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Idea & Info: End of Evangelion fan edit?

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 (Edited)

I am a big fan of Evangelion, but not such a big fan of the late episodes in the series or the ending, and the movie, End of Evangelion, IMO was not the massive improvement over the original that I felt it perhaps should have been. I know that some of my fellow Evangelion fans would view the possibility of editing End of Evangelion to make it a more enjoyable film as being akin to taking a pair of scissors to a bible, but I do not view it with the same reverence.

If I was going to make an edit out of EoE, here’s what my mission statement would probably resemble:

  1. Make the film better paced

  2. Cut the mind f***ery down to a more tolerable level

  3. Make Shinji less of a pussy (if that’s possible)

  4. Correct some of the retarded sound effects from the Manga dub

  5. Make the film be closer to the length of a two-part TV episode (since there’s a ton of stuff I’d probably end up cutting out

  6. Possibly integrate some footage from the TV ending to make the ending feel more upbeat

Overall, this would be a less philosophical/psychiatric cut of the film, and more of an action based one. I know that some fans would probably call it a butchering of the source material, but it’s not for them since they probably like the current version just fine. This cut would be meant as a more enjoyable, light-viewing alternative, so that you can watch it without feeling like you need Prozac afterwards.

Another change I’d like to make is to use a better image source, since the Manga DVD looks like garbage. Part of whether or not I make this cut will be if I can find a rip of a high quality Japanese disc of the movie. As I recall they do exist, and it should not be difficult to replace the Japanese audio track with the American one. The reason why I’m not going to keep it in its original Japanese is because it would not be practical for a variety of reasons. I do not speak Japanese so I would not know what dialogue I was actually cutting out, and syncing up the subtitles would be a nightmare. Basically, trying to edit a foreign language film seems like it’s flying blindfolded. Also, I’d like for the focus to be on the animation since that’s the best part of the movie, and I feel that subtitles distract from that.

If this is going to get labeled as a cannibalization or “sanitized version” of the original, then I figure I may as well go all out. If the end result is more entertaining and enjoyable for me to watch than the original, then I will have succeeded.

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Are you aware that they are currently remaking the series as a set of movies?

I don't know if you'll find where they go with it an imporvement or not.

Dr. M

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Yes, I've been following the Rebuild project for a while. I've seen the first one, and it was decent but a bit predictable (although the animation was a big improvement over the show). I'll probably buy it on Blu-Ray next month when it is released here. The second one is supposedly better and is more willing to depart from the source material than the first, and I've had a subbed camrip of it for a while but I haven't watched it yet.

Even with the new movies though, I'm still interested in the possibility of fan-cutting End of Evangelion. The new movies are a new continuity, and I'd like to see if I can improve the original continuity's sendoff, or at least make it more enjoyable to watch.

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Take a look at AsianDVDClub.org.  You might find some materials you need there.

Dr. M

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Cool, I found what I was looking for there. Thanks! :)