whoa … I have nothing to add expect I am so freaking excited. Your clips looks great.
How do you transition back out of the water rescue? I am crazy curious here as I like the direction.
Excited to see your work… I watched episode 1 and 2 with some fellow star wars nerds and we thought they were perfect.
This is something I put together in the other Kenobi redux thread, just in case it could be relevant to this project in some way:
I was one of those suckers who was actually really excited for Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) because Deborah Chow and Kelley DIxon’s work on Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad fuckin’ rule. Needless to say, that was a bit misguided.
I don’t think I’m going to do the whole show, but it was just a fun little experiment. The edit isn’t supposed to be like BB/BCS fwiw, just approaching the material with some of the storytelling philosophy I learned from them.
At the very least, Deborah Chow’s sensibilities as a director were still conducive to being arranged in this way so at least some of my excitement wasn’t unfounded
I just wish there was the opening crawl and started something in space.
Making Haja bad guy?
Those are some great arguments. And thank you for your support - as always.
The line (“I killed Anakin Skywalker”) will be reinstated, and your arguments for it are very good. It allows obi-wan to put his guilt behind him, and not consider his friend completely gone.
Beautiful.
“It’s beautiful” - Director Krennic
I agree: we can reintroduce that line and leave out the rest!
I’m so glad that you’re working on this. The writing had so many logic issues and plot holes that I ended up really not liking the series - even though I admit it has cool moments…it’s as if cool moments were all they were after though. I’m excited to see how this turns out!
It feels like they took the movie idea and stretched it just to fill time.
Theme that you may want to check out:
Just remember, this is your edit … make it how YOU want. We can give advice, but in the end it is just advice.
Anjohan said:
I hope the removal of the lines “I killed Anakin Skywalker” and “Then my friend is truly dead” will help clarify to the audience that Obi-Wan still sees his friend in there and that killing him is just not in his heart. Thank you for a great assesment of the problem.You’re gutting the whole series of its emotional climax! Too many faneditors get so caught up in their desire to preserve canon and continuity that they will sacrifice important thematic elements of a story. This whole series is about Obi-wan being haunted by his sense of guilt over Anakin and then finally being released from that guilt. It was a powerful moment of catharsis truly unrivaled by the rest of the series. An editor’s first priority should be helping a good story come to the fore. I also think a good fanedit works with the original vision of the media, not against it. You are trying to fix something that ostensibly breaks the OT, but I assure you, you cannot make the OT one bit better or worse with this edit; you can only improve the material that you’re working with.
I agree with this, and honestly I don’t see him not finishing Vader off as an issue. Sure, he recognizes that Anakin is gone, but recognizing it is one thing, and striking the killing blow himself is another. He couldn’t do it on Mustafar, and I think he still couldn’t do it here.
Well, I agree. I always did. But it still is an issue for most.
However, perhaps I should just re-insert the two lines - or just the “I killed Anakin Skywalker” and call it quits. The halfway point.
I don’t see it as a game changer either way. Episode 6 works almost as is (without Reeva).
To me, that’s the best it both. From Vader’s pov … Anakin is dead, but that doesn’t mean Obi feels the same. This will Be perfect.
I also like the Reva arc, although I understand the need to trim it down. I admit I too was confused about her motivations with Luke, and it was my wife who pointed out that Reva was trying to kill Vader’s children the way he slaughtered the younglings, as “revenge”. Not sure it makes a whole lot of sense since Vader doesn’t know about Luke, but Reva is acting more out of rage than rationality.
I enjoyed the ending and think this is really how the prequels should have ended. The canon stretching doesn’t bother me anymore. I think of each trilogy, series, or standalone film as self-contained entities that are only loosely connected, because the writing, direction, production style, and plot details just don’t match up with each other.
But one piece of canon that I will never understand is why Vader has a castle on Mustafar. Do you think maybe you could end the Palpatine/Vader scene with a profile shot of Vader? It’s nice to hear the Imperial March, but he just looks so silly sitting on his throne in this empty room staring straight at camera in a frustratingly symmetrical wide shot. It just calls too much attention to itself. Like, what was Vader doing 15 seconds after this shot?
