The Blackened Mantle is the only edit I’ve seen thus far which had me fully invested in the story. My only reservation about keeping it as my “definitive” prequel viewing option is how it’s so stylistically different from the saga, which ironically is what makes me like it so much. It’s a stupid reason, I know. But I want that base-level of continuity to be preserved in my collection.
Apart from that, The Blackened Mantle is perfect, and I can’t recommend it enough.
I’ve toyed with the idea of recreating it with my own color-graded sources and a few tweaks of my own…but I haven’t found the time yet.