NeverarGreat

What follows is quite a long scene, but hopefully it has action, adventure, and enough really wild things to be a froody time. Enjoy!

From their vantage point near the top of the tower, Rey and Ben look down into the convocation chamber. Below them twelve robed figures sit around a table which curves in a semicircular arc around the room. Death Troopers flank the door as royal guards file into the room, finally making way for Supreme Leader Armitage Hux, resplendent in a gold robe similar to the one worn by Supreme Leader Snoke. Ben shifts a bit of the crystal window so that they can hear what is said below. One of the knights demands to see Supreme Leader Ren, for they have a matter of supreme urgency to discuss with him, not Ren’s rabid lapdog. Hux sweeps back his cloak and activates Kylo’s saber hidden within. He announces that Kylo Ren is dead, and any urgent matter should be taken up with him, if any of the knights deign to follow him. The knights are silent, and he demands to know of this matter. The one which spoke before amends his statement to say that he spoke rashly, and the matter can wait.

Hux demands the loyalty of the knights as their new leader. Ben raises his blaster, aiming it at Hux’s breast. Rey puts her hand on the blaster and lowers it, shaking her head. Ben shrugs. He will do this her way. She asks which one of the knights knows the answers she seeks. He points to one on the far side of the table, a tall alien with bright green skin. Rey slips away from Ben. He whispers a question about what the plan is, and she says that she’s working on it.

In the chamber below, the knights state that their goal is the safekeeping of the people of the twelve systems, a goal which the First Order has respected under Snoke and Ren. Ben notices the design on the floor of twelve planets, each worked in colored tile under the seats of the knights connected by rays of a triple sun where Hux now stands. Ben has never seen the artwork from this angle before. The knights ask if Hux will safeguard these people. Hux says that the knights are in no position to be making demands of the Supreme Leader, especially since he has a fleet of ships ready to rain death on them at a moment’s notice. The knights become stoic and say that they will accept death if it means forestalling their people’s fate. They warn Hux that if he takes action against them he will be taking action against all those who yet believe in the power of the Force. As if to punctuate this, another distant roar echoes in the distance, and again Ben turns and searches for the source of the sound.

Rey hears the roar as well, but she is too busy at the moment to be bothered. She is making her way down the face of the tower by small handholds in the rock and protrusions from the bones. One of the handholds crumbles under her foot and sends shards clattering down one of the windows. The Death Troopers are alerted and return through the doors, heading for the spiral stair with which to search the exterior of the tower. Ben decides that it’s time to make himself scarce. Rey finally reaches the level of the knights, and in a final leap manages to make it to the green-skinned knight’s location. Now only a stained-crystal window separates them. She remains low so as not to be seen by the others, and takes a metal implement out of her satchel. The green-skinned knight hears a scratching noise behind her and turns, but sees nothing at first. Then she sees a crudely drawn symbol etched on the crystal. The knight turns back to the others. The knight beside of her looks to her in question, but she shakes her head as if it was nothing.

The Death Troopers make it to the roof but find no trace of Rey or Ben. The leader tells them to be on the alert. In the chamber, negotiations between Hux and the Knights are wrapping up. The knights agree to follow the Supreme Leader, and he promises to give their planets fair protection under his new regime if they will declare their loyalty in a public ceremony on Coruscant. They clearly don’t trust his words, but having little other choice they rise to follow him.

Rey is in whispered conversation with R2 and ZE-7 in an alcove outside of the convocation chambers. She asks ZE-7 if there are any spaceworthy ships in the castle and he says that when he was first the butler here there was one ship kept in case of emergencies, but that it hasn’t been used for decades. She asks where it is, and he says that it is in a small tower off of the main hall. Ben joins the group and she orders ZE-7 to stay with the guests until they reach the great hall. The other three move to the ship. They split up and not a moment too soon. The royal guards move out of the convocation chamber followed by Hux and the knights. The green-skinned knight is last, and ZE-7 sidles up beside her. She glances at him and she sees scratched onto his dusty patina the symbol from the window.