He calls it his ship also in ESB. “Take the princess and the Wookiee to my ship.”
I think they’re remembering the menacing way he said “Bring my shuttle” in ESB, which, for some reason was replaced with a poorly filtered “Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival.”
I wanted to love Mustafar, but found the whole thing cheesy. And what more does the scene give us? Last time we should have seen Vader was when he was defeated.
I think what the version that worked that I have seen were using another language track (German / Japanese) and running through some kind of “alien filter”. Was curious if it was something you had tried vs a reply that you should do it.
Did you ever try any of the alien voices vs the bad accents? When I see those edits, though not perfect, it comes off closer to a more mature experience.
Not a TPM fan, but your grading is phenomenal. It looks a far better movie because of it.
I salute you on your efforts, thanks for the update post! Can’t wait to see the finished product.
I am in full support of everything in your latest update.
What about Obi-Wan not killing Anakin?
Well, as I’ve now answered the point about Qui-Gon, I always interpreted this scene that Obi-Wan felt he had inflicted enough damage on his old friend. I never once questioned why he left him like he did on Mustafar, but having heard you guys debate it over and over again have made me wonder if this is a huge problem for most? If so, I’m open to more ideas…
This is the last thing that does bug me a bit. Here’s my suggestion… Save the end of Obi-Wan & Anakin’s fight from “AotC” for the end of the final fight between Obi-Wan & Vader in Episode 6. Instead of Obi-Wan saying “Then my friend is truly dead,” (this is the line that confuses me, because if that statement were true, then why would you not kill him here to protect Luke and Leia?) and instead have Obi-Wan complete his reflection on their duel as student & master. This way it comes across as trying to teach Vader the lesson he tried to teach Anakin long ago instead of a strange contradiction of his words and actions, and it brings a conclusion to the flashbacks we saw in the Episode 5 content. To compliment this change, also change the end of the Episode 3 duel by having Vader say his “The years have made you weak” line as Obi-Wan is rescued by the robot, further showing that Vader didn’t want to fight a weakling Obi-Wan.
Now, at the end of the series with these changes, Vader & Obi-Wan’s relationship has developed into something more complicated & co-dependent. Vader won’t kill Ben because he wants to fight him at his best, & Ben won’t kill Vader because he still considers Anakin his friend, he wants him to grow & gain the wisdom that Ben knows he’s capable of learning.
“Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Star Wars Story” or “Obi-Wan Kenobi?”
“Kenobi”
Agree with Kenobi … never knew why they went full name since he has had two.
I would rather no flashbacks, but really do like the idea of the lesson being taught which explains why Obi leaves vader alive. (Though I do love the “Goodbye Darth” line)
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
I generally liked what you did here with the duel 😃 The sad piano installment is a little hit and miss for me. Regarding Obi-Wan it fits good, Anakin not so much. I personally feel this scene (where Anakin embraces the dark side again) could be scoreless or the last bits of Anakins dark deeds (from 2:11 onwoards). This way you have some orchestral music with a sad undertone as well as something dark. In that way it hit’s harder for me (subjective) as it reminded me of the rebels episode where Ashoka met Vader/Anakin in the temple and saw who he truly was despite having a feeling who could it be.
In general it came to my mind, that this edit could benefit from a grain template to hide the not so good cgi and tie in more with your plans for ANH edit as well as your prequel edit.
I would watch too much grain, but the right amount does give a nice “film look”
Any thoughts on making the old lightsabers kind of like the knew ones? Adding a bit more light to their surrounding areas?
Can I get a pm link? Excited for this
Link to PM as well
Rather than the fade to alderaan, I would do a circle wipe
I’m not totally pleased as of yet and I will need to re-watch it when my brain has had a break, but take a look and give pro’s and con’s and feedback. Also I’m not sure how you guys feel about the Piano Theme getting a second chance, but I think it fits for the ending. I could also just leave the scene alone. I like the duel tho’.
