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Info Wanted: The go to definitive prequel cuts?

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I’m new around here, so excuse my ignorance if there is only one cut available, but over the last few years I’ve seen a lot of mentions about these despecialized OT cuts on reddit and I’m finally getting around to trying to obtain them, and get them onto BD’s so I can get rid of my official box set.

The more I look into this however the more I’m finding that there are a few PT cuts and I’m wondering which to look into. I’m not trying to start any arguments as I’m sure the authors of the various cuts are on here, but constructively I’m hoping which you guys would recommend? Which cuts do you like and why? Thanks!

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ray_afraid said:

The best way to cut the PT is to cut it out altogether.

hahaha. While I agree with you, I wish I could see Topher Grace’s sub 2 hour cut of the entire PT. I read an article that a slashfilm writer wrote about his viewing of it and he said it was fantastic.

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Check out listings on FanEdit.org for more detailed information on lots of edits, with ratings and reviews. Many are listed for download on the unrelated site, FanEdit.info. (Mine are listed there too, but the admin hasn’t updated the site in a while. If you decide to check mine out, PM me for links.)
There’s more prequel edits than you can imagine, but FE.org will help orient you to finding one that resonates with what you’re hoping for.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Hal 9000 said:

Check out listings on FanEdit.org for more detailed information on lots of edits, with ratings and reviews. Many are listed for download on the unrelated site, FanEdit.info. (Mine are listed there too, but the admin hasn’t updated the site in a while. If you decide to check mine out, PM me for links.)
There’s more prequel edits than you can imagine, but FE.org will help orient you to finding one that resonates with what you’re hoping for.

Wow, thank you for the thorough response! I’ll check these out tomorrow on my lunch break 😃!

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Hal is modest. His edits are the definitive version. The only big continuity change happens in the third movie. I wouldn’t really call it a continuity change either. It’s more of a patch that resolves a continuity glitch that conflicts with Episode VI. As an editor who wants to fix these kinds of problems you either have to patch the original source or the new source. Hal simply chose to apply his patch to the Prequel and I applaud him for it.

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Magnoliafan for Episode I, The Phantom Editor for Episode II, and Kerr for Episode III.

Not enough people read the EU.

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Your what? I don’t remember you doing SW edits.

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LuckyGungan2001 said:

Magnoliafan for Episode I, The Phantom Editor for Episode II, and Kerr for Episode III.

I’ll agree that Kerr’s Ep3 is pretty good. The way he handled Palps becoming Sid is phenomenal.

With that said, I don’t remember Magfan’s being that special (unless it’s the Jar-Jar subtitled one, in which case, no thanks), and the PE leaves in way to much awful crap (although his commentaries are very good).

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I like Seciors’ for 1 and 2 (Phantom Editor is my alt for 2), and L8wrtr for 3.

Hal’s trilogy if you’d rather not mix and match

Preferred Saga:
1/2: Hal9000
3: L8wrtr
4/5: Adywan
6-9: Hal9000

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nismo4life said:

ray_afraid said:

The best way to cut the PT is to cut it out altogether.

hahaha. While I agree with you, I wish I could see Topher Grace’s sub 2 hour cut of the entire PT. I read an article that a slashfilm writer wrote about his viewing of it and he said it was fantastic.

Fuck me, Topher Grace again… (no offence nismo, just sick of hearing about that edit). Hope you find some edits you like at FE.

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This collection of files is not updated anymore (it’s been a few years so it doesn’t include recent edits) but for a long time I did exhaustive tracking of every single change made to every edit I was able to get my hands on. If you go to fanedit.info and search “frink” you can find it in “The Prequel Cut List.”

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TV’s Frink said:

Your what? I don’t remember you doing SW edits.

I didn’t. Well, I did, but they’re not completely finished. Anyway, I personally think that the “go to definitive cut” is only the one you make for yourself.

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My favorite prequel edits are Q2’s Fall of the Jedi Trilogy. Hands down. No contest.

Fall of the Jedi Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HesmWVhuTg4

My prefered “Extended Edition” cuts of the prequels are Hal9000’s edits.
It works because Padme’s fate is the same in both (meaning she lives long enough for Leia to remember her in Return of the Jedi).

I like Q2’s because he does a great job making revelations in the Original Trilogy fairly spoiler-free when watching in chronological order. This means, among other things, that the last we see of Anakin before the end of Episode III, he was burning to death on the side of a lava flow. Also, he removes most of the footage with the droids and any mention of them or dialogue they have, which helps the tone and flow of the movies a lot. Two things I do think Hal does, however, that’s superior to Q2 are the title crawls and renamed Episode subtitles (eg. “The Approaching Storm”), but those are minor issues for me.

I liken it to this: Q2’s Fall of the Jedi edits are the best, definitive edition, and sort of a “theatrical release”; while Hal’s add extra, albeit OT-spoilery footage in an “extended edition” sort of way. …to me it feels that way.

Basically, Q2’s fan edits won me back over with the Prequels when I hated them. They fix a lot of things wrong with the films and make them into good, solid, watchable experiences. Then, after it was long established that I now liked the prequels, I could then enjoy what could very well be considered as deleted scenes reinserted into Q2’s to make Hal’s extended editions. Hal didn’t outright do that nor intend it, but their storylines don’t contradict each other so it works for me to think of them that way.

