Info Wanted: Whats the overall view on the best fan edits ?

Hi, Im interested if there is a general concensus on which fan re-edit is considered the best for the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones?

The only one Ive seen is The Balance of the Force re-edit which i thought wasvery good sadly i did think the reworkinbg of the subtitles just opened up new problems qhich equally annoyed me over the existing original version problems (“stink up the ship”, “sell the queen”, “butt” etc). Also the use of the word humans seemed out of place in a lot of the subs, Im not sure whether its ever beenmade cllear whether these races r infacr humans or just look like us (a galaxy far far away) Dont get me wrong this guy has been able to do stuff i owul dnever be able to do and his edting really helps the film, it feels more adult, arker and more brutal.

What are the other versions like? Is there an overall favourite ? Is there one that fixes the racist chinesecharacters, anakins immaturity etc but doesnt add new issues?
And i can never find any of these on torrents is there another way of getting trhem ?

Thanks

C3PX said:

... if it is a movie as crappy as AotC or ROtS no small amount of editing is going to add up to anything. You have got to remove enough of the bad stuff to make it worth while, otherwise what you leave in there will still be enough to kill the film.

Yes, unfortunately... Perhaps I should shut up as I've only just seen my 3rd fan edit, and started off with Adywan's Star Wars revisited ("A New Hope" will always be just Star Wars for me ;-) So I'm kind of spoiled.

I just watched the opening of the Phantom Editor's take on Episode 1 and... well, just throwing the worst stuff out doesn't improve the movie generally, it makes the average silly things stand out more because there's less information - superfluous or not - and scenes are shorter (George really outdid himself with silly dialogue and silly storylines in Episode 1, IMHO). There's simply nothing there to replace the silly stuff with. It takes a good or oversized movie to begin with, or a storywise stupid thing like "300" with mindblowing visuals. The best thing that can happen to Episode 1 ist the "silent movie" approach ;-//

Same thing with a MATRIX Reloaded/Revolutions fan cut I recently saw (named "Matrix Evolutions"), it even contained new scenes from the video game, but nevertheless it was a butchered effort at storytelling, not to mention music, flow etc. The problem is, no matter how good the ideas, unless fan editors start to raid movie studios for all those deleted scenes there won't be enough material to reshape a story, and then it takes a pro like Adywan to make it into something to rival the official director's cut. I've tried re-cutting the Matrix 2-3 myself and the problem is, what's missing in the original (a decent storyline for Neo) can't be covered up by cutting other stuff away.

These are just some thoughts, real fans won't be discouraged by the obstacles, of course ;-)

I was turned onto the Slumberland edits via these forums and though they share some points of similarity with other edits they are certainly worth a watch in their own right.

colubra09 said:

The problem is, no matter how good the ideas, unless fan editors start to raid movie studios for all those deleted scenes there won't be enough material to reshape a story, and then it takes a pro like Adywan to make it into something to rival the official director's cut.

Even if there are numerous deleted scenes, that doesn't mean there will be enough footage to tell a better story or that those scenes are an improvement to the story - it all depends on the decisions of the filmmakers/studio and what they choose to film/edit/CG/etc in the first place. I also don't understand why you'd bring up an edit/s needing to be as good as an "official director's cut" since being a DC is no indication that the film will be better (hell, you could argue that Lucas's 2004 DVD release of SW was his "director's cut"...)

JasonN said:

colubra09 said:

The problem is, no matter how good the ideas, unless fan editors start to raid movie studios for all those deleted scenes there won't be enough material to reshape a story, and then it takes a pro like Adywan to make it into something to rival the official director's cut.

Even if there are numerous deleted scenes, that doesn't mean there will be enough footage to tell a better story or that those scenes are an improvement to the story - it all depends on the decisions of the filmmakers/studio and what they choose to film/edit/CG/etc in the first place. I also don't understand why you'd bring up an edit/s needing to be as good as an "official director's cut" since being a DC is no indication that the film will be better (hell, you could argue that Lucas's 2004 DVD release of SW was his "director's cut"...)

