Knight of Kalee

EddieDean said:

Did you feel like the ending was conclusive? Like it was obvious they’d failed, and that they were getting shipped out, but maybe not as soldiers? I can’t imagine a more explicit edit of the available material, but I’d like to know if it at least feels up to a good standard.

Yeah, it serves well enough as a conclusion to the opening act, and the farewell between Hevy and 99 is enough to make it bittersweet rather than downright depressing. I wish there was a way to convey more explicitly than they are going to serve as glorified security force rather than not be a part of the army altogether, though granted there’s no further available footage so I’m fine with they way it stands now.

The opening text should really come before CC, although having read Ice’s suggestion I totally agree with it. It would do wonders pacing-wise, yet setting a precedent for this episode distinctiveness with the later time-jump.

I honestly found Option 2 really commendable as it currently stands and I wouldn’t like to lose the first practice scene. I think having it helps establish visually the important aspects to remember of the main clones (Hevy is hotheaded, Echo plays by-the-book, etc.) and serves as a better introduction for 99, Shaak Ti and the drill instructors. And I felt it flew really well as an opening act, I never noticed how the ten minutes almost flew by, so its length shouldn’t be a concern. Moving the scene with the clones and Shaak Ti to earlier felt seamless and it led smoothly into the talk with Lama Su. It could have been like this in the original episode with no issues.

I feel the final test could have use for an additional establishing shot at the beginning (also the ARC Trooper’s lines sound a bit low, a minor nitpick). Also I’m divided on if 99’s pep talk works best before or after the failed test. Putting myself in the place of a newcomer, it could be a bit jarring or anticlimatic if after this emotional moment the squad unceremoniously fails anyway. It could also transition better, continuity and thematically-wise, from 99 overhearing the drill instructors to meeting Hevy and lifting his spirits.

Ed Slushie said:

Yeah, that was my bad. The source I looked at (https://franklehman.com/starwars/) didn’t say it was “made as a theme for Finn,” it said it “has the makings of a theme for Finn” and I must have remembered it incorrectly.

It’s probably a case similar to the prospective First Order theme, a discarded leitmotif idea used once or twice in the films as a remnant.

EddieDean said:
I think I’d like to keep the Lama Su scene because it also establishes why that small pod of clone DNA is such a valuable target. Though I agree it’s the least important scene I currently have in the running.

Not very important to this particular story but it also foreshadows/ties with Lama Su and the Kaminoans’ mindset in the Order 66 arc.

Merging the two training scenes could work as you say. You could move the talk with Shaak Ti to later. If you open with the scene where the cadets bicker, almost come to blows and then are scolded by the drill instructor, it gives enough context to know they just finished a simulation and performed badly. Then you could show a trimmed down version of Echo and Fives asking Shaak Ti for a transferral. I think it’s necessary to keep that conversation because it’s the first instance of Echo and Fives taking an initiative together.

Rogue One remains my favorite Disney SW film and the one I rewatch the most, but I agree it’s certainly overrated to some extent. Objectively it wouldn’t say it’s the absolute best of the modern films, much less the greatest thing to come out of the saga after the OT. Most of the characters are underdeveloped and the pacing of the first half is all over the place. The CGI resurrection/de-aging of actors remains divisive in hindsight.

However I’ve always welcomed the smaller details and nuances of each movie that make me like them as a whole. What I liked about RO is that it felt interconnected with the wider galaxy. Classical aliens appeared (they were almost nowhere to be seen in the sequels), relevant characters like Mon and Bail played small parts, it acknowledged the prequels, there were direct ties to Rebels, a character from Clone Wars jumped to live action, etc, yet at the same time the new additions, like the Death Troopers or U-Wings, for some reason felt more memorable to me compared with the sequels aesthetic. The grey-vs-grey morality was a welcome change of pace (I also liked TLJ’s approach in this). Most of the time the visuals are majestic. The space battle of Scarif is definitely the best in the Disney era. And it made me appreciate a whole lot more of the events in ANH in hindsight.

JakeRyan17 said:

Oh, I know. This started as posting a silly TikTok.

To honestly fix it, I imagine you’d need to define why Luke gave up the search. I’d love for it to be he sensed Grogu and left to go be in The Mandalorian and was simply to preoccupied with training Jedi after that to bother with finding ancient Sith and Jedi attifants… but that’s really the only thing I could see doing it.

Also, not a plot hole, but why did Lando stay on Pasaana for 30 years? Like, Luke bails on the search, and Lando just… vibes in the desert for 30 years? Gave up searching for (presumably) Jannah?

To be fair, Luke and Lando’s quest ended 13 years before the sequel trilogy (sometime after Rey’s parents were killed, and a lot of time after Mando). It hardly makes Lando’s decision to retire as a hermit any more reasonable, nor does it retroactively make the film more sensical. It bugs me how much of this necessary background was tossed aside only to show up in ancillary material. Cutting the subplot about Lando’s tragedy yet keeping his meeting with Jannah is one of the strangest choices in SW history ever.

