NFBisms

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.

You’re right. I started over, and I got this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-b_Drhy38rOHVtUWx0TGpBN0U/view?usp=sharing

A few steps back in terms of color matching, but the motion is the smoothest yet. It shouldn’t be too hard to get the colors back. I kept trying to work with what I initially - and mistakenly - did a few months back when I was more focused on the plot structure and at least 10% less experienced. xP

Now that I’m nearing completion, it’s easier to tweak these things for seamlessness.

So far, this is the smoothest I could get it (it’s newer than the other one I posted):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-b_Drhy38rUUYwdmFRM1NYRlE/view

I believe they were the same take, but the colors, the quality, and the aspect ratio were completely different - I had to do a lot of finagling with color correction and masking to even make it look like the same thing, and after all of that, I couldn’t quite get the two sources to gel that well after a straight cut. So I decided to blur the motion for a split second by having Anakin and Obi Wan fade into themselves, and that was the smoothest I could get it. Maybe I just suck. xP

Also yeah, that shot of Anakin was too short. Since the General Skywalker idea was a pretty recent one, and I originally had the line as “and Skywalker…”, that shot was just thrown in to fill the gap with the obviously longer line. I’ll definitely fix the timing.

Hal 9000 said:

Wow! Hit me up when you have any sort of test version to check out. Sounds wonderful!

Thanks! I don’t have time to render for another week, though. So just wait, I guess lol

sorry

DigMod said:

I’m very interested in your edit and the fresh take and reasoning behind it.

The Lightsabers look off to me. Too much white, not enough color imho.

Great work so far!

I really didn’t like how the lightsabers looked in ROTS, idk. I may have overcompensated, (I have adjusted since then), but I tried to make the lightsabers look more like they were actually illuminating. If anything else, the blues were too dark in the original, and I used a lighter blue closer to the OT’s blue.

Edezio Enk’or Valorum said:

Hello there!
I was reading the ideas of this edit and I really like it, I find it really interesting and it’s new for the FanEdits area, using some The Clone Wars material.

I liked your approach on the good-bye scene, that song fits pretty well there, and the nostalgic idea sounds cool, but, I rememeber watching another edit to this scene including new music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJ67STMq-pA
I’m not judging nor disliking your version, but I will rather want to know what do you think about it? It has that TCW vibe, and it was made by Kevin Kiner, so I think this one would fit pretty well with the idea of the edit.

I’m very interested and excited to see this edit!! 😃

Yeah, I messed around with that a little, but I wasn’t feeling the Kiner score amidst the Williams. You’re right - that clip does have the TCW-feel, but nothing else in the movie has that distinct feel, so it feels out of place. I also don’t think there was a cue from the show that was memorable enough to call back on or reprise that would be relevant to the scene.

Besides, while this is going to be more consistent to TCW, it’s not really a TCW-focused edit. Hopefully it can give non-TCW fans a rough idea of what they missed in terms of Anakin’s characterizations (consistent with the OT description), and can give TCW fans a satisfying take on Anakin’s fall.

DominicCobb said:

Hal 9000 said:

DominicCobb said:

Hal, if you’re reading this, were the blu-ray deleted scenes ever upscaled like the DVD ones?

No; none of them struck me as useful at the time. They were not presented well, at any rate.

Did you do the upscaling? I thought it might have been someone else (Dr. Dre?).

Most are definitely worthless. But there are a couple fun bits in “Elevator Antics” and I think “Changes to the Constitution” should definitely have been in the film. What do you mean by not presented well? Is the picture quality much worse than the DVD ones? I haven’t watched them in a while.

Man, I’d have loved to been able to use “Changes to the Constitution.”

…

Here’s one of my first tries at the “General Skywalker”…
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-b_Drhy38rc2x6Q3lLUUdkemc/view?usp=sharing

Alright so here’s a chronological cutlist thing.

