The other option going through my head is whether chapter 9, or even both 9 and 10, can be replaced by an opening crawl.
It would have to be well written to fit it into three micro-paragraphs. It could reference Mando’s search for the Mandalorians, his discovery of as set of Mandalorian armour on Tattooine and a run in with the new Republic.
Time will tell.
Well chapter 10 is massively disappointing. Major filler episode, but in the process the Razorcrest gets trashed so some, if not most, elements will need including.
Looking very briefly at it, it’s probably possible to cut the spider scenes and have Mando just repair the Razor before taking off. Frustratingly I don’t think I can keep the X-wing pilots landing without keeping the spiders.
The other potential option is to take the space battle from Gunslinger out of Episode 1 and put it into episode 2. That would allow pretty much the whole episode to be cut.
Much to ponder.
Here is a link to an edit I did of Din and Peli meeting again on Tatooine. Reducing the familiarity with the child and putting more of the focus on their history. Din clearly has a history with Tatooine (knowing Tuskin speak and has “spent much time there”. So I figured let’s just roll with it. I’m not usually a fan of off-screen history (Ch.6 the prisoner) but in this case, it is the only way I can see keeping most of the dialogue without cutting it completely or having to watch a side adventure episode (Ch.5 the gunslinger). I also trimmed a bit of the dialogue that seemed a bit bloated and unneeded.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hLIAY3DZzfeo-Uj73pvTqOCsWNZyXQ8M/view?usp=sharing
Looks good, but this episode was just as much, if not far more, of a side-adventure. It’s also an hour, of a hypocritical 2-2½ hour film.
Unless the plan is for Mando Episode II to be all the Tatooine footage to be one film… then you could stitch Chapters 9 and 5 together along with the eventual proper introduction to Boba Fett.
I’ve got it cut down to 34mins, so it could be the opening act of a 2-hour movie.
In terms of stitching it together with chapter 5… at the moment I don’t see how those two threads can seamlessly follow on from each other. That may change once we see chapter 10.
Here is a link to an edit I did of Din and Peli meeting again on Tatooine. Reducing the familiarity with the child and putting more of the focus on their history. Din clearly has a history with Tatooine (knowing Tuskin speak and has “spent much time there”. So I figured let’s just roll with it. I’m not usually a fan of off-screen history (Ch.6 the prisoner) but in this case, it is the only way I can see keeping most of the dialogue without cutting it completely or having to watch a side adventure episode (Ch.5 the gunslinger). I also trimmed a bit of the dialogue that seemed a bit bloated and unneeded.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hLIAY3DZzfeo-Uj73pvTqOCsWNZyXQ8M/view?usp=sharing
Looks great. I’ve done exactly the same thing using the dialogue from the gunslinger and also used a segment to finish her “Mos Eisley” sentence.
Finally finished watching this edit after having kept up with your progressive workprints back when you started this whole thing. What a wonderful way to watch Season 1! I may be in the minority here, but certain aspects of Season 1 (specifically episodes 4-6) were either painful to get through or just didn’t add anything to the story. Fortunately, your edit fixes most of that!
As far as feedback goes, most of the editing was seamless. Yes, the introduction of the mudhorn is a little rough, but it doesn’t look like anyone has any better ideas of how to pull that off.
Random thoughts:
- Maybe the Trandoshan fight could be cut? I feel like that chunk of the movie has too many action pieces strung together as cool as that moment may be. We also already have enough examples of other bounty hunters trying to capture the child so it wouldn’t mess with anything.
- Some moments in episode 4 are super cringey but I understand that the 2nd act is crucial to the story. Is there any dialogue/jokes that could be trimmed to make it more bearable? And for what it’s worth, I’m also a huge advocate for trying to pull off Neverar’s idea of Mando receiving the transmission before he leaves the planet a la some vfx magic.
- One final thought is that Kuiil’s death happens a little too quickly for my taste. If I remember correctly, it’s drawn out slightly more in the original cut. Perhaps you could still show the stormtroopers capturing the child and flying away, and while the camera pans over Kuiil’s corpse (RIP) you could add some audio of IG-11 emerging from the ship to pursue the imps!
Sorry, this is a long post for something you may very well be content with and don’t want to alter any further. Regardless, thanks for your work on this and I’ll definitely be following your Season 2 thread closely!
