Full Series Imagining a 'Clone Wars' trilogy set between II and III

You're absolutely right that to me, the primary reason for this thought experiment is to properly flesh out the character arc of Anakin Skywalker, so anything in that category gets precedent over other stuff I may find more entertaining but isn't related to Anakin.

It's not that I'm necessarily opposed to including all that stuff, I'm just thinking in terms of trying to limit it to three films to keep it a "Clone Wars trilogy" per GL's pre-Ep. V era brainstorm which is difficult to do with so much worthy material. You make solid points for including the Mandalorians and Darth Maul. Even when I was 10 and Ep. I just came out, I was baffled by how underused and seemingly wasted Maul was. The Mandalorians as a group of "evil warriors" who fought the Jedi during the Clone Wars which was the idea before the PT came out but never really showed in the PT is also spot-on, and getting to see that is also definitely cool.

My reasons for only including Overlords and not the other two Mortis episodes basically boil down to personal taste, I don't really have an objective reason to include one and not the others.

I'm not a huge Clovis fan, but we never got to see the new Clovis arc that was supposed to be in S5, so I may change on that depending on how much I like the new stuff. If the new Clovis arc seems like it could work well as part of the Clone Wars trilogy, that could work out really well since I'm already heavily leaning towards including the battle episodes of the Geonosis arc, so it would be easy to add Senate Spy to the beginning of that to introduce Clovis and make more sense when he appears later.

 

Given that we've now seen how Season 5 ends, what episodes would comprise your hypothetical third Clone Wars film, Tarkas?

 

Now that we know there weren't be 2+ more seasons as we had all expected, it shouldn't be too difficult to come up with the best story arcs to fill out three films set between AOTC and ROTS.

 

I have no interest in more fillers to find gaps in the narrative and make more content to flesh it out. We lose a lot of the mystery and intrigue. The clone wars and Anakin were both way cooler when they were two sentences from the mouth of Obi-Wan in ANH. That said, I did enjoy TCW series, but I want new content and new characters.

If we make a new trilogy of TCW that falls in between E3 and E4, then down the road we can have new trilogy that falls in between TCW2 and TCW3 from 8am to 10:30am. Mostly Anakin goes to the bathroom and reads a magazine.

 

As ANAKINSKYWEEZER pointed out, now that TCW is ending abruptly, we're a lot closer to being able to finalize a fantasy/fan-edit Clone Wars trilogy than it seemed just a couple months ago. The finale arc of S5, now that we've all seen it, is looking like it could be a really important part of such a trilogy.

Some of my older ideas had a lot of micro series at the beginning of the first film. That's when I was trying to keep it strictly to George Lucas' early concept of the prequels consisting of Prologue - Clone Wars Trilogy - Epilogue (which I provided the citation for on page 1 of this thread). But since the title of this thread calls for a Clone Wars Trilogy in between Ep. II and Ep. III I've been rethinking that, and maybe I like this idea better. The first time I tried the Clone Wars Trilogy thought experiment my first film was this (also reposted in full on page 1 of this thread):

I - Attack of the Clones - crawl explains Obi-Wan tracking a bounty hunter who's the clone template for an army mysteriously ordered on behalf of the Republic he just discovered and that Anakin and Padme are going to Tatooine because of his visions even though he's supposed to be protecting her from an assassin

- film opens with Anakin and Padme landing on Tatooine and goes to the very end of the real AOTC [droid antics edited out]
- chapters 1 - 4 from Genndy V1
- chapters 8 - 11 from Genndy V1
- chapters 17 - 20 from Genndy V1
- first 10 min. from Genndy V2
- The Hidden Enemy from TCW S1

Now I'm thinking that instead of counting this in my Clone Wars Trilogy, I'm going to take out The Hidden Enemy and just count a fan-edit comprising the second half of Ep. II and all the Anakin/Obi-Wan parts of the micro series up to and including Anakin becoming a Jedi Knight (which are the chapters listed) as my Ep. II. So even though my Clone Wars trilogy won't have any micro series, about half of my Ep. II will be micro series. I'm happy about that because I really like the micro series and didn't like the idea of not including any of it.

