(The original thread can be found here:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/STAR-WARS-Episode-I-THE-ANCIENT-LORE-Episode-I-Remade-Proj-started-2014-WIP/id/56472/page/1)

STAR WARS - Episode I - The Ancient Lore [Improved]

2017 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQsEiWLaBDI

Episode I is the best-looking of the three prequels, with a lot of devotion put into them from both the crew, actors as well as the director himself before he went all ludacris on digital moviemaking. It is also the most dull of the three prequels, with little to no character motivation or even plot explanation.

Some of you might remember my very enthustiastic restructering of The Phantom Menace, and although it received a Fanedit of the Month and more positive than mixed to negative reviews, it had plenty of faults - most of which many of the viewers were kind enough to look past and give good and constructive criticism too.

The project burned me out for anything Episode I-related, for what is now nearly five years, and the sequel trilogy extinguished any flame left. Now that the Sequel trilogy is objectively worse than anything from the prequels I have found the fire in my heart again to show people how good The Phantom Menace can be, and how much potential there is for the Prequel Trilogy beyond the first and very-hated chronological entry of Star Wars.

The original, completed workprint (that will be followed):

• There are new visual effects, and many alterations to both audio (voice and alien language) as well as music and sound effects.
• Story narrative altered. The Nemodians are motivated by revenge as much as Sidious’s plot (;which is to create a clone army on Naboo).
• Appearances of Lord Sidious will have his hologram face hidden for a duration of the beginning to create mystery, as well as his hologram voice altered and new plot points given.
• The Nemodians (Nute Gunray & Co.) speak in foreign Alien language, to give of new and menacing voices, as well as completely new plot points for the story.
• The Purple saber of Mace Windu will be removed in my trilogy, and given to Qui-Gon. It makes him more important, and fits his rogue style as he choses not to be on the Jedi Council. Mace Windu will get green.
• Battle Droids has a new voice, but hardly ever speak.
• Jar-Jar Binks will serve as comic relief, although appearances or voice from him that diminish an important character or story moment, will be removed or decreased. His presence is that of C-3PO in A New Hope; he’s there, but he doesn’t take up screentime that he does not deserve.
• Qui-Gon is the main character of the story. This is very clear throughout. Obi-Wan and Anakin are side-characters that will get to shine a little bit throughout, but are part of a bigger puzzle to occur in the later entries of the trilogy.
• Anakin has, to the very best of my ability, become a very strict, grown-up kid with a lot of personality. This comes across in his dialogue with Wattoo and Sebulba, as well as his lack of stupid lines or groans or unecessary screentime. There are neither any accidents in his actions.
• Anakin is not born by virgin birth - but his Chosen One Prophecy has been reinstated, and his father died (although the fans can spectulate who his father would have been/is). His mother is all he has. Anakin and Padme’s love theme is given to Anakin and his mom and their relationship.
• Darth Maul has more screentime and presence throughout.

So, let’s dive into the changes:

• A new and improved source (Downscaled 4k footage (1080p) for more detail)
• A new color grade that better suit the Prequel Trilogy, and that utilizes keyframe grading to better support outdated CGI backgrounds).
• Fixed and fixing many reported errors (freezed frames, grading issues, audio transitions and more)
• Restructured the musical structure of the film. Many people enjoyed new bits of soundtrack and foreshadowing, some hated it. Removed plenty of instances of the new Maul theme (although it still is present in a more subtle way), removed the “Falcon Theme” in all instances except for the first time we see R2-D2 and he fixes the Royal Ship, removed and replaced instances of new soundmixing with the film’s original) and more. The ONLY soundtrack that I received some complains on that I am seriously considering leaving in, is the “Across the Stars” theme for Anakin and his mother (and Padme in EP II). It is such a beautiful theme that I always envision it as Anakin’s “Love Theme” for both his mother and his future wife. It being utilized for one movie as a sort of “I have butterflies in my stomach” theme for Anakin I think utterly diminishes the soundtracks power and effect on the audience, and is a waste for the overall impact it could have on the Prequel Trilogy.
• Fixed new CGI added for The Ancient Lore. This including for instance Sidious hologram on Tattooine, some background details have been refined and improved, and of course re-graded certain scenes to a much better effect that both fit the film more as well as better mask stand-out effects in the background.
• Improved pacing (by actually adding a little bit more footage to the Naboo Underwater scenes), and trying to go for better suspense as well as character building and humour.
• Improved Dooku hologram.
• Improved first act and third act pacing.
• Reinstated some lines I have found to better fit in the “new Star Wars” and that might actually serve a purpose.

And so much more

I will also add that I am considering creating a “The Canon Cut” further down the line for those who like their films to be “canonically correct”. But for now, this is not a fully-supported Canon edit, although you could easily watch The Ancient Lore and jump straight into EP II without scratching your head.

With a lack of a more imaginative subtitle for this entry, let’s just call it the Improved version.

It sounds so cool! I remember enjoying The Ancient Lore when I watched it.
Is it available already?

Thank you for your kind words, FanEditore.

It is not available, no. I will take my time with this one - and eye a May/June release date. Hopefully May the 4th.

sirlegion13 said:

Woah, I was just asking about your and this edit in the month’s discussion thread. Can I get a link to your Improved Version when you’re willing to share? Thanks in advance!

It is the will of the force, young Padawan. You shall see hope. There is always hope.

