Knight of Kalee

EddieDean said:

Thanks Kalee, glad that worked for you. I assume you still had the popping sounds? And yeah, I’m not happy with the outro music there. The difficulty was that the existing music was in a minor key whilst my outro is major, so there was just no good blend point (with my limited skills), so I just had to switch to the outro early. It’s something I’ll chat with McFibb about but I don’t want to make him any more work. There might be something I can do if I have time to play around.

If you don’t want to overload McFibb I could give it a shot to making an outro mix that begins in a more ominous, darker-sounding way before continuing with the rest of your regular outro music, this way bridging it with the existing music of the episode.

I think it’s relatively easy to recognize that there are films more solid than others, which is the reason why almost every new SW product is measured against the OT. But I kind of enjoy (or try to enjoy) almost all of the films equally in spite of their flaws.

“Children of Dathomir” was great. Despite the runtime, it never felt lagging or slow. That’s probably in part because the original arc is solidly written, but you also did a pretty good work at tying the three episodes together. The middle section in particular worked surprisingly well, even with most of the trial scene trimmed down one gets to care about Savage and Feral’s bond.

I only noticed one glaring technical bug: when Delta Squad meets with the Jedi, there’s an empty black frame as their ship is approaching.

Maybe you could change the lead up to the credits music in this one (it would fit since this is a season finale with a darker ending), though it may just be myself not getting used to hear Ahsoka’s theme over an ominous scene of Savage and Talzin lol

Movies Remastered said:

What’s Parler?

A social network mostly known as a haven for right-wing extremists and conspiracy theorists.

Chopper’s brief cameo (and the Ghost’s for that matter) was one of the things I unironically loved the most about this movie.

I just watched option 2 of the Domino episode. I think it works better in the story department, but the option 1 felt marginally better polished for me, mostly because of technical/continuity issues. For example, during the test both Echo and Droid Bait are shot but immediately after there are four clones left standing.

Looking forward to the Nighsisters cut and glad to see you kept the Toydarians

ThisIsCreation said:

Hal 9000 said:

Wasn’t there another guy even who played an intermediary age for clones in AOTC and ROTS.

There was, and he looked so much like Padme’s guard it was distracting.

I always thought it was an early shot at de-aging Temuera 😮

Mine would be probably similar to the existing one in broad strokes. One of the changes I’d definitely do is turn the Resistance into the New Republic to avoid extremely overt OT parallels, and play with the political rivalry that exists between Leia’s militaristic faction and those who don’t believe in the threat of the First Order. They would lose their capital at Hosnian Prime at some point during the second film, this way setting up the “loss of hope” sentiment.

Another important change is that I would spread the events across a time span of five years rather than one (and no films starting right at the aftermath of the previous one). This way character progression is more understandable and less people would have issues with Rey’s power levels.

In my version the First and Final Orders would be merged. I’m split on having Palpatine return in the flesh (maybe I’d have his return revealed as a cliffhanger ending for the first film), though the First Order would be a direct result of his contingency plan after the Battle of Endor, and be very dark side-inspired and be something of a theocracy. At the centre of this hierarchy would be the Knights of Ren, with Snoke or a stand-in for him as the master of their order. Kylo becomes the master of the Knights once he defeats Snoke midway through the second film.

Rey would not be a biological Skywalker, Palpatine, etc. Her power is random like any other Jedi’s, but enhanced through the story because of the Force dyad, that would also be established much earlier.

Finn becoming a Jedi and leading a stormtrooper revolution would be definitely a part of this alternate story.

The galactic underworld would also have a big play to part.

EddieDean said:
Not sure I see the issue with “heck” vs “hell” - Star Wars has always had odd real-world expletives so this never felt out of place for me, unless there’s something I’m missing?

In the original episode one of the clones says "What the hell was that? uncensored after Cutup is eaten by the eel creature.

djonesed said:

Hal 9000 said:

Since you reminded me, I went ahead and replaced the DOTF snippet with the actual OST in higher quality. I put it in place where it was, and extended it backward to the beginning of the track.
What do you guys think? Too heavy?

https://vimeo.com/506528635

on its own it’s very well done; however, i feel like the sequels already rely too much on nostalgia and this feels like adding more. also, i feel like jw did an excellent scoring job giving each trilogy it’s own distinct flavour while still making them distinctly star wars and don’t like the idea of crisscrossing them.

I don’t think that’s much of a problem, since the sequels go out of their way to reference the original trilogy but the prequels went hardly referenced at all. This helps TROS feel more like a conclusion for the entire saga rather than just Rey’s story.

