CaptainFaraday

I’m inclined to agree with JarJarBricks here. While the movie might support that interpretation, the novel is pretty explicit that Kylo is still adamantly set on the past dying, and that he intends to usurp Palpatine after the Emperor has outlived his usefulness to him, creating a new rule with Rey.

As for the Eye recognising Kylo as the heir of Vader, I personally figure that’s only relevant as an answer to the question “Why would the Eye let him take the Wayfinder,” and I’m fine with leaving that somewhat ambiguous. The same way the Force is simply the will of the narrative in Star Wars, I like having the Eye as a mystical being who moves the plot along its path like similar characters did in old myths. That’s just me, though.

Fifth chapter:

https://pastebin.com/s0eHFRiZ
Password: CaptainFaraday

Changelog:

• Kylo doesn’t reforge the helmet. Removing it in TLJ signified he was no longer Ben Solo hidden under Kylo Ren, but Kylo Ren all the way through. There’s no reason to walk backwards on that visual metaphor, especially when Kylo loses the helmet later in TROS prior to his redemption anyway.
• Removed Kylo Ren not liking Pryde being unafraid of him. Instead, it’s implied that Pryde is fiercely loyal to whoever is the Supreme Leader.
• Kylo now chokes General Quinn viciously with the Force, instead of flipping him up onto the roof like a pinball.
• Changed the spelling of Aki-Aki to Acky Acky, to match the spelling in the screenplay.
• The puppet show is now about Luke’s heroic stand on Crait.
• Made Kylo grabbing the necklace through the Force Connection unintentional. It doesn’t make sense that he’d do it on purpose, because neither of them are aware of this skill yet.
• Broke chapter 5 in half and moved Kylo’s scene on the Star Destroyer up so it flows immediately on from the Force Connection.
• Implied Thrawn’s database of local art and culture is what allowed the First Order to immediately identify a random necklace from an obscure planet. Kylo also learns Rey is on Pasaana in the Force connection, to narrow the search and make the rapidity with which they find her more believable.
• Rey’s thoughts when Lando is revealed talk about his wide net of connections to vastly different spheres of influence because of the different stages of his life - smugglers, statesmen, businessmen etc. This sets up for the climax how and why he’d be able to reach such a huge array of people so quickly.

Revenge of the Sith: The New Canon Cut (workprint) by NFBisms

This edit (TNCC) has a very specific goal in mind: make Anakin’s character from ROTS into Anakin’s character from The Clone Wars TV show. Those two versions of Anakin are very different - I think both of them work for the two different stories being told, but it does result in whiplash when watching ROTS directly after TCW. That’s what this edit seeks to address. I was dubious going into TNCC that Hayden’s Anakin could successfully be made into Matt Lanter’s Anakin, and I was proved completely wrong. It works amazingly well. While the focus is on Anakin, TNCC also manages to make all of the supporting cast feel like their TCW counterparts as well - in particular Padme and Mace Windu.

It’s refreshing when an edit has a specific goal in mind rather than simply being a general attempt to fix or improve the original. TNCC feels more like a complimentary piece to ROTS than a replacement. This is the version you watch when you’re marathoning TCW, whereas the theatrical cut is the version for marathoning the Prequels.

I want to draw attention to one scene in particular, which I can’t stop thinking about: Palpatine’s reveal to Anakin. In the theatrical cut, this scene stretched credulity for me. I always thought, “How could Anakin possibly fall for that?” In TNCC’s version, I thought instead, “How could Anakin even consider not siding with Palpatine?” This scene is such a phenomenal improvement, such a fantastically clever bit of editing, that I’d edit this version into all my other preferred cuts of ROTS if I could.

(I’m also amazed at how seamlessly Obi-Wan referencing Ahsoka and Mandalore has been added.)

I have a few constructive criticisms, all of them technical. There are a couple of places, mostly during the “rescue the Chancellor” sequence, where dialogue that’s been dubbed in is a little distracting; Anakin has a few too many lines all at once where his face is offscreen. (This technique works fine through the rest of the film, though.) I could tell when Mace and Yoda’s lines that referred to Anakin as “young” had been edited, which is mostly due to a lack of coverage rather than the editing. And the audio at the beginning of the balcony scene was too quiet for me to hear properly. However, keep in mind that the cut I’ve watched is a workprint, and these issues could all easily be resolved in the final release version.

