SparkySywer said:

However, I am looking for ways to remedy this problem. I’m curious about buying 4K downloads of the prequels (or 1080p, at least)

I recommend you use Schormann’s preservation of TPM as a base for your edit. It’s in 1080p, it’s equivalent to the DVDs changes-wise, and looks way better than either the 2011 HD Blu Ray or the 2020 4K Blu Ray.

Thanks for the info. Do I obtain it by sending PM’s to schorman13?

Thanks for the advice, Sandman. Unfortunately, I already tried Davinci Resolve, and when I imported the file, the audio became nothing but white noise. All I’m getting is nothing but KRRRRRRRRRRRRR through the whole video. I have no idea what’s going on with that, but it makes editing on Resolve worse than what I’ve got, because at least the audio is crystal clear on Shotcut. If you have a solution for this problem, I’d be happy to hear about it, because Resolve does look pretty good from what I’ve seen.

I’ve just downloaded Audacity and I think it’s going to take me a while to understand how it works. In the meantime, though, I think I will take this opportunity to post more of the changes I’ve made for the time being while I get acquainted with sound editing and how it all works. I think I’ll continue where I left off previously.

Queen Amidala’s introduction

Originally, I planned to have Amidala’s intro scene with her sending a message to the Neimoidians. But after looking it over, I realized that when you think about it, it’s a useless scene. All that happens is that Amidala tells the Neimoidians that their trade boycott has ended, how the federation has gone too far this time, and blah blah blah. While the Neimoidians do nothing but deny deny deny. By the end of the scene, nothing is accomplished whatsoever. All that happens is that Naboo’s communications get disrupted. So, I’ve decided to cut it. I’ve also cut out the actual communications disruptions scene as well. It’s a poorly written scene anyway. The governor says “a communications disruption can only mean one thing: invasion.” But I think Mr. Plinkett says it best. “It could also mean you forgot to pay your phone bill.” I also think Amidala’s line “I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.” is pretty stupid considering that she lets a bunch of gungans die for her cause at the end of the film. So, Amidala’s official intro in this edit is now the scene where she’s alone while the palace is being invaded, which occurs 10 minutes in.

Now, about Jar Jar…

Let’s get this out of the way. Yes, I hate Jar Jar. We all do. However, I agree with both the l8wrtr and HAL9000 edits keeping him in the movie anyway. The problem has to do with the plot. Jar Jar’s involvement near the end of the 2nd act is such a big deal in this film that cutting him out only makes the plot even more complicated than it already is (and this film is already complicated enough). However, what I can do is take out a lot of the really bad moments. I went through the trouble of cutting out a lot of his wild overreactions, poop jokes, and clumsiness for obvious reasons.

We’ll begin with his introduction scene. Now, right off the bat, I took out the first few shots of Jar Jar reacting to the tank. We don’t officially see him until Qui-Gon grabs him. Those first few shots were a bad sign of things to come with this character. So getting rid of them helps.

This leads me to the first official change that I’ve made myself without any influence from other cuts. After Qui-Gon saves his life, Jar Jar says “Hey wait!” Cut to Qui-Gon saying, “Now get out of here!” Bad joke, I know. But it’s so much better without Jar Jar saying he’s intelligent because, “I spek.” Now, the movie gets to the point: Jar Jar is the gungan’s name, Qui-Gon is now his humble servant, and it’s demanded by the gods.

I also took out Jar Jar’s freak out when the droid on a speeder shows up. One of many annoyances I’ve removed from this character. Jar Jar’s line “More? More did you say?” has also been deleted.

Next, we move to the second change I’ve made myself. It’s another bad joke, but it takes so much filler out of the movie. After Jar Jar mentions to Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon about Gungan city, Qui-Gon asks if Jar Jar can take them there. Jar Jar responds with “On second thought, no.” Cut to Jar Jar in Gungan city, saying “So good being home.” All of the stuff with swimming underwater to the city, the jedi pulling out those breathing things, and Jar Jar’s ridiculous antics at the lake, are gone in an instant. Now we’re cutting to the chase. And the best thing is that we’re only 7 minutes into the movie now.

Now we’re getting to Jar Jar’s arrest. One of the more disappointing things I ended up keeping was the phrase, “Meesa back!” I tried cutting that phrase out, but when I did, it ruined the pacing of the scene. So, until I find a better alternative, I’m stuck with it. I’d be happy to hear a few suggestions on how to get rid of it. I promise it’s one of the few things I’ve kept. And to prove it, I also took out the line “Yousa in big doo doo this time.” Yeah, anything that involves poodoo, fodder, or just doo doo is going out the door. “How wude.” has also been deleted.

