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Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side (the TM edit) (Released) — Page 50

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Originally posted by: MTHaslett
In what movie do we see the Jedi unlock cuffs and lift rocks to crush giant beasts with the Force? I remember a couple movies where the greatest Jedi of all has to struggle to lift big rocks or pull an X-Wing out of the swamp.

By your reasoning the entire Death Star Trench sequence makes no sense-- why doesn't Darth Vader just force-wish all the Rebel fighters into the sides of the trench? Answer: because that ain't how it works.

If the Harryhausen homage of the arena sequence doesn't give you a thrill, then I'm sorry. But that's the reason it's there-- it's the kind of scene Lucas loves from the movies that inspired Star Wars and it's done to his taste here. I'm not thrilled with the beats of it and I look forward to the new version (where Anakin and Padme have a plan)-- but I sure get why it's there.

Did they really put these arena creatures into Happy Meals, or are you making that up?


Oh yeah, I believe they were part of some fast food promotion as every star wars prequel was in some way. You're right. I forgot that it was a homage to classic Harryhausen but now I remember since I listened to the commentary for AotC years ago. If it were in a movie meant for homages I suppose then sure it'd be no problem, but Harryhausen's didn't involve jedi, I think. I really don't have a problem with homage, really but then I know Jar Jar is a homage to comedians like jerry lewis (my best guess), and I absolutely love Lewis' work but definitely that doesn't mean I like jar jar or Threepio's slapstick gags in a Star wars film unless it's necessary to for the story. I'll use the tarzan yell as another example as homage that I don't like (of course that's because it's a joke in pop culture. I didn't even remember the arena fight was harryhausen inspired. I'm more focused on the incredibility of jedi being chained up.) But that's besides my point about the scene where a cuffed anakin and obiwan use lightsabers to free themselves so I expect to just take it as it is and move on. How can that be changed? [additionally: Alright, I can stretch my suspension of disbelief extremely far. I'm a fan of stuff that's not to be taken seriously like power rangers and crap like that, but when I have to sit through a scene where a jedi is chained to a carriage and yacking about love my mind wonders why he's not using his force powers (powers he'll use to slice a piece of fruit mind you) to unlock himself and his new girlfriend, ok.]

I think it was Magfan or you, Trooperman, who said there are just some things that are so wrong, no amount of editing will fix them and that's what I think this is. ie: all jedi must wear tatooine farmer garb.

That's why I view the arena fight as being as exciting as the Greivous fight in Rots. If you remember, it was minutes, no, seconds before that fight, Obiwan just uses the force to drop a huge thingy on some droids not to mention how many times he's thrown droids around. Was anybody at all worried for Obi-wan during that battle? Vader decided to do whatever he decided to do and by my best guess it'd be extremely difficult to lock onto and control something moving at a gazillion miles per hour. Though one can easily assume Vader's force abilities aided him in his destruction of the rebel ships one by one. Is that comparable to a pair of handcuffs? Well that's up to the individual to decide. Imo, it's not, However we do know he's using the force during aerial combat when he comments on Luke's force power. Now that I think of it, why else did the proton torpeos not go in if the computer was perfectly locked on and everything? We have no reason given why neither Anakin nor Obiwan can release themselves. Another thing from the OT you should have brought up to argue with was Luke throwing a rock at the control panel to kill the rancor. He's a novice jedi so I bought that he'd just chuck a rock but maybe some don't.

Trooperman, after some deep thought for an entire minute I've decided the best way to explain it is that the cuffs are specifically designed for use on Jedi. Maybe you could dub Anakin saying they're special magnetically binding cuffs (stole the idea from the magnetically sealed trash compactor) or something like that?
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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Originally posted by: THX
The Emperor unlocks Luke's cuffs using the force in Return Of The Jedi.

However, the arena scene is still one of the best and most Star Wars-y moments in the PT.


I used to think that before realizing it comes off too indulgent for my tastes. Ewan's good as usual and don't get me wrong, Padme getting clawed is still my favorite part of any PT movie.

He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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Originally posted by: Trooperman


Originally posted by: PaulisDead2221


(1 year later)
Trooperman: Oh they laughed at me, but who's laughing now?! Muahahahah!