Opening

• So in the opening sequence/basically first act of the film, a lot of trimming was done to Anakin/Obi Wan’s interactions. Anakin, as Obi Wan’s equal and not apprentice, needs to be more competent and experienced than he was originally depicted as. He doesn’t feel the need to save Oddball or whoever that was; he knows how war works. He doesn’t call out the names of Vulture Droids, Buzz Droids, or missiles like he’s surprised to see them. He sees that the shields on the Invisible Hand are still up, and shoots them down on his own.
• Anakin doesn’t call Obi Wan “master” throughout the cut anymore. They’re replaced with just “Obi Wan” or with another, less formal line entirely. I know he calls him “master” in TCW, but this movie doesn’t have the benefit of Matt Lanter’s voice or explicit displays of Anakin’s maturity. It muddles the image I’m trying to have of Anakin/Obi Wan’s relationship anyway. Obi Wan isn’t his master anymore, and having Anakin be less proper around him sells their friendship more.
• Obi Wan doesn’t lecture or remind him to do things throughout the opening. He doesn’t tell Anakin to leave him behind or scold him for trying to help him. Obi Wan is much more trusting of Anakin with his life. At most, just anxious with the situation.
• I’ve kept in a lot of their banter and silly, light lines. Anakin’s “fun begins” and “yeahs” are kept in to characterize him as that raffish, swashbuckler of a jedi. The odd couple and their dog dynamic with R2 is kept in, and I added the “roger, roger” bit from the deleted scenes to keep Anakin and Obi Wan’s friendship fun. Whether or not anything is funny or silly isn’t the point - there is a bond that is shown through these moments of levity, that help make the later tragedy all the more tragic.
• But the L8WRTR/Hal droids audio is here. So they aren’t going to be very talkative.
• Dooku isn’t mentioned before he shows up.
• Super Battle Droids that R2 flamethrows don’t say anything but “Hey, you!” So no weird conversation bullshit or squeaky “my eyes”, and the scene’s pacing and comedic timing is faster, and we get it over with quicker.
• Anakin and Obi Wan don’t really talk after greeting Palps in the Dooku duel scene. No “this time” or “specialty” or “you won’t get away.” Palps doesn’t do his weird cheering. Anakin doesn’t brag about his powers, and a lot of his whine screams and grunts have been silenced to depict him as more focused when angry rather than unstable. Anakin cuts off Dooku’s head on his own accord, and there is no mention of Palpatine explicitly knowing about the Tuskens. Palpatine and Anakin don’t have a mini-debate about whether or not to bring Obi Wan.
• Ship going vertical trimmed, and when the ray shields catch them, Obi Wan doesn’t act surprised to hear Anakin suggest patience, he just trusts and follows Anakin’s lead.
• General Grevious refers to Anakin as “General Skywalker”
• The entire Invisible Hand bridge sequence is filled with less silly droids squeaking about, getting massacred.
• On the way down, less random space mumbo jumbo. The firefighters refer to “General Skywalker.”

