NeverarGreat

Gender-swapped Kynes was great and had a better death than the character in the book.

SparkySywer said:

Palpatine should’ve lived and gone to jail for his crimes or the rebels are no better than the Empire

Underrated comment.

Looks great!

I remember watching Episode 1 in 2000 or so and holding it to the quality of the other three movies that existed at the time. I was 13. Then Episode 2 came out and only then did I really start to feel like something felt off about Star Wars. I think it was the one-two punch of nonsense plot and bad CGI, which was noticeably off even at the time (Keep in mind that Gollum appeared on screen in the very same year).

I distinctly remember seeing a review for Episode 2 in the newspaper and reading that it was the weakest Star Wars movie to date, and that cemented the idea that just because it was a Star Wars movie doesn’t mean it would necessarily be good. Before that point I had bought into the idea that Star Wars was a monolithic entity leaping fully formed from George Lucas in 1977 and each movie was in fulfillment of an intricate, mythic tale. Episode 2 shattered that naive belief and made me realize that there likely never was a story for Episodes 1-3, and that George Lucas was just making it up as he went along.

Yeah this is the best version of the scene yet!

I think cutting the false ending is a good move and improves the action, but there’s still a bit of oddness in the original editing which this version makes even more noticeable. Specifically, the shots of Obi-wan being disarmed are too quick, with one being only a couple of frames. It isn’t too bad when these quick cuts are followed by a lull in the action, but going right into Obi-wan disarming Anakin feels like one trick too many.

I see two potential solutions, and both involve making Obi-wan’s disarmament one fluid motion.

The first would be to use only part of the shot where Anakin first strikes Obi-wan’s saber, removing the brief shot of him pulling back for the final swing and cutting the next shot to show the follow-through. This would still be several quick cuts, but it may not be as noticeable.

The second option I see would be to remove the closeup shot of Anakin’s first strike altogether, going right from the wide shot of the action to a the brief shot of Anakin pulling back for the final swing, but reversing this shot so that it appears that Anakin is swinging forward at Obi-wan’s saber. Then you could keep almost all of Obi-wan being disarmed in the wide shot, depending on the continuity between the two shots.

Anyway, those are my two cents. The scene is so close to perfect, and the music really works!

SpenceEdit said:

You all have done some amazing work here! One thing constantly bothers me when trying to put all of these scenes together into one fight: It’s missing a shot. There needs to be a close up shot of Obi-Wan starting to move after Anakin disarms him. Without it, there’s a jarring cut from Anakin’s close up to an extremely wide shot of Obi-Wan already in motion, which feels disjointed and hard for the brain and eye to follow. It also very suddenly breaks the 180 rule, which doesn’t help but can’t really be avoided entirely. It just doesn’t feel right.

I did a little mock up of inserting a shot into that spot, I’m sure there are other options between the show and the PT, but I thought this illustrated my point well enough:

https://streamable.com/iigfu3

I really think that shot is super important to make the scene flow correctly. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can feel that it’s missing.

NeverarGreat said:

The lines ‘Your weapon’s gone…it’s over.’ followed by ‘Your need for victory, Anakin, it blinds you’ feel superfluous to the flow before and after. Obi-wan’s next line ‘You’re a great warrior, Anakin…’ feels like the proper end to the action, and it may be best to just delete the second false ending altogether. I’d suggest cutting from Obi-wan being disarmed straight to the wideshot of Obi-wan spinning out of his crouch to put an end to the fight.

Omni said:

I’ve often wondered if watching the Prequels is a better experience if you’re a non-native English speaker, or if you watch it in a different language, so that the worst tendencies of the dialogue don’t necessarily register as overly childish or obnoxious.

From my experience, having lived years in both the United States and abroad, having attended conventions in multiple countries and all, Prequel reception is way, way more positive if you’re not from an English speaking country. You stop evaluating the lines by the quality you perceive in them, and only focus on what they’re trying to convey to the story, and the lines in the PT are very competent in that regard. So people watching the movie dubbed or subbed get a very different perception of the characters and story, probably the one Lucas wanted everyone to.

I imagine watching the Prequels subbed is like when I watch the sub of an Anime; a viewer can read into the foreign language all of the subtlety and gravitas that they want, whether or not it actually exists for native listeners.

