ziggyonice

This is random but I was just reviewing your original changelist. Not sure how much of this is still accurate, but I really hope you’ve changed your mind about removing Rey’s journey to Ahch-To to meet Luke.

That entire sequence — the build up to seeing Luke’s face and the haunting sounds of “The Jedi Steps” — is probably among of the most defining moments in the entire saga. I think it’s up there with Han shooting first, Anakin burning in lava, and Vader’s reveal as Luke’s father.

Getting rid of that ending is something I just don’t think I can get on board with. It’s probably my favorite part of The Force Awakens. Your other changes, however, have been very well done. Just my opinion.

I’ve worked on my own fanedit of ROTJ (“The Ziggy Edit,” which is quite a bit more ambitious than your planned changes), and so I just wanted to give you some feedback based on what I encountered with my project.

• Adywan is including footage from 4K83 in his edit of “ROTJ: Revisited” and I would really recommend you do the same. Specifically, the Blu-Ray has an out of focus section from the first part of Endor that is pretty bad. 4K83 fixes this.

• I’m a big fan of the “Jerjerrod’s Conflict” deleted scene, and I integrated it into my edit using audio recorded by Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor. While you obviously don’t have to use this in your project, it does add a more “human” element to the Empire that I think was missing in the OT.

• I’ve never been a fan of Obi-Wan’s description of “a certain point of view.” Again, it’s your edit, but in mine, I integrated the found Laserdisc footage of Yoda saying to Luke, “Obi-Wan would have told you log ago, had I let him [about your father]” which makes this much better in my opinion.

Many other of your changes are in line with what I would recommend as well. Looking forward to seeing your work!

Man, that sequence looks beautiful. I mean really, it is nearly perfect. It has come a long way since you first worked on this scene, and I really think it’s possible for the viewer to connect it with Rey’s “Forceback.”

The only thing that might further enhance it is that, after BB-8 gets Rey’s attention (after the medical lady says, “Your friend is going to be just fine”), I think we need a tighter shot on BB-8 and Artoo. This was difficult to explain, so — I hope you don’t mind — but I took your video and then cut it myself to show you what I mean:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pTw6TzuCPAPO0i2ki53XZEhJGzeznURn/view?usp=sharing

I just reused the previous shot and then reversed it. The only tough thing about this is that it would require putting an “eye” on BB-8 or rotating his head. However, I think this change helps the audience focus a little more on what BB-8 is wanting Rey to look at: Artoo.

RogueLeader said:

I’m still not 100% sold on the Rey/BB-8 stuff, but it could be my own bias. Unrelated to the vfx work so far, I guess it doesn’t feel totally like it actually fits in with the movie yet. Like it isn’t completely seamless logically.

I could go either way on this. I think the shocked look on Rey’s face and the close up on Artoo helps to connect the dots.

If we wanted to make it more obvious, there’s only one thing I can think of: have Rey say Luke’s name. You could maybe use a voiceover from when she says Luke’s name during her conversation with Maz. But I kind of feel like a voiceover would make the edit seem rather amateur. If she says Luke’s name, we need to see her say it. Maybe some rotoscoping magic by cutting her out of the scene with Maz.

Hold up, I found different line of Harrison Ford’s from Raiders of the Lost Ark. This makes it so that Han still calls Jabba a “son of a bitch,” but he first laughs sarcastically. Indiana Jones says this in a temple, so there’s an echo. I had to add a reverb effect to the surrounding lines, which I think can be played off as being spoken the same loudspeaker that Threepio is speaking on.

Second version:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19OT9gWCHJkGp0Vu0eRK53WT5vzjd-_0f/view?usp=sharing

Thoughts?

During the Sarlacc scene, Han calls Jabba a “slimy piece of worm-ridden filth." I’ve always thought this sounded childish, and wanted something more adult — this is Han Solo, after all.

I’m looking for a line from another one of Harrison Ford’s movies to put here, if I can find one.

