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The changes sound interesting! I’d be down to check out what you have
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Hello all,
I’m in the process of completing my edits of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and am currently doing version 2 of my TPM edit.
I have trimmed many scenes to improve pacing, removed as much exposition as possible, and altered dialogue of the alien characters throughout the film.
An overview of what I’m doing:
New opening crawls for each film.
Opening titles: I’ve used the 4K77 versions of the 20th Century Fox opening titles, the “A long time ago…” text and the green Lucasfilm title.
Some colour corrections where appropriate, in particular to remove the magenta tint and blue tint found in The Phantom Menace Blu-ray release.
I am aiming to have these films match the tone, pacing and storytelling style of the original (pre-Special Edition) Star Wars Trilogy. I want to edit these films so that the prequels wouldn’t give away too much information that you would later find out in Episodes 4, 5 and 6, so that these edits could be viewed prior to watching the original trilogy if desired. For example, in my edit of episode 3 there is no hint that Palpatine is a Sith Lord until he reveals his true self in Revenge of the Sith, and the name “Darth Vader” isn’t used in my edit, thereby retaining the surprise revelation in The Empire Strikes Back.
I’ve sought to remove the poorly-timed, and poorly-executed attempts at humour throughout the prequel trilogy. So, there is no slapstick humour, no poo or fart jokes, and no silly conversations from Battle Droids or Super Battle Droids.
I’ve re-recorded and replaced the dialogue for the Gungans as well as the Neimoidians. Replacing the dialogue allowed me to create new subtitles for them, which in turn granted me the opportunity to alter and hopefully improve their characters.
I also added in new subtitles for these characters, with alternate dialogue to what was in the films, and did my best to improve the flow of the story, and also improve the characters too.
I have upscaled two deleted scenes, several deleted shots, plus some alternate footage.
Thanks to:
JoyOfEditing.
Dazman.
Greenturnedblue.
A list of the major alterations, cuts, trims and additions:
I’ve been able to utilise an SFX-only track, which when coupled with an isolated score, means that I have been able to remove a lot of dialogue, without deleting any SFX or music.
- Colour grade: I’ve greatly lessened the blue tint and magenta tint found on both the 2011 and 2019 Blu-ray releases.
- New opening crawl.
- A light film grain has been added.
- Jedi: no prophecy, no “chosen one”, no midichlorians.
- Battle Droids: no more “Roger Roger!” or “D’oh!” or other silly comments.
- Jar Jar Binks: I’ve removed the childish antics, and instead tried to make him more of an adult, and someone who isn’t a useless, bumbling Buster Keaton-style clown. I did my best to actually make him an interesting and useful background character.
- The Neimoidians: using subtitles and re-recorded dialogue allowed me to make these characters seem far more sinister and ruthless.
- Anakin Skywalker: no more “whoops!”, “yippee!”, or other unnecessary antics. I tried to edit it in a way that made him a far less silly young boy.
- Ric Olie: his name should really be changed to “Captain Obvious”, as he spewed out an enormous amount of exposition. I’ve cut as much of his nonsense as possible.
- Naboo: I have added lights visible from space.
- Trade Federation: at the beginning of the film, as the republic cruiser enters the battleship, I’ve added in a blue shield, similar to what is seen in ROTS.
- Trade Federation starship: the use of ‘power windows’ by the colourists was sloppily done, resulting in there being no colour on Qui-Gon for several frames. The colours have now been restored.
- Trade Federation starship: since I’ve removed the dialogue from Qui-Gon about trade negotiations (heard when the chrome-coloured TC-14 droid is serving drinks), I’ve adjusted his mouth movements so that the dialogue could be removed.
- Trade Federation starship: slightly trimmed the explosion of the rebel cruiser, to improve the pacing.
- Droids going to confront the Jedi: I’ve created a clean background plate, in order to use a few frames of footage of the commander droid opening up the door, but still removing the hologram of Nute Gunray.
- Jedi battling the droids: this is one continuous shot, with no cutaways to the Neimoidians.
- Jedi getting away from the Destroyer Droids: I’ve used a small part of the cinema (theatrical) version of their run. I’ve upscaled the footage, plus removed specks of dust and dirt.
- Queen Amidala: slightly pitched her voice up, to reduce the deep voice heard in the original film.
- Queen Amidala: the power cable visible in the background has been removed.
- Partial deleted scene added back in: the Jedi and Jar Jar walking up some stairs in the city of Theed, simply to establish that they have reached the city.
