Episodes 1-6 of this season would trim down to make a fine 2 hour fan edit movie.
Episodes 7-9 really just want the start and end credits removing, they were gold right through!
Not sold on the “oh wait we gotta bring this horrific thing along with us so it’s in RO” part, but that’s just me, could have been more natural. There’s my nitpick.
At the start of Season One, we’re told that Cassian’s modus operandi is stealing Imperial Tech - the plot ramps up because he has stolen an ‘Imperial Starpath Unit’.
This episode he’s just about to get on his ship out of Ghorman and there’s a KX Droid just waiting to be stolen, he needs a hand lifting it but an opportunist like Andor has got to take it!
Season 2 thoughts after 6 episodes…
I find Forrest Whittaker’s performance as Saw endlessly engaging to watch. Every scene with him in is unexpected gold. The same goes for Ben Mendelsohn’s Krennic and to a slightly lesser degree Skarsgard as Rael.
The stellar dramatic performances and nuanced script are what is keeping Andor Season 2 afloat, but I wish there were just one or two action set pieces to add excitement and rewatchability (like we had with the Aldhani Heist, Narkina 5 prison breakout or Ferrix riot in Season 1).
Personally, I didn’t need to see repeated scenes of Bix moping around getting high in the safehouse - I understood what her state of mind was without that repetition. I would have preferred that instead they elaborated on her and Cassian’s infiltration to assassinate Dr Gorst - that could have been the exciting set piece which ended the episode 4-6 arc. But that’s just me, and I trust Gilroy knows what he is doing (and hopefully we will get some of that hi-octane action pay off in the remaining episodes).
Smudger, it looks like you’re putting your mind to Season 2 of Andor - but I’ve just finished watching your Season 1 edit (as a primer for Season 2) and wondered if you’d like feedback?
Overall it’s brilliant - you’ve really accentuated the positives and kept the core of the plot streamlined and easy to follow (except for one instance which I’ll come to). Without the episode breaks and with your choices of shots and moments to keep or trim it now feels more cinematic - like watching a pair of movies (the reintroduction of the 20th Century Fox fanfare is a cool little touch too!). I own the 4k series set but I cant see myself watching them again, as your pacier edit appeals more to me (I’ve always preferred movies over TV series, and that’s what your edit provides).
The one thing which doesn’t work… the removal of Andor being arrested on Niamos. I can see why you did it, as it removes a good 5-10 minute chunk of runtime but imho it compromised the edit too far.
Movie one ‘Spark of Rebellion’ ends with Cassian as one of the most wanted men in the galaxy after the Aldhani heist, and then movie two ‘The Reckoning’ begins with a crawl which simply says “Andor has been arrested for treason” and the first time we see him is entering Narkina with the other cons. It’s a massive leap for audiences and leaves you head scratching WTF? It also makes all the ISB conversations about ‘where is Andor?’, ‘we need to arrest Andor?’, become baffling as it appears to all intents he has already been arrested?! Furthermore, we even see Andor in Niamos at the end retrieving his stash from the hotel room - this scene no longer makes any sense without the context of the earlier footage.
I’d really suggest reinstating some abridged version of Andor on Niamos at the start of the edit, as without it ‘The Reckoning’ opens in a confusing and unsatisfying way. You could always save a few minutes elsewhere by cutting the scenes with Nurchi betraying Andor on Ferrix as they’re somewhat redundant to the plot (we already get two or three other references of why the ISB believe Andor is going to be at Ferrix for the funeral).
This is very much meant as constructive feedback rather than criticism as I really think you’ve done brilliantly to turn this TV series into something that feels much pacier and more cinematic, and I look forward to seeing what magic you can work with season 2!
Yes please - could I have a link?
Be great to watch your Andor edits prior to Season 2…
Hal, I watched this edit for the first time last night and just wanted to thank you for your hard work.
I think it’s a good edit, and overall subtly improves the film. If this had been the theatrical release I believe older fans would have liked it a little more (and it would have cost Disney a lot less to make - that extended Fathier stampede must have cost an absolute $$$ fortune to shoot, and your edit proves it really wasn’t needed at all!).
Even with the shortened run time The Last Jedi still rather overstays its welcome - and by the time we get to Crait you feel audience fatigue settling in. It doesn’t help that the exciting Throne Room sequence is the movie’s dramatic highlight, and everything after that feels a bit of an epilogue.
But well done, you’ve done what can be done with the material, and if I do revisit TLJ again in the future this will be the cut I watch.
