StarkillerAG

Hal 9000 said:

The best one is Ascendant.

https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Rise-of-Skywalker-Ascendant-Released/id/71835

You can tell how much fanediting has engrained itself into the Star Wars community, when people have decided to fanedit a movie that hasn’t even begun filming yet. 😉 But seriously, the potential for this film to be edited into alternate takes on the sequels (much like the edits that incorporate Kenobi into the prequel trilogy) is mind-boggling.

One idea I’m already considering is using this movie to realize George Lucas’s original plans for a 12-episode Star Wars saga:

• Episode I would be TPM turned into a standalone “prologue”.
• Episodes II-IV would be a “Clone Wars trilogy”, consisting of AOTC, a movie edit of the Clone Wars cartoon, and ROTS.
• Episode V would be an “interlude”; either a movie edit of Kenobi, or a sagafied edit of Rogue One.
• Episodes VI-VIII would be the OT.
• Episodes IX-XI would be the sequels.
• Finally, Episode XII would be the Rey movie turned into an “epilogue”.

It’s not necessary by any means, but I think it would still be cool, just as a “what could have been” sort of thing.

I saw the new poster for the rerelease on Reddit today. Right now, it’s one of the most active threads on the site, for a reason that I’m sure a lot of people here will be proud of: Pretty much all the comments are demanding a release of the theatrical OT.

As a member of the site that created the Despecialized versions, it was so satisfying to go through that thread and see all the people saying things like “Will this be the original version?”, or “I wish Disney would release the original versions”, or “This is why I only watch Despecialized”. There are even people spreading the news about the 4K77 project to people who think Despecialized is still the best option to see the original movies in HD.

I thought people had pretty much stopped caring about the theatrical OT, but I think this proves that there’s still a ton of demand. If Disney releases the original versions, people will watch them. It’s a shame that they probably won’t.

I, for one, am pretty excited for the Rey movie, if for no other reason than the potential to edit out all the TROS references and retitle it “Star Wars Episode IX”. 😉

The Filoni movie could be good, but we’ll have to see. It all depends on if the Mandoverse can get its act together after the catastrophic failure of BOBF and Mando season 3. A decent finale could make all the crap worthwhile.

But overall, the movie I’m most unambiguously hyped for is Mangold’s Old Republic movie. It’s exactly what I’ve been demanding for years: a fresh start for the movies, in a mostly new time frame. I just hope Indy 5 does well enough that Disney won’t consider canning him, like they did with too many directors before.

Fan_edit_fan said:

New SW fans are just cameo geeks.

Yeah, I can tell. It sometimes feels like I’m going crazy when I check other Star Wars communities, because everyone outside of this site is blindly praising this piece of shit season for no reason other than “OMG did they just canonize Blab Gizzlesticks from that one EU book??? I CLAPPED when that one Gungan turned out to be voiced by Chris Pratt!!! STAR WARS IS BACK BABY!!!”

It’s just such an infantile way to engage with media, prioritizing the cheap thrill of being able to point and yell at your TV screen over having any sort of meaningful connection with the story or characters. People may have complained that Star Wars fans were too negative in the pre-Disney+ era, but at least fans actually cared about good storytelling back then.

Anjohan said:

This is the worst Star Wars content and worst storytelling i´ve witnessed for years. No excuses.

Pedro should leave this shitshow befare they put Din Djarin through a gender swapping operation and retcon his story to reveal that the true hero of his story is in fact Mon Mothma.

The cringe om this episode. The Voice acting. The effects. The cinematography. The storytelling. THE DIALOGUE! The new characters! E V E R Y T H I N G was totally and utterly a complete failure. They even retconned Din Djarins path to save Mandalore that was heavily hinted at in season 2 and shifted it to a vague side character because… what? Shes fucking female? Star wars is dying.

I agree with the gist of what you’re saying, but I would prefer if you didn’t blame “wokeness” or whatever for the show’s downfall. Mando is going to hell, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not because there are too many female characters. And there hasn’t been a single trans character in anything Disney, so I don’t know where you got that from.