- Also, with the insertion of the deleted scene of the Jedi arriving on Theed (walking up some stairs past a fountain), the original music in the deleted scene didn’t match up with the rest of the film. I’ve removed the audio tracks, inserted background ambient sound & sound effects, plus used a different piece of music from the TPM soundtrack, so that this footage & music will join up seamlessly with the original film.
- For the scene with the Queen and handmaidens walking down the steps in Theed, I’ve replaced the overly cheerful, upbeat music, when the citizens of Theed are being put into prison camps…I’ve used a different piece of music for this scene, in order to create a more serious tone.
- Jedi rescuing the Queen: I’ve used the VFX done by JoyOfEditing, to remove Jar Jar jumping to the ground below.
- Naboo hangar: removed Panaka saying that there were too many Battle Droids, and the reply from Qui-Gon that it wouldn’t be a problem. That line ruined any potential interest in a short skirmish between the Jedi and the Battle Droids.
- Panaka: removed the “…sitting ducks” line.
- Artoo repairing the shields: trimmed some shots, to have less of the “Oh look! It’s Artoo!” type of moments.
- Darth Maul hologram: in the original film, the stars behind him are blue; this has now been corrected to show white stars in the background.
- The Queen thanking Artoo: a few trims to improve the pacing.
- Padme chatting with Jar Jar: removed her asking if he’s a Gungan.
- Padme cleaning up Artoo: there is a flipped shot at the very end, which I have changed.
- Ric “Captain Obvious” Olie: removed him saying “That’s it: Tatooine”.
- Captain Panaka: no second instance of him saying “Wait!” when calling to Qui-Gon on Tatooine.
- Removed Qui-Gon saying “No more commands from Her Highness today”.
- No extra instance of Anakin saying “An angel?”.
- Jar Jar Binks: entirely removed his juggling antics in Watto’s shop, yet retained the full video of Qui-Gon walking.
- Padme and Anakin chatting: small trims to improve the pacing, and cut down on unnecessary information (reduce exposition). Some other dialogue has been removed, as both characters wouldn’t be able to see Watto & Qui-Gon from where they are inside the shop, nor would they be able to hear the conversation outside, yet in the film they are seen to be reacting to what is going on outside.
- Watto: new subtitles, with alternate text to what was in the original film.
- Watto: removed his line about being a Toydarian.
- Anakin building his podracer: I’ve removed Threepio from the background.
- Starting up the podracer: removed Jar Jar’s antics. Utilised some production artwork from an ILM employee, which removes Threepio from the abovementioned scene.
- Podrace: this has been greatly reduced in length, and some scenes have been reorganised. The podrace looks amazing, however it does take up a large amount of time, and in some parts is a bit slow (there are even some duplicate shots during the race). I relocated some scenes, and have inserted new audio of crowds cheering, as well as music from the TPM soundtrack. I have edited it to hopefully be a much more interesting and fast-paced sequence now. Anakin’s podracer doesn’t stall at the start, and there is no “spinning out of control” sequence either, plus no commentary from the two-headed race announcer.
- Scenes of other racers having engine trouble, Tusken Raiders, droids collecting damaged parts, Jabba The Hutt, and the food vendor have all been cut. No final shot of Sebulba sliding to a stop; his fate is left unknown. Also cut is Shmi saying to Anakin that he has given hope to people; winning a sporting event is hardly going to inspire the citizens of Tatooine!
- I’ve also reduced the excessive amount of close-ups of Anakin, plus made several trims so that he fixes his podracer much more quickly. The last moments of the race have been trimmed to improve the pacing, plus shots right near the end of Kitster, the crowd, Qui-Gon et al have been relocated.
- No Jabba The Hutt or other galaxy-shrinking cameos.
- No “pathetic lifeform” remark from Obi-Wan. In my edit, Jar Jar is no longer useless or pathetic!
- Obi-Wan’s braid: I flipped a shot to correct a continuity error, where his braid was on the wrong side of his head.
- The final conversation between Shmi and Anakin has been trimmed, so there’s less conversation, and more of a focus on the emotional aspect of what is occurring.
- Deleted scene added back in: Sith probe droid following Qui-Gon and Anakin.
- Removed Anakin saying “Qui-Gon sir! Wait, I’m tired!”, as well as Qui-Gon’s line “Tell them to take off!”, since Anakin doesn’t do it.
- Darth Maul on Tatooine: re-colour his Lightsaber blade so that it’s red, and not orange.
