Wow that latest one sounds almost flawless to me (though granted I’m not a native speaker). I’m interested in seeing how this version would sound next to the lightsaber sound placed after the line delivery.
Even then, I don’t remember the actual Rebel Alliance having any major victory during the events of Star Wars Rebels. All of the main victories are attributed to the smaller cells (such as Phoenix squadron) on their own.
The first large military action of the Rebel Alliance was meant to be the Liberation of Lothal, but the plan was aborted as the Alliance debuted with a hard defeat at the hands of Thrawn. And when they eventually succeed in liberating Lothal, it wasn’t thanks to the combined strength of the Rebel Alliance, but rather to the main characters assembling a ragtag group of allies as the Alliance couldn’t afford a full-scale assault, especially as the one time the Alliance directly intervened by sending a X-wing squad to Lothal, they were utterly defeated.
I agree the battles depicted in Rebels could have strayed a little more off the OT customs, but then, the entire show since its inception was sort of a love letter to the Rebellion era.
Hmmm…honestly, I think I prefer it without the sound. Just like how the music drops out at that point, I think the line has more weight when there’s nothing to distract from it.
I agree, the sound effect really seems to contest for attention over the climactic line, and at that point in the scene it feels odd to hear the sabre ignite and not see it. Like, if it was intended to be there originally, it would’ve been a medium shot that shows Rey igniting the sabre. Instead it’s a closeup of Rey’s face because we’re only supposed to focus on what she’s saying.
Personally I really liked the mockup some pages back that places the ignition sound as Rey swings the saber, that seemed to fit a lot more naturally to the scene, and it actually gives more punch to that moment instead of clashing with it.
Agree.
Maybe the lightsaber activation sound could blend better if it came right after she says “I’m a Jedi”? (it’s been a while since I last catched up with the discussion on this thread so forgive me if this has been talked about earlier haha).
The line itself feels great both in terms of sound and story payoff. The way it should have been in the movie.
Considering how Rodriguez expressed his personal attachment to Boba Fett in the Mandalorian behind-the-scenes documentary, I’m willing to believe he’s more than capable to outdo himself, even if his previous work is somewhat hit-or-miss.
I really like SC38 for the most part save for a bit overdone bits. I think it’s the cinematography that doesn’t make it blend well at all with the rest of the movie, with all of those elaborate takes and angles that.
My favorite approach to fan-editing that scene remains the Adywan one. Tightening the editing to make it look less sluggish or clunky but keeping in line with the existing cinematography, lighting, color grading, choreography style and SFX.
With regards to the redone space battle, does someone else think that the new ship models always look kinda off with those “clean” textures? And why are they rendering a sequel-era T-70 X-wing rather than the classic T-65B?
Nice easter egg in there and any further TLJ connections are so welcome.
I’m on a similar boat to you. Overall I have mixed feelings towards Season 1 at the moment but leaning towards positive.
I’d give S1 a 7,5/10 on average, but some episodes and moments are among my favorite animated SW moments of all time and they alone tempt me to give it a higher score. The general shortcomings of the season are too noticeable, though. It didn’t feel that character-driven like Rebels, but the premise didn’t allow for an anthology format the way TCW did it. I hoped for the former, but as of today the Bad Batch stands on a fairly awkward middle ground.
The fan service is a mixed bag. Episodes like the Cad Bane v. Fennec one that were great on first viewing now feel awkward in retrospective as their appearance didn’t have a significant payoff. I hope we see the bounty hunters again, particularly due to their connection to Boba Fett (who really should appear in the upcoming Season 2), but I’m not holding my breath. The feeling of not knowing which winks to the audience are going to be relevant in the future honestly is a bit frustrating, though I welcomed some of the guest appearances such as the Syndullas or Gregor. Even if I expected an uneven story progression, based on Filoni’s previous shows (Rebels is well-known by having crowning episodes interspersed with a sea of lower-stakes episodes depicting more frivolous events, the dreaded “filler” for some people out there) but at least some of the breather episodes of Rebels provided some much needed character development, which has not been really the case for TBB so far. Though each Batcher is unique and amusing in its own right, most of them have been painfully underserved exceptuating Hunter, Omega and maybe Crosshair. My best hopes lie on the prospect of having a more consistent storyline for S2 that showcases more of the Batchers’s individuality, maybe putting them in situations where they cannot rely on their typical skills, particularly for Wrecker, Echo and Tech.
I really liked the smaller scale of the finale, but wished it had been part of a longer episode, maybe as part of the same as “Return to Kamino” and to give more closure to the Batch themselves or at least an extended moment at the very end where they dwell on what happened, their thoughts on Crosshair or the fall of Kamino, or at least some hint of what they’re going to do next.
