RogueLeader

I guess that is true, and I think that ties in to my own predictions that not many people will care as much for edits that don’t try to fundamentally change the story, because a lot of people are set on their reasons for not liking the new movies.

Like I think if I eventually do an edit for The Last Jedi, I will try to address some of the issues people had with the film, but I’m not going to fundamentally change the story or the characters to do it. And so what I do still might not be enough for people because they still have the bad taste in their mouths, sort of speak.

Despite that, I don’t think it will stop me for trying to make changes that try to address the issues I feel are reasonable. And I do personally feel the political situation could use a little more detail. So the idea of the Imperial remnants reuniting under a single banner, or briefly hinting at a Cold War between the Republic and the First Order filled with espionage would be cool, maybe something regarding complacency or the Republic being “war weary” might fit the theme better. And maybe you could emphasize that the First Order has been in hiding, consolidating power until the time was right.

I agree with you about the ending of IX, I think it’ll generally be a happy ending, but the fact the Jedi will live on makes me think that the ending will in some way make a point about how evil will never go away, and that there will always been a need for people to fight for good.

This actually fits into the Jungian idea of integrating one’s Shadow, “acknowledgement of the shadow must be a continuous process throughout one’s life”. It isn’t just about acknowledging it once and never having to again, it is a relationship that must be maintained. This also parallels Luke, and how just because he acknowledged his shadow at the end of ROTJ, didn’t mean he would never have to again, like he did when he confronted Ben.

Yeah, that’s a good idea too! Sort of like the Venators in the Clone Wars.
The Art of book has given me a lot of ideas for different approaches for visual edits, since it gives you some insight into what the filmmakers were trying to achieve.

Like at one point they mention how “destroying Jedi relics” was a visual theme they kept coming back to. There was concept art of a giant statue outside of Maz’s castle, which was similar to an earlier idea I had about placing Jedi statues in wide shots near the castle to emphasize it as an old Jedi temple.

Both the Art of TFA and TLJ mention the Wizard of Oz quite a few times, and it makes me want Nev, or someone else, to continue that idea of making Jakku look more desaturated and like a purgatory. They wanted Jakku to feel like this miserable place Rey had to live in and I think that would help, plus it give Rey this ‘Dorothy in Kansas’ parallel. But I guess these are more radical ideas, but it seems like most people would have been okay with a little more visual distinctiveness in the new films. It seems to be thing that George Lucas liked about TFA the least.

Yoda does say, “Lost Ben Solo, you did. Lose Rey, we cannot.”

He also says something along the lines of, “Wisdom they held, but that library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess.”

Which, we find out he means literally, but I also think there is a figurative meaning he was trying convey to Luke about Rey’s own abilities and disposition. Basically that she has the right mindset to be a good Jedi.

And I’ve mentioned this before, and I know people disagree with me, but I kind of think a lot of us have just assumed how the Force works without considering that it might be a little more mysterious than we’ve thought.

The Force, through the lightsaber, called out to Rey, even Maz described it as such. The Force called Rey to the Tree on Ach-To. The lightsaber flew into Rey’s hands not because she’s more powerful than Kylo Ren, but because the Force chose her. When Rey lets go of her own desires, the Force is acting through her. The Force has literally awakened, and I feel it plays a more active and obvious role in this story than it may have had in the past.

So the way I see it, it isn’t that Rey just has all these amazing skills. Yeah, she has some piloting, mechanic and survival skills, but that’s from her growing up on Jakku. Her “Jedi” skills are, in my opinion, are based in faith. She starts believing in the Force, especially after Han tells her and Finn about the Force and the Jedi.

I’m not trying to say your guys’ own interpretations are wrong or anything like that, but if you think of it this way it might be easier to rationalize. When I try to picture myself in her position, learning that stories of Jedi I grew up on were real, that the Force is real and that it is calling to me too, it helps me sympathize with how she is afraid of this newfound awakening within her and her desperation to understand it, like she is in The Last Jedi.

