OP has now been updated to reflect the new changes, and I will update the IFDB listing when I can, hopefully tonight. The Google Drive is now current for COD, and you can see the folders’ modified dates. Next will be Myspleen, and then clearing room to be able to crack into TAS.
Hello Hal, and congratulations on completing COD V6! Are you planning on updating the alternative torrent place for acquiring this edit? It’s usually my go-to. If not, I can totally go to Google Drive, but I believe there are more people that use this alternative torrent place, so may be worth a look? Many thanks anyway.
I didn’t want to emphasize it here, but yes, once I get them into myspleen, I’ll put them there, too.
Oh, damn. Would you prefer if I edited my post? Any road, thank you very much for the edit and for the quick reply. 😄
No, no problem there at all! 😃
Myspleen is rejecting my uploads with a cryptic error message. I’ve seen it before but all I have left is to just try again later. COD V6 is available in the other usual places, though.
Just got finished watching V6. Congrats on the best version of COD yet! Even though my edits have taken the opposite tact, I really appreciate how your edits slow down and let the movies breathe somewhat, and I think it helps them feel less like fanedits. The new 3PO lines work beautifully and I think your version of the “fixing up the podracer” scene fits in much better than the “before the race” scene in previous versions of the edit.
Although I think the majority of V6 changes are improvements, there’s one change that doesn’t sit right with me, and that’s JarJar slurping apples at the dinner table. I’m okay with the fact that your edit isn’t as aggressive on JarJar as some others, and I feel like you’ve mostly done a great job toning him down when his antics detract from the pacing or dramatic impact. However, this scene stood out as particularly problematic to me because they’re literally having conversation about slavery(!) when JarJar starts poaching apples. For me, it was a distraction and totally undermined the dramatic heft of what was going on. There were also some “wacky races” antics in the podrace that I could have taken or left, but I don’t think they were as egregious.
Overall though, I think this is the version of The Phantom Menace I will use when viewing the saga in preparation for Rise of Skywalker. Highly recommended!
Thanks for saying that, and I feel relieved to have a second set of eyes across the entire film to spot any glitches. (And there were a few before I encoded everything a second time! There’s always something.)
I’m okay with the apples critique, and it’s fair. Honestly, that was me throwing a bone to my 9 year old self who liked it. And, I suppose, a bone to my two very young boys when they’re old enough.
Honestly, it’s not a bad bit. Qui-Gon catching the tongue with his Jedi reflexes would be genuinely a fun moment, if not for the fact that it clashes with the scene surrounding it.
Just got finished watching V6.
Holy crap, I wish! It’s going to take me well over a day just to finish downloading the 1080p version…
V6 - absolutely outstanding. I felt like I was watching the same movie… But enjoying it 😱
Based on your stated goals, here are my thoughts/criticisms to perfect my now go to version. 😉
Add some of the battle droids weird dying noises to all battles where they appear. They are too silent in the initial Jedi fight.
Cut “Again, you come before us, your highness”. It contradicts that contacting them is a sign of getting results.
Maybe after the queen says “The Federation wouldn’t dare go that far.” Put in the last part of Panaka’s line “They’d be finished.” Here you’ve cut excessive legalese, but I think that tiny part will add to the scene.
Put a small shot of jar jar antics back in Anakin/Padme meeting. Against general film practice not to, and was literally the only point it felt like an edit.
When Maul sends out his probes, cut the first shot earlier before they appear 3D near the screen. Doesn’t feel OT in the way you’ve made everything else feel OT.
Remove the the line about “I didn’t actually come here to free slaves”. We’ve already established this at dinner, and it’s kind of harsh for his character. Plus, he’s clearly taken an interest so saying that is irrelevant. Her final reaction shot works just as well after “I don’t know…”
Cut the shot of Qui-Gonn saying good luck right after he says “May the force be with you.”, before he caresses Anakin’s head.
Crop the part of the shot of Anakin putting his helmet on so it looks like a new shot.
Change Jabba’s subtitles from “Welcome.” To “Welcome to Boonta Eve”. It far better matches what he says, using Return of the Jedi to judge the length of a sentence in Huttese vs English.
I always interpreted Anakin saying “(on) Boonta Eve” to be referring to racing ON that specific track, and prefer that to it being a holiday.
Maybe show the shot of the bullets hitting Anakin’s pod as if on the tablet the group is watching. Then reinsert the announcers saying the line about the tusken raiders. The spectators wouldn’t have a view of them on the ridge.
Replace the cries of agony from the Droid sucked through the pod turbine with droid dying sounds for consistency.
Swap Padme saying “Look, Here he comes.” She was super stressed earlier, her delivery is too positive. Use the Shot of Jar Jar from later saying “Here he comes” and being excited.
Padme was far more likely to be positive with Anakin close on Sebulbas tail after catching up, which seemed impossible.
I’d take out 3PO vision as Anakin says goodbye. Move the lines he says to the shot of 3POs face. Remove “I’m going to miss working on you.” to make it fit.
After Qui-Gonn cuts the probe droid, cut straight to the shot of Darth Maul walking to his ship. It seems he’d have a way to monitor them without them reporting (or just have felt with the force), and is coming because he saw/felt Qui-Gonn cut it down.
Anakins “Hi” is awkward meeting Obi-Wan. I’d stick to “You’re a Jedi too, nice to meet you.”
I’d leave in an oops for when Anakin launches the ship. Showing a little guilt at disobeying.
After Obi-Wan goes at Maul with QG down, show the first few strikes then jump straight to the closeup shot. The beginning looks far too choreographed.
Great job, getting better every release!
