Patali

I mostly fall into the GL camp. Where I digress from him is how hard he pushed making the Prequels digitally, when that was at an era in filmmaking when they still could have been made to look like classic films. It’s a shame we didn’t get one last hurrah for practical filmmaking. I can’t deny he was ahead of his time, though.

Here’s things from your list I agree with and some ideas of my own I would also love to see:

• Theatrical cuts of the OT made available.

• Ever evolving special editions for the OT and PT. Just keep growing the movies and updating them.

• A new season (or single movie) of Clone Wars in live action with de-aged Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Samuel Jackson and Natalie Portman. Along with Ariana Greenblatt as Ahsoka. Does not have to overlap or contradict other stories, just set it before the finale sequence of the last two seasons. I think it should show us what Thrawn was doing during the Clone Wars, and tie in Ahsoka characters like Baylen.

• Luke Skywalker post-Jedi series. Rebuilding the order, or at least showing the start of it. Tie it into Thrawn why not. Do an adaptation of Heir but with wiggle room to account for a broader canvas of stories outside of that. Also for this, I would prefer a NEW ACTOR, not AI Mark Hamill. We love the character. Yes we love Mark too and what he did to create it, but in the end it is the character we love. Put a new actor in who can continue that growth.

• Give us proper continuations of Boba Fett, Obiwan, and Solo. These are all beloved characters that were not done justice. But on the other hand, all three of these stories were not outright terrible (well some people would say they were but I dont think so), however they did not live up to their characters. Give us one sequel per each of these just to put a bow on these characters. 1 movie or tv season each. Obi vs Maul, Boba growing his empire, Han Solo getting into debt with Jabba (can tie in young Boba, Lando, Kira and Maul, in fact Han doesnt even necessarily need to be the main character).

• I don’t have much of an opinion on eras beyond, because I think the storytelling potential of focusing in a close time period is so much greater than spreading thin to multiple disconnected eras. I did love both Kotor games back in the day, but a problem I have is, it’s supposed to be set 4000 years before, yet it doesn’t feel like it. If you told me it was 1000 years, I might believe that easier. But the lack of change over so long I think is unreasonable, and honestly dissapointing. In terms of design, I think High Republic actually did great in terms of style and palettes. I buy the idea that its the 100 years before the PT. But Old Republic being 4000 years? No way, not even a chance. In my personal head canon, it is only 1000 years before. And I think that is the danger in jumping so freely in the timeline outside of what is developed already.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I’ve tried to repitch Hayden’s voice before with the ElevenLabs tool that takes existing speech dialogue and basically applies a filter over it. In this case, the filter was a chunk of his dialogue from the beginning of AoTC. It worked great - except when there were lightsaber noises in the flashback scene. As far as I’m aware, it isn’t possible to separate those noises from the speech in the audio track. So in order for this to be possible, his dialogue would have to be generated completely from scratch and all of the scene’s audio tracks entirely remade (would take a ton of time and effort).

Makes sense. Well, I think if there are even 1 or 2 lines that could be changed, it would make that transition a little smoother.

Excited to see this. Definitely agree on utilizing the flashback. I haven’t GregKnight06’s version but it definitely needs some good de-aging, and if possible, I think Hayden’s voice needs just little pitch up to match the rest of AotC.

Skybatman said:

any news ?

Hey! Not too much. I was sidetracked by some life events, my work situation got a bit crazy by the end of April. I did a much cleaner version of that ending I posted above. As well, I did more work on the start of the edit. But I got a bit stuck in the intro sequence.

I cut a really good first scene or so out of Andor’s jungle flashbacks, so good I really want to use it. But I got stuck because cutting all of those scenes together revealed an issue with the Maarva character that I outlined in my last post.

Basically she never really seems justified in taking Cassian from his home. Clem was right when he told her to leave him. Now one of our protagonist characters doing something morally ambiguous is fine. But the problem is, the show doesn’t do anything with it.

If the show addressed that in a later scene, of Maarva being confronted on some level about what she did, it would be easier. But the show never does that. Her only justification is she is afraid of the incoming Republic. So she actively knocks him out by force and takes him. But if she had time to walk and carry him back, why would he not have time to just run back himself?

