NFBisms

hey man anime can be fucking cool dont hate

edit: Most of it is garbage to be fair. Or I’m just trash enough to enjoy some of it.

If I can explain why I left the scene in for New Canon Cut - that edit’s main goals were to age Anakin up and portray him as an experienced and trusted Jedi general. Leaving in that scene was a decision made towards a more subliminal end rather than plot or pacing end. Seeing him alongside Windu and the other masters just further suggests that he has rank among them. Don’t forget I also cut Anakin saying “yes, master” in response to his orders, so Anakin just coldly looks at Windu before walking off, openly demonstrating that he disapproves. The subsequent scene with Anakin and Palpatine is also then edited to make Anakin the one to take the reigns in the conversation. So even if he doesn’t go to the Chancellor on his own accord, Anakin is still proactive and assertive in guiding his fate. (shameless plug: new version on gdrive hmu for link)

I don’t think it’s something LoE needs though, to be honest.

If you were to use both scenes like I did, I just cut out “I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi” in the first, earlier deleted OB1/MW/Y scene, and then cut after that point in the war room scene. “The dark side of the force surrounds the chancellor” is vague enough for early on in the film, but once all the gears have been working in Palpatine’s favor at this halfway point, I think the more solid “plot to destroy the Jedi” being recognized is fine. It’s almost too late by this point anyway.

Still a rough draft for sure, a lot of it is experimentation.

EDIT: also lol @Owen being Anakin’s biological brother. He’d be like 10. I just thought saying “stepbrother” was a bit too stiff

To be honest, not really. Anakin is too much of a whiny brat towards the start of that one, and I use audio from it towards the end of this cut. (Obi-Wan suggesting Anakin’s knighting)

EDIT: btw making cutlists is such a process and not fun at all but i do need to explain some choices i make because they’re probably unpopular at first glance

I’m re-configuring this thread, because my new edit of AOTC shares plenty of the same ideas and I don’t want to have two AOTC edit threads.

I want to preface this thread by saying: This AOTC edit is so not going to be everyone’s thing.

This was just something I put together over the holidays for my little cousin, who absolutely loves Star Wars, but who I know doesn’t have the attention span for Attack of the Clones. To be frank, I don’t think I do either.

He loved Rise of Skywalker - which I didn’t - but that inspired me to think about how the prequels, in the context of how disappointing the Sequel Trilogy was to me, had some merit. Kind of. Its problems are obvious and have been talked about for nearly two decades at this point, but no edit has actually made them fun to watch if you weren’t already trying to like them. From the earlier edits to Hal’s edits, the biggest thing in many prequel edits is making them more coherent. Make them make sense, less goofy/cringy, and just less excruciating to watch.

In light of Rise of Skywalker: What if I made Attack of the Clones, just, dumber?

What I mean by that is - the politics and context, what if I just threw it out? TROS and the ST at large didn’t care and the movies were fun! When it wasn’t using pure nostalgia, the ST (save for TLJ) relied on the likeable characters going on a fun galaxy adventure thing. And AOTC has some interesting, if not dated, fun setpieces. The speeder chase through Coruscant, rain brawl, asteroid field dogfight, Geonosis arena, the battle… I remember fastforwarding to those parts on DVD when I was like 10, but I couldn’t sit through all the between. When I say dumb, I mean it in a fun way.

Making this for my cousin was a fun experiment in ST-ing/modern blockbuster-ifying AOTC. Just like in the ST, any set-up for the next movie doesn’t matter. Any context for the galaxy or how things work is only just mentioned. It follows Padme/Anakin/Obi-Wan almost from beginning to end, minimizing any cutaways to Mace, Yoda, or the Senate. There are virtually no scenes in the Jedi Council or Senate Hall.

Now, that sounds easy, but it was more than just excising scenes. My cousin is a smart kid, and it takes more than just cool sci-fi shit to keep him entertained. The story and characters still have to make sense in the broadest of ways, even if the pacing is much quicker and more exciting.

And a big challenge was in how I don’t have access to the charisma TROS was working with to take the audience from beginning to end. Making the characters likeable and seemingly charismatic enough to carry an otherwise empty film was the biggest goal. (This is where my NCC philosophies came into play).

CUTS AND CHANGES:

