logo Sign In

Info Wanted: anyone doing an AOTC - IMAX Edit (?)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Anyone out there consider doing this? Of all of the Official Prequel Edits, this one was the best, in my opinion.

I believe the film benefited from the limitations of the medium and the original film length.

Sourcing the footage may be difficult considering the changes that were made the the theatrical cut upon release on DVD, ie: the various digital touch up (Jango’s jet pack sparks) and Padme’s dialog changes.

I guess what my question is, is there anyone out there who is doing this, thinking of doing this, or knows where someone could source a high-quality version of the original theatrical cut to edit together with the official DVD and achieve the IMAX cut?

Author
Time
I've heard that the ROTS IMAX cut is great too.

FE<3OT

Author
Time
Trickbaxter, I've never heard of a ROTS IMAX version. Maybe I'm dumb, but I can't tell if you were kidding.

Anyway, if someone could find me a *complete*, and *detailed* list of every change to the IMAX version of AOTC, I might give it a shot and see if I can do it. Might be hard without any scene wipes.

My stance on revising fan edits.

Author
Time
I would love to see an AOTC imax cut. I really enjoyed this film and feel that it was a much tighter and cosequently better film on the Imax screen.

BTW- ROTS was never shown in IMAX

Dan
Author
Time
It's true; there is a separate cut of AOTC for IMAX. It had to be edited down due to the limitation of how much film fits on an IMAX reel. It was also not in full widescreen since IMAX has a different aspect ratio. I was lucky enough to catch this at an IMAX near Houston, and it was interesting. Duplicating it would be difficult... it would be nice if someone had camcordered it at some point for reference.

--SKot

Projects:
Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

Author
Time
I have a friend who told me that he saw ROTS IMAX, and that it had cut out the perfect amount of film. I'll double check with him, but I'm 99% positive he said it was ROTS.

FE<3OT

Author
Time
It's possible that ROTS was shown at an IMAX theatre, just not likely it was shown in the full 70mm IMAX DMR format.

I'm not too sure of the technical jargon, but I've seen a half a dozen films projected at IMAX theatres that were not specifically prepared for the format. For example, I saw the original Star Wars & Empire, Raiders, and a couple of others at an IMAX theatre, but they were not necessarily taking advantage of the format - basically the theatre was projecting 35mm prints onto the giant screen.

This is unlike AOTC which was specifically edited and formatted for the IMAX experience (for better or for worse). The cut was tight - real tight. It removed a lot of the things which people found annoying.

Like I said, replicating it would be difficult. I would not even care if it wasn't the correct aspect ratio, as long as the cut and dialog were consistent with the IMAX version.

There just has to be a boot of this somewhere - c'mon, this is Star Wars we're talking about. I can't believe someone out there doesn't have a copy.

There are a few sites which document the alterations, but I couldn't dig up the technical nitty gritty stuff - ie: where the cuts occur exactly at which frame and so on...

I would imagine to do an accurate job you would need three things.

    Official DVD
      Reference copy of IMAX edit
        Original theatrical cut with correct dialog and no digital FX alterations.

        I doubt this will ever happen, but it would be nice...
        Author
        Time
        The "definitive list of IMAX changes" is very vague, so it'd be hard to know if my cuts and trims were even in the right place at all.

        Even the first thing listed is that the office scene with Yoda, Amidala, and Palpatine is deleted. Does that mean from the start, of just the second half where the Loyalist party walks in?

        Even so, the aspect ratio would be left alone, and there couldn't be any scene wipes. Everything I do has to be on the cut. If someone with more information and abilities could do it, I'd love a copy.

        My stance on revising fan edits.

        Author
        Time
        ROTS was shown at some IMAX cinemas, but as TheCassidy suggested, it was just the regular film with no conversion. It is actually addressed on the IMAX site.

        So trickbaxter, if your friend did indeed mention that it was ROTS that he saw, then his preferred amount of cuts is none at all.

        http://www.kineticpast.com/starwars/thecheatlaserdisc.gif
        Ooh, a laserdisc. The Cheat's playin' something on a laserdisc.
        Everything is better on a laserdisc. Whatever happened to the laserdisc? Laserdisc!