If I had magic reshoot powers, I would make it where the Republic DOES show up and start blasting, and Andor gets knocked out in the battle, explosion or something, and THEN Maarva finds him and actually saves his life.

As it stands, compared to when you watch the show, when you watch those jungle scenes full on chronological back to back, it does not paint her in a good light, and the show never does anything to address that afterwards.

I would love to get back to this very soon. I will for now just skip that sequence until I can find a better solution, and move onto cutting the meat of the film.

Edit: Well this got me to pop the project back open. Those flashbacks to his childhood take up about 11 minutes. I think honestly, I am going to cut it as soon as the crash survivor stands up and shoots the tribal girl. I can cut to that point and remove some other filler, make that whole sequence about 3 minutes which is much more manageable for an intro.

Then later on, in some scene where Maarva and Cassian discuss his past on some level, I can cut in shots of her carrying him off through the jungle. So the implication being that there was some extended conflict in the jungle after the officer got up, and Cassian was injured, and Maarva found him and carried him off.

That gets rid of the problematic scene inside the ship. The biggest loss imo, is that it cuts Clem out of the sequence, and I like his character in that part. But removing it solves the issues with that sequence and improves the pacing of the intro by quite a lot.

Movies Remastered said:

I will only be watching the full conclusion film version that wraps everything up in one 2:30h movie.

Yes I am definitely wanting to see a one film version. Can’t wait to see your work

So this is going to be two movies?

Acbagel said:

Actually, in the early scripts, the whole show was about Boba instead of Din’s role. They couldn’t work it out with timing for Temuera and also wanted a blank slate rather than having to deal with the complexity of Boba’s character. There were even plans for Boba and Luke to interact, but they cut it to tell a “smaller” story instead. I agree that if done right, I would’ve loved to see Boba instead as the main protagonist!

Wow. I had no idea. I mean, I suspected the show was born out of that scrapped Boba Fett movie, but I wasn’t sure how far they developed that concept. I think that would have been great, to see the meatiest parts of BoBF and Mandalorian, focused in on that one character. Anyway, I REALLY hope they don’t just trash the BOba character based on the reception of that one season.

But, it is what it is. I guess your edit here will be the closest I get to scratching that itch, at least until we can make full on AI fan edits.

Though contrary to this, I did have an idea a long time ago, sort of akin to an SC38 kind of thing, to add in scenes in Return of the Jedi where Boba Fett gets out of the sarlacc and flies to Endor to have a showdown with Han Solo, just to beef up the forest stuff. Obviously that doesnt work at all with the current canon. But I think that would have made RotJ even better ,as the forest stuff is the weakest when you’re cutting back to the spacefight and Luke/Vader.

I think a good compromise now instead would be to film a scene during the sarlacc fight, to make Han and Boba actually have a fight, instead of just that silly moment of accidentally killing him. Just a 30 second thing to make boba more formidable and to give Han a good fight scene, and the fight ends with Han getting the upper hand and damaging Boba’s jetpack, cut to the shot of him flying off.

But that has nothing to do with anything in this topic xD

smudger9 said:

The chips have become such an important part of animated canon. We have the arc in Clone Wars season 6 and it continues into Bad Batch.

I definitely see your point, but I do agree with the other user. I think the chip was inserted because Filoni was creating all of these sympathetic clone characters, and to him it didn’t make sense for them to know about Order 66 but still be sympathetic. But to me, it was kind of a cop out, and made O66 less powerful.

I think a better option would be that it was only known to the very top brass of clones, and even then it wasn’t considered something that was /going/ to happen, but rather a contingency plan, “just in case” kind of thing is how they would justify it to themselves. And you could say that there were other orders for similar contingencies against the Senate. And you could still have the plot of Fives discovering it and questioning everything, and being killed for it.

But thats just my fan fiction I wish had happened. I think the chip removes character agency so no I don’t like it at all.

Definitely think it would be best to cut it into one movie. 2 and 1/2 at most. The story does not support more than that

Acbagel said:

I could definitely make them all feel like movies, but I think that would bring the series down to ~4 movies instead, and to me, it always feels bad when TV shows are cut down way too much into movies because the character development is so slow in TV shows, I never feel like I’ve connected as I do in movies that are designed to function around that timeframe.

