Mrebo

Would any of you care to "preserve" them? Do you think most of the apologists would care (and subsequently complain on their own alteredtrilogy.com)?

It seems to me that if GL released the OUT and declared it the only real version, everyone would be fairly happy. I see no value in preserving GL's ongoing and haphazard edits. The real version IS the OUT whether George Lucas likes it or not. All the rest will only be Edits. At most, those changes belong on a future bonus disc.

One SW BR review (forget the site) noted that books are sometimes rereleased with various changes without people clamoring for the original version. But I'd say books are qualitatively different (the site ultimately agreed). [Reminds me of a protracted argument we once had...] Anyway, bunch of different thoughts, but do you care at all about "saving" every new version Lucas develops?

twooffour said:

Especially if your addictive habits extend to other areas of life (like, other forums), there is professional help for internet addiction.

Might be a bit more effective than a bunch of fellow forum members remembering your good intentions and saying "hey, darth, you wanted to keep down your post count, remember LOL!" before posting a funny gif.

Hm, yes. When I'm in a place of visiting a site too much...I find that limiting it merely pushes me to visiting other sites, rather than pulling away from the internet in general. If your issue is specific only to OT.com, it sounds very manageable.

CWBorne said:

Padawan's not too bad; it just... reminds me of younglings too much. You know that kind of "space language" that Lucas actually averted pretty well in the original films that seems to just stick out much more in the prequels. Its not like we had fancy names for "Knight" or "Master" after all. Its a minor pet peeve. 

I agree. The way Yoda and Obi Wan spoke of the Force was very appealing as it didn't make the audience buy into a bunch of scifi gobbledygook.

Language in regards to the Jedi is tricky because you run into the obvious problem of why such terms are not brought up again. I do think it can be done, but one has to be careful with it. The Darth thing is intriguing though, as I've had similar thoughts regarding terms of that and "sith" to describe not people but concepts. Anakin using the Darth name as a figurative f*** you to the Jedi and his old life and an acknowledgement of how his old name and life has no meaning anymore would be very interesting to watch, especially if its part of a greater plot line of him seeing the dark side as stronger and more adept towards his goals.  

If the terminology is considered archaic and/or brought up for a specific reason or mentioned by some Jedi who is into a more intellectual understanding...it could work.

I'm thinking about making each of the Jedi have distinct skills and personalities, not just another being holding a lightsaber. Obi Wan and Yoda would represent only a very narrow slice of what the Jedi were. There would be Jedi more oriented toward nature or technology or what-have-you. Would love to have this character. In this way, Yoda could (later) represent the most pure vision of the Force, but allow for other explanations by other Jedi in the PT.

Granted this has the risk of perhaps being at bit too specific and/or dogmatic...

This would be my concern but it is an interesting idea. Also, what do you not like about the term "padawan"?

I've been considering using certain terminology for purposes of Jedi religious beliefs - terms like "darth"(obviously taken from Vader, and as a corruption of "dearth") to describe the emptiness which hatred and anger will fill; and "bendu" (GL's original part of name for Jedi) to describe the righteous self which keeps anger and hatred at bay. Obi Wan could explain such beliefs about these competing sides within everyone. Thus the name "Darth" has more meaning as a name and not a mere title; it would be a sign that Anakin has embraced that side of himself. And less random than, "hm, Darth sounds like a cool name." On the other hand I don't want to be too technical and silly. Thoughts?

Johannus said:

Mrebo said:

I'm not quite married to my version starting on Tatooine...but I have been engaged to it for awhile. Will have to consider it more. Hmmm...

I have considered many ideas of using Coruscant in a NPT, or in a new RotJ, or even in an outline for what if RotJ wasnt the end but the stepping stone for Episodes 7-9 in which Coruscant could then appear in E9. 

Johannus said:

Imagine if we could completely reboot Star Wars and create the perfect 9 films as they should have been (so leave episodes 4 and 5 pretty much identical, and the parts from RotJ that would have allowed it to be more open ended to lead into the next 3 films.

For the record, RoTJ is no less perfect than 4&5!

One thing I want to try to do is wrap up my EpIII in as neat a little bow as RoTJ. To that end, I want a non-gloomy (Star Warsy) ending. Elsewhere I've raised the issue of making the Empire appear as the good guys so far as I can. The chaos in the galaxy will be so pronounced that the new control by an Empire will be welcomed.

