Humby

I've personally never had issues with the plot of ROTJ.  I always thought it tied things up nicely, which is exactly what it was meant to do.  Aside from its lighter moments and lack of death, ROTJ has a very heavy weight to it.

Removing some of the sillier elements like the dance number in Jabba's palace, and some of the droids banter would be a good start.  Additionally, making Endor the wookie home planet would have led to a much more effective ground battle.  Having enslaved wookies breaking free and join in battle with the rebels would be awesome.  It would also make the motivations of Han and Chewie far more meaningful.

Aside from these types of superficial flaws, there isn't really much else I would change.  I personally liked the fact that the first half hour is completely unrelated to the rest of the movie, and that Leia ended up being Luke's sister, etc...

Hindsight is always 20/20, but I've never put much thought into what I would have done if given a blank slate.  These are just the issues I have with the existing film.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Search for Chewbock.

Muahaha

Come on guys.  Just admit it.  You know you would all be elated to see Yarael Poof show up as a wise old Jedi in hiding ;)

( http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Yarael_Poof )

Does anyone think we will see Jedi returning from exile?  Not necessarily any familiar faces, nor the actual act of showing up out of nowhere, but rather some sort of passing reference to the fact that some Jedi may have survived the purge and have returned to help Luke with his New Jedi Order.

I would love to have an older Jedi thrown in to fill the void of the wise old Jedi.  It's actually a shame that Lucas had most of the familiar Jedi faces killed off in ROTS, because that would be one of the few connections to the PT that I wouldn't mind seeing.  They would be able to convey an innate knowledge of the failures that took place in the past, and be helpful in maintaining a more steady order.  You could argue that Luke will be the wise older Jedi, but I think his story will be slightly too prominent to carry the mystery and gravitas of, say, old Ben or Yoda.

I'm fairly certain Ady was being sarcastic a few posts back.  He has stated numerous times that he won't be changing Lando's fate.

^I'd prefer not to see a third generation of Fett in the ST, and I don't think we're going to.  Aside the main characters of the OT and their offspring, I don't think we'll be seeing a strong connection to any other characters in the entire saga (with the possible exception of Palpatine, although I'd prefer a fresh villain).

No return of Maul, no children of Dooku or Tarkin or Fett, none of that nonsense.  It's too contrived and unimaginative.  I'd even be disappointed if they give us something relating to Plagueis.  He was just a sith who Palpatine deceitfully glorified for the sole purpose of influencing Anakin.

Now that I've had my short rant, I will add this:  If they MUST bring back Palpatine, I hope they do so in a Voldemort type manner - an object or location that contains his soul, which he then uses to manipulate a good character (against their will/knowledge) in an attempt to return to the living.  I would love to see a character that doesn't realize what they are doing and can't control it, while being utilized for evil, i.e., what Anakin's story should have been.  If Anakin didn't constantly admit that he knew everything he was doing was wrong, the story of the prequels would be 75% better.

On the whole age issue, there is no doubt that the original cast will take somewhat of a backseat to the new younger cast members.  That being said, we are most certainly going to be given some time for the older cast to hold the mantle.  They were asked to get in shape (to a degree) for a reason, and although it would be silly to see them jumping around in the same manner as their old antics, that doesn't mean they wont see action.  They will, and I trust Abrams fully in making it tasteful.

Hey all,

Long time visitor, recent member, and rare poster here.  I’ve never attempted an entire fan edit, but I often find myself tinkering with scenes of my favorite films (and sometimes least favorite) for personal gratification.  With the release of Iron Man 3 this year, I’ve had the idea to create a mash-up of all three movies.  My main goal for this project is to create a single standalone Iron Man story that really strengthens the connection between the events of IM1 and IM3.  I don’t foresee much, if any, cosmetic work.  And as my first real full length edit, I think limiting the degree of work to mostly editing, will help me keep my wits about me.