On Coruscant

• No mention of what we just watched from Obi Wan, or of Obi Wan training Anakin (grown past that).
• A friendly “So we doing this, or what?” to replace “Are you coming, master?”
• “Not for saving your skin for the tenth ti-” “Ninth time.” Banter made friendlier.
• Bail Organa calls out to “General Skywalker.”
• Anakin and Padme’s reunion is less exposition-y. They are just relieved and happy to see each other; no mention of the secret nature of their marriage, or Anakin imposing his intimacy on a resistant Padme. It’s been rescored with Anakin’s Dream to remove the sinister undertones, (and because it’s a great piece that wouldn’t have been in the movie, since that scene was cut).
• From here, I take the Labyrinth of Evil approach of showing Anakin’s political motivations first. So it cuts from there to the briefing Anakin misses. Skipping over the balcony scene, dream, and Anakin telling Padme about it (the latter two will be re-inserted later). In the briefing scene, Anakin walks in with a casual “hey” to Obi Wan (from Jumper). He doesn’t feel the need to tell Obi Wan that he has no excuse. Anakin isn’t treating Obi Wan like some kind of stern teacher, and the pace at which Obi Wan responds is more laid back. Again, both essentially equals. Anakin doesn’t ask “is that bad”, Obi Wan gives him no disapproving looks in response to his opinions, and Anakin just says “that’s unusual” instead of “that’s unusual, isn’t it?” Anakin is more confident and speaking to Obi Wan at his level. Two adults having a political discussion instead of a student asking his teacher why something is bad or if something is unusual.
• From here, it transitions to Palpatine’s office, but in the establishing shot, Anakin is heard telling Palpatine that the jedi council is no mood for more constitutional amendments (from deleted scenes), referencing the talk he just had with Obi Wan. Despite Anakin not necessarily agreeing with the jedi’s stance, his allegiance is still to the jedi order and his friend Obi Wan, and this shows that he is still lobbying their concerns, because he is or trying his best to be a good jedi. It also makes him less of Palpatine’s bitch, because he is willing to speak up somewhat against Palps’ decisions.
• Additionally, Anakin doesn’t say that he doesn’t understand what Palps is proposing, and when Palps does appoint him, he doesn’t ask “Me?” or say that he’s overwhelmed. Just “A master? But the council elects its own members, they’ll never accept this.” It shows Anakin is already more than willing to take it up. He thinks and knows that he’s ready, as opposed to the original, where he obviously feels that it’s a lucky, but daunting appointment… yet still feels entitled to it later?
• Instead of Palps’ blatant manipulation (the vague “They need you. More than you know.”) that makes Anakin look kinda dumb, Palps says “You fought many battles the jedi council thought were lost. And you saved my life.” This further depicts Anakin as one of the best jedi generals, and more believably shows Anakin as deserving of master rank than in the original. Palpatine is also more subtle this way, reinforcing Anakin’s sense of entitlement with actual reasons.
• “A Plot to Destroy the Jedi” scene put in. I removed the on the nose “plot to destroy the jedi” line though.
• In the master denial council scene, Obi Wan pre-emptively shakes his head earlier and faster at Anakin, not out of disappointment or disapprovingly, but kind of as a silent way to talk Anakin down before he lashes out further. Something a friend would do when he knows that their friend is about to do something dumb. Anakin does it anyway, but I’ve toned it down to remove the petulance and entitlement. He doesn’t accuse the council of anything “outrageous” or “unfair”, he just angrily asks the valid questions of how and why they’re doing this. He doesn’t act like they owe him, but more like he knows they’re deliberately blocking him for a reason they don’t want to tell him. At this point and in this way, the scene scans as the council doing it moreso because Anakin is close to the chancellor, and not that he is egregiously undeserving. Windu says “Take a seat, Skywalker” instead of “young Skywalker”. (When other characters treat him like an adult, it’s easier to see him as one) When Anakin looks at Obi Wan when he goes to sit down, Obi Wan looks away with guilt; he feels bad for doing this to Anakin. Obi Wan doesn’t directly talk to or agree with Windu in the rest of the scene with a “he’s right”. Windu is going to be a rival/antagonist figure to both Kenobi and Anakin. Obi Wan doesn’t like how Mace doesn’t trust Anakin’s integrity, but still asks Anakin to push unethical boundaries for him. For Anakin, his qualms are with the entire council, of which Windu is the face of.
• The deleted scene with the senators and Padme is put in, the opening lines being “The chancellor has appointed governors…”
• The scene where Obi Wan and Anakin are talking about the council session down the temple corridors opens with Obi Wan telling Anakin that he has been given a great honor. Anakin doesn’t whine about the decision or call it insulting. He is already visibly angry and just quietly fumes. As a sidenote, this is a big theme in my edit. Anakin has these “dark side” emotions and moments, but he is never really driven to angry ranting, or being unstable, unhinged, or corrupted by it. That’s why the screams he does in his fight scenes are removed. It’s to facilitate that idea (that is in the original movie explicitly, even!) that his anger and hate gives him focus and makes him stronger. That was Darth Vader. The cold, menacing enforcer of the Empire’s might. Not the vengeful, emotionally unhinged brat. Especially since Kylo Ren is a thing in the new canon, and Vader has an enduring legacy as the sith lord. There should be more differentiation between the two. Anyway, Obi Wan doesn’t try to talk around the truth, he just straight up tells Anakin what the council is asking of him after Anakin’s “And…?” It makes their friendship stronger that Obi Wan is honest with him, and doesn’t try to spinelessly absolve himself of guilt to Anakin.
• “I don’t think the boy can handle it.” is cut. Facilitates that the council doesn’t see Anakin as a boy anymore.
• In the scene where Anakin and Padme discuss politics at sunset, there’s Hayden Christensen/Rachel Bilson chuckles and giggling in the establishing shot, implying Anakin and Padme were having a lighter, more endearing conversation before they segued into a tenser political dicsussion. Anything to humanize their relationship. In the actual conversation, Anakin doesn’t accuse Padme of being a Seperatist, and also reigns in his anger a bit.

Grevious on Utapau Onwards to Obi Wan on Utapau

• So now here’s where Grevious lands on Utapau. Sidious doesn’t tell him to go send the Seps to Mustafar, but he does talk about a new apprentice coming soon. Which transitions into Anakin’s dream. Which he doesn’t tell Padme about just yet. He goes to the opera after this.
• As Anakin enters the opera, Mas Amedda acknowledges him with a “General Skywalker.”
• When Anakin says “Finally… we can catch that monster and end this war.” I trimmed the visuals to keep Anakin from looking too devious and sinister. Weird, creepy facial delivery I thought. At least, not what I’m going for with Anakin here.
• Talk of spying, midichlorians, and creating life removed. Anakin gets no relief from Palpatine about the spying thing.
• Anakin is faster in reacting to what Palpatine says, and seems more adamant in defending the Jedi this way. He also comes off as less timid. In “W-What happened to him?” I muted the little stutter or “well”.
• Anakin faster to suggest he should go to Utapau.
• Anakin ends up saying “I” as an endorsement of Obi Wan going to Utapau. Anakin putting his personal feelings of disappointment aside shows more maturity.
• I added the Seeds of Rebellion deleted scene after the council meeting saying Master Kenobi should go to Utapau.
• Anakin and Obi Wan’s goodbye is scored with Anakin’s Theme from The Phantom Menace. It’s a nostalgic callback, and this is the last scene the duo have together before the fall, so it’s fitting to have the scene feel more sentimental. I also cut mentions of Obi Wan training Anakin. These hammer in the “brothers” angle.
• Padme and her senator friends confronting Palpatine at sunset deleted scene is inserted here. I cut out Palpatine telling Anakin that he is very conflicted. Anakin is an adult who feels his own emotions, thanks.
• This transitions into the scene cut out earlier of Anakin after his dream. In this new context, Anakin is on the lower balcony brooding not just about the dream, but about everything that’s happened thus far: the jedi, Palpatine, the dark side, and Padme’s loyalty… When he tells her about the dream, it’s a way to reaffirm his trust in her, and the idea that the thought of her clears his conflicted mind makes him and their relationship more sympathetic. It’s a sweeter replacement for the scene in the original (which I cut out) where Anakin is waiting in the apartment all paranoid and schizophrenic about Obi Wan and being sinister about finding a way to save her. It serves the same purpose; it even shows slight deterioration in his opinion of Obi Wan. It’s just more subtle and frames Anakin’s mindset as sympathetic rather than evil.
• Obi Wan initially on Utapau plays out from Hal’s LoE cut.