As some of you have suggested it can be fun to not show much of Palpatine, to leave Tatooine as a developing world, etc. And we can wrap it all up in hopeful terms.

And nothing precludes jumping in media res (not a phrase I knew before) to an episode VII now, though I hope Lucas restrains himself!

Johannus said:

A lot of thought goes into how Obi Wan and Anakin meet.  However, if we meet them whilst they are already friends it means that what we are shown only has to enforce this great friendship, not create it entirely.  Personally I think this would be better as it is easier, and still works really well (just think of Han and Chewie, or even Vader and the Emperor before the PT came out).  This would also allow Anakin to simply mention his step brother without there having to be a full explanation on screen, thus allowing Owen's words more room to be truthful. 

I agree with you all who see the value in not over-explaining. That was one thing I loved about the OT, even when I didn't totally get it at first as a young child.

Which is why I like your idea there, Johannus. It would resolve many issues (like being bound to Tatooine/Owen) by putting them in the past, preserving some of the rich unseen background of the OT. It also gives greater latitude in developing a story around relationships...rather than a story about the creation of relationships. It allows more transient characters to casually weave in and out of the story (like 3PO and R2).

I'm not quite married to my version starting on Tatooine...but I have been engaged to it for awhile. Will have to consider it more. Hmmm...

Not as sympathetic a take as I would have liked (granted its supposed to be an objective news article), but I know the author and he's generally decent on sci fi and fantasy topics (and a big fan of Dr. Who), so if you want another outlet to express grief or support you can comment there.

I wonder how hard it would be to orchestrate (good-natured) protests? Certainly a way to get good local news coverage, what with people with their "Han shot first" "Nooooo!" signs. And legal. Sounds like something best suited for college students. I was just thinking how amusing it could be.

Okay, so, I'm pretty sure I will start with Obi Wan crashing onto Tatooine one way or another. He will have been pursuing an enemy across the galaxy, maybe an assassin targeting Sen. Organa, who opposes the creation of a military. After he is shot down he will then encounter a series of challenges. He will encounter some while in the dessert at night with only moonlight (some great visuals possible here). Once he stumbles into Mos Eisely at daybreak his luck doesn't improve and we find out exactly why he thinkgs Mos Eisely is such a hive of scum and villainy.

Though I must admit, I kind of like this idea of it being quite a pleasant and developing city so that when Obi Wan calls it scummy later on, we're like "huh?!" and then we see why.

Anyhow, he is found by Anakin. Obi Wan senses his strength with the Force and convinces Anakin to help him get back to Alderaan.

They spend the night at Owen and Anakin's farm. Owen is annoyed by this stranger putting ideas into Anakin's head. More controversially (at least in my mind) is having Owen accompany them to try to keep Anakin out of trouble. (What do you all think, should Owen get off the farm?) Owen doesn't mind staying longer on Alderaan after he meets Beru Whitesun. And Anakin becomes equally smitten with...her sister.

If you don't have Tatooine in the prequels, how do you resolve it with the OT? Do you give any indication as to who Owen is or is he just random guy who shows up in OT?

If you do have Tatooine in the prequels, how do you make it interesting and relevant to the story you're telling?

OT quotes to tackle:

Obi-Wan: Uncle Owen "didn't hold with your father's ideals. Thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved."

------

Obi-Wan: Uncle Owen "feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade, like your father did."

-------

Aunt Beru: "Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him."

Uncle Owen: That's what I'm afraid of.

Mrebo said:

The characters

       How do Jedi dress?

I don't know! I'm giving serious consideration to the criticism that it's silly for Jedi to dress like Uncle Owen and everyone else on Tatooine. I sort of like the idea raised by someone in another thread of 'Vader armor' being Jedi armor (sans helmet). The outfit worn in the animated Clone Wars by Obi Wan is a decent idea. Maybe just a great variety of individualized outfits.

       How will your main characters dress?

They will change less frequently than Padme. Clothing will be simple, comparable to OT stylings.

       Will you have an alien main character?

            (This question is a big impetus in my making this thread. Star Wars was great because it had droids and a Wookiee as main characters. If the PT is only humans running around it seems lacking in such a diverse universe.)

      If you have an alien character, what does it look like?

I'm still thinking of a paunchy little alien, similar perhaps to an Ortolan.

      This is more story-related, but how do you resolve the fate of an alien main character with its non-mention/appearance in the OT?

Still working on this.

