Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Another Happy Sanding. (Released)

So, I’ve started work on my true edit of Episode III, which will be the follow-up to my other prequel edits, Faster More Intense and Sanded Down. So far, I’ve got a close to final cut of the opening sequence, through the crash landing of the Invisible Hand.

A few notes:

This edit will probably be a bit more conservative than my other two prequel edits, and probably one of the more conservative Revenge of the Sith edits in general. While the first two prequels are movies I don’t enjoy because of their flaws, ROTS is a movie that I enjoy despite it’s flaws, I just wish it could be better. Changes to the ordering of scenes and general structure will be less radical than most other ROTS edits. I won’t be making any effort to preserve the OT’s twists.

I might make two versions: one where Padme lives and another where she dies like in the theatrical cut. I’m not 100% set on this but it’s something I’m considering.

Edits I will be inspired by: Hal9000’s Labyrinth of Evil, l8wrtr’s Dawn of the Empire, Kerr’s Dark Force Rising, NFBism’s New Canon Cut and some ideas from The_Cutter’s unfinished edit.

Here’s an open question: how ruthless should I be with excising the Battle Droid’s vocalizations and humor? Most edits have been pretty severe on this front, but I tend to think that without a little bit of the humor, the fact that there are so ineffectual in this movie feels strangely out of place rather than a conscious choice. At least turning them into a joke “lampshades” it a bit.

I have a balance that I’m pretty happy with right now but I will upload a clip soon and let you guys weigh in on it.

EDIT:

It’s been almost a decade since I first dabbled with editing the prequels, and I think I finally have a trilogy I’m fairly happy with. Obviously I could keep making tweaks forever, but frankly I think I’m ready to put these projects behind me. “Another Happy Sanding” is ready for release and uploading as we speak. Please PM for a link, I’ll try to send some out tomorrow.

My overall philosophy with this particular edit was to focus on making a lot of small changes that add up to something greater, rather than radically altering the structure or flow of the film. Like always, Hal9000’s edit was a big influence and a primary source for this edit, but “Another Happy Sanding” diverges from “Labyrinth of Evil” in that it attempts to preserve the original structure of the movie. Like in the original film, Anakin’s fears of Padme’s demise serve as the primary impetus for his fall.

While I’ve made some cuts of my own, I’ve also restored some fan-favorite lines and moments of camp, like most of Yoda & Palpatine’s duel. It’s silly, but it’s fun & inventive and I miss its presence in other edits. I hope this edit strikes a good balance for most people.

Like the theatrical film, Padme dies at the end of this edit. I went with this ending partially in order to preserve canon, and partially because I feel like it’s the natural conclusion the movie is leading up to. I’m honestly pretty divided on this particular question though, so I may at some point upload an “alternate ending” version that concludes like “Labyrinth of Evil”, with Padme living on Alderaan. Chime in if that’s something you’d like to see.

Other edits that influenced this one are Kerr’s “Dark Force Rising”, L8wrtr’s “Dawn of the Empire”, NFBism’s “New Canon Cut”, and SiliconMaster482’s “Rebalanced” edit. I also borrowed a snippet of video from Bobson Dugnutt’s “expanded edition”, which originally borrowed from my “extended edition”. The circle is now complete, as Anakin would say.

Sade1212 provided a visual effects shot that was originally created for Hal’s edit but never used. Keep an eye out for it.

Last but not least, here is the mostly complete, but not exhaustive, cut-list: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1g2NmJYOkNHSzvguMgKMvTYaCcPSQqwOKI6nQNjMoxQM/edit?usp=sharing

I hope you enjoy and may the Force be with you!

i’ve waited a long time for this… my little, green friend.

by the way, have you ever watched ebumm’s edit? it’s a pretty conservative edit and trims the fat right where it should be trimmed imo, even though he could’ve gone a bit further in some places.

Here’s a first clip for you all to chew on: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YCXH3SjxVsjpE6lVYY2M8ZO50CFmk6DU

It’s Obi-Wan and Anakin’s first encounter with Grievous in the film. I heavily based the whole sequence on Hal’s but added some music and restored a little droid humor. Let me know what you all think.

