SilverKey

Thanks for sharing your edit, joshuabri.

I really enjoyed watching this. Between this and many other edits, I keep being amazed by how much nonsense you can remove from this movie while still keeping a coherent story. Your edit demonstrated that nicely.

Technically, this was very well done. You cut some parts that I only realized afterwards were removed. There are only a few moments where it’s a bit choppy.

The removal of Palpatine added more agency to the characters and I didn’t miss him at all. Duel of the Fates is a very fitting title for this edit.

What didn’t really work for me was the order of scenes near the end: after the final battle at Exegol, the film is still giving us new information which doesn’t really matter anymore, since the battle is won. I understood the ideas behind it, but it does take away from the finale a bit, in my opinion.

majoras_wrath said:

SilverKey said:

Moving the scene of Poe and Finn meeting Boolio to after Rey’s training sequence didn’t really work for me. The energy of these scenes is very different. I think keeping all the scenes on Ajan Kloss back to back will allow the movie to stop jumping around and slow down a bit.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the point in this change was that the opening scene ends with Palpatine talking about Rey, so it makes sense to jump to Rey next. Then the Ajan Kloss training sequence ends with Leia and Rey being informed that the Falcon hasn’t reported in yet, so the next cut is to the Falcon.

Personally, I think it actually helps to slow down the pacing with this edit instead of leaving it the way it was before.

I see. Structurally that makes a lot of sense. For me it threw the pacing off a little bit.

I liked the removal of the “Only this blade will tell” scene on (now) Endor, however, the scenes of Rey retrieving the dagger on Ren’s ship are sort of useless now.

The blade is sort of whispering to Rey throughout this sequence, implying that she can hear the voices of the Sith through the blade and that it’s directing her where to go.

Ah. I didn’t really get that from the edit, but that makes a bit more sense, then.

I watched Hal’s TROS edit over the weekend and I really enjoyed it. I sent him my thoughts (and compliments), but I thought I’d share them here as well. Maybe they could help in the discussion.

Very nice addition of the establishing shot on Mustafar. It makes for an smoother transition and the scene breathes a bit more.

Very cool to see that vat with Palpatine clones. It gives a much stronger explanation than some half-assed line.
Maybe the line “I’ve died before” could by laid over the shot of the cloning vats? It would be a strong way to communicate to the audience how Palpatine survived. It would mean rearranging the dialogue a bit, but I feel it’s very repetitive anyway.

Removing the ‘ticking clock’ element of the plot helps the movie a lot!

Moving the scene of Poe and Finn meeting Boolio to after Rey’s training sequence didn’t really work for me. The energy of these scenes is very different. I think keeping all the scenes on Ajan Kloss back to back will allow the movie to stop jumping around and slow down a bit.

The line “They sold you to protect you” has always bothered me, as it doesn’t paint Rey’s parents in the best light. Perhaps that could be modified to “They gave you up to protect you” or something?

Personally, I’m not a fan of the Dyad thing. It feels like an obvious way of communicating that Rey and Ren are two sides of the same coin, which the movie already clearly states. The concept isn’t really further explored anyway and mostly leads to an exposition dump in the finale. If the goal is to make the movie more streamlined, then maybe that is something to drop.

Really cool (re)introduction of Endor! Maybe the establishing shot with the Ewoks could be recolored a bit so it matches a bit more with the more muted/grey shots of the following scene?

I liked the removal of the “Only this blade will tell” scene on (now) Endor, however, the scenes of Rey retrieving the dagger on Ren’s ship are sort of useless now.

Since the destruction of Kijimi was cut, does the line “Hit those underbelly canons, every one we knock out is a world saved” still make sense?

Really awesome to see all the Jedi appear when Rey fights Palpatine! Impressive effects work!

I really enjoyed seeing more planets during the ending montage.

Nice and creative way of re-using the Dejarik scene for the ending. It implies that these characters will go on more adventures together.

