Hal 9000

Never something I’d had a problem with or even noticed. I just looked again and it’s pretty quick as-is. Surely if it were faster it would feel abrupt to the audience, for it not to be telegraphed at all. In a way, it needs to register to us before it should register to Dooku for it to fully work. Not exactly levels of, “It’s over, Anakin… I have the high ground,” or Mace Windu preparing to hack at Palpatine like, “Here I go! Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh…”

I’ll keep the diving yell and the “uh oh” bug eyes when the fish grabs the sub. Those things are just part of the whimsy of the sequences to me. But I did make the former a little quieter in the mix.

I removed the references to the planet core, and it feels seamless to me.

One funny little thing I noticed. The battle droid that tells the Viceroy that they are searching for rumored underwater villages sounds like he has a slight New York accent, and that’s funny to me.

Can you provide links to download the source material and the other two finished edits? I might be able to take care of it, if you aren’t in a hurry.

Could easily remove mention of the planet core.

Here is a test clip of the trip underwater to Otoh Gunga. Feedback welcome!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CgC1pcFjEzMicg_SaqPdKOjEQQRGf_aW/view?usp=share_link

How’s this?

Yoda: “Hidden, safe, the children must be kept.”

Obi-Wan: “We must take them somewhere where the Sith will not sense their presence.”

Yoda: “Split up they should be.”

Bail: “My wife and I will take the girl. Padmé can stay close to her with us on Alderaan. They’ll both be safe there.” (Or the final sentence could remain, “She will be loved with us.”)

Obi-Wan: “And what of the boy?”

It’d simply require changing one (or two) sentences for Bail. That may actually be doable at this point.

Oh, I really like that second rendition.

One other thing to… dare… to contemplate while getting the pieces back out: the conversation right at the end of ROTS between Bail (known idiot), Yoda, and Obi-Wan about what to do with the twins. This idea would require use of AI for the voice and altering faces, so… slightly far-fetched. But hey, I’ve learned it’s better to air the idea and sometimes be surprised.

We’d need new lines for Bail which fit his body language aside from his lips.

Yoda: “Hidden, safe, the children must be kept.”

Obi-Wan: “We must take them somewhere where the Sith will not sense their presence.”

Bail: “My wife and I can hide the senator and the girl. Alderaan loves baby girls. But not the other one for some reason.”

Obi-Wan: “And what of the boy?”

Excellent ideas, scott*3. “I found him all in pieces” and “Just look at 3PO” sound great.

I love those, can’t wait for the next chance to try editing them in. “I brought him home with me” adds clarity, as it means 3PO did not originally come from his home.

Awesome, JJB!

^ I like that.

For the Anakin line in TPM, what if we leave out the shot about announcing he is building a droid. And instead, we replace the line, “Isn’t he great? He’s not finished yet.”

May be too wordy, but something like, “He’s in much better shape than when I found him.”

Or direction about being calmer and not bombastic.

And for midichlorians, I plan to include the name and exposition in order to get the best out of it and the trip underwater in the form of a symbiosis theme.

Hmmm, could he be directed, “Act like you are making the best out of a bad situation”?

This might take some stabbing in the dark.

Could the instruction be something like “let’s say 3PO just had a valium”?

Here is the shots of R2’s reflection in the glass as Padme delivers the twins, if anyone is able to take a crack at it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HfB8KYx82EMMvb_1Q3Qriqxat5mYOmCy/view?usp=share_link

I agree, Fixing4 sounds great! At least in isolation.

That 3PO line feels off somehow. Not sure how you can ‘direct’ the performance. But the line oughtta end in a way befitting a head nod of satisfaction. Also, it read it pretty quickly so it could be wordier maybe.

Maybe “I must say, Mistress Padme, space travel is much more enjoyable during peacetime.”

Thank you for taking time for this!

It’s on my list to address, yes. I’d miss seeing the destroyer droids unloading fire in their introduction but I get the concern.

And if it’s too much to do, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the current solution to cut the awkward existing line. It’s awkward anyway!

Okay, here’s where I am with the set of alternate edits for the PT. These are pitched as just a little less drastic in order to preserve maximal continuity with other works, with the main prequel edits continuing to be available and recommended. (Case in point: the Kenobi series making a major story point about Anakin killing younglings in the Temple, something I’d carefully omitted.)

For all three, Ridley is able to provide crawls with the original titles (and remove the title reference in my COD crawl).

I’ll also do away with the opening fan edit logos and add them to the end credits, like my ST edits do.

TPM:

• Not because I love it, but add back the trip underwater to Otah Gunga, trimming away the second section of the planet core sequence and the Sidious scene in between. This is half of the symbiosis theme of the movie, and so if midichlorians are in, this feels mandatory to include alongside.
• Add back a few scenes due to Otah Gunga being back: the submarine resurfacing, the talk of the treaty on the stairs, and a battle droid reporting searching for underwater villages. (I’ll continue to omit the scene in which Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan make amends on Naboo.)
• Add back a few mentions of Anakin explicitly being too old for Jedi training
• Add midichlorians back, including the blood test scene and exposition about them. This is the other symbiosis element to make up the theme.