The Fall Section

• Cut the war room scene off after “plot to destroy jedi”, since the rest of that conversation was basically had earlier b/w Obi Wan/Yoda/Mace.
• When Anakin goes to tell Palpatine about Obi Wan, and Palpatine reveals his true nature, Anakin doesn’t even engage with questions, he immediately goes on guard after “…the dark side.” and pulls out his lightsaber quicker. No questions, he catches on fast. Again, a more intelligent Anakin.
• Windu tells Anakin to stay with only “I sense a great deal of confusion in you, Skywalker.” By shutting him down quicker, it makes Windu more of an ass. Especially when it’s not because of “he’s young or inexperienced” concerns. A few notes of Ahsoka’s theme are played after Windu says no, as a little un-intrusive bonus for Clone Wars fans. Windu is being dense in the same way he was then, and Anakin remembers.
• LoE exchange between Windu/Masters and Palpatine before their duel.
• Palps then attacks much quicker. They’re taken by surprise. There are no weird spins or slow reaction times, or any reaction shots. The entire duel is less weird.
• Windu is already about to kill Palpatine when Anakin comes in.
• No explicit mention of Padme or Obi Wan in Vader’s christening. There is no hint of Anakin being grateful throughout it all.
• Anakin doesn’t explicitly acknowledge just yet that he’s going to have to do terrible things. (So no “I understands”) And he doesn’t enthusiastically remind Palpatine that there are lots of jedi spread across the galaxy that need killing. Shots of his pained, turmoiled face linger to show he’s not proud of what he’s done and where he is. But he’s in it now. And he kinda wants it.
• No youngling murder seen or mentioned.
• When Anakin goes back to Padme’s apartment, no baby mention, or explicit mention of anything going on. He dodges the subject of what will happen to Obi Wan with an “idk”; he doesn’t have any illusions about what he’s done and so he isn’t shown to be proud of it. He essentially hides all the bad stuff from Padme, while not saying anything about the Republic. “Have faith my love” and other villain-y things that suggest he kinda likes his new role are removed. Darth Vader is the same man, but on a different side he’s not proud of but believes in.

Rise of the Empire

• The Mas Amedda call to Organa on the Tantive Whatever about the special session of Congress is now a pre-recorded message because Yoda is RIGHT THERE.
• No fight to get to temple
• Cut shot of Anakin crying as he slices and dices the Seperatists. And his jump down from offscreen to confront Gunray.
• Cheesy shot of Palpatine basking in his applause replaced with long shot of senate.
• Yoda doesn’t duel Sidious and Obi Wan goes to confront Anakin as a personal thing rather than a duty-bound thing. They don’t talk about Vader and the Emperor like it was 1983. Yoda doesn’t say “young” Skywalker, or mention “the boy you trained” just to continue drawing attention to Obi Wan and Anakin’s old relationship.
• Youngling death mentions are cut in Obi Wan and Padme’s conversation about Anakin.
• Removed Obi-Wan sneaking into Padme’s ship so it’s surprising later! The longshot is still there, tho.
• “Very good, my lord.” – cut after Palps tells Anakin to shut down the trade federation droid army.
• Terrible dialogue between Anakin and Padme is cut in their Mustafar conversation. Less focus on Obi Wan, and none whatsoever on saving Padme. I cut out mentions of him bringing peace to the Republic as well, bc idk. His allegiance is to the Empire, and he says it later. Also it works with the idea that he isn’t proud enough of what he’s done to tell Padme about it and Padme’s horrified reaction comes from how he doesn’t deny the “terrible things”, and how his aspirations for both of them is just more galaxy- subjecting power and control. And that she can tell something is off quicker says more about their relationship.
• Removed Hayden’s “LIAR!” Anakin isn’t supposed to be this unhinged by this point in the cut, so I had to remove this. As well as “You will not take her from me!” These are actually some of Hayden’s better acting moments imo, but it really doesn’t fit with what I’m going for in terms of Darth Vader. Too whiny, if you will.
• “Don’t lecture me, Obi Wan!” removed. It’s kind of a reference to a mentor/mentee relationship, so I’ve gotten rid of it. Also “freedom”, “then you’re my enemy”, and “you will tryy…” removed. The first just isn’t true, and the other two are too villain-taunty.
• The duel on Mustafar plays out without cutting away. No swashbuckling. “I should have known…!” until “This is the end for you, my master” in terms of dialogue is cut. Mostly because they’re bad.
• “You underestimate my power!” is also a pathetic villain taunt, I got rid of it.
• Oh yeah, and high grounds. That’s gone.
• In Anakin’s immolation, Obi Wan doesn’t mention the prophecy. Keeping it personal, yo.
• “She seems to have lost the will to live” - cut
• Luke and Leia births separated by being crosscut with Vader birth.
• As Vader’s ramps up to the “No”, we crosscut with Padme dying.
• Hal 9000 Vader scream replaces the “NOOOOOO0ooooooooo….” (Might do Japanese) and then cut to black. We hear Yoda’s voice in the black, and it cuts to onboard the Tantive Whatever.
• Ends like in the original.

