u/imunfair

Pirates doing pirate stuff. Less fanservice, less soap opera, less bad accents.

Black Sails has some of the best pirate adventure I've seen on film or TV, but it also has a heavy romance focus that I thought detracted from the action and intrigue of the main plot and leaned a bit into soap opera and fanservice.

There's also a twist mid to late show that tries to retcon the direction and motivation of the main character - from focus on loot to focus on romance. Going from a grand plan to build a new country using stolen wealth to pursuing a supposedly dead gay lover across the new world seemed like a huge downgrade in motivation and narrative.

So since I just enjoy the basic initial pirate plot I cut out almost all the romance in the show, aside from where it was crucial to the deception and intrigue over the power and treasure. One actor also has - in my opinion - a really terrible french/caribbean-type accent, so I made some hefty cuts to her screen time and in my opinion it brings her back on par with the rest of the cast, or close at least.

And while the trims do reduce the nudity to a less fanservice level, there's still quite a lot of it, especially since one of the main land locations is the local brothel, so don't expect this to be a "PG" cut of the show.

 

Cliptrailer: https://bestedit.net/trailer/Black.Sails.2014.Trailer.1080p.webm

 

Feel free to PM me on reddit, or email me if you want more info.

 

Change List:

Season 1

• cut Silver meeting "blackbeard" at brothel
• cut Max sleeping with Eleanor
• cut some Silver/Randall scenes and other slow bits that aren't crucial for the story
• cut Elanor/Vane sex scene, but keep ensuing drama with Max
• cut most of Vane being a mess after his exile
• cut Max fuck tent scenes
• trim the Morely plot down quite a bit
• heavily trim the careening on the beach
• cut running the brothel
• cut most of the scenes of the pastor visiting Mrs Barlow
• trim down Vane at his slave island
• cut Anne/Rackham sex scenes
• trim down Max talking scenes as much as possible

Season 2

• cut Ned Low flashbacks
• cut London flashbacks, keep everything in present with only references to their past in England
• cut Anne/Rackham/Max thruple stuff
• trim down a bit of Silver earning the men's respect for the sake of pacing
• cut a couple Eleanor/Vane sex scenes, keep context
• cut some of Eleanor's scheming for the sake of pacing
• cut Anne's meltdown after being left out of crew
• trim down some of the mutiny storyline

Season 3

• cut Vane pirating and other domestic squabbles to open the new season
• cut Flint dream sequences and tone down the "demons" angle a bit
• trim most of the Silver drowning sequence
• cut most of the becalmed storyline
• trim a lot of the pirates in a cage waiting
• trim most of the Silver/Maddy relationship scenes except where necessary for the character building/plot
• trim some of the governess spying side plot
• trim some of the Featherstone scenes
• cut Vane in jail cell
• trim a lot of the Max/Eleanor vs Resistance drama

Season 4

• cut a lot of the Berringer reign of terror
• trim much of Eleanor and Maddy at Barlow house
• cut Eleanor funeral stuff
• cut all the Anne scenes after her big fight
• cut Silver flashbacks
• rework the ending to be in line with the pirate story

I just finished a Mandalorian edit and realized I never posted my Andor cut here, so I'm just going to put them both in one post to avoid spamming the subreddit with Star Wars since I know both of these have been done dozens of times. Both of these are somewhat unique, they aren't attempts to just condense the full seasons into a film format - they pick specific elements and focus on what I think are the best parts of the series. I also take some liberties with the content, rewriting it a bit to make it a better self-contained story.

 

Andor (2h17m) is my favorite Star Wars edit, focusing primarily on the quiet revolution at home, and Bix's story is really the heart of the edit. It cuts all the Empire-perspective scenes which gives it more of an intimate rebel-centric feel. But I do dispose of the wheat planet stuff and make some changes to the narrative, so it plays out a bit differently than the original show. Romance, yes, child, no.

There were a few parts that I hated to lose - Luthen's ship escaping the Imperials and the whole Mon Mothma senate speech and extraction operation, and the Luthen/Kleya backstory/ending were great, but they didn't fit the tone/length of the edit and would have messed with the more quiet balance that it tries to strike.

 

Mandalorian (1h38m) is more straight forward - the content is primarily from the first four episodes of season 1, along with small parts from three other episodes in seasons 1/2 to flesh out the narrative and rework the story. It's edited to give him more of the solo-bounty-hunter feel, rather than leaning into the buddy-cop angle the original show had at times. As much as he wants to make sure Grogu is okay and repay him for saving his life, the child is the task, he still remains a bounty hunter trying to complete a mission, not become a dad.