Overall, I would highly recommend this edit, in particular to fans of TCW.

I watched this last night and thought it was excellent. I’ll write a review in the fanedit reviews thread a bit later.

I wrote the Eye of Webbish Bog back into the first chapter, based on my conversation with JarJarBricks. I wanted to lean into an Arthurian legend type of thing; a mystical being who distributes important mysterious artefacts from a body of water, and seems to have knowledge of how the story is going to pan out in the end. I hyphenated the name, because while I understand that Webbish Bog is probably meant to be the name of the body of water they’re standing in, it sounds delightfully Welsh.

First and last lines are from the existing chapter, to give the new bit of text’s placement.

On the altar was a stone chest, large enough that Kylo could have laid down on its roughly hewn lid. With a sweep of his hand the lid was blown away by the Force, water sloshing violently where it tumbled into the lake and stirred up sludge.
But the water continued churning for too long. Kylo looked up.
Something was emerging from the mire behind the altar.
Kylo’s first thought was that it resembled a dianoga, but its singular eye was much larger – at least the size of Kylo’s head, and its pupil a wide horizontal slit, like a Mimbanian goat’s eye. A long sinewy neck rose from the water beneath it, finally revealing a knobbly misshapen body, sheening with wetness, bits of lake detritus clinging to its pasty skin. It was held up by a forest of long, thin, spidery tentacles, like the roots of a mangrove tree.
The creature spoke to Kylo in a soft, distant voice, directly into his head. “I am the Eye of Webbish-Bog. I know what you seek.”
“You will give it to me,” Kylo ordered.
“No need for that,” the Eye said plainly. “Do you really think it would have been left in the stewardship of one who could be swayed so easily by a trick of the Force?”
No, he supposed not.
“I must warn you,” the Eye continued. “If you proceed down this path, you embrace your destiny. You will become who you were meant to be.”
At these words, ambition burned in Kylo. He had killed the past and watched it die, time and time again, and this creature knew it.
“I know what awaits,” he replied. “Where the contents of that chest will take me.”
“Oh yes,” said the Eye. “You know. You certainly know!”
It cocked its head, making an eerie squealing noise. It took a moment for Kylo to realize the creature was laughing at him.
“Yes, you know,” it said. “Embrace your destiny!”
Kylo’s lightsaber burst to life as he raised it above his head, but the Eye of Webbish-Bog had already sunk beneath the water, leaving only an uncannily still surface and the echo of its unpleasant squealing laugh.
Once he was certain the Eye would not return, Kylo deactivated his lightsaber and turned his attention back to the large, open chest in front of him on the altar. Though there was nothing to cast such a shadow, the inside of the chest was dark as night.
He reached inside, and his hand emerged holding a pyramidal object. It fit satisfyingly in his palm, heavy and hot. He stared at it a moment, lost in its red glow.

There are a few bits I’m not happy with, but I won’t specify which because I don’t want to bias any feedback.

Hoop28 said:

CaptainFaraday said:

There was a rumour flying around that Hux would get eaten by a giant turtle in the third act of TROS.

I want someone to painstakingly VFX together Pryde executing Hux by throwing him to a giant turtle.

Was this an actual rumor? Did Steven King come up with it?

This was an actual rumour from a set of supposed leaks about the screenplay. It became a big meme in Star Wars shitposting circles, the joke persisting even after the movie was released:

Fourth chapter:

https://pastebin.com/3pMfjMrY
Password: CaptainFaraday

Changelog:

• No reference to Palpatine somehow returning. Instead, the group listens to the transmission Palpatine sent, which Poe and Finn just retrieved.
• The arbitrary sixteen hour ticking timer is removed.
• The image of the ships C-3PO shows is lower quality, to make it more believable that it was cautiously recorded and smuggled out.
• The novel repeatedly mentions Rose in the big print instead of showing her, in an attempt to give her more presence than the film does, but I find this simply highlights her absence. To be less jarring, I’ve removed these references, and given many of the “bit player” roles in the Resistance to Rose instead.
• Implied the Wayfinder is more of a one-of-a-kind item, instead of something the Sith used to make a bunch of for different things.
• Tweaked Leia’s reasoning for not wanting Rey to leave to find the Emperor, by making her afraid she’ll lose Rey the way she lost Ben.
• Removed soft retcons that hand-waved away nobody helping the Resistance at Crait. It’s a cop-out, and lessens the power of Luke’s sacrifice to rally the galaxy to their cause.
• Changed Rey referring to the Falcon as “her ship” to “Han’s ship.” Rey claiming ownership like that feels out of character, especially considering the dynamic of their relationship in TFA.
• Removed parts where Luke’s Force Ghost repeatedly tries to contact Leia. It just raises too many questions about why Luke wouldn’t also be contacting Rey, who is desperate to speak to him, and Rey and Leia’s respective Force abilities.

