I don’t think he looks fat, and honestly I wouldn’t care if he was.
As long as he can soar through the air on the wings of his spinning double bladed red lightsaber, twirling, twirling towards freedom, all else will pale into insignificance.
That is a not-unreasonable take, Jar Jar, but the idea won’t let go of my brain that easily.
You see, the reason why most old castles and ruins on Earth are little more than foundations are because they’ve been robbed out by later inhabitants. If the buildings were merely abandoned they could last for hundreds or thousands of years, as seen with Mayan and Aztec temples. I would imagine that the huts probably would have collapsed over time, but the stones would still be there covered in a growing layer of rain-deposited sediment. If Luke was on the island for a few years it’s easily possible for him to have rebuilt the ones we see in TFA which consist of about two huts and a wall.
All this to say that there’s the potential for an unknown history regarding the island and its unusually pristine structures. Perhaps it was Luke, perhaps it was magic, perhaps it was a race of monastic House Elves which lived on another island and risked attack from violent tribes to keep the relics of a long-forgotten people in working order.
I only wish that the imagination of the viewer would have been given reign over these minor mysteries and reserved explanations for things with true import in the story.
I mean, we could have had a shot of Luke repairing a crumbling hut amid his daily routine. It would have actually made complete sense to give Luke a hobby.
That idea is neat, but I think it would feel out of place considering the setup. The ‘bait’ aspect of the Death Star and the Rebel’s attack plan both hinge on the Death Star being hidden and isolated from the rest of the galaxy and the Imperial fleet. If the Death Star were to be constructed around Coruscant (or moved there at some point in its construction), there would be no way to keep that a secret and so the Death Star would fail to be enticing as a target to the Rebels since they would expect a trap.
^ Love that mockup, RL!
I think, if it’s doable, getting a music-free version of the scene would be a great starting point, then put something else into place if it feels empty.
Though a lot can be done with creature sound effects, and even a very subtle musical idea can give a scene tension, much like the ESB scene of Luke in the Cave.
A lot of good ideas, RL! I second the notion of using the Ewoks with Blasters footage if possible.
Rewatching the feast preparation scene, I suddenly realized why it doesn’t feel threatening: the music. Almost the entire scene has a tribal beat which gives a clear ‘happy festivities’ vibe. The only moment that feels in any way dramatic is when 3PO starts levitating, which also happens to be when the tribal music stops.
My solution would be to remove the tribal music from the scene. It would probably be tricky since there’s so many other sounds, but I am willing to bet that if that scene had only dialogue and sound effects, it would be 200% more creepy.
I don’t really like Airplane that much.
Same. However, I rather expect old comedies to be rather lackluster as a rule, since comedy as a genre fares poorly with distance in either time or place. The reason I have come up with is that since jokes are generally more funny the more situational and specific they are, the less impact they have over time as the nuance of the situations has gradually been lost.
Great find, Bobson!
And yeah, though it was certainly possible to do this in '77, I am leaning toward mistaken memory. If this costume was even from Halloween '78 it would be totally believable, since there were many more high-quality references available.
To answer your question: Yes.
One change I would easily make is Luke telling Rey she isn’t related to Palpatine at all, that it was a ruse by him and that it was her own strength that defeated him in the end.
Many others agree:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/REY-NOBODY-A-Collaborative-Thread/id/76772
A few of these are quite fun! I think with quick cuts they would be fairly easy to bend with the surrounding battle, and as for the quality, didn’t someone have access to a 35mm print of at least one of these films?
All fair ideas. Though whether or not the Sarlacc is alluded to, I expect the best version of the scene is the one which can best use pre-existing dialogue, and that’s not exactly my forte.
Though if anyone wants a custom background, for example changing the ESB chamber to something more 2nd Death Star-y, hit me up 😉
^
My approach to editing ROTJ leans a bit more conservative, and doesn’t require seeing the PT to understand the OT, so I think some explanation of Luke’s sister is necessary, otherwise it comes out of nowhere in the context of the film.