The Boss formerly known as Nass

If you’ve been reading my tomes so far, you’ve already noticed that I’ve included the Gungan City scene in this edit. I know some editors have kicked this scene out. HAL9000 especially. However, I agree with the l8wrtr edit on this one for structural reasons. The Boss Nass scene establishes right away that the gungans don’t like the Naboo, which is a major plot point. That kind of setup is important. With that said, I’ve edited this scene heavily. A lot of the dialogue about Naboo and the Gungans being a symbiote circle and “once those droids take control of the surface, they will take control of you.” has been deleted, since a lot of that dialogue makes no sense. I’ve also taken out all of Nass’s weird noises, as they serve no purpose. The planet core dialogue is gone, too, since it also makes no sense at all. I have kept the stuff involving Qui-Gon getting transport out of the city, though, since that’s how the plot moves on. Jar Jar’s dialogue has been shortened too. I’ve taken out “Theysa settin yousa up. Going through the planet core? Bad Bombin’” However, I’ve kept the line “Any help here would be hot.” Even though it’s a terrible line. The context of that line now has something to do with Jar Jar becoming Qui-Gon’s humble servant. I’ve also taken out his “mmmm”s and “heh-heh’s” during that line delivery. I’m also working on seeing if I can delete Jar Jar’s groaning from the soundtrack after hearing about how he’s going to be… Pune-ished. Jar Jar’s bad joke about how he’s “better dead here than dead in the core” is gone.

I will continue posting other changes over the coming days and weeks as I learn how to take care of the sound.

Well, that was fast. I’ve just managed to edit my way into the end credits and I’m ready to say that I’ve gotten into the rough cut stage. As of right now, my edit is running at 91 minutes, which is a surprise to me given that I expected it to be shorter. Still, I think being around the 90 minute mark is a pretty good spot to be. I’m still gonna make changes, but as for the general stuff, I’ve gotten that out of the way now. However, I expect that the hard stuff is about to come. I still have to rewrite the opening crawl. I’m gonna see what I can do about some of the transitions, as I’ve had to cut out a lot of wipes and transitions during this fan edit. I’m planning to download Audacity and see what I can do about the sound quality and droid voices.

So yeah, the main stuff is out of the way. The technical stuff is still to come. I’m going to see what I’m allowed to post as far as changes are concerned, but I’m gonna see if I can add more info on what I’ve changed so far.

See you around, and may the force be with you.

Over the last few days, I’ve started work on my own fan edits of the prequels for the same reasons everyone else has done. I was first exposed to Episode I when I was a wee lad of 10, and at the time, I was a stupid kid. Over time, though, it’s obvious that this film (and II and III, respectively) have aged… Poorly. My loss of interest only continued after seeing Mr. Plinkett’s reviews from Red Letter Media.

Still, despite the issues, I always believed that there are some good movies in here somewhere. Having seen several fan edits (which I will get to in a minute), it’s clear that there are. This is my attempt to improve Episode I and fix many of the problems that have haunted this film since its theatrical release.

First, a little background…

I am cuckoo for movies. I have seen so many classics, it’s borderline pretentious (For example, my all-time favorite movie is a toss-up between Orson Welles’ incomplete masterpiece, The Magnificent Ambersons, or the silent film classic, The Passion of Joan of Arc). I have studied writing of many types, from screenwriting to comics to even novels and stage plays. But the one book I’ve gotten the most useful information from is Aristotle’s Poetics. I intend to approach these prequels with Aristotle’s techniques. The two rules that I am following religiously are 1. to make everything necessary, and 2. to make everything probable. It’s those two rules that I will do my best to follow throughout these edits.

In preparation for this fan edit, I have also taken inspiration from several other edits. The first edit is, well… The theatrical version. The second edit is the infamous Phantom Edit. The third, and my personal favorite, is the l8wrtr edit. And finally, we have the HAL9000 edit. I intend to make this edit my own version, but I have borrowed several ideas from these four edits of the film.

Next, let’s talk about what I’m using…

Right now, I’m editing Episode I on an open-source editing program called Shotcut. I’m still learning the ropes on this program, and I’m still wondering what I can do about sound editing. If I can’t find a solution to the sound, I might download another open-source program for sound and audio editing. I’ve heard a lot of good things about Audacity, so I might give that a try in the future.

Now, let’s talk about quality.

It’s a big concern, and alas, the only versions of the prequels I have for now are my DVDs, which have been sitting around collecting dust. Fortunately, the 2-disc DVD sets contain a few deleted scenes that are necessary for the plot. Still, this means that for now, I’m not editing in HD or 4K at the moment. However, I am looking for ways to remedy this problem. I’m curious about buying 4K downloads of the prequels (or 1080p, at least). So, I will try to amp up the quality factor in the future. For now, though, these edits are DVD quality. My apologies in advance. I think I’ve made it clear already, but the sound quality is also really choppy at the moment. On occasion, I’ve had some luck in finding a seamless edit, but there’s much to be done about the sound. That’s a work in progress.

