Deborah has had a decent track record before this. Makes me think that the a big chunk of the budget just went to drag these big name actors back into the franchise.
Watched the Andor trailer today and it got me pretty excited for the show. Seems like it has a solid team behind it that has a story in mind from beginning to end.
It did get me thinking a little more about the ST. With the amount of stories we have gotten and are continuing to get on the struggle and sacrifice countless people in the galaxy went through to fight against the Empire, it definitely makes me wish to eventually see an edit of the ST where the New Republic isn’t destroyed unceremoniously. As a hypothetical viewer, it just doesn’t feel right to make an audience invest all of this time watching the struggle to restore the Republic only to quickly brush it away in the movie right after the Empire is beaten.
The New Republic should basically exist for most of the ST off-screen. The First Order is the last known Imperial holdout, and the Resistance is operating within their territory. The New Republic has no jurisdiction there because of a truce, so they can’t intervene. The First Order’s main goal in TFA is to destroy Luke Skywalker.
Palpatine could still be pulling the strings, manipulating Ben Solo to become his new apprentice/vessel, but Rey comes into the equation as a random variable he didn’t foresee. A nobody. And when he tries to launch his hidden Imperial fleet to take over the galaxy, the New Republic finally intervenes before it is too late.
Don’t get me wrong, I love how Restructured and Starlight make the destruction of the Republic so much better than the theatrical film. But in the context of the saga, it still doesn’t feel earned really. I know further series will probably flesh it out, but for now it doesn’t feel like there is enough there to justify taking it out the way they chose to.
I go back and forth on it, but I also lean toward wanting to see an ending where both Rey and Ben live and establish a reformed Jedi Order. TROS basically ends on the same thematic notes as ROTJ, but something has got to be different for the end of the saga. We have to end on a different conclusion or message than the end of the previous trilogy. It feels like the ST never grew beyond the lessons of the PT or OT. I also feel like Ben living would be an easier pill for the audience to swallow if he and the First Order never destroy an entire star system and then subjugate the galaxy.
I know I’ve repeated these ideas many times before. I would love to try these myself if I had the time and drive. Looking back (and ahead), what we were given just doesn’t feel earned. Maybe it is better to stick closer to canon though.
Spoilers:
Although bringing Leia into the story might be contrived, I think it is worth it for the character interactions. Seeing young Leia and Obi-Wan together is fun to see, and it expands on the character relationships in an interesting way. Would I have written the show this way? No, but I’m okay with the set up and can have fun with the story they’ve decided to tell.
My least favorite thing is definitely the Inquisitors. Honestly, they should’ve just given them all helmets and the bad acting and make-up would no longer be a problem. If there are any fan edits of this series, I would definitely like to see their scenes trimmed up and some put helmets on them if some fx wizard could manage it.
I kind of don’t like the way the Inquisitors fight and bicker, but on the other hand, it kind of exemplifies the idea of the Sith inevitably being focused on taking each other down, and why the Rule of Two was invented.
I might be wrong but I feel like it is a limitation of the Volume. Feel like it sort of limits the cinematography.
Agreed. Have to say I’m more excited about this than Obi-Wan. That trailer was so damn good.
EDIT: I do wish the show had a different title, though. I thought Andor was just going to be a working title. It seems like the scope will be slightly beyond just Cassian himself. Maybe I’m wrong though. Could’ve been called Fulcrum, The Dark Times, or Shadows of the Empire.
^Was gonna suggest the same thing. Of course everyone has probably heard of the Falcon, but it seems weird for a First Order officer to refer to it by name.
Also, I have to admit it feels kind of weird to only have one shot of Rey sneaking around between two different scenes of Kylo getting updates from officers. I feel like the transition music between the Rey shot and the second Kylo update exacerbates this. This is all just my initial feeling though.
These are some good thoughts, Burbin. I think because we associate the lines with Rey Palpatine, there is a inclination to shy away from them, but it biases us and would still likely work in this new context.