I’m not a great fan of adding trailer music to movies but I’d say your effort works pretty well Brewzter. Maybe you could introduce the theme a bit earlier so it flows better into the Victory theme that follows it.

I agree though that the Force theme is egregiously overused in the sequel trilogy and to make matters worse, the version that plays after Palpatine is defeated is sampled directly from Luke’s death in TLJ. It should be changed.

EddieDean said:
You’ll also be pleased that you get a good Grievous fight but not the following moment where he loses a bit of menace. He now kicks Obi-Wan’s ass a bit, then Obi-Wan kicks his ass a bit and he realises it’s all going downhill so he pulls out - I’ve removed the scene where Obi-Wan chases him outside and he sneaks up behind him and then… announces his presence and doesn’t take advantage of the situation at all, allowing Obi-Wan to take up a far more advantageous position.

I’m totally fine with it, the latter part of that battle didn’t amount to nothing in the end.

Stardust1138 said:

To sort of play devil’s advocate we could say that Greedo could be seen as a stereotype as he speaks a rare African language.

Greedo’s dialogue was based on Quechua, a South American indigenous language. It was Nien Nunb who spoke in an African dialect.

With Robert Rodriguez involved in The Book of Boba Fett I’m kind of looking forward to see Danny Trejo in some role 😄

I’ve also pictured Sam Rockwell as a quirky, roguish side character.

I’d honestly give roles to actors and actresses who are recognized fans of the saga. Joseph Gordon Levitt could feature in a main role after his cameo in TLJ.

This is a bit of wishful thinking on my part but I’d love Cate Blanchett as duchess Satine Kryze.

Sounds pretty good to me, I feel like this approach enhances the good things in the episode and of course the arcs of the clones themselves. Their perceived failure at the beginning definitely would make their promotion to ARCs more earned.

Even if the cadets don’t triumph in their training, is the conversation between Hevy and 99 staying (or at least part of it)? I think that could work as if it were after Hevy and his squad are assigned to the outpost, with Hevy frustrated and considering deserting, but 99’s pep talk makes him reconsider and he faces the consequences. This would give more weight to Hevy’s sacrifice later in the story (laying his life for his brothers even during an assignment he hates), and is also the strongest 99 scene before we meet him again in the third act.

Axios said:

This Brain child has gotten me truly interested in the subtle possibility of a seamless/more seamless transition for characters and tone to The Clone wars. I am greatly impressed by the creativity, and although I would be really interested to see what the older more experienced editor you have become would do now with that creativity, I understand lack of time and energy as well as anybody else. But that is the beauty I have found with this site and it’s community, where one person is unable another picks up where they left off until we have all collaborated on something we can all be proud of!

Needless to say I would love to get a link to the full version and maybe in the future (unlikely but still) and maybe use your ideas as a partial base to edit from (if you are willing of course).

Thank you for the new perspective, and let me know if you would be alright with me or others using your work for other projects!

~Sincerely, a prequel appreciator.

+1 to this. I’ve always wanted to edit ROTS yet I’d say my vision would be greatly aided by the additions and restructures you’ve made.

I remember I got a workprint for you once, though I don’t know if that one is the latest you ever made. If there’s another, more recent cut with the essential changes I’d be very glad if I get a link.

I wish every one of the bounty hunters from the Executor bridge in ESB would appear and be fleshed out in this series as well. I’d say Bossk and Dengar are the safest bet because of their popularity and their ties to Boba.

I’d also like to check it out!

I also wish for a link to the new Drive!

Honestly I’d like to see all of those ships and vehicles retroactively introduced by TCW to be included in the battle of Coruscant. I’d die to see Y-Wings and Z-95 Headhunters.

G&G-Fan said:

I actually had an idea for the exchange between Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi before their duel to be more consistent with the prequels. It would start with Ben saying “Anakin…” (almost like a last ditch effort to reach him), only for Vader to immediately respond with “Anakin Skywalker was weak. I destroyed him.” (from Rebels) and then Vader makes his first strike (I’m using SC 38 reimagined for my edit so it will be Vader making the first strike, as it should be IMO).

I think it fits better as “When I left you, I was but the learner” implies he was still Obi-Wan’s student, when in Revenge of the Sith he is no longer Obi-Wan’s Padawan, rather a Jedi Knight in his own right.

Not sure if the Kenobi show will render my idea weird or not though since the two will be meeting again in that show.

I think it’s better to hold on until the Kenobi series debuts and we have a better picture to work with. But I think is worth trying to bridge this slight inconsistency (though one could argue than “learner” does not necessarily mean the rank of apprentice).

G&G-Fan said:

Has anyone attempted to make a new Hayden ghost for Return of the Jedi that doesn’t reuse the original’s body and has a better smile?

