StarkillerAG

Maybe I’m missing something, but why is Palpatine lying about being Rey’s grandfather necessary in the first place? It’s not like a massive amount of runtime gets cut if you remove all lines where Palpatine mentions this: depending on how you rewrite the hangar reveal, you can even keep some lines that were originally meant to allude to it. Personally, I think it would be much more effective if whatever reveal Rey gets about her past is actually true, rather than just a blatant lie that Rey can overcome by simply finding out it was a lie in the first place.

Jar Jar Bricks’s idea of Rey being a clone is one of the most promising alternate reveals I’ve seen proposed so far (especially given you need to cut practically nothing), but I think one of your earlier ideas, where Rey was trained by Palpatine as a child, still has a lot of potential. It makes both Rey and her parents unambiguous “nobodies” (by blood, at least), while still giving Rey a strong connection to Palpatine. If anything, I actually think Rey having spent a significant portion of her early life with Palpatine is a much stronger reason for her to feel drawn to the throne than “evil genetics” or whatever.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

• Nothing Luke says disservices what he was like in TLJ. “A Jedi’s weapon deserves more respect” - yes, he’s poking fun at his old ways. He changed by the end of The Last Jedi. It’s a meta joke at the same time, but that’s besides the point. Plus, it was fear that kept him there. Fear that he’d fail the galaxy again, fear how Leia and Han would react to his actions, etc.

I’ll accept the saber point (even if I still think this whole religious reverence for lightsabers was mainly started by the angry fan reaction to TLJ), but didn’t Rian literally say that the reason he came up with the “Luke almost killed Ben” backstory was because Luke wouldn’t just hide away out of fear? It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to his mistake that caused Luke to exile himself: he genuinely thought the galaxy would be better with the Jedi gone.

• We are already planning on fixing the Leia knowledge in Ascendant. Especially if Rey is turned into a clone, Leia will begin to recognize the similarities as she trains her. She spent time with Palpatine in the Senate, so she is used to his aura in the Force, even if she wasn’t aware of such a thing at the time. Luke knows because he’s a ghost. They’ve sorta just gained omniscience.

Yeah, I know about the plans there. But it’s still a major problem with the original scene, and one that can just as easily be solved by scrapping the thing entirely.

• Luke raising the X-Wing is such poetic language for how much his character has grown across the saga it would just be a shame to see it gone. Yes, it doesn’t make the most sense that it’s functional, but he did make the right choice by not using it in TLJ. If he had shown up to those gorilla walkers in-person he would have been dead in 10 seconds flat, Skywalker blood or not. His use of the Force at the end of TLJ really can’t be diminished to just a “that was the only way to intervene” moment. It was the most Jedi-like way to intervene. He never attacked, only using the Force for defense.

How is Luke raising the X-Wing poetic in any way, other than the most surface level? All it seemed like to me was yet another one of JJ’s beloved “ZOMG I RECOGNIZE THAT THING, I LOVE STAR WAAAAAAAARRRRRRSSSSS!!!” moments, blandly recycling iconic imagery from the OT with no regard for context, emotion, or logic. And Luke probably would have died if he showed up to Crait in person, but he had no way of knowing that. If he had a choice between going to Crait in person and possibly dying, or going to Crait with a life-draining astral projection technique and definitely dying, then he looks like an idiot for choosing the latter.

EDIT: Oh yeah, also Leia knowing that Rey has such a dark history yet still hedging all of her bets into her regardless is the emotional undercurrent of the whole film. She made the mistake of sending Ben away for her brother to deal with, but this time she takes up the reigns herself and her faith and devotion to Rey is what pays off and saves the galaxy. Otherwise Leia does basically nothing for the plot in what is supposed to be her movie of the triology (TFA was Han, TLJ was Luke, TROS was hers).

This is a good point, but I feel like there could be a way to convey this even in a cut that removes Ach-To. Maybe during the “Be with me” scene, instead of hearing the voices of Jedi she doesn’t even know, Rey could hear Luke and Leia’s voices instead? They could say that despite Rey’s [INSERT SECRET DARK BACKSTORY HERE] (which they would logically know about due to being ghosts), they still have faith in her, and encourage her to rise and face her fears. That way, you could deliver the same emotional payoff originally contained in the Ach-To scene, only in a much more logical place given the main tension of the climax.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

And that is an unforgiveable thing to do imo.