     Will you have droid main characters?

     If so, what droids?

I haven't seriously considered this but actually a smart idea. Be cool to have an R5 droid. But because of my lack of female characters, maybe a female droid?

Machines

    What inspires your vision of ships?

The OT. Stuff like this. The old V-35 landspeeder in Owen's garage. Core world ships will be more art deco.

    What will droids look like?

I'll resurrect old droids seen in OT: gonks, R1s, etc. C-3PO and R2-D2 will be fairly new types.

The Setting

    What sort of planets?

    What inspires your vision of architecture?

I may stick to the OT style of ~3 locations per movie.

I'm wanting Tatooine, Alderaan, and Coruscant in E1. Still working out the rest. I think a volcano planet is the necessary place for Anakin's demise? It seems burnt into our collective consciousness. Certainly not a bad idea.

Overall feel

    Color grading? Anything as radical as "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"

Any other thoughts on how your prequels would look!

I am thinking of a more vintage feel in a nod to the fact that these are historical in comparison to the OT. Can't hide the fact that they look newer so might as well play with that factor (just a little).

xhonzi said:

2 other things:

1. It's nice to see so much activity in this sub forum as of late.

2. Would this level of activity persist if we spun some of these conversations out into individual threads?  I think one of the problems we have here is that we discuss the same issues in lots of different threads and lots of different issues in the same threads.  It leads to a lot of ideas getting lost or repeated.  Just food for thought.

Surprises: Yoda

Surprises: Vader

Surprises: Luke and Leia

Surprises: (what else?)

How to handle Owen?

Who are the Clones?

All of these would be excellent threads.

 

I concur. Maybe some more specific threads would be helpful. So many of my ideas are interconnected or tentative that it would be hard to define them too precisely, but maybe such threads would help?

Bingowings said:

Pardon me sir!

I misunderstood the nature of the thread.

I can't really participate because I would have to write three new prequels to know how to begin them and unlike a certain gentleman who shall remain nameless (now that George Lucas is nothing more than a corporate brand) I would probably spent more than twenty minutes doing it.

It's more a matter of taste. I just agree with xhonzi that if we have the ability to approach the PT anyway we want, why not truly start from scratch? Trying to salvage GL's PT serves less a purpose in my opinion - unless it's fan film edit.

I also have to basically know how the 3 prequels go in order to begin them. I have a hard time even outlining it until I know exactly how it's going to work!

Promus said:

CWBorne...That. Was. Awesome!

I LOVE the idea of Anakin being Beru's brother! It makes so much sense...the name issue always threw a wrench into my ideas. Have you written an entire script for your vision of the prequels, or are you still just working on it? Because I LOVE your ideas and I'd love to brainstorm the other details with you too, if you'd like.

With all the fanfilms that have been made, I've always felt that it might be possible (with some extra money...) to make my own prequel fanfilms. And working with other people is an important part of doing anything like that...

Mrebo, CWBorne...we really should collaborate on something big!

CWborne and xhonzi have lots of great ideas. My prequels are slowly coming together mostly in my brain (and on my former laptop).

There are a lot of branches in the thinking of the prequels. Another, bigger, branch than whether to show Tatooine is whether to preserve the OT surprises. My philosophy is to create the PT as they could have been if they had been made first. This creates challenges like not showing Anakin become Darth Vader. CWBorne is arguably more sensible in assuming everybody knows the surprises and thus being unafraid of showing Yoda, showing Anakin become Vader, etc. In not trying to keep surprises it is easier to just focus on making a really great story. And certainly not wrong to have an audience in on the secrets, just waiting to see how Luke handles them.

This was influential for my wanting to adapt to the limitations of keeping OT secrets. I do think there are simple, clever, and story-enhancing ways of keeping the secrets.

One idea I'm toying with is to show Anakin confront Palpatine and then the scene cuts to Obi Wan who, after some hesitation, goes off to "save" his friend.  We don't know anything more until Ep3 when Anakin is Vader that we see him duel Obi Wan (again). Obi Wan double talks about Vader killing Anakin. Vader retorts that it was Obi Wan that killed Anakin (double meaning of 'drove him to the dark side' and 'literally sliced him up'). In this way, Obi Wan's later explanation to Luke is seen as less of a jerky plot gimmick and more of 'this is seriously how Obi Wan sees the world.' The exposition would be done to lead the audience to believe that Vader was a dark jedi who murdered Anakin until Vader later declares, "No...I am your father."