And who knows, maybe IX will reveal more to us about Rey, the Force, etc.

Also wanted to say despite my disagreements with OP and some others, I’m glad you guys feel like this is a pretty positive environment to discuss stuff. I might argue with people on here every once in a while, but it is all in good faith and I enjoy talking about it with you all!

I was flipping through the Art of The Force Awakens tonight and I was trying to think of other ways to make TFA and the ST more visually distinct.

There was this pretty cool concept art piece of red Star Destroyers. This probably would be impractical and time consuming, but it would be cool if Kylo/Hux’s Star Destroyer, the Finalizer, was painted red.

“Rick [Carter, TFA Production Designer] is the guy who started saying, ‘Put a red ship in there. Put a red ship in there.’ I think J.J. has asked for a red Star Destroyer at one point, just to see, on a whim, what that looks like.” - Ryan Church, Concept Art

Yeah, they might be just a little bit slow!

It blows my mind a little but I think you’re totally right, Dre. If anything, we would be more likely to get an official release of the OOT because of a few old school fans/professionals over at Lucasfilm who want to see it released, rather than Lucasfilm wanting to appease a fanbase hungry for the OOT, which doesn’t seem to be the case. I only say that because there sounds like some kind of effort internally to maintain/preserve the theatrical versions of the OT, based off a few nuggets of information, like Gareth Edwards mentioning watching it before/during Rogue One’s development, and them using material from Star Wars for the inclusions of Red/Gold Leader in his film. But I’m no expert on the matter.

Paralleling the ANH crawl with Rebel spies/First Order spies was one thing I liked. I think another reason I had for using it was that if First Order spies were in the Republic/Senate, it helped explain why Leia needed to make a separate, independent organization that could operate without the threat of information leaking.

In the film itself, Finn is worried about being seen by “First Order sympathizers” on Takodana. In Maz’s castle, we do see both a First Order spy and a Resistance spy, so the idea is sort of supported by what’s already in the movie.

Not in the film, but in the “Jakku Message” deleted scene, Snap asks Leia if they should contact the Republic, and she says, “No, we have to be smarter than that.” Which could imply that Leia she was worried about spies.

I think the deleted scene reinserted in Restructured (“Not all the senators think I’m insane”) could work with that angle, or with the “not wanting to star a war” or complacency angle.

I think some criticisms I’ve heard regarding those angles (even spies compromising the Republic angle), is that it makes the New Republic, the government the OT heroes fought to establish, seem like a failure even before the First Order destroys it. But that might be the point, since Luke also failed with his new Jedi Order. Victory wasn’t as final as our heroes might’ve thought.

I do agree that a big theme of the Sequel Trilogy is the cycle of darkness and light, good and evil, war and peace. I guess, like you said, it might be beneficial to try and help make that clearer. Because I think for a lot of people, the transition between what feels like victory in ROTJ, to going back to the same situation by the end of TFA does not feel properly set up or “earned”, I guess.

The idea to add the “inevitably” statement into the crawl is a good idea, although at the moment I’m not sure I have many ideas how to build off of that concept. But I’ll try to think of some more ideas too.

I’m probably going on too much of a tangent as well, but this is sort of why I would like to add a new shot at the end of ROTJ of some Star Destroyers escaping after the Death Star explodes. Knowing my luck, IX probably won’t go in the direction I’m expecting, but I think a part of the issue as to why ROTJ wasn’t the ultimate victory is because they didn’t really solve the Empire problem. The New Republic seems to have failed at trying to reintegrate former Imperials back into society (although in their defense, I guess they didn’t realize a fragment of the Empire went into hiding to bide their time).

To me, it’s not about purging the Shadow, but integrating with it. Assimilation. That’s why I’m hoping IX ends with reunification on some level.