I don’t know if this has been attempted yet (it probably has), but after seeing jonh’s incredible work with the Force spirits, I’m sure that it will be done with great results in the future, and I will finally have a ROTJ ending that’s perfect for me.

jedi_bendu said:

Here’s an unpopular opinion: my single favourite moment in all of Star Wars is the final duel between Obi-Wan and Maul from Star Wars Rebels. The lighting, the reference to the duel between Kyuzo and an angry samurai in Seven Samurai, the subtext with lightsaber positions only an observant, devoted fan could notice, all the tragic events that have built up to that 3 seconds of combat. I could write an entire essay on how well done it is.

This is Star Wars at its best (Definitely the high point of Rebels), saying a lot with mostly just its visuals.

• Dub Bossk’s only appearance with a line taken from TCW or Battlefront.
• Re-do Obi-Wan’s imitation of a Krayt dragon sound (yeah, again) to keep the first half of the original version but replace the dewback call by a Krayt roar from KOTOR or Mandalorian.
• Make Obi-Wan call R2 “come here old friend” and cut “I don’t remember ever owning a droid”.
• Color-correct the Dune Sea scenes to match The Mandalorian.
• Add female voices to stormtroopers or TIE pilots.

Moving the Darth Maul cold open to the end of S1 not only would be confusing from a timeline viewpoint, but also because the Nightsisters arc already ends with a pretty unambiguous Maul tease. Jumping from that to seeing Maul in the flesh would feel jarring and make the scene quite redundant to work as a post-credits.

McFibb said:

Good point though about the mandos- they probably wouldn’t even know he he was. That said, is it common knowledge that his species is largely unknown?

Zabraks seem to be a pretty abundant species across the galaxy. In fact there’s one episode where the Jedi discuss Maul’s homeworld and they imply that is common knowledge that most Zabraks come from a planet called Iridonia. I guess it is the sight of the Dathomirian patterns, missing limbs and lightsabers what makes Vizsla wonder about what they are.

I’ve been rewatching the original arc and the Clone Cadets flashbacks idea could work, both in a 3-in 1 cut of the Domino arc or in a two-parter.

The thing that makes the clone troopers in Rookies resonate with the audience is that this is their first mission. You can still point some of the elements that make Echo, Fives and Hevy unique, but these would be greatly served if we knew the hard work and lessons learned that got them to this stage, so a juxtaposition between Rookies and Clone Cadets that preserves the best moments of both, and IMO there are plenty, should work pretty well even if flashbacks aren’t going to be a staple of the show moving forwards.

If ARC Troopers in its entirety becomes the third act, the episode would need only one “Months later”-type time skip, after which there are no more flashbacks (much like Man of Steel where the frequent glimpses into the past catch up with the main story in the second act). I’d say ARC Troopers works pretty well as a stand-alone, but it might do best as the culmination of the entire story: we meet Obi-Wan and Anakin again after they are absent from the beginning, Rex and Cody are a part of the action which justifies keeping Rookies for their introduction, and it serves as a good book-end to Echo and Fives’s arc: they leave Kamino as graduates and return to become ARCs.

I’m gonna take a look to see if Grievous’s planned attack on Kamino in Rookies can be amalgamated with the actual invasion in ARC Troopers.

TestingOutTheTest said:

I would say that looking at the movies alone, Luke wasn’t at the level of most of the prequel Jedi even by the end of ROTJ.

I’m just bringing up G&G’s pointer.

Anyway, one could also argue Obi-Wan was old in ANH, even though Yoda and Ki-Adi Mundi were also old and yet still have decent lightsaber skills.

Obi-Wan saying “I’m getting too old for this sort of thing” when he’s not even 60 always cracks me up in retrospective, thinking about how 80-year old Dooku wiped the floor with him twice in the prequels.

Movies Remastered said:

TestingOutTheTest said:

That’s the point. Palpatine is launching an attack against the galaxy, destroying any planet whose citizens refuse to listen to him. He’s basically going to be holding the galaxy at gunpoint.

That’s the exact scene I’ve been working on for months. What planets would you include? (Bear in mind that cloud city, Endor & Naboo are already used in the end scene) I’ve already got Coruscant, Yavin 4, Tatooine, Mustafar…

Corellia and Kashyyyk would be nice.

I find the concept art for the vehicles much more suitable than the character models, just in case you find yourself another episode or batch of episodes with few pieces of art. BTW it would be great if the credits have these kind of subtle motion, it would remind people even more of the Mandalorian.

I’m currently leaning towards shifting Cloak after Malevolence as long as the issue of Ahsoka’s absence in Death Watch is addressed.

EddieDean said:

I think to solve the rushed feeling, I do intend to have title cards to split the episodes. “At the beginning of the Clone War”, “One month later”, and “Present day”, I think.

Sounds good to me, and it also helps because implying a time passage also helps to explain the presence of the newer elements (like the Tri-droid fighters) which are introduced within Nightsisters.

EddieDean said:

Less so the worms, if I remember right.

The worm-like beast appears in two scenes that are kind of crucial for continuity but they’re fortunately quite short.

And I agree with McFibb that some episodes could be served well by custom outro music, I would be glad to provide feedback on the soundtrack regard as I’m quite of a nerd regarding the musical leitmotives in Star Wars.