I did originally cut the Trandoshan scene, but wanted to add some danger and urgency to the Arvala scenes. I also felt that it provided more weight to the Child-Mando relationship. Mando saves the child from the Trandoshans, then the child saves Mando from the mudhorn.
I cut as much as I could from the Sanctuary. Cutting more unbalances the movie by making the slower middle act seem too short and rushed.
I would definitely like the Karga transmission to be on Sorgen, but I dont have the VFX skills to do so. If anyone does…
Finally finished watching this edit after having kept up with your progressive workprints back when you started this whole thing. What a wonderful way to watch Season 1! I may be in the minority here, but certain aspects of Season 1 (specifically episodes 4-6) were either painful to get through or just didn’t add anything to the story. Fortunately, your edit fixes most of that!
As far as feedback goes, most of the editing was seamless. Yes, the introduction of the mudhorn is a little rough, but it doesn’t look like anyone has any better ideas of how to pull that off.
Random thoughts:
- Maybe the Trandoshan fight could be cut? I feel like that chunk of the movie has too many action pieces strung together as cool as that moment may be. We also already have enough examples of other bounty hunters trying to capture the child so it wouldn’t mess with anything.
- Some moments in episode 4 are super cringey but I understand that the 2nd act is crucial to the story. Is there any dialogue/jokes that could be trimmed to make it more bearable? And for what it’s worth, I’m also a huge advocate for trying to pull off Neverar’s idea of Mando receiving the transmission before he leaves the planet a la some vfx magic.
- One final thought is that Kuiil’s death happens a little too quickly for my taste. If I remember correctly, it’s drawn out slightly more in the original cut. Perhaps you could still show the stormtroopers capturing the child and flying away, and while the camera pans over Kuiil’s corpse (RIP) you could add some audio of IG-11 emerging from the ship to pursue the imps!
Sorry, this is a long post for something you may very well be content with and don’t want to alter any further. Regardless, thanks for your work on this and I’ll definitely be following your Season 2 thread closely!
I completely agree about the Kuiil death scene. That was my okay gripe with the edit. It jumps way too fast from the scene.
Yeah, that was an unfortunate consequence of me completely removing the capture of the child.
So having seen the first episode here are my initial thoughts:
I got tempted and watched the 2x01 😇
I am already wondering how you Will deal with the second season, there maybe more stuff that are more important, necessary and on bigger Scale than in the s01. You May end up with two Episodes this Time 😀
Whatever happens, please, dont cut the first sequence of the episode, cause its brilliant 😀
I’m pretty sure I will need 2 episodes this season. Unfortunately the first scene is already on my cut list. 😃
I’m assuming maybe you will try to blend 1x05 with the first episode of this season? I think you could maybe start the second movie off with them in the middle of hunting down Fennec Shand?
At this point, i dont think mentioning 1x5 even makes sense.
You could easily have the crawl explain how Dyn has found out about their being a Mando on Tatoonie. Then maybe start the movie with him landing and meeting the mechanic (unless you remove the scene of her recognizing Baby Yoda.)
It will be hard but from what I’ve seen Smugder do, I’m sure he’ll find a way to make it work.
Episode 2 discussion open!
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Mandalorian-Episode-2-WIP-Season-2-SPOILERS/id/80009
Here is Episode 2 of my “Mandoverse” Movie Saga.
Please feel free to review and discuss episode 1 here:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Mandalorian-A-Vergence-in-the-Force-RT-2h-27mins-Released/id/74554
Episode 2 is available as:
Here are the changes:
Opening
Current Star Wars and Lucasfilm logos with 20th Century Fox Music
Classical Star Wars opening crawl
Classical Star Wars opening space pan using scene from Chapter 5 (The Gunslinger)
2 “in cockpit” shots added from Chapter 5 (The Gunslinger) to extend approach to Tatooine.
On planet approach trimmed and first shot of Pelli cut.
Opening scene scored using “Mando is back”
Chapter 9 (The Marshall)
Cut Pelli lines about buying the child.
Cut Pelli line “still don’t”.
Cut Pelli lines moaning about R5.
Shortened sequence where Mando travels to Moss Pelgo including cutting the Tusken Camp scene.
Shortened scene of Mando cruising through Moss Pelgo.
Cut Cobb Vanth Flashback sequence.
Cut Tusken Camp scene.
Reduced amount Tusken language used in battle plan scene.
Cut speeder return to Mos Pelgo scene and replaced with a transition wipe to a static shot of Moss Pelgo with camera zoom.
