vranir

MAJOR UPDATE

Version 2.0 released for Picard season 1 and season 3 (now called season 2)

PM for links

To me, the single biggest downside of this edit vs the original series is the movie vs episode length. All the changes here are excellent, but the longer format makes it a harder sell, especially for new viewers who might be more open to a series of 30-40 minute commitments until they get hooked.

My ideal plan is to recut these edits back into episodes for my own use, but I have no idea about when or how well that would work.

What if you did a pre-credit sequence with the Titan intercepting and/or rescuing the Crushers, maybe using a spliced together version of the real opening for episode 1 and/or episode 2, along with shots from the actual rescue sequence in episode 2. That way, you get the idea that sometime prior the Titan ran into them, and then you get the title, and we assume that’s why Picard and Riker show up after the title.

Cool ideas, especially for the sequence of events in the wrap-up. I was really close to finishing my own 9-episode edit of season 3, but I tried to break the final 2 episodes into 3 and got bogged down trying to find a few more minutes of content to add to the middle installment (basically after Jack runs off through the reveal of the Ent D). I was thinking of maybe using some version of the cadet flashback from episode 4.

Anyway, I still love the core of the Picard show for all of its faults, and it’s always refreshing to see a new take on it.

Checking daily ever since Thanksgiving - don’t rush it, but I can’t wait to see the finale.

Ooh, exciting! I can’t wait to see what you did with the more recent material.

I’m floored by these new sequences. Can’t wait, and primarily because of your work, I also can’t wait for The Mandalorian and Grogu. More raw content!

Man, I am so looking forward to this edit! I love the additions you’re making.

Do you have any plans to make a final edit based on Rogue One?

What I mean by that is that in the Silmarillion, the Elven rings were created by the Elves as their own idea in order to counter Sauron’s rings. In the show, they were created first under Sauron’s inspiration and at his suggestion but without his literal involvement. Anjohan decided to experiment with keeping the book’s approach but still have the Elven rings come first; in his most recent version, the Elven rings basically inspire Sauron to make the other rings.

My edit keeps the show’s order of events, but changes the order of scenes to synch things up in ways that I think feel more natural. We both trim what we consider unnecessary filler and awkwardness, but not always the same things. Anjohan trims more Harfoot stuff; I trim more of the Southlands. We both trim a lot of the Numenor preparations in season 1. We also both use similar micro-trims to make Galadriel less argumentative. Anjohan keeps the use of tunnels to channel water into Mount Doom; I cut that out and imply that the sword-key acts magically to erupt it.

I should also note that Anjohan’s edit currently is one movie that ends at the eruption, while also having the creation of the three rings and the opening conversations about Dwarven rings. My edit is two movies that cover all of season 1, as well as the Numenor, Southlands, and Harfoot stories of season 2. I have a partial edit of a third movie that is waiting on season 3 Harfoot/Stranger content to get filled out.

Good question. There’s a lot that matches between my edit and this one. Anjohan and I actually went back and forth contributing ideas to each other in PMs while creating/fine-tuning our edits.

Anjohan’s edit set itself apart early by being very tightly focused. His opening prologue, for instance, was amazing, and mine is very closely modeled after it. My use of a Sauron vision to open the second film and direct Galadriel toward Eregion is also directly lifted from something Anjohan did.

Overall, Anjohan’s edit has evolved to experiment with/solve the story in more radical ways than mine has. For example, in the current version, I believe he has moved the creation of the three Elven rings to the prologue of the story, with the intent of making them less tied to Sauron and more in line with the books.

My edit, meanwhile, maintains more of the vanilla storyline, but with more of a focus on chronology/trying to line up day/night cycles and keeping plot threads feeling in-synch, even if they technically aren’t. I also keep the Harfoot story as a main thread (even the heart of the series), where almost every other edit reduces them significantly as a grudging side story.

I think the best explanation for the mutants is that they were accidents while trying to get the dino/frog/other DNA balance right for the original Jurassic Park creatures.

The big question: Does the episode “Dax” look better than on DVD?

I think it’s a definite improvement over what we get from upscaling the DVD.

Ive heard that the laser disk content quality is only superior for the first 2 (maybe 3) seasons, after which point the filming technique changed and the DVD source became comparable.

Love seeing you getting back on track!

That does look impressive. Since I’m running a Mac, I’m going to hold off until they release the requirements snd framerates for the Mac version of Starlight Mini. (So far it’s Windows only, but they’re working on Mac and Linux.)

I’d love to try it out on my standard go-to scene, the opening of One Little Ship, to see how it handles the com badges, grey uniform piping, and console text. I do like what I can see of the piping in your Nemesis screen caps.

Do you find that Starlight produces a markedly better result than other models like Proteus?

I used a combination of Artemis and Proteus to upscale all of DS9 and VOY for myself last year. I don’t have an active Topaz subscription (and can’t get Starlight because of that) but it is something I’d be willing to consider. My MacBook Pro has 32GB RAM so it should be able to handle it.

I kind of like the 3-part option if only because it would result in 6 total films / 2 trilogies, which is the traditional Star Wars organization.

Any new updates or thoughts on this? I’m really excited to see what you do with Season 2.

Super excited for movies 5 and 6!

since it’s been a few months, I was wondering if anyone has any feedback (especially on Pt 2).

I’m taking a break from RoP for a bit after taking my own crack at season 2 - after all I think we have to wait a couple of years again for the next batch of material - but I’d love to take a look at these sometime in the next few months. Your original Workprint was a huge inspiration for me.

Agreed with all the above.

I’ve mostly been working on Rings of Power myself, alongside a couple of other editors here. We’ve each taken a different, but overlapping approach - one breaks each storyline into its own movie, one tries to compress as much as possible to focus on only the main events, and I’ve tried to balance everything and it trim into a series of cohesive Jackson-style films (so far about 2.5 films pending season 3 in 2026.

I do expect to revisit the original trilogy in 2030 when all is said and done, if only to blend in some Rings of Power flashback footage and Bear McCreary’s excellent music for cohesion. But that’s a long way off.

A couple of lingering questions, which maybe you could work into or work around in the edit:

• What happened to the captain of the Onyx Cinder after he crashed on At-Atan? Maybe he also confronted the Supervisor AI and got killed by it when his true agenda was discovered? Maybe the AI could drop a line that implies this?

• If the Onyx Cinder was originally a native At-Atan ship and that’s why it was allowed through the barrier, who was its captain and what was its purpose? Was the original pirate captain from At-Atan in the first place, or maybe he captured the actual envoy who was supposed to use the ship to travel back and forth? Maybe that’s why the AI recognized Jod as an envoy.

• And again, as has been brought up multiple times now, why does Jod tell the pirates to attack? Wouldn’t a better tactic have been to simply replace the Supervisor and send shipments of credits out to his crew every few months? Could you somehow imply that this was his original plan but that it had been blocked by something, maybe the kids blowing the cover on him or his ship’s actual identity? That way, just like with the kids, he would start out trying to be a friend, but if needed, he would change angles and use fear to get what he wants.

I did appreciate the involvement of the parents in helping during the finale.

I wasn’t a fan of Jod letting the pirates just attack instead of quietly taking over; it seemed dumb and needlessly bloody for a character who had mostly tried to avoid killing random people.

I did appreciate Jod’s slight smile when the good kids defeated him.

Above all, I appreciated that they actually kept it all self-contained, a fun normal story in a shared universe.