So that leaves a clean start to make a Clone Wars Trilogy out of just TCW, which I started at another time in my thought process on this subject (also reposted in full on page 1 of this thread):

General Skywalker - Hero of the Grand Army of the Republic

Trespass
Cat & Mouse
The Hidden Enemy
The New Padawan
Landing at Point Rain
Legacy of Terror
Brain Invaders

Questioning Loyalties - Skywalker's Relationship with the Jedi Council and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine Evolves

The Zillo Beast
The Zillo Beast Strikes Back
Citadel Rescue
Deception
Friends and Enemies
The Box
Crisis on Naboo

Having the knowledge of the S5 finale arc and how good it would be for this project and how that relates to Barriss Offee's larger character arc in the show/trilogy, I want to plug Weapons Factory back in where I had previously taken it out for not featuring Anakin enough. Especially since her ultimate fate is so closely linked to Anakin, I think it makes a lot more sense to include it now. I don't want any film to exceed 7 episodes since no Star Wars film is 2 hours and 40 minutes long, so unfortunately, as much as I love Trespass, I'm gonna have to drop it. It does have great Anakin/Obi-Wan moments, which is super important and one of the main reasons for this enterprise since the PT only showed that relationship in that light for about 20 minutes, but it's not as directly related to the rest of the story, and that relationship is still a central feature throughout film one especially in Cat & Mouse, The Hidden Enemy, and Legacy of Terror. So now, I'd start my Clone Wars Trilogy off like this:

Clone Wars: Episode I

Cat & Mouse
The Hidden Enemy
The New Padawan (all scenes and dialogue where the kidnapping of Jabba's son is discussed edited out, can be done smoothly)
Landing at Point Rain
Weapons Factory
Legacy of Terror
Brain Invaders

I'm only making small changes to the next film. The whole idea of it was to show the evolution of Mace Windu's relationship with Anakin, and with Mace's role in the S5 finale arc, that's making even better sense for the Clone Wars Trilogy. When I first squeezed Tarkin in there it was just in the hope that he would do something later worth putting in the last film of the Clone Wars Trilogy and this would be just an introduction. Given his role in the S5 finale arc, that also couldn't have worked out better. It's the perfect set-up. There are some minor editing ideas I have that are added in parentheses:

Clone Wars: Episode II

The Zillo Beast
The Zillo Beast Strikes Back
Citadel arc edit (as little set-up as possible, focus on Tarkin/Jedi interaction, Jedi history, Anakin/Obi-Wan moments, and space battle, est. 35 min.)
Deception
Friends and Enemies
The Box (most of this edited out, only including the Anakin/Yoda conversation and necessary transitions, est. 5 min.)
Crisis on Naboo

And here, for the first time, are my preliminary thoughts on what the third film in my Clone Wars Trilogy might look like. This isn't final because there's no telling what The Clone Wars we're still yet to see might be like or how badly I might want to include it in this idea. This is going to start out with the S4 slaver arc and segue into the S5 finale arc. The S4 slaver arc shows Anakin dipping into the dark side more quickly and more often than anything before this. It's a huge difference from Clone Wars: Episode I where Anakin acts as a true Jedi almost the whole time, only going dark side at the very end in Brain Invaders. I love all the references to ancient Jedi history it has, something pretty rare in TCW and the Star Wars films. (Also part of the reason for including Citadel stuff.) There are even some lines about the ancient history of the Sith, even rarer. It's also a very nice connection with The New Padawan since Ahsoka finally learns about Anakin's past. Showing the role of slavery in the war is really important since it's a clearer justification for it than anything brought up in the PT, so that's a crucial hole to fill. The S5 finale arc is kind of necessary since it explains Ahsoka's absence from Ep. III, but there are a ton of other things in it that a make it a great finale for the Clone Wars Trilogy films. I was considering leaving out Sabotage since not as much happens in it, but there are those crucial set-up lines about the public being against the war and that causing them to turn against the Jedi. There's all the clear distinctions drawn between the Jedi Order and the Grand Army of the Republic that had never been as important before. There's Tarkin being in charge of exploiting those distinctions, made even more epic after his introduction in Clone Wars: Episode II. There's Anakin in his robe, like in Ep. III. There's the failing of the Jedi Council as a bureaucracy as a central plot point. There's the most tension between Anakin and the Jedi Council ever, building up even more from the tension established in Clone Wars: Episode II. There's all the OT-esque environments that make great visceral visual connections between the PT-era and the OT. There's the walls-of-text I was able to write comparing Anakin's reaction to Ahsoka at the of The Jedi Who Knew Too Much and Anakin's reaction to Mace Windu in their final confrontation in Ep. III. And, of course, there's Barriss completing her character arc and role in the history of the Jedi with the choices she makes, with her appearances in Clone Wars: Episode I as the set-up.

Clone Wars: Episode III

Kidnapped
Slaves of the Republic
Escape From Kadavo
Sabotage
The Jedi Who Knew Too Much
To Catch a Jedi
The Wrong Jedi

 

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts, Dark Lord Tarkas. A couple points:

-- When you mention "The New Padawan", are you referring to the children's TCW book of the same name? To my knowledge there was no episode of TCW with that title, but IIRC that book served as an introduction to Ahsoka's character.