Why, though? What’s so good about the Ach-To scene that it needs to be in the movie? All it does is use Luke as a mouthpiece to diss Rian Johnson, introduce a mindblowingly stupid retcon where Luke and Leia somehow knew Rey’s heritage the entire time, and make Luke look like an idiot for not using his inexplicably functional X-Wing to leave the island in the previous movie. Cutting all that bullshit, plus drastically improving Rey’s character arc as I outlined earlier, is more than enough of a reason to throw the Ach-To scene in the trash.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

The film is giving Rey as a character literally everything she could ever want on a silver platter leading up to her confrontation with Palpatine. Leia is revealed to support Rey beyond all measure, Luke is telling her that a thousand generations of Jedi live in her now, etc. Legitimately the only thing that could even persuade her to ever consider Palpatine’s request is if she believed it were her fate, or her very nature, to give in to his demands.

And this is exactly why I want to find a way to cut the Ach-To scene completely. Besides that scene just kind of sucking in general, it almost completely resolves Rey’s internal conflict before the final battle has even begun. It would be much more effective if, right after giving into her darkness and almost killing Kylo, Rey headed straight to Exegol, the temptation of the Sith throne still driving her to Palpatine.

Of course, there are a few problems with this idea (namely what to do with Leia’s saber), but I do think a “No Ach-To” edit could be entirely feasible if someone like Nev is willing to accept the challenge.

Okay, here’s the rest of the Force bond duel:

KYLO: Stop fighting! Stop resisting your destiny!

They clash again, and Rey moves to the edge of the room.

KYLO: You can’t keep your darkness bottled up forever. It will come out eventually, whether you like it or not. Why not just accept it?

REY: NOO!!

They clash some more, destroying the Vader monument.

KYLO: So that’s where you are.

They lock sabers one last time.

KYLO: You know why the Emperor wants you dead.

REY: No.

KYLO: I’ll come tell you.

And the hangar scene:

REY: Why did the Emperor come for me?

KYLO: Because he saw what you would become. He saw a vision, of a girl killing him, and taking his throne. That girl… was you.

Rey recoils in shock. Kylo begins to step forward.

KYLO: He’ll do everything in his power to stop you, but I know he won’t succeed. Your destiny is to rule the galaxy, sitting upon the proud throne of the Sith.

Rey reaches the end of the hangar, and looks back at Kylo.

KYLO: Join me, and we can rule together.

Real nice write-up, RogueLeader! I agree that the best scenes in Star Wars are the ones where the characters are just laying out their motivations and inner conflicts, without any plot stuff to get in the way. Honestly, I actually think removing the exposition from the Force bond duel would make it a way better scene: there are some really great visuals there that get sort of ignored because the audience is focused on how stupid the new plot twists are.

Here’s a rough concept for some more character-focused dialogue in the first half of the Force bond scene:

KYLO: I pushed you in the desert because I wanted to see it. I wanted you to see it. Your true self. The dark side is in your nature… Rey.

REY: You’re lying.

KYLO: I’d never lie to you. I’ve seen it in your eyes. Ever since we first met, so long ago.

REY: Don’t!

KYLO: You were just like me. Alone, afraid.

REY: I don’t want this!

KYLO: And most of all, angry.

REY: NO!

They clash sabers, before separating.

KYLO: Back then, I remember thinking…

REY: Stop talking!

KYLO: “You would make an excellent Sith.”

I’ll try to post more later.

NeverarGreat said:

Here’s just a wild idea, throwing it out there just to say it: What if we combine ‘Rey killed her parents’ with ‘Rey’s a nobody with no Force power’? The idea would center around the Sith dagger, the only unequivocal connection between Palpatine and Rey’s past.

