Hal 9000

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I’m encoding V3 right now. I still need to adjust subtitles and chapters to match, but here’s the cutlist:

What’s new compared to V2:

• Removed the silly mugshot of Hux after commenting on Poe’s X-wing approach
• Removed Luke’s quip about Jakku being “pretty much nowhere” (the new movies are somewhat snarky in ways the OT never was IMHO, and so I’d rather keep Luke away from that - humor, but not gags)
• Removed Rose responding to Finn’s “MTFBWY” with “you too.”
• Reinstated Rose repeating “…they can track us through lightspeed.”
• Tighten up Finn and Rose’s reaction to Maz’s “Oh yes, he can” for better timing
• Reinstate a trimmed version of the balcony scene overlooking kids and horses being beaten on Canto Bight
• Reinstate Rey asking Kylo Ren if he has a cowl to put on
• Add Emperor laughing as Luke looks into Kylo’s mind during the third and final flashback
• Remove Snoke’s line about “destroying the entire island” due to removal of Caretakers
• I’m leaving out the line about Rey’s parents being buried on Jakku (not a new change, just pointing it out)
• Removed Finn’s fight with Phasma by using what poppasketti did, which now includes a brief visual of Phasma’s corpse laying around to help sell the idea
• Reinstate Finn’s line about “miniaturized Death Star tech,” as it unfortunately ties into IX.
• Removed slow-motion shot as Luke dodges a swipe from Kylo during their duel

Octorox said:

Hal 9000 said:

Here’s how I’m planning to handle the “they were nobody” moment in TLJ. It’s only Kylo that explicitly states anything about it, and he doesn’t say that they are buried on Jakku.

https://youtu.be/acSYW8_4Mn4

It works…but it also breaks my heart to see this (imo) powerful scene diminished to accommodate a poorly conceived retcon. I think that Rey looking inward and admitting to herself that her parents were nobodies is part of what makes the scene work. Just my opinion of course, but if you choose to go down this path I will probably stick to earlier versions of Legendary or make my own edit.

I know, I really do. Ugh.

I guess it could stay and just omit the line about their graves.

My biggest overall disappointment with the sequel trilogy is probably that it chose, perhaps not all at once, to pattern itself after the originals to the point that it retells the Empire vs Rebels story almost to a tee. It ends in essentially the same place as does ROTJ, feeling like it recapitulate the story rather than truly continuing it.

The most satisfying part for me has been Luke’s journey from traumatized recluse to revivified Jedi Master ready to nonviolently kick ass. It was a gift horse I looked in the mouth, but has been worth being patient for myself to appreciate. This is the diamond in the rough, woven into the soil of the retread that TFA set in motion.

Only what’s in TFA itself, though it could have been made clearer:

Kylo Ren mentions that the First Order only partially recovered the map to the first Jedi Temple from the old Imperial archives.

BB8 suggests perhaps R2 has the rest of the map, which 3PO immediately poo-poos. But, inspired by the idea, he starts searching his memory. He does eventually find it, acquired when he plugged into the Death Star in ANH.

Nothing to do with Rey, and not sone bread crumb Luke left in order to be found.

I was able to watch about the first half today, and I thought it was very smooth, successful at what it sets out to do.

I think the more exciting changes are in the last chunk, so I’ll look forward to finishing this later on, before taking a look through TLJ after having seen TROS.

Was Maz Kanata a puppet this time around? The only reason I can imagine for that being the case is if the movie were being reconfigured so late in the process that it was easier to do it this way.

Go for it! There’s certainly something to be said for the idea. But, I like the connective tissue that showing Mustafar provides the saga.
If anything, I’d be interested in seeing an ending in which the Taitive receives the transmissions on the periphery of the battle and jumps, piquing Vader’s interest as he orders a boarding party and jumps after them.

Is anyone aware of any audio of Palpatine uttering the phrase “kill him” other than in reference to Dooku in ROTS?

The novelization of TFA describes an inner voice of rage saying these words to Rey as she stands victorious over Kylo Ren. Whether it meant this originally or not, one naturally infers Palpatine at this point.

I’d like to at least play with adding that line, but the delivery in ROTS sounds almost casual.

I don’t have a perfect memory, but I don’t recall the Emperor saying that line in TROS.

Current feelings. Ranked by favorite-ness, not critical assessment:

Return of the Jedi
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back
The Last Jedi
The Force Awakens
Rogue One
The Phantom Menace
Revenge of the Sith
Solo
The Rise of Skywalker
Attack of the Clones
The Clone Wars (for completion’s sake since I included the newer spinoff movies)

This list reflects how the films rank for me in terms of my feelings toward them, not my assessment of them as films, or necessarily even how much I would enjoy watching them.

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Thanks; fixed.

Here’s how I’m planning to handle the “they were nobody” moment in TLJ. It’s only Kylo that explicitly states anything about it, and he doesn’t say that they are buried on Jakku.

https://youtu.be/acSYW8_4Mn4

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Also, we now have Palpatine saying “Luke Skywalker,” which just might work in fan edits of ESB that modify the McDiarmid Emperor scene to stick to the original version’s dialogue. Up to now the closest we could come is “young Skywalker.”