That is to say, if you already like the theatrical versions, I suggest either Q2 or Hal9000 or both. If you don’t like the theatrical versions (except for Episode III kind of), I very very highly recommend Q2, because his may just change your mind.


I don’t like L8wrtr’s edits because he kept certain cameos by Greedo and Chewie in Ep’s 1 and 3, which make the galaxy smaller; Yoda escapes from the troopers’ Order 66 with no explanation how he does it (WTF moment, basically); and also because Padme dies. The edited scene where Padme lives is a must have for me at this point (and there are only 2 edits that have this scene: Hal’s, and Q2’s. It was inspired by The Cutter but I don’t think he has a full fan edit release). There are also other reasons I don’t like L8wrtr’s but those come readily to mind as I sit here thinking about it.

I don’t like Kerr’s Episode III because everything is sped up, as though from a PAL transfer. He is the best editor to create a “Sith Reveal” for Palpatine becoming Sidious, but that alone is not enough to ignore the fact that the framerate for the whole film was inexplicably sped up.

I don’t like like Stankpac’s Episode III either, because his latest attempt at a Sith Reveal for Palpatine (while inspired by Kerr) has a poorly done heartbeat and thunderclap added, and his fan editor title card has a mostly naked woman on it, which (as a dad and uncle to kiddos) is not family friendly.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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While I enjoyed Q2’s edit of TPM (especially the first 30 minutes), the major problem with it is that a no-name pilot destroys the control ship at the climax of the movie. L8wrtr’s edit has Anakin doing this, edited to make his actions seem deliberate and confident. It is a needed payoff.

I also didn’t like Q2’s removal of Qui-Gonn influencing the chance cube. His removal of galaxy-shrinking cameos and OT spoilers is great though. You really don’t miss the droids and the less Sidious shown in TPM the better. He also removes even more annoying moments from Jar-Jar, Anakin and Padme than L8wrtr does, and removes the battle droid voices entirely.

The best edit of TPM would be a combination of these two.

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doubleKO said:

While I enjoyed Q2’s edit of TPM (especially the first 30 minutes), the major problem with it is that a no-name pilot destroys the control ship at the climax of the movie. L8wrtr’s edit has Anakin doing this, edited to make his actions seem deliberate and confident. It is a needed payoff.

The best edit of TPM would be a combination of these two.

I agree. Put L8wrtr’s (or Hal’s? I haven’t compared the differences) space portion of the Battle of Naboo into Q2’s edit and that would solve my biggest irk with Q2’s Episode I. Albeit, for me, it’s still a minor issue when trying to find the best prequel trilogy.

The one thing I REALLY wish Q2 had that is in both L8 and Hal’s edits… is an editor’s commentary. I love their commentaries. I don’t like L8wrtr’s edits, but his commentaries are good. Hal’s maybe not as much because I think his Episode III commentary has too much complaining in it.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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Hal 9000 said:

Fun fact: I’d been drinking when I recorded Episode III’s commentary track, and have heard that same critique of it from a few people.

This just became be a future must-listen for me sometime, as there’s plenty of ROTS moments to drunkenly complain about as far as I’m concerned. 😉

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ImperialFighter said:

Hal 9000 said:

Fun fact: I’d been drinking when I recorded Episode III’s commentary track, and have heard that same critique of it from a few people.

This just became be a future must-listen for me sometime, as there’s plenty of ROTS moments to drunkenly complain about as far as I’m concerned. 😉

I consider Hal’s drunken state a luxury during his ep.3 commentary. He completely dissects the storytelling flaws of the theatrical cut which make you appreciate the changes even more.

Return of the Jedi: Remastered

Lord of the Rings: The Darth Rush Definitives

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Bumping this because I’ve been away for a while but I finally got some time to dig back into this. So Hal and Q2’s intrigue me. Any idea where I could find them? And do they have menu systems setup like I’ve read Harmy’s OT have available? Would very much like to get these on blu rays to watch on the bigger tv.

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For me it was the anti cheese fan edits of Ep 1 and 2 that did it for me and Kerr’s Ep3 (from memory it’s called “Dark Force Rising”) is BY FAR the best edit for that episode but also any fan edit to date that I’ve seen.

What Kerr accomplished with Ep 3 was jaw dropping and literally had my jaw dropped during the Sidious fight scene and the battle between Obi-wan and Anakin.

I really wish Kerr would do a Ep 1 and 2 edit as I feel they really nailed how I felt the PT should have been made.

I checked out the Hal9000, L8 and Q2 edits and no offence to the editors, but none could hit the spot I was after for the edits. One would make certain changes the others missed or didn’t make but also leave things in I wish were gone or to be done differently and vice versa for the other editor.

In the end for me the anti cheese made the first two enjoyable / tolerable enough and nothing else came close to Kerr’s edit of 3.

Regarding the OT, Harmys de-specialised editions are simply a MUST but another great version to check out is Ady’s version of A New Hope: Revisited (ANH:R). It’s basically his vision for what the OT special editions should have been and after having watched ANH:R the other night, can attest to its excellence. Just what the extent the man has gone to in making the changes is an interesting and awe inspiring experience in itself. He’s just about finished the revisited version of The Empire Strikes back and will be starting straight away on Return Of The Jedi and also his own fan edits of the PT at the same time.

https://swrevisited.wordpress.com

All the best anyway in finding your definitive PT edits, there’s such a wide range out there that (to an extent) you basically can cater to your own personal tastes 😉

  • Valheru