The Aluminum Falcon

Without going into spoilers, Covenant does have a big focus on David, one of the film’s strengths in my opinion.

My cents, in terms of different cuts of the Alien films:

Alien (1979) - Theatrical cut, hands down. Even Ridley Scott prefers it.

Aliens (1986) - Theatrical cut is better paced but is missing crucial scene of Ripley finding out about her daughter. Special Edition severely suffers in pacing because it throws in material that Fox cut for time, as well as additional deleted scenes. The Fox TV cut, which has some but not all special edition material (thankfully omitting the shake-and-bake colony scene), likely resembles the cut that Cameron originally wanted to release in 1986.

This cut can be assembled by playing with the seamless branching on the BD. Also, I believe a preservation of it might be coming eventually.

Alien 3 (1992) - Assembly Cut almost feels like a different movie from the theatrical cut with far more character beats and an intriguing subplot. Ideally, however, the perfect cut would resemble the workprint more (no mysterious egg on the Sulaco, theatrical crash, no basement scene, etc.).

Alien: Resurrection (1997) - Theatrical cut wins again. Special Edition is just an oddity created by the studio.

Prometheus (2012) - The theatrical cut is so deeply flawed that I prefer to watch fan edits of this one. Prometheus Unbound is the best iteration I’ve found of all the ones available, wonderfully tight with the characters of Vickers coming across as far less 2D. For a “Special Edition,” which throws in all available material, I would recommend Agent9’s Prometheus: Special Edition.

— SPOILERS FOR FILM CURRENTLY IN THEATER —

In terms of Alien Covenant, I figure an ideal cut would just remove the 3rd act Alien throwback stuff on the spaceship near the finale, and better edit the Walter/David fight so the “twist” wasn’t so obvious. Hopefully, there’ll be deleted footage to play with here.

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Alien 3
4. Alien: Covenant
5. Alien: Resurrection
6. Prometheus
7. Alien v. Predator

(Haven’t seen Requiem yet.)

EDIT: Double post. For commending two releases. 😃

Thanks! Look like lovely releases.

Looks lovely, Andrea!

Sir Ridley said:

So here’s my take on Finn’s line “They’ve done it”, redubbing it as “They’ve found us”, including animation on the mouth to make it bite together a bit on the “us” rather than the original open mouth “it”.

https://youtu.be/IVI_sDK6SXk

What do you think?

Really good results actually! That was the one slightly off part of the edit. If HAL 9000 agrees, could there be a V2 audio track with this little tweak?

^…^ said:
4) a “trick” like the one used by TMBTM in his War of the Stars II - where the frames have big shades of one or two colors - of which the following is the best one - I can see the point of his choice, and it worked pretty well in a way; still prefer less-than-perfect recolors, though!

To be honest, I strongly prefer the 4th option. Moreso than the other options, it comes across as a “deliberate creative” stylistic decision. 😉

3 inescapably looks like B&W footage that was computer colorized, and I have suspicions that 2 would as well to a lesser extent. 4 is so radical that you can almost buy the filmmakers intended it to be that way. Grade the hues just a tad more subtly, and I think you’ve got yourself a scene!

Not only that… even Han’s “girlfriend” and Chewie “nice muzzle” is a nice shot. I think this is the only piece worth of recolor in the whole cantina scene - not that because the rest in uninmportant, but because it will take SO LONG and SO MUCH WORK to restore colors, and result will be always not so good 😦

Glad to hear that part of the cantina scene will be restored. Should be cool.

Again, choosing your battles wisely, those seem like good sections to colorize. I might also advocate for using a colorized original arm shot instead of Adywan’s for authenticity, but this comes down to your judgment.

TMBTM did something interesting with that deleted scene in particular for his War of the Stars II edit, having a very bold red and blue colorization. Could you possibly look at that?

^…^ said:

UPDATES

• New “Bail Organa” uploaded, links updated; feedbacks are welcome!

Good results on that Bail Organa scene and also the extended Dooku scene from the PS2 game. Technically, the compositing on the former’s quite nice considering the source. Audio work is also seamless and doesn’t sound rough in the slightest.

Really, it’s funny to see someone other than Jimmy Smits in the role! 😃

• Added also Rogue One to list of extended editions

For this, hopefully, you won’t need to deal with time-coded deleted scenes again. But, I guess that’s supposing we get any deleted scenes at all.

In any case, as you’ve noticed, a lot of alternate shots are out there already and worthy of integration.

John Lennon

(and yes, he did sing more songs than Paul.)

Chewtobacca said:

captainsolo said:
Also the Donner cut was upgraded with slightly better video and has dtshdma 5.1.