I think another thing is how the Sith have been tied to the idea of ultimate victory. There was a millennia of peace when they thought the Sith were gone, but since they survived in secret, it was only temporary. The whole thing with the prophecy emphasized that once the Sith were destroyed, balance would be brought to the Force (supposedly). Since the Sith were seemingly destroyed in ROTJ, I think people have questions regarding the ST that don’t have answers yet.

I think the cyclical theme you mentioned is definitely true, and suggesting that idea in the crawl might help. Though people might wonder if “inevitably” refers to the cycle of war and peace, or that the New Republic was fundamentally flawed.

I guess after all of this talk, the simplest thing you could do is, like you said, at least give a reason why the Resistance is dealing with the First Order instead of the New Republic. I personally like that “Not wanting to start another war” is at least an understandable reason for their inaction, whereas “complacency” paints them in a more negative light. Out of everything, they are probably the most effective options without changing a lot.

With the New Republic not wanting to start another war, General Leia Organa mobilizes a covert Resistance to counter the rise of this Imperial remnant.

Hoping to avoid another war, the New Republic has secretly mobilized a covert RESISTANCE, under the command of General Leia Organa, to counter the rise of this Imperial remnant.

With the New Republic not wanting to start another war, General Leia Organa mobilizes a covert RESISTANCE to discover if the First Order is secretly preparing for invasion.

Then again, I do see what you’re saying about complacency.

Lately I’ve been reading a lot about fascism, and how complacency can play a part in its rise. To me, the First Order represents fascism, and this in particular reminds me of Finn’s story, and how he learns that if he runs away from the problem, or is just a bystander like DJ, then he is actually a part of the problem.

If we went with the complacency angle, I do think a con of that would be how the New Republic apparently suffered the same fate as the Old Republic. And I think people would want to know why that happened again. And like I said, it might add to that feeling of all of the OT heroes’ victories going down the drain. We all hoped they would make things different, but it turns out they suffered the same fate as their predecessors. But maybe that tragedy is a part of the story, and that is just hard for fans to accept.
I mean if you think about it, Leia never grew up in a democracy, so starting one would be new to her (and her superiors like Mon Mothma might’ve unintentionally brought over problems with the old government), and I can just see Leia seeing the New Republic becoming complacent in peacetime and not being able to do anything about it (especially after her true parentage was exposed). This is another reason I’m hoping Leia survives IX so she can spend her remaining years helping the galaxy finally get on the right track.

So maybe the best options would be something along those lines, or even “failing to convince the New Republic” like Restructured has it. “Unwilling to start another war”, “not wanting to start another war”, something like those. Though if we go with the complacency angle, I could imagine an argument along the lines of, “If the New Republic was complacent or dysfunctional, why should we feel bad when it is destroyed?”

Sorry for this long post. It honestly has just been a stream of consciousness as I’ve thought about this and what you said, and you can probably see how my opinion has changed from the beginning of this post to the end. But maybe my thoughts will give others something to think about too.

I do have a crawl for ROTJ that’s still in-progress.

The Alliance is doomed. After suffering terrible losses, spies loyal to the Rebellion have reported that the Empire nears completion of a new dreaded Death Star.

As the rebels prepare their next move, Luke Skywalker sets in motion a desperate plan to rescue his friend Han Solo from the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt.

Little does Luke know that Darth Vader, under the commands of his cruel Emperor, hastens their own sinister plans that will bring about their ultimate victory once and for all…

I wonder if you could have it where Rey says, “Luke” during one of the shots of R2. You could take it from her conversation with Maz, since you might cut that line.

Also, in the wide shot of R2, BB-8 and 3PO you can’t see any of the tools, but that might be something you could/will fix at a later point.

I am still wondering though if it would be simpler to just cut straight from Rey looking at R2, to them going to Leia about good news, and if adding this extra stuff is making it more confusing or less confusing. I think this new stuff is cool, just trying to look at it objectively.

