CaptainFaraday

Jar Jar and Kestrel, both of those things would be amazing, thank you! I’ll send you both a DM tonight.

(double posted)

Thanks, you guys! I need a line from either Finn or Rose about the shuttle being found; I’ve previously been searching through existing material to find something, so I’ll need to write a line for AI voicing. Similarly, I need a line from Leia towards the end of the movie; I’ll rewatch the scene and write something for that too.

As I’ve currently got it, the Maz scene plays out the same as the theatrical version (other than quality of life trims) except I’ve dubbed in the Master Codebreaker music when Maz starts waxing poetic about him. Then when DJ breaks out of the cell, Finn and Rose look at each other and say, “The Master Codebreaker!” before chasing after him, with the Master Codebreaker music playing as they make the realisation, as both a setup and payoff thing to remind the audience and a punchline to end the scene. I’m quite happy with how it plays out, although I’d be interested to see a more drastic edit like you’ve described. That said, I definitely think changing Maz’s wording from “Only one guy I trust” to “Only one guy I know” is a great idea for a few reasons. It doesn’t imply that the guy they’re looking for will be trustworthy, they just assume that on their own; it also leans into what I like about Maz in TFA, that she’s friends with a lot of ethically dubious people but she’s quite aware and pragmatic.

I am still alive! And I still want to get this edit finished.

I’ve just got to do the opening crawl, which I’m going to need someone else’s help with, a couple of AI voice lines (which I’m probably going to need someone else’s help with as well), and the VFX shot of the plomme bloom on DJ’s jacket (which I’m definitely going to have to pay someone else to do, but I don’t know where to find someone).

I’m starting to remember why progress stalled! I really need the Emperor to be coming here so I can arbitrarily double my efforts.

Eyepainter said:

To give Empire more representation to marginalized groups, change the infamous “No. I am your father.” to “No. I am your gay lover.”

No, no, no, it would be “No. I am your father’s husband.”

This makes the morality of the movie much more grey, because Luke’s reaction now makes him look kind of homophobic.

hinventon said:

I would love to expand on the idea of palpatine not really being himself but more of like a sith zombie. Would do wonders for the trilogy if that could be properly explained and understood within the confines of the movie itself.

I like the ambiguity of it in its current state; obviously, making another version that makes it more explicit doesn’t detract from that in any way, but I figured I should mention that what I enjoyed was the movie giving me the pieces and expecting me to make sense of them. There’s just a big difference between the pieces being a mess (ie theatrical) and the pieces being consistent and teasing a consistent bigger picture that will never be 100% clear (ie TROS:A:RN obviously, but outside of fanediting, things like Twin Peaks: The Return).

Jar Jar Bricks said:

For my “sign in” slot I’d ideally like to have AI Benicio Del Toro say the following: “Libertine, standing by. Living free, joining up!”

The Libertine is the ship DJ and gang stole in TLJ and I’d love to see some redemption for his character in this film even if its more of an easter egg. The second part is the inverse of his signature phrase: “Live free, don’t join.”

I personally feel like DJ is meant to be a thematic foreshadow of Finn’s choices in TLJ; he’s what Finn could be if he doesn’t stick with the Resistance, and Finn’s arc is about him realising that he wants to stick with the Resistance. So I actually really like the idea that in the next movie, DJ has thus had a change of heart, just as a little background easter egg.

I just watched the Rey Nobody version.

I remember with TROS:A I had made peace with the existence of TROS. With the RN version… I actually really like this movie. It works now! I can’t believe it went from a 1/10 Star Wars movie in the theatrical cut, to a 6/10 movie in the TROS:A cut (already a miracle), to honestly I’d say an 9/10. It’s a testament to the hard work everyone put in.

There are still a few pacing issues with the first act which make it feel a little fanedit-y, except they’re all things from the theatrical cut! All of the changes are more seamless than the remnants of how things were originally. And the third act just works. Thematically and narratively, it all pulls together so nicely in a way it didn’t pre-RN. I even love Palpatine’s return.

The DSII duel goes from a meaningless clash of laser swords to the thematic crux of the whole movie. Dave Filoni famously observed that in TPM, it’s called the Duel of Fates because Qui-Gon and Maul are duelling for the fate of Anakin’s soul - and that’s why adding it works here. Because Rey’s conflict is now about her pull to the Dark Side, and Kylo’s is about the pull to the Light, the DSII duel is a duel over the fate of Rey’s soul. Except unlike Anakin, she’s duelling for her own soul. She wins the fight against Kylo, but in doing so, she loses the fight for her soul. And we think that’s it, but then, we realise it’s also a fight for Ben Solo’s soul - and that fight was won. It makes sense out of his redemption in a way that never felt earned before.

And then when Rey enters the chamber on Exogol to thousands of hooded Sith, their nature hidden and ambiguous, there’s this wonderful sense of ambiguity about what Palpatine truly is here. It feels more like he is a servant of them, than the other way around - he’s literally a puppet on an arm, cloned so that the nameless, faceless Sith have a conduit that will mean something to the tangible galaxy beyond. This makes sense out of the plan, because Palpatine was never a chessmaster moving pieces around in unbelievable ways, and explains why he wants Rey to kill him - the Sith want Rey to strike down her enemy and become a Sith! It also stops Palpatine’s “return” undercutting Anakin’s sacrifice at the end of ROTJ, because Palpatine didn’t really return, maybe, probably.

This also all means that the true villain of TROS is simply the abstract nature of the Sith itself, which is really fitting for the end of the Star Wars saga.