All these divergent ideas can make true collaboration difficult, but I know just sharing ideas really helps me.

Alexrd said:

Mrebo said:

TheBoost said:

Mielr said:

Seriously, do we care what the people at TFN think of us?! LOL! Those people are beyond delusional- they have ZERO credibility so I hardly think they're in a position to judge us.

 That someone dares to like the PT or the SE is delusional? I someone with less discenring tastes about color-seperation really crazy? Does liking the dug in Jabba's palace really cost someone their credibility?

Yes, yes, and yes!

jk. I didn't think Mielr was going that far. I mean a lot of them do seem delusional. Not for what they like but for why they like it (eg "because GL always wanted it this way!"; "It's necessary because like the OT is like so old and stuff!") Mielr can correct me if he's actually saying they're nutty simply because they have bad taste. There are members here who have expressed enjoyment of the PT and SE to at least some extent.

As a user of TF.N and OT.com (and other forums aswell, like LucasForums.com), I believe that calling this place a bashers sanctuary or TF.N a gushers one has the same credibility and fairness. I've been a target of prejudice in both places. In TF.N for expressing my desire of wanting the OOT to be released properly and for disliking some of the SE changes, and here for liking (or defending) the prequels and for being a TF.N user. With that said, I don't fall in the mistake of blaming the whole community for the immaturity and lack of argumentation of a couple of users.

Anyway, dark_jedi has made some good points here.

I liked the extra Wampa scene in the SE. I enjoyed Adywan's alterations. I think many of us enjoy different versions (we have a whole section devoted to fan edits!). I'm also an unabashed ROTJ and Ewok lover though there are plenty around here who criticize ROTJ and Ewoks.

I've honestly just been discouraged by the PT and SE even if I liked certain elements. At least up to '99 I knew a fair amount about the EU, read lots of books, prided myself on knowing obscure facts, collected the toys into the 2000s (and knew the approximate values of everything in my collection by heart; of course I'd never get rid of my collection). And I know for a fact I didn't grow up. And GL saying that the original Star Wars are obsolete only drives the stake deeper.

So where is a discouraged fan to go who still appreciates everything Star Wars originally stood for? Where they all say everything is fine? Where I'm lulled into believing that the PT made sense? Where I'm told the original tone and story is simply outdated? Those don't seem like places for someone who loves Star Wars to go.

But this place seems fairly level-headed. Look at how many are criticizing the more hyperbolic statements that are sometimes made. I wish I could love anything and everything that has the Star Wars label attached to it. I once did.

none said:

The official Star Wars site got a redesign (...tons of shit is Possibly gone...) but they have a section for Fan Sites, this place didn't make it.

http://www.starwars.com/connect/fan-sites/

And yet the Holiday Special site is listed!

I mean at least the secrethistoryofstarwars.com or www.tk409.com would be good additions. I wonder if it's possible to petition to be added...

TheBoost said:

Mielr said:

Seriously, do we care what the people at TFN think of us?! LOL! Those people are beyond delusional- they have ZERO credibility so I hardly think they're in a position to judge us.

 That someone dares to like the PT or the SE is delusional? I someone with less discenring tastes about color-seperation really crazy? Does liking the dug in Jabba's palace really cost someone their credibility?

Yes, yes, and yes!

jk. I didn't think Mielr was going that far. I mean a lot of them do seem delusional. Not for what they like but for why they like it (eg "because GL always wanted it this way!"; "It's necessary because like the OT is like so old and stuff!") Mielr can correct me if he's actually saying they're nutty simply because they have bad taste. There are members here who have expressed enjoyment of the PT and SE to at least some extent.

I would totally respect it if GL wanted to release his most special of special editions made with obvious care, along with original theatrical versions. Even if I thought 100% of his SE changes were silly, I could probably have fun seeing how GL re-envisions it every few years. Instead GL says his latest slapdash effort is his original vision so we had better like it cuz it's all we're getting. If somebody falls over themselves saying how it's the best ever, they are delusional (which is far from being insane, btw).

Promus said:

What do you think of that idea, Mrebo? I don't really like it myself, and I don't think it meshes with the "final" version.

I agree with you.

xhonzi said:

WheresBlackhawk said:

 Otherwise, think of Ben's line in ROTJ: "To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born."  With your father's name?  On his home planet? To paraphrase Comicboook Guy from the Simpsons: WORST HIDING PLACE EVER!