Rey’s parents travel to Jakku, destitute and needing money. They agree to sell Rey to Unkar Plutt and immediately spend this money on booze. That night they party and pass out drunk. Rey, meanwhile, is wandering forlornly around the desolate settlement and has been drawn to something in a junk pile: a mysterious dagger. It calls out to her, and she grabs it from the pile. She approaches her parent’s ship with the dagger in hand, waking up the next morning with her hands covered in blood. She is found by a scavenger named Ochi, who takes the dagger from her and takes her back to Unkar Plutt. Ochi relinquishes her, but pockets the dagger. As Rey is being washed up, she hears the sound of her parent’s ship taking off, and she races outside to see it streaking up into the sky. She calls out to her parents to wait for her, but the ship disappears into the sky.

The dagger, it turns out, is a Sith artifact that points the way to Exegol, but only for those who are in tune with its dark power. Ochi gradually fell to its power, but nobody had ever used the dagger more readily than Rey. By this act she proved herself worthy of joining the cult of the Sith Eternal.

That would be a cool idea for a rewrite, but I don’t see any way it could possibly be pulled off in a fanedit. It would need tons of new footage that we literally don’t have.

As of right now, I’m leaning more towards the “ancient prophecy” angle as being the reason why Rey feels like she’s destined to turn evil. Maybe there could be a prophecy that Rey is destined to “destroy the Jedi”, only for that to actually mean that she’ll create a new order of Force users that rejects the old dogma? I don’t know, I’m just spitballing.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I believe the original film focused almost entirely on the dyad. It’s why there are lingering threads of the two of them being on the throne together in the theatrical release despite no such footage existing. Kylo was probably focusing entirely on how they’ve always been the same person through the Force and it’s their destiny to rule together (Sith prophecy - the rule of two manifested into what it was always meant to be), and how Palpatine is willing to give it to them because of how weak he is. But then the whole “your coming together will be your undoing” twist happens.

That’s actually true, to a certain degree. According to the infamous Reddit plot leaks from an earlier stage of production, the Rey Palpatine twist was still going to be there, but it was going to be supplemented by a much larger focus on the Dyad, with Palpatine even telling Kylo about it in his introductory scene:

Palpatine begins to reel Kylo in and subsequently tells him of something known as a “Force Dyad”. The Force produces two incredibly strong users and when they unite together, both become stronger than either one could be on their own. Palpatine believes Kylo Ren and Rey to be the two halves of this dyad and shares this knowledge with Rey. (Note: I previously wrote that Palpatine wanted them to become “master and apprentice” since then this has been clarified to me as Palpatine seeking the two members of the Dyad) Palpatine claims that he seeks the Dyad because he is weak and dying and he wants the Dyad to rule together once he’s gone. Palpatine orders Kylo to bring Rey to him and turn her so that the Dyad will be a strong, unified force of darkness.

By the end, of course, it turns out that this was a ruse, and Palpatine drains the Dyad’s energy once both members show up on Exegol.

If I had to guess why they didn’t go with this in the final movie, it would probably be to give Kylo more agency, rather than just blindly following Palpatine’s orders. That is a legitimate concern, but I feel like it still would have contributed a lot to the movie for the Dyad to be part of Palpatine’s plans from the very beginning. That way, the life-draining scene at the end would actually feel like Palpatine’s traditional 4D chess, rather than him just happening to stumble across the power he needed.

Could I have a link too? I’ve been casually following this edit on r/fanedits, and it looks like it has the potential to be one of the most impressive fanedits I’ve ever seen.

Just watched Asteroid City for the first and probably only time. I was on a 20mg gummy edible, and I don’t recommend watching it any other way. It’s decent, but very “Wes Anderson”, and that’s all I can really say about it.

Personally, I still feel like the “Palpatine trained Rey” route is the best path to go down. In order for the climax to be even mildly effective, Rey needs to learn something that both shakes the foundations of everything we thought we knew about her, and sets her up as a force of powerful darkness, almost destined to succumb to evil. The latest idea for that scene does the former, but it doesn’t do the latter: if anything, Rey learning that her parents were good people who sacrificed themselves to save her only gives her less of a reason to turn evil. Having Rey be Palpatine’s star pupil, heir apparent to the throne of the Sith, gives Rey an even more compelling reason to break bad than the original film did.