But overall, everyone else has summed it up much better than I possibly could. This new season is possibly the most aimless story I’ve ever seen. There’s no structure, no character development, not even a real through-line other than colonizing a radioactive wasteland (great idea, Bo). It’s obvious that Favreau was obligated by Disney to continue the story part season 2, and he’s just churning out passionless scripts when the story he wanted to tell ended more than 2 years ago.

For me, Mando will always end with Din watching as Luke takes Grogu to be trained, with a mixture of sadness and pride on his face. Favreau clearly didn’t give a shit about anything afterwards, so why should I?

Well, it’s been more than a year since my last ranking, and there’s a lot of new Star Wars stuff out. Most of it’s bad, but whatever, I’m gonna update my list anyways:

1. Star Wars '77
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Andor
4. The Mandalorian S1
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Rogue One
7. The Last Jedi
8. The Mandalorian S2
9. Revenge of the Sith
10. Solo
11. The Mandalorian S3
12. The Book of Boba Fett
13. The Force Awakens
14. The Phantom Menace
15. Obi-Wan Kenobi
16. The Rise of Skywalker
17. Attack of the Clones
18. The Holiday Special

In case you couldn’t tell, I really don’t like Kenobi.

I stand by my initial assessment, Spuff: you need either therapy or medication. Possibly both. You clearly have issues on a psychological level, and no amount of ranting on forums is going to fix that.

Mocata said:

Does anyone think that making Vader a tragic figure was a big mistake? I feel like beyond the lack of camaraderie between Anakin and Obiwan, they should have shown him liking power, or liking throwing people around. It would fit more with his attitude in SW towards the Admiral Motti for example. It would be more believable, and any idea of regret or sadness could be much more subtle.

I do think “he’s just not a good guy” could be a potentially interesting route, but I’m worried that it would lead to Vader’s redemption not really feeling earned. If he was always a psychotic narcissist deep inside, is it really a “redemption”, or just a deathbed conversion?

My ideal take on Anakin’s turn would combine a desire for power with the “save Padme” thing from the original movie. He starts out with seemingly noble intentions (although his real motivations are more narcissistic), but the more dark things he does in his wife’s name, the more he realizes how good the dark side feels. By the end, he’s become fully mad with power, to the point where he makes his visions come true by choking his wife to death, and doesn’t even realize the irony of it afterwards.

No matter what, though, the “Palpatine gaslights Anakin into thinking the Jedi are evil” plotline has to go. It’s possibly the worst aspect of the original movie. Anakin should be an intelligent person who was seduced by attachment and the promise of power, not a moron who fell for the most obvious lie in the history of the galaxy.

Personally, I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying last night’s episode. Maybe it was just my rock-bottom expectations, but I found the episode to be quite enjoyable. Even though the effects and overall importance to the plot were highly lacking, the action choreography and overall sense of fun were enough for me to still like it.

This season feels like it’s carving out a niche for the Filoniverse as the more action-focused side of modern Star Wars, as opposed to the more slow-burn character-driven approach of stuff like Andor and The Acolyte. From the rumors I’ve heard about Ahsoka, it seems like my suspicions are true: Ahsoka is being described as having more heavily-choreographed fight scenes than anything Star Wars until this point. It’s not exactly what I hoped for (I wish every Star Wars thing could feel like Andor from now on), but I can accept it.

Well, no matter how old you are, I really hope you’re lying, because basing your entire personality on a fictional child murderer is… questionable.

Spuffure said:

Wouldn’t it be great if we could delete bad memories at will?

Bad memories are some of the worst things ever.

My advice: Make enough good memories that most of the bad ones will just be forgotten about. Your brain doesn’t have unlimited storage space, it mainly remembers more recent stuff. It’s difficult to deliberately seek out positive experiences, but enough fun memories can improve your mood drastically.

Mocata said:

One man’s chef’s kiss is another’s epic cringe

Preach. I don’t understand why everyone thinks Vader in the hallway is a top 10 Star Wars scene. Actually, I do: It’s because 90% of Star Wars fans only watch this franchise so they can see evil guys in cool helmets slaughtering nameless nobodies while epic choir music plays in the background. It’s the definition of “style over substance”, a phrase that can sum up the vast majority of Rogue One.