Preferred Saga:
1/2: Hal9000
3: L8wrtr
4/5: Adywan
6-9: Hal9000
Replace the cries of agony from the Droid sucked through the pod turbine with droid dying sounds for consistency.
😦
Just kidding. Wow, thanks for the kind words. I’m glad this one finally seems to feel like a viable thing to have projected to our hypothetical unsuspecting time travel audience. You’re list simultaneously feels like potential improvements without feeling like I should regret anything. Sounds perfect for you going forward and making changes of your own.
It’s funny to see that people aren’t as harsh nowadays with the PT as they used to be. Even myself.
A few years ago, when the bluray set was released, I tried to rewatch them. At the sole exception of ROTS that I still like as it is, I wasn’t able to go through TPM and AOTC. But I found out that Hal9000’s fanedits “salvaged” the best out of them, removing all of the bad, enhancing the good. And at each iteration, Hal has been putting back things he had previously cut: a simple sentence here, a shot there, etc., and in the end, after watching version 6 of his edit, it seems COD has now become a very conservative take on TPM: only 20/25 minutes removed, mostly the worse Jar Jar jokes, the gungan subwater village (and the entire journey through the planet core), all Anakin’s “yeppeee !” and other little things of the same nature (I’m still glad that COD Anakin destroys the Trade federation ship on purpose, and not just by luck like TPM Anakin : you can’t always explain everything by “it’s the will of the Force”, George 😕).
Well, I like COD v6 a lot. I know exactly what was put back and I’m ok with it. I’m even beginning to think it would be possible to watch the theatrical version without as much difficulties as before. Even the Jar Jar tongue joke works now, it somehow makes sense (talking about Jedi reflexes, and actually showing this kind of reflexes in the context of a dinner scene with alien species : I mean, yeah, it works !, I totally get what Lucas was trying to do, even if it’s not as good as what we were expecting).
So, again, excellent work Hal and thanks for keeping a high quality standard for your releases.
For those wondering, I’m not sure i’ll make an alternate track for COD: all the changes I made have either been taken into account by Hal (even improved: Jar Jar voice over delayed by 1 second indeed works better !) or are no longer related to the edit (no more added music during the race). Only change I would make is removing Shmi’s “I raised him” line. Not sure it’s worth the effort !
I have nevertheless kept the podrace montage from v5 in a separate file 'cause I love the effort put to use McNeely’s excellent score (I kinda miss the low res extra shots you used to achieve the music sync by the way 😃), and I’ve also kept the “dawn before the race” scene (it’s a cute little scene).
Unless there is a v6.1/v7 (Hal, never say never again 😄); it’s my go version. I would be interested only by an extended cut of the same v6 that would add a trimmed Gungan village version (with no journey through the planet core though), à la L8 edit. And maybe along with the “dawn before the race” scene.
I’m looking forward to TAS v6 now !
(also for LOE v6 of course, but for ROTS I’m really hopping Octorox does make his conservative edit one day 😉).
I had a free night last night, so I went on my Exercise Bike and watched COD v.6.
One word to sum it up: WOW.
It is a big improvement on V5. COD for me has been a big improvement on TPM, there is no doubt on that. In comparison to Hal’s trilogy, it was the weaker of them since it seems things were trimmed a bit too much. But with V6, it helps return some scenes and moments but still giving them the “proper” trim.
Also, reinventing the Pod Race scene back to its former glory. (With the added Subulba Vent Scene was nice.)
You added back some of the humor with Jar Jar but made sure it didn’t go too far. Nicely done.
Also what stuck out too was adding a few of Anakin’s lines in the space battle was a nice addition too.
Hal, amazing work and I look forward to your updates on the other movies as well.
“Because you are a PalpaWalker?”
Thank you too for that feedback. I really do appreciate it. It’s very difficult with my life right now to actually sit down and do any “creative“ work on these projects, so the encouragement goes along way.
Mala is right that I seem to continue to reinstate more and more as I continue to process these movies. You should take a look at my old edits from about 2007. I even left a midichlorians!
So, I’ve been given Hal’s blessing to create a hybrid version of V5 and V6 for those who feel some of the changes in V6 are not to their taste. To determine what people want to see, I’ve created a survey. I already have a preliminary hybrid edit up on MySpleen, but based on the survey results I may create an updated version.
Here’s the survey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3H5LC2L
Here’s what I’d like to see for a hybrid v5/v6 version of COD:
-Remove Anakin making excuses about why he crashed Watto’s pod
-Revert the podrace to the way it was in v5, with added music and no Wacky Races antics
-Remove added “sacred place” voiceover
And for TAS:
-Remove Jar Jar greeting Obi-Wan and Anakin
-Remove Jar Jar fumbling his words as he accepts his new duties
-Remove Anakin making Padme uncomfortable
My preferred Skywalker Saga experience:
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX
Is there a 1080p version of COD available? I looked around but didn’t see one, but maybe I just missed it…
More specifically, all I could find in 1080p was the commentary video.
They all have the commentary as a secondary audio stream, but I can’t help which one Google decides to default to in-browser. Download the file you want and you can select whichever audio you want.
Yeah, I shared some files of something else with my brother and they defaulted to the 2.0 track when playing within Google Drive, which I’m sure is what’s happening in this case. And Drive doesn’t allow you to switch audio tracks in browser.
I just added a text file at the top level of the SW folder to clarify this question.
Ah, I see, makes sense, downloaded and everything worked fine 😃
Hey, Hal! How come the information on your edits of Episodes I and II are no longer present on fanedit.org?
The name’s Lawson. Noah Lawson.
Because once I edited the listing to reflect V6, they have said ‘pending moderation’ since. I alerted [someone in an admin role] about a week ago.