 

Feel free to PM me on reddit, or email me if you want more info.

 

Andor high-level edit list:

• cut Morlana One murders, just keep references to this misadventure
• cut Andor flashbacks
• cut all Imperial perspective scenes

• open with Andor going to see Bix to sell his score

• cut a lot of the Andor junkyard scenes

• keep just enough of Luthen's scenes to add context and depth to the rebellion, but make him more of a side character

• cut entire payroll heist storyline, just keep the offer and Andor coming back successful
• cut entire Mon Mothma wedding storyline, her character still pops in a few times but just to add depth and color to the conspiracy
• cut Andor randomly being thrown in prison for a while
• cut Saw Gerrera entirely
• trim a bit of Luthen's rebels and Imperial involvement in the funeral, neither side is implied to be hunting Andor there
• trims to remove Andor leaving Bix to go off with Luthen after the funeral
• skip the first few episodes of season 2, the farm planet, stealing the fighter and getting stranded, resume with Andor and Bix hiding out together and Andor running missions for Luthen
• cut any scenes showing Ghorman, we only hear about the mission and the massacre in passing

• keep a bit of Mon Mothma prior to her speech and after, but just enough that it enhances Andor's story and adds depth to the world and his character

• cut the last three episodes of season 2 after Bix leaves

• recontextualize a scene from earlier in the show to round out the ending

 

Mandalorian high-level edit list:
The overall plot arc is find Grogu, fix Jawa damage, recieve reward, rescue Grogu, get rejected by Jedi, visit farm planet

• cut the cold open from S01E01
• cut the Ep1 blacksmithing, we only see that once and it's a mashup of multiple blacksmith scenes
• cut the bounty-bot, he does the mission on his own
• trim all flashbacks and other mandalorians hanging around

• borrow some blacksmithing parts from S01E08

• cut the fight to escape town

• keep some of the Grogu/Jedi interactions from S02E05 but cut the main plot of that episode
• borrow a line of dialogue from S02E04

• rework the ending to give the new narrative a conclusion

This edit was one of those "I wonder if it's possible" experiments - mashing up all six movies in the Prequel and Original trilogies to create a single movie-length experience. Trimming it down to 4.5 hours isn't difficult, but after that you have to make some tough choices, so I'm sure there will be some opinions on favorite scenes that people wish were still in the edit.

400 cuts later, including a ton of tiny trims to dialogue, it finally reached my 3.5hr goal. And I think it works. The pacing on the OT has obviously been changed to be more in line with the PT films so it has a bit more of a modern feel rather than the original slow Epic. And a lot of the flashy fighting from the PT was dropped in favor of following the growth of Anakin and the rise of Palpatine, but in the end I think the two trilogies being intercut keeps a good balance of action and drama.

 

Cliptrailer: https://bestedit.net/trailer/Star.Wars.Remix.1977-2005.Trailer.1080p.webm

 

Feel free to PM me on reddit, or email me if you want more info.

 

Change List:

SPOILERS: There are two semi-plot holes or at least plot vagueness - one is how Luke found out Leia is his sister, and the other is how Vader found out. You can consider it a plot hole or explain it as them sensing her or having force visions to figure it out - regardless I’m fine with those items being vague. There’s also one rearranged plot point at the start that may seem like a mistake but is intentional - the queen says in her video call with the Trade Federation “I’ve word that the chancellor’s ambassadors are with you now”, but they haven’t actually arrived at that point in my edit. This may confuse some people, but it’s how I want the edit to play out, with the queen having imperfect information (they do arrive soon after, but by that time the Trade Federation has invaded due to her threatening call).

