I didn’t expect to be able to release the next episode today but here it is! It’s probably one of the episodes I’ve substantially changed the most and although Sabine does not get a moment to talk to anyone about her brother and mother being killed, I think the change really works. Her rage against the Empire goes two fold after the incident, as they’ve used her weapon and killed her family. She gets to share a moment with her father (although it’s just a look) but what really sells this change for me is when she turns the duchess on the Empire. With this change I really believe she would have kept using it if it wasn’t for Bo-Katan.

I’m very interested in hearing feedback in regard to this episode, mostly because killing of a main characters parent and sibling is a more radical change, even if it doesn’t change the current canon too substantially.

RELEASED S04E01 - The New Mandalore V4

Downloads

• 1080p version: available
• 1080p recolor: available
• 4K recolor: available
• Subtitles: available

Changes from V3

• For all downloads 5.1 Surround sound added
• Slight improvement to visual quality
• Smaller file size
• Updated intro helmet sequence
• Updated look to introduction text
  • Centred Text
  • Decreased size of Text
• Rewrote introduction text
• Replaced old intro with new one
• Added episode title card
• recut everything in this episode from scratch again to avoid any previous audio mistakes. (I believe I’ve missed some changes but I’ve recorded as much as I could!)
• cut Ezra and Sabine’s exposition dialogue to talk about if her father is inside as this is covered in the intro text.
• also cut the dialogue establishing some enemies for flow purposes.
• cut expositions lines between Sabine and Rau that explain they’re about to free her father, as this is covered in the intro text. I kept the shots however as they’re good visual story telling.
• cut some shots of Sabine getting in position for flow purposes.
• cut Sabine asking what was up with Ezra
• cut Ezra saying he wanted more practice with the jet pack
• cut Sabine saying he’ll pick it up because he’s a Jedi
• cut Chopper’s “on the fly” joke and Ezra’s response.
• cut Chopper sulking in the trench
• cut title card
• cut second shot of Sabine flying and dodging on the Jetpack for flow AND to cut Ezra being incompetent with the jetpack.
  • I’ve got a few reasons to cut Ezra being bad with the jetpack.
  1. He was shown to be relatively competent with thrusters in outer space in the S4 finale (literally the last episode), I would think these skills are somewhat comparable.
  2. It kind of diminishes the Season 3 finale where Kanan says he’s taught Ezra everything he needs.
  3. Comedic relief at the start of a season is not needed, in fact it’s quite jarring here.
• cut the whole Ezra struggling to fly and taking out two stormtroopers sequence.
• cut “well this just got more and more -” “interesting, the word you’re looking for is interesting” exchange between Ezra and Sabine.
• cut continuation of this joke.
• replaced fade to black with a wipe transition to help signify the passage of time.
• cut Sabine asking Rau to contact her mother when she was just told she was on her way and transmissions are blocked. Now Rau just leaves with them.
• cut a bunch of scenes about planning the strike to free Sabine’s father. The scenes themselves are fine but it’s odd they’re only planning now that the enemy is in view AND that Sabine’s mother has already diverted the forces. It feels like there is already a plan in motion.
  • I’ve cut from Rau identifying the convoy to when we have an establishing shot of them before the action gets going.
• cut Chopper taking out a stormtrooper during the action.
  • I don’t object to Chopper getting some take downs, but this trooper was already down and ALREADY getting back up. Makes the rest of the team feel incompetent so it’s gone.
• cut “Are you with Sabine?” and Ezra’s awkward reaction, Sabine’s dad asks him if Ezra is a Jedi immediately after and the barrage of questions feels odd, he can have just one.
• cut fade to black
• cut establishing shot as its no longer needed without the fade to black.
• cut Ezra’s commentary on Sabine’s father and family
  • It always felt weird to me that he comments on them. I guess its was for children watching so they can understand the dynamics a bit easier but this cut removes these sorts of things so its gone.
• cut Bo Katan’s exposition about “The Duchess”
• trimmed Sabine’s response to Ezra (cut “you heard my father”)
• cut title card
• cut all scenes of and Ursa and Triston Surviving “The Duchess” attack.
  • I’ve cut from Sabine crying about her parents to Rau identifying the Empire
• cut a shot of the Supercommandos firing at the Wrens.
• trimmed a shot of Ursa falling back with Sabines dad to remove them.
