Labirynth of Evil audiobook fanedit

Hello there!

Some of you may be familiar with this amazing fan-made adaptation of Labyrinth of Evil, in the form of a full-cast audio drama, released two years ago by Everest Productions.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9HmM9HzQYwo

This incredible fan production is directly inspired by the official German audio drama of Labyrinth of Evil, Labyrinth des Bösen (adapted into German by Oliver Döring).

The English fan-made adaptation covers the first third of the story (with two further installments planned), which mirrors the 3-disc/three-part structure of Labyrinth des Bösen.
The project was directed and mixed by Lord Krit, and the principle cast consists of Archer/TalkingNSuch as Obi-Wan, Sasstry as Anakin Skywalker, John Wilson as Palpatine, David Poddany as Yoda and some other great voice talents.

In terms of quality, this audio drama does not differ in any way from professional, top audio productions. Outstanding voice performance (most actors sound almost identical to their film counterparts. Some of them do better voice imitations than the cast of “The Clone Wars”), good sound effects, mix/master, John Williams’ music, high sound quality, plus an additional treat in the form of a visual boards for those who watch on YT. Definitely one of the most interesting and professional fan productions in recent years.

The fanedit idea:
Nevertheless, as great and perfect as it is, there is one small but…
As mentioned before, this fan-made adaptation covers only ⅓ of the novel (as it adapts directly only the first part of the German audio drama). Two years have passed and so far I haven’t found any update anywhere that would indicate when (and if) the creators plan to produce the next parts (which I understand is an extremely difficult and time consuming process).

So, as much as it’s definitely worth waiting for, if someone would like to listen to the entire story in this form, after listening to the first part, they will be left with a cliffhanger.
For example, me, I would personally return to the LoT audio drama regularly, maybe even every year, as part of the annual Star Wars movie marathon, if a full 3-part story was available.

And that’s where my idea for a ‘continuation’ (or more of a spiritual sequel) of this amazing project appeared.
I thought it would be a pretty cool idea to put together a fan-edit of the Labyrinth of Evil abriged audiobook. Of course, I realize that listening to an audiobook is not 100% the same experience as listening to an audio drama, nevertheless, I still think it’s worth giving it a try at least.

As already mentioned, the LoT audiobook is only available in an abridged form, which already makes the story more condensed (just like in the case of a 2-3 hour audio drama).
Moreover, as we all know, Star Wars audiobooks, both abriged and unabriged, stand out from most standard audiobooks - most of these productions use the full palette of sound effects and music from the movies, appropriate filters are applied to the voices of many characters (Vader, C-3PO, Grievous, etc.), and in the background there are all kinds of beeps, noises, screams and explosions. And above all, what makes those productions really exceptional, is the excellent narration. The narrators (like Jonathan Davis or Mark Thompson) can imitate really well the characters from the movies. Some protagonists (including Obi-Wan, Palpatine and Yoda) sound very similar to their counterparts from movies and TV series. Which makes the experience of listening to Star Wars audiobooks similar to listening to an audio drama. I think most of the Star Wars audiobooks sound more like a hybrid of an audiobook and a radio drama.

But to the point. Here’s more or less my idea for this fan-edit: remove the first 1/3 of the audiobook (e.i. all the chapters that were already covered by Everest Productions’ Part One), which would leave us, approximately, with 3/3.5h of the original audiobook’s content.

Then my idea would be to divide those remaining ∼3.5h into parts two and three.
Since the LoT audiobook was abridged, having parts 2 and 3 in a form of condensed 90-120min ‘’chapters’’ makes it closer to an audio-drama form.
Of course, I could also think about some additional trims, cut some redundant narration bits like ‘’Obi-Wan said’’, ‘’he added with a surprise in his voice’’ or ‘’he ignited his lightsaber’’ (when we can hear in the background that it has been ignited), etc. etc.

Also I have two alternative ideas/takes I’d like to consider:

1. maybe a bit too radical but I was thinking that maybe I could cut the whole attack on Couruscant part, since it was shown in 2005’s Clone Wars already. It would be still mentioned in other characters POV chapters, but the whole battle itself would be mostly cut. Although I have mix feelings regarding this solution. Because if someone doesn’t care about the animated TV show and they just wanted to re-live the events from the James Luceno’s novel again, it takes away too much content.
2. Instead of making Parts Two and Three, maybe I could create just one fanedit/combo-cut of the fan-made Part One, and the rest of the story would continue in form of a trimmed audiobook, as a one long ∼4h ‘’audio-drama’’. It’d still be shorter than an actual audiobook and should be more or less enjoyable experience. Tho the sudden change after the first hour could be too odd.

What do you think about this idea? Maybe someone tried something similar? All kinds of suggestions are welcome 😃