Rey and Ben lie on their backs beneath the decrepit ship, hastily crosslinking rusted connections. Ben mutters that it would be a miracle if this ship were actually spaceworthy. Rey tells him to shut up and give her the bonding tape. R2 beeps worriedly from inside the ship as he welds bits onto other bits.

As the company of knights marches into the main hall, ZE-7 mutters something to the green-skinned knight, and she speaks up to Hux that the counterpart of ZE-7 has wandered away and if she could go gather it before they leave. Hux motions two Death Troopers to commence a search, and the alien blurts out that it’s really no trouble for her to go instead, that it will just take a moment. Hux dismisses her, but the duo of Death Troopers fall in behind her. They all follow ZE-7 toward the side hangar. The knight looks worriedly at the butler droid and he holds down a button on his carapace.

In the ship R2 suddenly straightens, ceasing his welding, and rolls down the ramp past Ben and Rey. They look at him in confusion, then Rey scrambles out after him, hissing at Ben to finish the crosslinking.

As the alien, droid, and troopers emerge from the main tower onto the thin bridge of bone connecting the main tower to the side hangar, R2 emerges from the darkness of the small tower. The knight asks the butler droid what to do now, and he says that when he gives the word, she should run. A panel slides open on R2’s carapace and he stops. The Death Troopers ask why the droid has stopped, and ZE-7 gives the word. The knight takes off across the bridge, faster than seems physically possible for such a species. The Troopers raise their weapons, but even as one fires a shot R2 shoots something out of his dome and over the knight’s head. It lands in the hand of ZE-7 and he whirls his upper body over 180 degrees to face the Troopers, activating Luke’s saber in a brilliant flash of green. Two blaster muzzles fall useless at the trooper’s feet and they stumble back in shock. Rey stares from the tower at the sight of Luke’s sparring droid deftly driving the two troopers back towards the tower. The knight stumbles on the far side of the bridge and into Rey’s arms. She is bleeding from a blaster wound to her side. Rey helps the knight around the corner and into the ship, R2 following. Rey yells at R2 to begin the startup procedure, and Ben says that they need more time. Rey nods tersely and goes back out to the bridge, where she comes up short.

ZE-7 still holds the bridge, his metal feet planted on the center of the span and holding his arms in fencing readiness. On the balcony of the main tower stands Hux, surrounded by his royal guards, Death Troopers, and the other eleven knights. The Death Troopers have raised their blasters to fire on the droid, but seeing Rey Hux belays the order. ‘The girl who murdered Snoke’ he sneers. Rey takes out her lightsaber and makes as if to ignite it. Hux ignites Kylo’s saber in response. He orders the droid to move aside, as he will destroy this scavenger who dares steal a knight from his order. ZE-7 responds that it is not permitted in his programming for any person under his care to come to harm. Hux responds that he will simply cut his way through the droid first. The Death Troopers look uncertain, one even asks ‘Sir?’ with weapon raised to the exposed droid. Hux waves them back, taking off his golden robe. He clearly relishes a chance to use his skills. He announces that he will prove himself before the knights so that there will be no question of who is their master, Force or not.

Hux whirls in an explosion of energy at the fencing droid. The droid responds with machine precision, matching each thrust with a parry. However, the droid is inexorably forced back, finally stopping at the far side of the bridge where he holds the line. Hux swings expertly, slicing the lightsaber out of the droid’s hand. The lightsaber falls, but as it does ZE-7 catches it with his other hand. He is off balance, and Hux presses in. They switch places on the bridge, with Hux between Rey and ZE-7. Hux executes a lightning fast flurry of attacks, slicing off the droid’s other hand. The lightsaber flies across the span and rattles onto the balcony on the other side. He kicks ZE-7 in a final act of fury and the droid falls from the bridge to the forest far below. He is now exposed to Rey, however, and in an instant she has her hand around his sword hand, forcing it to his throat. Through sheer strength Hux begins to push her arm back, the barbs of the unstable saber inching back from his throat, and she slams the end of her saber into his side.

