Chip Chick
It only took a single viewing (or a glance at the plot summary) to know that Star Wars: Rogue One was made to dovetail with the beginning of the original trilogy. But, in case you wanted the guesswork taken out, some guy on Vimeo obliged.
This video, which Disney somehow hasn’t had torn down yet, just plays through the end of Rogue One (starting with the Vader bit, obviously) and tacks on the first few minutes of A New Hope afterwards. It didn’t exactly involve Lucasfilm-levels of technical wizardry, but it gets the job done.
The changes in production can be jarring. Even without A New Hope for reference, CGI young Leia was still obviously (if subtly) not human — it’s even more obvious once real young Leia comes in during A New Hope. It manages to be even more noticeable than the difference 40 years makes in movie lasers, and believe me, that’s saying something. The story does flow, though, as we go straight from Leia getting her hands on the Death Star plans at the end of Rogue One to her hastily giving them to R2-D2 and C-3PO and sending them off to Obi-Wan.
If you’re inspired to do a massive Star Wars movie marathon now, you’ll be able to do so properly — Rogue One is already out on Amazon Video and iTunes, and will come out on DVD and Blu-ray on April 4.