• cut Kanan saying to get Sabines “Mother and” “father out of here” so now he just stays father
• cut the shot directly after to avoid more VFX work.
• cut wide shot of the missile moving towards the speeder
• cut shot of speeder getting blown up
• cut “are you alright?” “better then the bike” exchange between Ursa and Ezra.
• trimmed the start of the next shot with Kanan so it flows better
• cut “they’ve cut us off” shot as it shows Ursa
• trimmed the shot when a Mando ship lands and Bo hurries everyone onboard to not show Ursa.
• cut audio of Ezra beginning the weird joke explained below. (I kept the video of Bo-Katan jumping out the ship)
• cut all shots with weird joke with Ezra thinking he’s being called a Mandalorian by Bo-Katan
• cut the slapstick Ezra getting hit by the TIE fighter sequences
• cuts scenes with Tristan and Ursa onboard the Mando ship.
• cut reaction shot of Ezra seeing Bo Katan pin Sabine to the wall as it has Ursa in it.
• cut a shot of Bo Katan looking at Sabine for pacing.
• cut Ezra asking why the Mando’s don’t just use a different metal for their armour followed by getting a Mando history lesson. Found the whole sections to be clunky
• cut shot of Ezra and Sabine getting ready to fight (doesn’t flow well thanks to the next cut)
• cut shot of Sabine’s family sticking up for her to the other Mandalorians.
• cut the scene planning the attack to remove Ursa and Triston
  • Used a wipe to connect these two scenes
• cut shot of Ezra and Triston looking at each other mid flight.
• cut Bo Katan overexplaining who the Duchess was
• cut Sabine saying “it was a series of bad decisions okay”
• cut the shot after the last for flow
• cut fade to black
• cut Ezra pulling up his visor to look into a battle and say “whoa”
• cut Ezra pulling his visor down as it was now never opened.
• cut Triston’s line when Ezra reconvenes after his mission
• repurposed shot of Ezra talking to Triston to make it to Rau.
• cut Rau asking Triston and Ezra to knock it off, took Ezra’s audio asking where Sabine is and placed it on the previous shot.
  • Used the remainder of this shot as normal.
• cut “What’s happening?” “The weapon’s been turned against the empire” … yes we know that Rau thanks.
• cut “Well… that looks bad.” line from Ezra… yes Ezra, that does look bad, we can see that! Kept the shot just removed the line.
• cut scene with Ezra running off for flow purposes.
• cut scene of Sabine, Bo and Ursa entering through a door to remove Ursa.
• cut some dialogue between Sabine and Bo so they get straight to business. It was just about the Empire coming after Bo Katan and has no real baring on the story Rebels is telling.
• trimmed shot of Sabine, Bo and Ursa opening the ship door to make the removal of Ursa easier
  • Removed Ursa from the shot
• cut shot of Bo Katarn, Sabine and Ursa walking down the ramp of Bo’s ship (wasn’t needed and it makes my CGI work easier).
• Added a generic Mando helmet over the shot that shows Tristan
  • Just took the Helmet from the Mando next to him, cleaned it up a bit and recolored it then resized and added motion.
• cut “Clan Wren is with you” from Ursa
• cut shot of Sabine first handing Bo Katan the Darksaber to avoid having to CGI Ursa out of the background, instead I’ve kept “Now I understand why this saber came to me” from Sabine and put it over the next few shots.
• cut the shot of Bo Katan Igniting the Darksaber as I was having trouble convincingly removing Ursa.
• Updated the look of the end credit ‘concept art’
  • Added a cracked paint effect to all concept art
  • Added a canvas texture to all concept art
• Created subtitles
• Added chapters, subtitles and both title card art options to the video file metadata.
• created new and old style title card artwork for the renamed episode.

For recolors only:

• Fixed colors for introduction sequence
• Fixed colors of end credit sequence

Viewing Notes

Episode is critical as it concludes a plot line for the series.

SophieScholl said:

Hello! I would like a download for all the latest versions; this sounds really cool!!!

PM sent 😃

Hi everyone! Sorry it’s been a bit since my last update (it will be a while longer until the next). I’m saving all the feedback provided here for myself to review when I’ve got some spare time to keep editing (Something I have not had a lot of time of recently and for the next few months atleast). I’ve got my own wedding coming up aswell as parental and university commitments. But I’ll be right back at it once I’ve got more spare time ! 😄

Thanks for all that awesome feedback PsyGemini! I’ve saved it away for when I’ve got time to continue editing. Life’s been full on at the moment. I’m still working on S04E01 but I think it works a lot better then my V3 that’s for sure!

justinbailey627 said:

Can you please send me the link?