I did locate a scene from a late-night TV show where he says, “you son of a bitch!” So I’ve put that in this sequence as though Han says it under his breath. I kind of like it:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mQ9wcFT7mRPeFE_FiXEvAaumDiTfoIGU/view?usp=sharing

NeverarGreat said:

Going back to the R2 scene, BB-8 now explicitly includes Rey and I think it works much better this way:

I agree that I do think this is better. I think that the wipe from Artoo to the nighttime shot comes a little too quick though. I feel like the timing of the music and the shot of Artoo needs to be fixed somewhat. Can the Force theme that’s playing maybe start a second or two later than where it is currently? That way the camera can be fixed on Artoo for another second while the theme comes to a close and before the wipe comes?

SomethingStarWarsRelated said:
Just curious, has anyone attempted to speed up the slo mo shots and make them “real time”?

NeverarGreat said:
Do you mean the ones I slowed down, or some others in the scene?

He’s talking about the obviously slow-mo shot of Rey, breaving heavily and looking down at Kylo after having just beaten him in the lightsaber battle. Look at the snow falling around her and you can see it’s been slowed down. Was like this in the original version of the film.

NeverarGreat said:
As for the ‘darker’ music when Rey defeats Kylo, here’s how it might sound:

Interesting. I think I dig it.

RogueLeader said:

alternate track for Han’s death scene?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgkFKt-6rcE

Didn’t know this was a thing. It’s a pretty “loud” track, but barring that, it might work.

Is there any chance you could have Rey say some sort of dialogue? Maybe she could say something, off camera, to Artoo? I’m picturing her saying something about “I saw you in a dream” or something.

Didn’t she say something like that in The Last Jedi? Does any of her dialogue reference dreams or flashbacks or anything that might be edited to fit the context of the scene? Just trying to find ways to piece it together.

RogueLeader said:
Ziggy, that extra bit of dialogue is a good idea! Could fit in when the officer is looking at everything falling apart before he runs off.

NeverarGreat said:
Is that really necessary though? I don’t think there would be any confusion as to the planet’s fate since it was established that destroying the Oscillator could cripple the planet.

I don’t know. I feel like the line about the Oscillator is too much of a throwaway line for the average moviegoer. I do see what you’re saying, and it might not be required. But I do think it would help.

I’m not sure how else it can be communicated without additional dialogue. Or how this is the first time they’ve used the weapon and the instability would be unknown.

Or maybe not.

RogueLeader said:

I wonder if you could have it where Rey says, “Luke” during one of the shots of R2. You could take it from her conversation with Maz, since you might cut that line.

This seems like a great idea. We need a better indication of Rey connecting Artoo with Luke. Having her say his name might be a good step in the right direction.

I am still wondering though if it would be simpler to just cut straight from Rey looking at R2, to them going to Leia about good news, and if adding this extra stuff is making it more confusing or less confusing. I think this new stuff is cool, just trying to look at it objectively.

I’m also wondering this. This seems like a good idea, but without actually seeing Rey fix Artoo, it becomes a little confusing about what just happened.

For those wondering if the Death Star II wreckage actually is the Forest Moon of Endor, note that it does, in fact, have oceans:

https://i.imgur.com/wz9qdAL.png

And that’s in new canon, too.

Moving Starkiller to fire at the end of the lightsaber battle is interesting.

I do like that it does not take away from Han’s death. I also like that it makes it seem that the instability of the planet is what causes Starkiller to reach its own destruction upon firing.

The only thing is that I feel like there’s going to need to be some dialogue here to piece that part together. Like it would be perfect if there was a First Order officer that mentioned something about the instability of the planet.

This idea is something worth continuing to play with.

ChainsawAsh said:

Wow. That was awesome. I’d love to see that incorporated in a full edit!

Thanks. I would also love to see it in a full edit.

“The Jedi Steps” is, in my opinion, THE theme for Old Luke. It is ledgendary, like he is.

The Jedi Steps is probably the best song written for the sequel trilogy so far. I would love to see it become the Old Luke’s theme, which is why I used it in this showdown scene.

It’s just an epic song for an amazing sequence.

One thing I’ve really wanted to do is see the inclusion of the song “The Jedi Steps” (from The Force Awakens) overlayed with the climatic moment of Luke walking out to confront Kylo Ren and the First Order in The Last Jedi.