And because I’m feeling generous today: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Q7YIPh7bvLMVilGPuxJKL1vbUUWsvCTK

The opening space battle and crash landing into the hangar is also heavily based on Hal’s version but once again I’ve restored some droid vocalizations. I’ve also added back a few lines of banter and made some small dialogue changes inspired by NFBisms to emphasize Obi-Wan’s and Anakin’s relationship as peers and good friends rather than as student and teacher. Anakin no longer uses the honorific “Master” with Obi-Wan, instead calling him by name.

My goal for the first twenty minutes or so of the movie is honestly just to show these characters having some honest-to-goodness swashbuckling fun before everything turns sour. If the tone borders on camp, I’m actually kind of okay with that. We need to establish that Obi and Anakin are good friends and equals now for those that didn’t watch The Clone Wars, and this should seem like just another one of their many adventures together. Most of the cuts I’m making are to improve the flow and focus of the movie, as well as downplay antagonism between the two friends.

Octorox said:

This edit will probably be a bit more conservative than my other two prequel edits, and probably one of the more conservative Revenge of the Sith edits in general. While the first two prequels are movies I don’t enjoy because of their flaws, ROTS is a movie that I enjoy despite it’s flaws, I just wish it could be better. Changes to the ordering of scenes and general structure will be less radical than most other ROTS edits. I won’t be making any effort to preserve the OT’s twists.

Oh! 100% with you. Feel the same as you do (I feel the same about TLJ by the way, but I believe that Hal’s edit is going to be very close to the conservative cut I’m looking for). I prefer Hal9000’s LoE over the theatrical/extended cuts, but my “perfect cut” would in fact be a conservative edit since there is lots a good stuff (or not bad) that’s always cut in every edit. Good luck ! I’ll definitely follow your thread.

Hal 9000 said:

Best of luck to you with this. I’d be more interested in it than the other two, given that it’ll be different enough from mine. While I’m pretty burnt out on these three movies, I’d be happy to help in any way which doesn’t involve watching the whole thing through in one sitting. 😃

Haha, I absolutely know that feel! Feedback on any of the clips I post would be wonderful, particularly from a technical perspective. I’d like this edit to be as close to seamless as possible, and I don’t think my other two prequel edits live up to that as much as I’d like.

I wasn’t happy with the abruptness of the cut in my 2nd clip when Anakin says “I’m not leaving without you” (I cut him referring to Obi-Wan as master). I’ve made an alternative cut of that sequence where I subbed that line for a cockpit shot from elsewhere: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xLKUYQAuvjYPhnlEhCt3_VnB11XKm-Dc

Let me know which you guys prefer.

I’m mostly on board with a conservative cut of ROTS, but I think other editors have it right removing the battle Droid voices. There’s still enough fun interaction between anakin and obi wan. And R2 for that matter, please keep him ramming into the wall. Lol! But none of the setting the battle droids on fire stuff

Yeah, rest assured, none of the slapstick with R2 and the Super Battle Droids will be in this cut (right now, it cuts from Anakin and Obi cutting down droids in the elevator to them exiting the elevator to find Palps, skipping all of the R2 antics in the process) I’m still cutting down the Droid humor mind you, I’m just not eradicating it like most editors do. I may do more if I get a lot of feedback to that effect though.

But real talk R2 still slams into the wall right

Really looking forward to this; best of luck.

Possessed said:

But real talk R2 still slams into the wall right

Yes 😃

Yesssssssssssssssssss

Could someone send me a pm to get his other 2 edits? I’d really like to see them 😃

SSBB1123 said:

Could someone send me a pm to get his other 2 edits? I’d really like to see them 😃

Seconding this, I foolishly didn’t save them.

Octorox said:

Here’s an open question: how ruthless should I be with excising the Battle Droid’s vocalizations and humor?

This will absolutely destroy your goal of not being too radical but you could have people dub them.