I think in one of the opening shots of ROTJ, when you see the shuttle flying away from the Star Destroyers, you see a planet in the distance that I’ve always assumed was Endor prime. Or possibly another moon of Endor prime.

Which explanations do you think would be more lore-driven than theme-driven? I suppose reference to Imperial remnants might be lore-driven, but I’d also argue that it could work thematically as well.

If the death of the Emperor, their undisputed figurehead, was kept the Imperial remnants from reuniting, the idea that Kylo Ren, the heir apparent to Darth Vader, could have been used as a new symbol to reunite them is an interesting idea that ties into the theme of unity and power that I mentioned previously, and it could make Kylo Ren the symbolic antithesis to what Luke represents for the Resistance/Republic.

To me, I think it is about finding a nice explanation that feels satisfying and is a believable progression of the story from ROTJ.

It seems like the two biggest questions regarding the political situation are:

How did the First Order get the resources to build a new military without the New Republic doing anything about it?

What is the purpose of the Resistance, and why isn’t the Republic doing anything about the First Order?

These two things, without proper explanation, is what makes a lot of people feel we are back at Rebels vs Empire again. At face value, the bad guys just have new ships, a new army, and a new super weapon, and the good guys are still scrappy underdogs.

Like you were saying, maybe a good idea would be to rewatch The Force Awakens (theatrical or Restructured) and completely ignore the opening crawl, then based off the facts the film itself gives, try to determine what the most accurate explanation would be based off what we are given within the film.

I like that idea too, that R2 just tells the story of the Skywalker Saga very much later on.

But, I think that could’ve been addressed by just having some secondary comic/book/show story about them finding/restoring their lost memories somehow. Could make for a good adventure for Luke to go on after Return of the Jedi.

I guess in my mind, having both of their memories erased (at least during the OT) just solves those questions the PT-OT continuity raises.

But I guess the big three things R2 would know would be who Obi-Wan is, who Yoda is and that Luke & Leia are siblings. Like has been said before, revealing he knows Obi-Wan or Yoda to Luke isn’t really important to him, or just goes along with it. I guess that is why Hal’s idea is good, because then the biggest piece of information R2 knows, that Luke and Leia are siblings, would no longer be an issue.

I still think having both droids’ memories wiped (and possibly restored at a later point) is the the cleaner solution to a lot of the questions, but not having them witnessing Luke and Leia’s birth works both ways.

Don’t worry, Hal, one of us will fix this later! I think I’ll do this for my eventual edits now that you’ve brought it up.

I think this is the good/bad thing about the political situation in the Sequels.

There are multiple ways we could define and interpret the political situation in general and more specifically within the opening crawls, but according to what we know in the canon, there’s some truth in most of these interpretations.

Let me lay out some of the interpretations:

The New Republic supported the Resistance, but it didn’t support it at the same time.

Seems contradictory, but the truth is that some senators within the Republic (Populists) did support Leia’s Resistance movement, while others (Centrists) did not. So a crawl could say “with the support of the Republic”, or “failing to convince the Republic” and both would be true to a certain extent. Even though Leia didn’t have the Republic’s full support, some Senators did.

I don’t know the source, but I also feel like I read somewhere that some Centrists worlds actually left the Republic and aligned themselves with the First Order a few months before TFA, which seems like a pretty big deal but nothing in the films suggests this, so an editor could either run with that idea or completely ignore it.

That’s what’s funny to me, the theatrical crawl says the Republic supported Leia’s Resistance (openly? secretly?), but in a deleted scene Leia also says, “Not all the senators think I’m insane… or maybe they do… I don’t care!”
This seems to imply the opposite, which lends more to the idea that the Resistance might be more of a rogue movement that doesn’t have the Republic’s official support.

You also wonder what the Resistance technically is. Are they an anti-fascist spy network that is spread across the galaxy, or are they more of an organized militia within First Order space? The latter would make them seem like the French Resistance within Nazi-occupied France during WW2, but the theatrical film seems to imply the former more, so the “Resistance” refers more to their goal of wanting to resist the growing influence of the First Order. But honestly you could probably go with either option and what exists within the film wouldn’t necessarily contradict either interpretation.