And with his real Uncle?  Yeah, I have to say that's a bad idea. 

I grant you it's not the smartest thing in the universe, no matter how small the risk. But if Anakin doesn't know he has a child, it's not like he's going to be checking out his old haunts to say hello to old friends. And if nobody knows the significance of the name Skywalker except for maybe 5 people in the galaxy it's not like someone is going to tell Vader. Given the nature of the risk, it wasn't a smart move, but not totally absurd. In the end it's fiction, and this kind of thing can be excused.

The idea that Owen had a relationship with Anakin rings false to me.  I think he probably had a relationship with Obi-Wan.  Owen is probably projecting his feelings about Obi-Wan onto Anakin.  He should have stayed here.  Crazy ideas of destiny, etc...  And when Obi-Wan says his bit about damn fool idealistic crusade, again, I think he's projecting his own leaving home- however that affected Owen.

I feel like the most straightforward reading of Obi's, Ben's, and Beru's words reveal a relationship. Ignoring Owen, assuming Ben is a liar, or that Owen is suffering from a slight neurosis [He didn't hold with your Father's ideals, by which I mean my ideals, he didn't actually know your father, and I'm totally lying anyhow"] does go some way paving a different direction...and despite the teasing I'm sure can be presented with some credibility.

I don't even see a real need for it even at the end of E3.  I think audiences can figure it out just fine.

I agree on this point. Very optional to have Tatooine in Ep3.

CWBorne said:

In my conception of the prequels, Anakin is actually Beru's brother...

For me Beru plays a similar role.

The idea of a very different kind of Tatooine is interesting. Good food for thought. We should discuss our ideas more often!

I see great diversity and I have yet to witness a true "hater" here. xhonzi made that list of people who "hate" the PT and only a handful would go that far. We make  honest critiques in the context of loving Star Wars. I'm pretty appalled at the sycophancy at some sites where they applaud the obliteration of the original theatrical versions. That doesn't seem to be consistent with truly loving Star Wars.

Promus said:

So wait...are you saying that Obi-Wan and Owen should be linked somehow, instead of Anakin and Owen?

"Originally" (in the novelization) Obi Wan and Owen were brothers.

WheresBlackhawk said:

Greetings.

Just to chime in on the Tatooine thing...

I was never a fan of Tatooine being in the PT.  It all depends on what lines in Star Wars you want to give your attention to. 

You are focusing on Ben's line about Anakin "should have stayed here," and taking it literally.  What if it's figurative or he was actually quoting Owen?  "Here" meaning WITH his family not necessarily a defined place.  Otherwise, think of Ben's line in ROTJ: "To protect you both from the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born."  With your father's name?  On his home planet? To paraphrase Comicboook Guy from the Simpsons: WORST HIDING PLACE EVER!

Getting rid of Tatooine gives you two opportunities:

1. To not retread old ground.  According to Luke, If there is a bright center to the galaxy, Tatooine is the planet that is the farthest from it, yet it is in FIVE of the six movies.

2. To create more variety of environments.  I always like that the OT had such a great variety of settings: ANH- dessert and high-tech station.  ESB- snow, jungle and cloud city.  ROTJ- dessert and lush forest.  What new setting can be introduced in NPT?

Its a great big galaxy. Where else can we tell your story?

But aside from that one line, it was clear that Owen had an emotional attachment to Anakin in that he didn't want him involved in Obi Wan's nonsense and then adopted his kid. Beru suggested Owen has moisture farming in his blood (by way of contrasting with Luke, "he's not a farmer, Owen [unlike you, and by farming I clearly mean moisture farming]." Owen doesn't come across as much of a spacefarer who relocated to another planet with moisture farming. So no matter where "here" was, in order for Anakin to know Owen, Tatooine should have been involved.  We could stretch other lines to simply mean Owen knows Obi Wan well enough that he wouldn't trust him with a stray cat. But still, the lines and relationships show a greater connection between Owen and Anakin. Owen anchors us to Tatooine. Maybe we can make up more convoluted reasons to escape Tatooine but to me it's not worth it.

Being on Tatooine isn't a bad hiding spot if almost nobody in the galaxy knows Anakin Skywalker is Vader let alone formerly a great Jedi. And it's not like Vader is going to pop in and say hello. Owen is his former friend but for all intents and purposes Anakin is dead. Unless somebody knows to look there and knows what the name Skywalker means and finds out that Luke is the son of Anakin and not some other Skywalker, etc.

