NFBisms

LordRorek said:

I love every change you’re planning on making except the fact that Yoda and the Emperor won’t be fighting.

I just don’t agree with people’s justifications for removing this like that “Yoda is mystical and doesn’t fight.” or “Yoda is too old.”.

My feeling is that he has this one chance to end the empire and the sith forever. So he feels it is his duty (as one of the few remaining Jedi) to try and defeat the Emperor even if the effort kills him.

Now I agree the fight on Mustafar should be completely focused on Anakin and Obi-Wan without cutting between the two fights. One solution I have seen other fan-editors use is to make them two separate fights with the Mustafar landing pad scene acting as a breather in between them.

This just my opinion and don’t take this as criticism of your edit. It’s shaping up to be my fave edit of ROTS.

Keep up the good work. 👍🏻

I do agree with that reading of Yoda’s character, especially in the context of TCW, where I obviously don’t mind a lot of things like that and Obi Wan knowing R2 and stuff. I also like the somewhat symbolic imagery of watching the Senate hall literally being broken down and torn apart in this scene - really kind of signifies the end of this era.

My problem with it is that it kind of breaks the flow of things, specifically emotionally - and when it comes down to it, it is just another action scene. We go beat to beat to beat of Obi Wan and Padme finding out about Vader, to them both wanting to personally confront Anakin, and I’d rather have that play out the whole way through. The Yoda/Emperor thing is just so divorced from everything else, because they were never our perspective in the rest of the film: that’s Anakin, Padme, and Obi Wan. Yoda especially doesn’t do much in the movie. The main question I had to ask myself was what would be added to the story of the Empire’s rise from A/P/O’s perspectives by watching Yoda lose to Palpatine? It really is just another fight scene, one that distracts from the main plot and emotions. I’m not saying he wouldn’t have wanted to do something, but I can’t have him do something at the expense of what should be the focus. Yoda was never a focal point of the movie - besides the Order 66 scene - it’s distracting to have him share the climactic spotlight with Anakin and Obi Wan, even if it plays out before Anakin and Obi Wan duel.

Besides, it’s not like Yoda is being a coward. He even says “Until the time is right” later, so he’s being pragmatic about what they can do here and now. I know the idea is that he only learns to be like that because of his loss to Palpatine, but it’s just unnecessary. Idk, I’d have liked to keep in, but it doesn’t do much for my cut.

Pseudo poll! What poster do you guys like best?

(credit to this last one to ShortRound24 on Fanedit)

Once Palpatine says that he knows the nature of the dark side, Anakin stops and steps ahead of him. He doesn’t ask “You know the dark side?”, he just kind of goes on guard and glares at him, so you can infer that he already has an idea of where it’s going. He doesn’t ignite his lightsaber yet. He lets Palps talk until “…save your wife” then he ignites his lightsaber without asking “what did you say?”

So he doesn’t automatically assume Palpatine is a Sith Lord, but once he hears about the dark side, he stops verbally engaging with him until there’s more “proof” of Palps’ sith lordiness, which is like one and two more sentences, I guess.

…

And since we’re on the topic of this scene, something else I did with it was I cut the “more and more I get feeling that I’m being excluded from the council…”

I changed the lines a bit so it now goes “I wish I knew… But I know there are things about the force that they’re not telling me - (re-insert) I’m being excluded from the council.” Anakin is supposed to be more confident all around in my cut, I think him making a direct assertion about what’s going on, and not what he kind of thinks/feels is going on better serves that.

I really don’t agree with the notion that intelligence has anything to do with the right to appreciate Star Wars in whatever way you like.

And maybe the “kids” thing doesn’t matter. (kids do fall under the “SW fans post-SE” umbrella tho)
How about just a general respect for others? You don’t have to associate with people you disagree with, but jesus, once you start to think you’re superior in any way, how do you not see how that’s toxic?

I get that we’re on a forum called OriginalTrilogy, but we can favor the OT without bearing more of that toxic ill will or disrespect towards anyone else who thinks differently. If we want to put it in perspective, “pro-prequels” are more likely to be younger, and at a point you’re really just shit-talking kids. Way to go, champs.

I hope fans at Celebration treat Hayden with respect. He’s really not a bad actor or guy, and he’s a fellow Star Wars fan when we get down to it.

But he’s an important part of the Star Wars legacy now whether you like it or not, and I hope no one tries to take that away from him or anyone else who’s grown up with or are fans of him.