- Darth Maul on Tatooine: in some shots the Lightsaber blade is translucent; the blade’s solid core has been restored.
- Reinserted the shot of Palpatine’s office building from the TPM cinema (theatrical) version. I’ve removed any dirt, dust and scratches present in the footage.
- I’ve upscaled and inserted a shot of the spinning N-1 Starfighter from the TPM trailer.
- No “ascension guns” sequence. I’ve cut it to appear that Padme & the Naboo Soldier’s search for the Neimoidians all takes place on the one level of the palace.
- Since I’ve tried to make Jar Jar a more useful character, the first encounter with him is brief; he informs the Jedi of the city of Theed, which makes the trip to Otoh Gunga sequence redundant, so that has been deleted. I’ve removed him calling the 14-year old Queen “pretty hot” in the air taxi sequence on Coruscant, plus also removed his snoring during the trip to Coruscant.
- See-Threepio: he isn’t in my edit of Episode 1. Anakin isn’t “The Maker” in my edits; Threepio’s inclusion in this film served little purpose, and seemed to be nothing more than a way to add more exposition. An example of this can be found during the podrace sequence, where Threepio mentions how many laps there are to go, as if the audience is made up of nothing but idiots who constantly need to be told what’s going on. For a few scenes, Threepio has been removed from the background, and his dialogue has been removed too.
- Senate: removed any reference to the taxation of trade routes, to comply with the revised opening crawl of the film.
- Removed the tiny hint of a smile from Palpatine after Queen Amidala decides to go back to Naboo.
- Removed the line “This may be the clue we need to unravel the mystery of the Sith.”
- Captain Tarpals: no introduction by him of the Queen (“Your Honour, Queen Amidala of the Naboo”), as she later introduces herself anyway. His dialogue has been re-recorded, with new subtitles.
- Boss Nass is now referred to as being a Prime Minister.
- End sequences have been altered and / or restructured:
- I’ve upscaled deleted footage of N-1 starfighters being destroyed, and inserted the footage into the film. JoyOfEditing has done a fantastic job with compositing the footage into the film!
- Naboo: restructured and relocated some scenes, for example when the Naboo starfighters are about to battle the Vulture Droid fighters, it originally went: shot of N-1 starfighters > shot of Vulture Droid fighters > Pilot saying “fighters straight ahead”. The audience could already see that fighters were approaching, so this line is a bit out of place. I have reorganised it to: shot of N-1 starfighters > Pilot saying “fighters straight ahead” > shot of Vulture Droid fighters.
- Slightly restructured the beginning of the Gungans seeing the Battle Droids. Originally it went from: Gungans stop > raise shields > Trade Federation tanks come over the hill. I’ve changed it to: Gungans stop > Trade Federation tanks come over the hill > the Gungans raise their shields.
- Going to the hangar: trimmed the conversation between Qui-Gon and Anakin, plus reorganised some scenes to follow the Jedi into the hangar, and show their movements in sequential order instead of being interspersed with other footage.
- Removed multiple shots of Anakin looking at the battles around him; these shots seem to only be there to direct the viewer’s attention to a different area.
- Anakin getting into and starting up the starfighter: I’ve removed a lot of the unnecessary cutaways.
- Anakin flies the starfighter into battle of his own accord (no autopilot).
- The Jedi and Sith duel mostly plays out in full.
- I restructured the sequencing of the end battles.
- Qui-Gon dies after Maul kills him. There is no request from him to Obi-Wan to train Anakin.
- Removed the blood spray when Obi-Wan cuts Darth Maul in half. There was no blood spray when other characters in the prequels or original trilogy were cut by a Lightsaber.
- No line from Palpatine stating that he would watch Anakin’s career. It’s best to hide his ideas and motivations, to retain some kind of mystery about his real intent and identity. He is the phantom menace in this story, after all!
- The conversation between Yoda and Obi-Wan prior to Qui-Gon’s funeral has been trimmed.
- The funeral scene is cut differently; there is no final shot of Palpatine, as it is unnecessary to draw attention to that character. The original final shot of him makes it far too obvious that he has something to do with what has transpired during the course of the movie.
- There is no end celebration; after Mace and Yoda speak, there is a final shot of Qui-Gon on the funeral pyre, then there is an iris-wipe to the end credits, thus creating a far more sombre finish to the movie.
My edits:
https://ifdb.fanedit.org/fanedit-search/tag/faneditorname/phase3/