I’m editing the text because, obviously, I think it could do with editing. But, let’s not forget there’s a whole slew of great content in there which I’m leaving alone, and which is effectively Rae Carson doing to the movie what I’m doing to her book. For instance, I love this addition to the otherwise completely forgettable Sinking Sands moment:

Rey had just enough time to register that the sand around her was a different colour – more black than ochre – and that she’d seen this kind of sand before…
She sank up to her hips.
Her friends were sinking around her, especially Poe.
“… the hell is this?” he said, trying to extricate himself, but his movement only made him sink faster.
“Sinking fields!” Rey said.
The Sinking Fields of Jakku had taken many an unwary soul. She should have recognized the sand right away.
“Grab onto something!”
But there was nothing to grab onto.

(A few paragraphs later)

Tears filled her eyes as she thrashed against the sand. Rey was going to lose them all. Not to a dark and powerful enemy, but to a natural phenomenon she should have recognized. Jakku was going to have its last word after all.

Every now and again there’s something like that in the book which makes me stop and go “Wow. She was trying to fix this story too, and she largely succeeded.”

sade1212 said:

I posted a test of black robe Rey earlier in the thread, which might be the one you’re thinking of. I used EBSynth but it still required a lot of manual masking because the tracking wasn’t great. You can see around her shoulders where I had to mask the original footage back in because EBSynth kept wanting to spread the black to the background as the shot pans (probably would’ve made more sense to start with the ending frame and process it backwards…).

I did try a test of one shot of the end scene using Rotobrush 2.0 instead, but I couldn’t get that to track any better, so it still required me to do a bunch of almost frame-by-frame masking - ultimately I decided it added basically nothing to the film for the time investment and stopped working on it.

I didn’t realise how much I needed this until I saw it. This is such a staggeringly huge improvement, and an almost obscenely impressive piece of VFX work. Well done.

Artan42 said:

I just thought the pull out on the hilt was added to an old dagger. Like olden day Sith would have used it to match the shape of moons or something and it was adapted to show the DSII wreckage.

That’s also a really good option. Although I like the EU wackiness of the Force influencing the Death Star wreckage falling etc etc, I’m ultimately gonna go with either reforging the dagger or adding the hilt to the dagger.

Here’s a comparison between the original and my rewrite of an action scene. I love writing action setpieces, and I have a very specific rhythm I like to use when writing them, which I think is highlighted here. I’ve tried to keep up the pace and make descriptions as fast and easy to understand as possible when I want to keep the excitement rolling, and allow a bit more breathing space and time to imagine the scene when I want to allow the action to ease off and ramp up again. It’s all about controlling that rise and fall, and knowing which moments to make frenetic and breathless for maximum emphasis and fun.

For context, I added a moment earlier during the Pasaana festival where Finn looks at some Aki-Aki children playing with ball-in-cup type toys, where you swing one end of the toy up to the other on a string. I also moved the moment where he maybe uses the Force to a different spot in the chase; I really like that moment, and I didn’t want to remove it entirely.

Original:
https://pastebin.com/axgFyX7a

Edited:
https://pastebin.com/EEd9hbhi

Password for both is CaptainFaraday.

Brewzter said:

CaptainFaraday said:

Yours doesn’t seem to link to a video, at least for me - it links to the vimeo login page instead.

The other one prompts me for a password, which I don’t know.

Whoops! Just fixed it, but here it is again:

https://vimeo.com/459982104

and the password for the other one is just fanedit

Holy hell, I can’t believe how well it works over all three versions. I was absolutely sure it wouldn’t work over the kiss, but it does.

Sidenote; Ben vanishing into the Force isn’t in Hal’s current edit (unless I’m misremembering) - is the intention to add it? I can’t tell if it would strengthen or weaken the Ben Force Ghost “reveal” on Tatooine at the end.