Him being here or in TLJ won’t affect the original movies, our preservations, a possible 4K restoration, or whatever your personal perspective on Star Wars is.

It really rubs me the wrong way that someone could think they have a patent on what Star Wars is and should mean to the millions of people who are fans of it. The beauty of it is that it does span so many generations and can - depending on who you talk to - be a sci-fi, or a fantasy, or a western, or crime and gangster flick, samurai or war film, or whatever the hell else.

Some people see fun/quirky kids films, others see philosophical samurai/western films, or a tribute to Flash Gordon, or just a franchise summer blockbuster, war movies, or a generation-spanning space opera/epic. Whatever it is to you, it doesn’t matter. And you can be on and off board with the franchise at whatever points you want, because you like a specific aspect of its universe more than the rest - but don’t try to assert that your perspective is the only one that matters because in your mind it’s “objective”; that you’re the smart fan. It implies you think everyone else are stupid sheep, but there’s no way to justify that with something so diverse. There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to do Star Wars.

It’s not like everyone doesn’t understand what Alderaan is saying. They’ve clearly demonstrated an understanding of his opinion, (having heard it so many times), and all anyone can really do from there is disagree, if they do. We’re discussing on a forum. It really doesn’t matter if someone thinks differently than you do about Star Wars. Especially about Star Wars.

Don’t worry guys, I was never going to quit, and I didn’t think no one was interested. I just (for some reason) felt pressured to finish sooner than later before. I guess once I made the thread, I felt like I couldn’t come out with nothing for a while, because I started when I wasn’t as busy as the current school/work crunchtime I’m in.

On the grading: As I’ve recently gotten into the editing with the schorman HDTV source of RoTS, I’ve gotten kind of used to how it looks, and I don’t mind it as much as the blu rays. Changing the colors just started feeling like one of those unnecessary changes Hal warned me about. Not to mention that it’s a lot of work. There’s probably going to be some subtle changes in the reds of their faces (white balance), saturation, and a few shadows in the CGI to actor relationships, but nothing noticeable. The general color scheme and the shade/lighting of lightsaber colors are going to stay the same. Sorry to people looking forward to that.

Hal 9000 said:

Sounds like a great philosophy of Vader; I really do look forward to what you end up producing along these lines.
Since you asked, my idea with LOE for Anakin was that he becomes involved in growing tensions between his loyalties to the Jedi Order, Palpatine, and Padme. He’s tossed around for a while, then Palpatine springs this nightmare on him as a manipulation. From that point on, he leans toward Palpatine and has to make the final decision when pressed during the ‘assassination attempt.’ All along, he never appears paranoid (a byproduct of changing his storyline in reshoots IMHO) until we see him talk with Padme on Mustafar, after he has steeped himself in the darkness. It’s really not that different from what ROTS was going for with Anakin, just restructured to have it make more sense, arguably reaching closer to what the pre-reshoot version might have been. In my version, as in the original, Anakin still carries that ‘slave’ mindset, seeming to crave someone being a master over him. Your version will be quite different, in subtle ways.

Right, so it’s pretty similar, mine differs in how I’m leaning more heavily on being able to see Anakin possibly go either way (jedi or sith) and it would make sense; really harping on how his turn to the dark side was a choice. Not saying that that might not have been what you were going for with LoE, but I think having Anakin be much more resistant to Palpatine throughout and affirm to Padme that he’s with her - despite Palpatine trying to turn him against her - makes that more clear. Where you kind of downplayed Padme’s role in his turn, I tried to keep her just as, if not moreso, of a reason for his turn as his allegiances.

And of course, our depictions of Anakin after the christening of Vader are where the most diverging happens.

Also, and this might just be down to interpretation again, but I’m always a bit iffy about a “slave mindset” Anakin subconsciously still looking for a “master.” I’m really going for the angle that the dark side being freedom is what gets him there. Anakin would personally prioritize the military (his prestige as “general” being his public renown), his future with Padme, as well as his loyalty to/belief in Palpatine, over the Jedi code and responsibility to the council’s interests. He’s a slave to the jedi in the sense that he has to repress his humanity (Padme), and do things for them he does not politically or ideologically believe in (treason). I think showing Anakin actually presenting the council’s interests to Palpatine, despite having just established that he personally disagrees, is one extra way to show that he really was trying to be “a good jedi” (by the council’s standards). But - not to talk so lightly about slavery - that he gets no recognition or trust for that loyalty, (as well as from his accomplishments and skill), show a dynamic with Anakin and the council that is more “slave-ish”, than the liberation to feel what he wants and to do what he believes in, that Palpatine offers.