Just something funny I thought I'd bring up. One year and of course I'm still skeptical, but optimistically skepetical of course


Ha ha! I'll save the gloating until SOTDS is in my DVD player and fully functioning without any glitches. But yeah, I remember posting that- that was a while ago. I think it was more irritation that I wasn't getting good, intelligent feedback like I'm getting with you guys. This thread was originally in General Discussion, and I didn't feel like people were taking me seriously. And they weren't, of course



Yeah, I remember when you first posted, I think I was just a lurker then. I remember laughing along at their posts, I honestly thought you were some silly 13 year old who had decided to redub the movie with a PC mic. Ha ha. But as time went on you persisted, so I kept following the thread with great interest. I think it was things like changing day time scenes to night time scenes that made me confident that this would be something worth watching out for. Ever since seeing your trailer I have been pretty sure this thing would replace AotC on my dvd shelf. I couldn't believe how torrible AotC was when I first saw it, so you are going to have to blow this thing really badly to make me change my mind abou that.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Re: the believability of the Arena sequence.
Fans can be so weird about stuff like this. I don't see any comparison between cutting an apple and opening hand cuffs. Seeing the Emperor open his own set of cuffs in Jedi does not establish that Jedis can't be cuffed. If anything, it establishes that Jedi can be cuffed, since Luke was not able to take them off himself. All of Star Wars is a pastiche of other ideas from Flash Gordon and Dune and Samurai movies and Harryhausen and a lot more. The rules are already looser than a goose when a bunch of powerless Ewoks defeat the Imperial Stormtroopers with logs and rocks and shit.

As for the trench scene, controlling things going a gazillion miles an hour is not the issue. Making a rocket or any fast moving object go off course is incredibly easy-- if you can but nudge it. That's how race car accidents and such happen. A force push in the trenches would easily wipe out any ship Vader came near-- but that's not how the movies play it.

Each fan has to make peace with the un-realities of Star Wars his own way. I can't see the issues you bring up as problems. Much more important to me was the way the arena escape felt improvised and then shot through with random action with the awful Threepio stuff being the only throughline that actually built in any concrete way. This, fortunately, is something that can be fixed.

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Hi guys- I just wanted to pop in...

Trooperman, how do THX's stormie voices sounding? Are you using both his and mine?

I am using both of you for the clone war. There will actually be a third voice in the background as well, because hairy_hen recorded some alternate dialogue during the Mas Amedda recording "session".

As for Jango, I used your recordings. For Uncle Owen, I used Sluggo's recordings.

Understand that the other ADR people that got the lines to me didn't do a bad job at all. Far from it. I made the decision based solely on who sounded most like Jason Wingreen, and who sounded most like Phil Brown. Looking at it from that perspective, the choices were easy.

If anyone's confused, I can definitely post clip comparisons so you can hear the difference in the voices and understand how I came to my decision.

But regardless, thank you to all of you who recorded voices for this thing- I really appreciate it and I couldn't have done it without you.

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I think it was Magfan or you, Trooperman, who said there are just some things that are so wrong, no amount of editing will fix them and that's what I think this is. ie: all jedi must wear tatooine farmer garb.

That was me- I think I was referring to Ep. III. Editing that movie is a depressing prospect because so many basic plot points were butchered and are irreversible. I thought it was a good movie when I first saw it, but on later viewings I realized what had gone wrong.

The really neat thing about Ep. II is that I actually believe that the finished film will be good. Not complete greatness (which would require a different plot/production design), but a very good movie, not a piece of garbage. Something that isn't just watchable but is actually really good. As I've said before, one of my really strong suits is synchronizing music with film to create impact, and there's a lot of that. Obviously the weaker scenes are the ones with Anakin and Padme- they slow things down and Portman does an awful job. However, I think people might buy these scenes with the new voice and personality for Anakin. He basically doesn't put up with a lot of garbage in this movie (contrary to the PC original cut), and he gets really angry in three scenes- the rejection scene by the fireplace, the garage scene, and the argument with Obi-Wan after Padme falls.

Regarding the arena sequences, I think I am leaning on the side of not explaining the handcuffs. Also, the fact that this issue wasn't caught until you looked for it is also worth considering. Personally, with the new cutting, colors and music, I get so caught up in it that I don't even notice that stuff anymore. The opening of the scene really has the tone of the Rancor scene in ROTJ now, and I think it's very, very exciting now.