Hux smiles slowly. The significance of the saber placement is not lost on him, and he taunts Rey, saying that he always had his doubts whether she really did kill Snoke or whether it was actually Kylo Ren. But perhaps, he says, he was wrong. He goads her, telling her to do it and gain the title of Supreme Leader as she could have claimed before. Rey closes her eyes, muttering ‘please’ as she inches her thumb to the activation on the broken saber. With her forehead beading with sweat she finally pushes the activation.

Nothing happens. Her head droops in failure. Hux laughs, vindicated. He forces his arm free of her and slashes cruelly at her exposed body, scarring her face. She falls to the ground, beaten. Hux walks back across the bridge, picking up the green saber and placing it on his belt. He motions his troops forward to take Rey and her compatriots.

At that moment the quiet of the forest is broken by the hum of the ship’s systems as they roar to life. This is followed almost immediately by a more distant yet much louder roar, and the tower shakes and trembles. The troops look around in alarm as a giant beast emerges over the hills in the distance, its great wings beating the air like a hurricane. Rey stumbles and tries to get up, but falters. Ben rushes to her aid, picking her up and moving to carry her to the ship. For a moment, however, Hux sees the face of Ben shadowed in the dark opening of the tower. He squints, unsure of what he has just beheld. Ben pulls out his blaster, aiming it at Hux’s chest. Then he looks down at Rey, remembering her refusal to let him kill, lowering his blaster as Hux spins on his heel. The gravity of the situation becomes very real. The wind has picked up so much that the tower is shaking itself apart. The small tower begins to pull away from the castle, and the bridge breaks asunder.

In the rickety ship, warning lights flash along every console and sparks fly. Ben drops Rey beside the green knight and leaps to the controls with R2. The ship tilts and Rey asks if it’s due to bad repulsors, but Ben shouts that they haven’t taken off yet, the tower is falling. Rey sees that it is true through the front viewscreen as the horizon of the forest falls away to reveal the sky. The ship starts to slide back into the hangar, the sky becoming a hole as the hangar walls blot it out. Ben works the controls but they are unresponsive. The ship’s power dies. With his metal arm he slams the controls in frustration and they come back to life, and the ship’s engines ignite against the back wall of the hangar. They are propelled out of the falling tower like a bullet from a gun. Rey and the green knight are pinned against the back wall of the cabin as the ship rockets into the sky. The tower falls in pieces into the lake below.

Everything is shaking. Controls, seats, bulkheads. Rivets dance and pop from their sockets, the noise is immense. But the noise of the beast rises above it all as it gains in pursuit of the ship. Ben says that he now knows why they didn’t allow ships to fly above this forest, and Rey grimaces. Ben sees something ahead of them, and points it out to Rey, saying that Hux and his escort are ahead of them and making for the fleet. Rey says that they should get clear of the fleet as fast as possible, and Ben says that if they break away from Hux’s shadow they will be sitting ducks for the fleet’s turbolasers. Rey counters that they’re just going to make a bigger meal for the beast which is still gaining on them. As if to settle the argument, a barrage of green death strikes down around them, burning holes in the beast’s wings. It breaks off pursuit and glides back into the forest to lick its wounds.

They break free of the atmosphere. Hux’s ship moves on a beeline for one of the destroyers with Ben piloting close behind. The destroyers hang in space before them, and Ben wonders why they haven’t launched any TIE squadrons yet.

paja said:

Avatar.

• The Extended Collector’s Edition Blu-Ray
• 3D Blu-Ray
• Original DVD

And I’m not even an Avatar fan XD

I have three versions too.

• The live action version from 1990
• Animated version from 1992
• Animated Disney version from 1995

And I’m not even an Avatar fan XD

The OT definitely could use a bump in contrast and brightness, which would go a long way to making it look more filmic. They also still look lacking in the yellow department.