But we can have our cake and eat it too, because then this form of Palpatine starts getting restored by the Dyad! He begins acting more like the actual real Palpatine did, and wants to become the true Emperor again! It’s a great twist on a twist, and it all flows smoothly and makes sense.

If you’d told me in 2020 that I’d actually end up loving TROS, I would have laughed you out of town. But here we are in 2023 and you crazy bastards actually did it.

I’ve decided I want this thing finished. I’m going to rewatch my current cut of TLJ:SE, tidy anything that needs to be tidied, and then just damn well pay someone to do the remaining VFX work. Does anyone have any suggestions for somebody good? It’s one insert shot of the plomme bloom on DJ’s jacket, and the opening crawl.

Eyepainter said:

CaptainFaraday said:

I’m sure I’ll keep making fanedits at some point in the future; I used to be a film editor, it’s in my blood forever. It’s just a time management issue.

There’s really only two or three things left to do on this edit, and I think for the single VFX shot I need, I might actually front up some money and hire someone to do it properly. I think this edit is probably my magnum opus and I want to be able to point to it and say “this is finished and I’m satisfied with it.”

You’re alive!

It’s good to see this thread again, even if the project is heading toward the end. I hope it is as good as you say it is.

I hope so too! I may have mentioned this previously, but, I showed my current version to a friend a while ago. His response was, “This is the best possible edit I can imagine anybody ever making for TLJ. But, I still don’t like TLJ.” I take that to mean that I accomplished my mission statement of polishing the intentions of the theatrical version to the point where they’re clear and comprehensible, personally.

The currently available workprint is pretty close to the final product, minus a few revisions.

I’m sure I’ll keep making fanedits at some point in the future; I used to be a film editor, it’s in my blood forever. It’s just a time management issue.

There’s really only two or three things left to do on this edit, and I think for the single VFX shot I need, I might actually front up some money and hire someone to do it properly. I think this edit is probably my magnum opus and I want to be able to point to it and say “this is finished and I’m satisfied with it.”

Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated!

I no longer have the opportunity to do any editing at work, which is why things have dried up so much on my end. My current plan is to get the last few things finished for Stoic Edition, and that’s probably going to be it. I’m finding myself burned out on the sheer volume of Star Wars content coming out, and that I increasingly just want to watch the main saga movies and ignore the rest of it.

I’m so psyched that there’s more to come for the NCC. It’s the ROTS edit I come back to most of all, and I’m still so grateful that NFBisms sent me some of his clips for my own ROTS edit back when I made that.

Also, yes, Coaxium Bebop please

PMs sent!

It was like a cheerful version of an “I am the manager” moment.

Someone at work recently told me how as a film editor and a Star Wars fan, I had to check out this cool project he heard about where someone had fixed Rise of Skywalker, even adding Force Ghosts…

The look on his face was great.

That could work if you wanted to recut my edit (and please feel free to do so!), but for me personally, I like how the duel currently ends and I find Obi-Wan being buried under rocks too silly, which is why I cut it in the first place.

GMatias said:

So v1.0 of my BLACKENED MANTLE recreation (16GB 1080p mkv file with burned in subtitles) is finished and available for review via PM. I’ll probably do at least a 2.0 release with whatever fixes are needed from this version and selectable subtitle options, and I’m planning on throwing this up on a torrent as well at some point soon.

I really love opening with “A golden age is ending.” It perfectly sums up the entire tone and background noise of the trilogy right from the start in a very evocative way; it puts all the events that follow into a much more interesting context. Succinct, evocative, poetry.

I also personally like ending with the Jedi restoring peace to Amidala’s “kingdom,” because I like the fairy-tale evocation, though I agree there are good reasons to go with other third paragraphs.

This is off-topic, but is definitely in the spirit of worst edit ideas: I’ve been doing edits of the 2003 film The Cat in the Hat for a friend’s project where he watches the film once a week and documents it slowly driving him to insanity. It’s probably the funniest project I’ve ever been involved with. Anyway, he’s opened up the floor and requested anybody submit any edits of any kind of The Cat in the Hat, no matter how unwatchable or ridiculous, and we’ll then watch them all as a demented sort of film festival. I dunno, that strikes me as exactly the sort of thing this thread lives on.

Bumping my own thread with a general update.

I have actually been doing a bunch of editing - but it’s all been editing absolutely insane nonsense for a project that a friend of mine is doing, where he watches the 2003 movie The Cat in the Hat once a week for a year and documents how it is slowly driving him to insanity. All my edits are in my Drive folder alongside my “proper” fanedits, which now features a document explaining what they all are with links to the relevant threads on this site.

My Star Wars editing jobs of highest priority are finishing TLJ Stoic Edition (there’s two VFX shots that I’m unfortunately reliant on other people for, and then after five years of work it will finally be done) and making the final changes to tidy up my Kenobi 2hr film edit.

I know I’m a somewhat rare presence here as of late, but obviously I’d be keen to do a scene or two!

I’m very keen to see the Tusken attack scene!

I’d like a link, please.

Where did you get the deleted scene of BB-8 playing the hologram to Finn? I’ve only ever seen still frames from it.

Eyepainter said:

The Star Wars Purist said:

Someone should do an edit based on this thread’s ideas.

TV’s Frink’s Episode I: The Ridiculous Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Ridiculousness are pretty close to this thread’s ideas. I’d give them a watch if you can find them!

Intriguing!

I’ve always thought a group edit of ANH where everyone picked a scene and edited it with their best worst ideas would be fantastic, but far too impractical to organise.

Parker: A Star Wars Story