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MagnoliaFan Edits: Ep I "Balance Of The Force", and Ep II "The Clone War" (Released) — Page 17

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Hey guys, first post here. I discovered that we had the 2004 DVD set in my house, so I started watching them a few nights ago...my first reaction was "Wow....this is a lot more of a sore thumb than it seemed to be in '97(when I was in my mid-teens). The next thought was "Oh my god, its getting worse. The Star Wars trilogy has been brutally assaulted and left screaming for help, unheeded, in a dark midtown alley".

I figured there MUST be a community like this somewhere, so I found you! Hooray! I'm currently down-torrenting the TR47's, so Im pleased, but this project has piqued my interest too...I found the prequels to be OK, but with so much squandered potential. But, I've read this thread over and I'm still confused. I cant tell what the magnolia project really is: A skillful editing, or a re-visioning? I hear about subtitles and alien languages, have all or some of the parts been redubbed/rewritten? I'm cornfused, and I'd like to know a little more before I go strangling bandwidth for copies....

Can someone give me the executive summary of these versions? Just what should i be expecting if I go looking for these?


(BTW, A huge THANK YOU to everyone who is doing something in this arena. If only I had three brains and 10 arms, I'd be doing stuff like this too, but sadly we can only pick a couple things in life to sink craploads of time into, and video editing lost its spot to audio work long ago in my life).
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If you got the DVD free from bwlag like I did, than the alternate subtitles to MagFans should be stream 2 like it says when it starts. Just press the Subtitle button on your DVD remote. If you don't have the DVD's than I must ask why since they are 100% free.

I have only watch BotF so far and plan to watch TCW this weekend. I oly watched it with MagFans subs though but i'll watch it again too. I really loved the edits. Althought the aliens languages sounded a lot like scrambled speaking (which they were but what else can oyu do) they really made everything more.......realistic. Well, more Star Wars like. Chewy, Greedo, Jaba, and most other important aliens didn't talk english in the OT so why would they in the PT? Also, the crystal story was pretty cool just because it gave some cool little background that some EU short story or even novel could have gone into (but never will because GL fucked up). The pod race was better both because it is my favorite part of the movie and now it is longer and less silly (no jabba, or two headed announcer). Granted I really loved these silly things as a 12 year old but now they just seem stupid. Other small things worked well two. And the opening crawl was better than I expected but looks a little....off.

Does anyone know if the BotF edit was done using the VHS WS version. It looks quite a bit worse (tho not bad by any means) than when I skimmed through of TCW. TCW looks like a DVD, and BotF looks like a VHS capture IMO. If I'm wrong here, can anyone explain this to me. If I'm right, we should ask MagFan to do a DVD version.

Hey look, a bear!

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I think BOTF was indeed taken from DVD, as the deleted scenes were not available on VHS. I think that it was merely recompressed with older methods and technology. But that's only a guess.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.
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The reason that the picture is soft and similar to a VHS is because the raw video was compressed and converted prior to the editing of the film instead of just after. He probably used a program like GordianKnot to encode it to XVid or Mpeg without realizing that he should do the editing from the raw video first to save the quality. He did use the DVD as his source though.


Quote from MagnoliaFan:

First of all, I changed the title and the crawl itself.
Title: Balance of the force (to differentiate from the 1,000 edits out there and I just liked the name better)

The crawl gives a little more exposition to the Galactic Republic, the role of the Jedi, and also identifies the federation as the Neimoidian Trade Federation, to identify their species, also rather than trade routes, it is prohibition of slave labor that makes the Federation seize Naboo.

The Neimoidians, and Gungans are dubbed into their own languages and subtitled and through liberties in the subs, I addded many new layers to the plot.
Also droids speak in the dialect of the person they are addressing. TC-14 addresses the Viceroy in his language, but the Jedi in theirs as do the battle droids.
Jar Jar was banished from the Gungans because he was in charge of guarding a relic of theirs' the Kyber crystal (an old idea of George's), he slacked off and it was stolen by humans... As such the gungans also have a bitter hate of the Naboo, which is a new little subplot throughout (the racial tension was in early drafts of the script, but dropped).
The whole subplot was introduced to give Jar Jar a history and explain that big glowing ball that Padme gives Boss (Governor - in the edit) Nass.
Jar Jar is still a putz, but he's toned way down. He's just arrogant and always says the wrong thing at the wrong time.

