CT Rewriting the originals

There are significant changes I'd make to ESB and ROTJ - mainly dropping a lot of the Han and Leia material and adding in more of the Luke/Anakin relationship in ESB so that there is some resolution in that movie, as well as seeing more of the overall galactic struggle in ESB and ROTJ. ANH is pretty much perfect as it is though.

 

Like what?

 

I would have moved the Luke/Yoda scene in ROTJ to ESB.

 

Tweak the lightsaber fights, especially ANH. Adjust the Han/Leia relationship so they actually LIKE each other before falling in love. More training on Dagobah. Replace "Obi-Wan once thought as you do." to "Your mother once thought as you do."

Some glimpses of Palp.'s control of the Senate/galactic politics would be cool, but I'm not sure if it would "go with the flow" of the editing or not. Leave the Death Star 2 alone (Seriously, try developing and building a completely new super-wepon with less flaws with a specific infrastructure and tell me an improved Death Star wasn't the way to go. Palps may be Emperor, but he's not made of money, y'know!) The Ewoks were there for a specific narrative purpose (little "cute" guys/nature versus big "nasty" guys/technology). To George, that point was more important than "wookies are cooler!". That would have been a "Must Sell Toys" mentality.

 

Both Star Wars and Empire in their original form are masterpieces, in my opinion, and I wouldn't change a thing in either film. Jedi, while very good, doesn't stand up to the previous two. To the suggestions in my previous post, I would add that Boba Fett should not have died in such an off-handed manner, if at all, and I don't believe that Yoda should have died. It seemed so contrived that Yoda was dying just as Luke showed up as if the writers were trying to get that obligatory but inconvenient scene out of the way to move the story along. Yoda's statement that Luke must confront Vader to become a Jedi is both a contradiction to his statements in Empire that he must not go and confront Vader and seems to conflict with the Jedi philosophy of non-aggression, using the Force for defense, never for attack. How does rushing off to confront your enemy instantly make one a Jedi? They could have easily had a five-minute montage scene of Luke continuing and completing his training. Perhaps Luke could have taken Yoda with him. Why does the most powerful Jedi in the galaxy have to be stuck on a swamp planet when he can be out there helping Luke? Obi-Wan said that Luke was their only hope? What about Yoda?

 

Yoda's death was originally to be Obi-Wan's in ROTJ before Lucas decided it would be best to kill Ben in ANH. So Lucas changed it to Yoda's and had the information given to Luke in both Yoda's and Ben's scenes.

 

Let's leave that sort of stuff to the Rocky franchise thankyou!

 

The only two things I would change are to replace ewoks with wookies and NOT make Leia Lukes sister! But these films are pretty much perfect...

 

Some interesting changes to Return of the Jedi would be to have the scene where Luke visits Degobah and Yoda to appear before Jabba's palace on Tatooine to make it seem as if he went back right after Han was captured to train further instead of just spending a weekend with him.

Luke is captured by the Empire and taken to Coruscant/Imperial City. Endor is a forest moon of Coruscant. It is where a population of Wookies lives instead of Ewoks. Perhaps the Wookies are slave labor on Endor which revolt against the Imperials there and help destroy the shield generator. A second Death Star is not being constructed, instead a ship which can either destroy a star system is or the Emperor's personal Star Destroyer. The Rebels want to destroy it and eliminate Palpatine.

Instead of Luke being able to see his scarred father, he simply vanishes before the audience gets to see him much as Ben and Yoda did before and becomes one with the Force.

 

Should Palpatine have even been called the Emperor and the Galactic Empire, the Empire? It's sort of a strange title for a government which forms out of the militarization of a republic democracy and not through conquest. Palpatine already had essentially martial law over the Republic by the time Order 66 occurred. Perhaps he simply suspended the constitution indefinitely and perpetuates the fear for decades to come to remain dictator life long by slowly eroding the system. The last step in gaining full control is eventually dissolving the senate. He simply isn't called an Emperor or given that title. Palpatine is just a despot that rules for life.

 

SW CT Reboot
Director - Joshua Trank

Luke Skywalker - Shia LaBeouf
Princess Leia - Jennifer Lawrence
Han Solo - Channing Tatum
Darth Vader - Michael Haysberg
3P0 - Alan Cummings
R2 - Verne Troyer
Obi Wan Kenobi - Michael Caine
Wedge Antilles - Jim Caviezel
Emperor Palpatine - Anthony Hopkins
Lando - Terrence Howard (in Empire Strikes Back)
Lando - Don Cheadle (in Return of the Jedi)
Jabba the Hutt - Meghan Trainor

 

Read as far as Josh Trank. Stopped.

Composed myself, read Shia LeBouf. Stopped.