        Author
        Time
        One site that documents the changes to the IMAX version can be found here. If anyone can find any others, please post up.

        Another thing to consider about the IMAX version is that there may have been some pan-and-scan shots in the film as well. Jim Ward says in this article here that they used the pan-and-scan DVD for reference when creating the IMAX edit.

        It's funny how in hindsight now we see how important it would have been to make a recording of this version. If it was playing at IMAX *right now*, I'm sure some of us would be making special trips to see it just to get a camcorder copy for reference.

        --SKot

        Projects:
        Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
        Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
        The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
        Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
        Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
        Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

        Author
        Time
        That's the thing SKot - everyone knew how critical it would have been to have the theatrical cut of AOTC after the EPI DVD thing...so, it's gotta be out there somewhere, including the IMAX cut.

        Very interesting that the Pan & Scan transfer was used as reference - perhaps this would be a useful start? I'm pretty sure that they digitally moved things around...curse Lucas and his infernal tinkering.

        The more I think about this, the more I want the IMAX version!

        Hmm....

        http://www.in70mm.com/news/2002/clones_in/images/screen.jpg
        Author
        Time
        I think IMDB has an extensive list of changes made for the IMAX version.
        Author
        Time
        The IMAX version had an aspect ratio of 1.78.


        Author
        Time
        I wanted to do an IMAX edit of AOTC maybe about two years ago, but couldn't really find much info about it except for the vague lists described above. I believe Rikter's thread on all the bootlegs, etc. says there's a rare VCD of this.
        Author
        Time
        ^ How rare can it be? Doesn't everyone who's interested in this very sort of thing hang out here!

        Seriously - someone has to have even a crappy copy for reference...
        Author
        Time
        Can someone contact Rikter about this?

        I'd be more than willing to take a crack at this edit, if I could find reference like this. (From the vague lists above, it sounds like it can be pulled off with on-the-cut editing.)

        My stance on revising fan edits.

        Author
        Time
        ^ Seconded. I've only seen it once, but I seem to recall that there was nothing new that was impossible to cut together without a source tape and a copy of the theatrical edit.

        I call dibs on making a cover for it, if this ever happens - I've got a wicked idea.
        Author
        Time
        from IMDB:

        The film was released on IMAX theaters on 1 November 2002. The reformatted IMAX version was approx. 20 minutes shorter than the theatrical release. These are some of the scenes that has been cut from the IMAX version:
        A long scene in Palpatine's office involving Yoda and Amidala. Palpatine suggests Kenobi and Anikin as bodyguards.
        Jar Jar greeting the Jedi pair as they enter Amidala's quarters.
        Kenobi talking to the Jedi head librarian.
        The hilltop scene on Naboo where Anakin rides a grazing animal and Amidala and Anakin talk about political science.
        Mace Windu and Yoda discuss whether they should reveal that the Force is no longer as easy to use.
        The scene in which Yoda says that while Anakin is somewhat arrogant, that is an increasingly common failing among Jedi.
        Owen Lars greeting Anakin and Amidala at the farm.
        The confrontation between Count Dooku and Kenobi is shorter.
        Jar Jar being set up by Palpatine to get the Senate hand more power to him.
        Part of the scene where Padme sees Anakin for the first time in 10 years. The cut goes directly from the elevator to ObiWan discussing security.
        Part of the scene where Anakin and Padme leave Coruscant has been trimmed
        The scene where Anakin and Padme meet with the Queen has been eliminated
        Scenes with Anakin and Padme on Naboo have been trimmed, with the picnic scene eliminated completely.
        When Obi Wan was captured and met with Dooku, after the line "I'll never join you" it cuts directly to the Senate floor without Dooku responding "It may be difficult to secure your release".

        I'm sure there were little subtle edits as well, like a few frames here and there to shorten the length.
        Author
        Time
        If I can get a copy of the VCD, I'd love to tackle this idea. It would not be exact, I'm assuming. But it should be able to be very close.
        And I wouldn't mess with the aspect ratio, I'm not going to zoom in on the flim. That would be the major difference.

        My stance on revising fan edits.

