RogueLeader

Honestly at this point, all I need to see is a version of the force bond duel in Kylo’s quarters that feels seamlessly edited, and I’ll be convinced that a Rey Nobody edit (that removes any connection b/w Palpatine and her parents) can be done that doesn’t feel like a fan edit. There are some solid attempts already, but you can still see the seams here and there in the versions that I’ve seen.

Nice! I appreciate people like you Spence who can make some use out of all of this wasted brainpower I use on Star Wars edits.

Snooker!!! Hope you’ve been well.

Faraday, we’re just on the same wavelength man.

That second idea is pretty cool because it is sort of a reversal of ANH’s climax.

So in that version of TPM, Anakin Skywalker blowing up the space station is what gives Obi-Wan the push to defeat the bad guy. And then in ANH, it’s Obi-Wan that gives Luke Skywalker the push to blow up the space station and defeat the bad guys.

Hmm, it seems like it would be a lot of work. Is the idea to tie Krennic in with Starkiller (Tarkin) Base? I’m just trying to think if there would be another scene that might could work to convey what you’re trying to do without all of the needed VFX.

I actually kind of dig that idea. And some of the early crawls only had one capitalized word, right? If any word needs it, I think it would definitely be FIRST ORDER.

I think it could work. I actually think you should just keep Kylo’s mention of her parents closer to the beginning of the film.

“Do you still count the days since your parents left? Such pain in you. Such anger.”

Because I think that line, and Rey’s line about Kylo not being able to stop seeing what he did to his father, are nice reminders of what these characters struggled with in the past films. Especially since that line kind of pays off later when Ben sees his father again.

And I think having Palpatine’s line about her parents helps with the flow of that scene better.

Palpatine: Weak. Like your parents.

Rey looks back, not saying anything (hopefully the cut back to Palpatine wouldn’t fee to quick).

Palpatine: Luke Skywalker was saved by his father. The only family you have here… [Palpatine looks up toward the battle].

It segues into that second line better. It reminds Rey of that the family she waited so long for, which solidifies her desire to protect the family she has now.

People might ask how Palpatine knows this bit of information, but I think there are plenty of explanations you can come with that I don’t feel like typing out. Haha.

I actually don’t think it is available anymore! I think he had just posted them on YouTube, and the links don’t work anymore. I’ll have to check to see if I downloaded it, but it wouldn’t be usable quality even if I had it.

Anakin Starkiller said:

I remember years ago someone mocking up a hologram of Grievous in AotC, I think in place of Death Star. The concept was pretty lame, tbh, but the execution was good iirc, effects-wise.

This was actually my concept. Haha.

I recall someone coming on the forum not long after I started getting involved here, around summer 2015, offering to do some effects work, and it was just a suggestion I through out there. Thought it would be a fun way to set up Grievous, since the Death Star doesn’t really play a role in ROTS besides on of the final shots of the film.

Looking back now, I’d rather keep the Death Star, but give the graphics that classic look with the dish at the equator.

I like those changes! I like the idea of “Imperial fortress” also implying that the First Order is building off of the Empire’s resources.

Nitpicky, but I wonder if you could change “Arising” to something like “Emerging”, since “risen” was used in the first paragraph. Just to change it up a little.

Great to have you back!
I like the new crawls. One note is that I kind of worry that the audience might interpret “Luke’s faithful disciples” as Jedi students, even if the first sentence states that Luke is the last Jedi. Also, we never explore this idea of the village being loyal to Luke or the Jedi, beyond Lor San Tekka, so it might raise more questions than answers.

If you you don’t mind, I tried to make a few edits to your most recent take, using some suggestions from myself Sherlock.

The last Jedi has vanished. In his absence, a new Imperial remnant has risen to threaten the galaxy.

Descending into endless division, some members of the Republic Senate secretly call upon a daring RESISTANCE to find Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, convinced that he will restore the light of hope to the darkening stars.

Arising from its mysterious hidden base, the radical FIRST ORDER hastens toward a village on Jakku, determined to capture the key to finding Luke Skywalker before their enemy finds him first…

Anyway, I think it works fine regardless what you do! Like Sherlock said, it’s mostly pedantic changes.

