^i have tried cutting PT parts with music from similar periods as the OT, or earlier if we imagine TPM came out in 1968.
My favourite two are Clash of the Titans, and Ben-Hur. But that is only because I have those. Someone did an amazing music cut of the pod race to a Close Encounters a while back.
^perhaps, but it is still quite a cryptic title, maybe even better suited to EPIII. The first in the series should be bold and obvious, hook people in before they even see the movie.
bingo suggested years ago that it would strengthen anakin's character if the chancellor is not depicted as the all out evil bad guy until later on. this coupled with making the dark side seem like the logical choice would stop him looking like a complete eejit aswell.
so what do we need for this to work?
* no mean looking palpatine
* dooku as a rogue jedi to suggest the jedi are the problem
* anakin hearing about the dark side, but NOT the as the big bad, ie NO SITH. uncle palpatine basically suggests he does steroids, not murder kids. this cold be done by revealing palpatine as the knower of the dark side earlier on.
* cutting any obvious links to palpatine and the robed mastermind, and also cutting any parts which suggest he is a bad person.
* some palpatines 'revelation' could be moved to after anakin saves him, to suggest his dark side training has begun, this would be as an alternative to seeing him all old.
possible supporting points
* dooku suggests in the final duel that his agents have infiltrated every level of the republic, thus creating paranoia that there are spies and villains everywhere (paranoia that perhaps WINDU is going to assassinate the CHANCELLOR)
* anakin is really worried about obi-wan going against grevious alone. he even dreams about him dying enstead of padme. the scene where he is blasted by the clones is inserted somewhere before windu goes to make the arrest, and it is really heavily suggested that he has been killed. anakin has a tantrum like in EPII and blames the jedi. angry he confronts windu during the arrest and sides with palpatine. the whole 'dooku's spies' subplot would be strengthened here as we would see cody take the order from Seperatist Robe Man.
* some of the ruminations scenes could be recut to show anakin mourning obi-wan.
this would overall be a combination of nightmarish cutting, and some voice work. anakin's actual TURN would be when he eventually faces obi-wan again, and the audience suddenly realises how wrong he has gone. Palpatine is the bad father leading anakin down the lie, Obi-wan is the good father who brings us the truth. it will all be ambiguous until that point.
^the problem for me is that should be the whole ESB moment, so appose to being 'I am your father' its like 'I am the Dark Lord'. If only he didn't use the lightening, then anakin could discover he just murdered a jedi when it was all too late.
I suppose him knowing before hand though suggests his damnation was secured as soon as he went to meddle.
If dooku is not a sith, then perhaps the dark side subplot could be such a sidelined idea that its portrayed in a rebelious and exciting light. anakin asking palps about the 'dark side' could be with a similar enthusiasm to luke asking about his father, or pursuing his jedi career. there would just need to be that 'oh crap i was wrong, and its all to late' moment for anakin near the end.*
*not in a regrettable sence, but more in an 'its inevitable, i best completely surrender myself and hope for the best - later losing all perspective' sence.
perhaps he just uses the force to keep the door shut and just wait it out.... or levitate and just awkwardly stare jabba down....
SSWR had a similar idea once, but enstead luke used the force to throw a skull to hit the button.
someone not so long ago suggested cutting the obi-wan/vader duel from ANH, so we just see the beginning and the climax. a fair point if we consider that in a I-VI running order, duels may at this point become somewhat tiresome.
this got me thinking, has anyone ever considered completely cutting the palp/windu duel out in the same fashion? we see them exchange words, then we follow anakin rushing to the scene, then enstead of expecting a civilised arrest going on, the entire suete has been trashed and there is a jedi about to assassinate the chancellor. could create some much needed empathy to anakin and some ambiguity to the events. and would eliminate the whole lightsabre too.
some additional still shots could be inserted of the other jedi dead in various places with smoke rising from them, later suggeting they were just zapped to death.
