Gimpy

If anyone has a google drive link to the UHD copy, my Spleen login doesn’t work anymore. PM me. Does MEGA still have download limits?

Handman said:

VLC just released a major update. I don’t have any 4K video to test it with, but I think it was supposed to help with that. Could anyone confirm that?

Provided that your CPU and GPU are good enough. I am on a 7600k and 1060 3 gig and VLC still struggles with 4k for me. Leawo Blu Ray player will play 4k files smooth, at least on my hardware.

Just got done watching your edit. Wow. If changing motivation was a key factor for you, then you succeeded tenfold. The pacing seemed so much improved (especially for the space chase and Holdo scenes) that it actually felt like there was urgency there.

I think if I have to watch a film that preserves RJ’s vision, but doesn’t feel laggy, or like it betrays core character, then this is the edit to watch. Well done man.

I had more of an issue with the narrative’s use of Holdo in the plot than with the character herself. (Always loved Laura Dern.)

I found that I couldn’t fully buy into Poe being demoted, so Holdo’s role didn’t seem as essential as it should have.

If he had not destroyed the Dreadnaught, the laser canon on that sucker would have destroyed the Raddus for sure, even while it was such a distance away.

It also felt jarring that it seemed as if Holdo might have been a spy, but then she ends up as a hero. It just felt like subversion for the sake of subversion to me.

That said, I thought that angle might have been interesting and served the plot better if Paige Tico (who was portrayed as dying a Heroic Martyr’s death,) had actually been a 1st order spy, and actually betrayed the resistance. (by giving the 1st order the frequency of the resistance’ bombers shields or something.)

That way, Holdo appears to be a spy but is actually a hero, while someone who appears to be a hero (Paige) actually wasn’t one. It would have played well with helping the audience to see Luke’s whole change in perspective about the dangers of blindly venerating one’s heroes.

just my opinion

I had an idea. If Snooker or someone could remove the planet D’qar from the opening sequences with the dreadnought, and instead just have those scenes take place in open space, with clever editing, we could drastically improve the whole space chase/fuel subplot by moving the opening sequence action and Kylo dogfight to later in the film.

For example: Film opens with shot of Finn in Bacta suit (alternate opening scene) but the Raddus is already in hyperspace, then drops out of hyperspace.

Transition to Luke and Rey on Ach To scenes + Luke has a moment scene

1st order ships arrive, Poe and Hux moment, captain empire IE “scramble our fighters,” etc. If the bomber run on the dreadnought took place during the space chase, it would answer the question, “why didn’t the 1st order just simply send waves of fighters to destroy the fleeing resistance fleet?” Because they HAD bomber escorts vs “they are faster and lighter.”

I also think it would be neat to move the realization that the 1st order has hyperspace tracking abilities to Canto Bight somehow.

I’d love to get a link and check this out if I may?

CodySolo “I haven’t done this yet, but I plan to try and find audio of Luke saying “lightsaber” and replace his use of the word ‘lasersword’ in the scene with lightsaber. Lasersword feels way too meta to me.”

I would Use the Empire Strikes Back radio drama for Luke Saying “lightsaber.” Great source for extra Luke dialogue.

It might be neat to use some of the throne room fight earlier in the film, so it seems as if Snoke is actually training Kylo Ren, and then Kylo fails. Then Snoke could scold him.

It seems like Snoke training Ren would have played well opposite Luke and Rey. The theatrical cut really just makes Snoke look ridiculous as a villain. He said in VII that he wanted to complete Ben’s training, but then, just makes him out to be a weak biatch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HURch6uH-KM

Was thinking of maybe using some footage from this short fan film to improve Canto Bight? Boba Fett is in a dark bar/gambling/saloon like setting, and he shows a hologram (looking for a bounty.) If someone could use some VFX work to change the hologram from that character to Finn (from the “its weird that you recorded that” Scene, we could make it seem that Phasma has sent a bounty hunter (A Boba Fett who survived) to look for F12187, so she can exact revenge.

It could also imply that there is indeed a spy in the resistance, (shows how Fett got the hologram.)

Would it be possible to have audio of a Snoke and Luke dialogue as Rey is in the force cave of mirrors? I mean, could we make that scene into something like the vision from The Force Awakens where it actually conveys some story and reinforces why Rey wouldn’t trust Luke?
We get a hint from the novelization now that Luke sought some comunication with Snoke, in order to gain knowledge of the force, and I I thought why not use that to the advantage of the story?
I was thinking we could repurpose some of the more corney throne room dialogue of Snoke, and some of Luke’s dialogue, and maybe make some banter between the two?
Snoke: “Skywalker, so wise! you think you can turn him? Foolish child! He is heir apparent of Darth Vader, the balance of the Darkness and the light.”

Luke: “I failed you Ben, I’m sorry.” "I thought I could stop this, I was overconfident, I was “Luke Skywalker.”