Outside the parameters of this edit, I think something that would help make Kylo more sympathetic (and more palatable as a romantic interest) would be to clarify his motivation for joining the dark side earlier in the trilogy. Maybe when he speaks to Vader’s helmet, he could see a Vader-centric vision that illustrates the Jedi as bad for the galaxy, and he could hear/see stuff from the films.

Palpatine: If the Jedi are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end.
Vader: Bring order to the galaxy!

And then, once he realizes Palpatine has been manipulating him all of this time in TROS, we can see Kylo’s worldview begin to crumble, and struggling with the sunk cost fallacy regarding his actions. He could tell Rey that, “Palpatine lied to [him]”, but he still is holding on to his vision of a new order. Such a line might be craftable for TROS (“It was Palpatine”, “I never lied to you”, “Show me”).

Anyway, that’s beyond the scope of Sherlock’s idea, (maybe you could put such a vision when Kylo is connecting with the helmet before he finds Exegol, like he is using the visions to help him find the Wayfinder’s location. And it would make more sense for to connect with the helmet before he reallizes Palpatine has been using it to manipulate him) but I am interested in seeing what Sherlock has in mind for Kylo’s motivations in general.

Maybe your new 3PO line could call it the hidden fortress of the Sith.

I’ve always been on the Reylo side of things, but I remember family members being really confused and taken out of the moment when Rey and Ben kissed. Since it didn’t work for a lot of people, I wouldn’t mind if it was removed. I actually kind of think it works better if Ben isn’t rewarded for his sacrifice, if that makes sense. I don’t know though.

Sherlock, this is so cool! Had no idea you were planning to start your own edit! There’s a lot of great stuff here. I’ll definitely keep up with your progress and contribute however I can.

Just wanted to chime in and say this is really amazing! I don’t think I realized until recently how much changed from planning phase to the final film. Really insightful stuff. Also the sliding photos to see the storyboard and the final frame comparison is top notch!

Hahaha, feels like forever ago! Yeah, I remember even back then I think you made an excel spreadsheet for potential continuity edits. Got a glimpse of your legendary organization skills even then.

I think it shows are similar mindsets to a lot of this stuff. They are slightly different, but I prefer this approach of looking at things a month. It gives us an opportunity to brainstorm specific ideas without the weight of a massive undertaking, such as full edits of all nine saga films.

I actually did play around with the Jar Jar audio awhile back, but it appeared that the dialogue wasn’t isolated very well, making alterations to his dialogue feel like a lot of pain with minimum reward.

And for me personally, as time goes on I feel like trying to improve the PT and ST is a Sisyphean task. They are fun rides but the issues are too ingrained to really make them extremely different from the theatrical versions. But that’s just me at the moment. Definitely think there are stuff in those movies to discuss for future community focus months.

I have a few ideas for some ROTJ edits that I think are doable. Some have been done and others haven’t, and have been brought up over and over again. Some things are stuff that I think Adywan will eventually do, but since Ady has a longer timeline for his edits usually, it might be cool to go ahead and make some of those things even if Ady’s eventual work will be superior.

And if we actually can execute some of these ideas, perhaps we can make a Google drive and upload the assets for other people.

Even though I didn’t have a lot of personal time to contribute to it, I liked the conversations it sparked! And I think it gave us ideas for potential future changes.

Maybe we could have months where we could focused on specific ideas that need to be brainstormed and executed, rather than broader topics like a whole movie.

With that being said, I actually would like one of the next months (if not the next month) to be focused on Return of the Jedi. Recently I have been drifting from the PT and ST in my mind, and focusing more on the OT. The PT and ST really just chased the magic of the originals without really repeating it. thinking about changes that could be made to that film since it arguably where the problems began. Of course this movie has been discussed a lot over the years, but there are specific changes that I could see being executed on that maybe haven’t really happened in a definitive way yet.

Hahaha, that’s so good.

I think we should make a Google drive and just start uploading everyone’s clips until we can cut it together as a complete movie.