-- It's a shame you weren't able to include the "Overlords" episode into any of your outlines. That one in particular is filled with great allusions to Anakin's past and glimpses into his future. Even though it's part of a three-episode arc, since this episode ends with the three Jedi leaving Mortis, you could technically showcase that one episode of the trilogy without having the overall story concept feeling incomplete.

-- My favorite story arc of the Genndy shorts was Anakin and Obi-Wan's journey to Nelvaan. I always thought that storyline, with the two Jedi cut off from any sort of modern civilization and Anakin having his own experience in the cave of sorts (a la Luke in ESB) was extremely cinematic. It's a shame we never got a proper animated adaptation of "Labyrinth of Evil" (aside from the Battle of Coruscant). I've heard that the New Essential Chronology retcons things so that the Nelvaan storyline occurs at the end of "Labyrinth" and before the start of ROTS, but I don't own the book so I'm not exactly sure how.

 

Thanks a lot ANAKINSKYWEEZER it is a pleasure to have someone around as interested in this kind of project as I am.

The New Padawan is the first "episode" (first 1/4) of The Clone Wars film. The Clone Wars film is made up of four episodes edited together. The New Padawan has the continuing battle of Christophsis (and its end) started in Cat & Mouse and The Hidden Enemy and the official introduction of Ahsoka. The remaining 3/4 of the film follows Anakin and Ahsoka on a quest to retrieve and return the kidnapped son of Jabba the Hutt. I've watched the first 1/4 of the film with this project in mind, and I have noted that it would be possible to smoothly edit out all references to the Hutt plot from The New Padawan section of the film, so it can be included in a fan-edit Clone Wars Trilogy film without the awkward lack of follow-up. Having that explanation for Ahsoka's existence is important.

I agree that it's too bad I didn't have enough time to include Overlords, though I'm very glad you agree that a Clone Wars Trilogy film could easily include just that one episode without the rest of the arc because of how it ends. The other two episodes I really wanted to include but wound up not having time for were Padawan Lost and Wookiee Hunt (I wrote a massive wall-of-text on how important this arc is for Anakin's character in the scope of the entire Star Wars saga in this thread: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/padawan-lost-ahsoka-and-anakin-in-star-wars.50003705/). One possibility I might consider is letting go my strict adherence to the length of previous Star Wars films and allowing myself to go 8 episodes per film instead of 7. If I did that, I could put Padawan Lost at the end of Ep. I, Wookiee Hunt at the beginning of Ep. II, and Overlords in between the two arcs I use for Ep. III. So instead of:

Clone Wars: Episode I

Cat & Mouse
The Hidden Enemy
The New Padawan (all scenes and dialogue where the kidnapping of Jabba's son is discussed edited out, can be done smoothly)
Landing at Point Rain
Weapons Factory
Legacy of Terror
Brain Invaders

Clone Wars: Episode II

The Zillo Beast
The Zillo Beast Strikes Back
Citadel arc edit (as little set-up as possible, focus on Tarkin/Jedi interaction, Jedi history, Anakin/Obi-Wan moments, and space battle, est. 35 min.)
Deception
Friends and Enemies
The Box (most of this edited out, only including the Anakin/Yoda conversation and necessary transitions, est. 5 min.)
Crisis on Naboo

Clone Wars: Episode III

Kidnapped
Slaves of the Republic
Escape From Kadavo
Sabotage
The Jedi Who Knew Too Much
To Catch a Jedi
The Wrong Jedi

...the trilogy would like this:

Clone Wars: Episode I

Cat & Mouse
The Hidden Enemy
The New Padawan (all scenes and dialogue where the kidnapping of Jabba's son is discussed edited out, can be done smoothly)
Landing at Point Rain
Weapons Factory
Legacy of Terror
Brain Invaders
Padawan Lost

Clone Wars: Episode II

Wookiee Hunt
The Zillo Beast
The Zillo Beast Strikes Back
Citadel arc edit (as little set-up as possible, focus on Tarkin/Jedi interaction, Jedi history, Anakin/Obi-Wan moments, and space battle, est. 35 min.)
Deception
Friends and Enemies
The Box (most of this edited out, only including the Anakin/Yoda conversation and necessary transitions, est. 5 min.)
Crisis on Naboo

Clone Wars: Episode III

Kidnapped
Slaves of the Republic
Escape From Kadavo
Overlords
Sabotage
The Jedi Who Knew Too Much
To Catch a Jedi
The Wrong Jedi

I think all the things I love that Padawan Lost shows about Anakin's character (his good side) would be accentuated even more following his first dark side moment in Brain Invaders. I would prefer to not have a cliff-hanger ending for any of the films, but I can live with that because I feel these are really important episodes, and Padawan Lost does have quite the exceptional cliff-hanger in my opinion. Overlords is also lent extra meaning by this specific placement. Overlords has Ahsoka's future self warning her that she shouldn't remain Anakin's Padawan, so putting that right before the arc where she leaves the Jedi Order would really bring a lot of extra impact. It's not just a random Force-vision somewhere, it's part of a larger character arc. That's what I've tried to do with this entire project, and that's a really good example that if you pick the right pieces in the right order the story can be greatly enhanced.