Thanks Hal! 😃

I’m a huge fan of your edits, and I hope it’s no insult that I still felt like I wanted to make my own edit. Labyrinth of Evil is still my favorite version of RoTS that exists; it just inspired me to try and do it myself, to my personal liking.

I studied yours extensively for this; it really did a lot of what I wanted RoTS to do, especially with Anakin’s motivations. You really tightened the film’s pacing and storytelling, too. In that way, I know mine can never be as good (that, and this is probably only my third edit of a movie ever) because I want to go back a little bit and flesh out or portray differently, specific aspects of the film. The pace you set up is going to be sacrificed in favor of more romance and friendship, and that just doesn’t sound that great on paper, tbh. AND I’m making Padme die again? ik ik…

But I wanted to do it. I know a lot of people on a website called “Original Trilogy” wouldn’t be super invested in what the new canon is or The Clone Wars series, but a lot of me and friends are. Anakin circa 2005 just doesn’t jive with how he’s been portrayed since 2008, and the only way I felt like I could remedy that disconnect was make this edit.

…

Anyway, I’ve been tinkering with adding in the deleted “roger roger” elevator bit: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx-b_Drhy38rZ25rNnJ3TnNBVFE/view?usp=sharing
It’s working out better than I thought it would; I thought this would be the first thing to go, but I’ve actually managed to barely link the sequence together. Barely. It’s really, really rough. I don’t know if I can make it seamless. I’d love if could get my hands on the deleted scene in better quality to see if I’ll have more luck. (and maybe I could add an Anakin/Obi Wan chuckle, although that might be too much). I’ve spent way too much time on this already tho LOL.

I know it’s really silly - but since most other instances of the battle droids will use L8wrtr’s audio, hopefully that will somewhat cancel out the overall silliness level.

(Also, how are the lightsabers?)

Other things I’m currently messing with:

• General Grevious addresses Anakin as “General” Skywalker. I mean, why not? It’ll help strengthen that image of Anakin I’m trying to build. You could honestly watch the original RoTS after AoTC and not pick up on the fact that Anakin isn’t Obi Wan’s padawan anymore. This is just a little thing among other things in this edit that try to hammer in how much Anakin has grown and matured.
• This is a dumb thing I’m probably not even going through with, but I added a few notes of “Ahsoka Leaves” (pitched down a little bit to fit with the surrounding music) after Master Windu says, “No. If what you’ve told me…” It doesn’t really do much of anything, but kind of(?) evoke the last time the council failed someone by being dense, and I guess it shows Anakin remembers.

Other than these things, I can basically be done (but I still want to work on it); just need to fix a few audio things, and I could probably send anyone its current iteration if they asked.

Revenge of the Sith: The New Canon Cut

Hey, it’s the 100000th fanedit of Revenge of the Sith!

When Disney acquired Lucasfilm way back in 2012, eventually a lot of Star Wars’ EU was deemed uncanon in favor of a more focused, newer canon, in which TFA could fit. Aside from the movies, the 2008 animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars was kept canon.

One of the things that show did right was Anakin Skywalker. It manages to make up for those OT Ben Kenobi lines of “He was a great pilot, and a good friend…”- It gives us an Anakin Skywalker that is all of those things and is truly worthy of being the prototype to Star Wars’ most iconic character.

Matt Lanter/TCW depict Anakin very differently than Hayden Christensen and Lucas did; he’s a charming, swashbuckling, but mature jedi/general/teacher/pilot/friend - with a dark side that manifests itself in ways more interesting than bratty whining and naive creepiness. Knowing that THIS guy falls to the dark side is tragic, and seeing him inch further and further away from the Jedi Order as the show progresses is incredibly compelling.