Now personally, I would love this, but I know that would be other project from what you’re already committed to. So idk, maybe if you get that itch I have, I’d love to see it. But really I’m happy with what you have.
I guess I think about it in context of the pacing of the entire SW series, which is why I really enjoy movie cuts for these shows in particular.

Acbagel said:

Awesome! I love this idea. I will double check the delivery of the line and its tone to make sure it works in my edit, but I’m all for it on paper. Makes a lot of sense thematically. Thanks for the suggestion. As I go through all of the Special Edition edits, I’ll be referring back to your reviews of each movie too, so thanks again for writing those.

I did just watch the scene again, and there isn’t a TON of room after his “I was.” line. So it would be a tight cut. That being said, I’m pretty sure your cut from him saying “I am Boba Fett” was already pretty tight because it cuts right away to Fennec. So, I think it will be possible but you’ll have to look and decide. But thanks for considering it.

That’s interesting how you view Book 2. I will be honest, I think the big factor and reason why for me, is that I actually really liked BoBF, especially the flashback sequences. I love the Boba character in general. In fact, years ago now when “The Mandalorian” was coming out, I was literally asking “Why couldn’t this have just been Boba Fett?” Like literally Boba Fett finding the child etc lmao. Which in a way I think COULD have worked. That could have been Boba’s redemption story, since the child is an orphan just like him.
But thats just my fan fiction.

And yes I’m the most excited for Book 6 because it will be having not even watched Season 3, so I will be a good guinea pig for you to try that out on

What a blessing! That the work wasn’t lost.

Can’t wait to see 5 & 6, I have not watched them. But i also like that you’re going back on the earlier films as well.

Book 2 remains my favorite movie. To me it feels the most like a single movie rather than several TV episodes put together. I say that with love, I’ve watched your first 4 films and think they are all the best way to enjoy these series. But it seems, if you’re keeping almost all of the different plots as you’ve done, that it is a feeling that is impossible to get away from entirely. Book 2 did the best imo.

There is one line I think could be improved. When Fennec wakes up at the campfire and meets Boba after he saved her, and you end on that line “I am Boba Fett.” and it did feel epic.

But, there is a bit more to that exchange that I feel could be used. Thhe full exchange goes:

BOBA: I am Boba Fett.
FENNEC: Boba Fett is dead.
BOBA: I was. Left for dead on the sands of Tatooine.

Now, I agree with your cut that the “Left for dead on the sands…” line is just too on the nose, saying too much that the audience doesn’t need to hear because they know it already. But those immediate lines after, I think there is something there. I would like:

BOBA: I am Boba Fett.
FENNEC: Boba Fett is dead.
BOBA: I was.
CUT

I think that “I was.” line is great. And when you cut out the cringy “left for dead on the sands” and leave it just as “I was.” I feel it implies something greater, like Boba isn’t just referring to the Sarlacc and Jabba’s palace, but even more that he is saying “I was.” as in his whole life from when his father died, that moment in the opening. He was dead inside until he found his new family. It says a lot with two words, and through the magic of editing turns a cringy line into great writing.

Also a side benefit, Fennec has a great reaction shot when he tells her his name.

Acbagel said:
Honestly, a film or two of “The Dark Times” based on some animated plot lines with TotE and TBB might be pretty cool. Would be a hell of a task to pull off, but I do think it’s possible to have a movie or two about the Republic --> Empire transition that doesn’t solely focus on TBB squad. Something to mull over perhaps. Want to keep focus on TWoM here, but feel free to post in my TBB thread if you have other thoughts on a structure for that.

This sounds like a great idea. I’ve been intending to watch Bad Batch, with the idea of making a single movie cut out of the whole thing. Compact it into a tight, fun 2 hour movie. But your idea almost sounds even better.
I have not even watched all of TBB cause its just not really my thing. But to me, the mostr valuable plot line I’ve seen so far is that they address the transition from clones to storm troopers. No other movie or show to my knowledge has addressed that directly (only indrectly, the sequels, the Solo movie).

Acbagel said:

Thanks for the in-depth reviews, Patali! I will respond to those soon. Sent links to everyone else.