All theories are wrong; some are useful.

The Force should be beyond the ability of people to fully comprehend. I think the best way of viewing the Snoke lines is that he is identifying a connection between Rey and Kylo, but the full truth is not apparent to him, whatever that truth ends up being.

In TLJ the Rey/Ben dynamic feels very much like Rey is being drawn towards trying to ‘fix’ Ben, which is definitely a thing that can happen in romantic fiction with ‘bad boy’ characters.

Poe’s fleet appears almost within the ring of the shipyards of Arkanis, the Resistance ships already in a protective formation around the central Destroyer and Resistance squadrons deployed. Poe orders the TIE squadrons to launch with the transports and protect them on their mission. Red squadron happily complies. An officer on the bridge reports that the station is at red alert and their TIE defenders are launching from all points. Examining their formation, Poe allows himself a small sigh of relief. Finn’s voice comes onto the comm, asking what Poe thinks, and Poe responds that the TIE’s are launching from their standard ports which are far from the Destroyer’s location, and from what he can tell they are largely uncoordinated, evidence that Hux is in charge and is scrambling a hasty defense.

Finn’s transport group reaches the hangar below the administrative tower and Red squadron lays down fire on the shield generators. As the shields fail the TIE barrage continues into the hangar, peppering the ships of the wealthy financiers of the First Order. The transports land amid the wreckage as the doors of the hangar automatically close behind them. Even as they shut the transports open and waves of soldiers pour out with Finn and Rose in the lead, headed for the lifts and the control center of Arkanis.

A roar echoes in the darkness of night. Rey starts awake. Their ship still sails on a cushion of air above the river, Ben sitting cross-legged in the bow and R2 at the stern. She asks what that roar was about, and Ben says that he doesn’t know. He is staring up at objects in the sky. As Rey follows his gaze she can see against the darkness the light of morning beginning to glow on the underside of a fleet of Star Destroyers hovering many miles above the forest. They have just arrived, Ben explains. She asks if they will obey the laws of the planet and Ben says that if they broke these laws there would probably be quite a light show, which he hasn’t seen. He says that they can only hope that the First Order will take their path, by which point they will be far away. Rey looks back, worried about Chewie on the Falcon alone.

They arrive at the end of the river where it opens into a large lake. On a hill abutting this lake is the castle, though it looks more like a tower with many spires made of stone and bone. The three suns strike the top of the tower even as they gaze upon it, and it glows starkly white. They move under one of the many buttresses supporting the cathedral-like structure of the lower tower, seeking the center of the structure. In the very center of the space is a looped chain affixed to a small platform. On one side of the space is a waterwheel. An axle connects the chain and wheel. The three assemble on the platform and release the catch, whereupon the power of the flowing water carries them slowly up the interior of the tower to the sound of a mechanical jingle and clank. Rey notes that these people sure are serious about their old-school solutions to problems.

…

Connix sits in the cockpit of the cloaked reconnaissance craft on the edge of the Arkanis system. Through her instruments she views the shipyards. They seem very quiet. BB-8 chirps worriedly from his socket, and Connix agrees that there doesn’t seem to be any presence from Thrawn’s fleet, only the remnants of Kylo’s fleet which show only flickers of activity from repair crews. The life signs on the ships correspond to the original crew size, most still in the forward section designated as reconditioning. She doesn’t trust it, but the sensors can’t be lying. She patches through to the Admiral.

On the bridge, Finn and Poe stand in full uniform ordering everything to be in readiness. The fleet is assembled in empty space close to the Arkanis system awaiting the reconnaissance. Connix’s image appears on the viewscreen and she reports the situation. Threepio translates BB-8 and says that by his estimate and based on the lack of military presence in the system, their plan has an eighty-seven percent chance of success. He cautions, however, that BB-8 has a bad feeling about it. Finn wasn’t aware that droids had feelings, and Threepio echoes BB-8’s sentiment, surprising everyone. Poe admits that this might be merely a ruse by Thrawn to draw them in, but states that they must act regardless, for the stakes are far too high.