I was wondering if, with all the face swap software becoming more common place, it’s possible to swap out McGregor’s face for Christensen’s in TPM. That way some footage could perhaps be used as a flashback or to give an adult Anakin some sort of role in the first episode. It would be tricky to pull off, but you could have Anakin fight Maul and use that to show off his prowess (and inner darkness).

Just throwing out an idea. It’s your edit 😉

That’s a pretty good suggestion, LordPlaqueis.

A lot of fan edits remove this scene, but I think it’s an important scene between Anakin and Padme. The theatrical version is problematic (to say the least) for both characters, but if you can trim it down like you suggest it could work in both their favors.

I’d even go a bit further and not show the Tusken slaughter at all. This will leave a bit more ambiguity about what happened and won’t turn the audience off on Anakin immediately. Then, when it’s hinted at in Revenge of the Sith, it adds another layer to the situation: Anakin told Palpatine about what happened, and not Padme. When Padme learns of Anakin’s dark deeds, a thing or two might click for her as well.

I watched this edit last week, and quite enjoyed it. Especially technically, this was one of the better edits I've seen. It flows smoothly, and the cuts you made are pretty much invisible.

The restructuring of the plot was interesting, and while I get why you included the Birth of the Rebellion scenes, they don't really add that much. This is not because of your edit, but because of the content of the scenes. The storyline ends with Padme presenting a petition, which gets shot down immediately by Palpatine. The storyline just fizzles out. I've always felt this thread needed another scene after Palpatine declares himself Emperor, where Bail, Padme and Mon Mothma realize their efforts to solve things politically have been for nothing, and decide to continue their rebellion in secret.

I'm curious as to why you moved the scene of Anakin's nightmare to a later point in the movie. You've cut this particular storyline down so it's no longer his main motivation, but hints of it still survive throughout your edit. In this edit, I'm not really sure why Anakin turned. In the original version of the film, Anakin's motivation is clear: gain power to save Padme, and he feels this quest is being frustrated by the Jedi, which is what Palpatine feeds on. The title of your edit is very well chosen for what you're trying to do, but I just don't think the material is there.

Anyway, just my two cents. I enjoyed this edit very much, especially because it made me look at the existing material in a different way. You didn't just chip away at the edges, but try to tell a whole different story. I will seek out your previous edits as well!

I agree Tim. Most fanedits just cut out the bad parts, not giving a scene enough time to sink in before jumping to the next one.

So far, I've been really impressed with your work too, aalenfae, I'm looking forward to more!

Nice video, eman. A really interesting direction you're going in, I'm curious how this is going to work out.

A few things though... you mentioned wanting to open like ROTJ with a big rescue, but doesn't ROTS already open like that as well? Also, are you going to add in some new dialogue for the opening? Currently, I don't get the feeling at all that Anakin and Padme are longtime friends from this intro. I actually think it would be kind of confusing if you'd watch this right after TPM.

Anyway, I'll wait and see what else you've got up your sleeve. :)

Nice edit of Dooku's final moments, Aalenfae. Especially the re-use of Anakin's line is great.

Will you also be editing Mace's death? Because I think these these scenes are supposed to mirror each other, and basically illustrate Anakin's conflict: he already killed a beaten and unarmed man, and he doesn't want to let the same thing happen again. It's not the Jedi way. Though the Palpatine scene is bad, I do like the mirroring that's going on here. It also says a lot about Anakin's character.

Nice work, daneditor!

I agree with DarthStewie though that breaking up the Yoda scene didn't really work all that well. I think the scenes are so radically different that juxtaposing them is rather jarring.

Here's an idea: if you'd like to keep the two scenes together, move them to a later part in the movie. The Emperor sends Vader to Endor, while Yoda sends Luke to face Vader. This mirrors both scenes, which might make it flow better in a montage. It will give the pace of the movie a push: the Force is setting the stage, and tension will rise. To create a strong montage, use voice-overs, hard cuts, instead of wipes, and music to bring it all together.