THC1138 said:

Would love a link to these, as well! Thanks!

PM Sent 😃

honestabe said:

A few thoughts for season 3:

E5

13:17 We have an appearance by Bendu after Sabine kicked him. What is the purpose of including him?

No role in the episode besides that 2 second appearance. If you were looking for perfection and nitpicking, you could remove him, but not sure if that is even worth the effort for you.

In isolation, this moment is a bit off however it’s nessicary to connect the threads laid out in this episode of Sabine’s force sensitivity 😃 so I’ll keep it in.

E7

26 Kallus laughs and [spoiler] tells Thrawn rebels will somehow emerge victorious out of certain defeat. Thrawn arrogantly responds that he is basically superior to Kallus so he will end up victorious. Perhaps some of the spoiler lines can be removed here. Thrawn also looks like a fool if he brags and then loses later on. Kallus really is no position to act arrogantly as he was clearly just tortured by Thrawn. He should not have the confidence to boast, but instead continue to feel afraid until we later see him more positive when dealing with Price who does mess things up.

I actually think this moment works well. I don’t think it’s a spoiler (even though it comes true). As we see later on with Pryce, he’s trying to bait Thrawn (as he does successfully to Pryce) so he can make his escape. I actually think this highlights Thrawn as superior as he claims but I’m willing to hear what others think about this moment as I might change it 😃

33:44 Thrawn states “What Jedi devilry is this?” in relation to the Bendu storm. I think he should be smart enough to know Jedi - particularly Kanan and Ezra - are incapable of making storms. No logical reason for him to assume the Jedi would suddenly have this power when it never happened in the past.

I think removing the word Jedi from the line would be sufficient. It comes across as a shocked person saying, “what the hell?”

That’s a good idea. I’ll see if I can get that working. If not, I’ll keep it as is 😃

==> Your modifications to the Bendu storm along with hiding the voice worked out quite excellently. Thrawn clearly comes across as much more intelligent by figuring out how to stop Bendu without having the blatant hint of looking at him in the sky.

Thanks! Before it felt so painfully obvious thrawn was stupid not to have done that immediately 😂

honestabe said:

I almost forgot. In the opening text for season 2, episode 11 the text notes:

"Meanwhile, amidst the chaos, Chopper embarks on a personal quest, driven by a desire to reclaim a missing component of his own.

Left behind and determined, he clandestinely boards an imperial cargo ship, forging an unexpected alliance with AP5."

With the way the episode plays out, we do not really find out about Chopper’s personal quest or what this missing component was. That statement confused me as there is no follow-up.

I understand your point here. I wrote that intro text much earlier then when I settled on the current iteration for the start of that episode. There actually is a follow-up however.

My wife and I thought the exact same thing you thought when finishing our most recent watch. To immediately then have chopper on screen stealing a droid leg in my “concept art” end credits. We laughed so hard I decided to keep it in the episode as is. I’m definitely open to changing it if overall it’s just confusing, I just thought it worth noting that I did follow-up on it in some manner (although not intentionally).

honestabe said:
E1

32:13 When Ahsoka senses Vader, maybe add a brief flashback right after Vader states that, “the apprentice lives” and we see Ahsoka fainting - this could be interpreted as a dream sequence. It could be an emotional moment they had from the Clone Wars such as Ahsoka informing Anakin she is leaving the Jedi order.

While I do really like this idea, I am hesitant to implement it. It would provide spoilers for the Clone Wars and although Rebels can continue arcs from that show, it definitely stands on it’s own merits and to have the specific moment you’ve suggested could be a major spoiler. I do agree with the point you make later on about how this should be explored earlier. I’ll keep thinking about this because I do like the idea. Maybe Anakin saying “snips?” then Ahsoka faints could help emphasise the moment. Maybe I could try make a sequence that looks like Anakin’s force visions in episode 3 might be a nice touch. I’ll experiment and see if I can come up with something. If I can’t, it does still work as is.

I know flashbacks are not a thing in Star Wars, but this might be the rare situation to put one in to add emotional depth. It could really enhance their meeting later on when Ahsoka tells Vader she will not leave him 'this time.'We establish right away Ahsoka feeling guilty and she is having a vision of the past while unconscious.