And yeah I almost shouted “Wayland!” to the screen with that ending scene. Pity we saw, like, every clone commando ever save for Delta Squad hahaha. Also I’m sure they’re going to connect it to the Mandalorian timeline and (hopefully) a canon equivalent of the Thrawn Trilogy campaign.
However I’m still hyped for S2 and how does it progress the plotlines. Will Crosshair have a Kallus-like arc, where he learns of how expendable he is for the Empire?
My guess is that the Batchers had even faster metabolism and aging, further contributing to their personality quirks (e.g. Wrecker being a manchild) and why some of them show early physical signs of old age such as Crosshair’s grey hair and Tech’s receding hairline.
They still could have been experimented on after birth, but they never had met Omega before the series premiere.
Because of that one look Hunter gives to Crosshair’s charred head after stunning him, my guess is that the chip got damaged when Crosshair was burnt by the Venator’s engines on Bracca.
However he says he removed it. What Imperial is gonna allow that.
Maybe Rampart went along with it, knowing it could be a further reason to eventually dispose of Crosshair when the time came.
Because of that one look Hunter gives to Crosshair’s charred head after stunning him, my guess is that the chip got damaged when Crosshair was burnt by the Venator’s engines on Bracca.
Someone else here catching up on the latest episode?
“Return to Kamino” is easily a top 10 highlight of Star Wars animated canon.
The Force doesn’t really seem to be constrained by distance. There’s a chapter of TCW where Sidious Force-chokes Count Dooku from Coruscant while the Count is on Serenno. And of course we have the Force ghosts who can appear wherever they wish.
The more likely headcanon is that, after the death of his original body, Palpatine spent a considerable amount of time in a sort of “limbo”, as a powerless spirit barely clinging to the material world until he managed to eventually inhabit the clone body on Exegol. Sort of how Sauron’s fate is described after he first loses the One Ring in the backstory of LOTR: his body being actually slain only for his spirit to endure and (very) slowly recover his strengths until he could take a physical form again.
That way he does indeed die, fulfilling the prophecy and all the technicalities, yet despite his eventual return he’s incapable to intervene or take command of the Imperial remnant.
“War Mantle” may have been my favorite episode so far. I was hoping from the moment the series was announced that we could see how clones such as Gregor or Wolffe deserted.
Other than the typical “Omega convinces a reluctant Hunter” exchange at the beginning, this episode felt really fresh and we finally reached a couple of important milestones: the clone lines of production have been officially shut down, and the Empire has taken control of the Kaminoan assets. More importantly, it marks the earliest in-universe appearance of the TK troopers.
I’m also glad we had a bit more focus on Echo, with this mission feeling more personal for him due to the parallels with his own rescue from the Techno Union.
The fanservice was also cool: return of the clone commandos, the McQuarrie-inspired prototype Stormtrooper armor, seeing V-wings in action, a gonk droid doing what it was made for, etc. Also can we comment on that Scorch cameo, even if he had less than a minute of screentime?
I’d really like to get the workprint!
The proposed reordering sounds great, all the major characters are nicely introduced and get at least one big part to play making it plausible as a hypothetical first season that Lucasfilm could have been produced and released in this order.
As a nice side effect it also holds up better with canon, namely having Katuunko alive for the Ryloth arc.
Also I’m so glad to see you’re willing to take retroactive feedback from The Bad Batch to further tighten your cut!
Regarding Jannah, I think it would be a bit of a pacing issue to introduce a seemingly random stormtrooper in the midst of the story in a way that could feel organic. Maybe a throwaway reference could work (a name drop for “TZ-1719” over comms).
You’re the guy who suggested readding the elevator scene with the troopers and Finn, where the trooper congradulates Finn. You even proposed having that same trooper be the first one to turn on Phasma if JJB adds “Phasma’s End” into the novel. The trooper could simply be changed to female, and we get to meet Jannah in TROS as usual but ties to this hypothetical whatever.
Yeah, that could work now that you say it. If JJB is willing to do this of course, because the conversation between “Jannah” and Finn would need a few trims and readjustments. What I was saying is that I don’t think it’s going to work is suddenly diving deep into the trooper’s backstory, motivation etc, as if the book was saying ‘Hey, this trooper’s gonna be relevant in the future!’. At most a small cue that hints at her survival (even if it was plausible some stormtroopers survived the Supremacy’s destruction, the deleted scene has Phasma finish all the troopers off before her own death).
Yeah I think it would be a very jarring mood whiplash. As Jar Jar said, any vague suicidal thoughts would fit better for TROS where she carries way more guilt and weight in that story. It’s a sensible theme though, so I don’t think it should be gratituously included.