Also: does anyone have the Rey and Palpatine fight with the original soundtrack removed (preferably the version with the Force Ghosts added) which they could send to me? I really want to try out a different trailer-music-placement of my own.

AntonioGK said:

CaptainFaraday said:

I remember Hal saying that soaring majestic music from the final TROS trailer sadly didn’t fit over the climax of the movie, but I don’t remember actually seeing test footage of it myself. Did anyone ever actually make and export an attempt at adding it? (I rewatched the trailer and that soundtrack is just fantastic, and I think it’s a real shame it can’t fit into the movie.)

I did! and I think it fits perfectly… here is just an attempt… if I could only remove the original score in that scene… Take a look at it!!

https://vimeo.com/513676024

I was thinking of centring the main theme drop on the moment when she swings the second lightsaber up, but honestly, this works brilliantly!

Brewzter said:

I have! It’s a bit rough since I’m new to editing but here it is:

https://vimeo.com/manage/459982104/general

I think it fits much better as a climatic score, it’s an amazing track, and gets rid of ANOTHER unfitting misuse of the Force theme.

And over in the TROS ideas thread, amobex recently made an edit of the music over the reylo scene:

https://vimeo.com/512376889

Plus said he’s interested in working on a smoother version of what I tried 😃

Yours doesn’t seem to link to a video, at least for me - it links to the vimeo login page instead.

The other one prompts me for a password, which I don’t know.

I’m psyched to see people have done it, though!

I remember Hal saying that soaring majestic music from the final TROS trailer sadly didn’t fit over the climax of the movie, but I don’t remember actually seeing test footage of it myself. Did anyone ever actually make and export an attempt at adding it? (I rewatched the trailer and that soundtrack is just fantastic, and I think it’s a real shame it can’t fit into the movie.)

I shall watch this fanedit’s career with great interest.

Hal 9000 said:

CaptainFaraday said:

Hal 9000 said:

I guess that POS finally just had something really break.

Technically, there’s nothing stopping me from having Poe say this after they crash…

“And then Poe yelled, ‘GOD FUCKING DAMNIT PIECE OF BULLSHIT,’ as he kicked the Falcon’s console, fracturing his ankle.”

From then on, he stays aboard the Falcon and uses a wheelchair at the base before boarding his X-Wing.

Poe stared in despair as the wreckage of Wexley’s ship peppered down against the Destroyer’s hull.
Cries of terror and despair were lighting up his comm. They were getting torn apart.
“General!” Tyce called. “Do we retreat?”
“What now?” Someone called.
“What’s our next move?”
His people – his friends – were dying all around him.
“My friends,” Poe said, his voice tremulous. “My ankle still hurts.”

Hal 9000 said:

I guess that POS finally just had something really break.

Technically, there’s nothing stopping me from having Poe say this after they crash…

KumoNin said:

You know what my understanding of it was ever since I saw that “dagger outlining the death star wreckage” moment in a theater?

There is the implication that it is an ancient sith dagger. There is the fact that it is completely ridiculous even by TROS standards that whoever made it would go all the way to the wreckage and shape the dagger the way the wreckage is shaped from that angle. There is the fact that Star Wars is mythical and has prophecies and premonitions and other such fantasy stuff.

So I have always just assumed (I don’t know what canon has to say), that it is ancient and the stars alligned that way because something something in-universe poetry, something something the force. It was never a logistics problem. For that matter, why did Palpatine store his pyramid macguffin in a side room on the death star throne room? That moment was also surreal to me. Perhaps he planned to rule from the death star going forward, instead of Coruscant? But anyway, out of all “wait what?” moments in TROS, the dagger-wreckage one is at least pretty neat. And also I like the idea that it was constructed long before the death star.

This is one of my two ideas to potentially implement, actually. Either this, or Ochi having the dagger reforged into the specific shape for it to work.

These are all very intriguing ideas and I can’t wait to see it come together.

How are you planning to create the needed lines (video and audio) for the conversation between Kylo and Anakin?

Eyepainter said:

Change the audio for all 9 star wars films and replace it with white noise.

