Hal 9000

Thanks for the kudos, NeverarGreat!

I’ve used the order of IV, V, I, II, III, VI with a newcomer before and I thought it worked very well.
It’s not machete order, and I called it ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ order, because it’s how he would have wanted it. (And learning Luke and Leia’s relationship in Ep3 is more dramatic than in ROTJ.)
You’re right that Q2’s edits are designed to function as precursors to watching the OT without giving away the two big reveals. My edit of Ep1 also happens to remove Jabba’s little cameo, preserving that reveal as well. (I don’t remember whether Q2’s did as well.)

Option B preserves Ben Kenobi’s lies and is a great way to experience the OT and PT from Luke’s POV and frame the PT within the OT. You don’t have to begin or end (if stopping at ROTJ, anyway, which isn’t really a problem now) with a terrible movie. Putting the prequels between V and VI lets VI benefit from the backdrop of the prequels, being the only OT film that arguably does so. And going forward, you get to go from ROTJ into TFA. You do take a swan dive in terms of quality jumping from ESB to Ep1.

+1 for just experiment with making your own custom mix. We indeed all started somewhere.

I always prefer 2D showings; I just want to see the film, not be whizzed by a bunch of flyin’ whatsits!

ANH, ESB, ROTJ: The 2006 GOUT DVDs, color corrected to match the 2011 BluRays

TPM: Pan-n-scan VHS that’s been run over by a car
AOTC: Theatrical bootleg recording on VCD
ROTS: Theater bootleg with Backstroke of the West subtitles

TFA: A flipbook I made depicting the plot highlights in 32 tiny drawings, while humming Rey’s theme out of tune

Chewtobacca, if I may ask, what software did you use to compress the DeEd to a DVD? It looks stellar and relatively alias-free.

Don’t talk shit about the Holiday Special. It’s unironically good.

Tobar said:

the plans were beamed up in about four or five chunks simultaneously.

I didn’t put that together, but you’re right. I love that extra detailed effort for continuity. 😃

I’d be interested in checking this out as well.

lol, Dammit, Bobby, get outta my propane!

Wow, thanks very much. I’ll do the rest of the OT (and redo ANH) once things look temporarily stable for source material.

It was so good to be seeing so much of her lately, and this is extremely sad news. She will be sorely missed. It feels like this came out of nowhere. My next viewing of Rogue One won’t be with dry eyes.
RIP

Return of the Jedi is, after all these years, still my favorite Star Wars film. The redemption story of Vader as prompted and viewed through Luke is more powerful than anything else to me. The power of myth and Jungian archetypes working themselves out resonates with me. Luke was the only one whom saw redemption as a possibility. He placed himself at Vader’s mercy and continued to tell him he saw the good in him. He presented Vader the opportunity, and was willing to sacrifice himself for his faith in the lingering goodness in his father.
As some of you may know, I’m a therapist. Philosophically, the themes at work in ROTJ resonate with me deeply and are only enhanced by the slightly stilted, Lucas-esque direction style. I want to be Luke seeing the good in others and daring them to do what they choose.
I was so looking forward to seeing this Luke’s continuing story in TFA, and that is probably part of why I felt less than totally satisfied by what we got. (That and SKB.) My heart was racing once Rey landed on the island and began climbing toward our hero. I cannot wait to see what Luke is like in VIII under Johnson’s direction. It must be hell for him to have his apprentice, Kylo Ren, stab him through the heart with the inverted edge of his faith, and that is a story I so want to see Luke process and work his way through. I know Luke will be a supporting character at this point, but I will eat up as much of him as Johnson will give us.

EDIT: Oops. I thought this was a PM.

Ady, I’m curious if you have any plans to include or exclude the Death Star’s brief appearance at the end of Episode III.

Oh no, no… shocking news. 😦

I can relate to this all too well. It’s really a fascinating thing to think about. I feel you.

FWIW, I know what my policy would be for handling prequel material in future films if I were emperor of Disney.
Prequel-specific things can be alluded to without a problem, but never anything that appears to strain or break continuity with the OT.
Having Bail Organa depicted by Jimmy Smitts makes all the sense in the world. Referencing Mustafar is fine too. You could even reference Mace Windu as a Jedi by that logic, not that you’d want to.
However, it wouldn’t be acceptable to reference Qui-Gon Jinn as being Obi-Wan’s master, the Republic collapsing a mere 20 years prior to ANH, or Padme dying in childbirth.