I really like that “Palpatine trained Rey” idea, Nev. It feels like the best of both worlds: the “anyone can save the galaxy” message of Rey Nobody, and the intense internal conflict of Rey Palpatine. If you have Starlight as your default version of TFA, it even explains all the moments of Rey tapping into the dark side throughout that edit: she was subconsciously remembering what Palpatine taught her.

If I had one complaint, though, it’s that an edit that uses that idea would probably have to scrap the whole “Palpatine wants Rey dead” thing entirely. Instead, Palpatine’s plan throughout would be for Kylo to find Rey and return her to him, so she can resume her training. But obviously, Kylo isn’t very fond of not even being Palpatine’s second-in-command, let alone ruling the galaxy. So, he plans to find Rey, pretend that he’s following Palpatine’s instructions by taking her to Exegol, and have her team up with him to kill Palpatine once they arrive.

Omni said:

PixelJoker’s upcoming Kenobi edit might join the pantheon of greatest edits, we’ll see. Could also be too ambitious for its own good, but I hope not.

In my experience, ambitious ideas are only a bad thing if the editor doesn’t have the technical skills to actually pull them off. I’ve seen so many “radical prequel edits” that aimed to recast Anakin and replace all the special effects and other insane stuff, and they all crashed and burned because the editor had no idea how to actually do any of the stuff they were promising. PixelJoker doesn’t seem like that type, though: he’s clearly an insanely skilled VFX artist of the Adywan mold, and I have no doubt his edit will be released eventually (although it might take years).

I really like the idea behind the “clone” line (I think we need an explicit confirmation of how Palps survived for the movie to make sense), and the AI voice is literally seamless. But still, I get why a few people are put off by the specific phrasing. In my opinion, it isn’t the presence of the word “clone” that makes it feel awkward, but how it’s used. Putting it at the end of the sentence just feels awkward somehow, like it doesn’t really flow poetically.

So, as an alternate suggestion, how about this:
“You’re a clone, in a rotting body.”

It’s just as terse and Kylo-esque as the original, and gets the clone info across just as well, but somehow just “feels” better to my ears. Your mileage may vary, though.

Welp, looks like this is the first live-action Star Wars installment that I’ll be skipping entirely. Between my disillusionment with the recent state of the franchise, the fact that it’s a sequel to a series that I have zero passion for, and the overall lukewarm reception even from superfans, I don’t see any reason to waste my time with this. It doesn’t even sound bad enough to hate-watch.

When it comes to that scene, I remember Hal’s edit removed Jar Jar releasing the “big boomas” completely, but kept in Jar Jar landing on the droid tank with a couple trims. I think that would be the best solution: not only does it prevent you from having to recolor that one Gungan into Tarpals, but I think the droid tank works way better as a moment of levity than the “big boomas”.

EDIT: I was responding to something on the previous page, but we should probably move beyond that stuff.

I get what you guys mean. Healthy debate is always good, and I find arguing about something I like to be incredibly mentally fulfilling.

I’m mostly just sick of fans, both on this site and others, who seem to have nothing valuable to offer beyond “This sucks, Disney ruined my childhood, I just don’t care anymore”. I’m fine with criticism, but there has to be some substance to it beyond vague anger at nothing in particular. Otherwise, it sounds less like genuine debate and more like a one-sided, depressing rant.

Luckily, most people here do contribute very valuable discussion (including you, Vlad), but the comment I was responding to in the first place was exactly the kind of ranting I’m talking about. I was responding to that, not any member of the site in particular.

Vladius said:

StarkillerAG said:

I know I say this too much, but if you’re really that done with Star Wars… why are you still here? It’s pointless to come into these threads every week just to complain about how Star Wars is dead to you, and Disney are a bunch of hacks, and you just don’t care anymore. If you really don’t care, just move on. Find something you actually like.

People still talk about it because it’s fun to talk about stuff

But I can’t imagine it’s fun to talk about something that only causes you pain at this point, and that’s the way a lot of the people I was addressing there seem to react to Star Wars. I’ve said my peace, though.

Anjohan said:

Now that Pedro Pascal confirmed he’s hardly on set anymore and its mainly just voice work, it makes total sense how easy it was to sideline his character in season 3 when the actor doesn’t have to be there/doesn’t care anymore and can’t approve or disapprove of his character’s arc in person.