I think (or hope) that when this comes out, it will make you excited about Star Wars all over again. There is action, great music, a lack of overdone CGI, some humour (especially with 3po and Owen)- but not over the top, there's a great villain in Christopher Lee and a great moment at the end of the film when Dooku realizes he's in over his head....

I mean, the voices are very exciting of course, but I think the biggest thing this has going for it is the general change in tone and design of the movie. A more muted color palette and great music really leaves you with a whole different taste in your mouth.

I'm just as excited as all of you are to watch this all the way through for the first time. I really can't wait

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Trooperman, could you explain more of the musical choices you've made? As in, how much music, besides the Asteroid Field during the Coruscant chase, is taken from other SW movies?
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Originally posted by: MTHaslett
Re: the believability of the Arena sequence.
Fans can be so weird about stuff like this. I don't see any comparison between cutting an apple and opening hand cuffs. Seeing the Emperor open his own set of cuffs in Jedi does not establish that Jedis can't be cuffed. If anything, it establishes that Jedi can be cuffed, since Luke was not able to take them off himself. All of Star Wars is a pastiche of other ideas from Flash Gordon and Dune and Samurai movies and Harryhausen and a lot more. The rules are already looser than a goose when a bunch of powerless Ewoks defeat the Imperial Stormtroopers with logs and rocks and shit.

As for the trench scene, controlling things going a gazillion miles an hour is not the issue. Making a rocket or any fast moving object go off course is incredibly easy-- if you can but nudge it. That's how race car accidents and such happen. A force push in the trenches would easily wipe out any ship Vader came near-- but that's not how the movies play it.

Each fan has to make peace with the un-realities of Star Wars his own way. I can't see the issues you bring up as problems. Much more important to me was the way the arena escape felt improvised and then shot through with random action with the awful Threepio stuff being the only throughline that actually built in any concrete way. This, fortunately, is something that can be fixed.


Ok, ok... http://www.altheabraithwaite.net/Feeling%20Scared.JPGforgive me for thinking if Padme can pull a hairpin out and unlock herself then a jedi should have no problem at all. There are actually bigger 'jedi are idiots' problems with the pt I hope can be somehow fixed but judging by the way Trooperman describes it, I'm expecting to be so completely engrossed in the drama that it doesn't even register as a thought during my view of his edit.

About vader and nudging the ships, perhaps but I've never really witnessed a race taking place in a 0g environment. So the physics are questionable if you catch my drift. You could say he nudged them with his ship's laser guns though.
He big in nothing important in good elephant.

"Miss you, I will, Original Trilogy..."

"Your midichlorians are weak, Old man." -Darth Vader 2007 super deluxe extra special dipped in chocolate sauce edition.

http://prequelsstink.ytmnd.com/
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SPOILER WARNING

This is just a list of cues used from the beginning until the beginning of the Jedi Council meeting…


-Fox logo recording from Empire
-Star Wars theme
-Ep. II underscore
-Underscore from Raiders
-Original underscore
-Cue from ROTJ to signal Palpatine’s first appearance
-Mystery theme from Ep. II
-Vertigo brooding music, segueing into
-Mystery theme
-“Medal of Honor” cue (really fits the scene)
-Anakin’s theme from Ep. I
-Tension building cue from Raiders (which I’m worried folks might recognize)
-“Mine Car Chase” from Temple of Doom
-Gong crash at Zam’s appearance, then a short cue from Ep. I
-Original Ep. II underscore, which segues into
-“Asteriod Field” from ESB
-More music from Ep. II, but cut in different spots, louder, and actually builds on the same motif without the electric guitar business in-between
-End of “Droid Factory” cue is actually used for the crash which goes seamlessly into…
-Cue from “Temple of Doom”
-Henry Mancini cue in the nightclub, which ends in coincidence with a critical shot
-Cue from Raiders as Obi-Wan pulls his saber, which continues during the interrogation. I was going to replace it with the mystery motif, but people heard it in a video clip and really liked the effect, so I kept it.


You might be scared at all of the different sources this is coming from, and think that it will sound disjointed and choppy, which it certainly has the potential to do. But keep in mind that I am from a musical background, and I do understand what works and what doesn’t, and oftentimes when I have joined two cues, one leads directly to the next, and makes sense in terms of the key signature and so forth.