Hard to tell whether it’d be a good fit in context until we can actually try it out.

I guess the line about “miniaturized Death Star tech” could probably be put back into TLJ.

Rey shouldn’t utter “they were nobody,” allowing Kylo to state the supposed facts. For Rey to say it after searching her feelings confirms it as gospel to the audience. Kylo can just say, “Say it: they were filthy junk traders, who sold off for drinking money. You have no place in this story…”

The Emperor’s laugh can be added as Luke gazes into Kylo’s mind, linking him with his turn to the dark side.

This would probably be too hokey, but you could try adding a distant laugh or something after Snoke is killed. Even if it was done well, it’d pull away from the drama going on.

Some Palpatine-related audio could be added to Rey’s Force vision in TFA. Does he address Rey by name in TROS? If so, add that.

I’ll certainly play around with things and see how feasible it really is to remove Rey Palpatine, but I expect I’d prefer to leave it as is, being a big story point.

It felt laughable to me in the moment because of the real-world discussion about this stuff for years, but hopefully in a tweaked version of this trilogy we can get to that point without it feeling so.

People taking Luke’s remark as he catches the saber as a jab at TLJ don’t seem to appreciate his arc. It’s pretty obvious that he changed dramatically over the course of that film.

I like your 3PO idea. He’s just ready to do his job.

The FO appeared comically overpowered in TLJ, beginning to colonize the entire galaxy and dominating everything despite appearing on the scene only recently and having their doomsday device destroyed. After TFA, I expected TLJ to open with a power vacuum in the galaxy.

It would seem that having a weaker FO in TLJ would compliment how TROS opens. However, the Resistance still needs to be cast as the last sliver of hope in that movie. I’m not sure much can be done, perhaps just reworking TLJ’s crawl to sound less bleak and remove Rey’s offscreen line about the FO controlling all the major systems within weeks.

Here’s some initial ideas from me for an edit:

Opening crawl to remove Leia recon mission and direct mentions of Palpatine. Rather, Kylo Ren is tracking the source of Snoke’s power or something. We still find Palpatine right away, but in the body of the movie rather than in the crawl.

Space out the triple-voice line to sound more like the trailer for dramatic effect.

If deleted scene is available and suitable, add evil Palpatine broadcast as he lifts the fleet. Hopefully it makes it clear that it’s a broadcast, so later scenes still feel right as they allude to characters already having some idea of what’s up.

Add a Wilhelm somewhere I guess.

I’d like to remove the 16 hour time clock, but it offers some explanation for why everyone is in such a hurry.

Maybe remove light speed skipping by ending as they jump the first time, removing TIEs jumping. Or let them jump and we just cut to the next scene. If the former, remove reference to light speed skipping later. However, this would cause a problem as Finn only has one other thing he notices Poe do before referencing all the “shady stuff” he does.

When Kylo and then Rey get flashes of scenes from TFA when they touch the Vader mask, add some stuff from TLJ and color correct Ach-To. Kylo should get flashes of Luke from Crait.

Remove line about how R2 backs up 3PO’s memory.

I don’t like “whoever this Chewie person is, this is madness.”

Possibly remove the destruction of the planet.

Seems dumb that once he turns to the Light Side, Kylo doesn’t take advantage of his role as supreme leader. Research of mine indicates that the emperor sensed this and put General Pryde in charge at that point. If a deleted scene is presented to this effect it would be welcome.

Remove the line about the Holdo maneuver. If it is something legitimate then someone who lives in that universe shouldn’t have the same misconception as we might.

It’d be very nice to somehow link the massive fleet arriving to support the Resistance with the legend of Luke Skywalker, but I’m not sure how. Adding it to the crawl wouldn’t compliment the film up until the end seeming like the Resistance was still pretty much alone.

I think one could successfully remove ‘Rey Palpatine,’ but it would be unusual for me to deviate from the lore to that degree. I don’t like it, but I think I’d be better off accepting it and maybe tweaking TFA and TLJ to fit in better.

Anything that can extend scene transitions or buffer shots by a second here or half-second there might be helpful. This movie just rushes through.

The music that plays after Rey fixes DO’s squeaky wheel is the same ominous cue as after she slices the rock on Ach-To.

I wonder what the connection is. The rock prefigured Luke’s death. Fixing the wheel… I’m not sure. Someone pointed out to me that BB8 charging DO is just like Ben healing Rey.

Thanks for sharing that, and I hope your Christmas is rewarding.

Everything here looks great to me, especially the dusk Tatooine skylines. I was just looking forward to see what you do with the ‘look sir droids’ scene.

Decided to stick with the battle droid, eh? And R2’s blue blinking light seemed more aqua than I remember it being in other movies. I assume it’s correct as you have it but I’ll mention it anyway.

It’ll be great someday to sit down with all three of these. I still remember being wowed almost 13 years ago by this the first time.

What about having Yoda say, “There is always another”?