Patali

What a blessing! That the work wasn’t lost.

Can’t wait to see 5 & 6, I have not watched them. But i also like that you’re going back on the earlier films as well.

Book 2 remains my favorite movie. To me it feels the most like a single movie rather than several TV episodes put together. I say that with love, I’ve watched your first 4 films and think they are all the best way to enjoy these series. But it seems, if you’re keeping almost all of the different plots as you’ve done, that it is a feeling that is impossible to get away from entirely. Book 2 did the best imo.

There is one line I think could be improved. When Fennec wakes up at the campfire and meets Boba after he saved her, and you end on that line “I am Boba Fett.” and it did feel epic.

But, there is a bit more to that exchange that I feel could be used. Thhe full exchange goes:

BOBA: I am Boba Fett.
FENNEC: Boba Fett is dead.
BOBA: I was. Left for dead on the sands of Tatooine.

Now, I agree with your cut that the “Left for dead on the sands…” line is just too on the nose, saying too much that the audience doesn’t need to hear because they know it already. But those immediate lines after, I think there is something there. I would like:

BOBA: I am Boba Fett.
FENNEC: Boba Fett is dead.
BOBA: I was.
CUT

I think that “I was.” line is great. And when you cut out the cringy “left for dead on the sands” and leave it just as “I was.” I feel it implies something greater, like Boba isn’t just referring to the Sarlacc and Jabba’s palace, but even more that he is saying “I was.” as in his whole life from when his father died, that moment in the opening. He was dead inside until he found his new family. It says a lot with two words, and through the magic of editing turns a cringy line into great writing.

Also a side benefit, Fennec has a great reaction shot when he tells her his name.

Acbagel said:
Honestly, a film or two of “The Dark Times” based on some animated plot lines with TotE and TBB might be pretty cool. Would be a hell of a task to pull off, but I do think it’s possible to have a movie or two about the Republic --> Empire transition that doesn’t solely focus on TBB squad. Something to mull over perhaps. Want to keep focus on TWoM here, but feel free to post in my TBB thread if you have other thoughts on a structure for that.

This sounds like a great idea. I’ve been intending to watch Bad Batch, with the idea of making a single movie cut out of the whole thing. Compact it into a tight, fun 2 hour movie. But your idea almost sounds even better.
I have not even watched all of TBB cause its just not really my thing. But to me, the mostr valuable plot line I’ve seen so far is that they address the transition from clones to storm troopers. No other movie or show to my knowledge has addressed that directly (only indrectly, the sequels, the Solo movie).

Acbagel said:

Thanks for the in-depth reviews, Patali! I will respond to those soon. Sent links to everyone else.

Thanks! The reviews I posted above are probably a little more focused on critiques… but thats only because I actually REALLY enjoyed them, I binged the movies over a weekend. It’s easier for me to nitpick something I really like in an effort to make it “perfect”. Overall, I loved the experience.

And I watched Book 4, awesome job. Truly felt like the “event film” I was anticipating it would be. I will say, similar to books 1 and 3, it has that “episodic” feel that I guess at this point can’t be excised, but even then it felt awesome. (I think your Book 2 did the best job at feeling like a single cohesive film). I hadn’t watched “the rescue” since it came out in 2020, and I felt myself starting to get emotional at that ending.

I will say, one sequence that I thought suffered just a little was Mayfeld and his old comander or whatever, during their infiltration. It felt like it didn’t have as much room to breathe, and didn’t get to develop Mayfeld getting to that point of shooting the commander guy. Now, I know this is likely a result of your clever editing to keep Din covered, so I don’t know if this can be really fixed, but if there’s anything else that can be readded to the scene, as far as lines between Mayfeld and his commander to flesh that conversation out, I think it would help.

Otherwise awesome awesome job.

I watched Movie 3. This one was a lot of fun. Never boring. However, it did seem to have that feeling that the first movie did of still feeling very episodic. That’s not a shot against your editing, but rather just an observation that it seems the episodic nature of the series cannot be removed without excising entire plot threads.

Before I watched 3, I was wondering in my head “Why did he need to do 3 and 4 at all, seems like they could probably be one movie”. But now I do see. Since you are integrating BoBF and keeping most of Mando’s major threads, it would be impossible to do 3 and 4 as one “movie 3” without entirely removing certain threads. So I don’t blame you for how you handled it, and for what it is, I think you did really well, it was a lot of fun.