This approach, which seems 100% consistent with what they’ve done so far in TFA and RO, allows three groups of fans to be happy: those whom want to ignore the PT, those whom accept but don’t love the PT, and those whom like the PT.

DominicCobb said:

MalàStrana said:

Why would you fanedit such a perfect movie which is the best Star Wars since God spoke to Abraham ?

It’s spelled “Abrams.”

lol

My more concise early take of the film:
It’s fan service done right, and relegated to its own movie. The same types of things I didn’t like about TFA (nostalgic rehashing of the OT) found their proper context in Rogue One. It’s not an important film like TFA is, and perhaps that is a good portion of the reason I enjoyed my first viewing of it more than TFA. By its nature, TFA will receive more views in the long run and served a purpose. But Rogue One is a thrill ride for the already established Star Wars nut.
I would not include Rogue One in a ranking of the Star Wars films, but would rank the anthology movies separately. This was like going to see a WWII period movie, not the next chapter of an ongoing mythological story.

This is all sort of moot because I’m not planning to release a new version just for this! It’ll just be in place for some day when Emanswfan appears walking toward us from the horizon with finished regrades. Or something else, but not just a less aliased receding STAR WARS logo and slight wording changes.

Maybe Episode VIII will end with a reveal of Han Solo saying two words.

Vader’s one-liner reminded me of his killing spree of the Separatist leaders in the ROTS novelization.

MalàStrana said:

(is it so bad 😦 )

Sorry, I’ve been a little preoccupied! Episode I’s crawl is tough, and the current and proposed COD crawls are both rewrites of the original moreso than TAS and LOE. I’m still tinkering. I’m hoping to avoid mentioning either a “thousand years” OR a “thousand generations,” because of the ambiguity between the OT and PT’s depiction of the timeline, EU material notwithstanding.

This movie was fan service from beginning to end. I’m a fan, and I’ve been serviced. I was enthralled and exhilarated, and the ending had me laughing with joy. For example, whereas the use of X-wings and TIE fighters in TFA felt unfortunate and recycled, the same felt 110% at home and appropriate in this period film. Given that the two came out a mere year apart, it makes me wish JJ had let Rogue One be the movie to do the out and out nostalgia stuff like that. Maybe this should have been Disney’s first venture.
I left TFA feeling happy but a little ambivalent. Rogue One had little expectations or “risk,” and I felt great about it. It doesn’t have any existence except being derivative of ANH, and therefore arguably doesn’t add much to the story, but it was a hell of an enjoyable ride for this existing fan of the source material.
Vader was handled 98% spot on. 100% perfect visually, it seems, though his lightsaber moment was… typical, and JEJ doesn’t sound as rough as ANH Vader does.
All the cameos that I can remember at the moment felt natural and made sense, unlike many in the prequels and TFA. The exception is Panda Bobba and Dr. Evazan; I guess they were annoyed that Jyn bumped into them because they were making an absolute beeline to Wuther’s cantina on Tatooine.
Tarkin worked better than I thought he would, and had a larger role that I expected. He looked like he was 90% of the way through his transformation from being a Clone Wars cartoon. (Like he was a cartoon as a younger man, and was fully human in ANH, and he was aaaalmost done with his gradual change in Rogue One.)
Seeing classic X-wing fighter characters was an unexpected surprise and I think it was done well. It looks like a blend of stock footage and new contrivals, but I’ll have to see it again to be sure. Love that the Death Star plans look like shit; makes me glad to have cut their cameo from AOTC.
In the opening of ANH, Vader sees thorough Leia trying to deny that they have the plans, and tells her to cut the crap. In Rogue One, Vader has a murderous rage cut short as he tried to board the Tantive during a battle with the rebellion. The way he handles Leia at the start of ANH doesn’t quite seem to mesh 100% to me. But if that’s the biggest problem, it’s all right.
All in all, I enjoyed the initial viewing much more than my initial viewing of TFA. It’s a much less important film, and has nothing riding on it. Fan service that I’m inclined not to like in saga films shines and finds its rightful place in this one, altogether making an exhilarating ride as the backstory of how Princess Leia got the email that kicked ANH into motion.