I always avoid flashbacks for star wars. I try to keep in mind how Lucas intended the films styles. He sees them as documentaries (which is why we don’t have things like flashbacks). I do agree that something here could enhance the moment, but for my edit, it won’t be a flashback (though it may use footage from Clone Wars if I add something) 😃

E4

13:50 Here we see the inquisitors using the force slowing down the ship from leaving. I would cut this and have the rebels escape without restraint. This is a source of a continuity error in Star Wars. The only other times we see this, as far as I am aware, is with Vader in the Kenobi show, and Ahsoka at the end of the Clone Wars. We otherwise never see Jedi or Sith do this on several ocassions when presented with the opportunity. For example, if Vader has the power to do this, why not do it at the end of Rogue One or several moments stopping the Millennium Falcon in the OT?

Heck, Yoda was slowly able to move Luke’s unmoving ship in ESB, but the inquisitors could stop a ship flying away at full speed?

I agree, not sure how I missed this moment! I’ll try take it out and see how things flow.

E5

36:58 Ryder Azadi loudly proclaims Kanan’s a Jedi after Kanan ignites his lightsaber. I think this episode is problematic as is with Leia witnessing a lightsaber and Ezra using the force. I do not think she should potentially hear any mention of Jedi until we get to the OT - she does tells Luke in ROTJ that she does not understand his power. When Leia first meets Kanan and Ezra, she tells them she knows them, but I think this is acceptable as I believe Bail would not specifically tell her those two are Jedi. (I am disregarding what Leia experienced in the Kenobi show).

I think disregarding the Kenobi show is the right options (in my opinion it breaks too much lore to be considered canon). I don’t think this moment breaks anything though, she can know what a Jedi is and not understand their powers but I agree it’s a bit iffy and not really the initial intention. I’ll see if I can remove it but for the previous reason listed I’m not too fussed if I can’t. 😃

E11

10:49 Kanan and Ezra get into a really childish “common sense” argument over Ezra trying to connect with the spiders. I think their argument here can be removed. It comes across as excessively petty and childish to me.

I originally kept this moment as I think it’s important to show Ezra’s arrogance here, but the end of this exchange after Kanan says maybe he should teach him more common sense could be cut. I’ll review this further when I’m back to fixing up this episode 😃

Again, thanks a lot for all this feedback! 😄 Very insightful and very worthwhile.

GLogus said:

I watched the first episode. My main criticism is that you don’t linger long enough on establishing shots, giving the edit a rushed, sometimes confusing feel.

Thanks for the feedback GLogus! I really value this type of feedback. As I’ve become exceedingly familiar with Rebels, confusion while watching becomes a difficult thing for me to judge when viewing.

Are you able to point to any direct examples? I’m fairly sure this is a result of the original work. I can think of a few examples that I’ve had to shorten an establishing shot for a wipe transition but as far as I’m aware these instances are few and far between.

Do you have any advice on how to remedy this? I’ll be returning to the first episode to implement feedback soon so any more on this point would be amazing 😃

Yes I agree, the show does start losing members of Phoenix Cell in Season 3 which goes a long way to making Thrawn feel credible. And I’ve been steadily upping the death count in the show as much as possible to add that tangible sense of loss.

As a side note here is how the end of the episode is looking with only Sabine’s father alive: https://youtu.be/sfOjeyp5bzA (this was the hardest part of this edit as it required me to do some visual effects work to remove Ursa and Tristan. I’d say it looks like I’m in the clear for pulling off Sabine’s mother and brother being killed by the duchess now that this section has the completed VFX)

I’ve got a pretty crazy idea I think I can pull off for S04E01.

Something that ALWAYS bothered me about this ark is that it hints that Sabine’s weapon kills her mother and brother, but then backs way off and shows that they’re alive and well. After like 2 minutes of dramatic music and shots and originally that was an episode cliffhanger.

Here’s my idea: I cut out Ursa and Tristan from returning and from any subsequent shot needed that they appear in.

Honestly, after this point, they do nothing of note in canon (or the episode) until they’re all killed offscreen before the Ahsoka show anyway. As far as I can tell, all that this changes is one (admittedly good) YouTube short with Tristan and Sabine.

With their deaths however, we have one high stakes ark about Sabine learning to forgive and not give into revenge as led by Bo Katan. I believe this change will also reframe this ark to make it not seem like it’s about Sabine becoming the leader Mandalore needs as this is not what ends up happening (at least currently anyway).