Are you sure about the better video? According to Blu-ray.com, the video transfer was re-used, and my disc from the anthology set certainly seems to be the same VC-1 transfer that was on the stand-alone disc.

Ditto, unfortunately.

Tyrphanax said:

Tobar said:

^That is the best post yet that sums up everything that is actually known at this point. Well done!

My exact thoughts. Fantastic post, 'Falcon!

Thanks, guys! Just hope we’ll see some of the alternate footage on the Blu-Ray.

Ronster said:

2. Bor Gullet was originally conceived to delve in to Jyn’s past not to find out if Bodhi Rook was telling the truth. From Concept art book.

Didn’t know. Appended my post to fit.

I still don’t believe that tie fighter on the gantry was ever a marketing shot. It was like that before they developed the Tie-Strikers no doubt. I don’t see the point in lying about it. It’s actually a fairly small thing although it was visually superior in the trailer. My gut feeling tells me Jyn had a mexican stand off with that Tie Fighter and shot the pilot through the glass with her blaster. That’s my speculation on it.

Sorry, but there’s really nothing to substantiate that and the official word has been consistent about straight-up admitting that it was a marketing ploy. Also don’t believe there’s a conspiracy at play. If anything, the official line makes Disney look worse than your speculation.

The only possible lie I could buy would be that the happy ending was never filmed; if it were actually filmed then scrapped, the official line that Disney was steadfast in supporting their deaths does make the Mouse House seem better/more artistically supportive.

As reported by Screen Junkies and a few other sources, the TIE fighter was just inserted into already shot footage of Jyn walking across the platform. Apparently, the trailer company added it themselves, and Lucasfilm liked the result enough that ILM was asked to refine it. I find this relatively believable, considering the same angle is used sans TIE fighter in the finished film.

Also heard from a fairly reliable source (not online) that the first Vader scene (with him standing in front of the monitors) and Krennic talking about immeasurable power is nothing more than the original version of the Bast Castle sequence. The original Vader actor apparently didn’t move quite right, hence why there are two actors credited.

From this information, the official narrative, which may very well be true, is that the most affected sequences by reshoots were:

1. The beginning with the added introductory sequences to Jyn, Cassian, and Bohdi; it originally cut from the flashback to the briefing sequence, which, as per the original teaser, had more explicit verbal exposition of Jyn’s character which became redundant when she was given an action-packed introduction. K2-SO was also introduced further down the line, as seen in an early trailer: “The Captain says you are a friend.”

2. Saw’s stuff was retooled with Saw now having a different appearance. This was because Jyn’s character arc may have been changed in reshoots (more on that down below). Note how his prevailing message in the teaser is negative towards Jyn pursuing rebellion: “What will you become if you continue to fight?” instead of the completely opposite positive message in the finished film actually encouraging Jyn to join the rebellion’s cause: “Save the rebellion. Save the dream.” Bor Gullet was originally used to explore Jyn’s background/past, not Bohdi’s.

3. The heist of the Death Star plans was heavily truncated in order to avoid bloating the third act when the space battle was heavily expanded. This included such simplifications as making the archive and the transmitter in the same building on Jedha. You can see the original transmitter building (to where the crew was running) in some shots in the trailer. Most definitely reshot was the confrontation between Jyn and Krennic (possibly happened on the beach originally); the effects get ropey enough that it seems they were composited in.

This all does not discount alternate shots, also confirmed by the official narrative (particularly Ben Mendhelson’s interview about lots of alternate takes), which can be chalked up to Gareth Edward’s knack for experimentation. They’d play a scene radically different ways (eg. Krennic pulling a blaster to Tarkin’s face) and pick the best result.

(SPECULATION) Jyn’s Character Arc

As alluded to above, I personally suspect that the reshoots were predominantly done to make Jyn’s character arc more consistent.

In the finished film, Jyn transforms from the adamantly neutral party (“You can stand to see the Imperial flag everywhere?”/ Jyn: “Not a problem if you don’t look up.”) to a full fledged hero, who sacrifices herself for the cause of the rebellion. It’s a well-worn but undeniably effective character arc, not unlike that shown in a movie like Casablanca (minus the literal sacrifice bit). Crucial to altering this arc was the addition of the scene with the “look up” line above, as well as completely retooling Saw’s relationship with her by reshooting the Jedha scenes between the two to change Saw’s message to “Save the rebellion. Save the dream.”