Thanks very much for the link Spence, I just watched it this evening and really enjoyed it. The pace is considerably improved and more kinetic, and having only seen the film once before I didn’t have exacting knowledge of what you cut but for the most part it wasn’t missed and the movie still ‘worked’ in its shortened form.
There were just two exceptions where it felt like we went from A to C without passing B. Dementus (now ‘The Red’) showing up to attack the Citadel (which we’re seeing and hearing about for the first time), that lost me a bit and maybe needed some explanation. Later the scene with Praetorian Jack saying he’d teach Furiosa, and then the next scene he says words to the effect of I’ve taught you all I know - I wonder if there was a way to add a sense of ‘passage of time’ to better bridge those two scenes?
I liked what you did near the end of the film by repurposing the war montage, it now played out as Dementus’ forces being wiped out by Immortan Joe in one fell swoop. At the films very end I felt you could go even further with the cuts, it still feels slow with too much monologuing. Perhaps it could work well that after Furiosa snips the teddy off his groin you segue straight into the final shot of withered Dementus with the fruit tree growing out of him? Just a thought.
Regardless of these small suggestions it’s an entertaining and very effective edit. It keeps all the good stuff and modestly trims a bit of the fat, thanks for putting the effort in, it’s a big thumbs up from me!
Brilliant - I’d love to get a link and watch this asap?
Sounds great Spence, and I’ll look forward to seeing the final cut when you’re ready!
I’ve only seen Furiosa once at the cinema, and my memory is that it did run a touch too long (particularly at the very end, the ‘multiple deaths of Dementus’ as you call it).
It felt like binge-watching four or five episodes of a show back-to-back, and if your edit can make it feel more like a single propulsive movie (as you say Fury Road and Mad Max 2 were so lean and mean, really no fat on them) then it would become more in keeping with the hi-octane visual storytelling of those two classics.
Hi there, could i get a link?
I think I’m in a minority as someone who thinks The Phantom Menace is the best of the three PT.
Qui-Gonn and Darth Maul the two best characters of the trilogy, and both killed off in the first film!
A rather unresolved and unsatisfactory finale, especially for Jod (and SM-33 and KB for that matter).
Jod was a self-serving rascal throughout, rather than a villain, more of a Cap’n Jack Sparrow archetype. Imho it would have been more satisfying for the viewers if he worked with the kids in the final act to defeat the pirates (who were the real ‘baddies’ of the show).
Once Jod accessed the vault it would’ve made more sense from a plotting and character perspective for him to double-cross the pirates and want to keep the gold himself. A stronger resolution might have been that after he lightsabred the Supervisor it unexpectedly brought the barrier down, and then he had to work with the kids to get the cannon working and bring down the rampaging pirate ship. Then when the Republic swoop in to clean up the mess, the kids help Jod and SM-33 sneak away in their ship (Jod gifts Wim the lightsaber with a heartwarming goodbye, and of course we also see he’s cheekily pinched a pocketful of gold).
This family genre (Goonies, ET, Pirates of the Carribbean) relies on a triumphant feelgood ending, and the screenwriters didn’t really make me feel anything much with Skeleton Crew’s resolution (and I say this as someone who thought the series has been mostly excellent).
Hello Vranir, I enjoyed your workprint could I please get links to parts 1 and 2 of your new epic double-bill!
As Hal said the opening episode was over-stretched (I know the original pitch for Skeleton Crew was a movie, and in that form I’m sure this part of the story would have been much compressed). We didn’t need to see 45 minutes of Elliot’s mundane family life before he hooked up with E.T. - this genre of family movie relies on pep, zing, pace - call it what you will - but it was lacking in the first episode.
That said, the pacing improved massively in the second episode, and also the cinematography and set design really started to shine. The pirate spaceport was really, really well-visualised. Brimming with foreground and background density of detail and some really good practical aliens and costuming. It rather puts Ahsoka, Kenobi, and The Acolyte to shame how good this looked.
The child actors were also decent and based on the strength of the second episode I’m actually rather excited to see the third!
I really enjoyed this edit and recommend it to anyone who wants to see the Sequel Trilogy from a completely new perspective! It’s not just a single movie edit, but the three films really are unrecognisably recut and repurposed (and even footage from other films is skillfully spliced in).
The Japanese audio has allowed the editor to make the subtitled characters say whatever he wants them to, and it is also permeates the edit with a groovy Japanese vibe that works surprisingly well. For example, Rey seems utterly at home as a Japanese character, she really looks like she stepped straight out of Spirited Away or a Miyazaki movie.
One of the most fun and innovative edits I’ve ever seen, great job!
Can I have a link please?
Just watched this edit and it does a great job to “accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.”
