Star Wars Episode II: The Approaching Storm (Released) — Page 35

Hey Hal, another suggestion to add to along with JarJar’s since you are hopefully making some small tweaks/fixes on the wider-canon Episode II cut, I mocked up a shortened version of the infamous garage scene that I think would be nice to add in. Basically, it removes the cringey whining lines and red flags about slaughtering a village, but it still keeps Anakin confiding in Padme that he isn’t strong enough as a Jedi and her comforting him afterwards.

It was pretty quick to mock up and I just recycled some music from before with Anakin and Padme. If anything, it maybe needs a little bit of foley added for the garage.

Garage Scene - Minus the Red Flags

True, I just thought a more slimmed down version could help the relationship a little more in the movie. It is pretty redundant though.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

If nothing else, I’ll agree that the scene does help in furthering their relationship together since Padme otherwise gives Anakin no sign of empathy or comfort on-screen. It does help us buy into the two of them falling in love.

I think I already posted this elsewhere, but in case you missed it, this would be my two cents on the garage scene: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ml90rgWBTyGyIv0d2pM0xU-foauZ_Esp/view?usp=drivesdk

To my mind that version gives you the best of all worlds - Anakin’s anger/regret without the red flags + Padme’s sincere care for Anakin.

That’s where mine is different. Anakin is more questioning of himself not being able to fix things. He only carries his anger inward, not towards Obi-Wan or the sand people. It is more nuanced, which Padme then picks up on and consoles him about it.

The nice bookend is then Anakin promising to his mother that he wasn’t strong enough and he won’t fail again.

It’s funny how including only that first snippet and the aftermath, plus the words to his mother, help reframe that Anakin thinks he is a failure as a Jedi and he blames himself for being weak, not everyone else for holding him back.

Then with Hal’s Episode III edit, Anakin’s fall comes about more from a distrust of the Jedi holding things back from him. Here Anakin is thinking the Jedi are teaching him all these things and then it turns out, or at least he is led to believe, that the Jedi fear him and are holding him back which causes him to go off the rails.

I don’t want to sidetrack Hal’s thread though if he doesn’t plan on adding any of the garage scene back. I did go through the edit again and this would be the logical ordering for it:

Carrying Shimi -> Garage -> Obi’s Message -> Funeral / Viewing Message

Jar Jar Bricks said:

I’d have to prefer GAT’s version, if it were spruced up, personally.

Yeah, I threw it together in like 10 minutes. The audio needs to mesh a little better and maybe cut off a few more frames before it cuts to Anakin sitting down. Maybe a little foley for the garage and some crying sounds for poor Ani and it would be golden.

Up to Hal though! I think it would be nice to include like you said though because it is really the only time Padme gives any feels back to Anakin before the arena scene.

Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

That’s where mine is different. Anakin is more questioning of himself not being able to fix things. He only carries his anger inward, not towards Obi-Wan or the sand people. It is more nuanced, which Padme then picks up on and consoles him about it.

The nice bookend is then Anakin promising to his mother that he wasn’t strong enough and he won’t fail again.

It’s funny how including only that first snippet and the aftermath, plus the words to his mother, help reframe that Anakin thinks he is a failure as a Jedi and he blames himself for being weak, not everyone else for holding him back.

Then with Hal’s Episode III edit, Anakin’s fall comes about more from a distrust of the Jedi holding things back from him. Here Anakin is thinking the Jedi are teaching him all these things and then it turns out, or at least he is led to believe, that the Jedi fear him and are holding him back which causes him to go off the rails.

I don’t want to sidetrack Hal’s thread though if he doesn’t plan on adding any of the garage scene back. I did go through the edit again and this would be the logical ordering for it:

Carrying Shimi -> Garage -> Obi’s Message -> Funeral / Viewing Message

Haha! Yeah, I don’t wanna sidetrack this either, so after this I’m running back to my own thread.

I do think adding back in the garage scene in some form is a good idea, and the scene flow you laid out at the end, works well (It’s the exact flow I used in mine).

Your logic for the characters makes complete sense to me, and I think your general approach is a great way to frame Anakin’s arc in the Prequels. My cut uses a completely different logic (which is why my version is so different). I completely removed the idea that the Jedi/Obi-Wan were holding Anakin back, and instead reworked it so that Anakin’s mistrust is politically motivated (The Jedi are plotting against Palps, his adopted father). With that in mind, when Anakin says he’s not the Jedi he should be, it’s because he knows what he did was wrong, but has no one to confess to. I really like that idea, but your logic works great too.

To Jar Jar’s point my cut is jarring, but I think the Imp March actually makes the jolt feel intentional (like certain cuts in Empire). But again, it’s all down to how you like your edits cooked.

That’s been my biggest issue with the prequels is Anakin having issues with the Jedi from the beginning and being aware he’s the “Chosen One”.