As for why Leia formed the Resistance rather than just operating within the New Republic military, you have a few options which all seem to be partially true:

The Republic did not want to start another war (tired of war/preferring diplomacy), and/or they didn’t have enough proof that they were more of a threat than other past Imperial remnants, so Leia took matters into her own hands to prove to the Republic that they needed to take action before it was too late.

The Republic did see a threat, but investigating the First Order for war crimes in an official capacity could be risky (maybe lacking evidence), so the Resistance was meant to be a covert militia to gather enough proof that the Republic to act on (at least some pro-Leia senators had this mindset).

Leia knew there were First Order spies within the Senate feeding information to the FO as well as downplaying their threat to the Senate, so Leia formed an independent covert militia to avoid being spied on, as well as finding another evidence that the First Order was preparing for war against the Republic.

Regarding the First Order, there are multiple ways you could elaborate on them as well. The theatrical crawl just says they have “risen from the ashes of the Empire”, which is pretty vague. Some phrases I have suggested in the past have been that they have “emerged from uncharted space”, more recently “[they] have taken over the remnants of the Empire”.

I think the biggest question regarding the First Order is how did they consolidate power and resources under the nose of the New Republic, and I guess a good crawl would at least hint towards that. Saying that they have emerged from hiding, or have absorbed other Imperial remnants could help explain that. The funny thing is, either interpretation seems to be partially true in canon.

The First Order:
-has been hiding in the Unknown Regions rebuilding their military in secret.
-has absorbed the manpower/resources of most of the remaining Imperial remnants.
-has wealthy benefactors within the Republic supporting them (like pro-Imperials or war-profiteers).
-has spies and sympathizers within the Senate helping downplay their scale and overall threat to the New Republic.
-were being led by a mysterious Force-user powerful in the dark side that helped them navigate the Unknown Regions and used its secrets to help them rebuild.

All of these factor into the First Order’s backstory in canon, as far as I know.

While all of these interpretations of the political situation between the New Republic, the Resistance and the First Order does bring up a lot of interesting ideas and nuance, because none of these things are really defined well in the films, the whole situation seems vague and confusing. While it is good for us that we can find our own interpretations, I think it is a weakness of these films that they don’t just pick one of these interpretations and go with it.

So what we’re stuck with is trying to decide on which direction to go in (and these are only the canon-friendly interpretations, an editor could pick even more). Obviously each editor is going to have their own preference, but it would be nice to determine which interpretations fit best within the story and themes of the Saga and Sequel Trilogy. I guess they all have pros and cons, but maybe it is a matter of finding one that has more pros than cons, if that makes sense.

While I think that might be the likely answer, I am also starting to think JJ and Co. needed a new big bad to have Rey’s team and Kylo’s team join forces. So to do that, they’re gonna have Palpatine come back. Nothing against Pappa Palpatine, but I think having a third party “Great Evil” is a contrived, or lazy, way to resolve the conflict between the Resistance and the First Order, or more specifically Rey and Kylo Ren. I personally wish they would find a way to resolve the conflict amongst themselves, but it really is pretty early to say what is going to happen (and if it will work/won’t work).

Funny that you posted this! I actually have been thinking about this as well. A while back I probably wrote a dozen different versions of these paragraphs, and this is where I’ve landed out.

TFA:

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the radical FIRST ORDER has taken over the remnants of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.

Convinced that the First Order is secretly preparing for war, General Leia Organa mobilizes a covert Resistance to prove to the New Republic that diplomacy is not an option.

Believing that the Jedi are their key to victory, Leia has sent her best pilot to find her lost brother, Luke, before their dangerous new enemy reaches him first….