1. New crawl that tries its damnedest to make this Seperatist movement and voting business sound exciting. Removed any mentions of Count Dooku because who cares. We’ll meet him when we meet him. He’s the bad guy!
2. Cut the misdirect from inside Padme’s ship.
3. Maybe just one explosion from the ship ambush.
4. Cut political discussion/recap of crawl between Jedi and Chancellor from scene in Palpatine’s office, it jumps straight into the Senators coming in after Palpatine ends a vague conversation with Yoda.
5. Padme now warmly chuckles at Yoda’s warm and compassionate greeting to her, instead of ignoring it for business. Weird to introduce one of your main protagonist’s in such a cold, stand-offish way btw.
6. Everything about disgruntled spice miners or Count Dooku or who he is, is cut, Palpatine jumps straight into suggesting protection in light of the previous scene. Which is also a good way to take Padme from the mood Yoda might’ve put her in a few seconds ago.
7. Transition straight from Palpatine saying “Master Kenobi” to the introductory elevator scene.
8. Anakin and Obi-Wan friendly banter is made friendlier, I hope.
9. Retained Jar Jar’s enthusiastic greeting because kids like weird aliens, and I’ll take any warmth in such a dry movie.
10. Cut any “more beautiful, for a senator” awkwardness
11. Removed Obi-Wan uncomfortably scolding Anakin in front of everyone. He just corrects Anakin.
12. Padme’s “perhaps merely your presence will reveal more…” is last word before cutting to Zam and Jango. We don’t need to see her walk all the way to the end of the damn room to retire for the night, and there’s no conversation afterwards that matters. It’s also good to imply that they talked a little more than just business afterwards.
13. Some dialogue trims to Zam/Jango interactions.
14. Anakin isn’t a creep at all in this. He doesn’t tell Obi-Wan he wants to dream about her, no implication that he wanted to watch her sleep.
15. Him and Obi-Wan’s interactions here come off as more of a caring relationship. Obi-Wan reassures Anakin of his anxieties and that his dreams will pass, and it doesn’t lead into a political debate. No politics here! (Even if they are pretty interesting context for Star Wars to tackle.)
16. Doesn’t mean Anakin is less of a reckless swashbuckler. I wanted to convey the joy and fun Anakin has in being this hero. Replaced some of his authoritative lines with more laid back Hayden ones, and a few joyous “WOOHOOs” and chuckling as he pilots the speeder in the chase. Obi-Wan is a little exasperated but not completely annoyed with him. He doesn’t lecture or scold him, just tells him to slow down and think a bit. Especially since Anakin doesn’t lose his saber here.
17. I added some cantina-ish music to the club scene to liven up the feel. There really is no music here in the original for whatever reason. It’s a bar in Star Wars and there’s like nothing to work with! Even the aliens are just people with antenna headbands. Oh well.
18. Anakin doesn’t angrily interrogate Zam, in fact with the line I did leave in from his questioning, it comes off as more of a comforting thing. “You can tell us” to a dying bounty hunter who was just doing their job.
19. I don’t remember which edit this originates from, but the “Kamino system” edit from Octorox/Hal’s is here.
20. At this point, I don’t think we’re 20 minutes into the film, so that all works as an opening.
21. Removed the Jedi Council meeting. No politics! Aside from it contextualizing the world a bit, there’s not a lot that’s needed to be known about what the pair do for the rest of the film. Obi-Wan goes straight into investigating, Anakin escorts Padme out of the capital. We don’t need to see them ordered to do that, and I think the idea that they can work independently of the council’s influence makes them stronger characters. They have autonomy and they decided to do this themselves! That Master and Apprentice came up with this plan between each other also strengthens their relationship. Especially when earlier, Obi-Wan didn’t necessarily outright refute Anakin’s investigation mandate like in the original.
22. Because of the previous, no Anakin/Palpatine scene. Because Revenge of the Sith doesn’t matter, there’s no point in slowing things down for payoff that only comes in another movie! Who’s Snoke? Not my problem!
23. So straight off Zam’s murder, Obi-Wan’s investigation starts with the youngling scene but trimmed. Obi-Wan can’t find the Kamino system Zam just mentioned, Yoda/younglings helps, and the missing archive mystery is referenced, but not as deeply foreshadowing anything since Dooku is just going to show up and we’re just going to have to deal. (I’m sorry but that library scene is bad. Not using it. At least here, the kids are cute and Yoda is endearing as fuck. I think the “investigation with the help of eclectic allies” trope is also inherently a little more exciting than a man going to a library, too.)
24. Padme packing her bags is the next scene. This is where you can essentially figure out what Anakin and Obi’s plan is, without the previously cut scenes.
25. Cut all of Anakin’s petulance and creepiness here.
26. This leads us to Padme and Anakin’s departure as refugees. Obi-Wan doesn’t express his concerns to Anakin’s face, he just warmly says “May the force be with you” to Anakin, demonstrating a less toxic relationship. He trusts Anakin enough.
27. Wipe to DEX’S DINER, baby. That’s right. I don’t use all of the scene, because it is mostly bad, but again, it’s that “investigation with the help of eclectic allies” trope. Obi-Wan’s got contacts and old friends! He’s a fun guy with interesting stories to tell! And I mean, this movie is so so dry, a fun weird alien in a 50’s diner gives it much needed Star Wars-esque life. And the edit can afford it at this pace. Hell, it needs it. Anyway, the scene leads us from Dex’s ominous “how big your pocketbook is” straight into Obi-Wan landing on Kamino. I thought that would be an exciting transition.
28. Obi-Wan meets with the prime minister of Kamino. Removed mentions of Sifo-Dyas because it is genuinely confusing and unanswered. Obi-Wan is edited to be more visibly confused but intrigued throughout the conversation. The way it’s played in the original, it’s kind of hard to tell that Obi-Wan is bullshitting so I just minimized that aspect of it. Another somewhat intriguing end note, it ends on “This army is for the Republic.” Less than 30 minutes in and the plot has progressed quite quickly.
29. Wipe to Anakin and Padme discussing love and compassion on the transport, and straight into their landing on Naboo. This is where I allowed the film to breath a bit, because I think we still need to buy Anakin and Padme’s relationship. I inserted the extended versions of them walking through Naboo for the first time where they open up to each other like real human beings. Besides, Obi-Wan’s plot is moving every other scene, it’s okay to have the slower character development sandwiched in between, when it pays off later. It’s not like they’re that long or boring either.