        Author
        Time
        Found this on a message board while searching for some definitive answers on the IMAX cut. While not technical, it does flesh out what was written on IMDB. The poster apparently was fresh from a screening.

        ***
        surprise surprise... the movie. still. rocks.

        i'm gonna edit in the gritty details after the four of us venture to a certain east village restaurant to confer. bottom line is that a few of the cuts are heartbreaking (from a certain point of view), but basically, the wince-worthy stuff is gone, and everything you ever wanted to see on a bazillion-story screen is still there. only big. really, really big.


        edit #1, 6.20am:
        it took a couple hours and involved me choking on my coffee, but The List has arrived. keep in mind that while the four of us are pretty freakin' obsessive about the star wars, everything i'm about to post may not be 100% accurate. but, even when we're wrong, we're thorough about it, and that's more than can be said for previous IMAX edit lists.

        anyhoo... i'm going in the scene order of the IMAX edit, not the theatrical (or DVD) release. yes, it does make a difference. thankfully. and on that note...

        - the naboo cruiser landing on coruscant and explosion are intact. and big. and loud. and pretty. (hello, recurring theme.)

        - the meeting in palpatine's office is completely gone, and with it, the discussion of how dooku isn't a murderer, the designation of jimmy smits as more than an extra, and the scary hands of ki-adi mundi and kit fisto.

        - the elevator conversation between obi-wan and anakin is (we think) intact, at least mostly so. there may be a few minor cuts; honestly, the palpy meeting deletion jarred us enough that we weren't paying attention. anyway, basically the same.

        - my condolences to asax and all who've adopted the jar jar cheering, because the jar jar greeting when obi-wan and anakin arrive in padme's apartment is totally gone. in fact, that meeting cuts straight to typho's line "the situation is more serious than the senator will admit."

        - after that, though, there are no cuts in the meeting, the zam and jango ledge, or the anakin/obi-wan security/political philosophizing scenes.

        - when obi-wan and anakin run into padme's bedroom, there are two shots missing: the one of the kouhuns hitting the wall and falling in pieces, and dorme's "you alright, m'lady?"

        - happy, happy news: eye candy remains. the coruscant chase, nightclub, council meeting, and palpy's office (with palpy and anakin) scenes are completely untouched. it is worth noting, though, that the x-wing and TIE fighters at the edge of the panned shot of zam's nosedive are cropped out. (trust me, they were there.)

        - the floating chair scene in the temple with yoda, mace, and obi-wan is completely gone.

        - in the packing in padme's apartment scene... well, we weren't sure. the whole floating ornament thing miiiiight be gone (none of us remembers seeing it, but none remembers specifically not seeing it either). there is a definite cut from anakin's "he's overly critical" to padme's "mentors have a way..."

        - the beginning of padme and anakin's departure in the senate transport is missing. the scene begins with obi-wan's "i'll get to the bottom of this plot quickly, m'lady." pretty sure it's unchanged after that.

        - dex's diner is intact (complete with annoying extras, twenty-foot facial hair, and kaadu polo shirt insignia). the jedi archives scene is gone (night night, jocasta nu), and anakin and padme's conversation on the refugee ship is unchanged.

        - in the younglings scene, yoda's line "truly wonderful the mind of a child is" is gone.

        - the millennium falcons in the theed landing scene are pan & scanned out (meaning they got cropped ). the theed walk scene is the same, although the second gungan is also cropped.

        - glory be, jamillia gorilla is history. ::cue singing angels::

        - the kamino landing sequence is funky. there are no dialogue cuts, but the long shots of lama su, obi-wan, and taun we inside the office have been broken into shots of either lama su or obi-wan and taun we. and, as kfr said, it's pretty ugly - bad edge enhancement and just general grossness.

        - the lakeside scene on naboo is another one that sorta puzzled us. there's definitely a cut somewhere there; we think it's from anakin's "soft and smooth" bit directly into the kiss, thereby excising the back fondling action, but we're not 100% sure. (to be honest, the cut in the soundtrack grabbed my attention moreso than the dialogue cut, but that's just how i listen. ::shrug:: ) at any rate, anakin and padme just sorta start going at it out of nowhere.