I like with your movies how the rewards are sprinkled throughout. This movie felt specifically “Mandalorian focused” which is a good thing. I suspect this movie 3 will be more mandalorian focused than movie 4 will be.

One thing that didnt quite sit with me was Boba’s integration. Now I can see you were trying to maintain his thread throughout this movie. On one hand, including the Sarlacc in this movie and not the last one is neat, because Boba points out that his armor is gone, and then we see where it went…

But, doing so highlights some issues I think were not as apparent with the original series structuring which is… it is surprising that Boba did not hear about Cobb vanth wearing his armor sooner. I mean Boba spent what, 5 years experiencing and getting to know Tatooine better? Meanwhile Din is able to track it down in 10 minutes.

Secondly, the scene of Boba shooting Din’s speeder. Very cool editing, for sure. But… I do not know why he let Din go? Seems like after shooting him, and undoubtedly spotting his armor, he would have chased down the now on foot Din and confront him about his armor. Just makes you wonder why he decides to wait, wish there was just a little bit more to explain his motivation here.
(Also to integrate it better, in the shot of Boba putting his rifle away or whatever, you can see off to the side Jabbas palace, a remnant of the old version. If that could be edited out would help meld it better, minor thing).

And in general, Boba’s integration was just very small. But I know it is going to pay off big in the next movie, so… I don’t exactly want you to make any big changes, I think overall the structure you have is the best that can be done with the material. But I wonder if there are any other fixes that can be done to address some of the Boba things.

Also I noticed a theme through the movie was fighting big monsters lol. Spider, Sarlacc, Krayt. I don’t know if thats a good or bad thing but you know what, it’s fun.

But overall, very impressive, very fun movie. FAR superior and more exciting than the original series. I can’t wait to watch movie 4 here shortly. Book 2 is still my favorite, but I am impressed by just how much more watchable this makes the whole saga.

Okay so I finally started watching these. I was waiting on my wife, but… now she’s holding off on Star Wars until I finish my Andor fan edit (guess I did that to myself), so I figured I might as well dive into these by myself. I watched the first two movies today. (I had watched the first film partially with your previous version)

Overall, awesome! I love how it helped the pacing of the story. I especially loved Book 2, I thought the two stories flowed really well together. But I did have some thoughts/critiques, in particular on Book 1:

Book 1:

• The transition to the jailbreak storyline felt strange. Now on one hand, it did feel like a good way to show Mando’s character, like, this is who he is normally. But, it felt like it was placed in sort of the third act, but maybe it was actually the second act? Idk, I guess it felt like the movie had 4 acts and that was unexpected. Basically, it contributed to the acts of the movie feeling more episodic rather than like a cohesive film. But the pacing still wasn’t bad, and I enjoyed all the content. I guess I didn’t really see a point in deep diving into that story, other than to introduce Mayfeld.

• Speaking of which, unless I missed it, did you cut the shot of the bad guys in the cell at the end, the reveal that Mando actually spared them? I guess I’ll see later as I watch the 3 & 4 how you incorporate that, maybe as a sort of surprise? But idk if it will be worth it or not, feels like it should have been there.

• The scene with the blue guy on the razor crest. I remember before you did the quick cut from him asking about Mando’s helmet, whereas in this one you add more to it and Mando’s line “Probably not”.
  Now when I had seen that original cut, I did have a critique that it felt much too quick, like it was missing a beat. Like we just needed two more seconds of pause before the cut. It seems you might have felt the same way on the pacing and were trying to address that.

However, I feel something was lost in the new version. The first version, despite the issues with the quick cut, it had a humor to it that, which was good. It was a humor not even present in the first scene, like Mando was annoyed with him. That quick cut illustrated that really well. The new version… it doesn’t really feel like anything, just like we’re cutting to the next part of him getting frozen. Despite my original gripes about your first version, I feel that humor moment was better than the new version.

I would like if there was a balance. Maybe put the “Guess that won’t be happening” or his line about life day or whatever, BEFORE the helmet line, then still end with the helmet line and a faster cut to the carbon freezing, and that would be restore the humor to the scene. OR, if you can somehow manage it, keep your original version, but maybe try to insert some silent shots of the blue guy just to add another 1 or 2 seconds before you cut to Mando freezing him. But thats just something for you to consider if you get around to the first movie again.

