This was incredible and well worth the weight. Rather impressive integration of original footage and CGI work. Also, the final cut at the end was incredible even though I knew it was coming.
That was pretty great. The CGI face replacement for Obi-Wan was pretty damn impressive for a non-professional video. I loved the use of audio from the final duel in Revenge of the Sith.
I thought this was pretty cool. It's in my head canon, and I wish they would add it to a remastered A New Hope.
There are parts that are well done and parts that are pretty jarring. It was certainly more ambitious than it needed to be. I'm not opposed to this being done in a Star Wars edit but, if it's done, it does have to be done better. I also think less should be done. I also like that the object throwing stuff first appeared in Empire Strikes Back, so I would prefer they not do that here where it undercuts the impact.* Still, good effort. I hope others take a shot for even better quality in the future. * I will say that I think the best order is to watch the original versions first, then the Prequels, then the Special Editions so I suppose this edit would be post-Prequels so it fits better, but I also think it's important to try and preserve some of the surprises the later movies introduced (for example, I would hate it if there were force lightning here).
I was blown away by this--the effort must have been extraordinary, and it's cool to see an improvement on such an iconic scene. And think about it from the perspective of what we have learned since 1977. Darth Maul was no slouch at all. He may not quite be as good as Vader, but he fought Qui Gonn and Obi Wan together, and only some arrogance let Obi Wan strike that blow. Yet even after he was fixed up, Maul was one of the stronger Force users remaining. Obi Wan, much older, beat Maul in seconds. So no, Obi Wan was not old and out of practice. As we learned from Dooku and Yoda, you can be older, but if you are strong in the Force. you can fight really well. This video shows Obi Wan still had it. Obi Wan's brilliant defense versus Vader's relentless offense. Vader was winning, but Obi Wan wasn't fighting to win. Think about what happens if Obi Wan won. How do they get off the Death Star and to the Falcon? It's surrounded by Stormtroopers. Sure, they can't hit anything, but they would have been a detriment. Obi Wan knew death wasn't the end, and Vader didn't kill him. He vanished into the Force BEFORE Vader hit that blow. He did that to distract the Stormtroopers to get them away from the Falcon, and he could help Luke far more as a Force Ghost. Obi Wan just had to keep Vader occupied long enough to clear the Falcon to escape. This video really brings more to the table of ow amazing that fight was. I do agree Lucasfilm could do an even better job, but bravo.
I wonder if Ewan would be up for this in his late 50s? (Lucasfilm, start plotting a Star Wars Remake in ten or twelve years with Ewan McGregor still cast as Obi-wan Kenobi) (That we will get the "wait, is this a remake or a more direct sequel to Revenge of the Sith?")
Fantastic work. Not perfect, no, but better than the original by far, and better than a lot of what we see in the prequels. I would love it if Disney recreated this, beat for beat, in the next release.
This is complete garbage that totally misses the point of the actual scene. Vader and Obi Wan are both masters in complete control of their craft. They simply don't need to do this kind of showy bullshit. You'd never see a fencing master dueling like this. It's a joke and it obliterates the intent of the original scene.
Unlike in the prequel sequences, these two are actually aiming to either kill each other, or deflect a killing blow. Most of the swings would cleave the opponent, or stab them. Where as a lot of the prequel duels are lightsabers aimed at lightsabers, and the blows wouldn't strike the opponent (its flashier like that, but doesn't do the job of killing the enemy).
Some where, there is a great video showcasing the angle of attacks in the PT and how they would or would not connect.
I thought it was really good. The only thing I want added is for Obi Wan to shrug off his outer robe, as he did in every duel he was in when he was younger. McGregor made it seem like a habit. It would be a cool connection between younger and older Obi Wan.
The difficulty with that is it would show the computer generated face a whole lot more without the hood.
This version might be a little over the top, but it does fit in better with the duels we got in the later movies in the franchise. Watching the scene now it really does feel a bit odd just how much slower it is that pretty much every other duel we got in the franchise. The old masters thing doesn't really work since we saw both Dooku and Sidious fighting at a speed closer to this.