moon, which has a lot of screentime (and is honestly pretty iconic; I’d want to add some alien vegetation but not entirely remove the redwood look).
Move the red gas giant from ANH to ROTJ.
Yavin would be a different color gas giant in ANH, while in ROTJ, a red gas giant would be the planet of which the Endor moon derives from.
As such, this would be a light source from which a red tint can be added to darker scenes.
The clash of red and green would emphasize the climactic internal and external battle between the light in the dark.
The blue elements of the Emperor’s throne room would be red. I wouldn’t want it to be overbearing, still grey and mechanical, but with some red hues.
This would also be sort of a tribute to the fact that it was originally gonna be in a volcanic area.
I would want to add Fortress Vader to my version of the saga, I just don’t know at when or how. It’s just too great a setting and visual characterization for Darth Vader that I want it in the OT.
I’m glad you guys like that idea. Finally, another way to organically and feasibly implement Anakin desiring immortality into the movies.
Now I just got to figure out how to do it. I’d want this figure of Death to resemble Vader, but more abstract. Retains the idea of Vader symbolically being The Angel of Death but without it being so on the nose.
Other ideas were flooding in recently, thought I’d share.
I’m sick of how many green forest planets there are in Star Wars. What if Naboo was made into a planet that’s perpetually autumn? Trees with orange leaves, an overall warm yellow tint, like LOTR Rivendell.
Turn Geonosis into a gray ash field (idea from a DeviantArt user named Angel/SWRemixed).
Turn Alderaan into a purple crystal planet. Purple is a traditionally royal color that fits Bail and Leia.
Replace Count Dooku’s force lightning with a red vampiric power that absorbs the Living Force from another user (that user can recover, of course). Adds more unique dark side powers.
Further extrapolating from what I said before, reveal that Dooku has a more Dracula-like face as his true form. I don’t like that Dooku isn’t physically corrupted by the dark side.
It’s also foreshadowing of Palpatine also masking his monstrous appearance with dark side alchemy.
Grade the medical bay where Vader’s suit is created to look like the carbon freezing chamber in ESB. I attempted this today in Premiere, but am admittedly an amateur and couldn’t get it to look good. I might keep trying.
Also regrade Mustafar to be more of that same ESB carbon chamber orange tone. I’ve gotten sick of how it just looks like a splotch of red. I prefer the way it looks in Rogue One and the Kenobi show.
Try to resequence ROTS to swap the arrangement of the Mustafar slaughter and Order 66. Could hamper internal logic and may even be structurally impossible, but could serve to make the turn to the dark side more believable and gradual.
Perhaps either the Neimoidians don’t receive orders from anybody on-screen (would require their characters redubbed so they’re actually scary) or the hooded figure is Maul. Sidious wouldn’t be seen until the end of AOTC.
Take cues from Adywan and have TPM be partially about the Federation attempting to gain control of cloning technology. And/or implement them wanting Naboo’s plasma resources into the actual narrative to give more explanation for their actions.
Also Adywan inspired, make the Clones derived from multiple Mandalorian warriors, not just Jango Fett. Attempt to mitigate universe-shrinking.
Add creatures in the lakes of lava on Mustafar that attempt to grab and drag people in. Taking inspiration from the River Styx in Greek mythology.
Use footage from the Kenobi show to create new scene with dialogue to solidify that Anakin is fully Vader now, psychologically. Perhaps a scene of him in his fortress receiving orders from Palpatine to kill a remaining Jedi, or on a Star Destroyer bridge ordering officers to set a course for a system with a Jedi. More rageful then OT Vader, but mostly the stoic OT Vader we’re familiar with.
I like to put my ideas out there, even before I do them. I know it can appear like I’m all talk (which I admit is partially due to my ADHD) but I do make earnest attempts to make stuff, and I want to release my own saga someday. I want them to be made more then anyone else wants to see them probably, since I can actually imagine it in my head.
Worley is a creator worshipper. What determines whether a film is good or not to him is the name attached to it. Everything Lucas makes is good, everything modern Disney makes is bad. The exception is when said artist had their vision tampered with by a studio.
He ranks the Prequels over Empire Strikes Back (ew) because while he still at least knows ESB is an excellent film, Irvin Kershner’s direction isn’t exactly like Lucas, so it goes last in his ranking of Lucas’ 6 film saga. Ironic, he’s degrading ESB for reflecting the vision of the person who directed it.
