NeverarGreat

“It was the last night of her training. She had the makings of a great Jedi…but Leia believed that she must serve the galaxy without a sword, like her mother once did. She surrendered her saber to me and said that one day it would be picked up again…by someone who would finish her journey.”

I think it’s important to say that Leia was a capable student at least, since she’s shown defeating Luke in the scene. If the dialogue suggests that she was a reluctant student, it would probably show her being less aggressive in her fighting.

JEDIT: Wording.

daveybjones999 said:

Sideburns of BoShek said:

vranir said:

I’ve realized that the biggest issue I have with this show is the lack of reason to fear Thrawn. I know him from the books. Some fans know him a bit from Rebels. But in this show we have been given no information or evidence of his clout beyond his rank. Even from Rebels we know that he has with him one Imperial class Star Destroyer - what difference does that make? I’m sure there were plenty after Endor that had to be dealt with.

I’m loving the prospect of seeing a new region of space in Star Wars, and I want to see Thrawn in live action, but the threat just isn’t something I feel.

I agree, I want to see him in action in the remaining episodes, to see him be this feared, impressive tactician and leader, and not simply be told about it. Unless that is what the “wrap-up film” from Filoni is going to be, and this is just laying the groundwork for that? That will will be underwhelming if it does.

Yeah I do agree that’s an issue. It’s the problem with making Ahsoka a direct sequel to Rebels because if you haven’t seen that show Hera and Sabine are completely new, and while the show does an admirable job of trying to introduce them to new viewers it doesn’t quite work. Also because it’s a sequel to Rebels it doesn’t feel the need to show why Thrawn coming back is such a big deal because it assumes you’ve watched Rebels and therefore know why Thrawn is so intimidating. If you haven’t seen Rebels he’s pretty much the main villain of the later half of that show. I haven’t read his original trilogy, but from what I saw of him in Rebels he was a fantastic villain. He doesn’t get defeated due to anything he does wrong, it’s other characters in the Empire who screw up his well-laid plans.

Thrawn in the novels is essentially unstoppable despite working with fairly limited resources, and is only defeated because he is forced to extrapolate from incomplete and inaccurate information.

Thrawn in Rebels has all the resources of the Empire and he and his underlings still manage to lose regularly to a far weaker rebel group. So it’s not really the same character to me.

regularjoe said:

To expand upon the last comment, Thrawn is really a nothing burger ultimately.
Why?
This show is set between the OT and the ST.
Thrawn is clearly not a problem to the galaxy at large in the ST (not even mentioned once).
So basically Thrawn and his crew come back from some nether reaches and are quickly put down in Season 2 or the movie that ties these all together.

It could work if we see the New Republic being more competent than in the ST, then Thrawn shows up and wrecks it to the point that they’re weakened and willing to look the other way instead of engaging other threats like the First Order.

But I’m not holding my breath.

Hal 9000 said:

As fun as it has been to work on fan edits of the main Star Wars saga, for my own mental health I need to bring it to a soft close. I need to set them down, regard them as finalized, and not take them up again. It’s been meaningful to create and update these projects in the context of this community, and I am grateful for the various forms of help in getting this series of fan edits into the shape they’re in. I feel that these projects deserve the dignity of taking a final form and being complete. I’m not closing the door on future, new projects. But I need to mentally let go of the edits of the saga so far.

I say you should take a bow. Organizing and completing fanedits of all nine films is nothing short of monumental. Hats off to you, Hal.

Yeah, I was worried there for a few days.

Hi everybody!

EPISODE VII
THE FORCE AWAKENS

It is a time of despair.
Luke Skywalker, striving
to restore the legendary
Jedi Order, has vanished.

In his absence, desolate
worlds beyond the reach
of the New Republic have
fallen under the shadow
of the evil FIRST ORDER,
which has risen from a
dark Imperial fortress to
destroy the Jedi forever.

To counter this threat, a
brave RESISTANCE armed
in secret by the Republic
has sent its daring pilots
across the galaxy, vowing
to find the last Jedi and
restore peace and justice
to the darkening stars…

Perfection.

This is not to say that I don’t like the movie. TLJ is the sequel I have the most respect for, since it seems to be trying to say something. But the way it treats the characters and the universe seems almost flippant at times, even toward story elements of its own invention.