Where I make a decision not to be a “slave” hard for Anakin is in how I depict him having an understanding of why the council thinks Palpatine and the dark side are wrong, as well as having this grounding force that is his friendship with Obi Wan. He doesn’t call Obi Wan “master” and their relationship is personally equal; in that way, he can’t actually feel like a slave - they’re genuinely friends. So that’s how I’m thinking about it, and how I’m making it look like Anakin could possibly do one or other before he actually makes a decision.

So I finally posted this onto the Fanedit forums for help, and there’s a brand new cutlist there. I also updated the one in this thread. I’m getting pretty close. Making a lot of slight changes here and there, but I’ll hopefully be done by summer. I have a lot of work and school and life, and I don’t really think anyone cares about this so that takes pressure off. Taking my time. At this point, I’m not even sure I’ll go forward with a drastic color grading.

…

I recently took it upon myself to change the four(?) instances of Anakin addressing Obi Wan as “master.” I went into this edit thinking that I would just change a few things to better push a specific interpretation, but I realized that that was just it. As much as I changed things, it would still just be an interpretation. One easier to believe with all the cuts, but a headcanon nonetheless. I’m doubling down and really committing to showing and more explicitly portraying the relationship between Anakin and Obi Wan I’m going for. Things like Anakin calling Obi Wan “master” just muddle that image. Anakin won’t call Obi Wan “master.” I legitimately watched 5 movies Hayden Christensen was in (never do this) just to find a good soundbyte to replace “You coming, Master?” with something more casual. Along the way, I also found some giggles that were useful in lightening the banter between the two.

…

I’ve also gotten some questions asking about what would make my cut different or better (depending on the person) from Hal’s cut. I am leaning heavily on his restructure of Anakin’s motivations. I’d like to know what Hal was going for exactly (it’s been a while since I’ve listened to his LoE commentary) in terms of what would be going through Anakin’s head and who Anakin is during his cut, before I can really answer that question.

But what I got from LoE, was that Anakin’s motivations for turning to the dark side are still generally that Palpatine convinced and manipulated Anakin (and this is the primary reason) into thinking the jedi were the bad guys, (with a good reason for Anakin to think so) and a little extra fear of Padme dying to make him do something about it. And it works fine, I still liked it.

But coming off of TCW into the OT, and my idea of who Anakin and Darth Vader should be - Anakin imo should have much, much more agency; it’s a decision, that he makes with a conscious mind. Most edits never leave the angle that Palpatine tricked him into becoming a sith, or that a submissive Anakin only turns to the dark as a last resort. Even LoE, while showing that the combination of Anakin’s loyalty, politics, and feelings understandably would turn him against the jedi, those reasons are all still put there there by Palpatine. He plays right into Palps’ game, not showing any awareness that he’s being played. That’s not very “sith” of a dark lord like Vader. I want it to be his choice, fully aware of what he’s playing with.

While Anakin in my cut is still manipulated by Palpatine, through a lot of little edits, Anakin is smarter and more adult throughout their relationship. Palpatine never explicitly plays on Anakin’s emotions and feelings - no tuskens, no blatant evil hints, he doesn’t tell Anakin that the council “needs” him, talk about the spying… He’s more subtle; he casually and “unintentionally” brings up things that would be salt on a wound. He doesn’t tell him that he deserves to be a master, or that he should feel conflicted, he just indirectly points out reasons why he would. Anakin is shown brooding and conflicted about what these indirects imply, instead of Anakin taking Palps’ word for direct assertions. Additionally, Anakin now tells Palpatine about dissenting opinions from the council, and shows an understanding of why those opinions exist. While he’s loyal to Palpatine, he’s also shown to be to Obi Wan and the council. He’s set up to not be 100% on either side, basically. I think that makes him smarter, and puts some kind of inner turmoil to the forefront. And not the old “I can’t let her die” conflict of OG!RoTS or the LoE “The Jedi were lying to me” conflict. It’s not one or the other, I’m going for the angle that this is a man caught between two of his allegiances.

So if Hal’s basic, basic structure is:

1. Anakin’s strained relationship with the jedi council and then political motivations introduced.
2. Fear of Padme’s death introduced.
3. 2 ignites action in service of 1 = Anakin’s turn to the dark side.