It’s just a very easy paid gig for him right now and I applaude it. May the mandalorian season 4 never happen and Disney fail spectacularly.

Indiana Jones might be the nail in the coffin/beginning of the end for these hacks at this point.

Everyone but a rare few are totally against them at this point, and all the legacies are exploited and ruined.

And this is what I meant when I said that you were too negative. It’s fine to constructively criticize Disney’s stuff in hopes that they’ll do better, but this just reads like you think everyone at Disney is an evil hack fraud who hates your childhood and deserves to be unemployed. They grew up with this stuff, just like you did. It’s just that some of them are making crappy choices, and that’s certainly no reason to want Kathleen Kennedy burned at the stake.

And as for you continuing to claim that Pedro was “sidelined” in Mando season 3, I fail to see how. Sure, Bo Katan was the one who actually took back Mandalore, but was there any indication that Din would be the one to do that? Bo Katan actually had a personal connection to Mandalore and its government, and a character arc that revolved around making amends for her allowing the planet to fall. There is no reason why Din should have taken her place, other than him being the main character (and a man, but let’s not talk about that). Other than that one thing, Din was still very active in the season, and it was definitely still “his show”.

I also hope they never make a season 4, though: not because I hate Kathleen Kennedy and want her to fail, but because I feel like Mando has exhausted pretty much all its storytelling capabilities by this point. Both Book of Boba and season 3 felt like they were stalling for time, in order to stretch a story that could have ended in one season into two. I sincerely hope they don’t stretch it out even further.

Wow, that is so much better than the original! Anakin and Obi-Wan actually feel likeable with all the awkward pauses and pointless bickering removed.

I especially like how you rearranged Anakin’s “we will find out who’s trying to kill you” to be a direct response to Padme. It makes it feel like Anakin is actually worried about her safety, rather than just trying to get on Obi-Wan’s nerves after he said there wasn’t going to be an investigation.

Agreed with everyone else. You can like the prequels (although we’ll sure as hell disagree with you), but you have to be willing to defend them. Asking people to watch a multi-hour video essay instead of defending the movies yourself is just laziness, especially when the multi-hour video essay features a ton of disingenuous arguments made in bad faith. Prequel fans who condescend towards anyone who disagrees with them are no better than the worst prequel hater.

of_Kaiburr_and_Whills said:

Why do people keep using the term “mid”? What’s “No cap”? What is this?

They say “mid” because it’s shorter than “mediocre” (although some people misuse it to just mean “bad”). “No cap” is one of many examples of ghetto slang co-opted by a non-ghetto audience: “Cap” means “bullshit”, basically, so “no cap” means “that’s right”. I don’t use those terms, but as a zoomer I hear them enough to know what they mean. 😉

Tantive3+1 said:

StarkillerAG said:

Tantive3+1 said:

Should Yoda be a present character within the prequels?

I feel that removing him from the PT preserves the revelation in TESB of who Yoda really is.

Personally, given that the prequels are best seen after ESB (either in Machete Order or release order), I don’t see the point. And I think pretty much everyone on Earth knows what Yoda looks like at this point anyways. 😉

Anakin Starkiller said:

First of all, you should be watching the OT first, and second of all, the Yoda reveal frankly works better when you know he’s Yoda.

Yes, but suppose you made an edit to watch the films chronologically.

First of all, why? I fail to see the point of doing something that would just create more complications. We’ve all seen the Star Wars movies already, so editing them for a nonexistent first-timer audience is unnecessary at best.

And second of all, my point about literally everyone on Earth knowing what Yoda looks like still stands. 😉

This seems like a nice game, Hal, but I think you need to rethink your jail selections. Most of the members you chose are either no longer active or completely banned.

KnightsOfRevan: Inactive
DorkSyde: Banned
vicioust1000: Inactive
Moralcrocodile: Somewhat active
Vidmaster: Active
TestingOutTheTest: Banned
YellowYoda: Somewhat active
Atom-88: Active
Master Lawdog: Active
ChernobylLiquidator86: Inactive