Changelog:

• Replaced opening theme music with white noise.
• Replaced music cue when Star Destroyer moves overhead with white noise.
• Replaced Tantive IV’s alarm with white noise.
• Replaced rebel soldiers’ footsteps with white noise.
• Replaced explosion sound effect with white noise.
• Replaced C-3PO’s line “Did you hear that? They’ve shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure. This is madness!” with white noise.
• Replaced explosion sound effect with white noise.
• Replaced further rebel soldiers’ footsteps with white noise.
• Replaced C-3PO’s line “We’re doomed!” with white noise.
• Replaced R2-D2’s beeps with white noise.
• Replaced C-3PO’s line “There’ll be no escape for the Princess this time” with white noise.

etc etc etc

Hal 9000 said:

Because I had the chance I decided to watch TFA this afternoon, the first time since seeing TROS. I didn’t notice anything that really seemed to stick out. Rey’s parents were kind and she misses them. Snoke brought up the First Order to reforge the Empire. Kylo Ren encounters his equal in the light. Rey taps into some of her darkness.

Makes sense! I’ll do TLJ someday soon as well. Not expecting it to be as smooth.

This comment night need a Sith Dagger to find the right thread, perhaps? Lol

Unless you’re referring to the novel, there was no indication in the film that the dagger was ancient.

I would have sworn the novel did, but that could be on me, actually. The text repeatedly refers to Ochi as a collector of “ancient Sith artefacts,” and I might have made that connection myself unintentionally. I’ll check.

If you ditch the compass in favor of Sith whispers or mystical guidance, you could use it to point to the Wayfinder regardless of where it might be. But you’d have to maybe have a sticky note on the handle he put the location onto.

The dagger really don’t make no sense.

My favourite part of TROS are the scenes with C-3PO; poor 3PO got really shafted by TFA and TLJ, and I genuinely love that he gets such a starring role in the first act of TROS. So as dumb as it is that there’s a map that points to another map like a videogame fetch quest, I do wanna keep the Sith translation as important as it is, so C-3PO’s sacrifice has the gravitas it should.

Plus, I don’t actually hate the Goonies-style “line up the dagger” thing as a concept. It is dumb that Rey just stands in an arbitrary spot anywhere on a kilometres-long shoreline for it to work, though, and my idea is to add a specific marker that she has to stand on and line the dagger up with, like the medallion in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It certainly don’t make no sense, though, that’s for sure. I’ve spent longer thinking about it than Terrio or Abrams probably did.

I opened these questions up to a Facebook group I’m in, and this is what eventually emerged. Thank you, Star Wars Sithposting Discussion Group!

• Palpatine ordered Rey’s parents’ deaths post-ROTJ, after being resurrected on Exegol.
• The Dagger was an ancient Sith artefact that Palpatine gave to Ochi of Bestoon.

And either:

• Ochi had the Dagger reforged into its current shape after learning of the Wayfinder’s location. He’s a weird Sith cultist who wouldn’t want to disturb the Wayfinder because that would be sacrilegious, but would desire proof that he knew where it was, in a form which only people who speak the ancient language of the Sith could understand.
  Or:
• Ancient Sith made the Dagger in accordance with the will of the Force to see the future, then when the Death Star was destroyed, the Force made the wreckage fall in the same design the Force had inspired the Dagger to be made in. Which is ludicrous, in the pleasing way all the farcical parts that I liked of the EU are ludicrous.

I’m really confused about the Sith Dagger, and need to figure it out before I can comfortably edit the parts related to it.

Ochi of Bestoon has the Sith Dagger. It’s referred to as an ancient Sith artefact, and he’s explicitly described as a collector of ancient Sith artefacts. He also used it to murder Rey’s parents on Palpatine’s orders, prior to Palpatine’s death.

But: the dagger couldn’t have been made any earlier than the destruction of the Second Death Star, because its shape relates to the shape of the fallen wreckage on the horizon, to reveal the location of the wayfinder.

• How can it be ancient and also less than thirty years old?
• Who made it, and why?
• If Palpatine didn’t make it, because he was dead, who else knew the location of the wayfinder?
• Why make a map dagger to begin with, instead of just taking the wayfinder? And if you want to leave it where it is, why would you make a map for other people to find it and take it?
• When did Ochi kill Rey’s parents, if Palpatine gave the order but was also dead before then? (Rey is younger than Kylo, who was canonically conceived just after the Battle of Endor.)
• How did the Sith Dagger go from whoever made it to Ochi of Bestoon?

The more I think about it, the more confused I get.