It’s a pretty drastic change so I wanted to post to get some thoughts.

EDIT: Another bonus if I include this is that it sets the tone for season 4. There will be victory but it’ll cost.

Wow! Thank you so much honestabe! That is some awesome feedback. All of which either merits consideration and change within season 1. Naturally, you can tell that reducing Jedi talk wasn’t an initial priority but I think it is a better choice of action. We’ll likely see some new versions of Season 1 episodes coming out. If you get a chance to combe through season 2 for instances like this, I’d greatly appreciate it! 😄

EP1:
All instances in episode one I think you’re spot on about and I’ll look into removing or changing them.

EP3:
I don’t mind them not knowing what they’re guarding but it is silly to have them say it aloud.

EP4:
I don’t actually mind the line at 23:53 - HOWEVER, I do think the scene would be more intimidating if he said nothing. So I’ll look into this.

Totally agree with the next line you pointed out as well.

EP6:
Moment at 5:10 I agree. I’ll likely cut the whole scene.

9:45 - I actually don’t mind too much. Yes he talks about Jedi in front of a crowd but it’s a small crowd. I also think due to working with the grand inquisitor Kallus should NOW be more familiar with the Jedi so it does make sense to a certain extent.

17:09 - Again, I don’t actually mind this line, however on a second inspection it’s unclear who “the jedi” is. Is it Ezra who is wielding a saber, or is it Kanan holding the fan. Would the unarmed rebel register as a “Jedi” to the stormtroopers? I think I’ll cut it completely.

EP7:
3:25 - I agree to keep it in.

6:20 - I think is fine. To make things fit with the OT the most, I think the Force and the Jedi are known about to differing levels in differing areas (e.g., planets, organisations, ect.). The citizens of Lothal become the rebels in season 3-4, so having rumors of Jedi around trying to help actually works and by presenting it as a rumor at this stage emphasises what memory the galaxy’s had of the Jedi is fading.

20:00 - I agree to keep it as is, he is diminishing the credibility of the claim which is important.

28:00 - Yeah, not much I can do with this being a pivotal plot point. I think that EVEN if the underworld spreads this information, not many people could find it reliable being from the criminal underworld and all.

To address your edited comment. I actually don’t think we’ll need any additional lines to fill in any blanks (at least for this season) but I’ll work that out as I review this feedback while editing 😃 Again thank you a lot! This is all very helpful! 😄

RELEASED S02E04 - Brother and Sister V4.2

Downloads

• 1080p version: available
• 1080p recolor: available
• 4K recolor: available
• Subtitles: available

Changes from V4.1

• Implemented 5.1 audio fix
• Added chapters to metadata
• Added English subtitles to metadata
• Added both episode title cards to metadata

For 4K only:

• Reduced file size

RELEASED S02E03 - Pirates of the Horn V4.2

Downloads

• 1080p version: available
• 1080p recolor: available
• 4K recolor: available
• Subtitles: available

Changes from V4.1

• Implemented 5.1 audio fix
• Added chapters to metadata
• Added English subtitles to metadata
• Added both episode title cards to metadata

For 4K only:

• Reduced file size

RELEASED S03E07 - Zero Hour V4

Downloads

• 1080p version: available
• 1080p recolor: available
• 4K recolor: available
• Subtitles: available