He asks if Finn’s troops are assembled and Finn asks the question into a communicator. In the main hangar, a collection of troopers and officers stands ready to board the transports. He goes over the plan once more. Poe will go in with the fleet and take care of the light TIE defenders guarding the shipyards, then they will storm the operational center of the shipyards and lock down the destroyers from this central location. They shout in assent to Finn’s question and Finn gives the order for boarding. Poe suggests that Finn get to his transport if they are to capture an entire fleet, and Finn goes to the lift. Rose accompanies him. Finn asks why she would, and she responds that they have another chance to retrieve the Master Codebreaker, and this time they can get it right. Finn smiles at this half-jest and the doors close.

The Resistance Fleet jumps into Hyperspace.

…

As they reach midway up the tower, a large window coincides with the rising suns and almost blinds them in its brilliance. A stained-crystal artwork in the window splits the suns into a multitude of colors which wash over the three. They arrive finally in the underbelly of the castle keep. Moving through servant’s quarters and kitchens, they make their way to the convocation chamber at the highest level. As they walk through what looks to be a main hall, they hear the telltale whine of Kylo’s wide-winged shuttle. Death Troopers quickly file into the hall to secure the area, while armored royal guards file out in stately fashion. The three quickly rush into a side alcove which turns out to be little more than a disused closet. Inside they find a rusting droid long deactivated. R2 burbles in surprise, but Rey and Ben move to shush him as the Death Troopers approach their position. Ben readies his blaster and Rey grabs a broom handle as a makeshift quarterstaff. Ben looks askance at the weapon.

Suddenly the deactivated droid comes to life. R2 retracts his manipulation arm from the droid’s head, and the droid rises to its feet. R2 burbles excitedly and the Death Troopers converge on the closet, drawn by the noise. Ben and Rey are almost frantic, but just as the Death Troopers arrive R2 and the other droid exit the closet. The Troopers pull up their weapons and order the duo to identify themselves. The mystery droid pulls itself up to its full height, a lanky seven feet, and introduces itself as ZE-7, the sparring droid of Luke Skywalker’s New Jedi Order and more recently the misused and forgotten butler of the Knights of Ren. He also introduces R2 as his counterpart, essential in holographic demonstration of Jedi Masters and their training. The Troopers seem exasperated by this spiel and order the droids to lead them to the Knights of Ren. ZE-7 complies happily, saying that they will probably be waiting in the convocation chamber. The group moves away, allowing Rey and Ben a moment to find another way to the chamber. They locate a small spiral staircase that leads outside the tower and wrapping all the way to the chamber and beyond to the very spire of the tower.

snooker said:

he looks like a preorder bonus

Okay, that was an actual lol.

A yellow saber would also foreshadow his rising out of evil, and be especially cool considering Rey’s constructed saber color.

DominicCobb said:

DominicCobb said:

What if the silver on his mask was gold like in the TFA concept art?

Why not make it all gold?

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/9BCBJNNU

It feels odd to go from Kylo on the destroyer to down on the planet with no establishing shots in between.

However, the crawl is a big improvement. The only thing that feels very strange to me is to mention that Leia is ‘ailing’ right before playing up the strength of the Resistance.

sade1212 said:

Other than the actual VFX challenge of changing the hilt, is there any reason why Anakin’s saber couldn’t be replaced by Luke’s green saber for the entire ST? This TLJ concept art shows it. It would clear up a few things in TLJ: we’d clearly see Luke reject HIS saber, rather than just rejecting the saber his Dad killed all those kids with (which would be understandable even if he wasn’t so disillusioned!); and it’d make his attempt to force project himself to Kylo as Kylo would remember him be more accurate (Kylo would never have seen him with the blue saber before). There’s no explanation for how the blue saber wound up in Maz’s basement anyway so that doesn’t matter. It’d make the two sabers which defeat Palpatine in TROS be the same two we see in the flashback, more cleanly representing Luke and Leia. Ditto at the end - the lightsabers directly correspond to the two ghosts we see, and there’s no room for “I don’t like sand” jokes to undermine the moment.