Hope that helped

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Sounds cool, Trooperman. I absolutely CANNOT wait for this movie.
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Originally posted by: Weezer12
Sounds cool, Trooperman. I absolutely CANNOT wait for this movie.


ditto. After reading all of the recent posts about music, I think that the soundtrack is actually what I'm most excited about. I can't wait to experience the new and improved movie in general, though.

Light speed too slow??
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-Cue from ROTJ to signal Palpatine’s first appearance

You mean the "I don't know how much longer I can hold off the vote, my friends." scene?
Interesting...I guess from a saga stand point, you don't know yet that it's the emperor, right?...hmm...interesting choice...

SSWR’s YouTube channel

Attack of the Clones: Alternate Timeline Edit Thread:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/SSWRs-Attack-of-the-Clones-Alternate-Timeline-Edit/id/66888

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It's not the famous Emperor's theme. Specifically, it's the cue that begins track 4 on disc 2 of the ROTJ album.

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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ditto. After reading all of the recent posts about music, I think that the soundtrack is actually what I'm most excited about. I can't wait to experience the new and improved movie in general, though.


Yeah, the music was definitely one of the weaker parts of AOTC. That's why I look forward to seeing what other film scores will do for this film.
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I look forward to seeing what other film scores will do for this film.

A TON. Honestly, this edit wouldn't be half of what it is without the redone soundtrack.

TJDavis from the "Godfather II" SW edit (with InfoDroid) is giving us all a major surprise on this movie, which I'm not going to tell you about (ha ha) It'll be done in a couple weeks. Thank you TJ!

On my end, work continues, of course. I have all of the character voices except the second version of Jar-Jar, which isn't hairy_hen's fault because I only recently gave him the lines.

That's all I can say for now- work continues....

-TM

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Originally posted by: Weezer12
ditto. After reading all of the recent posts about music, I think that the soundtrack is actually what I'm most excited about. I can't wait to experience the new and improved movie in general, though.


Yeah, the music was definitely one of the weaker parts of AOTC. That's why I look forward to seeing what other film scores will do for this film.


More like the handling of the music was one of the weaker parts of AOTC (read: the prequels). The score got so hacked up it's pathetic. It's really distracting to me now because so much is reused and inappropriately cut together. However, aside from a reedit of the score to its original form and more musically and thematically appropriate edited cues were there is music but no recording, this is about the best thing you can do, I think. I am very grateful to see an edit of this proportion being handled by someone with musical knowledge like Trooperman. The music in the clips I've heard have made me very confident in his abilities, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing and hearing the results.

And I look forward to seeing tjdavis's surprise! The anticipation builds!
Two-Face - A Batman:The Animated Series Movie
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It's definitely true that they butchered the music in the film (hacked it up, dialed the volume down too low, etc.), but the music wasn't up to OT quality to begin with. This was probably partly George Lucas' fault in his direction of Williams (or lack thereof). But come on- we have two of the most climactic sequences in the movie, the arena battle and the lightsaber fight. Instead of getting brilliant, exciting action music and soaring melodies played by the LSO, we get a guy on a drumset. Give me a break.

Another example- the asteroid chase. No music until the end, and once it does come in, it's mixed too low.

The chase through Coruscant- the same blasted measure of music over and over again. In this case, I'm actually glad the editors intervened, because I personally didn't think the electric guitar fit in at all.

All in all, you'll be able to see immediately how much better the movie becomes simlpy with more realistic colors, better framing, and a soundtrack that actually has something to say (especially during the action sequences).

On the instances where I thought the music was doing its job, though, I kept it (and probably turned up the volume). For instance, I actually kept the "Force theme seguing into Duel of the Fates" cue, when Anakin goes out to search for his mother. I made a couple of video changes, raised the music volume, and restored the ending to William's original, but this sequence actually resembles the original cut, which couldn't be said about most of the others...

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Originally posted by: Trooperman
It's definitely true that they butchered the music in the film (hacked it up, dialed the volume down too low, etc.), but the music wasn't up to OT quality to begin with. This was probably partly George Lucas' fault in his direction of Williams (or lack thereof). But come on- we have two of the most climactic sequences in the movie, the arena battle and the lightsaber fight. Instead of getting brilliant, exciting action music and soaring melodies played by the LSO, we get a guy on a drumset. Give me a break.