30. Padme meeting with the Queen is trimmed a bit to remove any specifics of the politics. No throwing out of random names of different factions we don’t know anything about. Just a broad reminder of what Padme is actually trying to accomplish, and we’re out. No Anakin/Padme bickering.
31. Obi-Wan is introduced to the Clone Army and I mostly kept it all in. I think I removed Obi-Wan asking to meet Jango because they won’t really talk to each other in this edit.
32. Anakin and Padme meet the parents deleted scene. It’s pretty short and contextualizes their relationship a bit more. I tried to make Anakin actually charm the family a bit with some added Hayden lines and chuckles from them. I removed the uncomfortable turns the conversation takes.
33. Obi-Wan is now about to brief Mace and Yoda, and leave Kamino. I cut the Jango/Obi-Wan having a conversation scene because it doesn’t do anything but pose more questions for the audience. And the mental game is like nonexistent but they’re acting like there is one? It’s just unnecessary especially for the purposes of this edit. We’ve got to get to the action, man!
34. Which is what we do. After briefing Yoda and Mace, Obi-Wan and Jango have their little battle in the rain. This is the first time they’re coming face to face. You’ll find I didn’t cut a lot of the action or slapstick.
35. Anakin/Padme at the waterfall, cutting Anakin’s fascism, which leads us into a montage of sorts where they fall in love. Aggressive negotiations, swimming entire damn lakes, and even sand can be heard over “Anakin’s Dream” from the ROTS score. But Anakin and Padme actually don’t kiss! Padme pulls away at the last second. One of my favorite scenes in this entire movie is them kissing on the chariot going into the arena. Wouldn’t it be even better if that’s the first time they kiss onscreen? The montage ends with Anakin and Padme rolling around in the meadow after he faked her out with the giant ballsac creatures.
36. Jango v. Obi-Wan asteroid dogfight here! Those sound effects rule! Although, it cuts to the next scene before we can see Obi-Wan’s fighter behind the asteroid. We see Jango’s ship land on Geonosis as the closer.
37. From black, Anakin wakes up from this dream he has, and then tells Padme they’re going to see his mom.
38. Obi-Wan is then revealed to be alive and lands on Geonosis, finding the factory.
39. Wipe to Anakin and Padme landing on Tatooine. They talk to Watto. Some trims to make Anakin less angry.
40. Cut to Obi-Wan eavesdropping on COUNT DOOKU and OTHERS. I let all the factions talk about themselves and what they’re doing at this point as a quick way to wrap up whatever mystery was still being had from Obi-Wan’s subplot. Audience, meet bad guys. Bad guys, audience.
41. Anakin and Padme are now at the Lars Homestead. They reunite with 3PO, (made Anakin slightly happier to see him) meet the step-family and then we cut to Obi-Wan trying to contact Anakin from Geonosis to Naboo. R2 picks up the message, but we have to get back to whatever happened to Shmi! Cliegg tells Anakin what happened with the Tuskens, but Anakin doesn’t go out to find her.
42. I placed Anakin sulking in the workshop/garage here. In the original this happens post-Tusken massacre, but I edited it to not reference any of that. Anakin is just sad and angry that his mom is probably dead. (You’ll see what I do with the Tusken massacre). It’s now just a quiet, melancholy scene. Not sinister. I also like the idea that Anakin doesn’t just immediately and coldly fuck off from these people to find his mom. I think there’s something to be said about how he chooses to stay with these people despite not having to, that might make it work with what we know about Anakin/Lars family in the Original Trilogy.
43. Shmi’s “funeral” is placed here, although I suppose they don’t have the body yet. Anakin, like the Larses, assumes Shmi is dead. I cut Cliegg’s eulogy because who??? R2 comes out with the message and…
44. Cut to Obi-Wan’s message to the council and Anakin on “Does that mean anything to you?” from 3PO.
45. Mace then tells Anakin to stay where he is. However, instead of Anakin actually trying to follow those orders and arguing with Padme about it, in this edit Anakin is actually going to go try to save Obi-Wan himself. He tells Padme to stay with the Lars family because they’re good people (using dialogue from when he was going to find the Tusken camp) but she decides she’s going to go and that’s the end of that. They leave. I don’t get why Anakin was so adamant about following orders and forsaking Obi-Wan in the original, so I changed it. Less unnecessary drama.
46. Dooku and Obi-Wan have a face to face and this is where we get exposition for who Dooku is. First time Dooku is mentioned or addressed by name at all, tbh. Better to have a face to the name rather than vice versa for something like this I think. I don’t actually know what we lose by having it be this way, and without Sifo-Dyas it resolves a mystery.
47. Wipe to Padme, Anakin, R2, and 3PO in the factory, baby! That’s right! It’s here. As a dominantly action-focused film, I left it in. Closest thing to classic Star Wars adventure and excitement in the prequels is 3PO and R2 fucking around.
48. I more or less kept the rest of the film the same until the ending, to be honest. Dumb things like “Around the perimeter” are removed, but for the most part - even 3PO’s nonsense - is kept in. I’ve come to find that campy stuff charming and fitting for Star Wars, especially when it would be so so dry otherwise. And I made this for a kid so…
49. When Padme falls out of the gunship, I made Obi-Wan less of a dick about Anakin wanting to save her. He basically just says “I need you!” and “WWPD?” and Anakin agrees to do his duty, which I hope pays off a bit later.
50. Anakin v. Dooku now doesn’t look like a dance.
51. Personal preference to have a non-lightsaber wielding Yoda, but we can see about re-adding it if it works for something that aims to be kind of dumb.
52. Instead of Anakin/Padme’s marriage, it cuts back to the Lars Homstead, where it’s implied Amidala/Skywalker returned. He’s going to find his mom. It’s a bit of an epilogue and might feel too long but the last thing we see in the movie before the wipe to credits is Anakin’s lightsaber tearing into the screen. Presumably a Tusken. This accomplishes a few things. Anakin throughout this edit has like almost no darkness in him. Well, here it is! Some of that Darth Vader foreshadowing, but in like a really heavy-handed Marvel-esque way. “Oooohhh you excited for the next one? Darth Vader~~” But more than that, the theme of duty vs his passions leading Anakin down this path is stronger when the events of the film prevented him from saving his mom on time. The same thing is in the original, but it might land more after it becoming text via Obi-Wan/Anakin on the gunship, and him literally leaving Tatooine to do something else. Idk. I also like the further, somewhat OT-consistent Skywalker/Lars connection him returning implies.