What was supremely stupid was Leia being given the middle name Amidala (according to sw wiki) and being a prominent member of royalty and involved in government business. That should have raised a non-digitally removed eyebrow. Or at least caused crippling anguish to Vader every time he encountered her.

Tatooine can be shown in new and exciting ways. In my mind, Tatooine only need be in one of the PT. And I personally like the idea of Luke and Leia being children of Tatooine and Alderaan (that's where their mother is from in my version).

I "like" reading comments about the Blurays on that other site. Things like:

"I for one LOVE the cyan tint. It makes AOTC match TESB even MORE now."

I suppose there are no words to respond to such a statement even if I had registered on the site.

Promus said:

The Republic doesn't need a clone army...just recruit like ten guys from each of the 1 million planets in the Republic and whammo, you've instantly got 10 million soldiers. It would be easy to make an even bigger army the same way, almost instantly.

Welcome also.

Something I've been wondering is how many planetary members of the Republic are there? Star Wars wikis aren't real clear, I found one suggesting there are 'over 2,000' members (planets, trade guilds, etc). In real terms, scientists say there are billions of planets in our galaxy (granted most cannot sustain life). To me, it just gets too over the top if there are many thousands of planets in the Republic. For story purposes, I would probably prefer only a few hundred planets. And certainly there are many inhabitable planets that are simply not part of the Republic because they're not civilized or are very remote. Still easy to raise a sizable army, of course. I'm just wondering your thoughts on the nature of the Republic.

Who knows what brought Kenobi to Tatooine, but that's where he would have met Anakin. Maybe Anakin really DID do work as a navigator on a spice freighter originally, but he obviously lived on Tatooine and was a great pilot.

This is a story element I want to make sure is solid. Some hate the idea of being on Tatooine again. But that is clearly where Anakin was from. Owen thought Anakin should have stayed "here." And the link with Owen (who apparently has it in his bones to be a moisture farmer) makes it almost impossible to not have Anakin come from Tatooine.

Maybe Obi-Wan met Anakin at the Mos Eisley cantina - how else would Kenobi know that the cantina is a great place to find talented pilots?

I like this idea...but I also don't want to take away from the fun of seeing the cantina for the first time in ANH. The whole point of panning across the aliens in ANH was to show how exotic it was. If we already know, then the ANH experience can fall flat.

Befriending Anakin, he fills his head with tales of glory, and war, and the wonder of the Force, all of which eclipsed the monotony of his safe, boring little life. Against the wishes of his brother, Owen, Anakin leaves the family farm and all of its mundane responsibilities to fight in the Clone Wars, "on some damn fool idealistic crusade" and hopefully return as a Jedi.

I'm mostly on board with the rest of your ideas, with a few extra twists and turns involved.

Very good to see you here again. And nice to see you're tackling the same problem that's been on my mind of late.

My alien idea has been of a paunchy little alien something between an Ortolan and an Utai. I like the idea of an obviously friendly alien yet very different from Chewie. Personality-wise he might be eager and practical, but that's still very much up in the air.

I am wanting R2-D2 and C-3PO as prominent secondary characters (which will make more sense if I can get it to work as I intend) but I do see merit in another major droid character now that you mention it - especially as a link with R2/3PO. Your droid description made me think of Alan Rickman...so I think there are many ways to do what you want without people thinking of Han Solo.

Also I've been struggling with the lack of females. Beru and Mother Skywalker come into the picture but I don't intend them to be anything like Leia or Padme and so it seems lacking gender-wise. Making the alien a female is a dynamic way of addressing that. Though perhaps a female droid would be good.

Ultimately I need a way of resolving the characters' fates. Do I want a movie where everybody dies (Anakin, Mother Skywalker, Alien, Droid, etc)? Maybe it could work without being depressing. I mean Owen and Beru get fried, Alderaanians explode, Obi Wan and Yoda fade, etc. But it will be tricky if I expect the audience to have the same kind of connection with the characters as OT main characters. Though perhaps not having them so prominent makes it less of a problem if they just go their own way, as you suggest.

In some thread was posted the link about the Godfather restoration. What is bugging me now is why didn't they just scan and use the technicolor print (rather than go through all the work with the damaged negative)?

As there is some hope out there for using technicolor of Star Wars, I'm wondering what deficiency if any there is in relying on such a print?