Wow, that Falcon shot is actually perfect within the context of the scene you’ve been working on.
I’d be interested in taking a look at it.
Might be a dumb thought but could you just flip that shot? I also would probably cut the previous shot (that you reversed), and potentially reverse the head turn close up shot if it wouldn’t look weird with the way the camera dollies in.
Definitely feel like you shouldn’t keep the 180 break in. It also looks weird to jump cut from Kylo looking back to him looking straight. You would have to reverse the footage to have him turn back around or something.
And yeah, “escape” trailing off is definitely a problem too.
Oh, so people thought it was an editing mistake? That is interesting. Did you add a subtle force sound when he turns around or was it already there? I think that helps with the flow of the moment.
I like that new line!
I think the new dialogue works, though the stormtrooper’s dialogue feels a bit chatty rather than actually discussing security strategy. Also, it might be a little funny (maybe at a time when it shouldn’t be) to have the trooper bring up the damage that Kylo himself caused with his tantrum. The audience would know that and chuckle. I wonder if you could give the trooper a line that feels more like an update on the search for Rey.
“Sir, we’ve redirected all troops to find the prisoner, but this could neglect security elsewhere on the base.”
Then Kylo rationalizes the effort, and it could help explain how Han and Finn were able to sneak around the base with little resistance.
Or something in the middle, like:
“Sir, we’ve reassigned nine squads to search for the prisoner. Is she really that dangerous?”
This feeds into Kylo’s line well, but still hints at this idea that security has been shuffled around a little bit.
I also kind of liked how in the theatrical version, Kylo cuts himself off when he senses Han. Don’t know if it could still work well with the new line. I’m assuming you didn’t do that since it plays into that idea of Kylo redirecting his focus from Rey to Han.
That is all true! And it lines up with the mouth movements well, so that‘s the important thing.
And this new line is also a good way to clarify that another thing that sets Starkiller apart from the Death Stars is that this is a single-use super weapon.
Smart idea! Initially I kind of prefer the idea of him just saying, “Some kind of one-shot laser cannon”, but I see the benefit of calling it a kyber cannon, though.
- Kylo tells Rey that she’s destined to kill Palpy and take the throne, and then in the next scene, Rey declares to Finn that she’s going to destroy Palpatine? Why? Wouldn’t she not want to do that? Maybe we could lampshade it a little bit by slipping in an extra line to the effect of “Kylo says…I’m going to find Palpatine, and destroy him.” “That doesn’t sound like you…” blah blah blah.
A lot of good feedback, Sherlock.
Yeah, I know this scene was probably driving Spence crazy, trying to get it to work within the new context.
This is one scene that I think is handled better in a version of the movie where the revelation is that Rey killed her parents. Krausfadr demonstrated this well in his Resurgence edit by cutting the line about destroying Palpatine and instead had Rey say, “I killed my mother, and my father.” to which Finn responds, “That doesn’t sound like you…”
Honestly the whole interaction doesn’t make a lot of sense in the original film. Their mission from the beginning is to find and stop Palpatine, so Rey saying that she’s going to destroy him shouldn’t be really surprising to Finn. I guess it is the way she says it? But we never really get a beat of Finn looking at Rey and being like, “what’s gotten into her?”
This scene is one reason I sometimes revisit the idea of Rey killing her parents. While I personally think IX needed to move on from Rey parents, it genuinely seems like something Abrams and Terrio would have written, if that makes sense. Not a great storytelling choice, but still better than what we got. One downside is that you’d have to show the ship they tried to leave in, which looks just like Ochi’s, unless some future edit went through the effort to change the shot of it in TFA and TROS. It’d be annoying to bring up a second revelation about her parents in this movie, but it ties in well with ideas about her inner darkness, the threat she poses to the ones she cares about, that maybe she closed herself off to the force after that event until TFA… I think it would’ve been a lame decision but like I said, totally feels like something they would’ve done.
