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Star Wars Episode II: The Approaching Storm (Released) — Page 11

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 (Edited)

I’ve just watched Hal’s edit on a big screen (well, I mean my home cinema, instead of the little window on my laptop used to synchronize the subtitles), and I concur: the video quality is great. There is some noise in a few scenes (mostly interior sequences where the production value is not full cgi), but the details are very good. I don’t quite remember the blu ray colors except the fact that I didn’t like them (saturated reds on Geonosis and some waxy filter used on every shot), here it feels more natural, less fake/digital. A slightly “grained treatment” (à la CLOAK OF DECEPTION) could indeed be the final improvement to make EpII look even better, or at least closer to EpI & III.

On the movie itself I won’t say that Hal’s cut has made of EpII a masterpiece, but it’s now highly watchable: most of the silliness is gone (only remains the silliness of the script itself), the “falling in love montage” is convincing (Anakin is no longer a whining piece of **** always talking about his boss and confessing mass murders, children included. He still has fascist tendancies but Padmé thinks he’s joking so it’s ok…), the political background is clearer (two interesting deleted scenes reinstalled), the pace is greatly improved. It stays the weakest movie of the franchise but now it no longer ruins everything. Un tour de force.

Once again, very good job !

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By the way, MalaStrana, you’re a lunatic for making these subtitles. It’s enough work just translating them (or correcting the Google Translate output), there’s a reason I chose not to do what you did! But I’m glad you did.

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Hal 9000 said:

By the way, MalaStrana, you’re a lunatic for making these subtitles.

Says the man who spent countless hours working on these edits 😃

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MalàStrana said:

[Anakin] still has fascist tendancies but Padmé thinks he’s joking so it’s ok…),

Objectively, a dictatorship is more efficient. If something needs to be done, and quickly, decisions get made without the endless squabbling.

That isn’t to say that it’s better since there is a greater potential for corruption due to so much power, and the ability for one man to lead civilization to ruin, but it is more efficient.

Anakin’s real problem isn’t his political views. It’s that the Council allowed him to get too friendly with Palpatine. Even Windu explicitly says he thinks it’s dangerous, but Obi-Wan trusts Anakin and allows him more latitude than he should have regarding that relationship.

JEDIT: Frankly, I prefer to delete the scene where Anakin turns to Yoda for advice on death (who, honestly, is nearly 900 years old and is absolutely the wrong person for a young adult to ask about it.)

It feels better to me if Anakin doesn’t seek advice from the Jedi at all. He turns to Palpatine because he values Palpatine’s opinion most, second only to Obi-Wan (whose opinion he automatically infers as disapproving and therefore doesn’t confide).

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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Interestingly (or not), I don’t really see the PT as the story of Anakin falling to the dark side, but as the story of Palpatine getting his way to [UNLIMITED !!!] political power. If I don’t buy at 100% Anakin’s fall (but roughly at 73.5%, in fan edits), I find that Palpatine’s plot to be more believable, in spite of unclear backgrounds to some parts of the story (yeah I know we can find explanations on everything on the internet, but my main source will still be the movies themselves). Lucas mixed up many cultural references (Dune, Othello, Roman Empire, Nazi Germany, modern day USA,…), and the result is very strange and daring. In proper hands this PT could have been as great as the OT. But at least, he tried something… (I liked TFA way better than the PT but sadly it’s a movie I barely have nothing to say about: it’s just a ride with no depth).

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MalàStrana said:

(I liked TFA way better than the PT but sadly it’s a movie I barely have nothing to say about: it’s just a ride with no depth).

I believe TFA will be given more depth as a result of what happens in the rest of the Sequel Trilogy. Because really, A New Hope, by itself without the rest of the OT, is similarly only marginally deep at best.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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chyron8472 said:

MalàStrana said:

(I liked TFA way better than the PT but sadly it’s a movie I barely have nothing to say about: it’s just a ride with no depth).

I believe TFA will be given more depth as a result of what happens in the rest of the Sequel Trilogy. Because really, A New Hope, by itself without the rest of the OT, is similarly only marginally deep at best.