The Federation has invaded Naboo and want Queen Amidala to surrender the people of Naboo to the Federation as an alternative uncompensated labor force as revenge for Naboo being instrumental in the outlawing galactic slavery. So, while seeing Anakin as a slave, Padme is also faced with the possibility of herself and her people becoming slaves themselves.

The opening third is slightly resequenced for pacing, moving one Sidious/Fed scene to earlier in the film to break up a long series of successive Gungan scenes. It also serves to quicken the pace (don't worry, it causes no continuity error in the film).
The only major scene to be cut entirely is the second underwater scene, which was replaced by the waterfall scene to change up the scenery and quicken the pace.
The Greedo scene, probe droid scene, dawn before the race scene, and air taxi scene were all also tightened up and integrated into the film.
There are no fart or poop jokes in the film.
There are no midichlorians.
There is no immaculate conception discussion... Anakin's origins are left vague... A child who is gifted and a vergence in the force.
Anakin's annoying friends are trimmed to a minimum.
The Trade Federation are much more sinister through the subtitles, ordering Padme's companions shot instead of processed, and discussing the mass executions vaguely hinted at in the film.
The attempt was to make Gunray more of a straight up bad guy in the film, ala Tarkin, rather than a bumbling oaf.
Through some creative manipulating of frames, a few scenes have been expanded with lines not in the original film, using audio outtakes.
Sidious has a new line, Watto has several, as do Gunray, TC-14, Rune, and Jar Jar.
In one such case, the reason for Jar Jar accompanying Qui-Gon on Tatooine, instead of any of the trained soldiers, security captains, or the Jedi Knight onboard is also explained... The Queen thinks he is stinking up the ship and orders him to go. (as taken from an early draft of the script).
Some of the film has been rescored to include hints of the imperial march.
Anakin's dialogue in general is tightened... No yippes, whoas, etc. The "are you an angel" scene is tightened as well. The scene is still there, but it comes off quicker and more casual.
Also, I cut his dream about freeing the slaves, if he can see things before they happen, then that should have happened later in the prequels... It doesn't.
The pod race has been scored entirely and re-edited from the ground up using all available footage. It was tightened and trimmed, but footage from the deleted scenes was dropped in also.
Jabba's cameo was dropped, but during Qui-Gon's scene with Watto discussing the hutts, a subtle hint of Jabba's theme from RotJ was added to the scene. I thought it was better to hear about them through the whole saga but never see one until the very last film (I'm not counting that SE scene). It works better artistically.
Also, the pod race announcer is only in 1 or 2 shots and his lines are minimal and the english speaking announcer is dubbed into an alien dialect.
Also, through the subtitles, Anakin is actually an accomplished pod racer who has once beaten sebulba. Sebulba retaliated by flashing his vents at anakin and destroying his pod... This race is round 3... The tiebreaker of sorts.
Anakin destroys the Federation ship through skill, not screwball antics.
Qui-Gon asks Obi-Wan to train Anakin, but never makes him promise. Obi-Wan is also more defiant in his talk with Yoda near the end of the film. He also insists he is ready to face the trials without any prompting from Qui-Gon, again supporting the whole headstrong thing...
Also, Darth Sidious' face has been darkened signifigantly beneath the hood, to make him less recognizable as Palpatine, at least until late in the film.
"Wipe them out... All of them!" has a whole new meaning...
There's also a lot of subtle trims here and there for snappier dialogue exchanges and dramatic tension.
By going through and trimming 5 frames here and 10 frames there, rather than lopping out entire sequences, all of the film's original sequences (except 1 - cut for redundancy) are preserved, plus all of the deleted scenes are integrated, and yet the film slides in just under a 2 hour run time.