We could literally modify the whole reason’detre of Kylo turning to the dark side. Rather than it being because there was darkness in Ben, we could imply that it was because there was actually a kind of balance in ben, and yet both masters, Luke and Snoke want to pull him to one side, their side. IE Overconfidence is Soke’s weakness, Luke’s faith in his friends is his.

IE Luke’s failure is not in wanting to kill Ben, but in underestimating the turbulence of the darkness as combined with light, and in thinking that he could control it.

Daxtreme, the problem with Luke’s entire arc in the film is that he already learned the lessons of failure in the OT. The way TLJ plays out is as though Empire and Jedi never actually happened, and Luke never learned the lessons that he in fact did learn in the earlier movies, so he never actually teaches Rey anything in a believable way.

He tries to whack Ben “because dark side” (total BS)

He then wallows in self pity and she learns from that? She leaves Luke after she gets fed up with him and he with her. That’s not a lesson. Luke doesn’t even teach her the lesson of failure, she has to beat a confession of wrongdoing out of him with a stick and lightsaber.

1 “Lesson” is how the force exists beyond light and dark and pervades everything (we already know this, so does Rey from Maz in TFA.)

2nd “Lesson” is that neither side has a monopoly on the force, and the Jedi in their arrogance allowed the Sith to rise from their own ranks. (Luke repeats the same mistakes his own masters made with Anakin due to merely “sensing the darkness” in Ben. That is a betrayal of the character’s whole arc in the last trilogy.

3rd Lesson was cut from the film.

Rotoscoping a saber where Luke’s staff is would be done to re purpose those shots for a kind of Luke V the Knights of Ren shot in a force back, or maybe a Luke V Ben shot where Rey is seeing things from Ben’s perspective. You could put audio over this of “let the past die” and “this is not going to go the way you think!”

Mark Hamill had his own backstory for why Luke exiled himself, namely losing a child. I think if Luke was training Ben and his other students during a time of his own personal crisis,

(something beyond his control and just natural) this would make for a better rationale for Luke to fail them all, and also for Ben to turn. (a rationale was never given beyond “because Snoke, and Because dark side.”

Imagine if it could be implied that Luke suffered a loss and therefore loses faith, while Ben is committed to the Jedi code of no attachments, but being twisted by Snoke. (let the past die = be free of attachments, which is a Jedi ideal,) but Luke sees the rigid interpretation of that ideal as THE problem of the Jedi that needs to end.

The blame going to Luke for Ben’s turn falls flat because the Luke of the OT wouldn’t make those mistakes. “always in motion is the future.” What lesson did Luke learn after getting his hand chopped off if not “don’t jump to conclusions based on a force vision?”

It would be more intriguing if Luke was in fact the “great Luke Skywalker” of Legend, but a basic aspect of life (like losing a child) is what brings him down despite his being a full Jedi and having that discipline, and even despite being able to integrate a family life.

The way that TLJ presently frames things, Luke never learned from any of his experiences, and stayed a frightened boy who was mistakenly ascribed legendary status.

Is there any way we could use the Luke V Rey Stick fight in a vision in a VII-VIII mashup?

Rey learns nothing from Luke in TLJ really, she just comes to a realization that she has to go it alone. If we could make Luke’s stick into a green lightsaber blade, and maybe rotoscope in Kylo Ren, we could use that footage for a forceback.

If you cut from that clip to Chewie cooking the Porg LMFAO!

I recently read an EW article that gave us Mark Hamill’s own version of what happened to Luke before The Force Awakens.

http://ew.com/movies/2017/12/04/star-wars-mark-hamill-luke-skywalker-backstory/

According to Hamill, Luke Married a widow with a child, and withdrew from the force to raise the child. Apparently, the child dies tragically because it gets hold of his lighsaber and kills itself.

To my mind, this is a satisfying backstory. Luke gets a happily ever after moment, but (as usually happens to Luke,) there is a tragedy beyond his control. This could probably be hinted at in the TFA forceback scene.

I definitely find the reed joke to be an authentic Luke moment. Its one of the only scenes where his OT persona seems to surface for a brief moment in my opinion.

I hear you guys, lol. Sorry Frink! LOL 😉

The whole idea of Luke wanting to kill Ben, (if only for a moment,) just doesn’t fit him at all. If only Rian Johnson had provided some background on what it was that made Luke take that leap.

Had a thought for a slight change to TLJ. When Luke is “thinking” fleetingly about ending Ben Solo’s life, we should use Audio of Snoke saying something like “kill him!” If Snoke was the impetus for Luke’s actions, that would be much better than Luke himself thinking of doing it.

ImperialFighter, I really like this idea. The backstory of Luke and Kylo Ren really took me out of the story completely. I could not suspend disbelief.

Its just so uncharacteristic of Luke as to be unbelievable. If Luke told the truth right out of the gate, it would be much more fitting, mitigating Rian’s "creative choice"of making Luke into a dick.

