Synopsis:

Ah, The Force Awakens, one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2015. It was praised for it's fun, fast paced adventure, it's emphasis on practical effects and how it brought back subtlety and nuance to Star Wars. Although, many agree that the film isn't without it's flaws, that have become more obvious with each viewing. So, picture the film with an even stronger characterization of Rey, who is a more vulnerable person and doesn't have to one up anyone around her, and where 'most Guardians of the Galaxy' style humor has been greatly minimized.

Intentions:

Stated before, I really do enjoy this film for plenty of reasons. But after noticing some pretty big flaws, such as Rey being an overcompensation by JJ in response to "star trek into darkness', where learns the force too quickly, is almost always at the top of her game and even one ups Han Solo a few different times. How others, Finn in particular, are prone to more mistakes or don't know as much as the protagonist to make them look smarter, and the use of (not bad) humor that feels like it's from a different film. I felt if at the very least these issues are dealt with, a stronger film is left in it's place.

Change List:

- Minimal color correction throughout. This is simply to adjust a few things, mainly the hues of magenta to red, dark green to a lighter shade, and added skin toning where they might be overly pale. - Classic SW theme (ANH version) to replace theatrical cue in the crawl - New sound FX of stormtrooper blasters cocking as they prepare for battle - Trimmed Lor san tekka and Poe Dameron’s conversation. Everything after “Now, because of you we have a chance” is repeated since we saw it in the opening crawl - Slight reordering; repurposed a shot with 3 troopers firing heavy weaponry at Poe’s X wing and moved it to where they disable the ship, instead of just a few minor blasts that shouldn’t do much. - When Poe is brought before kylo Ren, he doesn’t say anything, since joking would undercut tension. Instead, we hear a force rumble where Kylo is reading his mind. - Removed Poe’s X wing exploding since I had already used that shot. - Trimmed down humor between Poe and Finn- now we see: “Because it’s the right thing to do.” “We’re gonna do this.” - Removed Finn’s line about shooting a Tie Fighter’s guns being complicated. In this version, Finn catches on to concepts a little quicker. - Trimmed down the scuffle between rey and some bandits, to make her seem a little more vulnerable and not beat them so easily since she was caught off guard. - Removed a number of jokes involving BB 8 shocking Finn (now only once) as well as Finn’s line (I am with the resistance). He was trying to hard. - Trimmed a shot or two with BB 8 trying to hold on inside during the first Falcon chase scene. - It’s now suggested that Finn has some knowledge on how to speak droid, and anything contradicting is gone. - Trimmed down the Rathtar sequence so Rey and Finn don’t ever tangle with the creatures (no pun intended I swear) - Rey’s extensive knowledge of the Millennium Falcon has been greatly reduced. Han has owned the dang thing for a lot longer and therefore should know little tricks and tidbits about how to fix it. - For the Rey’s force vision, we see a split second of Vader himself as the lightsaber ignites. His breathing continues for the length of the Cloud City portion, and his line “I am your Father” is heard before Luke’s “NO!” A brief instance of a saber duel is heard in the forest after Obi Wan calls out to her, then we now hear Alec Guinness’s voice saying “These are your first steps”. No disrespect to Ewan McGregor, I just feel it flows better that way. - Once Finn uses the lightsaber for the first time, music used from "Rogue One" was inserted to add an extra level of tension and power behind each swing of the blade. - In the Resistance base, while Han and Leia converse any mention of Snoke seducing *ahem* to the dark side was removed. Never felt right to me. - As Kylo tries to interrogate Rey on Starkiller base, instead of Rey pushing away Ren on her own, Kylo instead triggers something inside that breaks the connection as we hear from a familiar sound… - Finn is now the one who shuts down the planetary shields since he was working there at one point. Gone are the jokes about him working for sanitation and the misuses of Captain Phasma. - Rey cannot and should not be able to understand chewie. Period, it probably took Han awhile to learn it and the same goes for everyone else, force user or not. - As soon as *ahem* kills *cough* on the bridge, two key shots were slowed down to classic OT slow motion, as if it were all a dream and to let the emotions sink in. - The lightsaber duel between Kylo and Rey was re edited, trimmed and re ordered for a second short break to make Rey seem more vulnerable and just barely beat him at the end. - Once Rey has reached her destination at the end, we see a cloaked figure standing on a cliff, accompanied by a familiar score before he turns around, revealing himself to be Luke Skywalker, and then we cut to credits. Save everything else for the sequel, we get enough taste for the main course next time. And many more tiny trims even I couldn't keep up with!

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

- The Empire Strikes Back Soundtrack CD (youtube) - DJ Mitz's edit with Alec Guinness audio (youtube).

Special Thanks:

DJ Mitz for his amazing editing skills, and BanditIncorporated for his thoughts and analysis of the whole "Rey/Mary Sue?" controversy.