I will be removing all direct connections to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  On a related note, I plan on cutting out most of IM2; using only scenes that might strengthen the narrative between 1 and 3.  The inevitable problem here is that I will unfortunately create slight inconsistencies such as Tony’s switch to a new arc reactor, amongst others.  Another blatant inconsistency will be the change from Terrance Howard to Don Cheadle as Rhodey.  I will do my best though, to minimize the inconsistencies, provided they don’t break my biggest rule of keeping this independent of the MCU.

Ultimately, I would like to see the Mandarin & Aldrich Killian’s schemes connect more directly to Tony’s initial Ten Rings kidnapping.  I have been endlessly skimming through the movies over the past few days, and although it will be tough, I think it can be done.

The last thing I want to address, I will refer to as THE BIG QUESTION:  Can the Mandarin twist be removed effectively?  No doubt this will be an enormous challenge to overcome, but I do have an idea.  If some of the Mandarin scenes can be effectively connected (and relocated) closer to the Ten Rings fiasco of IM1, then I might be able to make him an enemy that simply escapes the film without resolution.  If, at the end of the day, this change doesn’t seem to work well, I have no problem leaving it the way it is.  I will however do everything I can to make it feel like less of a cop out.

I would love to hear any of your thoughts on this project, and any issues you think I may run into.  I’ll do my best to keep things updated even if the thread falls into obscurity.  Thanks for any/all of your input!

~Humby

EDIT:  So one of the reasons I wanted to remove the MCU references was because many of them seemed contrived and out of place in IM2.  I have been thinking though, that I want to somehow incorporate Tony’s reactor poisoning and his creation of the new reactor.  Not to mention I LOVE the Howard Stark scenes.  If I want to use this material though, it might be necessary for me to use the Nick Fury footage.  If I can do so without ruining the flow, I may renege on my no MCU rule.  This would certainly add to the run time, but right now I’m aiming for a total of 3.5 hours.  Long for a movie, but the more I start moving things around the more confident I feel that I can construct an enjoyable narrative.

I’ll try and post some videos within the next week.

@Ronster, I think Darth Solo was talking about the scene in ESB where the Falcon evades detection by attaching to the Star Destroyer and Needa says "...no ship that small has a cloaking device."  So that pretty much validates Darth Solo's statement, as the Falcon and Slave I are comparable in size.

After the battle of Endor, I would imagine that the Empire would have initially survived and attempted to fight on for a few years. During those transitional years, the alliance probably would have commandeered imperial ships/supplies.  But even if it took ten years for the New Republic to gain its footing, that still leaves a good 20+ years for them to build up their own armada (although I dont necessarily mean warships, per se).  So I wouldn't want to see any imperial ships being used by the Republic.

That triangular shape in general has always represented some sort of evil.  It was our first real introduction to war time and the evils that come with it.  I hope they avoid that shape for most of the sequel trilogy, aside from maybe smaller hints here and there.

Michael Arndt is one of the reasons I have faith in this first installment of the new trilogy.  He wrote Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3, both of which were very enjoyable movies.  These two credits alone prove that he understands character development, something which the Prequels had none of.  Also, he is of the generation that cherishes the OT and recognizes the shortcomings of the prequels (regardless of whether or not he personally enjoyed them).  This combination makes him a good choice, IMO.

Since ROTJ wrapped up the series so nicely, he will have a lot of "setting up" to do, which I expect will lead to some of the grandeur of the PT in terms of understanding how the galaxy has changed since then.  That being said, if he can keep the story focused and character driven, then we're already looking at a film that should be better than the PT and almost on par with the OT.

SpilkaBilka said:

Bingowings said:

And they do like to recycle (like the Vader concept becoming the Death Star Droid).

Could you elaborate on this?  Not sure which droid you're talking about.

I believe he is talking about this guy, below (although this is the one that appears on the Jawa Sandcrawler).  But a black version can be seen on the death star.

msycamore said:

Humby said:

Clive Revill was the original emperor in ESB (along with prosthetics and some superimposed monkey features).