There’s a difference between respecting an artist and their work and believing everything they make is perfect.
Art being made with vision does not mean that others can’t desire it be different or want to make a derivative work (he slandered despecialized, calling it “fanfiction”, as if it was ever attempting to usurp the current official version), that others can’t interpret it differently, or just generally that they can’t have an opinion.
One can make an argument that when one watches a movie, they’re making their own “artwork” by forming their own interpretation of said art.
He wants everyone to submit to this tyrannical view of art that you have to think something is good just because it represents the artist’s vision.
We’ve been analyzing The Killing Joke for like 3 weeks now in a literature college course I’m taking (yes, we’re reading Batman in college; my professor is awesome). A big part of that is different interpretations. We’re not just reciting Alan Moore quotes over and over.
Quick VFX sample of the upcoming Final update of COD. Still a WIP.
added antennas and decal to match previous shots. and color grade.
What are all of your planned changes?
What if there’s a reoccurring motif of nightmares symbolizing Anakin’s fear of death throughout the trilogy?
I got the inspiration from this panel from Soule’s Vader comic run. As well as the ROTS novel, which has this symbolic “Dragon” that tells Anakin that “All things die. Even stars burn out”.
In TPM, Anakin has nightmares of this figure of Death taking himself and his mother someday.
In AOTC, Death taunts him, telling him he has his mother now, just as he will have him someday.
In ROTS, after the death of Dooku, Death taunts him that it doesn’t matter how strong he becomes, he will have him someday. Then later (going with the idea that the nightmare of Padme’s death happens way later in the movie, to plant the idea of Anakin craving immortality), we see this figure of Death taking Padme. Perhaps choking her, or some variant of the OG nightmare; perhaps take a cue from the original idea where she’s consumed by flames, as described in The Secret History of Star Wars.
This figure could be straight up Vader, or a more abstract shape of Vader, or even just straight up the Grim Reaper. Or maybe take a cue from the novel and have it be a Dragon, and when Anakin becomes Vader, just as in the novel, it chokes and kills the Dragon.
If the shape is Vader or resembles Vader, it further cements the symbolism of Anakin becoming an angel of Death in trying to cheat it.
I’m brainstorming ways I could execute it visually. I know Snooker made this demo of Anakin facing Vader in a nightmare in AOTC.
If that’s the case then why does that shot in 2011 blu-ray look so much better? and why do the foreground elements look so sharp and clear? it’s as if they re-rendered those elements but didn’t do anything to the background.
I was thinking that bc the 2019 ones are higher resolution the old CG just sticks out more as dated. I’m not really all too knowledgeable about film restoration so.
I hate Messianic prophecies in general, or the very idea of a Messiah, because it encourages the idea that all hope for the future is dependent on one dude, instead of like, the group effort that is required in real life.
It’s inclusion in the story doesn’t change the fact that it took so many to save the galaxy. Anakin may have killed the Emperor, but if not for Luke, he would’ve stayed Vader for the rest of his life. It doesn’t change the contributions of Han, Leia, Lando, etc.
Granted, Star Wars doesn’t incorporate a true Messiah into the mythology. Vader is more like a very round-about Messiah who only saves the Universe after he fucks over the entire Universe. So it’s at least a twist on the idea of a Messiah, kind of like Dune. But I still don’t like it, because it shrinks the Universe by elevating one guy to cosmic significance. At one point, Luke was just a random farmboy and Vader was just a cyborg SS officer carrying out the will of his government. There was a backstory intertwining the two of them, but it was personal, not a matter of cosmic importance.
Darth Vader, even exclusively in the OT
Is the Emperor’s right hand
Was critical in wiping out the Jedi Order
Who’s power in the Force is notable enough that Yoda makes a point of it multiple times, both when he was a Jedi and as a Sith
He’s the father of the protagonist
Who killed the Emperor
Luke Skywalker was the one remaining son of the Jedi, that were otherwise entirely extinct besides Obi-Wan and Yoda. When they pass on, he’s the only Jedi left. He’s the only Force user in the Rebellion. And he’s just as critical in saving the galaxy as his father.
They were never just some dudes.
There’s a difference between something like Yoda and Chewbacca being best pals and attaching mythological undercurrents to what were already arguably the two most significant characters in the OT.
I think it’s worth noting too that Luke is my second favorite character after Vader, so I appreciate how it elevates him just as much as his father.
