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A Machete Order Prequel edit - (parts of) all 3 movies down to 1 (Released)

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 (Edited)

I want to thank orchidal for encouraging me to share info about my 3 to 1 Prequel Edit, sourced from the 1080p blu-rays. This was my first fan edit, done a couple years ago and rendered in high quality. I’ve had good feedback toward it with friends and excited now to share it here.

Big Picture

The Episode I Duel of The Fates lightsaber battle is used as the assassination attempt on Senator Amidala that leads into Episode II. From there, it’s a very condensed Ep II with no Tatooine, no missing planets and significantly shortened action set pieces. Episode III is shortened to the essentials but only slightly altered (no death by broken heart, no flying R2, etc)

Total Run Time of 2 hours 29 minutes
Ep 1 @ 0:05:30 or 3.7%
Ep 2 @ 0:46:30 or 31%
Ep 3 @ 1:29:00 or 60%
Custom crawl + credits @ 0:08:00 or 5.3%

Goals

I meant for this version to be seen with Machete Order viewing. One movie that can be watched between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. If you want more info about this viewing order go here - https://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/

So my first goal was there couldn’t be Ep VI spoilers (success - though I left enough for people to infer some future revelations)

A big thing for me was that this needed to be a replacement for watching the movies with a new viewer. So the plot had to make sense without having seen the full movies. I was mostly successful. I didn’t want to drastically change the story, just condense it. You have to accept a few leaps of logic and Obi Wan changing his hair style in the first 10 minutes of the movie (the end of Ep 1 is the intro - sorry, no pod racing or yippees).

The next goal I set was it had to have a shorter runtime than the longest SW movie. Last Jedi made my life much easier as it clocked in at 2 hours 32 minutes with credits. I got mine to 2:29 - success! Pacing isn’t perfect but I pared down a lot of the actions scenes to keep it from just being set piece after set piece. Particularly in Episode II.

Another goal was to remove Jar Jar. Though that’s not quite possible (he’s in some crucial scenes), I was already going to take out all his dialogue (removing 90% of Episode I helped) and ended up being easier than I thought. Success! Similarly, I wanted to see if I could make the Trade Ministers not speak. Along with Jar Jar, they’re the other most annoying and mildly racist portrayal in the series. I got them down to only four lines.

Here was the big goal - make Annakin less annoying. What I found was, the more of his dialogue you cut out, the more tolerable he gets. There are some scenes I just cut in half. Like, he’s kind of okay for the first half of the scene and then devolves into child-like whining for the second half. Get rid of that and he’s okay! Also, lost any mention of his intolerance to sand. In fact, I got rid of Tatooine completely.

Final note - so many transitions! There were so many scenes that went through 5 wide shots to go from one location to another. I hadn’t seen the movies in a while so I had completely forgot. That really shaved down a surprising amount of minutes to just cut those transitions down to two shots each.

The biggest issue is some of the music transitions.

Hope everyone enjoys - would love to hear your thoughts!

Edits:
First Order, Last Jedi - A Star Wars Story (the first Sequel Trilogy 3-to-1)
Star Wars Episodes I-III: A Machete Order Edit
Lord of the Rings: The Less Extended Editions
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 0 (a Discovery S2 edit)
Watchmen (2019): The Bass Reeves Cut
Blade Runner 2049: The Joi-less Cut
The Watcher in the Woods: Best of Both Worlds
The Fall (2006) 4k Upscale

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Could you please send me a link? 😉

Italian faneditor.

EDITS LIST:
Episode IV - THE HEIR OF SKYWALKER. Episode VI - RETURN OF THE JEDI RENEWED. DYAD IN THE FORCE (3-into-1 sequels).
PM me for links if interested.

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I got you covered man! Since my Sequel 3-in-1 got some requests, I’ve pre-emptively made Plex / media server artwork for this one. If anyone needs that, I’ll have it available!

Edits:
First Order, Last Jedi - A Star Wars Story (the first Sequel Trilogy 3-to-1)
Star Wars Episodes I-III: A Machete Order Edit
Lord of the Rings: The Less Extended Editions
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 0 (a Discovery S2 edit)
Watchmen (2019): The Bass Reeves Cut
Blade Runner 2049: The Joi-less Cut
The Watcher in the Woods: Best of Both Worlds
The Fall (2006) 4k Upscale

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May I have a link as well?

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PMs sent!

Edits:
First Order, Last Jedi - A Star Wars Story (the first Sequel Trilogy 3-to-1)
Star Wars Episodes I-III: A Machete Order Edit
Lord of the Rings: The Less Extended Editions
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 0 (a Discovery S2 edit)
Watchmen (2019): The Bass Reeves Cut
Blade Runner 2049: The Joi-less Cut
The Watcher in the Woods: Best of Both Worlds
The Fall (2006) 4k Upscale

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Could I get a link?

Filmic Crossroads, Daniel L. Isidore

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Oh perfect. Would love a link too,.