Alright. Hopefully that’s enough technical stuff to keep you curious. Let me give you a taste by going through all the changes I’ve made to the opening “negotiations” scene in Episode I.

Changes I’ve made to the opening negotiations scene:

-The Neimoidian line about how the blockade is “perfectly legal” has been cut. Why do they need to tell the jedi that it’s legal?
-The flat-angle shot of the jedi meeting TC-14 has been cut. Now, we go from the ship landing to Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon entering the room.
-Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon’s discussion ends after Qui-Gon tells Obi-Wan to “be mindful of the living force.” All talk about how the viceroy may deal with the chancellor’s demands, how the Neimoidians are cowards, and how the negotiations will be short have been cut. And yes, Obi-Wan’s bad line about how the “negotiations were short” is also gone.
-The lines “What? What did you say?” “They’re here to force a settlement.” and “Are you brain-dead?” have been cut from the Neimoidians’ discussion on their discovery of the ambassadors being jedi.
-The moment where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan have a drink is gone. This moment brings up a plot hole as to why the Neimoidians didn’t just put some poison in their drinks. Therefore, I have removed it.
-I have started the scene where the Neimoidians contact Sidious late. Now, the scene begins with Sidious saying, “This turn of events is unfortunate.” Thus, the moment when Sidious says “Viceroy, I don’t want this stunted slime in my sight again” has been cut, as well as all that annoying talk about how “The blockade is finished!”.
-“My lord, is that legal?” as well as “I will make it legal.” have been deleted. They’re the bad guys, and they take orders from a scary looking cloaked man. Why do the Neimoidians care about how legal this all is?
-The line “The chancellor should have never brought them into this.” has been deleted. Now, Sidious just says, “Kill them immediately.”
-I have removed the scene where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan turn on their lightsabers and Qui-Gon deducts the gas as “dioxysin.” or whatever the gas is called. How would Qui-Gon have known without smelling it and getting himself killed? Besides that, the only reason it’s in here is so that we know the jedi heard the explosion from the ship, which is a pretty halfhearted reason to keep it in.
-“They must be dead by now. Destroy what’s left of them.” has been removed.
-Most of the cutaways and dialogue from the Neimoidians are gone. Much of this dialogue puts the Neimoidians in a weak light, and ruins a lot of the tension in the scene. The lines I have kept, however, are more action oriented lines, such as “seal off the bridge.” and “close the blast doors.”
-Qui-Gon’s cutting into the bridge door has been edited differently. It used to be that Qui-Gon stabbed his lightsaber so hard it melted the blast door. This moment went through a lot of editing and I decided to remove the shots where the blast door melts apart. Now, he stabs into the blast door, but the droidekas show up immediately, and he is forced to stop. It makes the moment much faster, and it makes the jedi a little weaker, too, since Qui-Gon doesn’t take down the blast doors as effectively as before.
-The scene where the lady with the thing on her face tells the Neimoidians “They’ve gone up the ventilation shaft” has been deleted. How did she know that anyway?
-Again, the line “You were right about one thing, master. The negotiations were short” is gone.

One last thing…

Here are some changes I’m trying to make, but haven’t yet due to technical difficulties.
-I want to get rid of the droid dialogue. A lot of that is influenced by the l8wrtr fan edit. Since I’m still working on finding solutions to sound editing, the talking droids are still intact at the moment.
-Speaking of the droid dialogue, I’m still trying to fix the sound editing. For reasons I’ve already mentioned.
-The opening crawl definitely needs to be fixed. Let’s face it, any movie that begins with the taxation of trade routes just isn’t gonna do it. However, I have no idea how to rewrite the crawl in a manner that is… Star Wars-y. I am looking into other possibilities to rewrite the crawl, such as looking for an alternative for Adobe Illustrator (The software that the Phantom Editor used for his crawl). But for now, that part is incomplete.

I think that’s it for now. I will update everyone on the progress I’ve made so far as I continue editing this.

Hello,

I’m Eyepainter, and my journey is a simple one. I was first introduced to this place thanks to Harmy’s Despecialized Editions. Eventually, I discovered the power of fan edits when I got to see the l8wrtr versions of the Star Wars prequels. Since then, I’ve watched the HAL9000 fan edits, as well as the infamous phantom edits, and I’ve become a sucker for fan edits. So much so, that I’m now trying out my own fan editing. Yes. I decided to try out my own versions of the Star Wars prequels. I’m very much a noob to the world of editing (plus I have no idea how to edit sound as of this posting), but I’m getting the hang of it. I just found out how to add deleted scenes to my fan edit of Episode I last night, which has left me giddy as a schoolgirl.

I intend to write up a post in the forum about my fan edit of Episode I soon, although my sister needs a trip to the library, so it might take an hour or so before I get to that.

I hope to enjoy my time here in these forums. See you around, and may the force be with you.