I think it makes for a better story that he’s not aware of this and why the Jedi are making sure that they help him. They are not “holding him back” like Palpatine suggests, he is supposed to be the “best of them” and they are carefully making sure that is the case.

The first time Anakin should ever know about the prophecy is when Obi-Wan is yelling it to him while he burns to a crisp.

Interesting ideas, all of them. However, I really need to be finished with the prequel trilogy. I heartily encourage anyone to do anything they like with my projects.

JJB, those reinstatings that you highlight were each deliberate, as of some time ago. I don’t have ready access to the decision-making process behind them, but that’s how the dust settled for those things. I’m pleased though that the only bad feedback was about not including something extra that was not part of the original movie. (For the droid factory, I’m content with it; I don’t wish to remain open forever on new ways to slice and dice various sequences and would prefer for this to crystalize as a final product.)

AOTC fan edits are dead. Long live AOTC fan edits.

All good Hal! Appreciate your efforts as always!

Looking forward to ROTS, and hopefully @TGWNN to finish his TPM fixes for you to include in the wider-canon cut.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Oh, I don’t think you understood what I meant about the droid factory sequence. I’m not suggesting that you follow Joy’s editing sequence at all, but that you cut away from Anakin’s lightsaber getting caught on his cloak for 2 seconds. It’s a really small trim, shouldn’t take much effort at all.

Not gonna lie, that cut is a lot harder than it looks, lol!

Hal 9000 said:

Interesting ideas, all of them. However, I really need to be finished with the prequel trilogy. I heartily encourage anyone to do anything they like with my projects.

JJB, those reinstatings that you highlight were each deliberate, as of some time ago. I don’t have ready access to the decision-making process behind them, but that’s how the dust settled for those things. I’m pleased though that the only bad feedback was about not including something extra that was not part of the original movie. (For the droid factory, I’m content with it; I don’t wish to remain open forever on new ways to slice and dice various sequences and would prefer for this to crystalize as a final product.)

AOTC fan edits are dead. Long live AOTC fan edits.

AMEN Brother! I’m 99% of the way to never thinking about AotC ever again. Keep that door shut to lock in all the flavor. 😉

lol

And I’m cool with a little bit of humanity in the form of lightsaber getting caught on a robe. Things like that are fun and okay to me if they don’t affect the story.

Maybe its not my place to say this but I feel like maybe y’all should hop off Hal. He’s voiced that he wants to be done with the Prequels. The fact that he’s made all these alternate versions of his edits is a courtesy. He doesn’t really owe anything, it’s his own passion project made mostly for his enjoyment. While I’m the last one to criticize someone for making suggestions to other editors (especially because the editor might want and like feedback), with how much Hal has voiced wanting to move on, at this point, make your own (like I will eventually, even if it takes eons lol).

G&G-Fan said:

Maybe its not my place to say this but I feel like maybe y’all should hop off Hal. He’s voiced that he wants to be done with the Prequels. The fact that he’s made all these alternate versions of his edits is a courtesy. He doesn’t really owe anything, it’s his own passion project made mostly for his enjoyment. While I’m the last one to criticize someone for making suggestions to other editors (especially because the editor might want and like feedback), with how much Hal has voiced wanting to move on, at this point, make your own (like I will eventually, even if it takes eons lol).

Fully understandable!

I believe he is reissuing Episode II to fix a technical glitch so I figured I ask before he locks it in. He has the “wider-canon” cuts of TPM and ROTS coming still, which will be my preferred versions when released (I like the OG titles).

I’ve been around since V2 or V3 of his prequel edits. It’s come a long way for sure… but after a while, I’m sure it feels like people nagging to change a Krayt Dragon yell for each version because of reasons I guess. We all owe Hal a great debt for these, especially since it is all a labor of love with no rewards except the glory. Gotta put it to bed at some point!

I do think I mistook your meaning a smidge about the droid factory thing. But I very much understood the recent ideas as ideas while the door seemed open.

But yes, I’m done with AOTC at this point. The only thing I’d be willing to do is remaster it with dramatically improved video sources, not affecting audio, subtitles, or anything else. And that’d have to seem worthwhile.

O00ll00O said:

I enjoyed the new maximalist AOTC. The upscaled footage looks much better than before, and putting the younglings scene in didn’t bother me. I did see 2 small errors during my watch.

The black bars in the kiss scene are light black and when it transitions to Kamino they turn back to dark black. You can also see the transition swipe in the black bars. It’s a lot more noticeable watching it compared to the picture below.

In this scene there’s a thin white stripe that appears for a few seconds.

Has this been reissued yet?

Yes. Sorry, I must’ve forgotten to post about it here. Only the large 1080 P version had to be fixed, because the others are cropped anyway.