I propose that in the original cut of the film, Jyn transformed from an anti-Imperial violent lone loose cannon (not unlike Saw) to a team leader. This is substantiated by Felicity Jone’s early promotional description of her character as someone who wants nothing more than to “bash stormtroopers’ heads in,” a characterization not quite apparent in the final film.

Indeed, Cassian was changed as a result; originally described as a recruiter (again, not in the final film), he was likely the one who saw the potential in her, trusting her enough (as seen in an early trailer) to help pilot the ship to Jedha and support her during the briefing. Saw’s part would be to convince her character that she needed, unlike him, to use less extreme methods, lest she follow in his footsteps (which leads to alienation and bodily damage).

The final point to understanding the original arc and perhaps the key reason that it proved ineffective dramatically is knowledge of the shooting screenplay’s happy ending. It seems a natural conclusion that if Jyn’s arc was to become a leader; she would be “rewarded” by film’s end with a position in the rebellion. That being said, because Edwards was given permission for all the characters to sacrifice themselves, it no longer satisfyingly concluded her arc. They shifted the arc in reshoots to better fit the ending (which they realized was one of the most potent parts of the whole film).

Interesting explanation here about some of the trailer shots not really being part of the narrative:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/why-the-rogue-one-trailers-most-iconic-shot-never-appea-1790910745

Heard as well from several sources that the Jyn v. TIE shot was generated especially for the promos.

1. The Third Man (1949) dir. by Carol Reed
2. Touch of Evil (1958) dir. by Orson Welles
3. Vertigo (1958) dir. by Alfred Hitchcock
4. Notorious (1946) dir. by Alfred Hitchcock
5. Citizen Kane (1941) dir. by Orson Welles
6. Before Sunrise (1995) dir. by Richard Linklater
7. The Bad Sleep Well (1960) dir. by Akira Kurosawa
8. Once Upon a Time in America (1984) dir. by Sergio Leone
9. The Terminator (1984) dir. by James Cameron
10. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) dir. by Irvin Kershner

Are you planning to release the full film on myspleen? As far as I can tell, the dailymotion video is only a trailer.

Regardless of clean-up, very excited to see the results. Again, the BD is quite weak.

^agreed. Worth a listen even if you haven’t seen the movie.

Ronster said:

We See Luke Looking through his Binoculars on Tattoine (This replaces the opening shot of Star Wars 77)

Suggested ending on Luke with the deleted scenes a few pages back. Feel it makes more thematic sense and also creates a nice parallel with Force Awakens also concluding with Luke.

DominicCobb said:

La La Land is fucking great.

Amazing. One of the great musicals and I don’t use that lightly. That ending, while homaging another classic film, is truly magnificent.

^…^ said:

Must add that I accidentaly forgot to remove the saturation increase I used during one of the tests (simply forgot to add a # to the script), so the regraded version is obviously over saturated… I can fix it and post new comparisons, if someone thinks it could be an interesting topic.

Count me in! 😃 Would like to see comparisons with updated settings.

Puggo - Jar Jar’s Yoda said:

The effects were even more stunning the second time, and Tarkin was even more convincing (although his voice didn’t sound at all like Cushing’s to me).

Agree. Regardless of how accurate it looks visually, the vocal performance is distracting from someone familiar with Cushing’s voice from the Hammer films. I have a feeling they didn’t ask the actor to explicitly mimic Cushing because they weren’t 100% sure they would go through with the motion capture. Either that, or the actor is simply not that familiar with how Cushing sounds…

Yes, RIP, Miss Fisher.

Thank you, though, for this release. Had a chance to grab from the Spleen and it looks wonderful. I tried a similar 1-pass grading before, but ended up with green end credits! Glad to see how saturated and vibrant this looks in comparison to the original. Would recommend burning this with all the synced audio, including the trimmed '97 SE 5.1 audio someone created!

Really like Crawl #1. Firmly believe that the first line of any good crawl for Rogue One should refer to the fact that the Jedi are gone, as that absence lingers over the entire film more than anything.

The more I think about it, the more I actually like Rogue One as Episode III, with AOTC and ROTS being repurposed as Episode I and Episode II, respectively. It’s definitely more pertinent to understanding the main story compared to TPM.

suspiciouscoffee said:

Am I the only one that likes the prologue scene? Krennic alone makes the whole thing awesome with his reactions to Lyra’s fake death.

I love the prologue scene, feel like it’s a powerful way to start. Only thing I would trim is some of the child acting, which isn’t always convincing.

If it is referencing Inglourious Basterds (which is in turn referencing TGBTU), I’d honestly consider just starting with Krennic arriving, only for the audience to gradually learn (as with Inglourious) that Lyra and the child are alive and Galen is lying.