The flow and pacing are much improved over the series, the little fx additions and tweaks are cool, and even the characters become way more likable (sulky Sabine and bored Ahsoka are gone, we now have a far more charismatic pairing at the heart of the film). The series did feature some great money shots with epic vistas and grand fly bys of spacecraft and star whales, and by keeping them in and removing much of the filler it makes this edit feel a good deal ‘bigger’ and more cinematic.
Definitely worth a watch!
Nice one Anjohan, thanks for sharing - some great ideas percolating. I’ll certainly be keen to watch whatever you come up with!
Hi Anjohan, I’ve seen your Season 1 edit - very good it is!
Are you planning to do a Season 2? I know we’re only three episodes in but some great reviews and Rotten Tomatoes critics rating sitting proudly on 92.
Season 2 definitely feels like an improvement but that’s not to say it wouldn’t benefit from your skills. I’m already thinking a ‘no Numenor’ edit would work well?
It appears the most plodding and disconnected of the plotlines, and whilst the Isle of Numenor is important to the overall story perhaps the Showrunners should have left that plot thread for Season 3 and focused on the more urgent and exciting Middle-earth based this Season?
Be interesting to hear your preliminary thoughts on a potential Season 2 edit?
Reduce the instances of Andy spasming on the floor, seemed to happen every ten minutes, and by the end you’re going “not again?!” (whenever the plot needed him out of action).
The facehuggers were similarly overused - it would be pretty easy to cut the ones that attack towards the end in zero G.
Reduce the dialogue and presence of the antagonistic chav character, I’m English and even I needed subtitles to know what that plonker was saying.
“Get away from her you… bitch” is this the clunkiest and lamest line of fan service in the history of Hollywood? Terrible. Someone no doubt fought for this to be in the film, they should be ashamed! A fan edit that just cut this line and nothing else would be worthwhile!
Hi there, I watched your workprint of this edit about a year ago, and I’d love to revisit the full release! Would it be possible to get a link?
ps. regarding the discussion above I have to say I do agree with ianrilofneither about keeping the black ick from the cow, which adds urgency and impact to Arondir’s choice to investigate. It sounds like the second season of ROP is rated 18 (and in truth Tolkien’s text does get gruesome at times) so I don’t think there’s any need to shy away from a little gore.
4 episodes in and I think The Acolyte has supplanted Book of Boba Fett as the weakest Star Wars series for me.
At least Tem Morrison looked like he wanted to be there (giving lessons on how to ride a speeder bike) and there were a few inventive set pieces (the Tusken attack on the train was excellent).
Star Wars has always been rewatchable for me, but 4 episodes in and I think The Acolyte is the first which I’ll never revisit. I hold out hope that it might improve or that a fan edit might redeem it somewhat. There are some nice visuals to work with (even though this last episode had some bad fake jungle, there were some atmospheric and impressive wide shots).
Using the visuals and music (which are the strongest elements) it might even work better as a fanedit ‘mood piece’. Think Blade Runner or the movies of Denis Villeneuve, and try to restyle the clunky dialogue and charisma-free performances into something a bit more abstract and dreamy. Could work?
I’d love a link please, sounds like some great tweaks and improvements on this latest version!
I hope the ‘mystery box’ element of what happened to the witches isn’t The Acolyte’s raison d’etre, as once all becomes clear the show might have little or no rewatchability.
So far, for myself I am really enjoying some of the incidental elements, such as the set designs and new environments (particularly in this 3rd episode which had a rather medieval castle feel to it), and I really like the atmospheric soundtrack.
The performances and script… hmmm, not so great. For all the amazing work the set builders and prop makers have done, if the actors fail to convince that they exist in that world and are part of those environments then it all comes off as a little bit cosplayish and lacks human ‘truth’. A couple of the more experienced actors are just about managing to sell it, but for the most part the cast appear to me as actors performing and reciting lines.
It’s lower tier Star Wars to me right now, but y’know Star Wars is like pizza. Even bad pizza is still pretty yummy, and I’d rather watch the next episode of The Acolyte than 99% of other things on TV.
I think there are a few small bits and pieces of FX changes throughout, the one I noticed most in the Patterson edit was Reva swiftly strikes and kills the Jedi they were hunting in the cantina and then when you see him strung up in the street he’s headless. In all, Kai Patterson’s is a decent edit and easy to find on google.
I’ll definitely check out the Pixeljoker edit when it does get released as like I say, I really want to like Kenobi more, but it just kinda trundles along in third gear. Neither intelligent enough to engage the mind, nor exciting and action-packed enough to provide thrills.