Hey everyone. I’ve been lurking on this forum for many months now and I’ve been thoroughly impressed with every project I’ve followed. Even those that have been abandoned have seen some of their ideas utilized in other projects. I think that is very cool. I’d like to give credit to all other members of the forum for their ideas and the inspiration to begin a fanedit of my own. I apologize in advance for the length of this first post.
Now, on to my edit:
I’ve begun a workprint of an Attack of the Clones Edit using the dvd as a source and a somewhat low-end video editing software called Pinnacle Studio. My intention is to eventually purchase a blu-ray drive and some better software, but in the meantime I’m working with what I have to figure out what I want to do.
Major things I’m going to do:
-The focus of this edit will be on Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin’s presence in the movie will be somewhat reduced at the beginning but towards the end I will attempt to make him more important. Most of the movie deals with him protecting Padme. I like to think of him as what Han Solo was in Empire: still a key character who falls in love, but not the one whose story we are most invested in.
-Padme will not have been Queen of Naboo. Eventually I plan to edit The Phantom Menace where I will continue this change. She was the Queen’s handmaiden who proved her worth in the battle of Naboo and was asked to serve as senator. (We won’t see the new Queen in this AotC edit so we can assume that the TPM Queen is still in power).
-Anakin will be haunted by visions of a shadowy figure. Still not sure how and where (or if) this will work, but I’d really like to infuse some of the mysticism of the OT into this movie. He’ll have nightmares about a dark figure with a red lightsaber. I might have to do a little bit of filming for this but it will be very minimal - mostly brief, unsettling shots with the sounds of mechanical breathing played over them. I’d like to use some of the shots of Anakin from the part of the Dooku duel where the lights are off to suggest as though he is fighting this mysterious figure (like the cave scene in ESB).
-The Jedi have full knowledge of the creation of the clone army. This the purpose of this is to reduce the stupidity of them using a mysterious army (I guess they didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth?), as well as to make them less of the Good Guys of the movie. I will also try to make the Separatists seem less of the Bad Guys so that Anakin’s confusion and distrust of the Jedi order in Episode 3 make more sense.
-Dooku will not be a Sith lord. This will involve giving him a new colored lightsaber, which is something I am not able to do with my currently lacking software. In this edit, Dooku is not working with Palpatine. He is actually what he says he is to Obi-Wan. I like the idea of him actually being on the right side once it is revealed that Palpatine is truly the Sith mastermind.
-Completely new order of scenes! The edit starts with Obi-Wan going to Kamino to legitimately check on the progress of the clone army. He is surprised and concerned to learn that a rogue bounty hunter is being used as the template for this army. He makes his report to the Jedi Council and returns back to Coruscant to protect Senator Padme after her attack on the landing platform. After they catch Zam, Jango shoots her and Obi-Wan recognizes him! He returns to Kamino to apprehend the bounty hunter as Anakin and Padme go to Naboo to hide. Obi-Wan fights Jango on Kamino and follows him to Geonosis. Meanwhile Anakin and Padme quickly and (hopefully) painlessly fall in love on Naboo. They get married. They see Obi-Wan’s hologram on Naboo and decide to go rescue him on Geonosis. the film plays out as usual from here (minus Yoda vs. Dooku). After the battle, Anakin sees a frightening vision of his mother in pain and has to go to Tattooine to help her. Padme goes as his wife. In a trimmed visit, Anakin finds his mother and brings her back to bury her. He does not tell Padme about killing Sand People and seems to have embraced his dark side at the end of the film. We iris out on Anakin at his mother’s funeral.
-My larger goal for the PT is to make it clear that Anakin is morally questionable by the end of Ep 2. I intend to follow the model of Walter White’s descent from Breaking Bad in this. He embraces the evil inside him as a means to an end, but lives somewhat of a double life joking around with Obi-Wan and being all romantic with Padme, but vengefully murdering Sand People and beheading Count Dooku with little regret for his actions. It is not until Obi-Wan and Yoda see the recording of him killing younglings that this all comes out.
-And of course all of the usual annoyances will be cut from the film!
Thanks for reading this beast of a post if you made it all the way through. I’ll be posting a VERY rough and VERY short video either soon or tomorrow. In the meantime I would love to hear what you guys think of my ideas. I know there are some that I might end up compromising for lack of ability but hey it’s fun to dream, right? 😃