Mine is:

1. Anakin’s conflict between allegiance to the jedi order or to Palpatine introduced.
2. Fear of Padme’s death introduced.
3. 2 resolves 1 = Anakin’s turn to the dark side.

It’s similar, but my 1 and 3 are different. Padme possibly dying is still the impetus, but how it’s framed in my cut is Anakin decides that he can only keep Padme safe by aligning with Palpatine, either because of Plagueis or because of the political power and freedom that would come with it. And this becomes more clear once we’re out of these first two acts and into when Anakin actually becomes Vader. Hal keeps Anakin turning into Vader as this slow descent into full dark side corruption and power lust. He starts his descent well-intentioned but by the end is high on all of his new power. And that never sat right with me for Vader. The Vader I know from most of ANH, Empire, RoTJ, and the canon comics wasn’t crazy and corrupted. He wasn’t delusional or blinded by his power and emotions. “It’s too late for me, son.” was one of those things as a kid that showed me Vader knew he was a monster. And while the way he talked about the dark side’s power in the OT was always a supportive endorsement of it, it was more like a reverence of it rather than a dependence on having it.

So my Anakin doesn’t think he’s doing what’s best for the galaxy or the Republic or whatever. Sure, he has had political and ideological differences with the jedi council, and that’s what drives him away from them and to Palpatine, but he can’t believe that all of those jedi, in the temple and across the galaxy are bad. But he has to kill them all to embrace the dark side. He knows this, he knows what a sith is - and he can’t be proud of or eager to do it. That’s what I cut out. Every instance of Anakin being eager to do his master’s bidding is removed. He dances around the subject when he talks to Padme. He’s not proud. It’s just a means to an end for his goals for him and Padme. Their last conversation on Mustafar isn’t about the Republic, it’s about taking down Palpatine. For the two of them. For their baby. That’s what he chooses. He chooses what makes him powerful for them. It makes the Vader/Palpatine dynamic more wonderfully sith. It’s also what’ll inevitably turn him back in RoTJ, when he finally realizes the power doesn’t matter to the ones he loves.

Essentially, Anakin’s relationships to Palpatine, the dark side, and its power are the biggest differences in my cut. It doesn’t corrupt him or make him throw tantrums. As Palpatine says in the movie: ‘it gives [him] focus, make [him] stronger’. This is what makes Darth Vader the sith lord, especially when Kylo Ren exists now, whose unhinged emotionality with the dark side of the force is kind of what makes him a lesser Darth Vader. The idea that Anakin has master and control over his anger, fear, and hate to utilize them so effectively - that’s what made Darth Vader menacing when I was a kid. My Vader isn’t vengeful, emotional, or petty. He’s cold, methodical, and brutal. And this is how I’m keeping that image alive while maintaining the thematic through line of the prequels in a consistent way.

Not legally… xP

imperialscum said:

ray_afraid said:

I don’t understand why anybody would come here to complain about a movie that is over a year old now. It’s just a movie.
I didn’t care for it, but it didn’t wound me. I was disappointed, but so what? It didn’t erase movies I like so that it can exist. It doesn’t force it’s way onto my tv screen. In fact, TFA has stayed out of my way since I left the theater, but it’s there if I ever want it. Good boy!

I do not really care about the film. However, if someone claims it is well-written, I do feel like I need point out the fact that its plot is horrible.

Being polar like that and thinking your opinion is the correct, objective, and/or more intelligent one is generally an immature thing to do, though. Moreso if you don’t face up to that fact. Just to be fair.

There’s no objective truth about something like this. And if you do want to argue about objectivity in narrative storytelling, you’re arguing under the misinformed notion that there is only one mode and way a story should be told. It really just boils down to you having an opinion that some stories (TFA in particular) aren’t worth telling.

I’m reaching the unnecessary editing portion of this process; I had better just finish it now. People generally seem to be onboard with the rough cuts I sent them.

This is me once again taking longer to do this edit than it should - I’m still tweaking things as I go along and realizing I want to change things. xP

A lot of it has to do with me prior to starting underestimating what I’m capable of doing through the magic of editing. Going over the same movie a gazillion times over and seeing what people say here seem to give me new ideas every second, and now instead of telling myself that something wouldn’t work that well, I have the desire to at least test it. 😛

Hardcore Legend said:
It is a shame you can’t replace the line with “THE ORDER” or “THE FORCE”. That would make some sense in that Anakin has helped destroy the Jedi Order or is betraying his training as a Jedi.

