Synopsis:

Luke Skywalker has vanished. In his absence, the sinister FIRST ORDER has risen from the ashes of the Empire and will stop at nothing until Skywalker, the last Jedi, has been destroyed. As the peaceful New Republic struggles to fight this resurgent menace, General Leia Organa gathers her allies and leads a brave RESISTANCE. She is desperate to find her brother Luke and restore hope to the galaxy. Searching for clues to Luke’s whereabouts, Leia’s most daring pilot has been intercepted by the First Order on the desert planet of Jakku…

Intentions:

Star Wars: The Last Skywalker Awakens' is a goodbye-love letter to Star Wars. It is meant to serve as an epilogue to Lucas’ Star Wars saga (episodes I-VI). Our story remains much the same: a metatextual space opera of lineage, legacy, belonging, betrayal, war, family, and lucrative merchandising potential, centered on Rey and Kylo Ren's conflicting views on over the Skywalker legacy. It was also just a fun and instructive thing to make while learning my way around editing, and wouldn’t exist without a passionate and collaborative fan editing community, so thanks to you all.

Change List:

PART I New opening crawl Overall and selective color grading (thanks to skenera and Hal 9000 for the use of their custom LUTs in places) Trimmed the attack on the Jakku village, focussing on the First Order assault and Kylo Ren’s arrival Added couple quick shots to the First Order’s opening assault from the first TFA trailer Added “force sounds” as Kylo reads Poe’s mind at the village Cut Unkar Plutt’s first bits of dialogue From TFA The Starlight Project: added etching depicting the island on Ach-To in Rey’s home (VFX by NeverarGreat) Cut Kylo telling Hux/the audience where the map is Cut Finn razing a platoon of stormtroopers Cut Kylo Ren saying Finn’s stormtrooper number Moved Kylo reprimanding Hux about his troops to replace the Phasma/Hux exchange about Finn Finn awakes in the desert alone, clutching Poe’s jacket, and begins to wander desperately Cut Finn’s second “I am with the resistance” and his pleading with BB-8 for the Resistance base’s location (BB-8 trusts these two by now) Removed overt musical cue and extended crane shot of the Millennium Falcon’s reveal Replaced the Falcon’s escape from Jakku with the restored 16:9 IMAX version (thanks to adywan and DylanValenti) Cut Finn’s final exclamation as the Falcon leaves Jakku Bespoke transition from 16:9 back to 2.39:1 as the Falcon leaves the Jakku system Trimmed Kylo’s tantrum slightly Trimmed Finn and Rey’s exchange as they fix the Falcon From TFA The Starlight Project: added sequence of Han placing his his dice back on the Falcon’s dash (extensive VFX by NeverarGreat) Cut Han’s “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” Trimmed “wrong fuses” slightly Trimmed the rathtar sequence significantly Cut Snoke’s line “... in the hands of your father, Han Solo” Cut a couple of extraneous shots of aliens inside Maz’s cantina Added Kylo experiencing a vision of the Sith temple on Exogol as he prays to Vader’s helmet From TFA Restructured: added two lines from Palpatine during Rey’s force vision From TFA Restructured: replaced the Hosnian system being destroyed with the First Order arriving on Takodana (VFX by Sir Ridley and NeverarGreat) From TFA: The Starlight Project: Added a shot of Rey heading toward the pirate ship that Finn was about to board, intending to leave with him (VFX by NeverarGreat) The battle on Takodana is trimmed down to focus on Rey and Kylo’s first encounter Cut C-3PO interrupting Han and Leia’s reunion on Takodana Han, Finn and the Resistance’s arrival on Ilum is rearranged significantly. No more planet-killer weapons. “Starkiller Base” is a forebodingly-named First Order staging ground on which the Resistance leads a daring attack in an attempt to strike a blow against their enemy, rescue the force-sensitive Rey, stop Supreme Leader Snoke from finding Luke, and give Han a chance to save his son From TFA Restructured: R2D2 now has a blinking light to indicate that he has begun searching for the map, booting up later as the Resistance arrives back at base (VFX by NeverarGreat) Added some insert shots during the interrogation scene as Kylo reads Rey’s mind: Rey etching days into the wall of her home (“desperate to sleep”), and two of Ach-To (“I see the island...”): the old Jedi tree and an unused shot of Rey standing above the dark side cave from a TLJ trailer Replaced a shot of Finn and Rey reacting to the sun “setting” on Ilum before Kylo’s betrayal with a shot of Leia sensing her son on the precipice of darkness Trimmed the shot of Rey raising her blaster at Kylo Ren by a few frames Added some very faint Sith whispers in the forest on Ilum From TFA The Starlight Project: the Cloaked Binary Beacon can be seen briefly next to an unconscious Finn as Rey says goodbye (VFX by NeverarGreat) Trimmed sequence where Rey leaves the Resistance base and travels to Ach-To Edited Rey meeting Luke into a continuous sequence, borrowing the adjusted timing of Luke’s saber toss from