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Hi

OK so this is new (to me). May I have a link?

Luke astro-projects himself to Salt Lake Planet, gets shot at by gorilla walkers, has a non-lightsaber duel with Darth Millennial, then dies of a broken heart, inspiring broom boys throughout the galaxy to get creative with their sweeping. [DuracellEnergizer]

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I’d love a link as well; many condensed Prequel Edits have disappointed in the past but this one seems interesting.

“Star Wars has, and will always be a restaurant.”

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Since I’ve had some renewed interest in this, I thought I would share a video about the creative process. What I chose to leave in, cut out. Glad people are enjoying my cut! https://youtu.be/xE1cIJ8nGPs

Edits:
First Order, Last Jedi - A Star Wars Story (the first Sequel Trilogy 3-to-1)
Star Wars Episodes I-III: A Machete Order Edit
Lord of the Rings: The Less Extended Editions
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 0 (a Discovery S2 edit)
Watchmen (2019): The Bass Reeves Cut
Blade Runner 2049: The Joi-less Cut
The Watcher in the Woods: Best of Both Worlds
The Fall (2006) 4k Upscale

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That was interesting. Could you PM me this?

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Intriguing. May i have a link please?

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Got to watch this recently and really enjoyed it. It could become my go-to for the Prequels except for one scene which really ruins the continuity for me.

TriggeredPuppy said:
… I got rid of Tatooine completely.

Not quite! 😉

When Obiwan contacts Anakin to rebroadcast his message to the Jedi Council, the sequence of shots introduces the following issues while maintaining that Anakin is on Naboo with Padme:

  1. Anakin and Padme are inside her starship. Why would they be in her ship if they’re still on Naboo?
  2. The stark landscape through the windows is clearly not Naboo.
  3. When they go rescue Obiwan, the ship flies out of a cliffside hangar, even though we just saw a vast empty landscape through the windows mere seconds earlier.

I understand why the problematic Tatooine shot was included, but if there’s ever another cut of this film made, I’d strongly suggest removing that shot from this scene, even if you have to just imply that Anakin and Padme see the transmission.

I think it could work to just omit shots of the couple and focus on Obiwan’s message, then cut to the shot of the Nubian Cruiser leaving the Naboo hangar. This would create some implications for the viewer to follow; firstly, that Anakin saw the transmission and secondly, that he rushed to his Master’s rescue. I don’t think these are too obscure or hard to follow for most viewers.

That scene aside, this was a great cut of the Prequels. Thanks for making it!

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Scotthomas said:

Got to watch this recently and really enjoyed it. It could become my go-to for the Prequels except for one scene which really ruins the continuity for me.

TriggeredPuppy said:
… I got rid of Tatooine completely.

Not quite! 😉

When Obiwan contacts Anakin to rebroadcast his message to the Jedi Council, the sequence of shots introduces the following issues while maintaining that Anakin is on Naboo with Padme:

  1. Anakin and Padme are inside her starship. Why would they be in her ship if they’re still on Naboo?
  2. The stark landscape through the windows is clearly not Naboo.
  3. When they go rescue Obiwan, the ship flies out of a cliffside hangar, even though we just saw a vast empty landscape through the windows mere seconds earlier.

I understand why the problematic Tatooine shot was included, but if there’s ever another cut of this film made, I’d strongly suggest removing that shot from this scene, even if you have to just imply that Anakin and Padme see the transmission.

I think it could work to just omit shots of the couple and focus on Obiwan’s message, then cut to the shot of the Nubian Cruiser leaving the Naboo hangar. This would create some implications for the viewer to follow; firstly, that Anakin saw the transmission and secondly, that he rushed to his Master’s rescue. I don’t think these are too obscure or hard to follow for most viewers.

That scene aside, this was a great cut of the Prequels. Thanks for making it!

Haha I mean, I can’t disagree with you on a purely literal level. But in the context of my cut, you’re never explicitly TAKEN to Tatooine. I’ve thought about rotoscoping a Naboo landscape outside the windows of the ship. While it doesn’t explain why they’re on the ship, such is the plight of a fan editor. Unfortunately, I’ve lost the edit files in the intervening years and Avid is not friendly to such issues.

Very much appreciate you watching the cut and replying! You gave me a laugh tonight because it’s one of the small issues I still think about.

Edits:
First Order, Last Jedi - A Star Wars Story (the first Sequel Trilogy 3-to-1)
Star Wars Episodes I-III: A Machete Order Edit
Lord of the Rings: The Less Extended Editions
Star Trek Strange New Worlds Season 0 (a Discovery S2 edit)
Watchmen (2019): The Bass Reeves Cut
Blade Runner 2049: The Joi-less Cut
The Watcher in the Woods: Best of Both Worlds
The Fall (2006) 4k Upscale

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Hey! May I have a link to this edit? Would love to give it a go!

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Hi TriggeredPuppy,
This sounds really interesting. Could I also have a link please?