Who cares about Anakin’s/Luke’s lightsaber?
Who cares about Snoke?
Who cares about Hux, the First Order, or even the Resistance?
Who cares about the Sacred Jedi Texts?

Whereas prior Star Wars movies would earnestly engage with their own universe and story, this one pulls back and asks: who cares? Instead of pitting good versus evil, or even one side versus another, the story asks whether or not we should even care at all. Even if eventually the answer is yes, we should care, as it seems to be saying in the end, the question still hangs over the entire enterprise and feels like a mutation of something deep in the DNA of this surrealist fantasy. It is the dreamer pinching themselves and wondering why they don’t simply awaken from the dream, which is both the most unique strength of the film and also its greatest weakness.

Just a weird movie, and difficult to describe.

I think I realize why so many people don’t like The Last Jedi.

It smirks.

For all of it’s faults, The Force Awakens doesn’t try to be clever. It doesn’t smirk; it’s earnest.

Of course, The Rise of Skywalker is the worst of both worlds as neither clever nor earnest.

When they say ‘Activate the droids’, a green Death Star laser shoots out of the center of the trade ship and hits Naboo, because green means activate.

I gotta say, I don’t see a change at all. There is a slight difference in color between the two versions due to the different overall color grade, but as for the consistency throughout the scene, it looks fine.

The only oddities I noticed in the scene were how the purple saber tended to bleed into and overwhelm the green saber when the two blades intersected, whereas in the original the green color was more present. It’s not a huge problem, but it is a bit noticeable in some shots.

I’d say that the Star Wars brand itself has had a lot to do with it, with TROS making a lot of people question the fandom in general. Other than Andor, the outlook has been pretty bleak.

Very interesting! I read some of your script and it sounds promising so far.

I’d be interested to hear about your workflow in running these ideas through GPT-4. How detailed do you have to be for the program to output something usable?

Give it a bit of reverb and drop the volume a tad and it may be seamless.

That sounds good to me as well. I also like imagining how Adam Driver says the word ‘ghost’.

Yes, and that’s the contradiction at the heart of this film’s confused worldbuilding. The theatrical crawl states that Leia has the support of the Republic, and Hux says that the Republic has secretly aided the Resistance as well. On the other hand, the novels of this period portray Leia as a pariah and the Republic as almost entirely dismissive of her efforts to fight the First Order, since the Senate is itself divided between those opposed to the First Order and those supporting it. Leia had to essentially break away from the Republic entirely to create the Resistance, at least in the lore.

There’s no way to condense this complex situation into a satisfying line of exposition. If the Republic refuses to help Leia, it is seen as contemptible, if it is unable to help due to being fractured by infighting it is seen as weak, and if it openly supports Leia there is little point of calling it anything other than an arm of the Republic military. The only option that really makes sense here is what Hux describes, a situation where it secretly supports the Resistance while attempting to remain neutral to avoid being drawn into another galactic conflict. I think that could come across with the ‘secret’ addendum, but I don’t want to put too much more focus on it because it would imply that the Republic is a major player in the film, which it most definitely is not.

Fair enough on the first paragraph being too succinct. I could definitely include something about the Republic there. Though, I am attempting with this short first paragraph to make the crawl work with Williams’ original 3 part crawl music, so the episode number, title, and spacing should be seen as part of the first paragraph, so a four line first paragraph is essentially seven lines for musical timing purposes.

And yeah, the Republic should be explained more, but straight out saying that they won’t help doesn’t endear them to the audience who needs to care that they are destroyed by the end.

Here’s a version that mixes a few of my prior efforts in a new way. Since I’ve abandoned the idea for a 9 line second paragraph, I think it makes everything a lot more readable.

EPISODE VII
THE FORCE AWAKENS

The Republic is in crisis.
Luke Skywalker, last of
the legendary Jedi Knights,
has vanished.

Emboldened by Luke’s
absence, Imperial legions
bearing the mark of the
evil FIRST ORDER have
risen from the shadows
of a hidden fortress to
destroy anyone seeking
the Jedi’s return.