The First Order absorbing the other Imperial Remnants could be enough to rationalize their strength, basically that they consolidated resources to help build their new toys.
I think I’m trying to accomplish similar things as you are. “Radical” could be replaced with “mysterious” to further help explain the New Republic’s inaction.

TLJ:

The FIRST ORDER reigns. Having decimated all their leadership, Supreme Leader Snoke now deploys his merciless legions to seize military control of the fractured New Republic.

Only General Leia Organa’s band of RESISTANCE fighters can stand against this rising tyranny, certain that the hope Jedi Master Luke Skywalker inspires will reunite the galaxy.

But the Resistance has been exposed. As the First Order speeds toward their vulnerable base, the brave heroes mount a desperate escape….

Possibly switching around certain terms like “Republic”, “galaxy”, or add things like “allies”, “forces”, etc. might give you a better combo, but I tried to keep the crawls concise and to the point.

Two alternatives for the second paragraph:

Only General Leia Organa’s band of RESISTANCE fighters stand together against this rising tyranny, certain that the hope Jedi Master Luke Skywalker inspires can reunite their scattered allies.

Only General Leia Organa’s band of RESISTANCE fighters stand united against this rising tyranny, certain that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker’s return could restore hope to the galaxy.

I guess I am trying to emphasize the Republic as divided and the Resistance as united, and hope is what makes that difference, and Luke is what is needed to restore hope to the rest of the galaxy and reunite everyone. It should all tie back to the main objective, which is Luke. This idea extends to the TFA crawl. And I personally like the dichotomy of unity and power. When the First Order reunifies the Imperial remnants, they acquire the power needed to topple the Republic, which leaves the Republic in disarray and vulnerable. Now, the Resistance is desperate for the hope Luke inspires in order to reunite the Republic and the galaxy and give them the power they need to defeat the First Order.

I also like that you came around to “Chaos reigns”! Personally I think it fits better with the situation: the decimation of Republic leadership has left their remaining forces and allies in disarray, and that chaos is what allows the First Order to invade the galaxy successfully. Really, the First Order won’t reign until they have control of all the major systems, which Rey says will still take weeks to months.

Hal 9000 said:

Didn’t The Clone Wars feature Darth Bane talking to Yoda? I never was a big fan of the series but watched that portion as I was delving into it based on a tip from smudger9 that there was some new Liam Neeson dialogue that could be culled for my Ep3 edit.

Anyway, wasn’t the appearance of Bane only a vision or phantom being animated by someone else? My understanding of Lucas’ intention (circa 2005+, at least) is that Qui-Gon (re?)discovered a way to eternal conscious persistence via the Light, which the Dark was incapable of providing. Light-siders could (potentially?) live on past death, but dark-siders couldn’t.

You are correct. Since then, though, some canon material like a Darth Vader comic series and the animated show Rebels have implied that a Sith could find a way to cheat death (not necessarily spiritual immortality, but ways to preserve or bring back their physical bodies, but this never really works out). As others have said, it is possible Palpatine’s spirit is just trapped within the place he died, like a ghost that haunts the ruins of the Death Star. Or, they could just find a hologram or holocron of the Emperor. Whatever it may be, I’m just gonna hope they have a decent explanation for it and try not to worry too much over the little information we currently have. And hey, if we aren’t happy with it, isn’t that what fan edits are for? But yeah, hopefully it won’t come to that, but I am also on the side that it actually isn’t Palpatine reborn, so we can focus on the existing characters. We’ll see I guess.

And how the hell is there that big of a section of either Death Star still extant? Those things each blew up so thoroughly that I find it laughable. Circle any one of the specks that fly away from the center on your screen and tell me that it could have fallen into an atmosphere and survived to be that big.

I also see this as a thing a future ROTJ edit could change (by having the Death Star blow up in chunks). This is something I could see Ady do in Revisited.