I think the reason for the low quality special edition effects is bc computers back then couldn’t render in 4k. Unless Disney updates them, they’re stuck in the resolution they were made in.
But yeah I noticed the same thing. Part of what makes me stick to D+77/80/83 is the 97 effects just look putrid in the 2019 versions (I prefer to watch oohteedee’s regrades of those versions when watching the OT).
I wouldn’t object to something like adding digital Dewbacks so much if they could look at all like they exist in the same plane of existence.
Let’s be honest here, the main reason you like the idea of Anakin being the Chosen One is because it turns Darth Vader, who is your favorite character, into the most important person in the entire galaxy. 😂
If Anakin was not conceived to be the Chosen One of an ancient Jedi prophecy, the Prequels could have been written with the same story, and nothing would have changed at all.
I won’t deny that. I figured you’d agree since you like the Prequels just as they are.
So excited by this new influx of content Adywan, thank you
I know some find it cheesy, but I love the idea that Anakin/Vader is “Space Jesus”. Mostly because it’s more of a subversion of the trope.
Star Wars is a modern myth, and I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s just “Jesus” in particular. Demigods are a common staple of mythology, from Mesopotamian to Greek to Hebrew. Especially since The Force isn’t strictly a metaphor for the Christian God, but more a concept that symbolizes Gods across cultures, imagines God as more of this energy field rather then an entity.
It elevates Darth Vader, especially in Canon, where he never lost any of his potential, into a greater cosmic/religious horror idea.
What if the Messiah sold his soul to the Devil (Palpatine) and became his Dragon, this Angel of Death who collects souls to bring them to the underworld? He uses his demigod like powers to commit atrocities, sets out to kill all of the other Angels/Priests (however one wishes to equate the Jedi symbolically), bring the galaxy under the Devil’s heel. What if Hercules became Hades’ servant and did the same thing?
Vader becomes this Grim Reaper, enforcer of Death, in trying to cheat death.
Because the Force conceived of Anakin, but Palpatine was this abusive father figure to him, he’s both the Son of God and Satan. He’s simultaneously Christ and the Antichrist, because Vader is the pure manifestation of Anakin’s dark side.
Luke Skywalker (and Leia) thereby also becomes a demigod, and as such, emphasizes his importance to Obi-Wan and Yoda and the galaxy. You need a demigod to fight a demigod.
Luke has equal potential to his father, and as such, not only is Vader made a greater force through this idea, but Luke. He’s the hero, the one person who can defeat the Devil’s Dragon.
Only Vader’s blood could face him, not only because they’re both demigods, but because of what Luke represents. His son isn’t just his blood, it’s Padme’s. The only one who can shake his soul’s faith in the dark side.
Anakin doesn’t return and fulfill his destiny until his son Luke is able to, through his compassion, compel him to redeem himself. Sons of Gods and Demigods battling and having complicated familial relationships is also a common motif in mythology. How interesting is it, too, that Jesus doesn’t sacrifice himself until he’s spent decades entrenched in sin? And really only sacrificed himself for his son?
It’s fascinating for me. For the record, I’m an atheist who finds mythology interesting.
For sure, i’m just wondering how that would be sorted out, visually with another actor, a line of dialogue, which film/films that would be shown, heard in, etc.
I mean, you can’t just have another dude be Vader before the suit, it’s an edit that attempts to hide the reveal that Vader is Anakin, not one that actually makes Vader and Anakin separate ppl.
Perhaps the presumption is supposed to be that Vader was Obi-Wan’s apprentice before Anakin?
Interesting choices, why “The Chosen One”? For Attack of the Clones
I said it’s one of the titles I considered for TPM.
If I was to make a fan edit, I think I would change the prequel titles minus Revenge of the Sith. Just to mirror the original trilogy like The Phantom Menace should be ‘A New Threat’ and Attack of the Clones should be ‘The Republic Strikes Back’
Far too on the nose.
The titles already do parallel one another.
The Phantom Menance and A New Hope both describe the rise of a new heroic or villainous force that will define the galaxy.
Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back both describe the victory of the stated faction, and ties into how the Republic became the Empire, rather then the Empire taking over the Republic.
Revenge of the Sith and Return of the Jedi are of course about the victory of each opposing Force religion.
I have considered alternative titles. “A Vergence in the Force” and “The Chosen One” are ones I’ve considered for TPM.