Going to bed now. Nighty-nighty!
dude! Those hit home so nicely.
I wouldn’t say remove Reva, just that her worth ended when she was stabbed. (Also removes plotholes like how is she okay so quick? Where did she find a shuttle? Why is organa so stupid he left a message about the kids?)
Finished Part 6. Imo it would benefit from a little more Qui-Gon.
The rumored plot leaks claimed that when Obi-Wan is about to lose his 2nd duel to Vader, he would suddenly hear Qui-Gon’s voice in his head, motivating and coaching him to defeat Vader. It would be a wonderful payoff to his prayers in Parts 1-3 and is just a cool idea in general. But it didn’t exactly turn out that way.
It’d be cool if in the scene where Obi-Wan is trapped under the rubble getting overwhelmed by the angry voice of Anakin/Vader…he’d suddenly hear the calm, encouraging voice of master Qui-Gon. And that could be one of the motivations for Obi-Wan finding his Force strength to defeat Vader (though the flashes of his remembering Leia/Luke don’t need to be deleted).
The rubble scene, Obi-Wan’s floating rocks scene, and Obi-Wan destroying Vader’s suit - all of those scenes could potentially benefit from inserting Liam Neeson’s voiceovers at the right moments as the ‘Force ghost in his head.’ But the dialogue would have to be recycled from TPM, TCW, and perhaps even other non-SW Neeson media. In Batman Begins, Neeson’s mentor character has a pretty appropriate quote for Part 6 where he says “You have learned to bury your guilt…confront it. Face the truth.”
If qui gon is kept, then a voice over would make a ton of sense as Ben did with Luke.
Super excited about a fan edit for this show. There is a ton of good in the series, but also a ton of bad around the fringes that could/ should be trimmed away.
Looking forward to hearing your take, Anjohan!
I won’t beat a dead horse with my overall disappointment in the production of this show as a whole, so for me this finale was as expected after seeing the rest of the show. There wasn’t anything overly unique or deep, plenty of plot holes to complain about, but if you touch up the key elements I think the “cool” moments can be better brought to life.
The main things I would recommend to change in the finale are:
Somehow fix the logic of the star destroyer chasing the frigate/obi wan’s escape shuttle. The whole pursuit really threw me off from the get go. Why can’t they use a tractor beam like on the Tantive IV? If they can’t, why not deploy fighters? Why does the entire star destroyer have to pursue Obi-wan instead of just vader’s shuttle? I would truncate as much of this nonsense as possible to keep it focused on a sensible pursuit of Obi-wan.
I don’t see any value to the conclusion of the Reva storyline. I realize D+ is trying to set her up for a future appearance in another show, but man I think the best conclusion to her story in movie is for her to die on Jabiim last episode. Let her show the folly of dedicating your life to revenge. Owen fighting her off with a metal moisturizer pole was beyond absurd, and every cut away from Vader-Obi to the Reva farm ridiculousness was killing the vibe in a major way. Also the way Obi-wan fights Vader and then instantly teleports to Owen’s farm within minutes was painful. If you don’t even include that entire farm sequence and present his journey back to Tatooine as some time going by before his moment with Luke I think that’s the move.
There’s a lot more I could say but I’m more interested in hearing your review and vision for the content!
I like the idea of leaving Reva defeated from Vader, never seen again.
I would def not say a perfect episode, but a great enough landing to make for quite a good movie.
Thoughts on things I would cut.
Star Destroyers missing so badly. Now if there was a Vader line about missing on purpose, I am okay with that, but otherwise Ships of that advance do not miss that badly from a barely moving target.
Mustafar scene. I wish I liked it, but it was not great and the CGI quite bad.
The ending … it wasn’t bad, but feel curious if the Owen part should be cut out. I also don’t know if it has that normal Star Wars “ending feel,”