Rikter Blaksvn's review from the Edits and Releases thread in the OT Preservation section:

Star Wars: Episode I - Balance of the Force - MagnoliaFan Edition


‘It was once said that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. - This is merely another.’

Is the first thing you see when you hit the play button – A hint at what’s to come?

This is hands down the most complete and TRUE version of the film PERIOD -

I popped it the DVD player just to take a look at it – now two hours later…..

I need to share this review!

Through the subs, a vast amount of character and plot have been drastically changed. The once vague reason for the ‘Blockade’ of Naboo is now brutally clear. Believe me this version does not hold back. The story now has a much darker feel as the Trade Federation is now depicted as slave traders/owners and there is also talk of ‘death-camps’ and mass exterminations during the invasion. These atrocities were only slightly hinted at in the Phantom Menace but are thrown at you with a frightening casual approach. (You really learn to despise the Trade Federation)

There is a dark secret that is unveiled with the introduction of Jar Jar Binks a history of near genocidal war between the Gungan and the Naboo. This film also shows Jar Jar and all the Gungan beings in a NEW light. (I found a new love and respect for Jar Jar)
Jar Jar’s character through the use of new and un-child like dialogue is now someone else altogether. Witty, funny and a foul mouthed smart-ass; this new Jar Jar is the true comic relief that he was to have been in The Phantom Menace.

It is truly amazing how the dialogue changes can alter the overall feel of a story!

In my opinion this is the version of the film that best fits with the original Trilogy - as the real ‘evil’ of the Empire (okay the Trade Federation but you can see the similarities) is now shown (again in the new subtitled dialogue).

THIS is the version you need to see. I now consider this the DEFINITIVE version of STAR WARS: Episode One.

This may be the strongest and most prolific fan-edited film in a string of seemingly never-ending unauthorized fan re-edits of George Lucas’ STAR WARS films.

- RiKter Blaksvn

SPECS:
There have are also been a lot of dialogue trims to enhance performance, and extra cuts applied to the film for pacing and plot. NO Midi-hoobie-doobies or talk of virgin births either! There have also been some changes to the SPFX of the film itself such as Lord Sidious' face has been darkened under his cloak so that you cannot tell as easily that he is Ian McDiarmid. There is an alternate title and crawl, and the Federation is much much more sinister in this version.

Re-Edit runs 1:57.06 and features 23 chapters is encoded in MPEG2 VBR and has an average bit rate of 4.75 MBps - the audio is re-mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kbps) , contains most of the deleted scenes, some alternate music, a completely different edit on the pod race, Anakin is quieter and darker, aliens speak in foreign languages and are subtitled – all the subtitles can be turned of as well (but you lose the new story line)

And from Magnoliafan (he added this stuff for me)

A few changes that most people don't ever notice:

The first scene between TC-14 and the Viceroy has been extended with additional dialogue.

Original - Darth Sidious: I don't want this stunted slime in my sight again!
Balance - Dath Sidious: I don't want this slime in my sight again!

The Jedi mind trick now has its own sound effect.

When Qui-Gon and co enter Mos Espa, a large ship flew by at a very low altitude against line of sight. It had been digitally painted out of the shot in Balance. The wipe is trimmed to help hide it.

Beisdes the cantina song (if you've seen it, you know), Watto has several new lines of dialogue.

Original - Anakin: Since I was very little... Three, I think.
Balance - Anakin: Since I was three, I think.

Original - Anakin: Sandstorms are very... very dangerous. Come on, I'll take you to my place.
Balance - Anakin: Sandstorms are very dangerous. Come on, I'll take you to my place.

Dozens of "Phantom laserblasts" have been given sound effects, and lots of additional sound has been added in other places, such as additional chatter on the streets of Mos Espa.

Any scene where music has been replaced or aliens are dubbed has had the entire sound mix reproduced from scratch.