Changes from V3

• For all downloads 5.1 Surround sound added
• Slight improvement to visual quality
• Smaller file size
• Updated intro helmet sequence
• Updated look to introduction text
  • Centred Text
  • Decreased size of Text
• Rewrote introduction text
• Replaced old intro with new one
• Added episode title card
• recut everything in this episode from scratch again to avoid any previous audio mistakes.
• cut titlecard
• cut Thrawn saying “my spies report” as in my edit, Thrawn got this information through the Fulcrum transmissions as explained by the intro text.
  • I made this change to make Thrawn seem more competent. He did say in the last episode tha Fulcrum would be much more of an asset than Kallus ever was, so let’s deliver on that over multiple fronts.
• cut fade to black
• cut next fade to black
• cut scenes of Ezra talking with Mon Mothma, as in my edit, he’s never met her directly so this conversation feels a bit out of nowhere. She can’t help anyway.
• cut “Alright Thrawn, your move.” from Hera. It’s just useless dialogue to bridge into the titlecard.
• cut titlecard
• cut fade to black
• cut next fade to black
• cut establishing shot after fade to black
• cut close up of the Rebels after establishing shot
• cut Thrawn saying he requires an answer as now he just asked the question, thats implied.
• cut shot of Kanan igniting his saber (moved the audio to future shot with Hera answering Thrawn) while the Rebels cower.
• removed Bendu’s eyes from “I’m the Bendu” force storm scene
  • Removing the eyes serves two purposes:
    1. It doesn’t expose much of the Empire to a giant force being of intense power directly. E.g., Now they could feasibly think it was just an extreme weather event.
    2. This makes Thrawn seem even more competent as when he gives the order to shoot at the centre of the storm, its not a giant creature obviously in the middle of it.
  • Took a screenshot of the cloud formation directly before the eyes begin to open and used this as a base
  • Added film grain and 4 layers of this image to mask and rotate to blend it into the Rebels style and create motion.
  • One layer was added as a colour shift to help blend the changing of colors in the scene.
  • removed line “I’m the Bendu”
• removed Bendu’s eyes from second force storm scene “I bring death”
  • Created new image to overlay to remove the cloud eye beams. This was done mostly with a brush in image editing software, following by blending in real photos of clouds to create the right texture.
  • Used similar techniques from the previous storm shot to simulate some movement in the clouds
• trimmed establishing shot of Bendu’s force storm to remove showing him talking. (The shot nolong pans up to his face in the clouds)
  • Masked and recolored the tiny bit of orange light that still remained in the shot.
• cut Kanan saying “You heard him.” as in my edit, there is no Bendu to hear at this point.
• trimmed shot with the rebels running to cut showing the Bendu in the sky.
• trimmed shot of the rebels taking off for the same reason.
• cut shot in the cockpit of the Ghost as you can hear Bendu saying “Kanan Jarrus, jedi knight!”
• cut shot of Bendu opening his eyes as the Rebels escape chopper base.
• removed Bendu storm eyes from establishing shot with Thrawn on chopper base
  • Followed the same steps as outlined in the previous shot altered.
• cut a shot of Thrawn looking at the force storm and not saying anything.
• cut Bendu telling thrawn to “Leave this place!”
• removed Bendu Eyes in storm while it’s being shot the first time
  • Followed the same steps as the last two eye removals
• removed Bendu Eyes UNTIL he is shot the second time
  • Once he is shot down, this is the only time you see the outline of his face.
  • Followed the same steps as the previous shots but changed the opacity of my new images based on when the Bendu get’s shot.
  • I’m fine with showing a little bit of Cloud Bendu in the sky, especially as it’s still believable that this was not a creature. Keeping in mind we get a close up of this while the ground troops and Thrawn do not.
• cut all scenes of Thrawn with the Bendu
  • As recommended by honestabe, the removal of Thrawn’s encounter with the Bendu removes the plot thread of Thrawn’s defeat (and lowkey spoiler for the ending of the series). It also limits the exposure of none force users to force users, further guiding the galaxy to what was setup by the Original Trilogy.
• Updated the look of the end credit ‘concept art’
  • Added a cracked paint effect to all concept art
  • Added a canvas texture to all concept art
• Created subtitles
• Added chapters, subtitles and both title card art options to the video file metadata.
• created new and old style title card artwork for the renamed episode.

For recolors only:

• Fixed colors for introduction sequence
• Fixed colors of end credit sequence

Viewing Notes

Episode is critical as it continues the main plotline.

RELEASED S02E02 - Relics of the Republic V4.2

Downloads

• 1080p version: available
• 1080p recolor: available
• 4K recolor: available
• Subtitles: available

Changes from V4.1

• Implemented 5.1 audio fix
• Added chapters to metadata
• Added English subtitles to metadata
• Added both episode title cards to metadata

For 4K only:

• Reduced file size

It might be a little longer until I can release the 4K version of Fulcrum, unfortunately a power outage at my home corrupted the file during the upscaling process. I’ve got S02E02 ready with the audio fix, so I’ll likely release that soon and then begin the upscaling process again.

In the meantime, here is a sneak peak at the work I’ve put into Bendu’s force storm for Zero Hour:
https://youtu.be/k_CvUxWykjs

Thanks again to honestabe for suggesting to tone down what the Empire is exposed to when it comes to beings who can use the force.

