Synopsis:

The Force Awakens serves as the opening movie in this trilogy, it introduces new characters and sets up the threat of the upcoming First Order. The First Order is a bit more mysterious in this edit since they are not the Empire and don't rule the Galaxy yet. Some very subtle hints of Palpatine are present, mostly connected to Rey, but also within the First Order. Overall, this movie has not been changed a lot but the biggest change is the destruction of the Hosnian system, completely inspired by Hal9000. It now is destroyed at the end battle of Starkiller Base. This makes the movie feel much smaller in scale (and yes that is a good thing). Why? Because this way the characters come first, they are the focus. We get used to these new people. Shortly, the First Order seems more like an upcoming threat, rather than an already existing one and of course, the characters come first, and it feels less like A New Hope.

Intentions:

First of all I am a huge fan of the sequels and they are made out of love for them. The film is changed mostly to become a introduction of new characters, while being a fun star wars adventure. Keeping in mind the two coming sequels, everything is adjusted to that. Hints of coming plotlines, the removal of unresolved plotlines, etc. The humour was at times a bit much and is cut down a bit, but overall I wanted it to be the same story, but it needed to set up and flow better into the sequels.

Change List:

Completely color graded to be more like the originals and match the other two sequels -Opening scene on Jakku Added original trilogy opening logo’s Removed line “We’ve got company” (Feels very generic for me, every movie has that line) Made Kylo Ren striking Lor San Tekka more smooth Removed lines “Who talks first” This keeps the first scenes with Poe more serious as this is the introduction of a new antagonist. Later in the movie Poe gets to be more loose. He should be intimidated by Kylo Ren. Removed activated lighthsaber before activation Kylo Ren -Rey Introduction on Jakku Removed “Shh” from Rey, it’s very aggressive and she is more likeable without it as a first impression of a new character -Star destroyer interrogation Removed lines “Comfortable? Not really” Kylo ren is a bit more intimidating in my edit, less of a joke, and certainly in the beginning, plus Poe should be more intimidated. -Star destroyer escape Removed Finn shooting all of his fellow stormtroopers in the Tie fighter, the escape is quicker and he doesn’t shoot his (maybe) friends Moved the Wilhelm scream Removed line “FN-2187” Kylo Ren doesn’t know all stormtroopers by number -Jakku escape (this section is re-edited to flow much smoother and be one long action packed scene, one-liners and pauses in the action are removed) Removed line “Water water” We now see Finn exhausted and relieved to see water, it’s clear enough Removed lines “I’ve had a messed up day” scene flows better like this, and not a time to joke while he is under attack Removed lines “I am with the resistance” it feels weird to have him say it twice, and the “obviously” works fine on its own, he is lying, that is what we need to remember from this scene Removed section in tent “Does anyone have blasters, stop taking my hand” they now run out of the village and are immediately shot by the TIE fighter. Rey is also nicer this way as she doesn’t complain about Finn taking her hand a second time. Also mirrored one shot for continuity. Mirrored Rey, Finn and BB-8 entering the falcon for a continuity error. Removed lines “BB-8, I’m going low” the scene moves faster without this line. Removed line “What are you doing back there” Rey should not be so mean, yes she is independent but she can be nice at the same time Removed line “I hope” Rey seems more confident this way Removed line “Whoo” I don’t like how many times Finn says whoo or things like that Millennium falcon Jumps to lightspeed -Millenium falcon Han introduction and Rathtars Millennium falcon falls out of lightspeed as the engine fails Removed line “Droid please” Less aggressive Finn Removed line “Thank You” From Finn, he now just says Junkyard to Rey, as a Joke. Finn doesn’t get caught anymore by a rathtar, we cut to Han trying to open the door faster Rearranged some shots while opening the door to make it less messy Removed a giant second flash while shooting the door -Supreme Leader Snoke scene 1 Completely reworked all Snoke scenes (Inspired by Hal9000) Louder ominous music, removed Hux, this scene starts with “There has been an awakening” and plays out normally. -Millenium falcon and Takodana intro Removed line “which is fine” after Finn saying Chewie killed him six times, joke is funny enough Kylo Ren Speaking to the mask of vader until rey’s kidnapping Added Palpatines theme subtlety, first hint of Palpatine’s return Removed line “Solo, what is she doing”, the scene is a bit more serious but still weird enough, the joke speaks for itself, no need to call it out. Added line “ You’re gonna need it” from Han after finn wants to give the weapon back (Credits to Fixing Disney Star Wars) Extended Rey’s vision with hints of Palpatine’s return (Credits to Hal9000) Moved the destruction of Hosnian to the final battle (Credits to Hal9000) Added two shots of a star destroyer in the sky the second one has ships approaching Changed Finn’s line to “It’s the First Order, they found us” (Credits to Hal9000) -D’Qar Added Leia’s Deleted scene about contacting the Republic about the first order, Tension is rising and now that we are with the resistance we immediately see Leia leading the organisation, also we see a character that dies during the destruction of Hosnian prime, so that works emotionally. Changed Line from Poe “Finn’s familiar with the Weapon System, he worked on the base”. He now doesn’t mention the destruction of Hosinan prime Removed the scene with Chewbacca and the Nurse, doesn’t do anything and we need to keep moving for the pace, since the removal of the Hosnian system removes some tension and the movie feels slower R2D2 now starts searching for the map to skywalker -Starkiller Base and Snoke scene 2 Removed Line “You’re my guest” the silence is more intimidating Supreme Leader snoke interrupts General Hux with “GENERAL” Inserted shot of annoyed Hux Added dialogue from earlier scene about the weapon and using it Then the scene returns to Kylo Ren and Snoke talking about Rey Tightened the Second outrage of Kylo Ren and removed the stormtroopers reacting, Kylo Ren is a bit more intimidating, less of a joke and it transitions perfectly in to Hux’s speech on Starkiller Base Added Hux’s speech on starkiller Weapon starts charging, but does NOT fire now -D’Qar preparing to attack Changed line “First order, they are charging the weapon now” -Rescuing Rey and starkiller attack: Removed Finn and Phasma scene “I’m in charge now”, what happens is implied, and I feel it is unnecessary and unfunny Added Deleted scene with Kylo Ren in the Millenium Falcon, I like it very much and seeing Kylo Ren in the millennium falcon is awesome, it also brings up some emotions in Kylo Ren making the bridge scene more intense Removed Line “Han Solo” in the Deleted Scene, he already says it two minutes earlier in another scene Removed line “Only a miracle will safe us now” Removed shot of concerned Leia, it is used later -Destruction of Hosnian Prime and Ending Credits to Hal9000 Hosnian Prime now fires during the final battle after han dies Inserted Hux asking Snoke permission to fire on the resistance base Changed line “Weapon fully RE-charged in 30 seconds” Added Sith whispers while Rey closes her eyes and reaches out through the force while fighting Kylo and added aggressive whispers while Rey slices Kylo’s head (Indicating darkness and Palpatine) Kylo Ren’s scar is moved to match the other films Cropped Chewbacca out of frame while walking past Leia Removed the island scene with Luke, not the literal cliff-hanger and there could be more time between TFA and TLJ instead of 5 minutes (The scene is present after the battle of D’qar in my version of TLJ, this movie also feels less like a duology with TFA because of the cliff-hanger in TFA)

Other Sources:

Deleted scenes Soundtrack of the force awakens SWOTOR Ambient Music for Sith Whispers Star Wars Return of the Jedi

Special Thanks:

Hal9000