Thanks! The reviews I posted above are probably a little more focused on critiques… but thats only because I actually REALLY enjoyed them, I binged the movies over a weekend. It’s easier for me to nitpick something I really like in an effort to make it “perfect”. Overall, I loved the experience.

And I watched Book 4, awesome job. Truly felt like the “event film” I was anticipating it would be. I will say, similar to books 1 and 3, it has that “episodic” feel that I guess at this point can’t be excised, but even then it felt awesome. (I think your Book 2 did the best job at feeling like a single cohesive film). I hadn’t watched “the rescue” since it came out in 2020, and I felt myself starting to get emotional at that ending.

I will say, one sequence that I thought suffered just a little was Mayfeld and his old comander or whatever, during their infiltration. It felt like it didn’t have as much room to breathe, and didn’t get to develop Mayfeld getting to that point of shooting the commander guy. Now, I know this is likely a result of your clever editing to keep Din covered, so I don’t know if this can be really fixed, but if there’s anything else that can be readded to the scene, as far as lines between Mayfeld and his commander to flesh that conversation out, I think it would help.

Otherwise awesome awesome job.

I watched Movie 3. This one was a lot of fun. Never boring. However, it did seem to have that feeling that the first movie did of still feeling very episodic. That’s not a shot against your editing, but rather just an observation that it seems the episodic nature of the series cannot be removed without excising entire plot threads.

Before I watched 3, I was wondering in my head “Why did he need to do 3 and 4 at all, seems like they could probably be one movie”. But now I do see. Since you are integrating BoBF and keeping most of Mando’s major threads, it would be impossible to do 3 and 4 as one “movie 3” without entirely removing certain threads. So I don’t blame you for how you handled it, and for what it is, I think you did really well, it was a lot of fun.

I like with your movies how the rewards are sprinkled throughout. This movie felt specifically “Mandalorian focused” which is a good thing. I suspect this movie 3 will be more mandalorian focused than movie 4 will be.

One thing that didnt quite sit with me was Boba’s integration. Now I can see you were trying to maintain his thread throughout this movie. On one hand, including the Sarlacc in this movie and not the last one is neat, because Boba points out that his armor is gone, and then we see where it went…

But, doing so highlights some issues I think were not as apparent with the original series structuring which is… it is surprising that Boba did not hear about Cobb vanth wearing his armor sooner. I mean Boba spent what, 5 years experiencing and getting to know Tatooine better? Meanwhile Din is able to track it down in 10 minutes.

Secondly, the scene of Boba shooting Din’s speeder. Very cool editing, for sure. But… I do not know why he let Din go? Seems like after shooting him, and undoubtedly spotting his armor, he would have chased down the now on foot Din and confront him about his armor. Just makes you wonder why he decides to wait, wish there was just a little bit more to explain his motivation here.
(Also to integrate it better, in the shot of Boba putting his rifle away or whatever, you can see off to the side Jabbas palace, a remnant of the old version. If that could be edited out would help meld it better, minor thing).

And in general, Boba’s integration was just very small. But I know it is going to pay off big in the next movie, so… I don’t exactly want you to make any big changes, I think overall the structure you have is the best that can be done with the material. But I wonder if there are any other fixes that can be done to address some of the Boba things.

Also I noticed a theme through the movie was fighting big monsters lol. Spider, Sarlacc, Krayt. I don’t know if thats a good or bad thing but you know what, it’s fun.

But overall, very impressive, very fun movie. FAR superior and more exciting than the original series. I can’t wait to watch movie 4 here shortly. Book 2 is still my favorite, but I am impressed by just how much more watchable this makes the whole saga.

Okay so I finally started watching these. I was waiting on my wife, but… now she’s holding off on Star Wars until I finish my Andor fan edit (guess I did that to myself), so I figured I might as well dive into these by myself. I watched the first two movies today. (I had watched the first film partially with your previous version)

Overall, awesome! I love how it helped the pacing of the story. I especially loved Book 2, I thought the two stories flowed really well together. But I did have some thoughts/critiques, in particular on Book 1:

Book 1:

• The transition to the jailbreak storyline felt strange. Now on one hand, it did feel like a good way to show Mando’s character, like, this is who he is normally. But, it felt like it was placed in sort of the third act, but maybe it was actually the second act? Idk, I guess it felt like the movie had 4 acts and that was unexpected. Basically, it contributed to the acts of the movie feeling more episodic rather than like a cohesive film. But the pacing still wasn’t bad, and I enjoyed all the content. I guess I didn’t really see a point in deep diving into that story, other than to introduce Mayfeld.

