EPISODE I: THE BALANCE OF THE FORCE
First reaction. Love the new opening crawl (the part about slave labor is genius) and the new title. Then comes the movie. I was hoping MF would make even more cuts to the opening scenest on the Fed ship to quicken the pacing of the film. Like when Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are talking and sitting at the table. Too slow for the opening of an action film I think. I liked the altered Neimodian dialogue. Though it takes a while to get used to. I'm not sure if "What the hell just happened" and "Where are those damned destroyers" would have fit into a kid oriented sci fi film. The Federation leaders are a lot smarter now, and more devious. I liked how MF darkned Sidious's face so you can't tell it's Palpatine. Very cool.
Liked the changes to the battle droids voices. That's the way they should have sounced in the first place. Jar Jar is the most interesting change. He's actually funny now and respectable as a character. There's still too much of him in the film and in the end, it seems as though the whole episode is "Jar Jar's story." But I guess it's hard to get around. Jar Jar's in the original film so much! The plot point about the Gungans hating humans is very clever. I think Boss Nass came across as more serious and made a greater impact as a character. Not silly and easily manipulated, like in TPM.
Love the sound effect added whenever Qui Gon uses the force to do a mind trick. Like the cuts to the underwater sequence and the addition of the fabulous waterfall deleted scene. Again, the Viceroy is very evil now. Killing people at will and with a sinister tone. Definitely a better villian than before. I thought the "running the blockade" space sequence was tightly re-edited. Made it more suspenseful. Most of the cuts in the film are really wise. The dialogue snippets eliminated here and there aren't missed at all.
Very creative interlude where Watto hums the Cantina song from Episode IV. Watto is a pleasant surprise in this edit. He is a harsher towards Anakin and funnier when dealing with Qui-Gon. Smart edits to all of the Anakin scenes. He is more silent and mysterious. And definitely is a more convincing young Darth Vader. Anakin's "very, very dangerous" line has been trimmed to "very dangerous". Another brilliant edit is the redone Sidious/Darth Maul scene on Coruscant. Great use of the Imperial March and the cut line "The Republic will soon be under my control."
The most ambitious editing work has been done on the pod race. This version is drastically changed. The sequence has been totally rearranged and for greater effect. Thankfully, the annoying two headed announcer is pretty much removed from the soundtrack. Which makes the climax of the race more dramatic. I was hoping MF would use more of the pre-pod race build up and extended 2nd lap from the deleted scenes, but the finished version here is quite impressive. The new music is a lot better. Not as in your face as John Williams original music.
The only additions I frowned upon was Jar Jar's use of bad language. "Go you little bastard" and "Oh shit" don't belong in a Star Wars film. Not to be a prude. They are funny within this context and work as satire. But there's no way they would have ended up in an actual Star Wars film for kids. Lucas would die before letting any real profanity, other than "hell" and "damn" in one of these movies. MF doesn't changed much to the last act of the film. Which isn't surprising. Since it's got the most action. All in all, a very cool edit.
EPISODE II: THE CLONE WAR
Again, this is a tougher film to change, because the script is a lot tighter than in Episode I. The new opening crawl here is more confusing than the one in AOTC. Over all, I was hoping MF would tighten the pace of the movie to more reflect the breakneck editing of Episode III. There's too many overylong arrivals and landings on planets for my taste. The stuff that was trimmed out of Ep III. You could easily cut 10 minutes out of AOTC just by eliminating all of the "Wow, look at ILM's scenery work" interludes.
I was hoping MF would eliminate some of the 100 "M'Lady" references to Padme throughout the film. I was hoping he'd include Padme's opening address to the Senate after the first assassination attempt, which contains some of Natalie's better acting in the film. As far as the cuts, I thought the first Zam/Jango meeting was cool. Sort of missed it. The cuts in the nightime chase are all smart. Wish you could have cut the entire "You know Master I couldn't find a speeder I like" exchange. And the godawful "This weapon is your life," Yes Master" scene outside the club. Missed Anakin saying "Who hired you? Tell us. Tell us now." I liked Hayden's delivery there.
Eliminating Jocasta Nu was smart. And replacing the Yoda/Obi-Wan/Mace scene with the Obi-Wan & Mace deleted scene was perfect. As far as the love scenes, I probably would have kept either the "first kiss" or picnic scene. Just to show the initial sparks between Padme and Anakin. I really like the scenes with Padme's family though. Wish there were more. It gives Padme's funeral procession in Episode III a lot more emotional impact. Should have cut the fruit eating scene. The fireplace scene is actually bearable now. Best edit of the whole film.
I like how you divided up the Obi-Wan asteroid chase and arrival on Geonosis. I thought it would have been cool though to show Obi-Wan's ship on the back of the asteroid and then cut to the next scene on Tatooine. Then come back and have Obi-Wan say "R4, we've waited long enough." I liked the changes to Dooku's character. Thought it would have been cool to re-insert some of the deleted scenes with Dooku & Padme. The last 40 minutes of "Clones" is pretty tightly edited in the theatrical film. So it's tough to subtract or change anything.
IMO, "Attack" is just as bad or worse than "The Phantom Menace." Ep II looks too much like a video game. At least "TPM" has some excitement and unpredictablility to it.
Magnolia Fan, are you going to do an edit of Episode III when it comes out in November on DVD? Some suggestions on things to cut: Jar Jar's "excuse me" line. That Obi-Wan/Anakin scene on the "outer rim sieges." 3PO showing up out of the blue during the Padme/Anakin silent exchange sequence. Bail Organa and Lucas's kid confronting the clones at the temple. Things to reinsert; The first meeting between Padme & Obi-Wan in her apartment. And the generator room sequence (if they are included on the DVD as deleted scenes).