Book 2:

• I don’t have many notes. I really liked this movie. I actually did not realize you would include the finale sequence of Season 1 in this, and I was glad you did. Felt really exciting.

• Your original post mentioned how “Like a bantha” was a very intentional removal on your part… I have to say I disagree with it being cut. Now, I am a big fan of the Boba Fett show, actually. But even so, I enjoyed most of your cuts. But this one, I did not, I would have liked to see you incorporate the scene somehow. That moment, it’s a great piece of levity, and gives some heart to the Boba character. Not like the other scenes in the show that make Boba too soft, but to me it truly felt in character. In fact, it felt to me like an improv moment. So I decided to google that, and Temura Morrison did claim at celebration that it was actually /his/ own improv line, and not something in the script.

A problem I see in a lot of fan edits is going too serious. Levity is good. Any “Star Wars” movie (imo) should have a joke every 10 minutes or so, except maybe in the most intense sequences (Im fairly certain Star Wars follows this pretty closely, at least every 15 minutes, outside of the last act of Revenge of the Sith, where it is appropriate to go without jokes). Star Wars is a pulpy serial comic book sort of franchise, so jokes and moments of levity are important. For any movie but especially one with the tone of Star Wars.

Anyway, I felt it was a good moment, not as cringy as many of the Boba moments in the show, and one worth keeping, but thats just me.

• Thank you for cutting the sequence of Mando having to protect the farming planet. Him leaving cause of the bounty hunter was very well done, and more than enough. I thought that relaxing sequence contrasted well with Boba’s story.

Overall though I had a really good time with Movie 2. It was just a lot of fun and exciting throughout. Though like the first film I was sort of having trouble figuring out what act I was in at any given moment. But it wasnt a big deal cause the movie was just fun the whole way through.

Can’t wait to watch more! I’m very interested to see what you’ll do in 3, because I kind of know what 4 will be already so 3 is kind of a mystery to me.

Hello! I would love to have a link to this.

I like the writing, both yours and Dimitirios versions, but… this would probably be the biggest monologue Din has had in the series, right? To me, that is too much weight to give to AI, it will come off flat compared to what the moment should be. I think it has to be a lot shorter unfortunately. Narrow it down to 3 or 5 of the best lines yall can come up with. Thats just my opinion.

(I think the AI did good on that line “It’s about what you stand for Bo Katan”. Which is funny because it does it with a less serious voice than the rest of the monologue, but yet that managed to sound more natural as a result. Not saying that should be one of the lines, but js it did sound good imo).

Edit: Just to be clear, the idea of Din standing up and making these decisions for his people, and having a big monologue, I think is cool and great development for him. But I just doubt these AI models will be able to pull off the weight that is required for ab extensive monologue, for what should be one of his biggest character development moments.

I watched a video of Gary Oldman recently talking about Chris Nolan. And he said while they were filming a scene in batman, after one of the takes Nolan gave him one piece of direction which was “There’s more at stake.” And that was all Oldman needed to turn the notch up on the emotion and the weight needed for the scene. I feel like that’s what I want to tell this AI lol

Acbagel said:

Okay, I like those suggestions. Try this!

I think it sounds a lot more natural. Though your model for Din is not as strong as the one you have for the Armorer. But that’s less of a shot against your other models and more of a testament to how good her’s sounds, it’s really good. I imagine it’s something in the way the actress chose to deliver the Armoer’s lines, the AI is able to use that specific inflection more easily than the more general dialogue of someone like Din.

Hmm, it’s only 2 lines over a 90-second scene. Which one of those sounded excessive? There is a lot more Mandalorian culture in this film, and I am planning on going back to integrate more Mando’a through the series too.

I like the mythosaur line. Only thing I noticed, idk how your subtitles for the in universe languages work, if its baked in or not. But it felt like I had to read that subtitle really quickly.

TheDimitrios said:

With the Mando scene in Tattoine a few exchanges sound tonally disconnected. If you happen to have a script for that as a basis, I could toss some ideas around. 😃

Yeah, if I could reccomend, I think shortening some of Mando’s lines would make it more in line with his character and help with the model not sounding so stilted (“What. Is. This. Bag. Of. Credits. For.” or instead just “What’s this?”)