Regarding Jannah, I think it would be a bit of a pacing issue to introduce a seemingly random stormtrooper in the midst of the story in a way that could feel organic. Maybe a throwaway reference could work (a name drop for “TZ-1719” over comms).
Yet again I’ve encountered something that works spectacularly in text form but not so much in the actual film.
This surely has to do with the script’s tendency to overexplain everything in dialogue. Works great in written form but in film the overly wordy exposition comes across as clunky.
One of the issues with Snoke’s exposition in the scene is that doesn’t completely clarify if the Force bond between Kylo and Rey was indeed created by Snoke or if he’s lying. The fact that the bond persists after his death of course suggests the later, but your edit could make it more clear, and even tie the mind bridge to the Force dyad retcon in TROS.
Here’s a (possibly?) controversial decision I’ve made. I’m keeping the Leia flying into the Raddus stuff. Poppa’s edit removes it, but I really think it works quite well in novel form for the following reasons:
- There are multiple pages beforehand devoted to what Leia learned from Luke about the Force in her training.
- No wonky CGI effects that make her look like Mary Poppins.
- Descriptions of what’s going on with her body while she’s out in space which imo makes things more believable.
Honestly, the only reason I don’t like Leia flying in the movie is because of the CGI. I don’t dislike the idea in general (especially since it’s built up in the novel), so I think this works fine.
I second this decision. Cool concept on paper, bad execution on screen.
Leia’s brush with death also works as a precedent for her ailing strength and eventual passing in Episode IX.
The problem I had with that elevator scene before is that all troopers at this point should know about the infamous FN-2187. And the novelization explains that the walls of the elevator would cause a ricochet effect killing everyone inside. So it makes sense they would receive orders (muffled by their helmets) to hold off their attack until later.
Maybe you could reframe the elevator scene to make it more serious. Show that Finn feels recognized but for whatever reason the troopers don’t shoot him on the spot. Maybe they could even be the ones who contact Phasma, it might feel less contrived than the theatrical where they are caught by a random BB unit.
Also I don’t think Jannah should be there, it would only bring unneeded complications to the scene. If there´s any TROS characters that should be included or mentioned it’d be Pryde or the Knights of Ren.
Yeah I think the extended version of the Phasma duel should be included to better justify its own existence. As you say, it very well could lead into the mass desertion themes of your TROS book edit.
Maybe you could omit some minor details, like Phasma’s hand getting choped off or the whoop-hog line. But overall the scene should be there, with greater focus on the stormtroopers’s choice.
I haven’t read the TLJ novel, so is there the deleted scene with Finn and co. meet some stormtroopers inside an elevator? In that case you could tie both moments together, maybe having the trooper that talks with Finn being the first to point his gun at Phasma.
Really hyped if Kang is playing an Inquisitor but hopefully not the Fifth one, his role in Rebels was fairly weak and a downgrade from the Grand Inquisitor from S1. Of course this can change for the better and they make him a compelling character here as with a lot of other SW characters that have been retroactively improved.
However what I’m really interested in is the prospect of the story not being completely set on Tatooine.
Hey HAL, I was just wondering — why did you change Ben’s mode of transport in the climax? 🤔
Oh, I can answer that! Previous stuff has established that standard TIE fighters don’t have hyperdrives.
The supplimental stuff retcons that this specific TIE is an experimental TIE scout with a hyperdrive, but that’s clearly a post-facto rationalization.
Hence, swapping it for something that DOES have a hyperdrive.
I see. But I don’t think the original film explains how he got off the Death Star ruins. 🤨
Nope it doesn’t. So Vader’s TIE / the Lambda shuttle are good balance points between plausible (both with hyperdrive and could be found among the wreckage) and recognizable (for the shot to retain its symbolism).
This edit has me really intrigued. One of the aspects I don’t really like about TLJ is its tricky relationship with the “show, don’t tell”. At some points it gives you sequences with interesting and bold storytelling decisions (like the Rashomon flashbacks) and then there’s others where there’s dialogue and editing choices that spoonfeed everything, like Rey’s experience at the vision, where we hear her voiceover explanation at the very same time we are watching it, and it makes it feel cheaper as a result.
TLJ has good themes, and I think they can really benefit from a more concise, focused approach. Looking forward to this and I hope to apply in an eventual edit of mine some of the more original changes you’re making (like having DJ be the Master Codebreaker).
Artan42 said:
He’s the original spirit in a imperfect clone body. That’s the only read I got from watching the film.
Indeed. It’s the easiest way to get around it (and even the answer suggested by canon)