In the balcony scene with Maul, Sidious has an alternate line of dialogue. Digitally altered footage of Sidious had to be painted over the original scene and looped in such a way that it created the illusion of a lip synch. The footage of Maul had to be altered also to match the new length of the scene.

That's just a few of the lesser known ones...

Alternate Title and Crawl, giving more history on the Jedi, Republic and Trade Federation
The plot is also altered from revolving around taxation to slave labor.
Opening crawl music replaced with music from EP IV UE soundtrack (a little longer and it just sounded better to me)
Cockpit scene en route to the Federation cruiser was ommitted
New music cue landing in Fed docking bay
Neimoidians are dubbed and subtitled as is TC-14 when talking to Neimoidians. Most of their dialogue has been totally rewritten.
First scene with TC-14 and the Neimoidians is expanded considerably with additional dialogue.
New music cue leading into Darth Sidious' appearance.
Sidious' face is digitally shadowed under the hood hiding his face.
Sidious' line "I don't want this stunted slime in my sight again!" has been altered to "I don't want this slime in my sight again!"
New sound effect added as gun turrret swings around.
The reaction scene in the cockpit has been omitted.
The sound effects for the explosion of the cruiser has been enhanced.
New sound effect added for the battle droid turning off the hologram of Nute Gunray.
Battle Droids dubbed and subtitled when speaking to each other or Neimoidians.
Some Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon dialogue is trimmed from the battle onboard the Federation ship.
Dialogue trimmed in "It's an invasion army!" scene.
Additional little plot twist added in the Viceroy's viewscreen scene with Queen Amidala.
Dialogue trimmed in Naboo council"Senator Palpatine?" scene.
Hologram scene between Nute and Droid commander is cut.
Jar Jar is dubbed and subtitled.
Jar Jar is a pompous ass who believes he saved Qui-Gon's life by dragging him down and thinks Qui-Gon owes him the life debt.
It is also revealed that the Gungans desise humans with a passion... except for Jar Jar, who doesn't mind humans so much, seeing as the Gungans hate him even more than they do humans.
Otoh Gungah referred to by name.
"The Invasion is on schedule, my Lord" scene has been moved to follow Jar Jar's debut, breaking up the Gungan antics.
Boss Nass is now Governor Nass.
Lots of alternate exposition in Otoh Gunga. Jar Jar is revealed to have been thrown out several times. The Gungans hate the Naboo people because humans stole a Gungan relic, the Kyber crystal from them, explaining the big glwoing globe at the end of the film.
Nass is leaning toward supporting the Federation against the Naboo, pre Jedi mind trick.
A sound effect is added to the Jedi mind trick.
There is a little trim to the end of the scene.
In the sub scene it is revealed that Jar Jar was the Gungan charged with guarding the Kyber crystal. He was sleeping on the job and allowed the crystal to be stolen.
The second underwater sequence has been cut and replaced with a recut version of the waterfall scene.
The Viceroy, having captured Amidala plans to force her to offer the people of Naboo as an alternative uncompensated workforce in retaliation to her lobbying to outlaw their slave labor forces.
Instead of telling the droid commander "Process them", he nonchalantly orders the droid to to "Shoot her companions."
When Qui-Gon and co rescue the Queen, Jar Jar claims credit for it, after lying face down on the ground for the whole fight.
Some dialogue is trimmed outside of the hangar.
The battle droid's "joke" toward Qui-Gon has been cut.
The "You stay here" scene between Jar Jar and Obi-Wan has been cut.
The entire Naboo escape has been resquenced so that they lose shields right away, but don't regain them until the last minute.
Some additional dialogue is trimmed during the escape.
Some dialogue is trimmed in the "Here Master, Tatooine" scene.
The line "Not for a Sith" has been trimmed out of the Darth Maul introduction scene.
As an homage, the Viceroy's aide says, "This deal is getting worse all the time!" in said scene.
Some dialogue trimmed in the Artoo intro scene.
The Padme and Jar Jar scene, cleaning artoo has been cut.
Upon arrival to Tatooine, it is revealed that Qui-Gon is taking Jar Jar with him to Mos Espa because the Queen ordered him to, as she felt he was stinking up the ship.
When Padme is ordered along, Jar Jar wonders if Padme was stinking up the ship as well.
A ship has been digitally painted out of Mos Espa's skyline.
New noises and chatter have been added to the streets in all Mos Espa scenes.
The poop stepping scene has been cut.
When we first come upon Watto, he hums the Cantina song from EP IV for a few seconds before Qui-Gon and co enter.
Watto is considerably harsher toward Anakin in the subtitles.
Jar Jar no longer has slapsticky antics inside the store and the "Are you an angel" scene has been trimmed considerably.
When Qui-Gon tries the mind trick on Watto, he becomes much angrier and throws Qui-Gon out shouting, "Get lost! Come back when you gotta some money!"
As Qui-Gon embarassedly exits the shop, Jar Jar knocks over a bunch of stuff and Watto shouts, "Hey! You break it, you buy it! Eh?!"
Jar Jar's "No again!" speech has been cut.
The scene of Jar Jar stealing the frog has been trimmed.
After Anakin saves Jar Jar from Sebulba, Jar Jar brags that he was about to give Sebulba a beating until that kid got in the way.
The Jira scene has been trimmed to make her less creepy.
Anakin's "very, very dangerous" line has been trimmed to "very dangerous".
Instead of "Hello", Jar Jar remarks "Oh, what a dump." upon seeing Anakin's home.
Anakin's acting is trimmed throughout Threepio's introduction.
Music is replaced throughout the Coruscant balcony scene, using the Imperial march seguewaying into the Emperor's theme. Every piece of sound had to be rebuilt from scratch for the sequence.
Sidious has an alternate line to end the scene, "The Republic will soon be under my countrol."