I’m worried that the AI voice is more like his regular interview voice, whereas his masked voice is more cool, calm, collected. He speaks deeper and slower as Kylo Ren.

Here is an example of a potential line for an edit that emphasizes the friend her friends face. Just, “Your friends are doomed.”
I feel like this voice would need to be deeper. I just feel like it won’t fit with the rest of his dialogue.

I also wonder if you could hide potential AI dialogue by adding some kind of distortion or something to his masked voice throughout the film. Like, his mask is broken, so maybe his voice modulator is a little broken too. Could add a potential creepy factor to his voice. Some kind of effect that could be analogous to Vader’s breathing. Kylo doesn’t really have an equivalent.

Speaking of this potential line, could anyone potentially grab Kylo’s line from TFA, “You mean the murderers, traitors and thieves you call friends?”

I’m kinda curious if we could produce one tangible edit that other people could use for TPM before the end of the month. Like, maybe something that editor’s in the past could’ve really used in the past, but didn’t have the tech to actually accomplish it. Can’t really think of something at the moment though.

That is really cool amobex!

I think your use of Rey’s lines about balance from TLJ was a cool idea that I haven’t seen discussed or executed before. This would be a great approach for anyone who may have wanted to depict Rey “growing beyond” some old Jedi perspective. She has all of these things in her, but it is all a part of the Force.

If it were me, I think I would wait and cut to shots of Leia (or any of her other friends), until after she starts saying “be with me”. I think it would be a clever thing if the audience (and maybe even Rey) thought she was calling on the past Jedi for guidance, but then get glimpses of the people she cares about, the people that motivate her. I could silent shots of Finn, Poe, Leia, Luke, etc. hugging/smiling/encouraging Rey. The last shot could be of Leia when she says “Never be afraid of who you are”, then we could get the balance sequence that you depicted. These ideas could work in tandem, but they could work independently for other editors just as well.

I think keeping the ghosts works too. You could argue their presence validates Rey’s thoughts and actions. Almost like she reached a point of enlightenment, and that connected her with the Jedi, rather than just saying “be with me” over and over again.

I’m not sure if some of the scene restructuring works, but a big part of that is how hard it is to detach the shots from the flow of the score. It did give me a thought though about Ben’s arrival. The movie does seem to depict Rey sensing his presence before she “agrees” to kill Palpatine, which implies that whole build-up is a ruse. I wonder how it would feel if we cut that acknowledgement, and saved it so she doesn’t sense Ben until she is about to kill him. So that whole build up is genuine, and Rey is really about to kill him.

Of course that’s fine! I really like Cadavra’s crawl as well (and DZ’s).

I agree with a lot of Burbin’s takes. I’ve always been more of a TLJ apologist, so that’s how I’ve seen it.

But, I also think it is fair to try and find ways to clarifying things, since apparently these ideas didn’t completely register for a lot of the audience.

I can’t recall how your crawl is worded, but I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea to change the line, “The First Order reigns.” Yes, the film does state that they will have control of the major systems within weeks, so they are not reigning yet technically. But I feel like these two statements do add to the confusion.

I think a fun way to start the crawl would be with a line like, “Chaos reigns.” Then you could describe how both sides are scrambling to reorganize after the destruction of Hosnian and Starkiller Base. Or replace ‘reigns’ with another word. “The First Order invades.”

Also, I always felt that an angle they could’ve gone with would’ve been to explain that the galaxy at large might not know the Resistance managed to destroy Starkiller Base. So for all we know, the “major systems” might think the FO has a gun to their heads, so might just completely surrender at the threat of total obliteration. So the FO might be motivated to destroy the Resistance so that information can’t spread. It would explain how they would be able to take control so quickly without a major fleet. And then as the galaxy learns the truth post-TLJ, this makes it harder for the FO to maintain control.
On the other hand, this idea could take away from the general focus they have on hope/fear and its relation to Luke and the Jedi.

Regarding the Resistance referring to themselves as Rebels lines, I’m guessing the idea was that “Godspeed Rebels” was something the old rebels would say to each other, but it’s kinda weird since we never heard anyone say that. It would be pretty easy to take out the two instances this is said. I know there are other instances besides this though.