Edit: If I may have a crack using bagel’s script above:

P: Well…How is it?

D: Purring like a Loth cat.

P: Oh, hey Grandpa…

D: I’m here on business.

P: Oh, are the Hutts back? You checking on Boba Fett?

D: Actually, I am looking for him.

P: Boring! Oh, by the way an old friend of yours dropped by. Said she was looking for you.

D: A friend of mine?

P: Don’t worry, I told her I didn’t know where you were then I locked her out and engaged The Hanger security system.

D: She tell you her name?

F: Fennec Shand!

P: I thought you said that the hanger security system was up? Don’t get away from me you come right back here…

D: Fennec Shand.

F: By any chance are you looking for work?

D: This is a surprise.

F: I was looking for you.

D: What’s this?

F: A job offer. We need help dealing with the Pykes.

D: I’m here to speak with Boba about Mandalore.

F: I’m sure he would consider it.

D: He can keep the credits. It’s on the house. But I’ll need a favor in return.

You’ll have to review the timing to let me know if these would work, but I think overall it would be an improvement. Din’s not the kind of guy who’s gonna fly there “hoping” to speak with Boba. He’s going to speak to Boba.

I have not watched season 3, so some of that is going over my head, but on the other hand, having not watched it I think it gives me a good perspective.

First off, assuming a lot or most of those Armorer lines are AI… they sound really good. And the dialogue itself from her I think sounds well written.

Bo Katan’s responses, I assume from the real show in a different context, something sounds a little off, it doesn’t quite sound like she is responding to what the Armorer is stating. There is a different emotional level, I can tell the context is different there. But to be honest, if I was just watching the movie I probably wouldn’t notice it much.

Now that I have a somewhat solid idea on what I want in the ending, I am going back to the start, watching the main story lines that are applicable and seeing what I can work from them.

I’ve reached the conclusion I do want Cassian’s childhood scenes on his home planet, the jungle planet. I want the entire sequence of going to salvage the wrecked ship and being rescued by Maarva and Clem. It’s roughly about 15 minutes we spend on there if you put all those flashbacks back to back, which is more than I remembered.

I was watching Rogue One to get an idea of the pacing I want, and man… Rogue One introduces Jyn, her family dynamic with her mother and father, Krennic, Krennic and Gaelin’s confrontation, and Jyn running away and getting picked up by Saw… all of that almost right on 4 minutes. THAT is some well done pacing. So much information delivered but it never feels like too much.

I was cutting the childhood sequences, and right now I’m up to the part where the girl in Cassian’s group who is sort of the leader, gets shot in the back. That’s only about one third through the whole sequence but I’m already about 3.5 - 4 minutes in. I do not want the intro, up through Maarva taking Cassian away on her ship, to last more than 5 to 6 minutes. To me 6 minutes is basically too long, 5 is the sweet spot. But It is looking like I may have to cut even MORE to accomplish that. I wanted the shots of him and his sister as I feel it adds a good emotional anchor, but I might have to drop a lot of those to just put the focus just on Cassian and the group more generally if I want to hit 5 minutes. (I didn’t really plan on including other sister references in the movie anyway)

Still, it’s coming together!

Edit:
So, editing this sequence to try and make it my intro… I am realizing an issue, watching all the scenes back to back in one sequence… With just these scenes by themselves, having not seen Cassian and Maarva’s later relationship already… it really feels like she’s just kidnapping him. I don’t think the show justified her doing what she did. Would have made more sense to just say “Get out of here!” I mean his tribe couldn’t have made it that far. I feel the show would have benefited had we seen the Republican actually doing something bad to the tribe, taking them away or something similar.

It does try to express that she believes he’s going to die… but, idk… I don’t really buy it. He’s a jungle kid. If Maarva had time to carry him out of there, then Cassian would have had time to just run out of there on his own separately. I’m just not buying it.

So, a little conflicted on how I’m gonna handle it/if I should include it. My original plan was to not, but then I thought it would be useful to show it as a basis for Maarva and Cassian’s relationship, but now… I am unsure.