Impressive, most impressive.

I agree the best approach would be striking a balance between Classic Mustafar (the castle and lava flows) and Healing Mustafar (the scorched forest). Is it possible to add a lava river to the forest shot or would it take way too much work? Maybe even some low-sounding rumble of lava or eruption far away could play after the action ends.

ZkinandBonez said:

They’re weird and exotic, just like SW settings should be. I find it really annoying that the newer films (for the most part) just added more deserts and ice planets. The OT obviously did the same, but that’s for budget and technology reasons.

I especially like Takobo. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see more of it. Horizon base is also pretty unique, so I wonder what inspired the design.

So true! The Abrams films are the biggest offenders IMO.

I loved the fact that Rebels spend most of the time in unknown, new planets, with a few exceptions such as Yavin 4.

Is there a way to keep the ILM Luke but change his eyes? Or the end result would remain uncanny no matter what we could do?

Galactic Alliance would be a cute nod.

RogueLeader said:

Speaking of making their romance more explicit, it does remind me of a test clip that I found on my laptop that I totally forgot I made. https://streamable.com/pwg1wp

I really like this rescore. The fact that is the B melody of the Across the Stars, the one associated with the concealed, forbidden and tragic nature of the relationship, is brilliant.

TestingOutTheTest said:

snooker said:

The First Order havent fully revealed themselves to the galaxy, and its in the Resistance’s best interest to destroy them before they deploy. The oscillator is the power system for the base and destroying it would blow up the base, which would cripple the First Order. Maybe the mining of the planet could be used to imply that the planet’s the source of all the Star Destroyers also.

Perhaps the scene where the Hosnian system is destroyed could be recontectualized to be an attack from a First Order Dreadnaught.

How about have the Dreadnought be the Supremacy instead?

That would probably open another plothole about why couldn’t the Supremacy just obliterate the Resistance fleet from a distance (assuming the Supremacy in this version would have weaponry similar to what a Mandator Dreadnought’s). The original chase sequence in TLJ is already headscratching enough (did the First Order run off of dreadnoughts?), it might be better to not muddy the waters any further.

The Mandator Dreadnought destroying the Republic HQ could be more feasible and leave less questions hanging.

Magnificent!!!

If there was some way to call the planet Ilum onscreen…

2:40 could be a nice point to start the credits, as I feel the outro works better with the more dramatic/bombastic music playing over the concept art rather than the walls of text (especially if going with Chase’s animated ones). It also would give a bit of “oomph” to the beginning that the old one lacked, and I find fitting that the credits begin with a literal mix of Ahsoka’s and the clones’s themes.

Does someone have any idea of what music theme could replace the Luke and Leia bit playing during the victory celebration at the end of TROS? I successfully rescored the part Yoda’s theme originally played, but the Lando scene is a tough one to crack, especially because it leads directly into the triumphant, emotional “Rise of Skywalker” theme that I won’t be touching because it’s perfect.

Your right the Nightsisters arc requires the least amount of meddling of the first batch. I’d say the three parts could work perfectly fine as a single episode (this way “501st Legion” doesn’t feel like the only black sheep with 50 minutes of runtime). Monster is the one that, as you say, would require the most trimming around the middle section. On first thought I don’t really agree with cutting the Toydarians as I don’t find their portrayal problematic (I’d say it was a saving throw from the producers to set them apart from the stereotyped, divisive Watto), but if it works better for the pacing (and also because Katuunko doesn’t feature in other Continuity cut episodes, so a first-time viewer wouldn’t have any connection to him) I can understand shortening that part.

Regarding the context of the episodes, you’re right that you could set a precedent with the Separatists striking at crucial targets. Christophsis in Legends was a flourishing mining industry with a strategically important position in the Corellian Run hyperlane. You could state that the resources from Christophsis helps fuel the Republic’s shipyards or weapons divisions.

JakeRyan17 said:

Knight of Kalee said:

JakeRyan17 said:

Much as I love the Imperial March, loved Giacchino’s new Imperial theme as a supplement.

Rise of Skywalker is the only truly egregious score for me, while I love some of the new pieces for it (like when Kylo is on Mustafar and goes to Exegol), the OT greatest hits felt more than out of place.

I agree. In fact Giacchino’s Imperial theme reminds me of a militarized version of Williams’s motif for the Empire in ANH.

Rise of Skywalker is a mixed bag for me. The newer pieces are great as always but the revisiting of old themes feels a bit arbitrary in some moments. I wonder if I could try tweaking with the score during the victory celebration at the end.