• Speaking of which, unless I missed it, did you cut the shot of the bad guys in the cell at the end, the reveal that Mando actually spared them? I guess I’ll see later as I watch the 3 & 4 how you incorporate that, maybe as a sort of surprise? But idk if it will be worth it or not, feels like it should have been there.

• The scene with the blue guy on the razor crest. I remember before you did the quick cut from him asking about Mando’s helmet, whereas in this one you add more to it and Mando’s line “Probably not”.
  Now when I had seen that original cut, I did have a critique that it felt much too quick, like it was missing a beat. Like we just needed two more seconds of pause before the cut. It seems you might have felt the same way on the pacing and were trying to address that.

However, I feel something was lost in the new version. The first version, despite the issues with the quick cut, it had a humor to it that, which was good. It was a humor not even present in the first scene, like Mando was annoyed with him. That quick cut illustrated that really well. The new version… it doesn’t really feel like anything, just like we’re cutting to the next part of him getting frozen. Despite my original gripes about your first version, I feel that humor moment was better than the new version.

I would like if there was a balance. Maybe put the “Guess that won’t be happening” or his line about life day or whatever, BEFORE the helmet line, then still end with the helmet line and a faster cut to the carbon freezing, and that would be restore the humor to the scene. OR, if you can somehow manage it, keep your original version, but maybe try to insert some silent shots of the blue guy just to add another 1 or 2 seconds before you cut to Mando freezing him. But thats just something for you to consider if you get around to the first movie again.

Book 2:

• I don’t have many notes. I really liked this movie. I actually did not realize you would include the finale sequence of Season 1 in this, and I was glad you did. Felt really exciting.

• Your original post mentioned how “Like a bantha” was a very intentional removal on your part… I have to say I disagree with it being cut. Now, I am a big fan of the Boba Fett show, actually. But even so, I enjoyed most of your cuts. But this one, I did not, I would have liked to see you incorporate the scene somehow. That moment, it’s a great piece of levity, and gives some heart to the Boba character. Not like the other scenes in the show that make Boba too soft, but to me it truly felt in character. In fact, it felt to me like an improv moment. So I decided to google that, and Temura Morrison did claim at celebration that it was actually /his/ own improv line, and not something in the script.

A problem I see in a lot of fan edits is going too serious. Levity is good. Any “Star Wars” movie (imo) should have a joke every 10 minutes or so, except maybe in the most intense sequences (Im fairly certain Star Wars follows this pretty closely, at least every 15 minutes, outside of the last act of Revenge of the Sith, where it is appropriate to go without jokes). Star Wars is a pulpy serial comic book sort of franchise, so jokes and moments of levity are important. For any movie but especially one with the tone of Star Wars.

Anyway, I felt it was a good moment, not as cringy as many of the Boba moments in the show, and one worth keeping, but thats just me.

• Thank you for cutting the sequence of Mando having to protect the farming planet. Him leaving cause of the bounty hunter was very well done, and more than enough. I thought that relaxing sequence contrasted well with Boba’s story.

Overall though I had a really good time with Movie 2. It was just a lot of fun and exciting throughout. Though like the first film I was sort of having trouble figuring out what act I was in at any given moment. But it wasnt a big deal cause the movie was just fun the whole way through.

Can’t wait to watch more! I’m very interested to see what you’ll do in 3, because I kind of know what 4 will be already so 3 is kind of a mystery to me.

Hello! I would love to have a link to this.

I like the writing, both yours and Dimitirios versions, but… this would probably be the biggest monologue Din has had in the series, right? To me, that is too much weight to give to AI, it will come off flat compared to what the moment should be. I think it has to be a lot shorter unfortunately. Narrow it down to 3 or 5 of the best lines yall can come up with. Thats just my opinion.