Another idea: I really liked the transition you made from Vader to Luke as Vader is reaching out through the Force. I think this would be a very cool introduction to Luke in the movie, and might also keep some ambiguity to his character: he's dressed in black and communicating with Vader; has he turned to the Dark Side? He even looks and behaves like a Sith when he enters Jabba's palace. It won't be until he ignites his green saber on the barge that viewers realizes he is still good old Luke. Setting things up like this could highlight Luke's struggle with the Dark Side, and adds more tension to his duel with Vader.

This might not be the thread, nor forum, for it, but I wanted to address these two points, Ronster:

1. It was mostly filmed on blue or green screens which did not help the acting as there were very few physical sets

2. different techniques were used to create the sound digitally and not in analogue

Point one is a common misconception. Yes, a lot of blue screen was involved in the making of the prequels, but there were way more sets than people would like to think. In AOTC and ROTS, Padme's apartment, Padme's veranda, Palpatine's office, Padme's different places on Naboo, Jango's apartment, the Geonosian hangar, the Invisible Hand's bridge and observation room and the Mustafar control room were all fully built sets.

Partial sets include the Senate, several landing platforms, and the Geonosian arena. And let's not forget most ships that were built: Anakin's speeder, air taxis, different Jedi fighters and Dooku's solar sailer.

There was a lot of location shooting in AOTC as well. Naboo was shot in Spain and Italy, while Tatooine was shot in Tunesia. ROTS was the first Star Wars movie that did not shoot on location, it was only shot on sound stages. For all prequels, blue and green screen was mostly used during pick ups and reshoots, though I'd concede that a large part of Kamino was realized digitally.

The point I'm making is that blue and green screen alone is not to blame for the PT's visual esthetic. I'd say the digital filming is a large part of it. TPM looks like a Star Wars for the most part, because it was shot on film. AOTC was the first movie to be shot digitally, and I think it shows. It looks plasticy, and that makes some effects stand out in a bad way. They had it under control with ROTS, which is a nice looking film.

It's also the design choices that were made during pre-production. I don't mind parts of them, because the PT is set in a more prosperous time. We also spend time with the elite of the Star Wars galaxy, instead of with a bunch of rebels fighting the man. That said, some corrections could be made, such as color correction to take of some of the shine, and displays.

As for the second point: yes, sounds were altered digitally, but were still captured manually. There is a pretty cool doc on the AOTC DVD on the sound design which shows they recorded rare planes for speeders and made recordings at an assembly line for the droid factory. They even went through the archives to look for sound effects that were recorded, but never used, for the OT.

Anyway, good idea for a thread! :D

A rather radical idea I was playing with: how about making Bail Organa the one who gives Palpatine his emergency powers? It eliminates the need for Jar Jar in the movie, but might also make Organa a bit more interesting character. It would give that little bump on the balcony at the end of AOTC more weight, and would also give him a motivation for starting the Rebellion.

There are some audio material The Force Unleashed cut scenes, voice by Jimmy Smits, that could be useful for this change.

Good thread, MrInsaneA. AOTC always was the most broken of the prequels to me. It has a lot of interesting ideas, but the whole thing is just executed horribly. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to fix AOTC as well

My main idea is this: the Republic has ordered the creation of the army. The reason Amidala returns to Coruscant is to vote on whether or not to deploy the army. This set up can be conveyed in the opening crawl. By making the characters aware of the army, it removes the nonsensical 'mystery', as well as all subsequent plot holes from the story, but will also make them seem less dumb.

Obi-Wan's little detective story can be changed, leading him to Geonosis instead of Kamino. It will also allow for the removal of Jango Fett (by turning him into Boba in a less integral part or removing him completely), Dexter's Diner, and the obvious scene with the younglings.

This will free up more time for the actual characters. The deleted scenes between Anakin and Padme might be a bit cheesy, but they are much more natural than what is in the movie. Other scenes could be trimmed down or removed completely. For the Anakin and Obi-Wan relationship to work, I think removing a lot of the "my Padawan" and "yes master' bickering would work wonders.