One of the things that’s changed since that post is attacking that scene from the angle that Obi Wan is super angry and that’s why they end up dueling. Hal in his edit talks about how there’s room for the interpretation that Obi Wan didn’t go to Mustafar to kill Anakin, (he only tries to do so after he sees what Anakin does to Padme) and while I agreed that’s how it should go down, I didn’t necessarily feel that came across in LoE once Obi Wan stepped off of Padme’s ship. I bought that he wasn’t going to kill him prior to landing on Mustafar, but I didn’t buy that anything Obi Wan said and did to Anakin after landing wasn’t already antagonistic (in a “I’m going to have to kill you now” kind of way.)

So instead of angry Obi Wan off the bat, the new approach is going to kind of be similar to the kerr edit approach (or anyone who’s done something similar), I’m just going to have Obi Wan be more on the defensive simply by him igniting his lightsaber either after or at the same time as Anakin. Obi Wan won’t even have time to talk about “absolutes” or “doing what he must” before the duel starts. So the whole “to democracy” thing - whether it stays or goes - is kind of in the air as I figure this out. It might still stay, just because I feel there should be a distinction between the Empire and Republic in their conversation aside from name. Additionally, I can go either way with Anakin doing a rhetorical “If you’re not with me…” attacks or the straightforward “Then you’re my enemy…” attacks. Either one for those.

I might try to incorporate a sound clip of this: https://youtu.be/gKUPEc5tGno?t=15m12s

Idk how it would sound next to Ewan, but James Arnold Taylor did say that around the time of this game, he was doing more of a straight Ewan impression, as opposed to the Ewan/Alec mix he was going for in TCW. We’ll have to see how it plays. I might not even have Anakin say anything before he attacks at all if this works out.

…

Other changes made lol:

• Anakin and Obi Wan at the start of the movie:
  A: "But you owe me one and not for saving your skin for the tent-"
  O: "Ninth time. That business on Cato Nemoidia doesn’t - doesn’t count."
  Obi Wan cuts him off. It’s a little more friendly and kind of funnier that they’d have had this conversation before.

• “Now that the chancellor has control of the jedi council” cut from the beginning of that deleted scene with the senators discussing governors. It kind of just happened, so it was jarring to have them already know about and discussing what has so far just been Jedi affairs from the audience’s perspective.

it could also be a .wiiu file but no one uses that

Thanks guys! I’m definitely already tweaking based on those suggestions.

On the colors - everything in that preview aside from the audio is super screwed up, so don’t take the lightsabers or the grading as indicative of the final product. Nothing I’ve sent out or shown to anyone thus far is finished really. At least, to the point I want it to be.

The preview cuts people got were different iterations of a workprint. Hal did most of the heavy lifting in terms of structure, and my cut obviously deals more with the minutiae of the character portrayals and interactions, so I was working on what needed testing with those. I’m redoing most of the work using different (probably better, consistent) sources for the final cut.

I haven’t gone back on anything yet, aside from going back and forth with the Vader scream, but that’s why it’s taking longer. Sections of Hal’s cut I used for the work print are being redone, and the lightsabers and colors take a bit of time too. I’m using Sony Vegas and Resolve for that.

…

Mithrandir said:

This edit keeps looking more and more promising.

Only thing I’ll say is (if you cut it before and have the line at your disposal) I’d change the fireships line to "we’re on your tail general Skywalker "

I tried something like that, but it’s Temuera Morrison vs Dee Bradley Baker; it doesn’t sound too great. It’s a little too abrupt of a voice change. And I had to pour through many episodes of the Clone Wars just to find that voice clip lol. Besides that guy isn’t supposed to be a clone, so it shouldn’t be Temuera Morrison.

I admit that my use of “This is Sergeant Crasher” was a dumb joke that only I found funny in my dorky brain. Because “crasher” and they’re “crashing.” (ba dum tsh.) …get it?

… anyway Anyone that’s seen my most recent cut will know I just used “General Skywalker” in that scene. But I was watching the Clone Wars this morning and Rex said something to the effect of “We’re coming with you” in the same tone as that “General Skywalker.” So I’ll probably try something with that later this weekend.

Here are some previews of a few little things I did. (Sorry everything is so red/dark; I forgot to adjust the levels. It’s only a problem w/ these previews)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-b_Drhy38reHN3QzhfYkVVeXM/view?usp=sharing

A recent iteration of the “roger roger” bit.
The “General Skywalker” drops.
Tweaked Anakin/Obi Wan war room intro.
Tweaked Palps/Anakin appointment.
Tweaked master denial scene + removal of "young Skywalker"
Anakin/Obi Wan goodbye from first post.
Tweaked Mace telling Anakin to stay, with removal of “young Skywalker” and insertion of Ahsoka’s leitmotif.