In staunch RESISTANCE,
a band of rebels armed
in secret by the Republic
has sent its daring pilots
across the galaxy, vowing
to find the last Jedi and
restore peace and justice
to the darkening stars…

That’s Martin the Warrior

That’s him in a food

fight

Losing to a dibbun

EPISODE VII
THE FORCE AWAKENS

It is a time of darkness.
Luke Skywalker, last of
the legendary Jedi Knights,
has vanished.

Emboldened by the Jedi’s
absence, agents of the
evil FIRST ORDER have
risen from the shadows
of an Imperial fortress
to sow chaos and fear
throughout the vulnerable
New Republic.

Racing against time, a
brave RESISTANCE sworn
to secrecy by the Republic
has sent its daring pilots
across the galaxy, vowing
to find the last Jedi and
restore peace and justice
to the darkening stars…

This may be the best option there is for explaining the relationship between the Senate and the Resistance. Here, the Senate is demanding that the actions of the Resistance be undertaken in secret, but it doesn’t specifically say whether or not the Senate officially condones these actions. Presumably it does but wishes to give the impression of being an impartial party, which tracks with Hux’s statement about it ‘secretly supporting’ the Resistance. At the same time, there’s no mention of actual assistance by the New Republic.

I am also trying to imply here that the Resistance search for Luke is more widespread than just Poe’s mission, though that is the one which leads to results. It makes the galaxy seem bigger.

I think it’s quite intentional that Palpatine creates the illusion, or phantom, of menace to Anakin and the Senate, then positions himself as the only one who can protect them with some vague promise of power or security. Both parties take the bait and end up hopelessly corrupted. It’s a brilliant bit of parallel storytelling.

Or it would be if it was handled with any sort of competence. Execution is everything, and instead of working like a Shakespearean Tragedy it lands like a wet farce.

I felt this one was about on par with 2 and 4, which are entries which I don’t have any particular desire to see again. For me, nothing comes close to 1 and 3 in terms of enjoyment.

If the studio really wanted to continue this franchise after DoD, may I suggest making low-budget movies featuring a long-lost niece or granddaughter in the Jones family.

Call it…the indy Anna Jones series.

In my opinion, there has never been a truly satisfactory name for users of the Dark Side.

Darth was originally Vader’s first name, and giving every darksider a “Darth (Evil Adjective)” name is dumb.

Sith is slightly better, but even though it was conceived for the Original Trilogy, it has generally been associated with the prequels and their baggage concerning the “rule of two” which makes it practically worthless for general practitioners of the Dark Side. Sith has ironically become a very limiting term for a group of practitioners who reject limitations almost as a rule.

Finally, even calling someone a ‘darksider’ or a ‘Dark Side user’ uses the Jedi’s doctrinal dichotomy between light and dark sides of the Force, whereas many so-called ‘darksiders’ would probably view themselves as agnostic in their use of the Force, only recognizing it for the power it provides. This is why it bugs me that the Emperor describes his power as coming from the Dark Side, since it feels like bowing to the Jedi terminology.

If it were up to me, I’d just call non-Jedi practitioners of the Force ‘Force Users’ or ‘Force Wizards’. It should be a neutral term which doesn’t stoop to the Jedi dichotomy. There would probably also be truly committed darksiders in the galaxy, just as there are Satanists in opposition to popular religious sects, whose choice of name is often performative and intended to provoke. But these darksiders would probably be a minority, as are Satanists among the vast array of religiously unaffiliated people who nevertheless have some religious or spiritual beliefs. Some of these Force users may use the Dark Side exclusively and yet not be affiliated with the Sith doctrine, some may use the Light Side exclusively yet not be called Jedi, and others may not differentiate between the two sides at all.

Only the Falcon desert chase scene was filmed and shown in Open Matte, and then only in certain screenings and later a few broadcasts.

Rewrite ANH’s crawl to be like TFA’s:

Obi-wan Kenobi has vanished. In his absence, the evil GALACTIC EMPIRE has risen from the ashes of the Old Republic and will not rest until Alderaan, the last planet of the Republic, has been destroyed.

Without the support of the Senate, Senator Bail Organa leads a brave REBELLION. He is desperate to find the Jedi Obi-wan Kenobi and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy.

Bail has sent his most daring Senator on a secret mission to Tatooine, where her long-lost brother knows the secret to Kenobi’s whereabouts…