Spartacus01 said:

a movie so poorly written as AOTC.

Yeah… No.

“Just being around her again is… intoxicating.”
“Attachments… FORbidden.”
“I’m haunted by the kiss that you should never have given me. My heart is beating, hoping that that kiss will not become a scar.”
“Don’t leave. Your presence is soothing.”
And of course, the ultimate example:
“I don’t like sand. It’s coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything’s soft… and smooth.”

I’m sorry, but if you can’t see how crappy half the dialogue in AOTC is (especially whenever Anakin’s on screen), you’re delusional. And the extremely subpar directing doesn’t do it any favors either.

Mocata said:

Oh I agree. But to be honest I don’t think the political nature of Rogue One works in that context, where it’s still trying to be a fun action adventure story. The Alliance sending an assassin out or using bombers to kill a guy instead of rescuing him? That’s kinda sickening when it’s trying in some ways to still be a proper gee whizz Star Wars yarn. It’s not detached enough from the material where C-3PO is saying something funny or a bunch of muppets show up. And I wanted a proper heist movie and it’s only like fifty percent there. Andor works more for me because it goes like ninety percent into spy fiction territory.

I think this sums up exactly why Rogue One didn’t work for me. It was clearly trying to be a gritty spy thriller with a more grimdark take on the Star Wars universe, but the execution of that goal felt incredibly half-assed in the end. They were too worried that it wouldn’t feel like a “real Star Wars movie”, and the result is a confused jumble of “bombastic space opera” and “gritty war film” that just ends up feeling dull.

Andor is a lot better in that regard, because it actually commits to Rogue One’s promise of dark, mature Star Wars storytelling. It’s a show for adults, and it does not hesitate to let you know.

Jesus, dude. That reminds me of how my mom talked whenever she had a seizure. You don’t just need a break, you need therapy. Maybe even medication.

jedi_bendu said:

StarkillerAG said:

It’s a show based on the most forgettable character in the most forgettable Star Wars movie

Regardless of the general public’s knowledge on Cassian, Rogue One remains of my favourite star wars movies and Cassian has always been one of its highlights. One of the best disney star wars characters imo.

That’s your opinion, and I respect that, but I personally disagree.

Rogue One has always been one of my least favorite Star Wars movies. Beyond shallow fanservice and cool-looking shots, it has almost nothing of value to offer. It’s the only installment of the franchise that falls victim to the Eight Deadly Words: “I don’t care what happens to these people.”

And Cassian does have a fairly decent arc (although it was only made obvious with his spinoff), but I stand by my assessment that he was the most forgettable character in that movie. After watching it for the first time, I distinctly remembered the “depressed main character girl”, the “funny killer robot”, the “blind guy who fights with a stick”, and the “guy with lots of guns”, but Cassian just faded into the recesses of my memory completely.

When Andor came out, I genuinely had to assure my family that the main character of the new Star Wars show had appeared in one of the movies before, because they had forgotten him even more than I had. If that’s not proof of how forgettable Cassian was before his show turned out to be inexplicably good, I don’t know what is.

fmalover said:

I don’t have FOMO. More like I’m so fucking tired of always missing out.

I feel you, man. More and more, I get the feeling I’ve been wasting my life. Almost every time I have an opportunity to do something fun with other people, I pass it up for some dumb reason and just stare at my phone while everyone else has fun without me.

Fortunately, I have been attempting to change that recently. A couple nights ago, I attended a party I wasn’t planning to go to, and it was the most fun experience I’ve had in a long time. If I can just remove the mental blocks that discourage me from going outside my comfort zone, I think my life will become way more satisfying.

Yeah, that rant gave me insane “motivational quotes on Instagram with pictures of the Joker behind them” vibes.