Just for people who haven’t seen any of my 500 rough cuts yet.

I guess I just didn’t see how it meant anything as a counterargument to “Leave him, or we’ll never make it.” The line’s meaning is clear, sure, but that’s just it. It comes off as an awkwardly placed true declarative statement. It doesn’t mean anything in that way, I guess. Still getting rid of it.

“We’re going to survive or die together” would probably have been a better line tbh.

“His fate will be the same as ours” -is going to be removed. Basically doesn’t mean anything and by Anakin not even engaging in a discussion of whether or not to leave his friend, that friendship might be slightly strengthened? Besides, I like the comedic timing of the next time we see them, Anakin just has Obi Wan slung over his shoulder.

I guess it’s because I don’t … care(?)… that much about AoTC or TPM? idk I mean, yeah, they needed fixing, but I don’t have specific ideas about how to do that myself that would be different from what others have done. And to be honest, the parts of the story they tell don’t seem too important to me.

RoTS is where we see Anakin Skywalker become Darth Vader. We’ve heard about this in the OT, Obi-Wan’s good friend - a hero - is seduced to the dark side to become the villain - a cold and methodical enforcer of the Empire’s might. I realize Revenge of the Sith is the third part of a trilogy, and by just working on it alone, I’m not saying that my cut could stand alone at all - but I think that you could honestly watch any version of the previous two, fanedit or original, and get what I’m going for here. (problems with the A/P necklace aside)

I didn’t feel like I was obligated to “match” anything up; if Anakin is notably more mature in my RoTS than he is in whatever edit of the first two you watch, that’s because it’s implied that he’s grown to this new point. Like I said, I’m not trying to rewrite canon. Just trying to make the canon consistent; and having a distinctly teenage Anakin in AoTC and an adult one in RotS doesn’t break that imo.

I don’t feel like I explained it that well, but if you really want fanedit recs to fit w/ this, Hal’s idea a few posts up sounds good.

…

I think I’m getting close to finishing or forcing myself to stop tweaking. I’ll try to get it on Fanedit once I’m on the final visual/color grading part of the edit. A few more edit ideas I’ve been tinkering with:

• Anakin’s whine-screams during his fight scenes, I’ve tried as much as possible to take out. He just sounds so strained and whiny - like he’s crying. I might replace with some manlier or even Matt Lanter grunts, but probably not.

• Instead of Palps telling Anakin, “I think they will… They need you. More than you know…” I took dialogue from the Changes to the Constitution deleted scene and replaced it with “I think they will… You fought many battles the jedi council thought were lost… and you saved my life…” This further characterizes Anakin as a very competent war hero (if the actions in the opening and triple dropping of his “general” rank before wasn’t enough) and not as blindly manipulated by Palpatine. By him citing valid reasons for Anakin to be considered a master, it tells the audience that maybe he does deserve to be a master, at least more than the absolutely nothing to show that he might in the original. It makes Anakin less angry, entitled, and jealous, and more just angry, confused and disappointed. (Especially as I’ve toned down his whining across the board).

So I’ve decided. xP

This is the “New Canon Cut”, and not a super radical edit of RotS. I’ve decided to adhere to my original conservatism in regards to editing the movie. I’m making it fit cohesively in the post-Disney consistent canon, but not trying to change what “happened.” (Especially since the Vader scene is flashed back to in the Marvel Darth Vader comics) It’s a reinterpretation of the same events, as they were referenced in the OT/Rebels/comics, and was the trajectory foreshadowed in TCW. The main differences were always just going to be in how Anakin is portrayed, toning down the cringe/cheesiness, and bearing down on a specific interpretation of the character relationships. So the LoE/Russian dub scream is still in. As soon as I fell into that rabbit hole, I lost sight of what I was originally going for. This is for Clone Wars/canon fans who are tired of suspending their disbelief about the connectivity of all the media.