Clive Revill provided the voice but it was makeup artist Rick Baker's then wife Elaine Baker who portrayed him with these prosthetics:

Oops!  Looks like I too stand corrected.  That's pretty interesting stuff, I've never seen those pics before.  Cool!

Hoth-Nudist said:

...(clive Revell's removal for douchebag christensen)...

 

I think you mean Sebastian Shaw.  Clive Revill was the original emperor in ESB (along with prosthetics and some superimposed monkey features).  All the same though, replacing Shaw with Christensen was horribly executed and makes no sense.

It really does seem like Flemyng slipped up.  It was good wording from the interviewer.  He asked the question as if it was common knowledge that Vaughn was confirmed.  "Have you chatted to Matthew at all about any Star Wars potential..."  And Flemyng seemed genuine in his giddy responses, until he realized he may have let the cat out of the bag.

I think Vaughn is all but confirmed for Episode VII, which I am more than happy with.  First Class was quite well done (my complaints are with the script, not the direction).  Layer Cake is a great movie and Kick-Ass was enjoyable at the very least.  I think he will be much more of an actor's director than GL was, and I think he will be able to do the old (and new) characters justice.

I really didn't find Jake Lloyd's acting to be half bad.  He was a innocent kid, and it worked.  I was more upset with the fact that I was actually seeing Darth Vader as a 10 year old. 

The fact of the matter is, when the prequels were announced, most Star Wars fans expected (wanted?) to see the story of a good and noble man, Anakin Skywalker, tragically turned evil by an extraordinary dark force in the universe. 

Instead, we were given a child, a teenager, and a young adult, each portrayal more cringeworthy than the last, slowly corrupted by horribly predictable and selfish reasons.

At least with the ST, I have no expectations.

Dear Lord, Adywan.  That is frightening.

However, if Star Wars were ever turned into a Middle-Earth type fantasy, Yoda would be some sort of elf-like creature who looks EXACTLY like this.

The reason I feel there needs to be a passing of the torch is because it is Episode VII.  It's a continuation of the story that already exists.  Unless they decide to clone the Emporer or maybe Anakin generations in the future, the only way they can really connect this to the existing storyline is to include that older generation from the OT.  Otherwise why label it Episode VII?

I absolutely agree that I don't need those characters in a new Star Wars movie.  I would love to see something take place in a completely different time period with completely different characters.  But if you are going to call it Episode VII and expect it to pick up some sort of lose end or unresolved storyline from the  I-VI Star Wars Saga, then the best way to accomplish this, in my opinion, is with a "passing of the torch" series of events.

Fisher may be far from picture perfect at the moment, but she could easily get back into decent shape to appear in the film long enough to satisfy the needs of her character (passing the reins).  If need be, I'm more than happy to see them apply some make-up and or digital effects to help her out.

As for Ford, I think he would certainly agree to appear for a few scenes here and there throughout the series.  I certainly wouldn't expect him to return to the series as a main character however.

Hamill on the other hand, with a bit of exercise fits the bell just fine.  And I think he would be more than enthusiastic about reprising the role.

With the rumors of Hamill and Fisher meeting with George a while back, I think it is likely that the treatments GL handed over to Disney take place some 20+ years after ROTJ and will involve the original characters/cast. 

I expect to see Hamill, Fisher, and Ford return, although most likely they will be handing the torch to a new generation.  They can easily get into shape and be made-up to appear for at least a few cameo scenes.  Hamill would be the most likely to remain in the cast for all three films as a mentor figure.

If this is the case, I worry about the story.  It will be difficult to continue the story that was so neatly wrapped up in ROTJ, especially if there is a 20+ year gap.  If you're a fan of EU, you may disagree with me here, but I really don't want to see any cheesy storylines involving clones of the main characters etc...