Watching all of that build in TCW and then going into RotS almost makes RotS work - but Anakin is a completely different character. Theoretically, TCW should be able to complement the movie nicely for those who put the time in - but there’s too much suspension of disbelief at play to connect Christensen to Lanter.

Every edit I’ve seen hasn’t been able to do this (mostly b/c idk if they’ve really tried to) without me thinking to myself, “Well you could’ve done this or left in or out that.” So for this edit, I’m going to try and make an edit that more reasonably connects RotS and TCW, specifically in the case of Anakin. It’s going to fit in with the larger canon in terms of characterizations, so that the Lucasfilm story group’s justification of a more cohesive canon than Legends is actually true.

Anakin is going to go from a moody, entitled teenager to a mature, experienced jedi and decorated general. His relationship with Obi Wan is going to be brotherly, as Obi Wan states at the end of the movie. They’re equals, so every reference to a mentor/mentee relationship is abolished. Their friendship has grown past that and is much stronger now. His relationship with Padme is going to be healthier and less cynical; they won’t be worrying about getting caught, and there aren’t any undertones of Padme/Anakin being an inherently bad mistake - just something that was tragically manipulated. Palpatine won’t have such an iron grip on everything Anakin does. Anakin will have more agency and think for himself. He’ll be well aware of and wary of Palpatine’s rise to power being sketchy, but he’ll find that his politics, ambitions, and personal feelings align with it more than his responsibilities as a jedi. Turning will be a conscious choice as opposed to a last resort or result of Palpatine’s manipulation. When Anakin does turn, he doesn’t do a 180 in his personality. It doesn’t immediately corrupt him to be creepy and moustache twirling, and he’ll never be proud of anything he does, or even believe that what he’s doing is morally righteous. He was no illusions about the monster he’s becoming - and it will be gradual. It’s framed in a way in which dark!Anakin is more like the Darth Vader we see in the OT. Cold, methodical, and effective. Not unhinged and crazy like he is in the original Revenge of the Sith.

Even if you’re not into TCW, what I’m doing here is aging up Anakin to be an adult and a more sympathetic character; setting up his fall to feel more tragic. You see and understand where he’s coming from (in a way that doesn’t make him immature and/or submissive) but not in a way that you’re rooting for it to happen or get over with. His relationships with Obi Wan and Padme and the hero that is General Skywalker should be the biggest losses felt in an all around terrible situation.

Here’s a list of changes.

(Poster design made from Mike Sapienza’s poster as a base)

Some Preview Clips

“General Skywalker”
There was very little contrast between Hayden as a padawan in AotC, and at the end of the war in the theatrical RotS. He seemed to exclusively follow Obi-Wan’s lead and was at the mercy of the council throughout the film. Meanwhile, Lanter’s General Skywalker was a bold and experienced Jedi general. This clips shows additions/edits that give Hayden that same authority and leadership skill. He gives commands, is addressed by his rank, and is more explicitly involved in military matters. He is treated as not just an adult, but respected as a war hero.

Anakin’s Personality + Relationship with Obi-Wan
Following up on Anakin as more of an adult, this clip demonstrates how Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship has evolved. Equal in rank and skill, they’re brothers on the same wavelength. In humor and action. Obi-Wan doesn’t treat Anakin like his subordinate/apprentice, nor does Anakin to Obi-Wan as a master and with formality. Anakin’s easygoing fun nature from the Clone Wars is supposed to be translated in Hayden here - more of the jock-like swashbuckler - and Obi-Wan responds to it with his appreciative wit, not exasperation. The banter is meant to service this from the novelisation:

“And Obi-Wan Kenobi knows, too, that to have lived his life without being Master to Anakin Skywalker would have left him a different man. A lesser man. Anakin has taught him so much (…) He smiles now, and sometimes even jokes, and has become known for the wisdom gentle humour can provide. Though he does not know it, his relationship with Anakin has molded him into the great Jedi Qui-Gon said he might someday be."

As the last real hurrah for the duo, maintaining camp and humor was fine for me, as a contrast to the later tragedy.

Second Act Kashyyk Kickoff + Luke’s Father Wanted Him To Have This, When He Was Old Enough
I’m using Hal’s LoE structure of politics before nightmares, as a way to establish that even an Anakin in an untroubled state of mind still has friction with the Jedi council. Because of that, Grevious’s entrance on Utapau can’t happen where it does in the theatrical - I’ve replaced it with the initial attack on Kashyyk (+Wookiees moving to call the Jedi). It kicks off the second act in a similarly bombastic way, and introduces that subplot a little more elegantly than a change of subject at the tail end of another scene.

That transitions into Padme and Anakin’s balcony scene. The scene on its own is cheesy and bad, but I hope with the added dialogue I mitigate most of it. When we come down to them, they’re in the middle of discussing whether to give their baby a lightsaber. Perhaps if they should be a Jedi or whatnot. (Callback to Ben Kenobi lines too!)