RL, I don’t think that two Vader/Boba scenes would be necessary - like you said, a little exposition goes a long way. However, I do worry that the segue scene runs the risk of not having enough dialogue to feel complete. The scenes, especially in the beginning of the film, are rather long, so having such a brief moment may be awkward.
I agree that any shots we included would need to feel like they could have come from the 80’s, but I think the shot from the show could be made to look grungy enough, especially if we rotoscoped a matte painting of the desert into the background or something.
Also, and this is just an observation and doesn’t necessarily tie into the Boba discussion, but I noticed a potential continuity issue if the palace song and dance number comes before the droid entrance. Oola, the dancer, is cast into the Rancor pit at the end of the song only to appear by Jabba’s tail in the droid entrance. This is only a potential issue since it could be that she’s a replacement dancer, or that he merely dropped her into the pit as a warning and didn’t release the Rancor on her. This may be some indication of why Boba didn’t immediately try to stop the Rancor attack - he may have assumed it was just another power play by Jabba. Then when we see the Rancor appear, Boba is at Jabba’s side, perhaps discussing the Sarlacc gambit.
There’s a shot of Boba right beside Jabba during Luke’s Rancor fight, so it fits well with that.
JEDIT: I also like the questions this Boba plot raises for the Emperor’s arrival scene.
Emperor: “And now I sense that you wish to continue your search for young Skywalker.”
Vader: (long pause) “Yes, my master.”
In the theatrical version, I always interpreted this pause to mean “No shit, Sheev. It’s been my sole character motivation for over a year.”
But in this version, that pause could be Vader wondering if the Emperor knows of his continued attempts to capture Luke on the sly, or if the Emperor knows whether or not his latest attempt succeeded.
I was thinking about your ideas last night, RL, and wonder if the Vader/Boba scene wouldn’t merely confuse as many things as it illumines. For example, now that Boba is explicitly on a mission to take Luke alive, it throws later events into a strange light such as Jabba trying to kill Luke first with the Rancor and then with the Sarlacc. In ESB Boba was concerned for Han’s safety since Jabba wanted Han alive, but in this Boba looks on mutely while Jabba tries to kill Luke. Granted, perhaps Jabba isn’t in on the scheme and is a loose cannon in Boba’s plan, but one would think that he would at least try to influence Jabba’s decisions.
This brings me to the idea: What if it is Boba’s intention to incapacitate Luke in the Sarlacc?
Boba clearly knows how difficult it is to trap a Jedi since even Vader couldn’t do it in ESB, so he would rely not merely on his own power nor on Jabba’s henchmen nor another failed Carbonite gambit. No, the only way he would see to bring in his quarry would be to turn Jabba’s entire force on the Jedi and force him into the most inescapable place on the planet, from which he could extricate his wounded quarry at his convenience.
But how to convey this plan? Probably the easiest way would be for there to be a schematic on Vader’s screen of the Sarlacc, or the shot from the Boba show where he hovers over the pit, distorted of course.
Vader: “You have something, bounty hunter?”
Boba: (Shows Sarlacc view)
Vader: “I want him alive.”
Boba: “If he’s a Jedi, he will survive.”
Vader: “Very well. Once you have Skywalker, bring him to me.”
Boba: “As you wish.”
If this scene worked, Boba’s fate would become absolutely poetic.
Of course. As long as it make you happy, that’s all that really matters 😃
The terminator line on the Death Star is clearly tilted at about thirty degrees, meaning that either the light must arrive from the extreme upper right side of the frame or the Death Star itself needs to be rotated thirty degrees clockwise in the frame to match the current sun location.
Of course, realistically the terminator line seems to be bisecting the sphere of the Death Star almost precisely in half, so there would be no way to view the sun in the same frame as the Death Star at this distance. as it would be far to the right of the moon.
I imagine that 4K83 is going to be quite grainy, so any effects work would need to be re-grained for integration. That makes me think that a cleaner Blu-ray source would be better. I think Adywan is using the 2019 version since the Blu-ray is so bad for this film.