TLJ Legendary. The First Order slowly chasing the Resistance fleet has been pared back significantly. After Poe buys time for the Resistance to escape, we see Kylo’s attack on the flagship, and as Rey struggles to convince Luke, the fleet is slowly whittled away. This involved numerous cuts and changes throughout TLJ Cut Snoke’s line “As long as it does, hope lives in the galaxy.” Re-added deleted scenes “Luke Has a Moment” and “Poe: Not Much of a Sewer” and embellished the unfinished audio From TLJ Legendary: removed both appearances of the ‘Caretakers’ on Ach-to (VFX by snooker) Cut Luke’s line to R2D2 “Nothing can make me change my mind” Cut Luke’s practical joke during his first lesson From TLJ Rekindled: added hints and whispers of Palptine’s presence throughout TLJ Trimmed the gag with Chewie eating roasted porgs slightly Edited a sequence wherein Leia awakens from her coma as Luke reaches out to her in the force PART II Cut Kylo’s line “buried in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert” Leia stares out of the old Rebel base as the sound of approaching First Order walkers thunders across the tundra (masked out the ship that Finn and Rose arrive on Crait in) Edited the Battle of Crait, intercutting the TIEs chasing the Falcon with Poe’s decision to pull back and Finn’s refusal, borrowing Finn’s kamikaze run from TLJ Rekindled Cut Connix and D’Acy’s lines about their signal not being received Luke has a brief vision of the future before dying with “peace and purpose” The Falcon going to hyperspace at the end of TLJ cuts to Kylo Ren being summoned to Exegol by Palpatine. Between this and when we see Rey training on Ajan Kloss, a year or so has passed From TRoS Ascendant: added a new establishing shot to the opening Mustafar sequence (VFX by poppasketti, SFX by LILLIAN02230) Fortress Vader has been added to the background of one shot on Mustafar (VFX by Movies Remastered) From TRoS Ascendant: replaced the vat of cloned Snokes with cloned Palpatines (VFX by poppasketti) From TRoS Ascendant: removed the slight electrical crackle as Palpatine reveals his hands (VFX by skenera) Rey trains alone on Ajan Kloss, becoming distracted by her visions, but has no explicit force connection to Kylo Ren until she is on Pasaana Added a line to Leia and Rey’s exchange after the training course (REY: “Didn’t finish the training course, got distracted...” LEIA: “There’s been a lot of that lately.”) (thanks to Jar Jar Bricks and poppasketti) From TRoS Ascendant: Moved the Falcon getting a message from Boolio until after Rey’s training course, and cut “lightspeed skipping” thanks to a VFX shot by poppasketti, as well as subsequent dialogue references While dispatching TIE fighters, Finn hears Chewie and Poe arguing about Rey over comms From TRoS Ascendant: Replaced Poe’s lines, including “Somehow, Palpatine returned,” with part of the Emperor’s speech being played Cut Leia refusing to let Rey follow Luke’s path Cut Leia’s line “never be afraid of who you are” From TRoS Ascendant: Coruscant has been added to the background of the scene on the First Order command ship (VFX by poppasketti) Cut Nambi Ghima asking Rey her family name Edited Rey and Kylo’s force bond conversation Cut Lando’s “I’ve got a bad feeling about this” Cut Finn and Poe repeating “they fly now” Trimmed the Pasaana speeder chase (quicksand pacing broken up by reused aerial shot, thanks to SherlockPotter for the idea) Cut Snap reporting to Leia Cut Rey’s line “terrible things were done with this” and the sound of her mother screaming when she first picks up the Sith dagger Cut C-3PO’s line “I know exactly where the wayfinder is” Added ambient lightsaber sounds in the cave scenes on Pasaana From TRoS Ascendant: added a few lines of dialogue throughout the film to the Knights of Ren (thanks to axlanian and krausfadr) From TRoS Ascendant: extended the confrontation between Rey and Kylo’s TIE in the desert using footage from the trailer (thanks to DominicCobb) Scored the confrontation between Rey and Kylo’s TIE in the Pasaana desert using cues from ‘The Ways of the Force’ and ‘The Cave’ Cut Kylo’s TIE exploding after it rolls away Edited the sequence of shots around Rey’s fit of force lightning Cut the exchange with Zorii about Poe being a former spice runner Cut the Knights of Ren appearing on Kijimi Cut C-3PO’s speech before being rebooted Trimmed Zorii’s “there are more of us” line Added insert shots of Rey’s memories as she remembers Ochii’s ship Removed “from the southern shore” from the dagger inscription From TRoS Ascendant: extended the “squeaky wheel” sequence using footage from the bonus disc (SFX by LILLIAN2330, VFX by poppasketti) After Rey says “Chewie… he’s on Ren’s ship” we cut to Chewie being taken to interrogation by Pryde and Hux Cut C-3PO’s line “whoever this Chewie person is…” Added more sounds indicating Rey’s psychometry when she touches the dagger again, this time more overtly linked to the Emperor and the Death Star Re-edited the force bond duel between Rey and Kylo Ren on Kijimi significantly From TRoS