That actually segues pretty nicely into Padme saying she wants the baby on Naboo, but it also feels like a real conversation a real couple would have; Anakin and Padme hashing out the different things they want in their relationship and for their child, rather than just a vague and empty “we love love love”. It in turn also subtly sets up their later ideological conflict, in a way that doesn’t turn us against Anakin immediately. He’s just like his jock-y CW countepart here.

More than that, Anakin doesn’t seem to particularly want or care about the kid(s) in the theatrical, and with this, it’s more clear he absolutely does. He’s excited in his own masculine way, and that also lends itself nicely to how he feels things for Luke as Vader in the OT. He’s ecstatic about being a father, and I keep that thread consistent and noticeable throughout the edit, whereas it kind of fizzles out and seems forgotten (by Anakin) in most of the theatrical.

Siege of Mandalore Tie-Ins and Fixes
Here’s how I’m currently trying to handle the inclusion of the deleted scene where Obi-wan, Yoda, and Mace discuss their concerns about Palpatiine - a scene that can be replaced by a later scene in the film and recreated for TCW. This scene was important to maintain because it establishes where the Jedi are on the chessboard quite early on, and Obi-Wan being here for it is wonderful parallel progression with Anakin. He’s reacting alongside Anakin to the events of the film, rather than offscreen, and helps position their roles as main characters for coming cataclysm. Based on Knight of Kalee’s suggestion.

That leads into Anakin and Obi-Wan in the briefing room, where we actually get a mention of Ahsoka and what’s happening with her in SoM. Other edits in the scene are just subtle things to make Anakin and Obi-Wan more brotherly. Making the interaction less formal and actually having Anakin acknowledge when he’s being a little radical on his own, based on Obi-Wan’s expression. It also makes Anakin less blind and more pragmatic like TCW Aankin; he understands why the council distrusts Palpatine. Here he just has faith in, not blind loyalty for, Palpatine.

Appointment to the Council and Anger Management
Following up on that thread, these are more ways Anakin is not blindly loyal to Palpatine, and more mature and pragmatic.

Using deleted scene dialogue, Anakin relays the council’s concerns to Palpatine, and Palpatine responds by being more subtle about his manipulations. Rather than tell him the council needs him and Anakin just buying that entitlement, he just points out all Anakin has done for them in the past and leaves it at that.

Anakin handles the rejection better than he does in the theatrical. As opposed to lashing out for not getting what he wants, he feels the unconventionality of the situation and catches on to a plot they aren’t revealing to him. It’s less “How dare you do this to me” and more “Wait a second, what’s going on here.” He’s more upset at their dishonesty than what he feels he’s owed.

Subtle things to make him more CW-y: Obi-Wan gives him a head shake to calm him down, Mace doesn’t refer to him as “young,” and Yoda offers Anakin something to think about rather leave him cold. In line with all of their TCW relationships; Obi and Ani and communicate nonverbally, Mace and Anakin have a strained but equal relationship, and Yoda is nicer than Mace to Anakin.

Anakin and Padme’s scene has Anakin not lash out at Padme. He understands the council’s moves but Palpatine is his friend. He’s caught in the middle, rather than all-in on Palpatine at this point.

Not From A Jedi
At Delpheas’ suggestions, here’s how I’m reincorporating that scene where Anakin senses Obi-Wan’s been at Padme’s. Right after “Not From a Jedi.”

I initially didn’t keep it because I had the Padme deleted scenes where it is in the theatrical, and because Anakin came off as too sinister and the tone was too foreboding for how I wanted to depict his fall. I want Anakin to be cognizant and aware of his actions up until the end, and this scene almost single handedly undoes that. But there’s merit in how it discusses Obi-Wan reaching out, worried for his friend.

I discovered that placed after the opera scene and before (1) His friendly farewell with Obi-Wan and (2) His soft discussion with Padme about his dream (this has been moved from the beginning of the film to the middle), it doesn’t necessarily read as an unhinged Anakin’s descent, but a moment. And having normal, human moments afterwards shows that he doesn’t fall down a rabbit hole into Vader (which is what I don’t want.) I’ve edited the scene short obviously, ending with:

P: You expect too much of yourself…
A: Is that bad?

…Which isn’t like the theatrical, where he pretty much tells Padme he’s going to use the dark side. Now, he’s just opened himself up to his selfishness, which works well directly off of the opera scene. The dark side isn’t something he’s interested in yet, nor is it anything he ever really seeks in this edit, at least until the last second choice between Mace or his wife.

Obi-Wan reacts to Anakin’s Fall
I’ve always had an issue with how… nothing, Obi-Wan’s reaction to Anakin’s fall initially is.

I tried to mitigate some of that, with a few added lines/shots and distressed noises (from Ewan himself) that better show how much it shocks and hurts him.

