Knight of Kalee

DarthYcey said:

I’d like it too if he said ‘Jedi’. But you could also argue by keeping the line in as is that it’s just Palpatine being arrogant. It’s more fitting of his character to be this way than react in fear. This is the same guy who leaped at Mace and 3 other Jedi with lightsabers drawn even though he was cornered in his office and outnumbered. Granted, these are some Jedi Master Force ghosts, but I still don’t buy Palpatine going into a panic here. The dude was just regenerated from dyad Force energy, so if anything, it probably makes him feel even more unstoppable. Either way, my point of posting the clip was to show that keeping that line in with the burning homestead cue is possible – the line can go or stay, I’m good either way.

Agreed! I guess I did want to emphasize shock rather than panic. I was recalling how Sith, arrogant as they were, still feared both death and losing their power, while the Jedi knights and masters who came back had managed both “cheating” death and keeping their power, in a way. Besides, this is the first time we would have seen Palpatine acknowledging a Force ghost.

idir_hh said:
Yeah, this really should have been a two-parter. Part I ends with Palpatine rejuvinated with the Sith Fleet unleashed and Part II spans a galaxy wide WAR.

2/3 year time jump. The Capital Has been taken by the Sith.
Rey and now Jedi Knight Ben solo Rebuild the Jedi Order. Finn, Poe and Rose go behind enemy-lines, Storm-Trooper Revolution, all that Jazz.

Oh, man, what could have been. An Avengers-ish two-part climax (or a normal trilogy based on that premise) would have been so fulfilling…

This idea could make for a pretty epic collaborative re-writing… 😄

Personally, I think keeping “the final word in the story of rebellion” line feels a bit unfitting when the ghosts are now the main selling point of the scene. It’s like Palps is ignoring the ghosts on purpose. Jonh’s original version, where that line is cut, and Palpatine quickly goes for the lightning, makes Palpatine look as he’s genuinely reacting to the sight of all the Jedi and counterattacking out of shock/panic.

I’d like it better if he said “…in the story of the Jedi” instead.

AnEyeOut said:

What are your thoughts on this?

Since the canon, timeline and now real-life support Anakin’s ghost looking like Hayden, maybe one in an alternative ROTJ edit could replace the 2004 Hayden footage which is not that good tbh, and replace him with an aged-up (forty-somethings) Hayden hopefully with less creepy expression.

It’d be interesting to have Shaw in the TROS Force ghosts scene though usable footage of him would be harder to find than a sequel film that doesn’t retcon the previous one 😄.

Regarding the music at the ghosts scene, my favorite option would be keeping Burning Homestead, and retroactively rescore TFA’s lightsaber moment.

The Tide Turns is one of my favorite tracks from the prequel trilogy, but I think a slowed down version of it would fit better when Rey defeats Sidious with the help of the ghosts, rather than the revelation of them.

thebluefrog said:

Just had a good one, what if Rey’s parents were killed by an accident related to the war?

Similar to Jyn Erso’s dad being killed in the crossfire…what if they were not murdered, but simply because they were unlucky enough to be hit in a rebel strike happened as they were leaving?

If there was any footage of the actors, a few tweaks of dialogue make it work. If this were a re-DIRECTING forum, I’d say have a scene where the alcoholic father HAD to take a drink along with him because he couldn’t cope with the stress of what he was about to do.

This edit would add at least the tinist bit of conflict for Rey towards the rebellion and at least give the smallest reason to consider Kylo’s “leave it all behind” message that was mostly ignored anyways.

The problem I see is that Rey doesn’t seem to ever distrust the Resistance in the movies.

Have you thought of wiping right to the TIEs/Star destroyer in space establishing shot, then to Vader’s castle, then to the TIE flyby and Battlefront cutscene? It might be the best way to remind the viewer this planet is Mustafar and sneak in the castle. Granted, the current transition is already pretty good.

I may have missed this bit, but how does your restructure justify Ren not wearing the helmet while searching for Exegol?

The one where Luke accepts the saber and walks off was surprisingly well made, though it made me wonder how does Rey retrieve it later.

Is there any version where Luke just hands the lightsaber back to Rey, using a reversed version of the close-up where Luke receives it?

Hal 9000 said:

Here’s a test of the ending, with pretty much everything except for a ghost for Ben.

https://vimeo.com/424989868

Simply wonderful.

Rey’s theme (with a bit of Force’s) fits so much better than the recycled original version.

Had the original ended like that, I would have left the theater much more satisfied.

Yeah that’s been considered. I don’t remember exactly who did it or where’s the link to it, but there is a rough version of a rearranged Exegol opening, where “The dark side of the Force is a pathway…” is replaced with “more than a clone…”, (it also includes repurposed Palpatine dialogue to establish both the concept of the Force Dyad and his plan). The audio itself still needs some polishing but is a good attempt, and anything is better than leave the means of Sidious’s resurrection unaddressed.

jkimm said:

Just wanted to share a few scenes that I’ve made slight trims to. I know it’s all subjective but am curious to hear any feedback.

Cutting before the TIE explodes was seamless, great work on that one!

Removing the balloon Stormtrooper was nice, too. The quicksand scene needs a bit of smoother SFX to cover Finn’s muted line but otherwise good job.

Wonderful! The balcony scene now feels much more natural. As you said, the original movie kind of wanted us to empathize with Anakin when he visits Padmé, but we can’t since we know he’s just slaughtered half the Jedi. This way Anakin feels like he’s struggling, still processing what’s he done and what he has been tasked to do. He does not seem like a psycopath anymore. And now, the murder of the children does not feel out of place because it works as a turning point. The redone youngling scene without music is harrowing!