Plus green is my favourite saber colour.

You’d have to cut Maz’s line where she says the saber belonged to Luke and his father before him. It would also feel weird to have Kylo say that the lightsaber belongs to him, since it would be Luke’s personal saber and not the one passed down from Anakin (whom Kylo worships).

I wouldn’t have really had an issue with the saber being Luke’s green one from the beginning, but as it stands the blue saber is baked into the ST pretty effectively.

ray_afraid said:

The Emperors return, no matter how it’s handled, nullifies Anakins sacrifice, Luke’s mission to redeem him & therefore entire point of the OT.
Seems like a bad idea.

I’ve never understood this argument. Vader wanted to overthrow the Emperor since Episode 3, so doing it in a way that risked his life would be more a calculation than a sacrifice. Besides, the redemption of Anakin Skywalker doesn’t hinge on him destroying the Emperor, it hinges entirely on choosing to protect the life of his son. That’s how he is going to win, if you will 😉

Similarly, Luke’s mission is to redeem his father, not necessarily to destroy the Emperor. Luke intentionally goes against the wishes of his mentors in his decision to redeem his father instead of taking revenge on Vader and the Emperor.

The fact that the Emperor survives ROTJ actually clarifies the victory of ROTJ in a thematically important way. Despite being a pathetic film, TROS actually does get this one thing right.

It was actually George playing 5 dimensional chess when he wrote Palpatine’s home planet having a tradition of electing their monarchy.

StarkillerAG said:

Amazing article, 005! I agree with almost every point you made. Hopefully an article on such a high-profile site will lend some kind of legitimacy to our movement.

What could be more legitimate than the preservation of art?

Great article btw! I’ll never be able to look at the X-wing 180 shot the same way!

Hal 9000 said:

Make his only line a recurring “kill me…”

Do we even have a ‘best edits’ thread?!

I get a bit of tunnel vision with regards to projects unfortunately, and right now I’m trying to finish my TROS script. I know it’s not as high interest or visibility but when I see the light at the end of that tunnel I’ll be able to get back to this again 😉

I haven’t really even touched editing software in a while. I would like to foreshadow the Dyad idea, if there’s a way to do it.

disclaimer said:

http://www.framecompare.com/image-compare/screenshotcomparison/9B2MMNNU

There’s gotta be something wrong with the UHD conversion because it’s way oversaturated.

Note: I adjusted the lightsaber logistics so that Kylo’s saber is left on the wreck of Kylo’s destroyer where it is found by Thrawn and given to Hux. This will soon become relevant.

Also, by my count I’m up to 30 scenes, or half of the script.

Return of the Jedi is the best title of the series because it has three meanings.

Luke has returned to the story as a Jedi

Anakin has returned to the light

The Jedi will return to the galaxy

ShiftyEyes said:

How come the opening crawl says that Luke Skywalker is the leader of a group of freedom fighters? He only gets lost and abandons them whenever he feels like it.

In my headcanon the Rebel leadership views Luke and his buddies as liabilities, only keeping them around because Luke and Leia are celebrities in the Rebellion.

Anakin Starkiller said:

Reveal at the end of a ANH that Tarkin was Han’s uncle all along.

They were estranged because Tarkin always wanted to know the odds.

Chase Adams said:

NeverarGreat said:

The BBC footage is great. I would not include the cutaway to it at the end of the scene, however.

I agree about the cutaway. But the BBC footage was only 720p. Or were you talking about this footage? Beacuse this is from a Swedish documentry.

Yes, that’s what I meant.

The BBC footage is great. I would not include the cutaway to it at the end of the scene, however.