Okay, so courtesy of sade1212, I tried my hand at implementing an idea of theirs from the Radical Redux thread I really liked. Subject to change back.

Anyway, the basis for this change is that Anakin’s exact mindset in turning to the dark side has always been somewhat muddled and nearly inscrutable. We probably understand why he chooses it, but not how he can. How can a good man do these terrible things? The theatrical asserts that he’s always kind of been troubled and scary in that way, but I’ve obviously moved away from that to make him more well-adjusted. I’ve previously leaned on Anakin developing this philosophy of “ends justify the means;” where he visibly feels remorse and never explicitly extols the virtues of galaxy-ruling. He knows he’s done terrible things but it’s for Padme!

The underlying issue with that execution of it - while it has worked for me and others - is that Anakin then becomes almost a secondary character for what should arguably be the most important part of his development. The next time we see him there’s distance between us and him - he’s done all the bad things offscreen and how he feels about it is only given to us after that fact.

Anakin visits Padme before he marches the temple
So sade’s idea was to have Anakin visit Padme directly after his christening as Darth Vader. I like this for a lot of reasons. Where this scene is placed originally, is exactly what I mean when I say there’s distance between us and Anakin. He’s acting somewhat normally, seemingly unfazed by what we know he’s done. Any empathy we had for him is lost because we can’t relate to that. Sure, we can extrapolate an internal justification process or him burying his feelings, but there’s no real payoff for that understanding (unless you count the “Nooooo”/scream from Vader, which I have removed), no elucidation that that’s what’s happening.

With this new placement, Anakin has only betrayed Mace and only just agreed to march on the temple. He has yet to commit his crimes, so now this scene is contextualized as cold feet, trying to re-affirm why he would do the things he will while he’s still relatively “innocent.” I tried to play up how he doesn’t know what he’s about to do, and avoided him talking about his allegiance to Palpatine. He knows Padme would be against him, and now the scene is rife with half-truths and uncertainty. When Padme brings up Obi-Wan, he’s taken aback because it’s the first real consequence he has to face.

Re-Implement Younglings?
In looking for a scene to replace the previous, I felt like the youngling scene might work now as its own beat in the story, rather than glossed over in a montage. It used to be a 180 that was hard to justify, but now we have context for Anakin’s state of mind. He was hesitant, but he has to do what he has to do. Turning it into its own beat makes it a point of no return in his descent into depravity, especially as Anakin is never even slightly optimistic after this. He just wants to save Padme. I think it adds to the tragedy now rather than confuse it.

More clips:
Palpatine Reveal (Palps is more subtle)
Grevious expecting Skywalker (Parallels Maul and Ahsoka)
Anakin is the father isn’t he? (Obi-Wan comforts Padme, wants to save father of her children)
Padme stands up to Anakin, Obi-Wan thinks there’s good in him (kept here for archival reasons)
Earlier, better version of above (Audio clip selection TBD, some VFX, Padme shot credit to snooker)

Dooku’s beheading
First clip I ever posted of this edit (Updated) (Anakin’s Theme Rescore)
Anakin falls to the dark side (WIP)
Obi-Wan initially wants to help Anakin out of the lava after their duel

Tried some alternate dialogue instead of silent nodding to replace Yoda’s reused lines in the Windu/Obi/Yoda deleted scene
Testing an alternate exchange in pre-duel sequence

STILL IN PROGRESS. Maybe not so much anymore
EXPERIMENTAL WORKPRINT AVAILABLE

In terms of plotting, how about starting the movie on Jedha, with Bodhi surrendering to and then meeting Saw? That’s the impetus for what gets Cassian and the Rebellion to Jyn, Jedha, and learning about the Death Star, so why not have it be the opening? Then we can have Cassian learning about it after the titles, then we meet Jyn, bring her to Yavin, brief her, etc. Cut out Bor Gullet. And then we can have the Erso opening somehow edited into the flashback Jyn has.

I thought that was one of the things Rogue One did the best, honestly.

It really amplified the meaning of “hope” at the end of the movie and into ANH, as that scene demonstrated how jaded and un-unified the “Rebel Alliance” had become prior to the Death Star plans being stolen and Luke Skywalker coming into the picture. Idk, it was one of the things this movie did to make you appreciate the heroes and events of the OT more; how the universe at large - outside of Luke, Leia and Han’s personal bubbles and character arcs - was affected and influenced by the actions of the OT heroes. We knew the Rebel Alliance was losing before, but Rogue One showed how the Empire’s consistent dominance over them progressively broke their collective strength and resolve, and fractured their unity to the point where the Empire damn near won.

If someone could somehow dub Matt Lanter over Anakin, that would be cool. If that becomes possible to do one day, what's to stop us from editing his voice onto Anakin in RotS, too? 

His protrayal of Anakin is superior. To Hayden and his imitation voice in the 2003 series.