At least with a cleaner, more detailed source, it could always be downgraded for use in a more filmic version, whereas it would be more difficult to upscale low-detail work.
I’ve sent you what I have, and if you decide to use another source I will happily use whatever you provide 😃
Nev, maybe you could share that background you made for the capture scene?
Gladly! However, it is cobbled from bits of 4K83 since I don’t have any other version on hand. If you had a more detailed source to share I would be happy to do a more polished job.
The shots I used were several frames from where Leia sneaks down the entrance stairs plus the shot where Leia pulls Han to his feet (for the curtain in the background).
Lots of good ideas, RL! It’s becoming clear that Boba Fett is the key to all this…if we can get him working.
The nice thing about the Vader to Boba segue is that any scene set on Tatooine would work there, such as the dance number. You could just have the shot from the Special Edition of Boba entering the party sometime during the song to imply that he just got off the phone with his boss. Heck, just replace the existing shot of him in Lapti Nek and call it a day 😉
I wonder if we’ll meet Luke’s dog. I hope so.
In ESB, Luke’s smile in the medical center is actually him reminiscing about his dog, Scruffy.
Yes, I think the way it appears theatrically makes more sense, in terms of how it’s flipped. However, that’s just a still image mockup, I didn’t test it in motion.
I will say Boba’s placement in the theatrical shot makes it feel odd. In the original shot Boba is pointing his gun toward the side of the frame with less space, which is odd from a framing standpoint. I think in either case, flipped or unflipped, he would need to be reframed like he is in my mockup to point the gun toward the area of the frame with more space.
Breaking it down, in the first shot Leia looks up and slightly to the left, as if she’s looking at something above and to the left of the camera.
In the flipped Boba shots, he slowly raises the gun but it is also pointing to the left, implying that he is aiming at something to the left of camera.
Putting them together, it feels like the camera is jumping from one side of the 180 degree line to the other. I will agree that it’s a bit unclear where the eyelines are supposed to be going and the camera is almost on that 180 degree line already.
I stumbled across this image here and ignoring the weird assertion that this is responding to (Of course women grew up on Star Wars), I was curious: would this costume have required a viewer with non-insider knowledge to fabricate it out of memory? It would certainly be possible to sit in the theater (perhaps a drive-in) with a sketchbook and take notes, but I imagine that there would have been promotional materials of the pilots such as lobby cards, magazine photos, and newspaper articles.
This is the only poster I could find of the pilot costume, and even then I’m not sure if it was from '77.
So purely academically, is there evidence of Rebel pilot images appearing in print in 1977?
JEDIT: I found a set of oversize character portraits that were available at the time from here, one of which is of Luke in uniform, and another which contains the full uniform from the side.
Notably, however, the high-quality image of Luke is reversed so anyone working directly from that image would have to have other reference for that and the helmet.
Finally, Marvel Star Wars comic #5 has many views of the Rebel pilots, and the comic released on August 10, 1977. Obviously they are not detailed enough to work as reference for the costume in the original photo.
So my question remains: Would there have been a high-quality reference of Luke in uniform to base a costume off of, or is it more likely that she did drawings (or snapped a polaroid of the screen?)
Very promising! I’d forgotten that he raises his gun in the palace. I imagine that there would need to be some power windows to make it seem like he’s emerging from the shadows. It may be better to keep the shot of Boba unflipped though, since flipping it here breaks the 180 degree rule.
Also, maybe there could be a Temuera Morrison line that could be used during the transition between shots, like a mocking ‘Not so fast, bounty hunter!’ Maybe something from the new show?
JEDIT: Canonically, there’s a stairway in the direction he appears so I made a mockup of it. In any case, there should probably be a curtain that is pulled back offscreen since the curtain can be seen in previous shots.
Sorry about the copious notes, I’m really just working the problem out-loud.
*Alter their capture so Boba Fett catches them instead of the whole palace hiding behind curtains
As I mentioned before, it’s a neat idea but I simply can’t visualize how that would work with the available footage. Would be interested in seeing a mockup though 😃
