Possessed said:
EPI might have the most flaws, but I think it's also the most salvageable. Sure Jar Jar can be annoying and the pod race is too long and the announcers are annoying, but those can all be trimmed out. Phantom Menace also has the best acting of any of the prequels (IMO), has much more heart and the most "worth saving" moments out of any of them. Also it feels more like a star wars film. It legitimately doesn't feel like a video game cutscene. And it's the last sw film to use actual models for ships, and it shows.
I agree about the acting (well, I'd say it's about on par with ROTS when I consider the queen's lines) and there are a lot of parts in TPM I would like to use.
It had a lot of potential. Something I admire about it is the fact that not only was it shot on actual film, but doing that made the CGI appear far more realistic compared to AOTC (with the exception of the Gungan/Droid battle). I don't know if it's the grain or what, but even though it's digital, when it was transferred to film and then back it came out looking much better.
It also has the least CGI shit out of the prequels by miles, which is something I really appreciate. Effects wise it's how they all should have been made - just with better direction so that completely computer generated scenes weren't ever a thing planned. In all of the scenes trying to convey something traditional, there's mostly traditional effects/buildings/environments and it shows. It was putting digital stuff into a real world, as opposed to AOTC and ROTS which was the other way around.
The only film I feel is like a video game cutscene is AOTC - though the same could be said about ROTS, it's just far better in its look. If there's a CG Jedi Temple interior shot, it looks like a building and not like something out of Toy Story. Though I understand and agree, and it feels the closest to the OT out of the prequels.
The main issue can actually just be summed up with what Lucas said "I may have gone too far". I want to make something that flows and tells a story efficiently, and there are parts of TPM that can't be removed because of this without it losing meaning.
fgqb#19nyj said:
I think Episode I can be improved upon through the rewording of the crawl, new voice over dialogue for both the Neimoidians and Gungans (so they sound less comical), and snips and tweaks that enhance the actor's performances and action sequences.
The hardest thing would be the voiceovers. I have yet to see someone do it in a professional way. I also think that if there were a lot more dialogue scenes that we're zoomed in (so there aren't that many silly cgi background distractions) it would improve a lot more of the performances, too.
In my opinion, butchering the story down to a hour long film is a waste of time and not worth watching. One only needs to do is make a point that the films do connect together, by making it known that the Clone Wars will start here with the acquisition of Naboo. The crawl should mention why this is — by being the sole place in the galaxy to contain a rare element that emanates a powerful energy that can be used in accelerated cloning, the Sith require it to begin their war against the Republic. Rewording the crawl to state the importance of Naboo is the first thing that should be done, so we the viewer know why the Federation wants it so badly.
Well, in any case, the mention of Naboo's rich plasma resources should be mentioned in the crawl, because it will also explain what that power facility that they fight in really is. ;)
Well the crawl would most definitely be re-worded considering two films are being mixed. While I don't despise it as much as most people, Episode I's crawl definitely did very little other than establish the very beginning of the film and specific details that would only come into play in the beginning of the third act of the film.
On the idea of dubbing over the Neimoidians and Gungans - I actually was inspired to make this edit because of one in particular I saw that did just this. I forget what it was called but both were subtitled and they spoke Spanish or something, reversed. Jar Jar was made into a cocky character and says stuff like "Go, you little bastard!" when Anakin is podracing. It was a very good idea, but it suffered so much from what I mentioned in my OP regarding the sound. It was very rough, and I want to avoid that. I thought of many ways to dub them and what I would have them say, but it almost seems like "why bother?" once I get past a certain point thinking about it. They would be re-dubbed though if parts of the story involving them are retained.
Anyways, thanks.