Sonofabindi- thanks for the sense checks.
G&G-Fan-
The when has a couple of answers. I’ve got a strong feeling that merely presenting the series in a different way will add value, in which case a recommended ordering won’t take long at all - we’re maybe a week away from that. Then there will be a preparation period as I work on the standards for episode intros/outros in collaboration with the community, and work on some edits without time pressure as I get a feel for SW standards like wipes and music transitions, organise resources, and set up some templates which’ll help as I edit.
But once I get started properly on the edits, we’ll get 90% of the way there relatively quickly I think, but 100% will take much longer - and it will be very much a living project.
First I’ll produce the technical edits required to refocus the project. This will be the high priority edits which comprise the ‘Quality Cut’ of the show - the best and most important episodes, in new chronological order. I will do a few at my own pace first, and release them to the community for feedback before diving in to the live release schedule. But then, since many episodes will simply be merged and bookended without major editing required, I feel comfortable committing to a weekly schedule, since the many easier ones I’ll be able to get out of the way quickly while I focus on the more technical ones.
(Clone Wars is, luckily, a relatively easy show to edit, because it doesn’t have music in its center channel, so you’re able to separate speech/fx from music very easily, which is very rare.)
As I run through the Quality Cut, I’ll be rolling in your feedback on episodes as I go, so there may be later re-releases with a bit of polish (but I’d like to emphasise that we’ll be focusing on such good episodes that it’ll be a moment here, a bad joke there, a continuity polish there - nothing awful for a first time viewer.)
After the Quality Cut is v1 complete, there are two branches I can take. The first is moving on to the Continuity Cut episodes, then the Complete Cut episodes. The second is deeper detail polish on the Quality cut to refine it even further, perhaps incorporating more radical ideas. These elements are that final 10%. I don’t intend to release the Continuity Cut or Complete Cut episodes on the weekly schedule - at that point, the project becomes ‘as and when’.
After completing every damn thing to v1 (excluding the shit episodes), I’ll still consider this a living project. That’s less me doing people a favour and more me being endlessly passionate about this show. I’ll continue to analyse each approach, and look for opportunities to tweak and improve.
In terms of where they’ll be available, I’ll maintain a master Gdoc with links to Gdrive files, at least through the Quality Cut and probably through the Complete cut v1. Once there’s some level of stability I’ll consider a torrent. But it’s such a bitty thing that probably the only way to manage it is by granular hosting.
❤️ ❤️ ❤️
I’d really like to use the weekly release schedule as an opportunity to have multiple people focus on the same story at the same time - much like we do in the movie threads where single elements get a huge amount of community focus until the best ideas rise to the top.
I know all of us here are excited to consume the Clone Wars in a really enjoyable way. I’m excited to produce it for all of you. But please also consider - there are so many Star Wars fans out there who’d love to consume it in the best way too, not just now, but in the future. And if we collaborate on this, and give each episode the attention and care it deserves, we can produce something even more considered and refined. So I would ask all of you that are interested to please treat this as an act of creation, not just consumption. The project will be better for your input. Join me in a weekly review of one episode in deep focus at a time. Criticise the episodes, criticise my edits, let us build this together and give a gift to everyone who wants to enjoy this brilliant show.