Oh, and there’s a color grade to make it look less sterile and more filmic, because why not.

So I should have some workprint tomorrow. But I really only wanted to share it because I do have some radical/new ideas in here that I would want to put out there for the community in editing AOTC. They don’t just have to work in the context of an edit aping JJ. Feedback would be appreciated and I’d love to discuss any other ways I could turn AOTC into something actually fun and stupid.

Original Post:

NFBisms said:

So, for those of you who have kept up with my RotS edit, this is my episode II!

Obviously, I’m partial to the interpretation of Anakin Skywalker as described to us by Ben Kenobi in the OT and presented to us in the 2008 Clone Wars series, so to fill in the blanks between TPM and TCW/RotSNCC, this edit of AotC aims to lighten Anakin and Obi-Wan’s relationship, and make Anakin Skywalker a more genuinely likeable person. While the prequels are incongruous in a lot of ways with the OT, I believe the characterizations and arcs should stay consistent across all canon.

The approach here is a little different than in the New Canon Cut for RotS. Anakin won’t be a decorated general or that mature. In fact, my AotC kind of aims to age Anakin down a bit, a tad closer to the sweet boy Ani we met in TPM. That’s not to say he will be annoying, but what I did here was make Anakin more willing to be a student. Theatrical Anakin is in a hurry to grow up, and thus tries to act like it to the point he sounds whiny, immature, and entitled. Obi-Wan is pretty much done with his shit, and thinks Anakin is a bit of a trouble student. Anakin in my AotC is reframed as more or less a good student with a bit of a playful, rebellious edge; he knows and embraces his place as still just a padawan and Obi-Wan is more seemingly fond of him, trusting him much more.

I think there’s a contrast between that young student and the decorated general in my RotS that just makes the fall in RotS more tragic. The trajectory is now set up where Anakin’s arc is more or less him on his way to growing into being like Luke by the end of ROTJ (maybe even better), but he ultimately fails to grapple with his attachments and passions.

In that vein, Anakin is much more mellow and less cold in this edit. Specifically in the scenes where he’s interrogating, Anakin doesn’t become intense or irate. He’s patient with Watto, softer with Zam, and I’ve removed his coldness towards his step-family.

I’ve tried to make Anakin and Padme’s romance a lot less creepy and weird. Anakin not being obssessed with her from the jump was a good place to start with that. Anakin here has a little crush, sure, but he doesn’t talk to Obi-Wan about dreaming about her, flirt awkwardly, promise to find her assassins obsessively, or anxiously jump to conclusions about her forgetting him completely. The scene where he talks about his dreams about his mother with Obi-Wan ends with Anakin nodding in agreement to “dreams pass in time” instead of him shifting the conversation to dreaming about Padme and defending her even if he hasn’t seen her in 10 years. It feels more like Anakin is here to do his job for an old friend, rather than primarily try to score some points towards getting laid. His crush is tertiary to his duty as a Jedi, and as a friend.