…

I’ve made some more changes:

• I added a casual “Hey” from Anakin to Obi Wan in the establishing shot as he enters the War Room. (From Jumper, that movie Hayden was in where he teleports and fights Sam Jackson) He’s even slightly out of breath like his next lines. I found that the movie kind of over-compartmentalizes the characterizations in that, for the most part, the characters seem to only be allowed to demonstrate one aspect of their personalities per scene. By adding a casual “Hey”, a not-mopey more TCW Anakin from the scene prior is allowed to come through, instead of him already having a grim demeanor for the next several scenes. Having gotten rid of the “excuses” line here too, Obi Wan and Anakin do come off more as friends again instead of their relationship alternating scene to scene as either “bros” or “disagreeing about something.” There’s more of a smooth transition here from that to that.

• I added dialogue from the “Changes to the Constitution” deleted scene in the establishing shots before Palpatine asks “Do you trust me Anakin?” in the next scene. Anakin brings forward to Palpatine that the jedi council isn’t a huge fan of Palpatine continuing to gain power, referencing the “unusual/uneasy feelings” conversation he just had with Obi Wan. It makes him less of Palpatine’s bitch. I already kind of “solved” how young and immature Anakin felt in relation to the Jedi by making them refer to and treat him more like an adult, so now I’m working my way through his relationship with Palpatine. He has to be manipulated, but not like a clueless child. Also, it was always awkward to me how the transition was just into Anakin and Palpatine walking in silence for a good several seconds.

• Establishing shot into Padme’s apartment at sunset after Yoda departing for Kashyyyk, now has a Hayden Christensen chuckle. I mean, you can see Anakin/Padme being playful, with Anakin messing with Padme’s pregnant belly in the establishing shot, and then a smile just fading into a frown when we cut into the closer shot, so I thought why not? Anything more to humanize the characters.

There’s much conflict within me. I might need to turn to the dark side.

^If I’m being completely honest, it’s because I got so many PM’s telling me to get rid of it lol.

But I at least tried it out, and found that it better fit the tragic angle for Vader to not give a shit about “Anakin Skywalker” anymore when he was doing everything for himself and Padme in the rest of the cut. I’m not 100% onboard with the idea ofc, I still want to use Hal’s version, especially for the general seamlessness of it, but the current test iteration uses ForceGhostRecon’s Rebels dialogue bit. (Thank you so much btw!) I want to see what most people think is the best way to do that scene, and hopefully I can finalize it.

…

So I sent out the links to anyone who asked.

I’ve already gotten feedback, which is really nice, so here are a few more things changing or subject to change from what people have already seen:

• “General Skywalker” is said three times now, not just once by Grevious. Extra times by the firefighter guy who takes in half of the Invisible Hand in its crash landing, and Bail Organa before he has some small talk with Anakin.
• “I have no excuse” after “I was held up” is removed. No student!Anakin explaining tardiness.
• “He’s right. It’s a system we cannot afford to lose.” removed.
• This is contrary to a few opinions I’ve gotten, but also not to others: Reinstatement of Obi Wan’s “I’m on your side Anakin…” I felt being too subtle in a movie like this doesn’t help when you want to hammer in a specific idea.
• Dialogue trimming to be less rigid, somehow.
• Move nightmare convo to after sunset scene.
• In Palpatine vs the Jedi, there are no close up reaction shots to their being sliced or stabbed along with their screams. It goes by faster (taken by surprise) and looks less silly.

Alright, sorry to anyone who PM’d me since Thursday morning for the preview edit, it took longer for me to get back home than I expected on Thursday night, and I finally have free time tonight and for the weekend, so I should be sending it out within the next hour or so.

So things that are changing or subject to change from the cut people will be seeing:

• The shots used in the first council meeting; there is one that goes by too fast, and I think excising or rearranging some would work to help it flow better.
• Reinstate “I’m on your side, I didn’t want to put you in this situation.” Going for the subtlety didn’t work in my favor imo.
• the Darth Vader awakens scene is definitely going to be messed with some more.

And of course, any other suggestions anyone might have. I’m super open to feedback.

I’ll work on responding to what I missed in this thread soon after.

Alright, so I have a full test cut (w/o color grading and imperfected edits) rendering that should be done by morning, so if anyone wants to check it out when it’s “ready”, just PM me. Don’t hate on me if I send an unsolicited PM to you based on any expressed interest in this thread lol, I’m just a little excited. But yeah, I’d love to get feedback/suggestions/criticism. We can all work on making this better.

A few changes from what I’ve written before. (I need to update the cutlist)

• So now every instance of Obi Wan training Anakin has been removed. Even the one by Yoda towards the end. Again, not that Obi Wan didn’t - because he did, this isn’t an edit of TPM/AOTC/the OT - but by not drawing attention to and downplaying that history, Anakin/Obi Wan’s friendship is more of that equal, “brotherly” bond.