Acbagel said:

Boba-Plazir tie-in

Love that transition to Boba, that music. Hypes you up

Acbagel said:

I can already tell the hardest part is going to be figuring out what to cut… Realistically, I have ~3.5 hours of usable footage to sift through, and I need to cut out 30-45 minutes to make a good movie. It’s making me sweat!

To me this sounds perfect. If the content can sustain it, a 2 hour and 45 minute epic film would be an awesome finisher. In truth, across Mando and Boba we have 3.5 to 4 seasons of content. Cutting that into 6 movies sounds great. Cutting into 7 or 8, I am starting to wonder why Im watching it instead of just the show.

I would watch it anyway because of your great structuring, I just think it has the potential to be so much stronger pared down into a big event film. 6 is perfect to me.

Of course I totally respect Eddie’s opinion on it. Just comes down to different tastes and priorities between editors. In another topic I am cutting down 12 episodes of Andor into one 2 hour-15 minute movie… so you can see where my priorities lie as far as pacing and structure. I always opt for pacing and meaty content, over depthful content that is potentially boring. For Star Wars, which is a punchy sort of pulp “comic book” feeling franchise, I think that is the better approach. But that’s just me!

Edit: Also I do have a question, bagel. I haven’t watched Ahsoka yet. But I am wondering your opinion. I commented before on stretching out that time of reuniting Grogu and Din as much as possible. How do you think it would work/feel to watch Ahsoka (lets say a movie cut of Ahsoka), after either your movie 4 of this series, then jumping back into your final 2 movies after that (or after movie 5)? I am just wondering if that might help the separation even better, add another movie of content (with a character reintroduced in your movie 4) to add even more spacing between Din and Grogu’s reunion.

I will say, that shot of the SSD going into the DS2… there is some weirdness, but that was still always one of my favorite shots. But… I guess thats what I have 4K83 for. Can’t wait to see what you do with the whole movie. I actually endorse you leaning heavily into CG and a modernized look. Now that we have the theatricals in 4K, I want to see the completely modernized versions of the films, CG and all. I want something that fits in with the modern series.

Now, I wish that all the new movies and shows would go crazy with practical effects and always shooting on grainy 35mm film etc etc… but thats not the world we’re in. We’re in the world where they’re all digital. So I’d like to have versions of the OT to reflect that. My plan for my kids has always been, watch the originals theatrical (or even just “Star Wars” and “Empire”), then start the whole series over in chronological order and watch the entire series, shows and all, that way.

Well, curated fan edits of the entire series 😃

G&G-Fan said:

Patali said:

For me, this is something I am not a fan of and I think the show honestly handled better than the EU. The idea that Vader is a known public entity, honestly I found stupid. Vader should only be known to the top brass and generals on either side. I saw some comic where the Empire was literally putting him as a public propaganda face in holograms and such. I just don’t think it makes sense. He’s a hand of the Emperor who handles special assignments. Not just an Imperial. I think at the very most, he’d be in whispers of fearful soldiers who might have heard horror stories of a black armored, red lightsaber wielding wizard. To me that is more powerful than the Empire parading him around.

But, I know a lot of EU fans prefer that depiction, so hey, more power to them

Why is it stupid for Vader to be well-known? Scaring people into submission has always been the Empire’s tactic

I think the idea of Force users being front and center in any capacity during the reign of the Empire doesn’t make sense. Han Solo didn’t even believe in the force during “Star Wars”. There were many more Jedi than Sith, and even they were scrubbed so badly the universe has forgotten about them. Someone like Vader wouldn’t be in the public sphere. He’s a Jedi hunter and right hand to the Emperor, an enforcer for special tasks. Like I said, the idea that he would be a frightening rumor is much more powerful.

Seeing him in public holograms and propaganda? It’s outright cheesy. An obvious expanded universe concept, like Palpatine making a bunch of clones of himself.

The EU has its strengths, and it has its clear weaknesses.

Jedi122 said:

Jar Jar Bricks said:

But from what I can tell Obi-Wan learns Vader still lives in the cantina instead of Reva telling him.

That comes from the epilogue to Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader. It’s one change I don’t mind, actually.