JEDIT: This might be sort of a drunk ramble sort of comment, but I’ll be especially frustrated if the Sequel Trilogy as a whole turns out to be flat or bankrupt because its announcement was what prompted an obsessive part of me to pour countless hours into doing my newer prequel fan edits.

Y’know, in the Summer of 2012 I watched the OOT and was happy not to follow it up with the prequels at all. I only did so because my wife wanted to, and we watched Q2’s edits. I shrugged afterward, and resolved to just revisit the OT every few years. I was happy; I was fine. Then in October Disney changed everything and I felt like I had to satisfy my tireless perfectionism by going back to the prequels. If the ST ends up detracting from the OT rather than at least enhancing it, it’s gonna really suck for me.

God damn those prequel movies.

Please don’t think this! The announcement of the Sequel Trilogy inspired your Prequel Edits, but I would argue that your Prequel edits have and will inspire further edits of the Sequel Trilogy. And I think we will eventually have solid, cohesive edits of the entire Skywalker Saga. That is at least my own hope/vision.

Hal 9000 said:

Quick idea: paint out the droids during the birthing of Luke and Leia.
It’s the only time R2 and Yoda share a room, and gives some additional ‘plausible deniability’ to R2 about the finer details of Luke’s family tree.

Good idea!

Alternatively, you could have Bail wipe both of their memories by slightly changing his line to, “Have the…droids’ mind[s] wiped.” Maybe just cut to an insert of R2 to hide the dialogue change, cut to 3PO and replace R2’s laughing beeps with sad beeps. R2 has seen just as much as 3PO, and they can pull those memories out of either of them, so why not wipe them both and solve the problem that way?

This is pretty cool Nev.

I showed this to someone, who has seen TFA a few times, to see if they understood the intention.

They didn’t totally get it, and thought that maybe Rey and R2 had a special connection, but they didn’t really put it together that Rey remembered R2 from the vision and got him to check his memory for the map.

Just thought I would try to see if another person would understand without your additional context, and at least in this one example the person didn’t fully get it.

What a fantastic and very important post, oojason! I haven’t read through your entire post yet so apologies if you touched on what I’m about to say.

This topic is so fundamentally tied to the purpose of this website: to petition for the unaltered original trilogy to be released officially. This website is now over 10 years old, and still the potential of this happening is still just rumors and speculation (although Disney’s acquisition of Fox and the conclusion of the last Skywalker Saga film this year could be hints to it finally happening).

I really think reiterating this truth is more important now than ever. Since the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm and the release of some of the newer movies, I’ve noticed a pretty growing support for George Lucas and the prequels that just didn’t exist as much during the 2000s. On one hand, it is great to see that prequel generation growing up and giving George and those films some love (I am a prequel child myself). On the other hand, I’ve begun to notice that this has also lead to many fans supporting George’s Special Editions, and supporting George’s wish to maintain those as the definitive versions, seeing George as a mastermind who had everything planned out from the beginning.

Hopefully fans who feel this way will stumble across this post and see that what fans really deserve is the truth about how this franchise we all love actually came to be, and how the fight for a release of the unaltered original trilogy is just an extension of that desire to preserve a special piece of film history.

Definitely will be curious to see what exactly you mean by that!

That’s pretty good, becoming a little clearer maybe.

A few notes:
The shot of just R2 when you wipe to 3PO, I feel like we should see a little of BB-8’s head since he was so close to R2 in the last shot, or, have R2 by himself when Rey first looks at him.

When 3PO says, “That sounds like…” I feel like we should clearly hear R2 and not BB-8 like it seems. Maybe you have it where we hear both of them simultaneously, but I think she just be R2 beeps, at least right before 3PO says that.

I like the new “She found what?” line. I wonder if it would be possible to create a quick shot of Rey in that scene to show she is there with them. Maybe with a similar technique you used to create the shot of Rey standing in the foreground, looking at R2 and BB-8. Maybe this isn’t necessary though.