Don’t get me wrong: the existing theme during that scene (“The Spark”) is great. But “The Jedi Steps” gives me chills — it’s the song that introduces us to Luke Skywalker for the first time in the sequel trilogy. Luke the legend, Luke the Jedi Master, Luke returns. That’s why I feel “The Jedi Steps” is so appropriate during the showdown on Crait.

I changed the key of the music so that it better matched the existing music, and added the sound effects.

Link: https://vimeo.com/261781728
Password: fanedit

Just curious about what people think.

So there’s this new video going around on the Internet that Topher Grace put together, a sort of trailer of all the Star Wars films thus far. I actually really like it, but there’s one part in particular I find pretty interesting.

Of course, we all know of the mysterious exchange in ESB/ROTH when Obi-Wan remarks, “That boy is our last hope,” to which Yoda replies, “There is another.” In this video, they arranged the clips to imply that, when Yoda says that line, the “other” is in fact, Rey.

This is an interesting idea that I hadn’t seen mentioned elsewhere, and would actually give a lot more credence to the need for the sequel trilogy — it seems to tie it in better than the original idea, which of course, was Leia. Now, you could argue that, at the time George Lucas wrote this, he intended to have the sequel trilogy star Leia with use of her Force powers. But seeing as that didn’t happen, is there any way to integrate this idea into an ROTJ fanedit?

I suppose what I am looking for is a question of whether it is even somehow possible to have Obi-Wan (or Yoda, on his deathbed) mention Rey in ROTJ, without completely disrupting the rest of the film. I have no idea if it would even be possible or where the dialogue would come from — maybe some from Yoda’s lines in TLJ?

After a long sleep…

It’s been a few years, but I have decided to revive this thread and continue my work on my fanedit of Return of the Jedi, called “The Ziggy Edit.”

There have been a lot of new changes that I have implemented since I first announced the project. Take a look at the (now updated) change list on the initial post, and let me know what you think.

Link to change list: https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/772163

Thanks everyone.

NeverarGreat said:

Here’s a more polished version of the scene, with some improved transitions and an edit to the Hux/Snoke dialogue. The rearrangement of the Kylo/Snoke dialogue has been dialed back but still retains the main idea.

This looks good, although (personally) I think the “He means nothing to me” line is too confusing on its own.

I definitely wouldn’t say the earlier Snoke scenes were failures. I really liked how you ended one of them with Snoke calling Kyle Ren “Solo.”

poppasketti said:

Ziggy, thanks so much for the compliments, and I’m so glad you enjoyed the edit!

Hey there! Yes, I’ve now watched Rekindled several times, and I really cannot get enough of it. I really like discussing it so I hope you don’t mind that I’m going to probably continue to bring things up about it — for better or worse remains to be seen!

Regarding my suggestions, let me first tackle the big one about Ackbar.

I know that it’s a significant change and honestly, it’s not entirely realistic for Rekindled in its current state. Changes like these are bold enough that, if they aren’t pulled off correctly, they’re obvious. They’re what separates an excellent fanedit from others that are more conceptual in their goals.

What I think I’d like to see is an alternate or “experimental” version of Rekindled. Sort of a sandbox for ideas that may or may not make the final cut. (Hell, I say this like it’s mine — it’s your edit and your time, you can do whatever you want with it!) But I suppose I’m just so fond of what you’ve put together here that I am eager to see it combined with some of the more conceptual changes that have been suggested (like the Ackbar addition) without it tarnishing the quality of Rekindled as it is today.

So I suppose what I’m asking is if you would consider an “experimental” version of Rekindled. Or, would you be open to myself or anyone else using Rekindled as a base on which to build in some of these more conceptual changes? That said, it’s been a few years since my last fanedit (that reminds me, I should dig it out…), so I admit that it likely wouldn’t come close to the great work you’ve done.

The other two changes I mentioned — Paige kicking the ladder and BB-8 fixing Poe’s X-Wing — these are both things that I believe can be edited without significant alteration of the film, and therefore they could be as seamless as nearly all your other changes in Rekindled.

If you ever decide to open the project back up again, I’d definitely like to see these two things be something you look at.