I don’t agree at all, but moreover, if we put depth aside, ANH is more fun and creative than TFA (and by a long range). I nevertheless agree that EpVII will probably be stronger as the first chapter of the entire Sequel trilogy than it could be on its own (the first 30 minutes are quite good in fact, the rest is just rehash).

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MalàStrana said:

chyron8472 said:

MalàStrana said:

(I liked TFA way better than the PT but sadly it’s a movie I barely have nothing to say about: it’s just a ride with no depth).

I believe TFA will be given more depth as a result of what happens in the rest of the Sequel Trilogy. Because really, A New Hope, by itself without the rest of the OT, is similarly only marginally deep at best.

I don’t agree at all, but moreover, if we put depth aside, ANH is more fun and creative than TFA (and by a long range). I nevertheless agree that EpVII will probably be stronger as the first chapter of the entire Sequel trilogy than it could be on its own (the first 30 minutes are quite good in fact, the rest is just rehash).

As far as creativity is concerned, Star Wars was supposedly a clumping together and rehash of already established ideas from various shows and movies George grew up with. It’s fun, yes, but creative only in the sense that a new universe was created and populated with interesting characters and a particularly cool weapon. The fact that Episode VII is a follow up story in an established, and previously floundering franchise (given that, without OT.com, we’d be stuck with a crap PT and badly re-edited OT), it limits the level of creativity which one is allowed to use in telling a story and still call it both good on its own and a good addition to the series.

I’m a big Star Trek fan. I know all about how fans are nigh impossible to please when it comes to new franchise content. “Oh, but the JJ-verse sucks!” they say. To which I could reply with “Look, you hated DS9 because it was too much like Babylon 5 and not enough like TNG. Then you hated VOY because it was too much like TNG and not enough its own self. Then you hated ENT because it had too much fan service. Now you hate the reboots because they’re too much like Star Wars.” Give me a break.

In sum, it is my opinion that with VII they’re damned if they do and they’re damned if they don’t. It would never live up to the nostalgia people have for the OUT.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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I’m not saying Star Wars isn’t good. It’s fun, it’s colorful, and it’s humorous. It has adventure, character and action.

But it does supposedly outright steal ideas from Flash Gordon and such; the Force is only barely fleshed out; neither of the two major antagonists (Tarkin and Vader) are given much backstory, besides Vader having killed Anakin; and the Empire is oppressive, fear-mongering and violent, as a means unto itself.

It’s an adventure. It’s fun. It’s cool. And I’ve watched it dozens of times. But on its own, it’s not particularly deep. Now that I think about it, most of the depth belonging to the film is brought about through the character of Ben Kenobi–this old wise, inconspicuously powerful sage.

That’s why people like Empire Strikes Back so much–because it adds so much depth to the characters and the world around them. Then Return of the Jedi turns right around and is another classic adventure flick with a predictably happy ending.

The Force Awakens certainly has more depth than A New Hope. Rey’s backstory is more of a mystery than Luke’s; Kylo Ren’s unstable volatility makes him a deeper, more layered character than Vader; and there is a wider array of major and minor protagonists, given that the original ones reappear.

TV’s Frink said:

chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.

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Hi Hal,

Im watching V4 currently with your commentary, im just wondering when you recorded it because alot of the commentary seems to be out of sync with the scenes on display, starting from the Jango v Obi Wan fight

Many thanks for this edit and I love the rearrangement of the romance scenes

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bishabosha said:

Im watching V4 currently with your commentary, im just wondering when you recorded it because alot of the commentary seems to be out of sync with the scenes on display, starting from the Jango v Obi Wan fight

Well, I decided to included the extended landing on Naboo after recording the commentary, so I had to reshuffle several scenes. I tried to patch the commentary up to roughly match for that part of the movie, but evidently not well enough to fool you. 😉

My stance on revising fan edits.

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Well sir congrats on finishing this! I’m going to download ep2 and 3 v4 but I probably won’t watch them for a bit since I’m not in a SW mood just yet.