There are more walls-of-text I could write on all the plot-lines that follow through these episode arrangements but I'll get back to that at a later date. Many have been mentioned already, but sometime I'm going to put them in a list format rather than the walls-of-text I've made so far. For right now I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas to offer for names for the Clone Wars Trilogy films. Here are some I'm kind of bouncing around my head.

Clone Wars: Episode I: Brothers on the Battlefront

Clone Wars: Episode II: Evolving Destiny

Clone Wars: Episode III: Fate of a Jedi

I'm also a big fan of the micro series and how it ties into Ep. III, but unfortunately there's too little time do everything I want with the Clone Wars Trilogy as it is. It doesn't show anything that's not explained in the opening crawl to Ep. III, so it's not as important as the earlier micro series stuff I included in my Attack of the Clones fan-edit.

 

Excellent thoughts, Tarkas.

I'm very interested to see what will comprise the remaining arcs that we're supposed to get this year. I imagine if we get something that heavily features an Obi-Wan/Anakin dynamic as well as the origins of Order 66, then that's something that you'd probably want to work into one of your proposed in-between films. That means you'd probably need to convert your Clone Wars trilogy into a tetralogy.

Nice title ideas, too. I particularly like 'Brothers on the Battlefront'.

 

Yeah, based on the trailer for future arcs we got in the video that announced the series' end I'm already bracing myself because I think it's going to have a lot of elements that would make it perfect for this project. But I want it to be feasible with GL's original pre-PT (OU) concept of a Clone Wars Trilogy of films, so no matter what, I can't see myself arbitrarily pushing it to 4 or 5 films. It has to remain a trilogy. Now, at this early stage in the development of Star Wars, GL also floated the idea of Star Wars films that wouldn't fall into the official numbering and deal more with side-characters and side-plots. So just because I'd want the official Clone Wars Trilogy to remain a trilogy, there still could be a side-film featuring Darth Maul and Savage Opress or a side-film featuring clones or a side-film with Padme material. It's possible some of the future content could be used in a side-film. Although if it gets into Order 66 as you suggest, it could be something of a cop-out to claim it was a side-film... It's hard to say how I feel about it without knowing what content I'll be dealing with.

I almost went with Clone Wars: Episode I: Brothers on the Battlefield but I liked Clone Wars: Episode I: Brothers on the Battlefront better because it's less generic and refers to the Star Wars video games. I'm also considering Clone Wars: Episode I: Brother on the Battlefront because it segues from Anakin/Obi-Wan team-ups to Anakin/Ahsoka team-ups so Anakin would be going from the "younger brother" to the "older brother."

Clone Wars: Episode II: Evolving Destiny I changed from Clone Wars: Episode II: Evolving Ties as I was writing the previous post. I think Clone Wars: Episode II: Evolving Loyalties might be best, though I'd like a longer title than that since no Star Wars film has a title that short. Maybe abandon that concept altogether and go with Clone Wars: Episode II: A Hero's Trust. One of the most important overall arcs of it is that Mace and Anakin go from trusting each other to not anymore. And I really want one of the titles to have "hero" as a reference to Anakin, that concept is a top reason for doing the whole project to begin with.

Clone Wars: Episode III: Fate of a Jedi is pretty generic but okay for a working title. The most important thing about the title for Clone Wars: Episode III is that I want it to be something that could possibly relate to both Ahsoka and Anakin. Maybe something about attachment. Or affiliation. Or choice. Any ideas from anyone would be appreciated!

 

How about Clone Wars: Episode III: Faith of the Jedi as an alternate to Fate of a Jedi? It relates to both the Council's trust in Anakin to fulfill his destiny as the Chosen One as well as the way they treat Ahsoka when she is suspected of treason in bombing the Temple.

On a side note, even though I think your arrangement of episodes into trilogy form is pretty much perfect, it might work better to have one transitionary film between the third Clone Wars film and ROTS so that the dust can settle, so to speak, on Ahsoka leaving the Order, which would justify why she isn't even mentioned in ROTS.

Also, can you go into a little more detail as to how your edited down version of 'The Box' and 'The Citadel' would play out?