Ric Olie said:
ben_danger said:
ALTERNATIVE EPISODE I
Star Wars
Guardians of Peace
Enemies of Tyranny
:-/
^just brainstorming! I'm hoping someone more eloquant may determine a better one! But these are some other focal points.
my issue with TPM title is, might sound silly, is that i wouldn't have known what a 'Phantom' or a 'Menace' would have been when I was 7 (the age I was when I first saw STAR WARS)
what do people make of SON OF SKYWALKER for episode IV its sort of growing on me if you follow a I - VI ordering. Anakin would have been our first Skywalker in this instance, and Luke more of a sequel.
^if anyone else suggests sith eyes in the future i'm just going t quote this. well said sir.
has anyone ever suggested killing off leia in ROTJ? i think it would suck, but it could add some level of tragedy, if luke never brings himself to tell her that they are siblings.
someone suggested having a possible cliffhanger moment within the battle of endor when she gets shot. if the scene is followed with han storming the bunker with the rebels, she could be cut out to add to the suspence.
They could be really good alternatives to the 'Prequel Trilogy' - 'Original Trilogy' distinction. - keep checking the first post, chucked a load more up there from various souces.
A really good start! I guess even ROTJ would be in context. I'll put it on the list.
ok yeah - ironic after mentioning avoiding "of the" titles i went and suggested one. point being almost every re-title i have seen over the years has "of the" and it sort of makes them sound samey.
I agree "ATTACK OF THE CLONES" does have that 50s pulp ring to it. sort of a happier "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK", but the emphasis should be on the Anakin the hero. if only the clone wars series was live action...
as an alternative to the phantom menace i'd always advocate renaming it STAR WARS, as it is principally the first of the series now.
My least favourite is "A NEW HOPE". Not punchy at all.
So to start us off
CHAMPIONS OF THE FORCE - an alternative to AOTC. This would be a focus on a JEDI movie, where they are in strength. Obi-wan and Anakin would epitomize this. There was also another concept, that there was a secret elite circle called "The Champions of the Force", for which dooku was a member. Throughout AOTC a masked leader led a droid legion burning the galaxy. At the climax of the film this would be revealed to be dooku himself.
THE SECRET APPRENTICE - a part of my massive 'THE STAR WARS' cut idea which would play around with an alternative chronology. This episode would be the 7th out of 10, and would explore anakin's roots as a child, and how Qui-Gon acquires him.
I just wanted to start this thread to explore possible alternative titles for possible fan-edits. I find that a good cornerstone of any project is the title itself. I find this particularly challenging myself, as they run the risk of being too descriptive and dry.
Perhaps after we find some really good ones we can consider how they can be portrayed typographically?
I try and avoid "of the" in the middle, and have been trying to come up with something like THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK for ages with no success.
Post your thoughts behind them too, and any references you might have. Really good ones I'll list on the first post here.
*Please note that titles with links are to fanedits that already exist.
ALTERNATIVE EPISODE I
Star Wars
Guardians of Peace
A Light in the Dark
ALTERNATIVE EPISODE II
Rise of the Dark Side
Champions of the Force
The Path to Destruction
ALTERNATIVE EPISODE III
(The Secret Apprentice)
ALTERNATIVE EPISODE IV
The Lost Son
Son of Skywalker
Children of the Force
Return of the Jedi
ALTERNATIVE EPISODE V
ALTERNATIVE EPISODE VI
Last of the Jedi
Triumph of the Force
GENERAL ALTERNATIVES
The Wind that Shakes the Stars
The Journal of the Whills
Age of Heroes
Clash of the Jedi
The Clone Wars
Shadow of the Black Knight
The Tragedy of Darth Vader (or Anakin Skywalker)
The Adventures of Luke Skywalker
IV, II, V, III, VI always works quite well.
