I would love an invite. Terminator 2 is one of my favorite movies ever made and it deserves to be seen as intended IMO.
All really great ideas! nesboy, I’m curious then what role will Maz even play in the film? They go to meet her, but then we barely see her? I’m interested as to how that will be played out.
Thank you! As for her role, in the film they go to ask her for help delivering BB-8 and she refuses and tells Han to stop running from “the fight” and return to Leia (implies that he should go to the Resistance). I still intend to have this dialogue in the film as well as it doesn’t distract from the film or slow the pacing down. I need to rewatch the film to 100% determine what is staying and going, but the scene where she shows/gives the lightsaber to Finn will definitely stay for continuity reasons.
Finn will talk about how The First Order can destroy them all and are unstoppable, Maz will tell him who can take him to the outer rim. Maz putting on goggles and crawling on a table will be entirely cut out. I am iffy on the monologue Finn has to Rey (really corny IMO) as well “So I ran, right into you, and you laid eyes on me like no one had before” and intend on cutting that down. I will have to play around with it and see how things flow, but I’m not entirely decided on how to implement the side story of Finn leaving, but I do like that his character does try to leave instead of just straight-cut turning into a good guy.
- Rey will have the lightsaber flashback and will run out of the tavern immediately afterwards (no Maz pointlessly explaining to the audience that the lightsaber was calling to her)
I’m sorry but I’m stealing this idea. If I do post it for the public I’ll give you credit though
honestly I think TFA has a very good soundtrack, it was just drowned out
Agreed. Especially when it comes to Snoke’s Theme.
No apology needed. I’m glad that you like it enough to want to use that idea.
Again, how much did we know about the Empire or the Rebellion going into the original film?
Rey is frightened and scared. Maz is trying to reassure her and set her on the right path.
Maz looked pretty darn good in 70mm.
You definitely don’t get much information about the background of the Empire or Rebellion in the original Star Wars. However, we have three films that follow the Rebellion and the Empire (and its eventual demise). For them to almost ignore the ending of Return of the Jedi seems a bit jarring IMO.
Think about the original trilogy though. When Luke enters the cave in Empire Strikes Back and has that terrifying vision we are left to imagine things instead of having Yoda explain what just happened. I am no film critic, but I always believed in the concept of less being more in most situations (which Kasdan seems to have forgotten). Why did Maz have to say the Lightsaber was calling to her, when the audience literally heard it calling to her earlier? Do the writers think the audience is dumb and needs to be told what they just saw a few minutes beforehand? Why does Finn have to be told a lightsaber is a weapon?
It’s not that I am an opponent of Maz’s character design or anything, it’s just that all her dialogue and interactions in the movie do not add anything to the plot and just retell you things you saw earlier.
As for the CG, maybe it was just the theaters I saw it in, but it really did seem to stand out to me. Furthermore, for all the publicity the film received about practical effects, it’s interesting to have two important characters (Maz/Snoke) as CG.
Heck, it could have even been in the title crawl.
Episode VII
THE FORCE AWAKENSLuke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will not rest until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed.
With the support of the REPUBLIC, General Leia Organa leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and gain his help in restoring peace and justice to the galaxy.
Leia has sent her most daring pilot on a secret mission to Jakku, where an old ally has discovered a clue to Luke’s whereabouts….
Yes, I should have clarified this. I do remember that First Order line being in there, but it does not give you background on them. For the most part I usually agree that less is more, but this is one case where I feel there is not enough background for anyone to get an inkling of what the First Order actually is or how they came to be.
Are they ex Imperial workers gone rogue? Did the diminished Empire continue but rebrand itself after the events of Return of the Jedi? Are they imposters trying to be what the Empire once was? How do they have so much money and resources? What became of the Rebellion? Is it the Resistance? Did the Rebellion never further progress? All of these questions are a mystery.
Please keep in mind I am not trying to rag on the entire movie here. I loved the film and saw it 4 times and theaters and am anxiously awaiting the home video release. I just feel that minor changes to the movie could have made it so much better.
It would be amazing to have theatrical prints of the old Disney films. For these films we have no high quality versions without all the digital “restoration” Disney likes to do. Pinocchio is easily my favorite animated film and I’d love to see the original version as it was intended to be seen.
That actually sounds pretty good! I’ll probably check this out
Thanks! I am not sure what Myspleen’s policy on Fan Edits for TFA is going to be due to the legality of it all and how recent the film is. Hopefully though we will have an easy way to share these things.
Excellent idea.
He even included links. How thoughtful.
Thanks for the laughs! I accidentally hit the post button without realizing apparently. I hope you enjoyed your lesson in markdown syntax.
It really is too bad how much material is being left off of this release. I am sure most of it has to do with missing VFX (probably quite a few green screen shots), as well as usually withholding. That being said, it would have been amazing to have the supposed scene where Leia is talking to the Republic about the First Order. This could add some information that was very lacking in the original cut.
Furthermore, there is the Constable Zuvio character who had his own toy yet is only a background character in the film. There is obviously a lot of things that we will see in the future. I understand they would want to hold some stuff back, but 6 deleted scenes that are all under a minute long is really disappointing in my opinion.
My guess is they will one day release the three trilogies for sale as well as a complete saga pack that has a bunch of bonus features as an added disc.
What would be the best way to “cover it up” so to speak? Would something like adding some fog towards the top half of the picture be viable? How about a big lens flare, in JJ Abrams fashion? Most likely though the best bet will be to either leave it in or crop it. At the very least you can add a solid black box over it, so you don’t have to view the numbers changing.
One glaring issue is the lack of explanation of what the First Order or the Republic is in the film. The audience can’t grow any attachment to the Republic as they don’t understand what it is. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t like some long drawn out speech about what the First Order is or how it come to be. I just would have liked some sort of explanation. Heck, it could have even been in the title crawl.
Maz Kanata. She is probably my only major issue with the film. She doesn’t actually add anything new to the story so I am unsure about her appearance in the first place. It’s bad story telling in my opinion when you have a character explicitly tell you everything that is already implied.
Why does Maz have to tell Rey the lightsaber is calling to her when it is glaringly obvious from before? Why does she have to tell Finn that a lightsaber is a weapon when he has already seen one being used before? Why does she have to explain what the force is when Han already did so 5 minutes earlier in the film?
Furthermore, it ruins the pacing to the movie, she is a character that is given all this time and dialogue, yet is nonessential to the plot in any way.
I just don’t understand why she is a part of the movie to be honest.
Also, don’t get me started on how much the CG stands out for her character when even the random background characters in the film are full practical creatures. This applies to Snoke as well.
This is going to be my personal edit of the film. It is mostly pretty minor changes but it will make the film flow better in my opinion:
-Remove 90% of Maz’s Scenes (pointless exposition)
-Remove some Starkiller base items
In addition here are some dream edits I would like to make but do not possess the skills or sources to do so at the moment:
-Change the sound mix to be more like the other 6 films, where the music is quite a bit louder than it is in The Force Awakens (honestly I think TFA has a very good soundtrack, it was just drowned out). This would of course require possession of multitracks to do right or very significant processing to try and extract certain elements out.
-Change the color correction of the film to be closer to the Original Trilogy. TFA looks great and was shot very well, but I do not agree with the final color correction.
Woops had an accidental posting of Markdown Syntax. My apologies.