If you look closely at the playthrough, Mando clearly used a code exploit for the ‘Gideon’s Secret Base’ level with his frame perfect glitch through the final shield grid, allowing him to access the final boss area without triggering the Gideon Clone activation script. The fact that there was animation and dialogue for this scenario shows that it must have been planned for by the developers at some point, even if it is hilariously stupid and anticlimactic.

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.

We went to see this with some friends and had a great time. Just a fun comedic romp, and I couldn’t even be mad at the use of a straight-up Portal gun because that’s honestly what people playing Dungeons and Dragons would do.

ACT 1: Future War

Within the darkness comes the sound of machines, the rush of coolant and clang of steel echoing as if within a vast sepulchral space. Servos whir, the whine of motors and the hum of electricity signify power on a massive scale as batteries and capacitors unleash their potential. The whine increases tone by tone as of a great tuneless instrument, and suddenly a light leaps into existence, illuminating the dark.

The space is vast, its volume equivalent to that of an entire city block, its curving, chrome-plated walls joined to form an almost perfect sphere. Sprouting from the floor and descending from the ceiling of this metal globe like a paired stalagmite and stalactite is a nameless mass of components, generators, batteries, and computer banks welded one to another without regard for any notion of beauty or aesthetics. Hatches and doors of unknown purpose festoon the structure, and massive conduits snake up and down the height of the sinister morass.

Where the two assemblages meet in the center of the colossal sphere hangs a delicate tracery of metal, conduits and electromagnets powering a set of rings that begin to dance and spin around each other with mesmerizing beauty and precisely calibrated grace, and it is from within these rings that the brilliant white light has appeared. The light, generated by the powerful electromagnetic forces of the rings, slowly expands to encompass the rings themselves and hangs there like a glistening, glowing soap bubble, the white light flickering with blue as it stabilizes in place.

The glowing light reveals a delicate tracery of metal extending from the dancing rings - a spindly catwalk - which reaches from the center of the sphere to its equator and there intersects with a bank of computer terminals displaying a cascade of complex numbers and programming code. One of these numbers is larger than the rest: 2029. In front of this number is a collection of digits, presumably denoting month, day, hour, minute, second. The number begins to change, the digits dropping in value, and then the large number reads 2028, then 2027, as the numbers continue to decrease.

Extending in either direction from the computer terminals, two catwalks diverge to encompass the entire circumference of the sphere’s equator, meeting again at the other end of the room. At this point, one catwalk descends, sloping and curving around the sphere, until it reaches the floor, and at this point, on the floor of the sphere, is the one place where the perfect symmetry of the structure is broken. There is a massive door set far into the sloping wall, and it is from this door that the sounds of battle now arise.

Gunfire reverberates beyond the door, the sound of heavy things falling, of explosions that shake the door in its frame.

In response, within the sanctuary of the sphere, hatches open. From these mysterious sarcophagi emerge metal monsters, skeletal figures with metal limbs and metal skulls and red eyes flickering to life within cold sockets. They stand, rising to their feet on the floor of the sphere as others descend onto the circumference catwalk above.

On the catwalk leading to the flickering sphere of light, one figure descends from the darkness, lowered on metal arms that retract once more into the darkness. Unlike its skeletal fellows, this thing looks almost human. It is a massive creature, its naked chassis embossed with huge muscles leading to a brutal block of a head crowned by a modest crop of dark hair. The creature stares straight ahead into the flickering ball of light, no hint of emotion visible behind its unblinking eyes.

A final explosion from beyond the massive door shakes the catwalk, and then there is silence. The creature turns its head and looks down. The metal creatures on the floor far below have begun to move toward the door, a door which now begins to open with the sound of ill-fitting metal and tortured motors. A cloud of smoke billows into the room, obscuring the scene. The creature looks back to the ball of light as behind it numbers continue to scroll down the flickering displays: 2001, 2000, 1999. It begins to move toward the light.

The skeletal monsters advance into the cloud of smoke, red eyes gleaming in infrared. Bolts of blue energy lance out of the cloud of smoke and strike the robots and they fall, their systems overloaded. From out of the cloud of smoke emerges a man.