If you wanted to take it a step further you could easily divide each film into either 2 or 3 segments, and mix them up even further. Here is a running order I outlined ages ago for a personal project
THE STAR WARS
part i - The Wind that Shakes the Stars
opens with a screaming body burning on the molten shores of mustafar. (a scene which haunts the entire series). Followed by obiwan bringing a baby to the homestead. *TITLE*
Removal of original opening of ANH, film starts from luke and we only follow his story. ends when luke leaves Tatooine on the Millennium Falcon
part ii - An Age of Heroes
Abridged AOTC to follow a more heroic anakin and obiwan.
part iii - A New Hope
Follows leia from beginning, until Millennium Falcon is captured. Rest of the film. throne room possibly cut.
part iv - The Empire Strikes Back
Film up until luke is on dagobah and han is in the asteroid.
part v - Shadow of the Black Knight
ROTS up until palpatine's revelation
part vi - The Dark Victory?
Second half of ESB. end scene of the fleet possibly cut.
part vii - The Secret Apprentice
very abridged TPM foucusing on anakin and qui-gon, examining possible routes of evil. ends in council chamber where anakin makes his choice to save palpatine.
part viii -
ROTS from anakins turn onwards, ending with him burning (a possible scene which is repeated throughout all the films)
part ix - The Last of the Jedi
First half of ROTJ. ends with the tyderium leaving hangar
part x - The Return of the Jedi
Second half of ROTJ, opens with emperors arrival, ending with luke cremating vader.
SpenceEdit said:
ben_danger said:
i wonder if the star forge plotline could eventually tie to the death star?Remeber when I said I thought it was getting too ambitious? :)
I do want a little bit of a call back to the Emperor's death in ROTJ though, I think that would be cool.
mans reach exceeds his imagination! so ... the only thing that can destroy the powersource is a falling dark jedi?;)
are the other video hosting sights as pedantic?
Personally I don't have issue with the Special Editions. I don't like the changes, but I don't hate their existence.
What I take issue with is that attitude that there can only be ONE version of the films. Its a bad attitude, shared with Lucas, fans and annoyingly some fan-edit-fans that there will be a definitive version.
Why can't we have dozens of versions? And we pick the one we enjoy the most to watch?
plus what we lacked in the PT was central characters who represent the common un-privaleged un-jedi joe in the galaxy. han solo, biggs, even princess leia really, all represent the people who we as human beings can be.
it sort of makes sense that the narrative would revolve around the same family of characters.
i wouldn't say owen and beru as PT characters would shrink the universe at all. i'd say having tatooine/coruscant/naboo featuring at the centre of galactic affairs every five minutes shrinks the universe!
i think both dagobah and tatooine should have had similar treatments in the PT, both temporary hideouts like the asteroids or hoth in ESB. so when we see them in later on its almost like a planet cameo.
a trivia question to people wiser than me - was tatooine actually named tatooine in the original STAR WARS (ie in a screenplay or novel)? i think the name is first mentioned on screen in ESB, and then i assumed linked to the desert world in ROTJ. 10 points to the winner.
Every little helps!
MrInsaneA said:
I always thought that Episode 1 needed a Chewbacca/Han Solo pair of characters. The "regular guys" so to speak.
I always imagined Owen and Beru being pre-clone republic troopers. They would be the happy-go-lucky troopers who would eventually become war ravaged and long for the simple life.
crickey, that would be insane!
so vader doesn't die in luke's arms, but enstead operates a console which whisks him off in an escape module. vader perhaps would be unmasked, standing watching him leave as all around him descends into flames?
talk about redemption!
OMG. that is crazy! is that even canon? very silly, but i like the design of it.
i would argue for the emperor to have some sort of special star destroyer, just to add variety, he has the royal guard, why not a royal destroyer? makes sense though as you pointed out to begin the concepts with what we already have. when vader flies in at the start, he could fly through the drydock when the star destroyers are there, to ready establish the scale, in order to reach the smaller dock which we see him in