If you send me a version with just score to picture (without original sound), I’m confident I could achieve it. Just don’t know what music to put where. My brain is just less music-focused.

Sure, let me check the scene again (IIRC the theatrical score doesn’t align 100% with the released soundtrack) and I’ll PM you with a link so we can exchange ideas.

CLONE CADETS

• The cold open was a great suggestion. Starting right into the action makes the episode engaging from the start, for a moment I forgot we hadn’t had any credits yet 😄 And the rest is history. I agree with Wexter regarding the timing of the fade to black.
• Good call on adding Fives referring to Echo by name! The new establishing shots before the test fit really nicely and the transition flows great.
• I’d say keep the talk between Shaak Ti and Lama Su, if just for the worldbuilding aspect and to give Shaak at least a bit of screentime.
• Hevy and 99’s talk worked better than in the preliminary versions. Regarding the transition to Rookies, I’d say it would feel more natural with a couple seconds more of black screen with the “Two weeks later” card before the establishing shot.
• On the matter of technical issues, Commander Colt’s second line of dialogue still gets lost among the sound mixing. The first one is corrected though 😃 Also, after Brick says “More like an impossible task”, a very faint line can be heard on the left channel of him saying “You can’t be serious, Eiles”. Is that supposed to be an unpolished part of the edit or is a remnant of a cut exchange? I’m leaning towards the latter.

ROOKIES

• I kind of missed Cutup’s death. I know we don’t spend much time with him in this version but, still, it’s a brief scene that also sets up the threat of the Eel (this creature feels somewhat random in its current only appearance without having been established prior to it). Restoring it would also address the continuity error just created where 4 clones are said to have escaped but 3 are shown alive.
• Are you still planning on adding a new pre-mortem line for Hevy?

As a minor thing that caught my attention, it’s interesting seeing how the show improved on the visual department over the years. Rex and Cody’s face suddenly look a lot smoothier and more expressive after the transition into “ARC Troopers” footage.

ARC TROOPERS

• Fives and Echo suddenly having the blue-striped armor of the 501st is an easily forgivable continuity bug.
• A minor thing but maybe you could try keeping Ventress’s line “Keep playing with your droids”. The exchange with Grievous would feel more natural. I like their rivalry and mutual teasing of each other.
• The pacing of the battle really benefits from cutting the Obi-Wan swimming bit and the later half of the encounter with Grievous. However, since Obi-Wan now does not appear again after forcing Grievous to retreat, maybe you could cut right before he starts chasing after him.

CONCLUSIONS
All said and done, great work on this, and more importantly, I’d say an improvement over the presentation of the originals. The three episodes blended together are a much comfortable viewing experience and not only because there’s no need to jump between seasons anymore while binge-watching, but because the narrative really benefits from the merging, with each chapter working great as a well differentiated act and ARC Troopers in particular being a strong climax. Also I’d say having the Dominos fail their test at the beginning makes for a more powerful message and growth for Fives and Echo.

JakeRyan17 said:

Much as I love the Imperial March, loved Giacchino’s new Imperial theme as a supplement.

Rise of Skywalker is the only truly egregious score for me, while I love some of the new pieces for it (like when Kylo is on Mustafar and goes to Exegol), the OT greatest hits felt more than out of place.

I agree. In fact Giacchino’s Imperial theme reminds me of a militarized version of Williams’s motif for the Empire in ANH.

Rise of Skywalker is a mixed bag for me. The newer pieces are great as always but the revisiting of old themes feels a bit arbitrary in some moments. I wonder if I could try tweaking with the score during the victory celebration at the end.

EddieDean said:

That’s almost exactly the wording I just wrote! 😉 I specifically highlight that they failed (to complete) their COMBAT training, implying that they’re still members of the army, just not fully trained field soldiers.

Great, makes total sense! I just thought you could add the “Republic is in critical need of soldiers” explanation to this, as the original episode implied but was later contradicted by Clone Cadets.

EddieDean said:

At least I’ll be able to make it explicit in the crawl that failure equals listening post, then TWO WEEKS LATER we’re at a listening post.

Yeah, I can see that working.

A funny thing that came to my mind as I revisited Rookies, is that the opening newsreel states that the newer generation of troopers have to be rushed into warfare, with their training unfinished, because the Republic forces are too spread thin.
This clearly does not align with the canonical events in Clone Cadets but perhaps you could imply in Refocused that in order to keep on with the demands of the war, clone troopers that don’t finish their training have to enlist in service anyway, just not in actual combat.