Also, how poetic that a simple misunderstanding would create Kylo Ren? The way its currently edited makes it feel as though Luke is just a big Asshole who really did go Lunatic on his nephew. If truth came out right away, even if you kept Kylo’s telling, you would know that its Ben’s warped perception of things.

You could also re purpose the small fight between Rey and Luke that you want to cut out into a training montage of sorts with new music. Just a thought.

I almost wish it were possible to see Luke training some Padawans in a flashback, and then maybe Kylo kills one of the Padawans “accidentally” during his exercises.

Hal I just saw the edit, and HOT DAMN. The dramatic tension was way better in this version to the point that the Starkiller actually mattered to me. All you guys did great work, Wow. I also love R2 searching his database. 😃 Love it.

Having seen The Last Jedi, I thought it might be a good idea to edit the final duel a bit in The Force Awakens. Ren’s wound being in the wrong place is a bit jarring, but more than that, Knowing what’s coming vis Kylo and Rey gave me some ideas.

I think it would be good for the overall narrative for Rey not to kick Kylo’s ass in TFA. The duel should be cut in such a way that there is merely a stalemate, with Rey running and defending herself, until the crevice opens between her and Ren ending in stalemate.

Ren’s temporary scar could easily be explained as “he just got it while leaving the base.”

Rey beating Kylo so easily makes Kylo Ren seem very weak and ill suited to be worthy of his eventual arc in The Last Jedi since no time has passed between films.

If their duel ends in a stalemate, it leaves more room for the ambiguity that arises in the next film’s narrative. George and JJ initially developed Kylo Ren as “Jedi Killer,” not the “Emo Ren” who gets his ass handed to him by a neophyte.

After seeing the Last Jedi, it seems fitting that Kylo and Rey should have a stalemate (by Snoke’s design.)

Okay wait, why is this not a risk for the Resistance cruiser?

It is a risk for the resistance cruiser and feeds Poe’s need to start a mutiny. The audience is smart enough to grapple with their own ideas of perceived danger/issues.

More than Tie Fighters being the issue, why didn’t the 1st order jump ahead of the resistance vessels and tractor them?

This idea of mine has logical holes of its own, just as the Asteroid chase did in Empire, but the implementation of the chase as it is now wreaks of being a mcguffen and bad writing.

I know that fuel is part of the Star Wars galaxy, but it hasn’t been used this way (minus the Phantom Menace, which btw was a terrible plot device then too.) It was also a fleeting plot device, not a thread central to the narrative.

The Hyperdrive leaking was not the impetus for a half hour drawn out chase scene.

One issue I have with that sequence is that the 1st order could literally just kill everyone with Tie Fighters any time,but choose not to. Han, Leia, and 3PO react to the asteroids, but the imperials do not.

What I mean by exposition by sight is that there are things you did not need to be told to understand in the original movies. Watch the asteroid sequence in ESB again. The empire never mentions “Oh no, Asteroids! How do we catch those rebels?” The main trio reacts to it largely for comedic effect and not drama. Music and visual cues drive the drama in that sequence.

The issue with the sequence in The Last Jedi as it is, isn’t that the low fuel plot device doesn’t work, its that it falls flat for any audience member who thinks about it.

Even if you have no reaction from either side, the fuel issue would work in tandem with the visual cue of being surrounded by black holes. Why have we never seen “low fuel” as a plot device before?

Because everyone assumes that a ship capable of light speed travel has no issue with energy supply. The rationale is that the fuel is low due to the environment. The black holes become the impetus for Poe’s mutiny even though we don’t say it, in true Star Wars style of exposition by sight.

Poe still opines that they are in great danger, but as the film presently runs, there is no indication of that. Having this element would just make the existing plot more believable with visual cues.

Black holes were an inherent part of the old EU via the Maw Cluster/kessel run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4SFneu4JaY

The ship is fleeing the 1st order going past a black hole. fighters are being sucked in creating a giant fireball. I know its crappy. lol

Here is my crappy mockup of how I would change the low fuel chase scene.

https://imgur.com/a/nCoPr

If Crait was located at the center of a briar patch of black holes, it would tick certain boxes for dealing with the big issues in the sequence.

-why doesn’t the 1st order go to lightspeed to come out ahead of them? They would be swallowed by the black holes.

-why not send out fighters to destroy them?
Black Hole.

-Why does Poe Mutiny? WE ARE GOING TO DIE AT ANY MOMENT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV4wSdjNYp0 We need the guy who runs this channel to do VFX for fan edits.

I really think getting rid of the ship plot line would lessen the movie. Maybe Snooker could do some VFX work for that scene, ie a field of ship eating black holes. I think Canto Bight could be made more relevant if we made a backstory for Finn. If he remembered his life before the 1st order, freeing the space horses might be more symbolic.