Cheers!

“This cannot be! Is… Is it an omen?”

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Hal 9000 said:

V4, the final version of this endeavor, has been released. Look for it in the usual places, remembering it sometimes takes a while to appear on FanEdit.info. I’ll get the upscaled deleted scenes out to you all very soon, along with English and French versions of MalàStrana’s subtitles (or Project TeeSeeFourteen). I do also still hope to someday do an encode of V4 using Eman’s regrades when they get finished. Nonetheless, it’s done.

I just checked on fanedit.info, and it looks like V4 is still not up.

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

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Ah…cheers!

Search your feelings, you know it to be true.

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Where and how can I download this fan edit? After I download it, is there a way to burn it to a DVD for my personal enjoyment?

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A few suggestions:

Delete the scene in which Jar Jar Binks proposes that the senate grant the supreme chancellor emergency powers and revise the opening crawl to state that the senate has recently granted the supreme chancellor emergency powers to counter the separatists. Delete the character Jar Jar Binks entirely.

Restore Anakin mentioning that attachment is forbidden for a Jedi Knight, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Restore the emotional fireplace scene when Anakin confesses his feelings, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Restore the love confession scene and Anakin’s surprise reaction to Padmé, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Restore the scene when Anakin slaughters the sand people and the scene when he tells Padmé but remove the lines in which he describes slaughtering the women and children like animals. Fade to black as Anakin states, “I killed them. I killed them all.”

Restore Obi-Wan and Anakin’s antagonism after Padmé falls out of the transport, which emphasizes Anakin’s love for Padmé and his change in character.

Restore the Geonosian war room sequences which reveal the plans for the ultimate weapon.

Restore Yoda’s epic duel with Count Dooku but edit it slightly for length.

Restore Darth Sidious addressing Count Dooku as ‘Darth Tyrannus.’

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Restore Anakin mentioning that attachment is forbidden for a Jedi Knight, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Restore the emotional fireplace scene when Anakin confesses his feelings, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Restore the love confession scene and Anakin’s surprise reaction to Padmé, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Oh god, this is the worst writing and acting in the entirety of the seven Star Wars films.

These scenes are the reason for fan edits.

Edit: wait. I didn’t realize you were the same person in the three threads asking for the edits as well as suggesting these changes. So these suggestions are based on cut lists. I think you should wait until watching the edits and see how you feel afterwards. If you still think these are good ideas, I have a feeling you may want to make your own edit, as the ideas are probably not popular (and everyone has their own idea of ideal cut lists).

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towne32 said:

Restore Anakin mentioning that attachment is forbidden for a Jedi Knight, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Restore the emotional fireplace scene when Anakin confesses his feelings, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Restore the love confession scene and Anakin’s surprise reaction to Padmé, which emphasizes the motif of forbidden love and explains why they needed to keep the relationship secret.

Oh god, this is the worst writing and acting in the entirety of the seven Star Wars films.

These scenes are the reason for fan edits.

Edit: wait. I didn’t realize you were the same person in the three threads asking for the edits as well as suggesting these changes. So these suggestions are based on cut lists. I think you should wait until watching the edits and see how you feel afterwards. If you still think these are good ideas, I have a feeling you may want to make your own edit, as the ideas are probably not popular (and everyone has their own idea of ideal cut lists).

Those never bothered me half as much as the stupid frolicking / hills are alive scenes.

“This cannot be! Is… Is it an omen?”

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That is true, towne32. I should probably watch the fan edit before I suggest alterations, but I have been unable to find and download it online.

However, if you cut the film scenes which explain the fact that romantic love is forbidden for a Jedi Knight, it is logically inexplicable why Anakin and Padmé would choose to have a secret wedding at the end of the film or why they would have to hide their secret marriage in Episode III.

Even if the dialogue in these scenes is relatively poor, the logical consistency of the plot is much more important than a few lines of dialogue.

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Scott109 said:

That is true, towne32. I should probably watch the fan edit before I suggest alterations, but I have been unable to find and download it online.

fanedit.info