skilletaudio, if you want to know more about MagFan's edits look here: http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=9&threadid=801&STARTPAGE=1
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Niether of them are studio quality prints, but they'll suffice for fan-edits.

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So, editing is prolific and reportedly very powerful. Has the dialogue been re-dubbed for these new lines, or do we just pretend not to hear the dialogue and read subtitles? I don't know how these fan-versions of movies work.
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The new subtitles appear only for characters whose voices have been re-dubbed as alien language.

This is surprisingly effective and allows the story to be shaped (as Rikter's review points out) since many of the weakest parts of the original story were the dialogue of Jar Jar, the Gungans, and the Trade Federation.

I'm surprised to hear any objection to the Kyber Crystal, but I did not catch the "Splinter in the mind's eye" reference. Basically, for me, the backstory that Jar Jar had allowed it to be stolen accounted so much better for his actions that I was happy with it --

BUT (spoilers)

...then the final parade sequence involved Amidala giving the crystal back to the Gungan Boss and I had a giant grin on my face. Until then the entire final sequence had been irredeemably silly in my opinion (I even hated the John Williams music).

I've only watched with the ADigitalMan subtitles, so I guess I have another movie to try out by using MagnoliaFan's.

I felt, with the new dialogue, that Jar Jar was quite tolerable. I mean I liked him, I really liked him.

M

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I see, I think, for the english speakers, creative editing, and for the aliens, a legitimate case can be made for subtitling, giving room to breath and shape the story.

Edit: From what I have gathered, the alien languages are sort of a munging and backmasking of foreign languages? I wonder: Game Audio has got a large influx of people looking for projects on which to score credit. Perhaps putting some feelers into the game development community might find some people who would be enthusiastic about inventing some languages and with the technical wherewithall to record and produce it properly?
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The audio work is pretty good in general, though the two-headed announcer is speaking German from the sound of things which is a little off-putting!
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Jar Jar often speaks Spanish, too.

The thing that annoyed me more than anything was the reversed dialgogue tracks used for the Nemoidieans. It feels unnatural to hear things inhale when the speak.

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If we're going to nit-pick these cuts I'd like to work on things that matter a lot more to me than the sounds of the alien dialogue.

I still think Anakin comes off too unlikably in Clone War and got a lot of ideas for how to improve it while watching.