The character of Count Dooku is the biggest challenge. In my opinion, he should not be a Sith Lord, which detracts from Anakin's fall. Dooku could be turned into a bit the idealist he is described as earlier in the movie. The library scene would be great to have here, if it can be salvaged.

Good points, Bingowings.

I'm very curious about the full Tatooine segment that was shot for AOTC, but wasn't found on either the DVD or Blu-ray. There are supposed to be scenes with Padme and Beru talking, Padme fixing up 3PO, and Anakin and Padme receiving Ben's message in the garage, and a proper goodbye to the Lars'. There should be some good character material in there, and I'm curious why they keep holding it back. They even put animatics among the deleted scenes...

A way to fix that situation with Anakin's mother might be that the Jedi did free Anakin's mother, and that he is allowed to see her again once he finished his training. This information could be relayed during the conversation Anakin and Obi-Wan have when they are watching Padme's bedroom. There is a lot of off screen dialogue that could be fit in there, which would be more interesting than that current boring talk about politics.

Then, as Anakin goes to find his mother on Tatooine, he could go to Watto, as that would be the first place he would know to look. Watto's dialogue could be reshuffled to something like "...someone named Lars, at least I think it was Lars. After the Jedi freed her, he married her! Can you beat that!", and so on.

This might also give some more weight to Anakin feeling he wasn't in time to save her: he blames himself for not having finished his training sooner, which would of course lead to him blaming Obi-Wan.

<p>The army thing is difficult indeed. The entire sequence on Kamino is built around the 'mystery', and cutting that, would leave next to nothing.</p>
<p>How I would try to make it fit: by the time AOTC starts, the clone army has already been commissioned, and is well known. The vote Amidala returns to Coruscant for is about whether or not stationing these troops on Republic worlds. This would leave the main plot beats in tact, but would also make the Jedi seem less dense for trusting the army. It would also make the reveal of Order 66 make more impact.</p>
<p>As for showing the army on Kamino, which is necessary because that's what the entire story is about, have Obi-Wan be on a routine inspection to Kamino. Have on character refer to Obi-Wan's mission on Kamino, then cut to Kamino. Introduce the planet using a montage (kind of like how Mustafar is first introduced in ROTS), then cut to Obi-Wan taking the tour, and cutting out the obvious parts. His leaving the planet can be kept as is.</p>
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Couldn't have said it better, Bester and timdiggerm. I don't know if there is room aalenfae's edit for it, but personally, I just thought it was a nice little moment.

I like that re-edit, aalenfae. It's still a bit chaotic, but that has to do with the material and not with your ideas or skills.

One of my problems with the opening battle is that for our heroes, it isn't really a battle, they just fly through it, and the 'danger' they are supposed to face are chirpy robots which just aren't very threatening. You fixed this wonderfully. It looks quite fierce and most of all, serious now :D

Some thoughts:

- Would it be possible to cut Obi-Wan's "...this is going to be easy?" Nothing against the face Obi-Wan is making, but the line makes it all a bit too cute. Maybe Obi-Wan's "I see it" could be heard over Anakin's comm?

- The "They overshot us / They are coming around" bit was a bit chaotic and confusing, since there wasn't any actual shooting taking place there.

- Love the part with the missle blowing up one of the ARC fighters, and Obi-Wan reacting to the explosion. Some really clever editing!

- Personally, I like the part where Anakin says he wants to go help out the pilot who has fighters on his tail. It makes him a bit sympathetic, and shows that the Jedi and their troops have gotten closer.

- You also got two "They're all over me" pretty close to each other, which doesn't sound too good. Perhaps it's easier to change the pilot's line, because his mouth is mostly obscured by his helmet?

- Even though I wouldn't know where to get it, wouldn't it be possible to add in a line by Anakin saying something like "Almost there", after Obi-Wan says "I'm hit"? There is no 'build up' for reaching Grievous' ship. The original cut had that, with Anakin saying the ship is dead ahead, and Obi-Wan mentioning the shields are still up (lame as it was).