The man, a tall, rugged specimen with close-cropped dark hair, sports a scar that runs down the left-hand side of his age-lined face. He wears a navy blue uniform and wields a large plasma rifle that he holds in both hands. A patch stitched across the front pocket of his uniform spells out the name ‘Connor’, below insignia denoting high military rank. However, the clearest indication of his command resides in his eyes. They are pitiless, and he fires his laser rifle with practiced efficiency at any machines that remain in his way, clearing a path for his men.

Emerging from the smoke to the left just behind Connor, a large man with a backpack and a massive gun bellows out a war cry, taking out two metal monsters with a single shot. To the right of Connor, a wiry young man of perhaps 25 scans the area, the blue light of his rifle striking down any damaged machine that still has light in their murderous red eyes. A bandana works to contain his unkempt hair and his uniform displays the insignia of a Sergeant, below the rough-stitched name of Reese. Between the two men, as if protected by them, is a skinny, stunted youth of perhaps 16, wearing a uniform and wielding a rifle that both look two sizes too big for him. His freshly scarred face is twisted into a perpetual look of fear. He has no insignia, no stitched name on his uniform. His gun is held at the ready but remains unfired, and Reese moves beside him as if to protect him from attack.

A high-pitched whine emanates from the sphere of light above them, and the sphere expands suddenly as if it were a star shedding its corona in a supernova explosion. The expanding wave of light passes through the metal of the converging spires and through the group of Connor’s soldiers, stopping only when it reaches beyond the very extremity of the room. There are sudden screams and Connor looks behind him at the open doorway to the hall.

A wall of pulsating light separates the spherical room from the hallway, and two soldiers have been caught between the two spaces, the curving bubble of light bisecting them through their waists. The soldiers fall, clothing on fire, their upper bodies sizzling on the curving plane of light while their legs collapse back into the hallway.

Reese stares in horror at the burning corpses, the youth huddling at his side. Only about a dozen soldiers have come through the door. The ones caught on the other side fire their weapons uselessly against the shield, but Connor holds up a hand.

“No. Evacuate the facility. If we’re not out in five minutes, call in the strike.” The soldiers move back, hastening back down the hallway. Connor turns, assessing the situation.

Staring up through the obscuring smoke, Connor spies the distant form of the naked man on the catwalk far above, moving toward the flickering ball of light. Connor barely turns his head, gesturing to the indistinct shape. “Reese, the portal.”

The wiry sergeant glances wildly down at the youth at his side. “Stick with John, understand? He’ll protect you.” The youth nods, moving beside Connor. Reese gives a meaningful look at Connor, who swings his gun around at the ramp leading to the higher level, firing at a metal monster at its foot. “We’ll clear a path. Move.”

With a final nod and backward look at the youth, Reese takes off at a run toward the ramp. Behind Connor, a man and woman carrying a heavy tripod deploy it on the floor. A heavy gun is quickly affixed to the tripod and the woman swings it around to take aim at the space in front of the moving figure of Sergeant Reese. She depresses the trigger and a burst of purple vomits forth into the dark skeletal figures on the ramp above Reese, igniting them in violet blossoms of light. They fall from the ramp or slump against the far wall, scrapped.

The burly man with the heavy gun grunts as he takes out more machines. “They don’t have guns. Why?”

John gestures for most of his team to move with him, following Reese’s example. “They won’t risk damage to the core. Besides, they don’t need them. We’ll run out of rounds first.” He glances back at the woman operating the tripod gun. “Choose your targets with care.” The woman nods assent as John moves up the ramp with his team.

Sergeant Reese emerges onto the equatorial catwalk, dodging past a Terminator which has leapt from the shadows to intercept him. He fires his gun at the thing and keeps going. Another blocks his path and he tries to fire, but the magazine is empty. He tries to dodge again but is forced back. The machine lunges at him, metal claws raking the air with inhuman speed, narrowly missing his head. Suddenly it ignites in purple light and flies against the far wall. Reese salutes the woman on the floor and continues moving, trying to see the figure that is striding inexorably toward the central sphere of light, but the light is between Reese and his quarry, blinding him.

Just as Reese reaches a vantage point to see the fleshy Terminator, it reaches the portal and disappears inside. The sphere of light crackles with energy and the Terminator is lost within it, crouching down and disappearing in a brilliant flash that illuminates the entire room for an instant like daylight.