Does anyone else wish he weren't so immediately disrespectful to Obi Wan?

I wish, furthermore, that the revelation of Anakin's bad dreams could be "moved up" much more.

Has anyone else floated such ideas or prompted a re-cut? I could provide very specific ways to make these things happen if there were an interested editor (i.e. MagnoliaFan).

M

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That post afew above was very.....long.....and repetative. I wasted a few minutes of my life trying to find something new and....nothing. That post coulda been 1 third its length. But, on an extremely more positive note, that info kicked ass. Thanks. I thought I had noticed way more things than I thought had changed but I really actually missed a lot of things too. Can some detail the changes like the above for the Clone Wars edit.

Hey look, a bear!

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im really new to these boards and the whole re-edit scene. if someone could just point me in the right direction it would really help. i keep hearing the name rikter, and id like to see both the phantom edit and balance of the force. im also curious about whether or not there is a re edit of episode 2 and what it is called. if anyone wants to help a pathetic newb on the forums plz e mail me at thefrush777@yahoo.com

THANKS! i need star wars heroin
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I'm not gonna e-mail you cuz i don't feel like it but if you private message our fellow member bwlag (look higher in the thread for his posts) you can request that he send you copies of Balance of the Force and The Clone Wars (MagnoliaFan edits of both Ep. I and II) on DVD. He'll reply to it and ask some other stuff and in less than a week they are your. Thats it. I don't know how to get the Pantom Edit but I here magnoliafan's far out do those so i'll ust skip them.

Hey look, a bear!

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Hello all, long time lurker here. I'm looking to get both edits on DVD, but I want the ADigitalMans subtitles. I sent him a PM...I think. I didn't really get a confirmation that the PM had been sent. New here, so I'm not sure how the Private Messages work yet. So if your reading this ADigitalMan, I'm trying to communicate with you.
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For Balance of the force DVD, there are two sets of subtitles, one are MagFans and the other are ADigitalMan's. I don't think he did any for The Clone War.

Also, there is no confirmation. The PM system on this site sort of sucks. You can't see sent PM's and I don't know if you can save PM's or not.

Hey look, a bear!

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You can see sent PMs in the history of the user you sent them to. It saves a whole record of your conversation until you tell the system to delete it.

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Hey there Gang!

I will once again be offering DUPLICATION of the Edits and of all my discs for those without broadband - If you'd like a full list of titles I can duplicate besides the MagnoliaFan Edits just drop me an EMAIL.

And as always the Custom DVD art CD is still included - AND I just got a stack of Taiyo Yuden (DVD-R47VAL600SK) DVD-R Media for the next round of disc requests.

“My skill are no longer as Mad as the once were” RiK

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Just watched "Botf" again -- had to give a big shout out to MagFan for the incredible work he did on the pod race.

The music is perfect. The new emphasis on Anakin's point of view, the incorporation of edited footage and the resequencing of the race -- it's just awesome.

Finally I was totally in awe of the whole "podrace" concept, which when you get down to it, is pretty awesome. Definitely a wonderful surprise to find something so cool in this prequel. There wasn't anything to compare to it in AOTC (except, maybe, super-jedi Yoda? Nah).

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Can I get some tips on buring this to CD.

From the nfo:

Episode II - The Clone War
Video Format.........: MPEG4
Codec................: XviD
Audio Format.........: 5 channel AC3 @ 448 Kbps
Resolution...........: 720x352 / Framerate of 23.976
Source...............: UNAUTHORIZED MAGNOLIAFAN COLLECTION DVDr
Original Format......: NTSC
Genre................: Science Fiction
Size.................: 695mb
this XVID can easily be converted to VCD or DVD with the right softwarez.

Windows Explorer lists my avi file as being 729 229 312 bytes. When I drag it into Nero the SVCD lists the MPEG2 folder as being 1 199 228 928! This is obviously too big to burn on a regular CD.

Do I need a different program or am I doing something wrong?

Thanx

E Chu Ta!

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Just watched Balance of the Force and Clone War.