The reason we are here is because sometimes a director, editor or studio exec can be so on top of a project they can't see the forest for the trees (or the planks in the case of some actor performances).

The Phantom Editor showed that even without access to the cutting room floor it is possible to improve a scene by cutting even more (look at his take on Anakin's Force test scene) and some of the deleted material that is available does arguably work better than some of the material that wasn't deleted (a prime example being the Mace/Obi Wan conversation scene which was deleted from AOTC vs the Mace/Obi-Wan/floating Yoda scene that wasn't).

So even without Adywan's Adobe skills it is possible to work wonders with what is already to hand.

If you watch Slumberland's take on the Gungan scenes in TPM, Jar-Jar is still Jar-Jar, Boss Nass is still Boss Nass (no re-dubs or subtitles) but they work as designed much better (I wrote this elsewhere on here Jar-Jar actually made me laugh for the first time in a decade thanks to having the majority of his silly scenes removed, it improved the slap-schtick timing).

Bingowings said:

JasonN said:

colubra09 said:

The problem is, no matter how good the ideas, unless fan editors start to raid movie studios for all those deleted scenes there won't be enough material to reshape a story, and then it takes a pro like Adywan to make it into something to rival the official director's cut.

Even if there are numerous deleted scenes, that doesn't mean there will be enough footage to tell a better story or that those scenes are an improvement to the story - it all depends on the decisions of the filmmakers/studio and what they choose to film/edit/CG/etc in the first place. I also don't understand why you'd bring up an edit/s needing to be as good as an "official director's cut" since being a DC is no indication that the film will be better (hell, you could argue that Lucas's 2004 DVD release of SW was his "director's cut"...)

The reason we are here is because sometimes a director, editor or studio exec can be so on top of a project they can't see the forest for the trees (or the planks in the case of some actor performances).

The Phantom Editor showed that even without access to the cutting room floor it is possible to improve a scene by cutting even more (look at his take on Anakin's Force test scene) and some of the deleted material that is available does arguably work better than some of the material that wasn't deleted (a prime example being the Mace/Obi Wan conversation scene which was deleted from AOTC vs the Mace/Obi-Wan/floating Yoda scene that wasn't).

So even without Adywan's Adobe skills it is possible to work wonders with what is already to hand.

If you watch Slumberland's take on the Gungan scenes in TPM, Jar-Jar is still Jar-Jar, Boss Nass is still Boss Nass (no re-dubs or subtitles) but they work as designed much better (I wrote this elsewhere on here Jar-Jar actually made me laugh for the first time in a decade thanks to having the majority of his silly scenes removed, it improved the slap-schtick timing).

 

The only thing I dislike about that Mace/Obi-Wan scene is that the effects are either temp or are put together hastily for the DVD release. You can see softening around the edges of the characters which is a quick way to key things without showing matte lines. The background CG is also paltry. It would be great if someone like Ady could restore that scene and make it fit in better with the rest of the film.

Bingowings said:

The reason we are here is because sometimes a director, editor or studio exec can be so on top of a project they can't see the forest for the trees (or the planks in the case of some actor performances).

The Phantom Editor showed that even without access to the cutting room floor it is possible to improve a scene by cutting even more (look at his take on Anakin's Force test scene) and some of the deleted material that is available does arguably work better than some of the material that wasn't deleted (a prime example being the Mace/Obi Wan conversation scene which was deleted from AOTC vs the Mace/Obi-Wan/floating Yoda scene that wasn't).

So even without Adywan's Adobe skills it is possible to work wonders with what is already to hand.

Which is exactly the point of my last post.

Bingowings said:

If you watch Slumberland's take on the Gungan scenes in TPM, Jar-Jar is still Jar-Jar, Boss Nass is still Boss Nass (no re-dubs or subtitles) but they work as designed much better (I wrote this elsewhere on here Jar-Jar actually made me laugh for the first time in a decade thanks to having the majority of his silly scenes removed, it improved the slap-schtick timing).