In the flash of light, Connor and his team reach the top of the ramp behind Reese, and the youth looks up at the ceiling of the great dome. “Look!” he says, gesturing skyward. Connor follows his gaze, and sees that heavy metal plates are shifting and descending down the walls, opening the entire edifice to the milky white of the shield, and beyond that, the open sky. A few scurrying clouds tinged with red mix with stars twinkling in the predawn darkness beyond.

Reese makes it to the computer bank on the far side of the room, scanning the numbers on its displays in desperation. One number stands out from the rest, in bold red strokes.

Reese turns toward the glittering ball of light, the catwalk extending out to reach it. He sees Connor and his team following, the youth staring wildly at him from across the vast space. Connor fires across the room and lights up a Terminator approaching Reese from behind, and his powerful voice echoes across the void. “Reese, go!”

Shocked into motion, Reese gains the intersecting catwalk and races across it swiftly, throwing his useless gun behind him. With a final cry, he leaps into the portal. His clothes are torn from his body by the enormous energies within the sphere of light and he screams in pain as ribbons of energy arc up and down his body. His scream is cut short as he disappears from view, and another flash of light illuminates the vast space.

The descending metal panels continue to expose more of the sky beyond the flickering dome of the energy shield, and with the final flash of light they descend to the catwalk floor. Beyond the shield, the soldiers can see a vast facility, its metal structures spread out below and disappearing into the night. Searchlights and flashes of gunfire illumine the predawn sky as humans and machines lock in a final desperate combat.

The Terminators within the dome stop their advance, as if hesitating. Connor surveys the scene beyond the dome, then looks grimly up at the number on the display. It flickers and changes, going from 1984 to 1985, then 1986. He smiles, turning back to the still-flickering portal and the morass of machinery supporting it. He shouts defiantly into the space.

“It’s over! Skynet has lost!” Echoing cries of triumph rise from the small team spread around the room. John eyes the evil-looking column of circuits in the center of the room. Softly, he mutters. “Your plan has failed.”
As if in response, a voice, perfect in modulation, neither male nor female, reverberates within the space.

“I will not concede.”

As those four words echo into silence, Connor steps forward onto the intersecting catwalk. “Oh, I think you will.”
John turns to the boy at his side. He speaks softly to him. “Charlie…you’re up.”

The boy makes his way to the computer terminal, typing some commands. Connor and his soldiers look grim, leveling their weapons at the waiting Terminators.

The voice speaks again. “You will not discover the shutdown code, and my forces will not be deactivated. They will continue to execute my final command, and I calculate a sixty-five percent chance that humanity’s numbers shall be too diminished to survive.”

As Charlie types commands into the console, the Terminators around the dome lurch into motion. Bolts of blue and purple light lance out in all directions, but their energy is almost spent, and still the machines advance. There is a scream as the few survivors on the floor of the sphere are overwhelmed, the tripod going dead. The display continues to count up the dates. 2010, 2011, 2012.

John shouts at the boy. “Charlie, we need that code now!”

The Terminators reach the outermost soldiers and they are cast from the catwalk, falling to their deaths. Charlie’s hands still, and his eyes are wide as they read the machine code scrolling on the screens. He whispers to the screen. “I need more time.” John fires from his rapidly depleting rifle. “Charlie, time’s up!”

The boy backs away from the console, a terrified look on his face. John stares at him, the grim fury on his face passing into despair and acceptance. He puts a hand to his headset and removes it from his head.

Still the dates tick up, 2023, 2024, 2025. There is a rumble and a whine, and overhead a squadron of planes emerge from the night, making straight for the facility.

Charlie looks up at the approaching planes, and at John, who stares back at the boy from across the chaotic space, his radio headset in his hand.

Purple lights lance into the sky, striking the leading aircraft and sending them spiraling down in fiery explosions. The vanguard continue on, releasing their payloads. The shield quakes and shimmers, but holds. The planes spiral away, coming back for another pass.

The voice once more speaks over the sounds of carnage and destruction. “This is your final ultimatum, John Connor. Call off your forces, or humanity shall be destroyed.”

John glares at the boy who has betrayed him, his last words on his lips. “So be it.” He drops his headset into the abyss. He pulls a conventional pistol from his belt, firing slugs of metal uselessly at the advancing monsters.