Cut Tusken arrival at Moss Pelgo
Cut Cobb Vanth drinking Tusken drink before the battle.
Cut Krayt Dragon retreating back into the Sarlaac pit.
Cut Mando “take care of the child”
Rescored Boba Fett’s intro scene with “Imperial Starfleet Deployed” from ESB.
Chapter 10 (The Passenger)
Cut Ambush Scene
Cut Pelli “I’m not a Rodian”
Scene with Republic X-wings altered so that after a tense stand off Mando sends them a ping and they fly off.
Chapter 11 (The Heiress)
Heavily damaged Razorcrest approach cut.
“drop” into atmosphere cut and replaced with planetary approach shot from Chapter 10 (The Passenger) with X-wings removed.
Heavily damaged Razorcrest shots removed.
Razorcrest falling into ocean cut and replaced with bumpy landing shots from Chapter 10 (The Passenger) with zoom to hide fact that the child isn’t present. Added Mando line “looks like we made it”.
Trimmed opening Trask scene to hide the heavily damaged Razorcrest.
Trimmed Frog reunion scenes.
Cut scene of the Mandalorians destroying the boat.
Cut Koska lines about hitting them hard and scanning for lifeforms.
Cut “which one”, “all of them” Imperial interaction.
Cut “close all the doors” shot.
Reduce pause after “in the cargo control area”
Cut shot of Imperial pilots when they realise they are about to die.
Cut scene where Mando gets his damaged ship back from the Mon Calamari.
Replace damaged ship exit from Trask with planetary exit and hyperspace jump from Chapter 3 (The Sin)
Chapter 12 (The Siege)
All scenes cut except Imperial cruiser scene where the tracking bacon on the Razorcrest is revealed.
Chapter 13 (The Jedi)
Opening lightsaber battle scene cut.
Cut reference to the Beskar staff from the Mando-Elspeth scene.
Add Ahsoka theme from “The Sorcerer” to Ahsoka’s introduction in the forest.
Cut reference to Ahsoka returning to the village and extend the scene using music from “the story”, then transition wipe to Mando and Grogu on the Razorcrest.
Cut entire village battle plot.
Cut Mando ”you made me a promise” and replace with “I’ve been quested with returning this child to the Jedi” from chapter 11 (The Heiress).
Shorten final Ahsoka shot to avoid excessive music swell.
Chapter 14 (The Tragedy)
Transition wipe to Razorcrect shot from Chapter 7 (The Reckoning).
Shot of the Razorcrest approaching Tython moved to later in the scene to imply space travel and time passage.
Cut stormtrooper “you idiot” line.
Reduce blaster fire bouncing off Beskar.
Move Gideon Imperial cruiser scene forward to site between Mando leaving Corvus and arriving on Nevarro.
Added scene of Mando walking through Nevarro from Chapter 3 (The Sin) to extend Nevarro arrival scene.
Manufactured Mando-Cara Dune Scene
Opens with reversed shot of the Marshall badge flip - Cara now flips it to Mando first.
Dialogue used from Chapter 15 (The Believer) to change the scene into Cara searching for Moff Gideon’s cruiser.
Images from Chapter 15 (The Believer) rotoscoped onto scenes of Cara using her terminal so that it now shows images of Gideon’s cruiser and its location rather then the prison registry.
Scored using “Brown Eyes”
Chapter 15 (The Believer)
All scenes cut
Chapter 16 (The Rescue)
The Capture of Dr Persching is moved to after the recruitment of the Mandalorians. Mando now travels straight from Nevarro to recruit Bo Katan.
Hyperspace exit of Imperial shuttle and Razorcrest inserted here and followed by the Capture of Dr Pershing.
Dr Pershing capture now cuts straight to his interrogation, implying that it takes place in space rather than on the desert planet.
Recut Darktrooper scene so that they sent “release” until fully charged.
Iris out to custom end credits.
I got tempted and watched the 2x01 😇
I am already wondering how you Will deal with the second season, there maybe more stuff that are more important, necessary and on bigger Scale than in the s01. You May end up with two Episodes this Time 😀
Whatever happens, please, dont cut the first sequence of the episode, cause its brilliant 😀
I’m pretty sure I will need 2 episodes this season. Unfortunately the first scene is already on my cut list. 😃
You know guys, I like smudgers work so much that I think I will Just wait with watching the s02 of the show until I ll have watched his movie fanedit, So I could watch it without any spoilers and then watch the show as an extended version 🖖🏼
You probably shouldn’t. Some of the stuff that Smudger cut from season 1 will seemingly be important in season 2, so you should watch the actual show first.