The only scene I haven’t been able to remove the eyes from completely is when Bendu is shot down from the sky, however I think this works MUCH better then the original version 😃

PsyGemini said:

I also agree to take a “less is more” aproach with AI, only using it when absolutely necessary, and even then, very sparsely.

Thanks PsyGemini, this is the approach I will continue to take within the edit after hearing all the feedback from my previous idea. 😃

As it stands, the only AI used in the edit is for the Sith Holocron Voice (text-to-speech). It will soon be replaced with a new dub (by me) which has had AI map on top of it. I originally used AI to assist in making adjustments to the writing style of my intro texts, but I’ve long since forgone that process after learning the style for myself.

EddieDean said:

I love the animated cast, so I wouldn’t see much value in trying to replace them.

I too love the animated cast. I also love the movie cast. I probably love the movies more as I grew up with the prequels though.

That’s a good point about the change not being valuable, in fact given the previous posts it may hurt my edit rather then enhance my edit for what would be A LOT of work. Thanks for your comment Eddie!

Daiyus said:

Thanks for all the hard work g00b, these are turning out great.

When it comes to AI implementation, I’ve always felt the less, the better. It can be a powerful tool to adjust the context of a scene or two for pacing/story, but to replace entire character’s worth of dialogue? I’m just not sure it needs it. The Rebels/Clone Wars cast have already done a great job, particularly those that aren’t movie casts, and it could be perceived as a little disrespectful to the source material and the voice actors to swap a whole character for AI.

Thanks for the feedback! This is the kind of pushback I’m looking for!

For context: I am an artist, not just an editor. Working in stage/film, visual mediums, voiceworks and game development. I have never had problems with AI, hence why I asked the previous question. (I know most artists do have issues with AI)

For further clarification, the AI I now use maps over actors performances to change voices. So in a sense it would keep the original actors work. I see this type of AI as purely an audio effect, like how they’d make General Grevious’ voice but I do understand other people may not share this viewpoint.

All of that being said, the change is fairly needless but is one that focuses on stylistic choices. I have zero problems with the original performances, it’s just odd to me that Rebels has half animated cast and half live action cast.

After reading your point of how this could be taken as disrespectful for the original work and actors, I’m on the side of not implementing this change so I’m glad I put the idea out there.

I’ve managed to polish up the AI lines I’ve used for the Sith Holocron to a standard that I’m VERY happy with, rather then a standard I’ll accept (what’s currently in the episode). I’ll be updating these lines when I revisit Twilight of the Apprentice and then I’ll fix up the lines in S03E01.

On the subject of AI lines, I’ve got a question to ask those out there who check on this forum. Rebels tends to use the film cast when extended universe characters appear (i.e., The Emperor, Vader, Yoda, Lando) but uses the Clone Wars cast for some (The clones, Obi-Wan, Anakin). I have the means to create convincing Temuera Morrison dialogue for the clones, and a Hayden Christensen Anakin. I’m currently looking into Ewan McGregor style Obi-Wan.

If I’m successful in my experiments with Obi-Wan, should I redo all these lines so Rebels is cohesively the movie cast to voice characters?

RELEASED S03E06 - Fulcrum V4

Downloads

• 1080p version: available
• 1080p recolor: available
• 4K recolor: available
• Subtitles: available