Padme falling for Anakin is more straightforward and streamlined. They don’t bicker, and there are no real barriers to hurdle in terms of her being comfortable with how she knew him then and now. Anakin is just more boyishly charming in my cut. He confidently chuckles as she does instead of doing his “grown more beautiful for a senator” thing, and I’ve moved up the “if you’ll excuse me” to replace him imperatively telling her to “stay here” after Obi-Wan jumps out the window. The traces of creepy are all replaced with an Anakin straddling the line between boy next door and charming rebel.

I used Octorox’s and Hal’s edits as my base. PM for first version, and I’ll add a full cutlist later. Feedback would be cool. There’s a lot more to the edit than what I described.

There’s a higher quality, better edited version sitting un rendered for right now, I just don’t have time for anything anymore man…

The few tweaks include audio level fixes for two or three of the added audio bits, timing fix with “There’s no time…” earlier on in the film, and just three more different cuts in the beginning, middle, and end:

• Faster R2 vs Buzz Droid
• “Anakin I am on your side” replacing “We are at war, Anakin.”
• “You’re too late” audio left out at the end

Then I think I can finally put this project to bed. I just need to find time to finalize it. I’ve been jumping a little too eagerly to do that the past 7 times and people have been left with less than perfect versions. This time, I won’t put it out unless I’m sure this is it, even if the changes this time are minimal.

That’s probably when I’ll even bother with FE.org, reddit, cover art, and blu ray stuff. By then, I want to have a “New Canon Cut” Trilogy done. I haven’t made a thread for it yet, but I’ve been working my way through AotC whenever I can. It’ll be in the same spirit as this edit.

No one is real anyway. We’re all in a simulation.

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

DrDre said:

DominicCobb said:

Collipso said:

DominicCobb said:

Collipso said:

Still talking about Luke, I’ll try to clear things up a little bit. I don’t really have a problem with Luke not living up to be the legend he was made out to be. I just don’t understand, for example, how did the legend originate. Like I said in a previous post, his victories were mostly personal and (should be) unknown to the rest of the galaxy, except for destroying the first Death Star. But I can see how a myth or some mystery feeling would grow around him, given that most people probably thought that the mysterious nature of his activities and his sad devotion to an ancient religion were suspicious and weird. And mysterious and wizardry. Anyway.

I don’t get why the tales of his bravery wouldn’t spread and balloon. And he had more victories than we saw in the films.

What tales of bravery? How he led the defense of Echo Base in Hoth and failed miserably? Or how he disappeared only to show up without a hand? Granted, Han Solo’s rescue is a big deal and was probably one of the greatest displays of Luke being a hero, but so what? The clone wars is full of badass moments and missions. Moreso than Han’s rescue. Then Luke basically defected in Endor, and I think the other rebels that didn’t know of his whereabouts were quite suspicious. And then he suddenly comes back! He’d eventually tell Han and Leia what happened, sure, but how the events in the Death Star II eventually led up to a legend is beyond me.

What clone wars moments? There’s only the battle of Geonosis, Coruscant and Utapau.

What I really have a problem with is how he died and ultimately failed his goal, failed his whole purpose in the original trilogy, which was to rebuild the Jedi Order. That makes him a failure imo. Not only that but the movie also makes him betray his character arc in the scene with Kylo with unconvincing explanation as to why, and also present him as some sort of fool for making the exact same mistake that his mentors did years before, mistakes that he was aware were made. And what pisses me off is that all of this happened just so that Rey could have the exact same journey as Luke, specially now that we have the exact same scenario we had in the original movies.

Luke didn’t fail, though. His goal was to become a Jedi (check) and to pass on what he learned (check). He will not be the last Jedi, and Rey won’t be a Jedi like him.

He did fail. Yes, becoming a Jedi was one of his goals, and he achieved that, but at the moment Darth Vader destroyed his beliefs, expectations, values, ideas of his purpose and the reason why he was fighting, his purpose and he himself became much bigger than just becoming a Jedi because his dad was one.

Do you think he passed on what he learned? Not to Rey, I don’t think. She has the books, but that’s about it. He taught her nothing, and the movie made that very clear. She might become a Jedi still, but not from or because of Luke.

Not only did he not teach her nothing, I don’t think he’s done teaching her. And yes, she is going to be a Jedi because of Luke, not just because of the few lessons he taught her, but because he inspired her (and the rest of the galaxy).

Anyway, after RotJ he built a Jedi Order that lasted for probably some 3-5 years, only for it to be destroyed. Another failure. And then he died. His death scene was pretty badass and beautiful, I’ll give you that, and it showed how awesome Luke Skywalker can be. But he still failed. I’m making it sound like that’s the problem - that he failed - but no. The problem is that he died a failure. It served no purpose, it just pissed on his character. Everything he tried to accomplish, accomplished and built was either destroyed or killed, including Luke himself.

He could have just… survived. Been able to go on, to teach a new generation, to learn from his failures rather than to die as one. But that was not allowed.