 

ANAKINSKYWEEZER I like Faith of the Jedi, I think that will be the new working title.

I watched Padawan Lost and Wookiee Hunt last night, and now I don't feel the same about including them in my Clone Wars Trilogy. The problem is almost all the time is spent on Ahsoka's adventure being captured and while the dialogue from Anakin is really important it's also really sparse. I think I would do a fan-edit of it and stick it all at the end of Clone Wars: Episode I: Brother on the Battlefront. The only scenes with Anakin (after the beginning where Ahsoka gets captured) are (1) him insisting that Rex keep rechecking the planet for her and not wanting to leave the planet without her, (2) Plo Koon talking to him about Ahsoka's ability to survive on her own from what she learned from him, and (3) his reunion with her when she returns to Coruscant. But I have some ideas on how to manipulate the editing to make Ahsoka's story move faster and keep as much focus on Anakin as possible that involve taking parts of Ahsoka's story from Wookiee Hunt and placing them before Anakin's parts in Padawan Lost. I'd show the entire opening sequence up until Ahsoka gets caught. Then get through her stopping Kalifa from killing the Trandoshan and Kalifa's death. Then have Anakin's interaction with Rex. Then have the introduction of Chewbacca and him contacting Kashyyyk. Then have Plo Koon talking to Anakin. Then have the Wookiees from Kashyyyk come to save Chewbacca and Ahsoka. Then have the ending on Coruscant. Not sure exactly how long this would be, I'd have to watch it all again to make sure it would work out.

More on The Box and The Citadel later today...

 

Glad you approve of the title, Tarkas.

I enjoyed your 'fan edit' summary of the Wookiee episodes. Looking forward to reading what you have in mind for the later two episodes.

 

I may be watching the Citadel arc with tonight's viewing party later, so I'll hold on off on that and just cover The Box. But there really aren't many more details to give other than the little note I wrote. It's mostly about the competition of The Box which doesn't involve Anakin Skywalker. The only really important thing that happens in it is the scene where Yoda informs him that the Jedi Council has been deceiving him and Obi-Wan is still alive. But the competition of The Box is still needed at some level because it explains where the group of bounty hunters comes from in Crisis on Naboo. So I would maybe carry through the narrative from Darth Tyranus' perspective and that way cut down on the competition as much as possible. While I'm at it, Friends and Enemies also focuses on Obi-Wan a lot and could have some of those parts cut back on if I need room for a slightly longer Citadel arc edit. But I would prefer not to do that because that whole episode is good and the group roaming around the barren planet after crash-landing has a great traditional Star Wars feel to it.

 

Interesting take on The Box, Tarkas.

Looking forward to your thoughts on Citadel.

 

When it comes to the Citadel arc, I'm also still working on getting the details right. I need to rewatch it a few more times. I'm pretty sure I'm going to cut out the entire opening sequence and start with the undercover ship approaching the Citadel planet with the crew already frozen in carbonite. (To save time as well as to mix up the narrative.) I think it will be cool for things to unfold as a surprise without all the set-up.

There are going to be whole chunks of the action taken out to save on time as well as because I always felt the arc spent way too much time on action and not enough on plot to begin with. To me, the most important things to focus on in this arc are the interactions between Tarkin and the Jedi, including his views on the Jedi in the military. It's cool to hear why he doesn't think the Jedi should be in charge of the military, Anakin sounding like he's defending Tarkin's views to Ahsoka, and later, Obi-Wan over-hearing Anakin and Ahsoka talking about it and criticizing Tarkin's views. There are a lot of heavy A New Hope connections there. I'll probably use every single Tarkin line and piece of dialogue.

I'd include as many as possible of the few references there are to Jedi history because I love that stuff.

I will probably try to edit out the sub-plot that Ahsoka isn't supposed to be there because I think its resolution is executed poorly and it brings the focus of the whole arc more on Ahsoka than Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Tarkin, which I don't want.

I'll definitely include certain parts where the backgrounds look especially like the interior of the Death Star not only because I think they're awesome (especially the cameras) but also because together with Tarkin's line about wishing the Republic had a facility like the Citadel, it explains why so many of the backgrounds in the S5 finale arc (which will appear later in my Clone Wars Trilogy) look like the Death Star, that's a really important connection to make.

I will also definitely include the entirety of the space battle in Citadel Rescue because it will be the only space battle in the entire second film of my Clone Wars Trilogy, and we all know how important those space battles are to getting that authentic Star Wars vibe.

 

Good thoughts, Tarkas.

The only problem I foresee with this is that you'd probably end up with a 3-hour movie if you included all of the Zillo beast, Citadel and Rako Hardeen episodes!