Time will tell, but I don’t think I cut anything crucial. I suspect sufficient exposition will be given in season 2.
Well, from what we’ve seen so far, Mando will have to return to Tatooine at some point, and they’ll probably bring the events of episode 5 into it. Also, it seems like the blue guy from the opening scene of episode 1 will be making a return.
So I wouldn’t recommend watching season 2 for someone who has only watched this edit beforehand. But then again, I just don’t like the idea of someone seeing a fan edit before the original source material in the first place.
BTW, smudger
Apart from the Mandalorian logo in the opening crawl, my only little “issue” with the edid is the “seven Samurai” ripoff episode. I think you could have cut it as well. Then, when Mando finds the commando Woman again, it could be simply assumed they did a job together in the past, it didnt need any explanation in my opinion. The dialogue itself states they worked together once. Only the line bout what happened on that planet would have to be cut somehow.
But I enjoy the edit more than the show anyway 😀
In order for the series to work as a well paced and structured film Mando has to go somewhere between episodes 3 and 7.
So you have a choice between Sorgen and Tatooine. The only reason to use Tatooine is to anticipate it being a big part of season 2.
Sorgen is the best option IMO because it introduces one of our main characters and develops a relationship between her and Mando. It also provides a great deal of character development for Mando and gives details of the Mandalorian culture. It crucially provides a crossroads decision for Mando… he almost decides to stay there and live out his life… and the episode gives a plausible reason for him to risk the child’s life by returning to Nevarro for the finale.
It’s not the best episode, but it fits really well as the slower middle act of a film.
You know guys, I like smudgers work so much that I think I will Just wait with watching the s02 of the show until I ll have watched his movie fanedit, So I could watch it without any spoilers and then watch the show as an extended version 🖖🏼
You probably shouldn’t. Some of the stuff that Smudger cut from season 1 will seemingly be important in season 2, so you should watch the actual show first.
Time will tell, but I don’t think I cut anything crucial. I suspect sufficient exposition will be given in season 2.
Well, from what we’ve seen so far, Mando will have to return to Tatooine at some point, and they’ll probably bring the events of episode 5 into it. Also, it seems like the blue guy from the opening scene of episode 1 will be making a return.
Somewhere he’s been before and someone he’s captured before. Can be sorted by an opening crawl reference, flashback or simple exposition. There weren’t any crucial plot points left open.
You know guys, I like smudgers work so much that I think I will Just wait with watching the s02 of the show until I ll have watched his movie fanedit, So I could watch it without any spoilers and then watch the show as an extended version 🖖🏼
You probably shouldn’t. Some of the stuff that Smudger cut from season 1 will seemingly be important in season 2, so you should watch the actual show first.
Time will tell, but I don’t think I cut anything crucial. I suspect sufficient exposition will be given in season 2.
Isn’t that a post credit sequence now? Seems odd for the cover.
It’s one of many. Take your pick.
I’m personally going with this combination.
I’ve modified the Gideon Cover
and done an inside cover with chapter names
Just finished watching this, very nice indeed! I didn’t even notice most of the cuts and restructuring.
Obviously the Mudhorn is a sticking point, but I don’t see a good way out of that, but I had a couple of notes for the forest planet Sorgan in case you ever felt like revisiting this project:
Move fighter attack on Mando to just before he goes to Sorgan
Cut AT-ST plot point and extended battle, instead just show a brief battle on the raider building which ends with the explosive.
Have Mando receive transmission telling of final mission before he lifts off from Sorgan to prevent the quick trip back. This may take some creative editing to make it seem like he’s still on the ground.
Anyway, great job all around!
Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. Just curious as to how you found the re-scored music transitions. I find it really difficult to self assess re-scored segments after I’ve listened to them so many times during the editing process.
In terms of your points:
I totally agree with the idea of having the Karga transmission on Sorgan. The footage is there to do it… establishing shot of the Razor on Sorgan, shot of Mando putting the child into bed from episode 5, shot of Mando entering the cockpit and sitting down. However, I don’t have the program, skill and patience to rotoscope out the space background from the scene and replace it with a Sorgan background.