I’m sorry to say this, Spartacus, but I think you have a very distorted idea of how love works. Women aren’t an alien race that needs to be scientifically examined: They’re ordinary people with ordinary wants, and the best way to “get a girl” is to just be a good person.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame you for holding these sorts of beliefs. Internet personalities have manipulated many young men into thinking the same way. But it’s a very toxic attitude, and you need to get rid of it immediately in order to stand a chance in society. Be less like Anakin, and more like Luke.

I get what you mean, Spartacus. I do think it was a nice idea to emphasize the sexual and emotional repression that Anakin faced as part of the Jedi order, at least in theory.

What makes the romance feel unbelievable for me, though, is the idea that Padme would ever fall in love with someone like that. Almost every time she and Anakin are on screen, there’s very little genuine attraction shown: It’s just Anakin obsessively ranting about his wet dreams, while Padme seems to be looking for the nearest exit at every possible moment. Them falling in love would be a lot more believable if one of them didn’t look physically repulsed by the other.

Sounds great, Hal. Reminds me of how L8wrtr ordered those scenes in his edit. And using the theatrical version of the “plot to destroy the Jedi” scene is also nice, since that was one of the few areas where ROTS and the Clone Wars finale directly overlapped.

Anchorhead said:

The Andorlorian®
This nearly hour-long episode ended up being 40 minutes of people sitting at a picnic table outside their apartment complex and talking. What started as something that felt very OT-like with the Bo/Mando/TIE chase scene, devolved into an episode of Andor where meaningless characters have meaningless episode-long discussions.

I thought you liked Andor, Anchorhead. Did you change your mind?

Personally, I felt like the Andor vibes were the one saving grace of this episode, but that was mostly just because they reminded me of a much better TV show. Every part of the show that actually tries to “feel like Mandalorian” just ends up feeling like crap. It’s honestly making me wonder if Mando was a bad show the entire time, and my taste in media just wasn’t mature enough for me to realize.

Personally, my “prequels as 2 movies with Obi-Wan as Episode III” plan involves removing AOTC almost completely, with TPM now being the start of the Clone Wars.

The Trade Federation would be renamed “the Separatists”, and a couple Dooku scenes from AOTC would be added to establish him as the Separatist leader. The end of TPM would feature Palpatine commissioning a clone army as his first act in office, Dooku meeting with Palpatine and saying “war has begun”, and Republic leaders watching the clones be deployed for the first time.

ROTS’s opening crawl would describe the broad strokes of what’s happened in the 14 years since TPM, including Anakin falling in love with Padmé. Other than that, ROTS would be mostly unchanged, just with the standard fanedit trims.

I had similar feelings to everyone else on this latest episode: Good on its own (even though it’s just diet Andor), but it has absolutely no place in The Mandalorian.

It reminds me of the anthology episodes in season 3 of Atlanta. They were perfectly well-made and interesting short films, but every time one of them came on I was wondering “Where are all the characters? Where’s Donald Glover? Where’s Paperboy? Why is everyone white?”

The more of this season I see, the more I get the impression that Mando’s appearance on Book of Boba was a super last-minute decision. They wasted a perfectly good two-parter season opening by splicing it in the middle of a forgettable filler show, and now they’re just spinning their wheels until they can fill the required 8 episode runtime.

This season is really in need of a good fanedit: Not a movie edit, but one that combines BOBF’s Mando episodes with a trimmed Mando S3 in order to present it how the creators clearly wanted to.

CloakedDragon97 said:

The Director’s Cut of Donnie Darko is the superior version.

Having seen both versions of the movie by now, I mostly agree. The Director’s Cut is much more of an immersive experience: while the theatrical version often feels like it’s rushing through the plot and character development as fast as possible, the Director’s Cut allows the nuances of the story to sink in much more. By the end, I got just as attached to the characters as Donnie did, which made his decision in the final scene incredibly impactful.

I only have two main gripes: the new music and the added time travel exposition. “The Killing Moon” and “Under the Milky Way” were much more impactful songs than the ones used as replacements in the Director’s Cut, and the book excerpts explained nothing that the flashback audio in the original cut didn’t convey perfectly well. If I could have a version with all of the deleted scenes added back in, but with the presentation of the theatrical cut mostly intact, that would be my ideal version of the film.