Changes from V3

• For all downloads 5.1 Surround sound added
• Slight improvement to visual quality
• Smaller file size
• Updated intro helmet sequence
• Updated look to introduction text
  • Centred Text
  • Decreased size of Text
• Rewrote introduction text
• Replaced old intro with new one
• Added episode title card
• recut everything in this episode from scratch again to avoid any previous audio mistakes.
• cut everything from the first shot looking through the binoculars up until the second shots.
  • This was all exposition that’s covered in my intro text, so it’s doesn’t need to be repeated.
• cut shot of Ezra saying “Look out blockade!”, Ryder can clearly see past you Ezra… and a blockade is a bit hard to miss.
• cut the noises Ezra made while the speeder was turning around. They were a bit too goofy.
• cut Kanan quipping Ryder after he says its good to have them back.
• cut the first travel shot in the speeder (for flow after cutting the title card)
• cut the title card
• cut Ezra making comments on Kallus’ “new” boss.
• cut Ezra loudly announcing that it’s Thrawn.
• cut the shots reacting to Thrawn’s speeder demonstration. (I do like this to an extent but it makes it far too obvious far too early Kallus is Fulcrum)
• cut chopper saying “uh oh” before the fade to black
• cut fade to black
• cut next fade to black
• reworked the second worker ending to make Thrawn execute him instead of escort him away. I don’t understand why he’d kill Sumar and let the other worker, who sabotages a much bigger and more expensive vehicle, live.
  • cut the walker worker being taken away
  • added a SFX of the worker being shot and killed
• cut Ryder talking with Hera as it was easier then keeping the scene and taking out Sabine. It’s also not needed and keeps the pace of the episode going.
• cut Kallus saying he saved Sabine at the fighter academy (this was never shown in my edit)
• reworked previous shots and dialogue to keep flow
• cut Kallus complaining about being hurt
• added sound effect of the Imperial hitting the ground to the shot of Kallus talking to better bridge these two scenes.
• cut Kanan wanting to hurt Kallus, it felt a bit too not Jedi’y for the sake of a joke.
• completely reworked the scenes back on Attalon to remove Sabine.
  • Used initial establishing shot
    • removed Sabine with by overlaying images on top of her
    • added hologram turning on VFX to better bridge this scene and the next
    • used a different shots sound to get the hologram turning on noise
  • Used footage of Hera looking at the starfighter plans
    • used the original audio “I’ve never seen an Imperial fighter like that”
    • used audio from a later shot “our pilots won’t stand a chance” over second half of the same shot
  • Used shot of Kanan, Ryder and Ezra reacting, replacing with music with the music from the scene where Zeb is talking to Hera saying “Maybe that’s why they’re so secret”
  • Added a wipe from this shot to the shot of Sabine’s artwork being studied by Thrawn.
• added a eye close effect to bridge episodes and make the eye opening effect from Through Imperial Eyes work better in this format. It also helps convey a minor passage of time and explain the change of environment.
• cut close up of Kallus after seeing Ezra Bridger (it’s not needed with the title card removed)
• cut title card
• cut AP5 saying he can wait for processing
• cut Kallus being scared about being executed for treason… why would he become Fulcrum if he’s scared of that?
• cut Lyste exposing that the Grand Admiral has only just arrived on Lothal, for this episode, he’s already here so this doesn’t make the most sense.
  • I’ve cut a few scenes around here, I’ve cut from Lyste praising Kallus getting a confession to just before he says to take the prisoner. All for flow purposes.
• cut the scene with Rex and Kanan in the Imperial Shuttle
  • The scene if fine but as Kanan was on Lothal with Ezra, it feels weird to see him in hyperspace.
  • The scene also isn’t really needed as AP-5 explains they need the codes to escape the ship when they free Ezra anyway.
• cut Chopping trying to download clearance codes from a random socket (he should know he can’t do this by now surely…)
• cut fade to black
• cut the second scene and Rex and Kanan in hyperspace for the same reasons as the previous. All information contained here in still conveyed in the main storyline at some stage.
• cut fade to black
• cut shot of Thrawn in the doorway as we don’t need it without the commercial break
• cut shot of the shuttle in hyperspace for again, the previous reasons.
• cut shot of Rex saying “well, here goes nothing” and moved the dialogue to the trimmed next shot
• Trimmed the shot of the shuttle coming out of hyperspace so they’re just in orbit.
• cut Kanan and Rex talking about how many ships are in orbit over Lothal, Kanan was just on or was still on Lothal so he should know this already (in my cut at least)
• Updated the look of the end credit ‘concept art’
  • Added a cracked paint effect to all concept art
  • Added a canvas texture to all concept art
• Created subtitles
• Added chapters, subtitles and both title card art options to the video file metadata.
• created new and old style title card artwork for the renamed episode.

For recolors only:

• Fixed colors for introduction sequence
• Fixed colors of end credit sequence

Viewing Notes

Episode is critical for character development, showing off Thrawn’s skill and threat and for setup into the finale of this season.

PsyGemini said:

I can’t find the 1080p recolor at the usual place.

Whoops! Missed a spot to upload it to hahaha. I’m uploading it now, in the meantime I’ve sent you a DM with the link to the spreadsheet. All the links there should be working 😃 If you’d rather wait, it’ll be uploaded to Terabox in about 10 minutes or so.

TheDimitrios said:

Short Update: Had to redo the sound for Ep1, now the 5.1 works correctly and the transitions are smoother.

Since G00b upped his game, I also redid Kessel. New Version of Ep1 and Ep2 coming soon.

Looking good! 😄