        - the tour of the cloning facility starts with lama su's "we're very proud of our combat training..." line. everything before that went byebye.

        - as already reported and celebrated, the meadow/"sound of music" scene is totally gone. as pleasant as that might be, it presents the problem of scene order for the next twenty minutes or so; everything got switched around and given new transitions and it's, generally, really disorienting. instead, the previous scene goes straight into the dinner scene with the flying pear. it's unchanged, including the glaring mistake in the placement of the cut in the pear.

        - the fireplace scene still follows immediately, but a lot of the groan-worthy dialogue has been hacked out. for starters, the early dialogue from the first closeup shot is underlaid into the previous master shot; among the missing lines are "the closer i get, the worse it gets," "if you are suffering...", "...can't breathe," and "it wouldn't have to be that way." there may well be more that's gone - those are just the ones we could recall several hours later.

        - this then leads (via a new iris transition) into the same old jango/obi-wan meeting. after we hear jango tell boba to "pack his things (we're leaving)," the film skips taun we and obi-wan's goodbye and the shots of obi-wan setting up to chitchat with the old folks' home. instead, it cuts to obi-wan's hologram saying, "they're using a bounty hunter..." to yoda and mace in yoda's meditation chamber.

        - then straight to the rain fight. it's almost entirely intact, except for a small cut... somewhere. not sure where. it's a matter of a few seconds, and it's accounted for in the soundtrack by a couple really short, really annoying cuts.

        - remember the scene where anakin has a nightmare (or whatever it was you thought was going on)? it's completely gone. instead, the first shot of the sunrise is shortened a bit, and the rest of that scene is unchanged. this leads straight into the tatooine landing and the conversation with watto (both of which are the same). interestingly, the subtitle placement has changed - they're higher up. it's a bit disconcerting at first, but it's a pretty quick adjustment.

        - the asteroid belt chase is totally unchanged. not only that - it rocks. the seismic charges literally make your body vibrate when they explode, and the shots are cropped to pretty much include just the explosion. total awesomeness.

        - when padme and anakin arrive at the lars homestead, their conversation with threepio is the same. however, the entire introduction to the larses is gone (leaving the question of who these three people are, but it ain't like we don't already know), and the movie picks back up with beru (aka the chick with the wannabe leia hair) pouring juice.

        - the shadow hug between anakin and padme is uncut, but it's cropped so that it does indeed look different. same thing for anakin's zooming about and his conversation with the jawas. in other words, when tf.n said that shot was remastered, they were wrong. it happens. ::shrug::

        - the separatist committee meeting, death scene/tusken ambush, anakin's return to the homestead and obi-wan sending another message are all unchanged, but they're heavily cropped. the triple moons on tatooine are gone, and you've really gotta be watching to see that wat tambor rolls (not walks).

        - the garage scene sorta got hacked up a bit. it cuts from padme's "i brought you something" to her later "sometimes there are things no one can fix," skipping over anakin's bit about being good at fixing things. (i guess the girl is psychic or something.) pretty sure the rest of the scene is intact, but the beginning is nonsensical.

        - the funeral is uncut, and the scene where anakin and padme receive obi-wan's transmission almost is - there's a little bit of pre-message static that's gone, but nothing else. but! there's then no debate in palpatine's office - absolutely no lines for bail organa and no jar jar manipulation.

        - the beginning of the dooku/obi-wan interrogation is different, too - there's a new establishing shot of the exterior of a geonosian tower, and the first line in the new scene is dooku's "may i ask what a jedi knight..." his last line, "it may be difficult...", is gone too.

        - jar jar's speech to the senate is unchanged. (well, one of his hands is cropped out. but who needs jar jar's hand when certain board members would be only too happy to mimic the movements themselves?)

        - anakin and padme's landing on geonosis is, we think, about the same. however, a lot of the dialogue between threepio and artoo is gone - the entire first banter session (immediately after anakin and padme leave the ship), and all that remains of the second session is threepio's warnings to artoo.

        - a few shortenings in the factory sequence: the second stomper that padme runs under is deleted; when threepio falls, he isn't caught by rob but instead falls directly onto the conveyor belt; the filling-vat fakeout is gone, and cuts straight to artoo shutting down the machinery; and a shot or two of anakin's struggles with the chopper machine may be gone too.