ChainsawAsh said:

I also don’t like the Ackbar stuff. The voice isn’t convincing (though that could be remedied by a better voice actor doing an impression closer to his TFA/TLJ voice), and the ROTJ outfit and mask don’t match. The rotoscoping is mostly okay, but in general I fail to see how it improves anything, unless you really hate Holdo or feel it’s absolutely necessary to hammer home the “there might be a spy” point, none of which I have an issue with (I was surprised to discover that the spy thing wasn’t outright stated as I’d apparently taken it as a given).

I agree with all these points. I’m not crazy about the Ackbar addition, but it does look better than I thought it might. It also does fix some of the issues I’ve had with Holdo. Let me be clear, I do not hate her character. However, what I don’t like is that, after all of the hysterics leading up to the reveal that she does, in fact, know what she’s doing, we’re supposed to suddenly accept the fact that she and Leia are close friends. I imagine we’re also supposed to feel some remorse for her sacrifice to save the Resistance, which I don’t at all.

I am unsure of how to fix that. Ackbar introducing her does seem to help explain her presence and her actions, which I do like. That is my primary reason for wanting to see the roto’d clip inserted.

Obviously, it could still be improved upon — the roto could be even better, and it definitely needs a better Ackbar impressionist. With that said, if the scene had been in the actual film, I do think people would have felt more at ease with her strange decisions and the role she plays with regards to Leia. While I understand that may be the point, it also means I just don’t care about her sacrifice (which is worse, in my opinion).

Hello there,

I just wanted to pop in and talk about your fanedit (“Rekindled”) a little more.

This weekend I spent some time rewatching all of the fanedits I could find of The Last Jedi. Afterwards, I walked away with some ideas and thoughts on what I liked and what I didn’t. Of all of them, I will say that your version continues to be my favorite rendition as it addresses some of the biggest issues I had with the original film. With that said, I also saw some things in other edits that I hope you may someday consider for a future version, or a new fanedit altogether.

The things I like the MOST about your fanedit:

• Removing the Leia spacewalk — it was absolutely a deus ex machina
• Removing Rose’s rescue of Finn — your version is FLAWLESS
• Trimming — but keeping — most of Poe’s “prank call” with Hux
• Changing the music during the Luke lightsaber toss scene

I know that your fanedit was based on HAL 9000’s “Legendary” edit, for which I very much enjoyed his work as well, especially these changes:

• Cutting much of Canto Bight
• Reinserting “Luke has a moment” and “Poe: Not Much of a Sewer” deleted scenes
• Removing the Ach-to caretakers and meant-to-be-humorous Porg scenes
• And numerous other small changes

Having built Rekindled off of Legendary, and addressing a few more points that I had issues with, yours remains the pinnacle of fanedits for The Last Jedi. Friends I’ve shown it to have agreed, saying that it has totally changed their opinion of the original film.

So now, after having rewatched Rekindled (along with several other fanedits), I think I know what I still want to see in a fanedit of The Last Jedi. Not necessarily in your fanedit, but if you were ever to release a newer version or even another fanedit altogether, I think these three items would really help enhance The Last Jedi:

Further trimming Paige Tico (bomber girl) kicking the ladder to drop the detonator.
I know that you shorted this slightly, but to be honest, I still find it longer than it needs to be. I keep screaming at my TV, “Just get up and go grab the damn thing!” Two kicks or so is fine, but right now, it is still too long, I think. ForceGhostRecon’s “Clean Cut Version” does a pretty good job of fixing this.

Changing BB-8’s repair of Poe’s X-Wing
I’ll be honest, I always thought this scene was too silly. BB-8 starts popping new fingers into every socket on the board, only to use his whole head which magically fixes the problem. It was just too slapstick for me. The best fix I’ve seen of this is one that I’m almost afraid to mention because of some controversy regarding the faneditor creating it. Regardless, the actual change itself [watch it here] is really great and is one I’d love to see happen someday.