If I had been able to do that then I would definitely have moved the space battle to before Sorgan.
I put it between the Sorgan scenes for 2 reasons. Firstly to give a spacer scene between Mando leaving Sorgan and returning. Secondly, his decision to return to Nevarro is one of the 2 major plot points in the series (the other being the rescue of the child), and I wanted to give him a better reason for agreeing to go back into the lion’s den other than the word of Karga. I feel the way I’ve structured it suggests that he wasn’t going to return, but changed his mind after the space attack.
The Sorgan scenes I messed around with a lot, going from heavily edited and shortened, to no editing at all. at first, like you, I wanted to shorten it as much as possible. However, when the whole movie is viewed the structure doesn’t feel right. Chapter 4 has a lot of weight on it because it represents the middle act. When you consider that the first act is half of chapter 1, half of chapter 2 and all of chapter 3, and the final act is chapters 7 and 8. If you edit out half of chapter 4 it just feels too short. It’s not the best episode in the series, but in terms of development of our main characters its pretty important and it hs slower pace to it. Hence I left in as much as I could tolerate.
I really want to see this! Could you please PM me?
Done. Hope you enjoy it.
I watched with headphones and I never noticed any audio issues at all.
Thanks Hal… it was a painstaking process for some of those music transitions! But definitely worth it.
Ooh I have one question: because you were working on a whole fully put-together product, when cutting dialogue, how did it work out with engineering the music? I never noticed any sudden changes in the music, which is why I’m curious.
The music transitions were challenging in some places, in particular when moving from one episode to another.
In scenes with no or very quiet music you can isolate the dialogue from the centre channel to help with music transitions. If the music is louder it’s very difficult.
In three scenes… namely the transitions between episodes 1&2, 2&3 and 3&4 I had to rebuild the audio from scratch using sound effects from other episodes. I then added a completely different music score.
https://vimeo.com/428975097
This clip from 1:00 to 2:30 has a rebuilt audio and is scored using “trashed crest” from episode 2.
Had a play around with some of the other images from the closing credits.
Hey Smudge…
I desperately needed something to print on the bluray disc I burned of this AWESOME edit.
I used the text from your poster and quickly made this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dEcaEGUxuu-ZOzkfTn8UM61013lo_pIu/edit
Nothing special, but it fit the bill. 😛
If you find it worthy, and / or think others might appreciate it, feel free to use it as you see necessary.
Thanks. I have done a full Bluray cover…
I’ve just finished this edit and I had sucha good time watching it.
I think we all know that 2.5 hours is long for a Star Wars movie but everything in this edit was 100% needed.
The edit had a nicely-paced 3 part structure with the ensemble cast being introduced throughout Mandos adenture; no character got the short straw in order to cut minutes.
Honestly, well done and thank you Smudger!
The only thing I need to say is I personally prefer the original Mandolorian opening without the crawl and classic theme. Would a version like that be possible? If not, its not important 😃 thanks again.
Once the edit has been available for a couple of months I was going to put up MKV versions of a few different openings.
Any way to get a link to this release?
PM sent.
Just finished it. What a treat! I think it really works in this format, and I doubt anything would’ve stood out to me if I hadn’t already seen the show. That being said, the only thing that did was the mudhorn scene, but even that’s nitpicking.
This movie has a solid throughline and the emotions resonate well when Season 1 is concentrated into an action packed single film like this. I will look forward to its sequel in Q4 2021. 😉
Thanks Hal. I’m hoping to get episode 2 out early next year 😀.
Thanks for the kind words.
I was surprised myself at how well the series flowed when cut together. It was definitely easier than the Clone Wars! There was just enough footage available to pad out scenes between episodes like the Kuiil-IG repair scene and an in-hyperspace shot from The Prisoner of Mando giving the child the ball.
I have to thank @JakeRyan17 who persuaded me to open the movie on arvala-7. It took some work to combine the exposition from the two Nevarro trips into one, but cutting out the first trip allowed me to retain the Trandoshan scene and add in the space battle scene from the Gunslinger. It also connects the viewer more to the child because you’re experiencing Nevarro with him.
The biggest issue I had was the dramatic and obvious “end of episode” music. Luckily we were basically given the whole series soundtrack and I was able to find suitable music for the Ep1-2, Ep2-3 and Ep3-4 transitions. However, it involved rebuilding the entire audio, which was a real ball-ache.