The Phantom Menace - Expanded Edition (Completed and Released!)

Another addition to my own Expanded Series of films, as I tackle the first of the Prequel films.

• Added the Gungan bongo about to go over a waterfall as the Jedi and Jar Jar escape
• Added Anakin, Padme and the droids looking over the Pod the morning of the race
• Extended version of the pre-podrace grid sequence, an extra line from Watto sourced from the Theatrical Cut is also added
• Extended Podrace Lap 2 (this needs a bit of work combining the Blu-Ray/DVD Extended versions)
• Added Anakin having scuffle with a Rodian that is refered to as “Greedo” (although I’d like to avoid that personally with new subtitles)
• Added Anakin visiting Jira before leaving Tatooine, as Maul’s probe droid watches them, explaining them running in the final film
• Added alternate shot of Palpatine’s office from the Theatrical Cut
• Added a few extra shots of the Maul fight in the Theed Generator

There’s still a few additional shots of the Naboo fighters I haven’t had the chance to look at how they’d fit in, including the spinning fighter. If there is anything else I have forgotten, please do let me know.

Scenes to be included in a workprint

• Added 2 droids seeing the Jedi arriving on the Trade Federation ship, commenting on their importance
• Extended version of the Podrace wager between Watto and Qui-Gon
• Extended duel with Maul and Qui-Gon on Tatooine
• Added alternate version of Padme and Panaka telling the Nemodians they’ll have to explain this to the Senate (now in the Throne Room during the climax)
• Added Ric Ollie in the hanger questing the pilot who blew up the Trade-Fed ship, as Anakin lands

The only thing I don’t think I’d include in a workprint is the Bail Antillies/Organa scene since it confuses things a little with Jimmy Smits.

Current runtime is 2:22:36 compared to the Blu-Ray’s 2:16:11. I still need to look over the Extended DVD Lap 2 compared to the Blu-Ray and work on combining them in someway as it’s a big mess of what goes where. So the runtime will probably be longer by a minute or 2.

CLIPS

Here’s the extra Duel shots, taken from the Deleted Scenes documentary on the DVD and upscaled to HD. The score used is not final as I can’t quite get the right section of the track to line up, as well as the Lightsaber SFX not being there.

I’m looking forward to this. As good as fan edits usually are, there’s also something good about just adding all available media back to the films.

Bobson Dugnutt said:

The only thing I don’t think I’d include in a workprint is the Bail Antillies/Organa scene since it confuses things a little with Jimmy Smits.

I don’t know the context of the scene (I’ve only seen screen caps) but is there any actual dialogue that indicates that the fella is supposed to be the same character as Smits’? Or that they represent the same planet or whatever the actual confusion is?

Would it be possible to fit the scene in by just letting viewers assume they’re different people like the Wedge/Fake Wedge in ANH (who I didn’t even know were supposed to be the same person until it was pointed out that Fake Wedge was now a new character).

I had a closer look at the scene, trying to cut it in and honestly it’s not terrible but it’s clear that the scene isn’t all there. The colours are a real pain in the ass to get to match the final film though.

I also used the theatrical audio from ZigZig’s laserdisc, as the chanting “VOTE NOW” works a lot better in the scene than the revised DVD incorherent yelling.

Here is the scene in it’s current form.

This is the extended Coruscant establishing scene with an extended shot from the DVD Deleted Scenes, and a new shot of Palpatine’s office from the Theatrical Shot, borrowed from a recent 35mm scan. The next shot of Anakin and Jar Jar is also from that scan.

The way you’ve inserted it still works well besides the weird red tint it has (I don’t know why it has that considering the senate is blue and grey lit) and it works quite well considering the general level of CGI in TMP anyway.

TMP has a lot of instances of things that don’t particularly match the following two films (as well as being 10 years earlier) so another Senator from Alderan is no more out of place than the Jedi Council which is only about 50% carried over into AotC. Also, the Representative in the background with the hair buns and white dress is a nice nod to the OT whereas the look of Alderan in the rest of the PT is quite different.

Out of all the changes made to the PT the audio change from ‘Vote Now’ to ‘Incoherent Yells’ is the most bizarre and baffling.

Here’s a few new seconds of footage during the battle over Naboo. A vulture droid shoots down an N-1 fighter. The spinning fighter was included in many trailers, sometimes with or without flames.

(I figured out how to make gifs into links too!)

I’ve now gone in and redone all of the sound for the extended duel clip, which was a pain but it turned out great

Overall, I just need to go back and fix up the audio integrating the deleted scenes and the edit should be nearing completion

Bobson Dugnutt said:

I had a closer look at the scene, trying to cut it in and honestly it’s not terrible but it’s clear that the scene isn’t all there. The colours are a real pain in the ass to get to match the final film though.

you can use deepfake for change organas face with organas face…😉

ZaneFlare92 said:

I’m curious why the shots being mixed vs how it was edited for the duel of the fates. Looks and sounds great but it’s just throwing me off because when I was a kid and saw that it made me go like, “Oh that’s how they get up on the upper balcony!”. It starts on the upper balcony and back on the long ramp so it just throws me off lol.

It’s stuff like this and the whole cut probe droid scene that makes me question what the hell George was thinking back then, editing wise.

Here’s the extended podrace, combining the DVD and Blu-Ray versions to create the longest possible

https://vimeo.com/548672468

I just love how you extend these movies! Looking forward to this!

I hope one day you’ll take on ANH. I know there’s a lot of black and footage but I hope you wouldn’t let that hinder you from incorporating it in too!

darth_ender said:

I just love how you extend these movies! Looking forward to this!

I hope one day you’ll take on ANH. I know there’s a lot of black and footage but I hope you wouldn’t let that hinder you from incorporating it in too!

I definitely am going to look into doing an extended/lost cut of the original Star Wars after this. I’ve collected up all the unused footage in my Star Wars: Leftovers project, so everything is basically ready to go.

Work on the TPM edit has just about finished as I’ve recut the Podrace grid sequence to be mostly true HD footage now. Expect a recent soon-ish…

darth_ender said:

I just love how you extend these movies! Looking forward to this!

I hope one day you’ll take on ANH. I know there’s a lot of black and footage but I hope you wouldn’t let that hinder you from incorporating it in too!

…don´t forget esb and rotj…😃

JeromeTheEditor said:

Any updates on this? Clips look good so far.

This edit should be released this coming Monday as everything is pretty much set in stone.

Here’s a fun little bonus featuring some excerpts from the commentary track, with George, Ben Burtt and Rob Coleman talking about deleted scenes, with some added relevent visuals.

Will you consider doing an extended edition of Episode II as well? 😉

link?

So, did this edit ever get released?

I would want to see this too, especially the extended lightsaber fight! In one of the shorter extras on dvd (Prime of the Jedi, I think) there is also an extra shot of the actors in costumes fighting in the hangar that is not in the official movie. The lightsabers are not finished and the aspect ratio is wrong but I think with a bit of work it could be included to this expanded edit as well.

BrotherOfSasquatch said:

So, did this edit ever get released?

yeah think it’s on his reddit

I’ve been looking for some Star Wars fanedits for my upcoming rewatch and this looks very interesting and promising! Can I have a link?

I would also love a link to this, I sent a pm too. thanks!