Finding a better way to introduce Holdo
This is a bigger change. Last week, Gigawattboy posted a couple clips from his new fanedit of The Last Jedi (not yet released). In his version, keeping Admiral Ackbar alive allows the introduction and motivation of Holdo’s to feel so much better. I feel like her character came out of nowhere. Supposedly she’s been friends with Leia despite us never having heard of her, but she seems like she can’t be trusted and she doesn’t reveal any indication of a plan of action. Gigawattboy’s incredible roto work makes it possible for Ackbar — a character we know and trust — to introduce Holdo, which feels so much more authentic and allows us to appreciate her later sacrifice. [Clip is here]

As of right now, that’s all I’ve got. Again, I’m not asking you to consider these changes for Rekindled (although I think if you did they would be well-received). But if you ever wanted to play with it a little more, I certainly would like to see your work. Otherwise, someday, I might ask about using Rekindled as the base of a fanedit of my own! But as that day may be a long ways off, being able to share these ideas with you at least allows me to dream, eh?

Thanks again for your great work!

I’m sorry to change the subject but I just saw your updated version of Rey’s dream.

You’re going to hate me for saying it, but I’m just still not sold on it yet.

Things I like:

• I like the nighttime shots
• I like the Rey voice
• I like the music choice

Things I don’t like:

• I can’t hear a single sentance in the collage of audio during this sequence
• The wall of days is on there for way too long (I know you said it was a stand in)

I know that I previously said the sequence was revealing too much too soon, but now I feel like it reveals nothing at all! The only thing that I feel is really important to this sequence is something about the island. Yes, a drawing of the island might work, as long as it’s clear that’s what it is.

Otherwise, maybe split second video clips? Like just a few frames of the island flash onto the screen, just to give the audience the visual of what Rey is seeing.

Like:

• Shot of Rey asleep
• The voices / scary sounds
• 3 frames of unkar
• Back to Rey sleeping (maybe an eye twitches… not sure how that would be possible)
• 3 frames of the island
• Back to Rey sleeping

Etc.

I don’t know. As of right now, they Reydream is still my favorite in terms of how it looks. It’s so simple and yet so curious.

You’re doing good work.

Also, what song is that in the Poe interrogation scene? Because I love it.

Just some thoughts on this.

I’m going to echo most of RogueLeader’s opinion, particularly the comments about:

I think you could have a hard cut transition from the Poe interrogation scene to BB-8 outside Rey’s house. Then go into the AT-AT, to the various interior shots and hear echoes of Plutt that she’s imagining, but possibly also some alien jibberish like you suggested, like Teedo, maybe the junk cleaning alien, etc., but you can overlap them to the point that they’re really overwhelming to Rey and us, and then a hard black. Relief. After a beat, fade back onto a peaceful shot of the island.

Additionally, though, my biggest concern with this scene is that it is too on-the-nose. I’m afraid that it gives away too much about Rey’s character too early in the film. The great part about the daydream (“Reydream”) sequence was that it was so short and sweet. But the problem I feel about this version of her dream is that it’s too long and reveals too much too early.

Part of what makes TFA so great is that we don’t confirm that Rey is the successor to the Jedi until the very end of the film. There are hints, like the lightsaber flashback (“Forceback”), but nothing so direct about what her destiny is until the moment the lightsaber flies into her hands during the battle with Kylo Ren.

I’m all for the sequence, I just think it needs to be shorter, more dream-like / mysterious, and less obvious about what it means. I would also recommend not using “The Jedi Steps,” mainly because I feel like that is a theme that is reserved for Luke when this is a sequence less about him and more about the Force awakening in Rey.

Music wise, I’m not sure. Maybe you could play with something like the intro music to The Force Awakens trailer, which was composed by Williams. Or maybe the original teaser trailer music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhtOwVvQjIc

ChainsawAsh said:

I’d like to reiterate this wonderful suggestion when it comes to the Imperial March in ANH:

INVAR said:

ChainsawAsh said:

I still think it’d be nice to add a bit of the Imperial March to the scene when Vader arrives on the Tantive, though that would mean replacing a small bit of original music.

I already created a brief edit to show what that might look and sound like. It’s minimalist, but it works.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/225892219

I am absolutely 100% totally on board with this.

With that said, I don’t think the Imperial March should appear anywhere else in the film, unless Vader is on the screen.