 

ANAKINSKYWEEZER You're right about that, that's why I wrote the note in the synopsis that the Citadel arc edit will probably be about 35 minutes long. I think I can do that based on how much superfluous action is in it versus how much actual story is in it (little as it is, with the Ahsoka-not-supposed-to-be-there sub-plot removed, very, very little). And taking most of The Box out of my Rako Hardeen arc edit will give me the extra 15 minutes to even it all out.

 

Dark Lord Tarkas, could you do a more detailed breakdown of how you'd edit the Citadel arc? I was under the impression you were originally just going to use the one episode, but now it appears you want to encapsulate that entire arc.

 

I would like more large scale space battle action, in which newtonian physics are reasonably well adhered to and space is not an ocean. (Yeah, keep dreaming, it's SW ) Heavy ship to ship combat, fleet tactics, maneuvering. Focus on the deeds of admirals and captains and fleet commanders.

Maybe stick in a young Thrawn as a junior bridge officer whose ideas save the day more than once, resulting in him getting a promotion to higher rank.

Jedi, Sith, force users and their superhuman feats has been done and done and done. Clone ground combat has been done in the TCW animated series. It's time for hard space combat.

And orbital bombardment. Rains of heavy turbolaser fire plunging from space and sowing nuclear-level destruction on planetary installations...

 

You must be reading my mind with the Force like Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, because I am planning on starting my detailed breakdown tonight. I've watched the whole arc twice recently to gather my ideas, now it's just a matter of noting the exact times of everything and listing it. I have developed more ideas and changed others along the way that I haven't talked about yet. Stay tuned!

 

Excellent! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

 

Okay, so I'm definitely starting my Citadel arc edit for the middle of Episode II of my Clone Wars Trilogy with the spaceship approaching the planet. Everything in the set-up is repeatedly re-explained throughout the arc (which I'll explain as I go along) so it's really just a drag on the story (and easy to drop since I need to get this whole thing into 35 minutes).

All the times used below are from the official TCW S4 DVD set.

The Citadel

Cut out 0:00 - 5:59

Use 6:00 - 6:30

• start with spaceship coming out of hyperdrive
• Republic droids contact CIS droids

Cut out 6:31 - 6:51

• I don't want to introduce Sobeck yet, it's better drama and plotting to introduce him a little bit later, as you'll see

Use 6:52 - 7:39

• CIS scanning Republic ship

Cut out 7:40 - 7:43

• again, too early to let the audience see Sobeck

Use 7:44 - 7:51

• Republic ship is cleared and heads for planet

Cut 7:52 - 8:09

• again, too early for a Sobeck monologue

Use 8:10 - 12:38

• most of the first 6 minutes gets explained here
• I think it works better for the plot for the carbon freezing to unfold this way instead of it being explained from the beginning
• Anakin talks about how he told Ahsoka not to come, but this will be the only part of that sub-plot I use here, and having this be the only scene I include makes it seem like Plo Koon actually did order her to go behind his back which starts to ratchet up the tension for all the Anakin/Jedi Council intrigue in the Rako Hardeen arc, an edit of which (but not as nitpicked and cut down as this) will follow this arc edit to finish the second film in my Clone Wars Trilogy
• great Anakin/Obi-Wan banter
• climbing and infiltration scenes

Cut 12:39 - 12:46

• again, too early for Sobeck to be introduced

Use 12:47 - 13:06

• clone falls and sets off alarm

Cut 13:07 - 13:29

• skipping more Sobeck scenes

Use 13:30 - 15:40

• 1977 original Star Wars cameras!!
• Master Piell is tortured by droids and rescued by Anakin and Obi-Wan
• Nexus Routes "macguffin" gets explained

Cut 15:40 - 16:28

• actions scenes with Jedi and clones fighting droids with Sobeck interchangeably looking on
• no plot development, and again, I don't want to introduce Sobeck yet (but he'd easily be edited out, it's mostly the plot thing)

Use (most of) 16:29 - 19:21

• the ceiling magnet gets turned on (off-screen since I cut Sobeck out...or maybe I'll just show the finger hitting the button, that would be a cool little tease with this way of introducing him), taking everyone's weapons and pulling Anakin up by the arm
• now, the first see we actually see Sobeck, he's pressing a button to electrocute Anakin, and I'll cut out his villain-cackle-laugh and then we'll hear him speaking over the loudspeaker to the Jedi and clones; I'll also cut out him getting angry when Anakin escapes - these episodes really make you way too familiar with him to the point where he doesn't seem threatening, I'm going to fix that scene-by-scene (also cutting out him getting angry when Rex shoots out the camera)
• the Republic group rescues Captain Tarkin, who's disagreeing with the Jedi on how to do things right off the bat, they split into two groups
• clones plant explosives in the hallway

Cut 19:22 - 19:55

• it's just droids and Sobeck finding Tarkin's empty cell
• are we supposed to think Sobeck is tough for having a droid shoot a droid? I always thought that was really, really stupid

Use 19:56 - 21:39 (which is the last second before the credits)

• Obi-Wan blows up explosives planted by clones as droids run through the hallway
• Anakin cuts open the wall
• "the advantage of old archive" data explaining stuff from the first 6 minutes I cut
• Anakin and Tarkin have a little spat

About 777 seconds which is almost 13 minutes. I got 22 left to hit my mark of 25 for the middle of Episode II of my Clone Wars Trilogy.