Trooperman,

This quote has convinced me that you MUST do a commentary.

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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Ha ha! Thanks. I actually did want to do a commentary, but I was not going to put that on this first edition (single-layer), as I felt it would compromise the video quality. I was saving it for a future dual-layer, feature-laden release (with PCM audio, lots of foreign subtitles, menus, and commentaries).

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Well, alright. I guess I can wait.

As long as you don't suppress your first edition and claim that your second "special" edition represents your original vision.

You know of the rebellion against the Empire?

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I third the motion for a commentary. SOTDS is probably the thing I've been looking forward to the most all year.
I am NOT a committee!
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Hi there, just discovered this great thread.

Trooperman, let me just say that your project sounds incredible. Your vision of the film is totally on the mark. Your aesthetic sense seems to mirror my own exactly, going for that old-school empire-era analog look, sound and feel. The trailer totally blew me away! Incredible! I made a rough cut myself two years ago, just to see how much CGi and bad lines one cold get away with removing, and the result was pretty primising, you could see the potential. I never got back on track with editing the music and Sound FX thugh, as I was having alot of import/export problems in premiere, which ate up too much of my time.

One thing I noticed in my cut of ep II though was how much screen time was lost by all the necessary cuts. May I therefore ask how this cut is shaping up length-wise? Best of luck with completing this most important work.
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Originally posted by: lth
I third the motion for a commentary. SOTDS is probably the thing I've been looking forward to the most all year.


Definitely. A commentary is an absolute must for an edit of this magnitude.

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Hi, everyone. Sorry I wasn't able to respond earlier- I lost connection for a few days.

As long as you don't suppress your first edition and claim that your second "special" edition represents your original vision.


Ha ha! Hopefully I'll get everything right the first time

SOTDS is probably the thing I've been looking forward to the most all year.


Wow- thanks to and Bespinsec for the encouragement. This movie WILL be done this year. And thanks again to LTH for considering making an Ep. I to match. I'm really very excited.

Now, as far as a commentary track- I probably have enough material for 3 commentaries. That's not an issue I guess the question is whether you want a commentary on the single-layer release (which would probably diminish the video quality of the actual film).


One thing I noticed in my cut of ep II though was how much screen time was lost by all the necessary cuts. May I therefore ask how this cut is shaping up length-wise? Best of luck with completing this most important work.


Actually, I think SOTDS is turning out to be around 2 hrs (or a little more). I don't have a final running time yet (but I should soon). This is because a lot of rotten scenes were given new meaning, dialogue, and music, and actually became good scenes. Rather than cut out a lot of scenes, I tried my darndest to make what was already there good. Not just adequate or watchable (by cutting out offensive dialogue, etc.)- but good. I think that's what will differentiate this from a lot of other edits. I replaced things and changed things that worked fine. Why? Because I wanted it to be breathtaking! I'll leave it to others to decide whether it worked or not...

-------------------------------

My cut is almost complete. I need to do the Jar-Jar scenes, which will be possible once I receive hairy_hen's dialogue. Then, I'll have a running time for you.

At that time, I'll sit down with a pencil and paper and run the film from start to finish, making a list of every single technical flaw or pacing flaw that I see/hear. Then, I'll go through the movie and implement all of the changes, which will hopefully not take very long.

Then, I'll tackle the end credits. I have discovered the font used for the end credits- now I need names.

Please PM me with your name if you have assisted in any way on this project, in physical help or in ideas (if you have posted anything constructive in this thread, in other words).

Then, I'll dump all 20 sections of the film into one master file, render out in uncompressed AVI, and from there, start encoding in MPEG-2. Once that's finished, I'll join all of the encoded pieces into one MPEG file, render out the soundtrack, synch both of them, add chapters, and possibly add a commentary. And then burn the first copy

Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side

Emperor Jar-Jar
“Back when we made Star Wars, we just couldn’t make Palpatine as evil as we intended. Now, thanks to the miracles of technology, it is finally possible. Finally, I’ve created the movies that I originally imagined.” -George Lucas on the 2007 Extra Extra Special HD-DVD Edition

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Awesome, I'm so glad to hear the update. This will definitely be fun to watch this movie! I believe I sent you my name for the credits, because I have helped with idea's ( I think, I am so in between this thread the Ranch, I forget what I posted )