For me, this is something I am not a fan of and I think the show honestly handled better than the EU. The idea that Vader is a known public entity, honestly I found stupid. Vader should only be known to the top brass and generals on either side. I saw some comic where the Empire was literally putting him as a public propaganda face in holograms and such. I just don’t think it makes sense. He’s a hand of the Emperor who handles special assignments. Not just an Imperial. I think at the very most, he’d be in whispers of fearful soldiers who might have heard horror stories of a black armored, red lightsaber wielding wizard. To me that is more powerful than the Empire parading him around.

But, I know a lot of EU fans prefer that depiction, so hey, more power to them

I would also appreciate a link!

So, I’ve begun by cutting something close to the ending I want. I may end up including more in this than I have, but here is roughly the ending 5 minutes of my edit that I’ll be building to through the rest of the edit.

This is my very first fan edit, and even then I am NOT an experienced video editor, so editing sound is not something I know and will need to learn as I go. The sound transitions right now ARE rough, but that is something I will hopefully nail by the time I finalize the edit. But, the idea for the ending is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E7Xkh50gROsrbhCabZwUw0pA7VA1uv6W/view?usp=sharing

I agree that making one film of better quality is much preferred over doing two films of stretched content.

I wil say, 3 hours sounds like a bit much for a Star Wars film. I’d say 2:30 - 2:45 should be the absolute MAX. Revenge of the Sith fully extended is only 2:30 and thats probably the most content packed film in the franchise.

Edit: Double

Hey Eddie, I have a question about your process. I know you said when you’re planning and organizing an edit, you figure out the ending you want first and then work backwards from there. Is that how you actually edit once you get started, or do you start cutting from the beginning like normal?

EddieDean said:

This is really interesting!

Thank you Eddie! Yeah, I think I’ve even seen some others talk about the only way to cut it down to a single movie would be to remove the prison sequence. And I think if you want to mostly retain the show’s structure as is, that would be correct.

But I really loved the prison arc. And I found an editor on reddit who said he made a 75 minute cut of just that arc, starting with Cassian being arrested and ending with the escape. In his cut, he is literally presenting it as Cassian being a civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Which, I did find that compelling. Because I think that story, and that opening 10 minutes of him on Niamos is a great way to draw the audience in. Anyone can relate to it and what happens to him. He’s literally done nothing wrong.

However the two issues I had was, the prison sequence is only 70 minutes, not a full movie like I would want. And the show and character are “Andor” not “Keef Girgo A Star Wars Story”. But thats when it struck me, what if I go with that idea. Our protagonist is just a guy who got unlucky… until an hour into the movie it is revealed that he is really much more. Playing around with Cassian’s alter ego, but making it where he’s fooling the audience as well. And of course doing it this way, I get to actually tell the story the show itself told, albeit in a highly altered form.

But I appreciate you posting your ideas of how you would handle it. It gives me something to contrast with. I find it interesting the different things from me that you would drop.

So, I’ve started by just cutting down to that A plot. Starting with Cassian on Niamos (beach planet) as Keef, and then everything involving his arrest, imprisonment and escape, and then those final escape scenes ending with Cassian learning about his mother’s death.

I gave that a watch, and it ended up at right about 70 minutes. I still really enjoyed all of those scenes (except will likely cut that post prison scene of them getting captured in the net by the weird aliens). I can see now that the three acts of the prison arc are clearly defined by the three episodes that contain it, which makes sense and makes things easy for me.

It is going to be a challenge figuring out how to implement everything I wanted above. I think it would feel the most correct to start with an extremely cut version of the Aldhani heist, quick cuts, snippets etc as I outline above. The inciting incident.

However, I want to include the scenes of Mon Mothma and Luthen at the antique dealer. The only issue I am imagining right now is, I want to include their first meeting and the one immediately following the heist… but if I have the heist at the beginning, it doesn’t leave a lot of room to do that first meeting. It’s like Mon would be flying right back to see him with barely any time at all in between. So I would need to pad that out somehow without making it unrealistic.

My thought is, to immediately go from the first scene with the shortened heist, and jump to Mon Mothma at the senate fighting against Imperial overreach, as if word has not gone around yet about the heist, like it is happening simultaneously or very close at least. Then go to Mon’s first meeting with Luthen at the antique dealer. Then I’ll see what else I can pad it out with, before eventually going to the scene with the ISB discussing their response to Aldhani and how they’re increasing punishment for anti Imperial crimes. THEN after that, have Mon go to see Luthen again to confront him about being involved with Aldhani. But idk, still gotta figure it out.