Checked under the bridge, troll located

 

I can get on board with Michael Caine as Obi-Wan and Anthony Hopkins as the Emperor, but I'd think Bill Nighy would make a better Emperor, almost as good as Ian McDiarmid.

 

I love how we're discussing Meghan Trainor as Jabba the Hutt in an OT Re-write thread.

 

That's why he was able to call himself whatever he liked.

 

Have Boba Fett actually do something impressive on-screen.

 

I would eliminate the character of Yoda all together. Instead of dying and becoming a spirit, Ben is able to disappear when confronting Vader long enough to head to his secret hide away on Degobah where he once trained Anakin. Luke after the Battle of Hoth goes to Degobah and trains with Obi-Wan there until leaving off to save Han and Leia in Cloud City. Ben dies and becomes one with the Force in Return of the Jedi. His spirit may manifest before Darth Vader and the Emperor to help Luke during his battle and distracts them.

 

Anakin shouldn't have become a force ghost whatsoever imho. He clearly isn't familiar with force ghosting in ANH (he's confused when Ben disappears) and he wasn't a particularly good person.

 

ANH:
Don't have Vader take orders from Tarkin. I like the idea of it in that particular movie, but it doesn't fit with the rest of trilogy.
Either don't have the Jabba scene or don't have the Greedo scene. I prefer the Greedo scene, and would have Han shoot first.
Briefly explain how Luke knows Ben. Maybe it's because I've always wondered how Marty knew Doc, but this type of thing bothers me as they really shouldn't know each other.

TESB:
Introduce a different character, named Mon Mothma, who is another young female leader in the Rebellion. After Leia's base falls on Hoth, the rebellion meets up with Mothma's fleet in another system. At the end of the movie, she visits Luke to tell him and Leia that she will also lead a fleet that will be desperately searching for Han. Their reactions to each other may slightly imply a romantic interest, but it's not intense enough for them to be anything other than friends.

ROTJ:
Despite my slight distaste for it, keep the Jabba scenes as they help to wrap up the ending of TESB.
After the Jabba part, have Mothma send Luke a message on his comm. Show that they're friends.
Have Han gun down Boba Fett.
Make the goal to lay siege on the Imperial Palace on Coruscant with a small squadron as the fleets fight in the skies above. The goal is to detonate charges from within the palace. All of this is told by Mothma. When Luke says he's joining the resistance on Endor, Mothma looks worried. After the meeting is over, she tells Luke to be very careful, and that she wants to see him after the battle. He agrees.
Show the oppression of the people on Coruscant because of the Imperial rule.
Have Luke discover that Mon Mothma is his sister--one who also has no recollection of her actual mother.
Keep the Vader/Luke/Emperor scenes EXACTLY as they are.
When the palace is destroyed, show the people finally fighting back against the remaining Imperial troops.
Celebrate on board Ackbar's ship, where Luke tells Mothma of their shared lineage, and Mothma already knows.
Luke sees Obi-Wan, and Yoda and smiles, before going to continue the celebration with his friends.


Most of this is just to avoid making Leia the sister and using a second Death Star.

 

Why does Anakin have to have any children in OT? Perhaps he is just the selfish apprentice of Ben who joins the dark side in the wake of Order 66. Obi-Wan defeats him and simply goes into hiding. Ben finds a Wookie Force sensitive to train in the ways of the Jedi and decides to make him the new apprentice to kill of Vader and the Emperor.

 

According to the annotated screenplays book, there was some discussion on this. At one point, Luke would've gone back to Yoda and focused on his training, while the others rescued Han. However, it was decided (rightly, in my opinion) that such a move made Luke seem ungrateful and a lousy friend. So, it was written to show that, once Luke had recovered from his injuries on Bespin, that rescuing Han was Priority One.

 

There a fan edits with Luke going back to see Yoda and watch him die first before he goes to see Han. It makes it look like he actually is responsible and finished what he started.

 

I think the only change I'd make is something to A New Hope. Maybe have some scenes made with the PT in mind. I guess the only other thing I can think of is having ROTJ not be as slow in the middle. I can't really think of anything specific.

 

Instead of Vader being Anakin, Anakin would be a separate person who's name Obi-Wan used to hide the truth about Luke's parentage.

 

I wouldn't be opposed to Luke completing his training on Dagobah and constructing his new lightsaber, learning about Leia being his sister all while we interweave to Tattooine with Leia starting off without him. Thing is, if they went down that route, the droids arriving would have to be omitted. Luke would still have R2 with him and 3PO making his way to Jabba's Palace alone would be just silly. Maybe Luke's return to Dagobah should have been the Prologue leading to Han's rescue. He would have reflected upon his ordeal at the hands of Vader on Cloud City and come out of Dagobah more focused. And yes, I would keep Luke and Leia as twins, but the kiss should have been addressed lol.