I would rather not. I wish this conservative edit to be conservative and hence aligned with the official versions of the PT.

Watch out, before you know it it’s gonna be the Bernie Sanders of fanedits.

Ok, if I may I’ve put some kind of a cutlist/don’t cut list (using Hal9000’s list) to what I more or less wish the edit to be (it’s merely suggestions, keeping the “conservative cut” point of view):

• keep original title and opening crawl

• keep the opening space sequence mostly as it is

• remove a few battle droid voices

• Dooku is not mentioned until he arrives to confront the Jedi

• keep the elevator sequence, but trim the R2 humor. Obi-Wan never refers to R2 by name.

• A match cut removes bad dialogue before the duel and the weird Dooku cgi jump

• Removed sound effects in the rear audio channels that were lifted straight from The Empire Strikes Back.

• Cut away as the railing starts to land on Obi-Wan. The original made it look like his legs were crushed.

• Anakin quickly decapitates Dooku with no influence from Palpatine. However, he still questions his actions. This makes him appear more mature and autonomous. (maybe a way to keep Palpatine “DO IT !” as the sole dialogue left ?)

• Corrected two inaccurate lightsaber ignition sounds during the opening sequence. Obi-Wan and Anakin’s sabers must match their ANH and ESB sounds.

• Removed as much silliness as possible during the fight on the bridge of the Invisible Hand

• insert “A Plot to Destroy the Jedi.” scene

• trim balcony scene

• Dialogue trimmed during Anakin’s appointment to the Jedi Council.

• Reinstated the deleted scene in Bail Organa’s apartment

• keep the opera scene as it is (yeah, even with the reference to midichlorians which implies Anakin to be Palpatine’s son)

• Reinstated the sunset meeting between the loyalists and Palpatine

• Trim Padme’s apartment to remmove a dialogue about the jedi council

• keep Boga’s noisy introduction (western vide ! 😃)

• Removed Grievous’ line, “You will be safe there.”

• Trimmed Grievous’ lunge that Obi-Wan does not react to

• reorder the duel à la L8 in order to keep the Sergio Leone close-up and to keep “you are doom” and the Force punch

• Trim the now redundant scene in the war room talking about a plot to destroy the Jedi

• Removed Palpatine’s voiceover as Anakin waits in the Council room

• keep Paplatine v Windu dialogues as they are, especially the “Are you threatening me, Master Jedi?” line which is great

• Trimmed the lightsaber fight to remove the lame close ups on Palpatine’s face

• As Anakin enters the scene, Windu is already going to kill Palpatine, who defends himself with force lightning and sends Windu falling to his death. Use Hal9000 version of this scene

• maybe use Hal9000 version of Anakin and Palpatine dialgues, with no mention of Padme during the knighting of Vader scene.

• removed the scene where Anakin ignites his saber on a roomful of children

• trim Yoda’s interactions with the Wookiees after Order 66, but keep the fact Yoda leave the planet with a small ship

• keep R2 popping out of Anakin’s fighter

• keep Obi-Wan and Yoda’s fight to enter the Temple

• removed Yoda’s line that sees Anakin and Vader as separate people

• keep the duel between Yoda and Palpatine but trim some dialogues (this fight is corny but it’s still a lot of fun to watch)

• Padme is never informed about Anakin killing children

• Removed Obi-Wan sneaking into the bathroom on Padme’s ship

• Removed most asinine dialogue as Padme arrives and confronts Anakin, including “I saw your ship.” No reference to younglings

• keep dialogue about the ‘high ground’ at the end of the duel.

• Removed Obi-Wan referencing the chosen one prophecy during Anakin’s immolation

• keep Padmé ding, but remove the “lost her will to live” line

• Replaced Vader’s scream with the Russian dub

• insert deleted scene of Yoda arriving on Dagobah.

i don’t get the “obi-wan should never refer to R2 by name”. honestly, it doesn’t change anything, because they’re still in the very same room and Anakin calls him by his name so… it just seems a bit pointless to me.