After this intro sequence, we’ll go to Cassian on Niamos and begin the story proper.

Before I started I was having hopes of having fun introducing Luthen as the eccentric high brow antique dealer, before revealing his deep rebel connections. However I don’t think there is enough content to make it flow naturally. At most it would be a surprise for a few small minutes before Luthen and Mon’s discussions reveal his true nature. But similar to the bigger surprise I am creating of Keef’s true identity as Cassian, I want to have as many surprises like that sprinkled in. The Luthen one feels like a natural setup so if I can find a way to work that in as a little surprise for the audience, I want to do so. Even if it’s just for one scene.

As for the ending, I still want to do the intercut sequence for Act 3 as described. The beginning of the prison riot intercut with Luthen and Saw talking about having Kreegyr and his forces take the fall, and cutting to shots of the Ferrix battle implying that is Kreegyr and his forces.

I initially wanted to include Mon in this sequence, some of those final shots when she has to give up her daughter. But, I don’t feel the energy fits. Instead, I have wanted to end the movie on the scene of Cassian finding out his mother died. That sad music that leads out of that scene into the credits I think would be really great for a montage where we can include some of Luthen and THERE is where we put those final shots of Mon and her daughter set to that music.

After that, I would just some kind of transitioning dialogue. Maybe flashing back to when Luthen recruits Cassian, and including some dialogue from Luthen about the Empire, how bad it is or how relentless they are etc… and use that to transition to the final shots of the Death Star ending the movie.

But we’ll see. I am aiming to not exceed one hour of content Outside of the A plot in prison. So hopefully the final run time will land between 2:10 and 2:20, which to me is the perfect length for a Star Wars film.

So, I have just finished Andor for the first time. However, I started it last year, having watched the first six episodes. I thought it was good, however the pacing of that first half did not leave me excited to continue on the show. I did not have an attachment to any of the characters aside from Cassian, and Syril in the first three episodes.

I meant to keep watching but I didn’t end up coming back to it until a few nights ago this year. Woah, it sure does pick up.

I enjoy movie cuts, especially for Star Wars tv. I like tightly paced, packed stories. While I did find Andor to be a high quality TV show, I couldn’t help but imagine it at the standard of a film. Reviewing the content, I felt there was slightly too much for one movie (under 2.5 hours), but in my opinion not enough for two movies, without the pacing suffering. I know that might sound crazy to people who really loved the show, but that’s just my opinion. I have begun VERY basic work on an Andor Season 1 edit.

Goal: Cut Andor Season 1 into a single movie that does not exceed 2.5 hours.

So therefore, if I want to turn it into one movie, under 2.5 hours, it will require some radical cuts and restructuring. However, I believe it is possible. I have never done a fan edit before, but I very much desire to see this. I wanted to do a similar project with TCW, but I find Andor S1 and its length much more approachable.

For me, the strongest arc of the series was easily the Prison-Arc. Every scene in the prison had me completely engaged. I plan on using this as my primary “A plot” which the cut will be structured around.

So the content I would like to include and focus on is:

• Prison Arc as the main A plot and throughline of the film, intercut with:
• Luthen’s various machinations.
• The Imperial investigation into Aldhani.
• The very basics of Mon Mothma’s plot in the later series (Mon Mothma is the tie-in to the greater SW series)
• Flashbacks throughout of scenes with Andor and his adoptive mother.
• Flashbacks to the Aldhani heist.

It will be a lot but if it can be pulled off and trimmed to ABSOLUTE essentials, I think it would make a great 2.5 hour film. Essentially, I will have /very little/ of the first half of the series in the edit at all. Much of what I plan on cutting would include:

• Almost all of Ferrix and its characters, Bix, Cassian’s friends etc. As stated, I will be using scenes of Cassian and Maarva throughout to show their relationship. And at some point I will likely include Cassian being recruited by Luthen in an extremely cut form. But otherwise, Ferrix and its characters will likely be almost entirely cut, including its use in the finishing episodes.
• Most of the Aldhani plot. I will start with snippets of the heist as an inciting act to the story, along with the Imperial response afterwards. As the story progresses, I will use flashbacks to the heist to assist the plot. But in all, it will probably be cut to only a few minutes.
• The Syril plotline. I feel the show only gets stronger as it goes on. The first arc I felt was its weakest. However, Syril was a saving grace to me in those first episodes. His no-nonsense attitude had me and my friend practically cheering for him even though he was going after Cassian who we also liked. However… I do not feel the series progressed his plot in a satisfactory manner. And seeing as his plot is already so tied in to Ferrix in the first place, I really do not see a place for him in this edit.
• The sister plot and any references.
• Likely many other things that I can’t remember right now.