• To that end, every instance of Anakin being called “young Skywalker” has been replaced with just “Skywalker.” Anakin is an older, mature, and experienced Jedi Knight in this cut, not the young barely-not-a-padawan-anymore. Additionally, Mace doesn’t say “I don’t think the boy can handle it” before saying he doesn’t trust him. The council treating him like an adult better portrays Anakin as an adult, rather than the whiny entitled teenager he is in the original. Any animosity he has towards the council is framed less as him being petulant, insubordinate, and out of line - now the council is deliberately blocking him and not because he’s young and undeserving.

• I snuck more Anakin/Obi Wan friendship into the first council meeting scene and its aftermath. They really don’t get that much time with one another after the opening. So a few tweaks: When Anakin says “How can you do this?” Obi Wan shakes his head at Anakin kind of as a way to talk him down from further lashing out, rather than disapproval. And when Anakin goes to sit down and looks at Obi Wan, Obi Wan looks away guiltily. So now, Obi Wan here has a little bit of conflict between his friendship with Anakin and the council’s decisions. And the line “I’m on your side, Anakin” manifests itself beyond him just saying it - we see it. That line is also removed, then, because we should or will understand that about Obi Wan’s character without him having to tell Anakin. It’s always felt like a disingenuous rhetorical appeal to me, anyway. (Anything for them to talk more like humans, too.) User Mithrandir did a mockup of something similar that I liked.

This is a big one, thanks to ImperialFighter for the suggestion in a private topic, but I think I’m doing away with the Darth Vader scream of anguish, improved LoE version or not. The Vader awakens sequence is very different now, and I used an idea I got from a re-edit of the scene on Vimeo that I saw a few months ago but can’t seem to find anymore. But basically, it goes:

P: Anakin. Can you hear me?

DV: … Anakin Skywalker was weak… I destroyed him.

Using Star Wars Rebels audio. I just think it goes by too fast and is abrupt, so I’d really like to hear if people want it in, or suggestions and ideas on how to improve it.

This introduces a weird place I’m at mentally with the edit tho… it’s “The New Canon Cut”; obviously after Disney bought Lucasfilm, it was determined that the old EU was now uncanon and that the new canon was mostly everything made after the purchase + the films and TCW. My main motivation for starting the edit was to bend ROTS Anakin into the canon portrayal of Anakin in TCW. If they’re both canon and it’s going to be more unified, both have to fit with one another. But in rejiggering this scene, I’m pulling audio from SWR, so now Vader will have said those exact words twice in different scenarios. Which is fine, I guess. I justified leaving in Qui Gon’s disembodied voice from TCW as interpreting it as just Yoda recalling what Qui Gon said and dwelling on it, rather than hearing it for the first time…

And I legitimately think it’s more powerful for Anakin to have fallen so far that he doesn’t even worry about Padme anymore by the end, but in new canon - in the Vader comics - he flashes back to the moment Palps tells him that he was the one who killed Padme, a moment that doesn’t happen in my cut anymore. I’m thinking about renaming it, tbh. This is the most nothing concern to have if the edit is fine on its own merits, but it betrays my initial motivation for doing this whole thing.

Thanks. I’ll definitely release a few versions with and without the color grading or the lightsaber changes, though. Just for people who aren’t into it. I admit the color grading is unneccessary; I honestly just did it because I could. I’ve always not liked how RotS looked, so when I decided to commit to doing this, I thought “why not?”

…

Speaking of releases, I am pretty new to distributing things like this, so I would definitely be grateful if someone could help guide me through when I’m done. I’m thinking I’ll just distribute through PM’s honestly. I’m not confident enough to want to widely release it. Still, best or preferred places to upload the actual file itself would be nice to know.

And would anyone be interested in a commentary track?

Getting ahead of myself, though. I’m not even finished yet!

…

Few newer changes I fiddled with:

• Windu says “Take a seat, Skywalker.” As opposed to “Take a seat, young Skywalker.” in the first council meeting.
• I decided the entire elevator sequence being in wasn’t the best idea. It’s still there, but I made the SBD’s talk and bicker less. The only things they say now are “Hey! You!” and “…Stupid little astro droid.” It actually kind of helps the comedic timing when cutting back and forth from Anakin/Obi Wan to R2 flamethrowing the droids.