Main plot differences:

Ep1 - Introduction of characters, Anakin backstory as a child, Palpatine wins chancellor seat and saves his planet from the Trade Federation (narrative change from the battles in the original)

• The queen in disguise subplot is gone
• Pod racing and winning the parts is gone, just assumed they had the money and Anakin helped them source the parts.
• R2D2 and C3P0 are gone from the PT to simplify the continuity and improve narrative quality (not needed for fanservice since we’re intercutting the OT). R2D2 is seen twice I believe, once repairing the ship and once in the background behind another character, but never addressed as a special named droid.
• JarJar is largely gone, he’s seen a couple times but I don’t think he’s ever relevant or even called by name
• cut Underwater city, gungan battles, etc
• cut Darth Maul

Ep4 - Introduction of characters, Luke gets off-planet, destruction of Death Star

• everything prior to meeting Luke is gone, he’s our intro to Leia and her message, we don’t see Vader take her ship or the droids escape and get captured
• Jabba the Hutt is gone, and Han’s debt isn’t really a big plot point although he mentions owing money once or twice
• cut Garbage compactor

Ep2 - Growth of Anakin/Padme relationship, Palpatine grows power

• cut City assassin chase - this narrative is reworked a little to split Anakin and Obi-Wan right away rather than after failed bodyguard duty.
• cut most of the cloner plot, it’s only referenced a few times to preserve the more conspiratorial/Empire aspects
• cut Count Dooku, I think he’s mentioned once in regard to Palpatine and the separatists, but never seen (nor are any of them, really, it’s just treated as a plot point for the Palpatine to consolidate power)

Ep5 - Luke trains with Yoda and fights Vader

• cut Hoth
• cut Han being frozen in carbonite

Ep3 - Ascension of Palpatine and Fall of Anakin

• cut Grievous
• cut Yoda and Obi Wan going back to the city and Yoda fighting Palpatine, Obi Wan just goes to see Padme

Ep6 - Final fight against the empire

• cut Jabba the Hutt
• cut Ewoks capturing the rebels

I've always thought this show had a good vibe, but there are also a ton of things I dislike about it - too much alien nonsense, especially the bad cgi of the protomolecule troopers, and the whole CEO bad-guy supervillain trope is way too cliche. This is my attempt to wrap up the parts I enjoy into a self-contained rewatchable package.

This edit turns the six seasons of the show into just two movie-length episodes, a bit over four hours total, focused more on the political and military conflict between Earth, Mars, and The Belt than the alien stuff that was the central theme of the original show.

Feel free to PM me on reddit, or email me if you want more info.

 

 

Below is the high-level edit list (not necessarily in the order I use it in my edit):

For this show I'm going to list what I kept rather than what I cut, since it's such a deep cut. Anything not listed is gone. The scenes kept are not necessarily in the original show order, they've been interleaved in an effort to make it flow as naturally as possible without using any flashbacks/forward aside from the intro. Some suspenseful sequences run much longer than the original show - for instance when they're exploring a ship or having a space battle I typically cut all those scenes into a single sequence rather than repeatedly cutting away to other planets every 2 minutes.

+ Keep intro text explaining the universe
+ Rework Julie Mao scenes into new intro
+ Keep most of Julie's plot, up until the Venus joyride sequence
+ Keep Ceres intro and Miller investigating Julie, Miller's plot ends when he would have left Ceres
+ Keep Holden's plot but cut out the backstory, romance, and significantly reduce the overall Rossi plot quantity to make it balanced and realistic (keeping Scopuli and Mars capture, stealth ship search and destroy, mission with Bobbie, and relief efforts)
+ Keep quite a few Bobbie scenes (on-ship introduction, combat patrols, interrogation on earth and defection, investigating stealth tech sales for Avasarala, and the mission with the Rossi)
+ Keep a few Fred Johnson scenes - he's more of a side character but plays some key roles in the conflict
+ Keep a few Anderson Dawes scenes, less than Fred, more of a resistance figurehead we don't see much
+ Keep a large amount of Avasarala's plot - she's the glue that holds this narrative together
+ Nancy Gao is mentioned but never seen, and it's re-contextualized in a different way than the original show - there's no political election stuff in the edit
+ Keep Marco although he's more of a name/face - we see more of his actions than the actor himself (I always found him and his crew kind of annoying and more comical than threatening)
+ Keep Ashford playing enforcer for the Belt, and chasing Marco
+ Keep small scenes of Drummer throughout, she's one of the recurring faces of The Belt
+ Keep a number of pre-Avasarala UN political scenes to reflect the conflict with Mars and some of the larger events going on in the system, although a lot of the Mao conspiracy stuff is cut entirely as that plot was far too tropey
+ Keep a few scenes of Cotyar Ghazi (Avasarala's spy) where needed for the plot
+ Keep a couple scenes of Peaches, but most of her story is cut, we basically meet her for one mission
+ Keep Monica Stuart interacting with Avasarala, but her reporting on the Rossi is cut