Counterattack

Cut 0:00 - 0:42

• this is just the logo, "fortune cookie," and opening narration

Use 0:43 - 2:54

• Anakin and Obi-Wan kind of banter with each other through R2
• good action scenes...could be trimmed depending on whether or not I hit my 35 minute mark for the arc edit

Cut 2:55 - 4:08

• what's with Sobeck's incompetence on display and groveling before Darth Tyranus? again, it just makes him look bad

Use 4:09 - 6:06

• Tarkin admiring the Citadel - setting up facilities seen in the final arc of S5 (also to be the finale of my Clone Wars Trilogy) and Tarkin's dominance there
• Jedi Council discusses sending in ships if they can't escape
• Tarkin questions Ahsoka leading the group

Cut 6:07 - 8:53

• R2 and his droids fly around...takes away from the Skywalker/Kenobi/Tarkin focus, also works cool as far as plotting goes to have what's going on with R2 and their escape ship not shown while Anakin and Obi-Wan seek it out...and there's some unfortunate droid "humor"
• CIS droids finally catch R2...yet think nothing of the battle droids he was with the whole time...always thought that was dumb...again the plot is better served by cutting this
• R2 and his droids talk about what they should do, see my comments for the first bullet point of this cut
• Anakin and Ahsoka chop up some droids, Anakin complains about Ahsoka not doing something she should have known to do if Plo really sent her along, a wall gets blown up to access a new passage...nothing moving the plot here, and I want as much attention on Skywalker/Kenobi as possible and as little as possible on Ahsoka

Use 8:54 - 12:25

• Obi-Wan and his group see their escape ship, but approach it cautiously for fear of a trap, and are captured by droids and taunted by Sobeck anyway
• short transition scene for Anakin's group introducing trek in pipeline
• Sobeck interrogates Jedi, and pretty brutally murders a clone - showing him only at his best is really going to help his portrayal

Cut 12:26 - 12:38

• more R2 and his droids planning, again, unneeded background that isn't moving the plot

Use 12:39 - 15:54

• as CIS droids escort Obi-Wan and his group, they're stopped by R2's droids and tricked into letting R2's droids take over the escort duty
• as you see I've done a lot with this work, it's cool to cut out all the planning of something and just show the thing itself happening
• Anakin's group moves through the pipeline, Tarkin talks about why the Jedi shouldn't in charge of the Grand Army of the Republic, Anakin agrees
• Anakin's group exits the pipeline and fights a bunch of droids, MOAR SPLOSIONS ensue, Anakin's group moves to "plan B"

Cut 15:55 - 16:38

• CIS droids tell Sobeck about all their failures and he gets mad...and then's too scared to even communicate with Darth Tyranus

Use 16:39 - 20:44

• Obi-Wan's group attempts to board the escape ship with more tricks from R2's droids, but the CIS droids aren't tricked this time, fighting and MOAR SPLOSIONS ensue
• Anakin's group meets up with Obi-Wan's group
• there's a ton of action here and little plot, so this is another area I could trim if my "draft" edit of the entire arc clocks in above my target of 35 minutes
• Echo dies, their escape ship blows up, the reunited group retreats
• the Jedi Council get a message from Anakin and Obi-Wan (who have a good banter moment) about the ship blowing up and them needing to send in ships

Cut 20:45 - 21:33 (which is the last second before the credits)

• downtime for the heroes, episode wrap-up dialogue with nothing significant

About 899 seconds which is almost 15 minutes. That puts me up to 28 minutes, only leaving me with 7 before I hit 35...this isn't looking good. Basically I'm going to have to keep Citadel Rescueas short as possible and go back and trim those sections I said could use some trimming for excessive action.