Ascendant: replaced Kylo Ren’s line “I never lied to you” with “You were right” (SFX by poppasketti) Shifted Finn, Poe and Chewie’s escape and Hux’s turncoat moment until after Rey and Kylo’s force bond duel Cut Kylo’s lines “You’re a Palpatine.” and “... and take the throne.” After escaping Kijimi on the Falcon, added insert shots of Rey’s parents as her memories continue to unlock - “he killed my mother…” From TRoS Ascendant: the moon containing the wreckage of the second Death Star has been recontextualized as Endor, replacing what was Endor with an ice moon during the space establishing shot and moving the Ewok snippet up from the film’s climax (VFX by poppasketti and snooker) Slightly embellished the audio of Hal 9000’s editing around the Sith dagger on Endor Trimmed repairing the Falcon Cut Dark Rey dialogue as well as trimmed the teeth-baring jump scare to be a bit more of a scare The Skywalker saber is further damaged during Rey’s encounter with her shadow self, crackling and spitting like Kylo’s until it is “healed” via their force bond on Exogol (VFX thanks to Luka Frik, SFX by me) Scored part of Rey and Kylo’s saber duel on the Death Star II wreckage using the cue ‘A Jedi’s Fury’ from Return of the Jedi Added sound effect from Kylo and Leia’s force-connection in TLJ when she reaches out to him on Endor From TRoS Ascendant: worked in the shot of Leia holding Han’s medal from the trailer (help from sade1212 and idir_hh) From TRoS Ascendant: extended the establishing shot of Kylo during the Han scene by a few seconds (thanks to Luka Frik and Octorox) Replaced Luke’s line “I was wrong” with a knowing look Cut Luke and Rey’s lines about Leia being aware of her familial lineage From TRoS Ascendant: Rey arrives on Ach-To at night and leaves at dawn (VFX by NeverarGreat) From TRoS Ascendant: Leia’s saber has been recolored purple throughout (VFX by Skenera, with some bespoke masking on Exegol by me) Cut the Resistance’s big conference meeting to plan the attack on Exegol, while still retaining Finn and Poe’s inspirational speech The final battle at Exegol has been edited to focus on the encounter between Rey/Ben/Palpatine, and Finn and Jannah’s “ground” assault From TRoS Ascendant: replaced the TIE that Ben arrives back on Exegol in with Vader’s TIE Advanced (VFX by Poppasketti) Added a brief montage of insert shots showing Rey’s journey through the force, as well as removed the chorus of random “voices of the Jedi who came before”, her final bit of strength coming from Luke and Leia themselves before rising to confront Palpatine Added a small cue from ‘Anthem of Evil’ before Palpatine begins shooting lightning at Rey Rey’s hero line before defeating Palpatine has been changed from “I’m all the Jedi” to “I… am a Jedi” Cut Poe’s line “I see her” and Finn’s line “People are rising up all over the galaxy” From TRoS Ascendant: because the first Ewok shot was used earlier, Coruscant and Naboo have been added in its place in the planetary celebration montage (Coruscant VFX by poppasketti, Naboo VFX by snooker and skenera) Trimmed celebration montage to focus on Rey reuniting with her friends Retained Hal 9000’s shifting of the dejarik table scene to Tatooine, adding a quick reaction shot of Finn and Poe and some Chewie noises Colors in the startup sequence of Rey’s saber have been changed from green and blue to purple and blue, having used the crystals from Leia and Luke’s sabers to power her own before laying them to rest (VFX by Burbin) Cut the old woman on Tatooine asking “Rey who?” The force ghosts on Tatooine have been cut. Rey looks to the sunrise while ruminating on her new family, deciding to take up the Skywalker name (shout out to Lev Kuleshov) From TRoS Ascendant: Rey’s delivery of her final line has been swapped with one from the behind the scenes bonus material that appeared more emotionally resonant, with the background modified to match the finished film (VFX by poppasketti) The final music cue has been changed from the same cue used at the end of TFA to one from the TFA credits suite that melds Rey’s theme with the Force theme From TRoS Ascendant: The final shot has been replaced with the Falcon taking off, flying toward the suns, and jumping to hyperspace (thanks to snooker and poppasketti) New closing credits combining crawls and titles from all three films (thanks to Wraith) Replaced the final part of the TRoS credits suite with Rey’s theme from the final part of the TLJ credits suite

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack freesound.org

Special Thanks:

Huge thanks to @ArtIsDead for their helping in bringing together @spence, @Wraith, @DigModiFicaTion and @INIGHTMARES and all their help in getting this edit finished. Thanks to @Wraith for the bespoke credits sequence. An enormous shout out to the people at OriginalTrilogy.com and their good humor, generosity and passion for Star Wars, in particular Hal9000, whose edits partly inspired this project. Thanks also to poppasketti, NeverarGreat, SherlockPotter, skenera, Sir Ridley, snooker, Luka Frik, and burbin.