it seems almost like Mandalorians are the Star Wars version of Klingons now.
That’s an insult to the Mandalorians.
I’ve heard a lot of people describe the legends Mandos this way, I guess since they make the easiest comparisons as “the warrior race”.
In all seriousness, what would you change about ROTJ if you could? I like hearing your perspective!
- Remove the Death Star II, or make the Death Star II a ruse to lure the Rebels into a trap.
- Retool the entire Jabba sequence. Jabba’s palace would’ve be on a planet other than Tatooine; Leia would gift the droids to Jabba; Lando would free Han from the carbonite and get captured in the process; then Leia would arrive in person and successfully barter for Han & co’s freedom. Everything else would be cut.
- Luke would be on Dagobah, where he’d have been since the events of TESB, finishing his training under Yoda. He wouldn’t have a new lightsaber at this point.
- Leia would be “the other”, as powerful in the Force as Luke, but not his sister.
- Han would have some actual dignity. Instead of delivering dumb slapstick and one-liners, his relationship with Leia would continue to evolve.
- The Ewoks would be scary. They’d be pygmy versions of the original Chewbacca design, with oversized eyes and sharp fangs. They’d wear clothing made from human skin, and gruesome sculptures made of Imperial armour and human bones would decorate their village.
- Palpatine would not be a cackling Saturday morning cartoon supervillain. He’d be as he was portrayed by Clive Revill — resonant but understated.
- There’d be deeper exploration into Vader’s motivations and psyche. It would be made clear that Vader was a good man who joined Palpatine under false pretenses and became his puppet, and now wishes his son to join him in the dark side so together they can depose Palpatine and transform the Empire into the strong but benevolent power he always wanted it to be.
- It would be revealed that Vader kept Ben’s lightsaber as a trophy, and he would show it to Luke on Endor.
- Palpatine’s finest troops would actually live up to that descriptor. For once, we’d have stormtroopers with effective armour who can actually hit what they fire at.
- Palpatine would make a strong case for why Luke should turn to the dark side — power not for power’s sake, which Luke doesn’t crave, but to right wrongs, avenge evil, and protect his loved ones.
- During their duel, Luke and Vader would end up swapping lightsabers; Luke, with Vader’s red lightsaber, would face Vader, with Ben’s blue lightsaber.
- Han would die in the battle on Endor.
- Vader would succumb quicker to his injuries after killing Palpatine. He would die without his true face ever being revealed.
- Luke would dismantle Ben and Vader’s lightsabers and craft his own from their components. This lightsaber would be purple.
- No Force ghosts at the end. Whether or not Anakin atoned for his sins by saving Luke would be left up to the viewer to decide for themself.
I wouldn’t make Leia a Force-sensitive at all. Why, you may ask? It renders the entire quest to find Luke in The Force Awakens completely pointless from the start, especially in The Last Jedi, where it is revealed that she’s suddenly this powerful Force-user who flies back to the ship upon being blown out into space.
There’s an implication in TLJ that the display of her force powers to save her own life was either subconscious or unconscious, with no indication that she actually has any control of those powers (she never uses them again). Plus flying in space takes very little effort. I think it’s an awkwardly executed scene, but I also think the idea that it invalidates the quest to find Luke is a little silly.
Then why didn’t the Resistance need her this whole entire time to be the Force-user they needed to help defeat the First Order? Hell, the leaked plot summary for The Rise of Skywalker on Reddit says that she trained with Luke!
For one, it’s not like Leia was going to be as strong as Luke, especially since she presumably hasn’t trained at all since she had Ben. And two, I don’t think Leia has the same kind of klout the legendary Luke Skywalker has that could reunite the galaxy against this great evil. She might be the Resistance leader, but apparently she had lost some influence in the Senate, and she isn’t a “Jedi” like her brother.
I know you’ll be releasing the movie in December around the time of The Rise of Skywalker, but do you think you could get a workprint ready before releasing the full edit?
I’m still holding out for a few dialogue replacements, but if those aren’t done soon I’ll go ahead and render a workprint version without them before TROS.
I was kind of hoping Finn would be like, “Why did I never get a jetpack?”
Hey Pearce! I hope Hal doesn’t mind me chiming in, but it is really nice to hear constructive feedback from a fresh perspective. Your thought on the scene reordering is interesting but makes total sense. I’ll leave that to Hal and see what he says about it.
About the Star Destroyer reaction, maybe in the shot of Finn walking up the steps of the ship, you could insert a sound of the Star Destroyer jumping out of hyperspace, just like what we hear at the beginning of The Last Jedi when the Resistance was evacuating. That would be the simplest addition I think.
Yeah, I could imagine there would be inherent fears within the Empire of the fearsome Mandalorians of old wanting to return to power. The Mandalorians have also always been independent, so the Empire trying to control them would inevitably resort to opposition. And the Mandalorians could be a huge threat if they were align with a larger cause like the Rebel Alliance.
A central focus of the Empire’s campaign against them was beskar. Not only is it a valuable resource, but taking away beskar was taking away a central piece of Mandalorian identity: their armor. And if they could wipe away their identity, they could put in place their own regime, which was something we saw in Rebels with the Saxon clan being the Empire’s lapdogs. So this is probably why some Mandalorians take working with the Empire so personally, because that stolen beskar was a part of an effort to destroy their culture.