Did we even watch the same movie? The idea that Luke died a failure… clearly that was not what happened.

Mmm, let me see. Luke was instrumental in bringing peace and justice back to the galaxy. He wanted to train a new generation of Jedi. He made a mistake, and ended up failing his students, and by running away rather than fix that mistake, he allowed a second darkness to take over the galaxy. He is partly responsible for that. Luke’s legacy is one of failure. While he has provided hope for a future generation, it is now up to the next generation to fix his mess. Luke is like a guy with huge debts, who after refusing to pay them, dies just after providing his heirs the hope of paying off those debts in time. That is not a legacy of success in any shape or form.

If you choose to interpret it that (wrong) way that’s your prerogative. But the film (and it’s ending especially) is explicitly about the success of Luke’s legacy, and how that has inspired the galaxy.

No, the film is explicit in the success of Luke’s effort to inspire hope in a terrible situation he was party responsible for. This does not create a legacy of success, it creates a glimmer of hope in a legacy of failure.

If a police force sit on their behinds, and allow a group of criminals to go on a killing spree, they have failed in their duties, even if they belatedly see the error of their ways, and attempt to bring them to justice, or more accurately inspire others to do it for them.

I don’t really think it’s fair to blame the rise of the First Order on Luke.

And the films don’t even really suggest that. The point is that the dark side always comes back. You can’t always stop it from rearing it’s ugly head, what’s important is that there’s hope you can defeat it once again.

The majority of the responsibility isn’t on Luke. However, it is the responsibility of a Jedi to guard peace and justice. The dark side can always come back, but it is a Jedi´s responsibility to prevent that from happening, or if it manages to rise again, do everything in his or her power to defeat it. Luke didn´t live up to that responsibility.

I thought it was to use the Force for knowledge and defense never for attack…

Besides, Jedi or not, I think it would be out of character for Luke post-ROTJ to wage a war just because of visions. That’s what screwed him over in ESB and in the fleeting moments he saw what Ben could become. His arc in the OT was to become less about looking to the future (horizon) and “rushing into battle.”

Once I get around to finishing my new desktop, I’ll upload a much better version.

The quality of this one honestly kind of sucks because of the limited resources. I just put it out as closure for the time being (at least for the rest of the year). I didn’t want the only version of the edit out there to be one I didn’t stand by anymore. Putting something out - even if it isn’t amazing quality - I felt was a good way to put it behind me for now, otherwise I wouldn’t stop thinking about it.

I’m going to be so busy working/interning/studying for quite a bit going forward - and working on/rendering it takes up a good chunk of my time and headspace. I won’t lie, this project has kind of been a distraction lol.

Yeah, Obi-Wan and Yoda didn’t think there was still good in Vader. Luke did. And Luke was right.

I think proving his mentors wrong in ROTJ is the seed for where we find Luke in TLJ. Not the prequels.

Aside from a reference to Sidious, the prequel dogma is barely touched on in TLJ. The root of Luke’s disillusionment isn’t in celibacy, and the repression of emotion, humanity, or attachment. Nor in anything political. It’s in the idea that it’s “too late” for anyone. That’s straight out of ROTJ for me. It just wasn’t explored until this one.

Ok, it’s up on Google Drive now.

I think the quality just isn’t good enough for how long the torrent has been seeding to be worth it.

I’m working on getting it on Google Drive. It’s only on MySpleen for now.

Hey so, should I upload this to the MySpleen now? It’s not quite full 1080p, but I really have to close the book on this. I think just having it out there is conclusive enough for me. I’ll get it on Drive soon, too, and then put the link to it on the Fanedits subreddit. Otherwise, I have to move on… A lot of people have seen a version of it, but this is it I think.

I can’t say the technical quality is that amazing, and tbh, I think I hate this movie now (I’ve been falling asleep editing it for the past two months LOL), but it’s my ideal version of RotS. I hope other CW fans find it works with the show, or that anyone looking for a sympathetic, un-crazy, and mature Anakin/Vader will like it.

edit: ok done

This probably doesn’t mean anything but a lot of my friends were excited about the Asian representation lol.

I liked Rose, and what she brought to the story, but that’s about it. I don’t think every new character has to become a scene stealer or favorite to have their existence justified. She was fine. I don’t think there was anything offensive or bad about her, but there wasn’t anything too special either.

^That sounds like it’ll actually work better. Thanks!

wow i wish i was home rn

First Kill and the Revenge of the Sith video game. xP

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mCG0B5R7v5DuJw_g68X3vLsp55JY5R7v/view?usp=sharing

I think the First Kill audio (“You weren’t there, alright? I did what I had to do!”) is a bit jarring to people who know RotS really well, but my sister and friend who don’t have it kind of memorized didn’t notice so idk. For me, what was off was Hayden’s voice in the clip isn’t in the same attitude as the lines that were originally there (“Don’t lecture me Obi-Wan. I see through the lies of the Jedi…”). So I was iffy about even including this change.