AOTC:

• Add back Anakin’s line about attachment being forbidden.
• Add back two instances of the name Darth Tyrannus.
• Show Yoda and the younglings, ditch the landing platform deleted scene.
• Add back Yoda using a lightsaber against Dooku.

ROTS:

• Add back the youngling murder scenes, and a few references to it.
• Add back Yoda insisting on destroying the Sith, though Obi-Wan doesn’t essentially tell Padme he intends to kill him. (The line replacement for ROTJ, “Your mother once thought as you do” will come in handy, but there’s still a little more room than the theatrical to read hope into Obi-Wan’s actions here.)
• Add back the Yoda vs. Sidious duel.

Things that would be nice to have:

• New line for 3PO as he and Padme depart for Mustafar (Perhaps “I must say, flying feels much safer in a peaceful galaxy.”)
• AI line for Jake Lloyd, “I’m fixing a droid, you wanna see?”
• VFX to seamlessly trim away Qui-Gon’s very final words of, “train him.” (That way, Obi-Wan can truly take it upon himself to train Anakin.)

EddieDean said:

Hal 9000 said:

Toward the beginning of this project, I’d explored the possibility of replacing one word, and perhaps it can be done using AI.

That word is, “I’m [fixing] a droid, you wanna see? Come on, I’ll show you 3PO.”

EDIT: Also, there’s a line in Ep3 that would be good to replace as well. 3PO says, “I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business,” in reference to lines from TPM and AOTC about him never having flown and fearing starships. Not sure what could go there instead; the scene doesn’t have any other dialogue.

Another EDIT:

I’m sure the tools are out there at this point for this to be possible with AI or whatever. I’d love to be able to simply snip out Qui-Gon’s final two words of “train him,” so that Obi-Wan’s actions show earnest initiative and fit what ROTJ gives us about taking it upon himself to train him because he feels he would do well with it.

That sounds good. What is the surrounding context for 3PO’s ‘flying’ line?

In my edit of Ep1, we replace “I can assure you they’ll never get me onto one of those dreadful starships.”

In Ep2, we replace “It’s just I’ve never flown before.”

In Ep3, I’d like to also replace “I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business.”

It happens as Padme is sitting down in her ship to depart for Mustafar.

If I was going to include midichlorians, I’d like to at least let it contribute to the ‘symbiosis’ theme of the movie, if the Otoh Gungah sequence is also back in.

Toward the beginning of this project, I’d explored the possibility of replacing one word, and perhaps it can be done using AI.

That word is, “I’m [fixing] a droid, you wanna see? Come on, I’ll show you 3PO.”

EDIT: Also, there’s a line in Ep3 that would be good to replace as well. 3PO says, “I think I’m beginning to get the hang of this flying business,” in reference to lines from TPM and AOTC about him never having flown and fearing starships. Not sure what could go there instead; the scene doesn’t have any other dialogue.

Another EDIT:

I’m sure the tools are out there at this point for this to be possible with AI or whatever. I’d love to be able to simply snip out Qui-Gon’s final two words of “train him,” so that Obi-Wan’s actions show earnest initiative and fit what ROTJ gives us about taking it upon himself to train him because he feels he would do well with it.

I wouldn’t need to, and would prefer not to. Dialogue in Ep1 is sufficient to seed the idea that there are very young Jedi trainees around. And the Ep2 youngling scene always felt silly to me, with their toddler lightsabers to put babies in extreme danger.

All right, having thought about it a bit more, here’s what I imagine for the ‘alternate’ set of edits as companions to my main edits.

• Original film titles, same crawls otherwise as main edits (ideally, if possible)

• Not sure whether to reinstate midichlorians! Current canon projects have seemed to dodge explicit mention of them, and even if one needed them for its story they would be probably be introduced there just fine

TPM:

• Reinstate the trip underwater to Otah Gungah and a few scenes that come with it which were only removed due to depending on it

• Reinstate Anakin being stated to be too old to be trained

AOTC:

• Reinstate Yoda with a lightsaber

ROTS:

• Existing alternate stuff about having Padme die would be part of this

• Reinstate youngling murder scene and a few references to it

• Reinstate Yoda vs Sidious and the explicit plan of Yoda and Obi-Wan to assassinate the two Sith (using the AI ‘Your mother once thought as you do’ line in ROTJ will help here)

In order to avoid having THREE versions of Episode III on offer (current/main version, alternate version, alternate stuff described above but Padme still lives on Alderaan), I could simply reinstate the youngling stuff into the main version as an update and have the fully alternate version in which Padme dies and Yoda fights Sidious.

Or, we could really just legitimately offer three cuts of Episode III to fit with anyone’s taste on these points:

• Padme lives, Yoda does not fight Sidious
• Padme dies, Yoda fights Sidious
• Padme lives, Yoda fights Sidious

All three would feature youngling murder, for the reason that a major canon project closely tied to the Skywalker Saga (The Kenobi show) makes central use of this story point.

Thoughts? Outrage?