But I think in the context of Spence’s edit, I see it as Rey actually accepting the information Kylo just told her. Maybe she should take the throne, if it means stopping Palpatine. And it isn’t until she almost kills Kylo does she snap out of that mindset. When Rey says to Kylo, “I do [know what I need it do.]” it is actually Rey accepting that she will take the throne. And it is simply the way Rey says she’ll destroy Palpatine that creeps Finn out a little bit.
Maybe you could have Rey say, “I’m going to find Palpatine, and dethrone him.” But I think Finn is bothered by her using the word destroy rather than something like “stop”, so that may take away from Finn’s reaction.
I mean, it’s a vision. It can be different than what actually happened. We never see Rey actually sit on the throne, but we see it in the vision. It’s cool imagery that makes you think about what it means. Maybe making the Sith eyes much more prominent in this one shot might be helpful since it goes by pretty quickly.
And I do think Spence’s idea of hearing faintly Luke say, “-straight to the dark” might hammer the idea home.
Yeah, I think that looks great!
It could be interesting if D-0 actually said something like, “I can help.” Like he/she voluntarily gave them the information once he/she learned to trust them (as opposed to how D-0 apparently felt about their former owner).
In this case, it could be useful to keep D-0 speaking English and just redub him. In that case, I could picture D-0’s voice being more like GLaDOS or the turrets from Portal.
EDIT:
In his scene with Finn, doesn’t D-0 ask where Rey is, and Finn says he doesn’t know. Maybe D-0 could say “Exegol” or “I know”, etc.
Or use excited beeps if you kept with the beeping idea, and Finn just turned around to look at him, then cut to next scene.
This is nitpicky, but it also seems like the officer is at the end of a sentence right before the camera pans down off of his face. It makes me wonder if a line like, “General, the Senate has just voted/responded…” his face goes off-camera. “They’re launching their fleet within the hour.”
Anyway I think it works as-is too. Feel bad for making you and Eddie go back and forth re-recording lines.
I’ve just got some great line readings from him now, so I’ll be busy going through and editing them. But in the meantime, an important test.
Nice. Definitely foreshadows the McMuffin in TROS.
I like the new test, too. I do think that the extra line isn’t totally necessary, but any new bits that could be added is cool too.
Also, I’m assuming you’re trying to get “General” to line up with his original mouth movement for “Jakku”. But yours has a pause between General and the rest of the line, whereas his mouth movements don’t show him ever pausing. In the original scene, he says General as he is walking up, pauses, then says “Jakku village was wiped out”. I feel like it would be better to try to keep “General” in the original placement, if that makes sense.
For reference, the original lines for extra line for the officer.
“-found his X-Wing, destroyed. Blaster marks-“
Maybe we could think of something else that would better fit. Or edit the mouth movements? May not be worth the trouble.
Good idea! It could be fun to create our own. Something like BD-1 from Jedi: Fallen Order would fit really well with him.
I think it would be cool to get a female voice to distort for D-0.
Anyway, might be off-topic for Ascendant.
I mean, yeah, it is dumb. But I think the idea is that the bad guys are defeated by the people they’ve used and abused. Rey healing the serpent inspired BB-8 to give some of his energy to D-O, and that act of kindness gave the heroes an unexpected advantage.
Honestly, I’d love to see someone replace D-O’s human (JJ Abrams) voice with some glitchy beeps and boops like a normal astromech droid would make. Especially when the droid just says stuff like, “sad” and “happy”. It’s not endearing.
That new test is funny! Thanks for trying that. I do see what SSWR is saying. It may help to get Eddie to do a few different line readings, and see if the timing would even work out.
I think we’re both referring to, “And General, unless that shield is destroyed…nobody can save us.”
Maybe another off screen rebel could be calling for 3PO, needing his help. Or some droid beeps. It could just be a subtle background voice/sound, but something like that could provide some logic to his action.
After my long spiel I also have to say I think that second line would work well.