It also helps that the next time where we would see Vader is Mustafar, where he seems like a completely different character: stoic, slow-speaking, piercing eyes, etc. That personality change doesn’t work that well when the emotional Padmé scene is sandwiched in between. Now he’s fresh off having killed the younglings.

You would have to cut 3PO mentioning Anakin’s return to the Temple, but I hope you keep Padmé breaking in tears at the sight of the Temple in flames. It works better know when Anakin had already told her about the Jedi’s supposed treason.

NFBisms said:

That scene’s not in the edit unfortunately, but I agree it’d be cool to see!

Why was that scene cut, anyway?

Hal 9000 said:

It’s something I’m going to have to give some real thought. Would it require jettisoning Rey about to do a ritual sacrifice of Palpatine?

Maybe the scene could be rearranged/repurposed as Sidious taunting Rey the same way he did with Luke on the Death Star…something in the same vein of “Strike me down and your journey to the dark side will be complete”. Basically Palpatine’s bait for Rey’s known struggle with her inner darkness.
This could explain her hesitation. She considers the possibility of falling prey to temptation and becoming her dark self she dreads so much, besides the viewer would have an added concern, knowing that Palpatine will possess Rey if she complies. The ritualistic aspect, Palpatine’s bombastic announcement and Rey’s outright decision not to hate him would have to be toned down to sell it.

Yeah, cutting the “Goonies moment” might make the dagger thing tolerable. C-3PO even says some kind of coordinates when he translates the Sith inscription. Can we just pretend Rey and company just tracked those coordinates right to the wreckage corresponding to the Emperor’s throne room? The dagger is just unnecessary after the 3PO reveal.

I like it! Goes pretty well with the trimmed fight scene. Where’s the original track from?

You’d only need to enhance the dialogue and SFX a bit, since the music feels a bit too loud.

Getting rid of the space horses in the final battle actually worked really well! I like the horses, but I hadn’t noticed how they disappear from the battle with no explanation, as in we don’t see them killed, falling off the destroyer or anything. Now we only need another place to move that epic variation of the Force theme, since it would be a shame to lose it.

I’d keep Chewie’s fake-out death, only to give context to Rey’s main conflict in this movie, specially for a Rey Nobody edit.

I agree the scene is funnier with the Gilligan cut (“I’m not doing this!” then smash cut to the data restored anyway). I’d keep 3PO saying “I’m going with Padmé/Anakin…”, and after he asks R2 “I already have?”, maybe have him mention something about “Master Luke”, only to remind the audience that the OT memories have not been lost.

jonh said:

hahah I’ll be happy to send it to you … one thing, what exactly do I say? tell me and I record it!

Maybe you could mention one of the “Easter egg” ships that are featured? There’s the Naboo royal fighters, Black Sun syndicate cruisers, Mandalorian ships, a Hammerhead corvette from Rogue One, Zygerrian vessels…

axlanian said:

Okay, here’s my mix of the fleet dialogue chatter

https://vimeo.com/423025361
fanedit

I tried to make everyone sound like they were actually coming through the comms, while widening the sound so it surrounds the viewer a bit for a sense of scale. Let me know if at any point the layering is too dense or empty, or if any specific lines should stand out more or be buried a bit more.

Magnificent! The comlink effect is seamless! Watching and hearing this was so moving.

Maybe you could move the “we believe in you Poe” to after Finn’s line, as Chase Adams did, and in its place put the Mon Calamari line so it can stand out a bit.

Amazing work!! Where does the Death Star duel new music come from? I can recognize the Coruscant chase theme from the beginning of Episode II. I like it a lot.

idir_hh said:

I think it would be great to have some Plagues/Snoke music play as Kylo descends into and walks around the sith temple on Exogol.

I agree. The music that plays when the Sith temple is revealed is pretty awesome, but’s also the theme of the Knights of Ren, who don’t appear in this scene. The Snoke/Plagueis music could tie the scenes together, backing up Palpatine’s claim about the dark side “unnatural” abilities.

It’d be cool to have the Knights of Ren speak during the reforging scene (at least it would divert our attention from the strange chimpanzee-like alchemist). What could they say, though? A chanting of some kind? Exposition regarding Kylo’s choice?

I loved the fleet voices. Maybe a couple of them (right at the beginning, or when Poe’s cockpit is shown) should be clearer/louder so the audience gets what’s going on, with the remaining cluster of voices backing up the general idea. But it works much better than the original.

Hal, isn’t it nosey to ask for some of the lines that were included, for the sake of those who’d like to make some hypothetical subtitles?

I would have loved if the film had a small Endgame moment with many familiar faces coming back from retirement for the ultimate battle. They wouldn’t even need to be named characters, but showing like, a Mon calamari bridge, or at least close-ups of the ships involved, would have sold the moment better.

For now the best we can do is going the Hal route and add comlink lines to the pilots, and maybe sneak in one Easter egg or two.

Regarding Baby Yoda, I have the feeling his species has a different growth rate, with a very long toddler stage followed for a sudden, quick infancy/adolescence. If Yoda’s species aged the same way as us, and baby Yoda is 50, Yoda at 900 would look like a young adult instead of being on his deathbed.

I admit my main reason I really wanted DOTF to be in the film is because of its prominence in the late marketing, that left me thinking they were truly going to deliver on the “recovering the iconic scores of every prior film” only to be underwhelmed when it didn’t feature in the film.

Maybe playing the full song over the duel can result jarring. It would be awesome to have a mix of themes for the duel that include Rey’s, Kylo’s and DOTF.

I agree with restructuring the battle a bit. The “cavalry to the rescue” trope works best when the characters have all been through their darkest hour for a while. In the original movie, Poe goes from mourning Snap to losing all hope to happy again when Lando arrives, all in a span of like, one minute.