(I think the AI did good on that line “It’s about what you stand for Bo Katan”. Which is funny because it does it with a less serious voice than the rest of the monologue, but yet that managed to sound more natural as a result. Not saying that should be one of the lines, but js it did sound good imo).

Edit: Just to be clear, the idea of Din standing up and making these decisions for his people, and having a big monologue, I think is cool and great development for him. But I just doubt these AI models will be able to pull off the weight that is required for ab extensive monologue, for what should be one of his biggest character development moments.

I watched a video of Gary Oldman recently talking about Chris Nolan. And he said while they were filming a scene in batman, after one of the takes Nolan gave him one piece of direction which was “There’s more at stake.” And that was all Oldman needed to turn the notch up on the emotion and the weight needed for the scene. I feel like that’s what I want to tell this AI lol

Acbagel said:

Okay, I like those suggestions. Try this!

I think it sounds a lot more natural. Though your model for Din is not as strong as the one you have for the Armorer. But that’s less of a shot against your other models and more of a testament to how good her’s sounds, it’s really good. I imagine it’s something in the way the actress chose to deliver the Armoer’s lines, the AI is able to use that specific inflection more easily than the more general dialogue of someone like Din.

Hmm, it’s only 2 lines over a 90-second scene. Which one of those sounded excessive? There is a lot more Mandalorian culture in this film, and I am planning on going back to integrate more Mando’a through the series too.

I like the mythosaur line. Only thing I noticed, idk how your subtitles for the in universe languages work, if its baked in or not. But it felt like I had to read that subtitle really quickly.

TheDimitrios said:

With the Mando scene in Tattoine a few exchanges sound tonally disconnected. If you happen to have a script for that as a basis, I could toss some ideas around. 😃

Yeah, if I could reccomend, I think shortening some of Mando’s lines would make it more in line with his character and help with the model not sounding so stilted (“What. Is. This. Bag. Of. Credits. For.” or instead just “What’s this?”)

Edit: If I may have a crack using bagel’s script above:

P: Well…How is it?

D: Purring like a Loth cat.

P: Oh, hey Grandpa…

D: I’m here on business.

P: Oh, are the Hutts back? You checking on Boba Fett?

D: Actually, I am looking for him.

P: Boring! Oh, by the way an old friend of yours dropped by. Said she was looking for you.

D: A friend of mine?

P: Don’t worry, I told her I didn’t know where you were then I locked her out and engaged The Hanger security system.

D: She tell you her name?

F: Fennec Shand!

P: I thought you said that the hanger security system was up? Don’t get away from me you come right back here…

D: Fennec Shand.

F: By any chance are you looking for work?

D: This is a surprise.

F: I was looking for you.

D: What’s this?

F: A job offer. We need help dealing with the Pykes.

D: I’m here to speak with Boba about Mandalore.

F: I’m sure he would consider it.

D: He can keep the credits. It’s on the house. But I’ll need a favor in return.

You’ll have to review the timing to let me know if these would work, but I think overall it would be an improvement. Din’s not the kind of guy who’s gonna fly there “hoping” to speak with Boba. He’s going to speak to Boba.

I have not watched season 3, so some of that is going over my head, but on the other hand, having not watched it I think it gives me a good perspective.

First off, assuming a lot or most of those Armorer lines are AI… they sound really good. And the dialogue itself from her I think sounds well written.

Bo Katan’s responses, I assume from the real show in a different context, something sounds a little off, it doesn’t quite sound like she is responding to what the Armorer is stating. There is a different emotional level, I can tell the context is different there. But to be honest, if I was just watching the movie I probably wouldn’t notice it much.

Now that I have a somewhat solid idea on what I want in the ending, I am going back to the start, watching the main story lines that are applicable and seeing what I can work from them.

I’ve reached the conclusion I do want Cassian’s childhood scenes on his home planet, the jungle planet. I want the entire sequence of going to salvage the wrecked ship and being rescued by Maarva and Clem. It’s roughly about 15 minutes we spend on there if you put all those flashbacks back to back, which is more than I remembered.

I was watching Rogue One to get an idea of the pacing I want, and man… Rogue One introduces Jyn, her family dynamic with her mother and father, Krennic, Krennic and Gaelin’s confrontation, and Jyn running away and getting picked up by Saw… all of that almost right on 4 minutes. THAT is some well done pacing. So much information delivered but it never feels like too much.