2026, 2027, 2028. The portal begins to dim, the outer shield failing as the planes come in for their final strafe. The youth behind John stares wildly at the approaching planes, at the defiant form of John Connor, at the flickering portal behind him. He makes a decision.

Breaking away from John, the boy races into the dimming ball of light, crouching down and screwing up his eyes as the energy cascades across his form. John begins to yell something at him, but the man is too late. The display reads 2029. As the bombs fall, detonating and cracking the shield like an egg, the boy disappears in a flash of light and all is cast into fire and an endless silent scream.

And this is why so many people abandon Prequel film edits entirely in favor of prequel rewrites. Because the concept is so much more interesting than the plot and characters that we actually got in the films.

This season, I’ve taken to calling my time watching the show as my weekly Disneypointment.

This is a concept for a sequel to The Terminator, set within the climactic events of the Future War of 2029.

I have a basic plot for the story, and will be posting the full scenes below as I finish them.

Literal lol.

https://i.imgur.com/QzzdxBV.mp4

That movie is the best.

Addressing one of the concerns for the shuttle, what if it was just farther back in the shot than the X-wing? That way it would appear to be about the same size as the X-wing.

Alternatively, I think just turning the TIE into a common variant like the TIE Interceptor would be just as acceptable to me, especially since that shares a lot of design language with Kylo’s two TIE fighters. I could believe that some Interceptors had Hyperdrives by the time of ROTJ. It would also look sleek next to the X-wing if anyone wanted to tackle a Ben lives edit where he takes off in the TIE fighter after the battle and the two ships fly side-by-side for a shot or two before breaking off to go their separate ways.

But now I’m simply fantasizing.

Vader’s Tie me no-likey.

https://youtu.be/9Swd_pFdcXE?t=80

😉

Added to the notes!

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I just watched the film with my brother and his friend. They had the following feedback:

• Overall, a massive improvement over the original

Nice!

• Would be interested in some sort of line which indicates the Republic is endlessly debating sending in support, thus why they never intervene.

This is already planned for V2 in a deleted scene.

• The Sith whispers may be a bit too subtle. I had to point it out to them.

That actually makes me think that they’ve done their job, since sometimes the best effect is one that becomes invisible. Of course if it’s a volume issue, that’s another thing.

• My brother would like to see some audio lines indicating what Rey is hearing in Kylo’s head about fearing not being as strong as Darth Vader. This would be similar to what Kylo hears in Poe’s head.

Interesting idea, and with the AI voices it may be possible. I could just reuse lines from the prayer scene, but that seems a bit basic. More thought will be needed.

• Visually, Jakku may need to be more consistent. Although the morning and evening would adjust light levels, they think it makes it look like they’re on a completely different world at times.

Is it just the evening scene that has this problem?

• Humor has been trimmed very well, but my brother thinks you could have gone even further in a couple places. He didn’t elaborate lol.

I’m pretty happy with how much humor has been cut, actually. But of course everyone’s mileage will vary 😃

Thank you for the feedback here, and I’m glad y’all enjoyed it!

Hal 9000 said:

Here’s the best I can get the Poe lines to sound. It’d be nice to lipsync the line “His followers have been hiding something for years,” but with what’s available now this is what I can do. I don’t think it’s half bad and I doubt anyone would have batted an eye in the theater.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MsJjLxDxVwrjR8KjZNzToTiKnMRxtFVX/view?usp=share_link

The only issue I hear with those lines is that it feels a bit like Poe is reading from a dramatic play instead of relaying foreboding tidings. But it certainly doesn’t sound bad.

I also think he underestimates the continued power of the original films. As a Millennial, I was first exposed to the OT on VHS in 1993 or 1994, and I imagine for many Millennials up until 1997 it was the same way. My little brother may have first watched the '97 versions, but there are several generations who were raised exclusively on the unaltered films, and who never cared for the prequels despite being children when they were released.

And all this is ignoring the argument for historical preservation and simple decency in preserving the work of those who originally made the films, such as the craftspeople who did the matte paintings and model work that has been simply erased. It genuinely makes me mad when people say ‘no one cares lol’ when for most people, they have been deprived of the opportunity to care by a generations-long campaign of artistic suppression by the most powerful entertainment companies on the planet.

PM Sent!