My PM inbox and threads are a mess of PM requests. When I release the edit, I advice you to PM me so I don’t forget it. Cheers!

sirlegion13 said:

If you’re open to suggestions, what originally drew my attention looking through IFDB was that you included bits from Maul: Apprentice. One of my biggest takeaways once I was able to see it, was that you made Maul a much more threatening villain by the end. I hope those additions survive the rework.

Very reassuring to hear that, Sirlegion. I will have to better integrate the footage with that of the original film than what I did in the original edit, but the structure and hopefully most of the footage will be there.

Thank you for your kind words! ❤️ Always appreciated.

I’m trying something on a whim here, and I am interested in whether this approach is working or not.

https://streamable.com/gov9qd

I am simply trying to create better conversations and some humour between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. I think the first portion works very well (up until “is going to be the death of me”), and the latter about 80%.

I’m trying to achieve a few things through this dialogue:

• Obi-Wan is inpatient and a little whiny, much like most Padawans are (Anakin will be). But with decent humour and irony.
• A little gab at the original film premise (diplomatic mission)
• Obi-Wan hating the planet, that he will once end up living on
• Qui-Gon trying to keep his Padawan’s mind focused on the Force and the ways of the Jedi.

Anjohan said:

I’m trying something on a whim here, and I am interested in whether this approach is working or not.

https://streamable.com/gov9qd

I am simply trying to create better conversations and some humour between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon. I think the first portion works very well (up until “is going to be the death of me”), and the latter about 80%.

I’m trying to achieve a few things through this dialogue:

• Obi-Wan is inpatient and a little whiny, much like most Padawans are (Anakin will be). But with decent humour and irony.
• A little gab at the original film premise (diplomatic mission)
• Obi-Wan hating the planet, that he will once end up living on
• Qui-Gon trying to keep his Padawan’s mind focused on the Force and the ways of the Jedi.

I think it works great! BTW, are those AI voices? What app did you use, those sound great!

I think it works great! BTW, are those AI voices? What app did you use, those sound great!

Yes, they are. Im using an AI Software released on github - with decent to very good results. Although I do have to tinker a lot before achieving something workable in both pitch and tone.

COMMUNITY:

I will need more feedback from people to know if it works good enough that with even more fine-tuning and precision things like this could be done to a good result.

Sirius said:

Hi, I posted some ideas for episode I in the community focus thread, and I think that some of them maybe could work in an edit like yours:

Most of these ideas are to some extent in the original TAL, which is very ironic if you haven’t actually seen my edit! I like the way you think!

Suffice it to say, I like the ideas! The Maul footage will need to thoroughly and seamlessly be incorporated to work (which I feel they only did at about 60% in TAL) and if I don’t find the right balance of color grade and perhaps motion, then I will exclude most of the footage and use the working bits (like a Yoda vision scene).

As for the only idea I haven’t tinkered with, Maul controlling the murderous sea creatures is actually very intriguing. The problem is that this will require major restructuring and probably some new VFX to introduce Maul in a way that doesn’t break the flow of the edit nor what I am aiming for with the story beats. Therefore I find it difficult if such an early introduction to Maul would actually work.

Perhaps if you watch the first 20 minutes of TAL you can conjure up some ideas. I am always open to them, but the most important thing here would be for the story to flow seamlessly. I fear that such an event would break the original flow of the edit, and also the mystery element of the first act.

Sirius said:
I like what other editors made with TPM, but for me this movie needs a bit more work than just cut bad parts/add deleted scenes, to be a better film. TPM is complex in that sense.

Exactly. There is a decent film in there!

arabian said:

This sounds very interesting. I, for one, would be very interested in a canon-compliant version. Can’t wait until you do that! But I look forward to May the 4th!

I am seriously considering re-structuring The Ancient Lore V2 to the original film structure - but with my story alterations, if that is what most people wish.

I remember this was very split back in 2018 at Fanedit.org. 50 percent insisted that the new structure made this edit unique, and the other 50% meant that the original structure would be easier to follow.

I suppose both are true, which is why choosing which to focus the most energy and time into - prioritize - is getting increasingly difficult as i get further into the process of editing.

One part of me think that going back to the original structure (but with my alterations made) will be the most accessible option for all viewers, and then doing the “Radical version” (which is more the original TAL structure) thereafter.

evansj1983 said:

That is a tough call. I remember watching it back then and being very intrigued by the changes you made. I don’t recall it being hard to follow - just it being very different.

Mostly I was into the addition of Dooku so whatever you choose to do, having that will make it continue to be a joy!

It is.

Interesting to hear opinions. Did you ever get beyond intrigued tho? Did you ever lose focus, interest or even completely fall out of the movie at places because of the new changes? Or did you find them easy to adapt to?

arabian said:

Honestly, my main issues with TPM are:
…
I just wish you could change the name Dooku because that remains the stupidest, worse SW name ever in my opinion.

Those are pretty much my issues since I embarked on this edit as well, along with bad character development, a weak villain and a total lack of a main character.

I could fix Dooku - which Is a stupid name (Count Evil would be just as fitting), but such things are so Canon-breaking that it would beg more trouble than resolution.

OBS:

And a half-assed but working fix for the Obi-Wan/Yoda dynamic could be through the use of the free Github Voice AI. I could easily have a decent result of Qui-Gon saying a line like this:

“After so many years as a Padawan of Master Yoda, I expect you to be more mindful of the force”.

I made a pretty good result of that line FakeYou, but the way he says Yoda is a little off. https://fakeyou.com/tts/result/TR:959h5qfr9nf3hma834kctxc4ztgp2 (If the link doesn’t work when you click on it, just copy and paste.)