MrInsaneA said:

Are you altering the General's voice? I really hate his russian accent.

I always thought Griveous should kind of sound like the opposite of Vader. Instead of a deep booming voice, he should have a shrill serpent's tounge. Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqbF5IH4FG0

I like that idea, MrInsaneA! I like how he sounded in his first appearance in the Clone Wars microseries. It made him sound more intelligent, and way more menacing than the over the top villiany voice he has in the movie. I also very much agree he should be a lot less like Vader.

Good work on the eyes too, aalenfae!

It's not spelled out, but I think he knows. He knows of Palpatine's connection to the Trade Federation, and the fact that the Jedi Council was looking for a Sith Lord. He should have been smart enough to connect the dots, even though ROTS Anakin isn't the smartest :p Personally, I'd like to see it emphasized that Anakin didn't know of Palpatine's manipulation of the war.

Nice work on the space battle, Bo. Is it still meant to be intercut with the other battles?

Something I was thinking about regarding Anakin's turn: could it be possible that Anakin never (or too late) knew Sidious orchestrated the war? This could introduce a bit of ambiguity: when Anakin finds out Palpatine is Sidious, Sidious can lay all the blame on Dooku, and Sidious can present himself as only trying to make the Republic strong to fight it. That he is a Sith Lord and thus evil 'is a point of view'. I think Anakin could identify with this, since he is for 'less deliberating and more fighting'. When Obi-Wan tells Anakin that he too has been deceived by Sidious he would see this as a conformation of what Palpatine has been telling him all along.

I know this would require a lot of tinkering, mostly regarding the clone army's origins and Dooku's involvement, but it might work.

Good idea Gobalicious, and nice video Davnes.

Maybe Palpatine's shuttle arriving is the reason why Obi-Wan just leaves Anakin to burn? When the movie first came out, many disliked that Obi-Wan just left Anakin there to burn, and it still comes off as kind of cruel. But what if he saw Palpatine's ship arriving and he knew he had to get the hell out of there? The scene would need to be tweaked a little, but it might work.

Something else I was thinking about: Anakin receiving his name of Darth Vader is such a non-moment, while it's the kind of moment we had all been waiting for to see. We don't know what the name means or where it comes from, so I was thinking, what if we could add a little extra legacy to the name of Vader?

I was thinking that during the opera scene, we could change Palpatine's story about a powerful Sith Lord to be about Darth Vader, instead of Plaguis. In the reworked story, Darth Vader could have been a mythical (no one is really sure he really existed) Sith Lord, wise and powerful, and on the bring of discovering the secret to cheat death.

When Anakin receives his Sith name after turning, the name Darth Vader could be used by Palpatine as another persuasive tool to get Anakin to be loyal to him by promising him to get him what he wants. It might also add another layer to Anakin's death in ROTJ: he discovers how to cheat death by turning away from the Dark Side.

It might also work to change some statues in Palpatine's office to statues resembling Darth Vader's suit. I've seen a video mockup of this on here, but I would try something a bit more subtle.

That's exactely the point we're discussing, Mr Ghostface.

Since the movies don't play in order, what was really the point in making them? Why not make a trilogy set after the original trilogy? We are discussing what might make them work in order.

You are right, Mr Ghostface. I think it's a bit of a tricky situation: Star Wars is so ingrained in popular culture that it doesn't seem really necessary to introduce anything in the prequels. I don't think the movies are worse for it, but on the other hand, Lucas does insist 1-6 is the story.

Also, characters like Yoda and Jango Fett are just thrown into the story. In the prequels, their characters are who they were in the stories that technically haven't happened yet. They are not characters of their own.

And how about an in-movie explanation? Does Jar-Jar know what a Jedi or the Force is? He doesn't question it, because the audience doesn't have to question it, but does he, as a character, know? Anakin seems to know, but does he know who Yoda is?

I understand that (re)introducing everything would be tedious, but it might also have been a nice way to learn something more about the things we already knew, and thus fleshing out the story/characters/world of Star Wars.