At the end of the day, though, Hayden’s voice “attitude” erratically shifts a bunch in the original as well. Going from “YoU wiLL nOt tAKe heR fRoM me!!” to the calmer “Don’t lecture me…”, etc, pretty quickly. And the content of those lines are all over the place in terms of what they’re saying about Anakin’s motivations, too. Is this about Padme, is it about how powerful you are, about the lies of the Jedi, or about bringing peace and order to the galaxy?

The new lines are more consistent to the idea that Anakin believes in the ends he has killed and slaughtered towards, and makes the confrontation dialogue between Anakin and Obi-Wan actually mean something to both the characters. In the original, the dialogue is really just filler before they have to fight. Obi-Wan is just yelling at Anakin for being evil now, and Anakin is rattling off about like four different things - both just taunting each other with no real conversation about what’s happening between the two of them. There’s no point in building up their relationship in the rest of the movie if the only pay off is that they stop being friends. It should be challenging for the two of them.

So there’s some actual drama going on now, but I think it does ask a bit of suspension of disbelief in the audio. If that proves to be an issue, I’ll get rid of it…

Ayy class got cancelled, so I think I could have a 720p file ready by tomorrow if nothing screws up in the next few hours. I just re-edited the part I lost, but I don’t want to risk losing more again transferring everything from my laptop to my desktop. I can render a smaller file on my laptop for now and work on replacing the footage and rendering out the 1080p one this weekend.

Besides, I need eyes and feedback on this cut before I finalize it. I’ll probably put it on Myspleen once it’s finally done. And then onto AotC. Which I’m pretty excited about.

btw, one last new change:

• Anakin and Obi-Wan’s confrontation on Mustafar has been redone quite a bit. I’ll just transcribe:
  A: You turned her against me! Don’t you turn against me…
  O: Your anger and your lust for power have already done that. You’ve allowed this dark lord to twist your mind, until now - until now, you’ve become the very thing you swore to destroy.
  A: You weren’t there, alright!? I did what I had to do! I have brought peace, justice and security to my new empire!
  O: Your new empire? Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic!
  A: If you’re not with me…
  O: Anakin, please. Face up to what you’ve done.
  A: It’s too late for that. You’re too late.
  O: …I will do what I must.

lightsabers ignite and action

The last time we saw them together, they were friends, so I wanted to have that friendship bleed into this confrontation. Obi-Wan wants to help Anakin here, and Anakin gets that, but doesn’t want it. “Don’t you turn against me” shows Anakin would rather Obi-Wan had disappeared than show up here, now, and Obi-Wan’s response of “Your anger and your lust for power have already done that” no longer refers to taking Padme away but to Anakin himself. His anger and his lust for power, betraying the good person and friend Obi-Wan knew him as. Anakin’s next lines here show more self-awareness of what he’s done than in the original, as he tries to justify it to his friend rather than take some kind of enlightened high ground. Obi-Wan just wants him to let go and abandon that path he’s taken, but Anakin demonstrates how far into this he’s in, and that’s when they fight.

The audio for the elevator sequence got corrupted when I transferred the files from my laptop to my computer, so I have re-edit that portion, but that should be pretty easy. I have class tomorrow though, so I think the “let-it-render-while-I’m-at-school” plan will have to wait until I can start re-editing over next weekend, then I can probably render next Monday.

sorry about that lol

I feel that, but the footage just doesn’t look like Star Wars, and takes me out of it every time. I don’t buy that that’s Leia and Padme, I have to accept that it is because the movie said so.

I love love love the idea, but I think the execution of it is at odds with this edit’s goal to make ep III less expository. I want things that happen in it to be felt, not just told to the audience to accept. For example, it’s not like Anakin and Obi-Wan aren’t “brothers” as stated in the original cut, but do you actually buy that with what we’re given? So one of the biggest goals of the edit is to make that relationship feel more like that. (Which is why some things people would usually cut are staying).

I barely even buy that Padme and Leia are from the same movie with Hal’s Boleyn Girl footage, (not to mention, I’ve personally seen that movie lol) and in the meantime, the original Padme’s funeral scene has emotional pay off from earlier in the movie, and the trilogy. Even if it contradicts a few lines in the OT. Besides, as the “New Canon Cut” of RotS, there is a dumb explanation in the nuCanon explaining how Leia remembers her mother that this edit can fit with.

lol Nevermind actually, I can probably do it. xP

No, I’m definitely doing it. Sorry about being so cynical. Final version will be 1080p, 5.1ch.

MalàStrana said:
the complete dialogue with Grievous ('cause I like TCW tv series so I find it fun it really is the very first time they meet),

I know Hal said in his commentary that the Grevious-Anakin interaction was generally unhelpful as they don’t see each other again, but I think that it works in that a later confrontation with Grevious is just another thing the council takes away from him. There’s set up for him and Obi-Wan to face Grevious again, and the council taking Anakin away from the promise of that, to do something unethical, is just more fuel for his later turn.

I also like Anakin spinning because it’s a good trick.

Just fyi, full 1080p and 5.1 audio is barely possible right now. My desktop has been out of commission for a bit, so I’ve been editing on my laptop, and it can’t really process all of that info without lagging all to hell or crashing. Maybe in the future.