I guess we could talk ad nauseum about the different directions they could’ve taken with the last trilogy, but I’m honestly glad they’ve gone in this direction. To me, it seems like Kennedy, Johnson, Abrams and others decided to collaborate on a story for the fans and future fans, not just a story that fits within the lore of the universe, but a story that continues to add to the tapestry of Star Wars mythology, and how these myths can translate to the lives of its audience.

Phantom Menace also has the heavy visual Death Star parallels with the Trade Federation ships with the big sphere in the middle (which we also see blow up at the end of the film).

Also, HelloGreedo posted a video regarding his interpretation of the title, and I think I would like it if some version of this turned to be true as well. These films are fundamentally about family, and I think this trilogy has emphasized how family is more than blood, so I could see ‘Skywalker’ becoming the mantle of that idea.
https://youtu.be/lPCuDbkstuY

I posted this in the other IX thread but I’ll repost here since this thread is more relevant.

I’ve seen a few people say they don’t like The Rise of Skywalker as the title. My friends don’t, and I’ll admit I didn’t like it at first either (I was holding out hope for Balance of the Force), but the more I’ve thought about it, the more I actually think it’s really appropriate. Here’s my interpretation:

If you think about it, Luke has really been the focus of the new trilogy, or more specifically, what he and the Jedi represent, which is HOPE.

Leia wanted to find Luke in TFA because she felt he was the key to stopping the First Order, partially because of his power, but also because his influence as the legendary Jedi could sway the New Republic into taking the First Order threat seriously.

In TLJ, Leia and the Resistance were desperate for Luke’s help not only for his power, but also because the Jedi represent hope, and that hope returning could help inspire the galaxy and the remnants of the Republic to unite against the invading First Order.

Even though Luke didn’t rejoin the fight for long, the tale of Luke’s mythic stand against the First Order and Kylo Ren has spread throughout the galaxy, and so the rise of Skywalker’s legend has reignited hope in the allies of the Resistance to also fight back against this common enemy.

It’s likely additional interpretations will be made more apparent once we see the film, as the titles often have, but I’m sold on the title now. For those who aren’t happy with it yet I hope you’ll come around to embrace it as I have. I’m pumped for IX, y’all.

I’ve also been hoping they wouldn’t resort to a greater evil trope that they have to unite in order to take down. To me, Kylo Ren and his followers should be treated as the bad guys, but through the posutive actions of the good guys they are able to find a path to peace with their enemy rather than by just destroying them.

But, there’s so little information that we are doomed to get false expectations or blow things out of proportion until we see the movie. I’m just gonna keep an open mind that they can make the Emperor’s return work and make sense within the story, and maybe it’ll provide some more context with how Snoke fit into this picture. I didn’t see anyone mention how the Emperor’s motif played in TLJ when Snoke threw Rey into the air. Initially I just thought it was a callback but maybe that will carry more importance in retrospect.

At this point, the Emperor might be playing a bigger or smaller role than we are expecting right now. So the best thing is to keep an open mind and imagine how either option could work for you and the story.

NeverarGreat said:

BTW, here’s the shifted Leia scene:

https://vimeo.com/329946951

Password: fanedit

I went through almost a dozen different bits of music before finding something halfway serviceable.

I’m kinda seeing where you’re going with this. You do lose that shot of Kylo Ren’s face after he lets Han go, which is a bit of a shame, but I’m guessing it fits better to cut it there because the music?

Also, the music is pretty good for the quick shot of Leia. Though I’m not crazy about how it starts of with Rey’s motif. I wonder if it would be possible to splice two different tracks. Because the moment when Leia drops her head and the horns kind of dip too, that works so nicely! I think it would be interesting if you could replace the Rey motif with a piece of the rendition of the Han & Leia motif, and then it could quickly switch to the deep horns as Leia drops her head. It would almost be like her feeling Han, but then when the horns cut off their motif, that’s the moment he’s gone. Like she feels him passing and we feel it through the music. It might not be feasible but could be worth a try.