I was cutting the childhood sequences, and right now I’m up to the part where the girl in Cassian’s group who is sort of the leader, gets shot in the back. That’s only about one third through the whole sequence but I’m already about 3.5 - 4 minutes in. I do not want the intro, up through Maarva taking Cassian away on her ship, to last more than 5 to 6 minutes. To me 6 minutes is basically too long, 5 is the sweet spot. But It is looking like I may have to cut even MORE to accomplish that. I wanted the shots of him and his sister as I feel it adds a good emotional anchor, but I might have to drop a lot of those to just put the focus just on Cassian and the group more generally if I want to hit 5 minutes. (I didn’t really plan on including other sister references in the movie anyway)

Still, it’s coming together!

Edit:
So, editing this sequence to try and make it my intro… I am realizing an issue, watching all the scenes back to back in one sequence… With just these scenes by themselves, having not seen Cassian and Maarva’s later relationship already… it really feels like she’s just kidnapping him. I don’t think the show justified her doing what she did. Would have made more sense to just say “Get out of here!” I mean his tribe couldn’t have made it that far. I feel the show would have benefited had we seen the Republican actually doing something bad to the tribe, taking them away or something similar.

It does try to express that she believes he’s going to die… but, idk… I don’t really buy it. He’s a jungle kid. If Maarva had time to carry him out of there, then Cassian would have had time to just run out of there on his own separately. I’m just not buying it.

So, a little conflicted on how I’m gonna handle it/if I should include it. My original plan was to not, but then I thought it would be useful to show it as a basis for Maarva and Cassian’s relationship, but now… I am unsure.

Acbagel said:

Boba-Plazir tie-in

Love that transition to Boba, that music. Hypes you up

Acbagel said:

I can already tell the hardest part is going to be figuring out what to cut… Realistically, I have ~3.5 hours of usable footage to sift through, and I need to cut out 30-45 minutes to make a good movie. It’s making me sweat!

To me this sounds perfect. If the content can sustain it, a 2 hour and 45 minute epic film would be an awesome finisher. In truth, across Mando and Boba we have 3.5 to 4 seasons of content. Cutting that into 6 movies sounds great. Cutting into 7 or 8, I am starting to wonder why Im watching it instead of just the show.

I would watch it anyway because of your great structuring, I just think it has the potential to be so much stronger pared down into a big event film. 6 is perfect to me.

Of course I totally respect Eddie’s opinion on it. Just comes down to different tastes and priorities between editors. In another topic I am cutting down 12 episodes of Andor into one 2 hour-15 minute movie… so you can see where my priorities lie as far as pacing and structure. I always opt for pacing and meaty content, over depthful content that is potentially boring. For Star Wars, which is a punchy sort of pulp “comic book” feeling franchise, I think that is the better approach. But that’s just me!

Edit: Also I do have a question, bagel. I haven’t watched Ahsoka yet. But I am wondering your opinion. I commented before on stretching out that time of reuniting Grogu and Din as much as possible. How do you think it would work/feel to watch Ahsoka (lets say a movie cut of Ahsoka), after either your movie 4 of this series, then jumping back into your final 2 movies after that (or after movie 5)? I am just wondering if that might help the separation even better, add another movie of content (with a character reintroduced in your movie 4) to add even more spacing between Din and Grogu’s reunion.

I will say, that shot of the SSD going into the DS2… there is some weirdness, but that was still always one of my favorite shots. But… I guess thats what I have 4K83 for. Can’t wait to see what you do with the whole movie. I actually endorse you leaning heavily into CG and a modernized look. Now that we have the theatricals in 4K, I want to see the completely modernized versions of the films, CG and all. I want something that fits in with the modern series.

Now, I wish that all the new movies and shows would go crazy with practical effects and always shooting on grainy 35mm film etc etc… but thats not the world we’re in. We’re in the world where they’re all digital. So I’d like to have versions of the OT to reflect that. My plan for my kids has always been, watch the originals theatrical (or even just “Star Wars” and “Empire”), then start the whole series over in chronological order and watch the entire series, shows and all, that way.

Well, curated fan edits of the entire series 😃