Yeah, it seems to imply that the New Republic’s territory and influence seems to be limited to the Core worlds, at least in the five years after the Battle of Endor.
Regarding the Mandos, I also am not sure why certain Mando enclaves are in hiding despite the Empire having fallen years ago. I’m wondering if a rival faction of Mandos (or an Imperial warlord?) are in control of Mandalore, but they (like the Death Watch) are still in hiding. Or maybe they follow a certain nomadic tradition and their small numbers resulting from the purge is what compels them to stay underground for the time being. I’m guessing we’ll learn more as the show progresses. In Rebels, we see that the Mandos were starting to unite to take on the Empire, but this show sort of implies that their rebellion may not have gone well.
Boba was never in Rebels, but according to the new canon, Boba Fett never was technically a Mandalorian, but only wore the armor, so he had no allegiance to Mandalorian culture.
but maybe making Poe (and the audience) feel like something is off about Holdo is the point
The first time I saw it, I totally thought she was a FO spy.
Same! The audience isn’t supposed to trust her.
but maybe making Poe (and the audience) feel like something is off about Holdo is the point
The effects look great! I’m curious why you changed Obi-Wan’s lightsaber to green in Revenge of the Sith though, since he is using his OT lightsaber, unless you’re planning to make his saber green in ANH too.
I remember seeing your videos awhile back! Pretty cool work. Hope you stick around the forums some.
The Ackbar change must’ve taken a bit of time!
Does that mean Jar Jar is in the Original Trilogy?
Also wanted to say this episode adds extra depth to Chapter 2 with The Egg the Mando delivers to the Jawas and how watching in disgust as they tear it apart reflects the child and what he fears the Empire might do it.
Yeah, I know fans of the EU mandos didn’t like the interpretation they were given in the Clone Wars, but illustrating the culture that isn’t static, but evolves with the times, makes them feel more like a real, organic society.
Chronologically, the last thing we saw was in Rebels when some Mandalorians banded together to rebel against the Empire. I’m wondering if that rebellion didn’t turn out well and the Empire stomped them before they fell, leading them to have convents spread across the galaxy living in the shadows. Because why would they be living that way if Mandalore was liberated by the Empire?
Speaking of which, I wonder why they continue to live that way if the Empire is “gone”? Does an opposing Mandalorian faction control their homeworld? Apparently the heavy Mandalorian that confronted him was a Viszla.
The whole thing with never taking off his helmet makes me wonder if that custom has been readopted in the desperate times to preserve their culture, or if someone that isn’t born into the Mandalorian culture has to not remove their helmet around others as a right of passage. You are not a true Mandalorian until the only face you recognize is your beskar.
Even though Darth Vader was meant to be his first and last name when George wrote it, the phrase, “You can’t win, Darth” still makes sense if Darth is a title instead of a first name. Can people not be referred to by just their title alone?
“I’m not feeling well, Doctor.”
“You have failed me for the last time, Admiral.”
“You can’t win, Darth.”
And like you said, Obi-Wan could be mocking Vader by reminding him of what he has become. In my opinion, instead of fixing this line, characters in future stories should just sometimes refer to other Sith Lords as ‘Darth’ to establish that it is a valid way to address a Sith.
But I know this is a thread meant to discuss changes that could be made for the OT, and I think this could be addressed just for the fact it is a common critique. It is more of a retcon than a continuity error, because I think that phrase is grammatically correct either way.
I agree with you Hal, I don’t think many fan-edits will be majorly concerned with “fixing” things, but putting a twist on the experience.
If each episode is about 30 minutes, I’m guessing could you could turn the first 8-episode season into a 4-5 hr movie, but split into two parts, like the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions. Having multiple films would add to the parallels between it and Lone Wolf and Cub, which had six films of its own.
EddieDean, I appreciate your comments so much.
For the sake of future readers I’m gonna link Darth Muffy’s Noir-Style grade idea. Like he mentioned, it could be an interesting regrade could be a fun way to rewatch the series. I feel like a noir look in this universe could fit well with a synth rescore as well, like something from Bladerunner maybe.
Screenshots:
Interesting! And I’m guessing the blaster shots come through too, right?
“Open then pod bay doors, Finn!”
“I’m sorry, Rey. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
Well it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen people survive briefly traversing the vacuum of space.
How should we handle situations where people bet the same numbers? Say if I do three prizes for opening, domestic, and worldwide, but two people got the right numbers for the opening (ie, $240M)? If it is a tie like that, maybe the tiebreaker can be whoever got the closer domestic/worldwide numbers.
You are far too kind and generous, RL. If in the unlikely event I did win any of the categories, please send any prize to your local hospital or favored charity of choice.
That is very thoughtful of you! I’ll be more than happy to do that.
In all seriousness, what would you change about ROTJ if you could? I like hearing your perspective!
If you want more and new Star Wars you’re going to have to make your peace with new characters, new story lines, new actors, new stories.
No “if” about it; I don’t. In fact, I wish it were possible to retroactively make less Star Wars crap.
Not really related to the thread, but as much as like all the movies, I think it would be cool to do a “Revenge of the Jedi” edit that acts as the final Star Wars movie ever, in some alternate universe. Han dies, Leia isn’t Luke’s sister, etc.
How’s your edit coming along, by the way?