        - but after anakin and padme enter the arena, virtually everything's the same. i personally think the entrance into the arena was cut at some point, as the soundtrack seems to sync differently to the visuals (i *think* - not sure yet). the first two shots of the death star plans are so heavily cropped that the plans aren't even visible, thereby making their first appearance (at almost full screen) really pretty sweet. and, interestingly, the last two DVD edits were incorporated into this release - padme's "uh huh" (instead of "yes") when waking up from her fall, and the real shot of anakin and padme holding hands during their wedding (the same one from the digital projection).

        - oh, and the credits are full screen and really tiny. we knew that.

        so there we have it. IMAX edits, and lots of them. consider yourselves quasi-spoiled.

        (end edit #1)
        ***
        Author
        Time
        That's the best and most complete list of changes yet. Now, if we could just get hold of that rumored VCD, we could definitely have a chance at duplicating the IMAX edit.

        That's the first order of business here, folks. Put out all feelers in search of that thing. Sounds like Rikter's the man to talk to for starters... wonder if he has a copy?

        --SKot

        Projects:
        Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
        Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
        The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
        Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
        Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
        Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

        Author
        Time
        I have a copy of the theatrical bootleg but its of shockingly bad quality!

        FINISHED:
        The Sith Revealed - A Scrapbook
        Episode III The Video Game - The Movie
        24: The Missing Day
        Star Wars - The Interactive Board Game DVD
        Battlefront - Journal of the 501st
        The Clones Revealed

        email me for details daveytod AT btinternet DOT com

         

        Author
        Time
        Originally posted by: daveytod
        I have a copy of the theatrical bootleg but its of shockingly bad quality!
        But I'm betting it's not the IMAX theatrical bootleg, right?

        A copy of that, in any quality at all, would be a goldmine right now to use as a reference for recreating the IMAX cut.

        --SKot

        Projects:
        Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
        Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
        The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
        Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
        Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
        Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]

        Author
        Time
        Well, the theatrical bootleg would be of value in terms of sourcing original dialogue (ie: Padme's "Uh-huh" or whatever it was originally) if there were no better source. Was AOTC ever released in its' theatrical form on VHS like TPM, or on a Japanese laserdisc?

        At the every least, a comprehensive "watch through" of the original theatrical cut would be in order just to see how many things were actually altered for the Official DVD.

        Only question is, was the IMAX cut taken from the 35mm version, or the DLP version?
        Author
        Time
        Originally posted by: TheCassidy
        Well, the theatrical bootleg would be of value in terms of sourcing original dialogue (ie: Padme's "Uh-huh" or whatever it was originally) if there were no better source. Was AOTC ever released in its' theatrical form on VHS like TPM, or on a Japanese laserdisc? Unfortunately not; there doesn't seem to be any real source for the original 35mm theatrical version of AOTC.

        The reason for this seems to be this:

        The 35mm would have been finished first, but then some changes were made after that for the digital theatrical version. Both hit the theaters at the same time. However, any subsequent release (VHS, laserdisc, TV, and... IMAX) would have been done using the "newer" digital theatrical version, since that would now be considered the definitive version. So the 35mm version never had a chance to appear in any other format before it was changed for good.

        At the every least, a comprehensive "watch through" of the original theatrical cut would be in order just to see how many things were actually altered for the Official DVD.
        That's definitely of value. At the moment, it seems all we have to go by are dodgy camcorder copies.

        Only question is, was the IMAX cut taken from the 35mm version, or the DLP version?
        See above; it was almost certainly taken from the DLP version since it came out later. I saw it, but unfortunately my memory fails me.

        --SKot

        Projects:
        Return Of The Ewok and Other Short Films (with OCPmovie) [COMPLETED]
        Preserving the…cringe…Star Wars Holiday Special [COMPLETED]
        The Star Wars TV Commercials Project [DORMANT]
        Felix the Cat 1919-1930 early film shorts preservation [ONGOING]
        Lights Out! (lost TV anthology shows) [ONGOING]
        Iznogoud (1995 animated series) English audio preservation [ONGOING]