Hmm, I haven't seen Slumberland's edits yet, but you've peaked my curiousity (a better Jar-Jar would be great, but hopefully that also extends to a better Anakin as well)

ADigitalMan said:I inserted some deleted scenes, yes, but I also took out a ton of garbage when it comes to the prequels. And with Ep III, I did extensive audio work just to get those Battle Droids to stop sounding like sissies. I did a separate round of extended editions for the prequels, but the "ADM Edits" are very much fan edits designed to remove a lot of junk and put in things that never should have been removed. In my own opinion, of course. ;-)

could someone PM me torrent links of these? Perhaps a better seeded torrent of the Slumberland edits too? Thank would be much appreciated as Revisited and the two Phantom edits have gotten me more or less addicted to fan edits.

JasonN said:

 

Bingowings said:

If you watch Slumberland's take on the Gungan scenes in TPM, Jar-Jar is still Jar-Jar, Boss Nass is still Boss Nass (no re-dubs or subtitles) but they work as designed much better (I wrote this elsewhere on here Jar-Jar actually made me laugh for the first time in a decade thanks to having the majority of his silly scenes removed, it improved the slap-schtick timing).

Hmm, I haven't seen Slumberland's edits yet, but you've peaked my curiousity (a better Jar-Jar would be great, but hopefully that also extends to a better Anakin as well)

Some of Anakin's scenes are improved but there is still room for further improvement.

I've yet to see an edit that pulls the best ideas together.

The idea of redubbing the Trade Federation is great from Magnoliafan (though I don't like the garbled speach used in that edit the subtitles making them darker slave traders is genius). Keeping Jar-Jar a funny clot but actually funny (from Slumberland), Anakin is better in The Phantom Edit (here I reach the outer edge of my Phantom Menace edit knowledge). ADM made a great job of putting deleted material back in.

Giving the battledroids sinister voices is something that has yet to be pulled off convincingly in my experience (though trimming has been done well in a couple of the versions I've seen).

Hopefully when Adywan comes to do his he will borrow from the best and add his own polish as Octorox suggests.

Bingowings said:

The idea of redubbing the Trade Federation is great from Magnoliafan (though I don't like the garbled speach used in that edit the subtitles making them darker slave traders is genius). Keeping Jar-Jar a funny clot but actually funny (from Slumberland), Anakin is better in The Phantom Edit (here I reach the outer edge of my Phantom Menace edit knowledge). ADM made a great job of putting deleted material back in.

Giving the battledroids sinister voices is something that has yet to be pulled off convincingly in my experience (though trimming has been done well in a couple of the versions I've seen).

Hopefully when Adywan comes to do his he will borrow from the best and add his own polish as Octorox suggests.

Maybe I'll take a look into doing such a project after I finish my "Starkiller Saga" edits of Ep2 & Ep3 (though I might be dead tired of SW by that time).

As for the droids, I actually liked the idea of removing their voices like Phantom Editor did in his edits.

JasonN said:

Bingowings said:

The idea of redubbing the Trade Federation is great from Magnoliafan (though I don't like the garbled speach used in that edit the subtitles making them darker slave traders is genius). Keeping Jar-Jar a funny clot but actually funny (from Slumberland), Anakin is better in The Phantom Edit (here I reach the outer edge of my Phantom Menace edit knowledge). ADM made a great job of putting deleted material back in.

Giving the battledroids sinister voices is something that has yet to be pulled off convincingly in my experience (though trimming has been done well in a couple of the versions I've seen).

Hopefully when Adywan comes to do his he will borrow from the best and add his own polish as Octorox suggests.

Maybe I'll take a look into doing such a project after I finish my "Starkiller Saga" edits of Ep2 & Ep3 (though I might be dead tired of SW by that time).

As for the droids, I actually liked the idea of removing their voices like Phantom Editor did in his edits.

The battledroids don't need to speak to each other (though it would be nice to have them make some sort of coded noise like the probots) but when they speak to other creatures they should sound menacing.

I'd go for the silent angle if they looked menacing (like the Cylons in NuGalactica) but they look skeletal so it would be nice if they had hissing clicky voices (turning them into ghostly wraiths) rather than sounding like Looney Toons characters.

The Superbattledroids in AOTC and ROTS are more substantial and don't need to talk at all but I think they should make more of a stomping noise when they march.