Loved, loved, loved Balance! THIS has made Phantom Menace not only WATCHABLE for me, but also improved the story and characters 100%. It's amazing what a little trimming can do to bolster otherwise tedious and flat performances by Anakin, Shmi and even Padme in places. No more cringe-worthy moments. When Anakin leaves his mother, it's much more powerful now with all the superfluous dialouge excised. Podrace is VASTLY improved by the addition of music borrowed from Shadows of the Empire and A New Hope. The inclusion of deleted scenes like Greedo, Morning of the Race and the waterfall scene - all of them were fantastic. The deleted underwater sequence was warranted. Little things, like Watto humming the Cantina song, Jar-Jar and Boss Nass' new dialogue, the Imperial March for Darth Maul were all great touches.

Drawbacks: The only major drawback is the picture quality, if this were DVD quality, my copy of TPM would be traded-in immediately. Other stuff is just nitpicky - There were a few transitions that could be smoothed out a little, but it could have just been the slightly jumpy transfer. The shot of Jar-Jar swimming (waterfall sequence) could have been cut out. And his dive into the water (Ootah Gunga), for that matter. I wasn't a big fan of shadowing Sidious' face. I thought his performance was one of the few to be treasured from this film, and fading out his facial features was unnecessary I thought. But, just my opinion. I did think the new languages were as annoying as a lot of others had said. There were two or three places where the Neimoidian dialogue was distracting, but overall I found to be very inventive and effective. Besides, I'll take these few minor shortcomings over George Lucas' sweeping and grating oversights any day.

Clone War was a different story. I thought magnoliafan let much more slip under the radar than he did with Phantom. The performances of the actors in the first few scenes are downright horrible. Much of it begged to be cut. I didn't like the Dooku as "father of the Rebellion" suggestion. I like the idea of Dooku being a Sith and the Seperatist movement as just another one of Palpatine's manipulations to sweep himself into power. But, that's just my personal preference. The inclusion of the deleted scenes felt out of place to me in this version - with the exception of the Mace/Obi-Wan scene, which I felt was worlds better than the "Floating Yoda" film cut, and conveyed more of Obi-Wan's reservations about Anakin.

Overall though, Clone War needed more (or less). Something about it was just lacking. Even down to Dooku's yellow saber, this one just did not work for me. But all in all, it was satisfying to see another take on it.

Thanks again, Bwlag! And big thanks to MagnoliaFan for having the balls to do it and put it out there for us! Mucho respect to you. I do hope someone talks about remastering Balance in a higher quality, higher-def version.

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Originally posted by: skywalka
Can I get some tips on buring this to CD.

From the nfo:

Episode II - The Clone War
Video Format.........: MPEG4
Codec................: XviD
Audio Format.........: 5 channel AC3 @ 448 Kbps
Resolution...........: 720x352 / Framerate of 23.976
Source...............: UNAUTHORIZED MAGNOLIAFAN COLLECTION DVDr
Original Format......: NTSC
Genre................: Science Fiction
Size.................: 695mb
this XVID can easily be converted to VCD or DVD with the right softwarez.

Windows Explorer lists my avi file as being 729 229 312 bytes. When I drag it into Nero the SVCD lists the MPEG2 folder as being 1 199 228 928! This is obviously too big to burn on a regular CD.

Do I need a different program or am I doing something wrong?

Thanx


The version I posted will not play on a set-top box - you will need to convert it first to DVD MPEG2 with something like TMPGenc encoder (4-9 hours based on your encoding format) - Or you can drop me an email

“My skill are no longer as Mad as the once were” RiK

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Hiya - my first post here, although I have used the forums before to learn about editions of the original trilogy.

After watching Episodes 1 & 2 before a cinema showing of Episode 3, I finally accepted just how much a re-edit was neccessary, and after a good look around the net found that these seem to be the prefered edits.

Downloading them now, can't wait to see them.
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Welcome to the Rebel Alliance gbm1138 ... and to the boards.
I am fluent in over six million forms of procrastination.