If anyone wants a specific part of my edit with 5.1 audio so they can use it for their own edits (as some people have expressed interest in doing), I can probably provide that with a PM. For now, I’m going over everything for a final render that I’ll probably start running on Monday while I’m at school.

So, the last half of this edit on my timeline is now very different than the original version most people have seen. Essentially, I felt like the pacing was very off once Anakin became Vader. There’s a lot of build up and then the rest of movie wraps up in like 45 minutes. And, overall there’s not a whole lot of excitement. Before I finalize it, it’d be nice to know what people think about these new changes:

• New crawl, with capitalized letters for the factions and better wording/grammar. Letters also aren’t so spread apart.

• Various new extra voice clips, or different voice clips added throughout to make characters seem more like people. Things like Anakin saying “Come on, buddy” to R2, or Obi-Wan and Anakin actually laughing together. The usual with this edit.

• The ending I had devised with the voice over and finishing notes of Vader breathing, is now gone. I’ve just decided to end like the original cut, minus Padme’s dying words and everything Vader says or does after “Yes, master.” The ending I had come up with just seemed a little too hacked together and ended the movie way too quickly. Besides, it seems like the theatrical ending of RotS is generally considered pretty good.

• Yoda wookiee goodbye and fight to get into the temple reinstated just to pad things out for more balanced pacing. Overall, I just also kind of like the feeling of “the Republic’s final days” that these better help establish. These kind of hype up the end, with a goodbye, and just more visuals of Order 66’s aftermath. I cut out the excessive wookiee noises and Yoda only addresses Tarful and not Chewie. So it can still be a random wookiee.

• Since this a TCW adherent edit, Yoda using a lightsaber isn’t a huge deal. I re-added Yoda vs Sidious, just L8WRTR’s cut down version. The movie needed more action and excitement. Obi-Wan and Yoda still don’t plan together to take out Vader and Palps tho; Obi-Wan isn’t told to kill Anakin, and I added dialogue before and during their duel to facilitate that he doesn’t want to. It’s also been pointed out to me that the duel destroying the Senate Hall is pretty symbolic of the end of the Republic and is pretty okay pay off for the trilogy.

• The Chosen One schpiel by Obi-Wan at the end, even if I don’t particularly care for what it’s saying, has some good emotion from both Hayden and Ewan, that I feel was lost in the cut down version. So that’s been put back in.

I think for sure this will be the last version. So. Yeah. If you disagree with any of this, or have any extra thoughts…

I’ll be doing Attack of the Clones after, since I actually have ideas for it now. Like this one, the focus will be on making the characters actually seem like likeable people who have real relationships, and not just purely cutting out the “bad stuff.” That said, if any bad stuff has to stay, it’ll definitely be re-edited to be less stupid.

In terms of a personal edit trilogy, I think by the end, Octorox’s TPM edit should fit fine with my AotC and RotS.

inb4 Episode IX has Kylo turn to the light immediately and the whole movie is the court case trial of Ben Solo.

And then it’s revealed that Rey is actually a Skywalker and also a lawyer.

Episode IX My Cousin Benny

^TLJ doesn’t say that how Luke handled failure was a good thing, though.

Creox said:

After thinking about this for a while longer (this site has that effect doesn’t it? :😃

I think a lot of the angst with TLJ comes from the marked difference in presentation between the OT and this film…Luke in the OT and the story in general is one of mythology as we all know but it was also written and filmed like a mythological tale. The hero’s are right and the villains wrong…the contrast is deep and wide between the two…very black and white.

We see it as a parable and a story in that very light.

With TLJ we see that changed quite drastically imo. Luke is a Jedi master but he is also very human with human flaws and frailties. We see the rebellion/resistance repeatedly fail and that is a jolt for those of us who have been waiting to see the OT style of story telling. It was for me but in hindsight I was happier for it as it opens this franchise and story to open up into many more possibilities. Looking back at the EU the main plot is always similar to one another.

It almost just depends on if you’re a Spider-Man or Superman kind of person. Are your heroes inspiring because you admire their strength and goodness, or are they inspiring because you can see yourself in their heroism? Do you aspire to be them, hold them as the highest standard of who you should be - or do they reassure you that you don’t have to be perfect to still be as good? Not to say that Luke wasn’t flawed prior to his OT hero’s journey, but the crux of that storytelling device is to overcome those flaws. The ST old!Luke is definitely more Spider-Man, right down to the being responsible for a terrible thing.

There’s a place for both, I think. Aspiring to be Superman or the binary good/evil thing has an unstated negative message that when you mess up, that’s it. But on the flip side, the Spider-Man thing can be too forgiving of your lows. There has to be a balance of the two of them, and that’s usually how it goes for those two characters, and most heroes anyway.

I think that Luke got to be both makes him a more complete hero and overall character to me.

TLJ re-affirms the idea that the legendary Luke and his ideals, is something to aspire to, but reminds us that the person behind that legend is more like you and me.