Citadel Rescue

Cut 0:00 - 3:28

• the logo, "fortune cookie," and opening narration
• heroes contact Jedi Council again to see when they'll arrive (which without the assumed time-lapse between episodes makes no sense)
• heroes have quick action scene fighting CIS droids, no plot movement
• Sobeck has yet another scene groveling in a pool of his own incompetence before Darth Tyranus who repeats Nexus Routes macguffin

Use 3:29 - 5:26

• heroes on the run fighting droids, superb visuals
• R2 orders his droids to fight till they're destroyed to buy time, so this is needed to explain why they're gone after this
• change of scenery as heroes go underground
• Jedi in hyperspace on their way to save the group of heroes, planning the upcoming space battle

Cut 5:27 - 5:55

• Sobeck orders droids to do send Anubas to capture the heroes

Use 5:56 - 8:41

• Tarkin basically trolls Master Piell
• Ahsoka complains about Tarkin to Anakin, Anakin defends Tarkin and repeats Tarkin's earlier criticism of the Jedi, Obi-Wan puts down the criticism
• shots of CIS spaceship forces
• Sobeck predicts the Republic sending in a fleet to rescue group of heroes, making him actually seem competent!
• Anakin tells Tarkin that trolling Piell is a bad career move, Tarkin says it doesn't matter because he's close with Palpatine, they lock horns over who is the biggest bosom buddy of Palpatine (Ep. IV nerdgasm)
• group separates again, this time with Anakin and Obi-Wan together in a group and Ahsoka with Piell in the other

Cut 8:42 - 9:02

• Anubas attack both groups, it goes back and forth between showing each group travel and fight droids and Anubas

Use 9:03 - 9:33

• Anakin and Obi-Wan fight Anubas

Cut 9:34 - 10:43

• Anubas attack both groups, it goes back and forth between showing each group travel and fight droids and Anubas

Use 10:44 - 10:56

• Obi-Wan fights Anubas and droids

Cut 10:57 - 12:40

• Anubas attack both groups, it goes back and forth between showing each group travel and fight droids and Anubas
• Master Piell gets killed by an Anuba, gives Ahsoka his part of the Nexus Routes
• Sobeck leaves to personally attack heroes

Use 12:41 - 15:36

• Ahsoka brings Master Piell's dead body to Anakin and Obi-Wan
• Master Piell's funeral
• Republic fleet arrives in orbit, sends out ships
• group of heroes gets where they're supposed to be rescued

Cut 15:37 - 15:52

• group of heroes gets attacked by CIS droids at rescue site
• Sobeck arrives at rescue site

Use 15:53 - 16:34

• SPACE BATTLE!!!

Cut 16:35 - 17:44

• group of heroes fights droids and Sobeck at rescue site
• Sobeck is about to kill Tarkin, but is stabbed in the back and killed by Ahsoka

Use 17:45 - 19:42

• Plo Koon arrives to pick up the group of heroes just as a new wave of droids closes in
• MOAR SPACE BATTLE
• Hyperspace jump
• Jedi Temple landing pad scene, Jedi Masters refer to Master Piell's death, Plo Koon says they now have the Nexus Routes

Cut 19:43 - 20:28

• Obi-Wan mentions how Ahsoka and Tarkin both have half the Nexus Routes information, Ahsoka says she will only give hers to the Jedi Council, Tarkin says he will only give his to Palpatine, Yoda says he'll talk to Palpatine about it (I'd love to include this - but it's never followed up on in the series, so it would be pretty awkward just dangling there in the middle of the film, never to be picked up on)
• Anakin asks Plo Koon if he sent Ahsoka on the mission, Plo lies and says he did

Use 20:28 - 21:29 (which is the last second before the credits)

• Plo and Ahsoka walk away
• Tarkin shakes Anakin's hand and says he may tell Palpatine of his "valor," Tarkin walks away
• Obi-Wan expresses skepticism of Tarkin to Anakin

About 718 seconds which is almost 12 minutes. Not as bad as I expected, but not great. Instead of 35 minutes total, I'm at 42. I don't know if I can cut a full 7 minutes out of the excessively action-filled scenes I included that I said I could trim, but this is at least the framework to use going forward and I'm not that far off. I'll definitely pick this up sometime soon to put the finishing touches on it, but for right now I'm about three hours into this and ready for a break.

 

I think there would be enough in the Clone Wars to warrant doing 6 films. Then do another 6 Films set between Ep 3 and 4 to explain the whole Clones vs Stormtroopers and the eradication of the surviving Jedi anod possibly a trilogy focused on Qui-Gons Ghost giving Obi-Wan a whooping for being the reason Anakin turned

 

Dark Lord Tarkas, very interesting breakdown.

Do you plan on doing a similar breakdown for any of the other CW arcs in your proposed trilogy?

 

Wow, this is a real cool thread! I would have loved to see what SW would look like if it had been intended to be 12 parts (1-3 in TPM era, 3-6 in TCW era, 7-9 OT, 9-12 ST).