My thinking as far as structure is this:

• Possibly start with snippets of Andor’s past, some of the flashbacks we see (maybe the Clem flashbacks), just enough to show his problems with the empire. Do not include any mentions of his name.
• Begin the plot proper with a short scene/snippets from the Aldhani heist, as the inciting incident of the story. But do NOT show Cassian in the heist, cut around him.
• Introduce Cassian as Keef Girgo, a seemingly regular citizen on the beach planet (if we saw some of the Clem flashbacks, we’ll know he doesn’t like the empire but he will otherwise seem a normal citizen now). Go through the sequence of him being arrested.
• Put emphasis on all the times throughout that sequence and in prison that he is referred to as “Keef”.
• During the Imperial response and investigation, if Andor is mentioned, we will not show any visuals/holograms that actually show him. Keep it vague as to who Andor is.
• In sequences where it feels natural, like when Cassian goes to bed, we can cut in some of the mother scenes from the early part of the series as flashbacks (akin to Jyn’s flashbacks with her father in R1). During the early parts of his story, we will not include her referring to him by name.
• As the A plot in prison progresses, intercut with the flashbacks, eventually, either at the end of Act 1 or 2, it will be surprise-revealed that Keef Girgo is actually the Cassian Andor that everyone is looking for, and we will then show more in depth scenes of the Aldhani heist and how heavily involved he was. Any mother flashbacks from this point forward can include her saying his name. Same with the Imperial Investigations now being able to show his hologram to the audience. In fact it may be one of those things that IS the reveal.

As for B plots, and how the A plot progresses into the third act, I want to include as much as I can of Luthen and Mon Mothma, but to have it make sense in the context of the very limited version of the story we’re telling:

• Will have to include the scenes of Mon Mothma and Luthen meeting, otherwise she has no tie-in to the plot.
• The third act will culminate in the prison break, intecut with Luthen allowing Kreegyr to fall into the Imperial trap, and Mon Mothma giving her daughter up for the cause.
• I want to, via clever and liberal editing, to cut the final episode’s battle/riot on Ferrix, to imply THAT is Kreegyr’s forces falling into the Imperial trap. So as Saw is confronting Luthen about letting it happen (“You’d let 30 men die?”) we will be cutting to snippets of the Ferrix battle as if THOSE are the 30 men. If possible, I will include the Imperial side about the funeral and somehow try to meld those two events even further to make them seem as one thing. But overall it may result in including only a /little/ bit of the battle to sell the illusion that it is Kreegyr’s forces, who, as far as I remember we never even see.
• It will be made clear that Kreegyr and his men died, but we will include shots to show that they put up a fight, making it a bittersweet and hopeful thing, despite how Luthen used and discarded them. I will use the shots of Meero being knocked down to imply that she gets killed during the battle.

So that is essentially it. The third act will culminate with an intercut sequence of:

• Cassian’s Prison Break
• Luthen and Saw discussing sacrificing Kreegyr; Luthen compromising himself even further.
• Kreegyr’s forces being killed by the ISB (Ferrix battle in disguise)
• Mon Mothma giving up her daughter, compromising herself.

After that, I don’t have the exact ending nailed down but I know I want to include Cassian’s call where he finds out his mother is dead after everything he’s been through. We will have not seen this so it will be a surprise gut-punch to the audience. And then I would like to include the Death Star as the true final shot.

So that’s it! I think it is an ambitious idea but if pulled off, would truly be an AMAZING, tightly paced, packed film full of twists and turns for the audience. I would appreciate any suggestions, further ideas, critiques/problems (I know there will be a LOT of problems to solve with this restructure). etc.

And just any general advice for a new fan editor going into a project like this would also be appreciated. Thanks everyone

Please send me updated links!