Stiletto, I actually started a thread over on fanedit.org about this particular 3-in-one prequel edit last week...and was going to do the same here at the time, but you just beat me to it. :)
Unfortunately I missed out on seeing this edit too, as the Vimeo video had just been removed before I got a chance to check it out. However, here's an in-depth summary of it (with a couple of screenshots) which you and others may find of interest - http://nerdology.tumblr.com/post/85248127225
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But here's something I thought worth mentioning -
When I read through some of the comments about it on the reddit.com link that you posted - http://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/254wsq/someone_edited_star_wars_episodes_iiii_into_one/ , I noticed that there was *another* Vimeo link 14 comments down by someone called haier which was still working at the time.
I presumed it was going to link to the STAR WARS:TURN TO THE DARK SIDE - EPISODE 3.1 edit by 'Double Digit' that all the commenters were talking about at that point...but it turned out to be a link to a completely different 3-in-one prequel edit called STAR WARS:A LAST HOPE instead!
As I was curious to see how it looked, I immediately downloaded it (using RealPlayer). Unfortunately, I didn't manage to mention it here in time, before it too was removed. However, I thought some of you might be interested in hearing some details about it, now that I've got some time to describe it -
First of all, I'm afraid I've completely forgotten the name of the person who put it up on Vimeo, as I didn't take note of it properly at the time (it was under a different name to that guy 'haier' who put the link up, I remember that)...but I recall that he mentioned in his video description that it was inspired by what we know of Topher Grace's edit, and that since Topher wasn't putting his version online, that he was putting a similar one up.
And I also recall that someone who'd watched both 3-in-one edits said in the comments below the video, that he considered it a better version overall compared to the STAR WARS:TURN TO THE DARK SIDE - EPISODE 3.1 edit that was getting all the attention that day - of course, views on what *should* be edited out or kept in, vary wildly from person to person when it comes to prequel fan edits. :)
(It's too bad that all the descriptions and comments also disappear when a video gets removed from Vimeo)
I haven't actually had a chance to watch the whole thing through yet, but I've checked how it starts and finishes...and it seems to be roughly similar to the online descriptions of Topher Grace's version, where we basically kick off with the 3-way duel with Darth Maul...and end on a shot of Vader. But there's certainly bound to be plenty of differences between this cut and how Topher's edit turned out...as well as some differences compared to the STAR WARS:TURN TO THE DARK SIDE - EPISODE 3.1 edit too, judging by the description about that in the link I've shown at the top here.
Anyway, here's some details on how the STAR WARS:A LAST HOPE edit starts and ends -
The usual fanfare music, logos and wording begin, followed by this scroll -
STAR WARS
Episodes l - lll
A LAST HOPE
There is unrest in the Galactic
Senate. A separatist movement,
under the leadership of the
mysterious Count Dooku, has
made it difficult for the limited
number of Jedi Knights to maintain
peace and order in the galaxy.
Subsequently, the Galactic Senate
approved the creation of an
ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC
to assist the overwhelmed Jedi.
Meanwhile, Supreme Chancellor
Palpatine has secretly dispatched
two Jedi Knights, Master Qui -
Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi -
Wan Kenobi, to put an end
to a shipping blockade led by a
dark lord named Darth Maul...
We then pan downwards to the usual roar of the red ship passing across our viewpoint towards the blockaded planet, as familiar music from the 'The Phantom Menace's 3-way Darth Maul duel now starts to fade in...
...and as the music swells, we then cut to the ship travelling downwards towards a bigger, circular blockade ship...
...and we then fade into a wide-angle shot of interior illuminated platforms as distant, tiny figures of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are seen fighting Darth Maul just before he kicks Obi-Wan over the edge...
The remainer of this duel footage then continues uninterrupted right up till the point where Obi-Wan holds the dying Qui-Gon who asks him to train the 'chosen one' (and that's *all* of the 'Phantom Menace' footage that we see)...
...and we then fade into a Coruscant cityscape from 'Attack Of The Clones' and then see an elevator rising with small white words saying 10 years later on the lower right-hand corner, which are then 'swiped away' by a passing flying transport...
...and we then cut to the conversation between an older Obi-Wan and Anakin going to meet Padme in her quarters about guarding her, and continue onwards from there...
So that's how this edit starts out, and I know there's a deleted scene or two included further on, such as where we see Padme's family. And now here's the way it's ending has been re-structured -
...the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel is inter-cut with the the Yoda/Palpatine duel throughout, before Obi-Wan eventually walks away from the dying Anakin after telling him he was supposed to be the 'chosen one'...
...and we then cut to Padme lying inside the ship as she asks if Anakin is alright, as Obi-Wan looks on worried...
...and then cut to the ship taking off with C3PO at the controls...
...and then cut to the ship landing at the planetoid facility...
... and then cut to the medical droid telling Obi-Wan, Bail, and Yoda that although Padme seems healthy, they are losing her and don't know why...
...and then cut to Padme giving birth to Leia and Luke and naming them, before she dies saying there's still good in Anakin...
...then after we see Yoda looking sad, we then cut to Bail, Yoda, and Obi-Wan on the Tantive IV, discussing hiding the babies (with no mention of Qui-Gon afterwards)...
...then cut to the Tantive IV ship flying to Alderaan as Bail gives baby Leia to his wife...
...and after the close-up of baby Leia, we then cut to Obi-Wan arriving at the homestead on Tattooine, as he then gives baby Luke to Beru and Owen...
...and after they gaze at the twin suns in the distance, we then cut to the close-up of Anakin's metal arm slowly dragging himself along, as the Emperor's ship then lands and he finds him and kneels beside him...
...and then cut to the Emperor's ship landing on the Curasont platform, as Anakin is taken out on a medical stretcher...
...and then cut to Anakin now suited-up on a table as his helmet comes down, and the movie ends with the side-on close-up of his helmet being attached, and heavy breathing... - although I seem to recall reading somewhere that Topher's edit ends on the frontal shot of Vader after the table he's on rises up...I could be wrong about that, and it might end on the side-on close-up shot too, for all I know.
(Note: The Vimeo video of the STAR WARS:A LAST HOPE edit was 2 hrs. 9 mins. 27 secs. long, by the way...and ended abruptly after the last shot of the helmet attaching, with no music or credits appearing afterwards)
So that should give you a rough idea of how this particular edit was structured, as far as it's beginning and ending go anyway - certainly something similar to Topher's shorter 1 hr. 25 mins. long version. I just thought it was worth describing, seeing as it seems to have appeared around the same time as the STAR WARS:TURN TO THE DARK SIDE - EPISODE 3.1 edit that was getting all the attention last week.
But at the end of the day, these kind of 'condensed' 3-in-one edits can't really satisfy me personally, as there's *much* more prequel footage that I'd still prefer to keep in my own versions eventually. And there's also the fact that I agree with a lot of the points made in the very top link I posted above...and would rather include a lot more of Qui-Gon's character in the first place for instance, so that his death by Maul has much more of an effect by the time it happens.
But as an exercise in radically cutting the prequel footage down to a single, self-contained movie that can exclude the 'younger' Anakin and Jar Jar, I can certainly see how some might prefer this kind of 3-in-one edit.
