Hal 9000

But seriously, I saw the film a third time this afternoon and finally feel ready to offer an informed opinion.
I really enjoyed it. The problems I had with it did not bother me upon repeat viewings. In this and other ways, it’s similar to Return of the Jedi. Both ape ANH somewhat, and I would have preferred them not to. But, TFA carries its flaws and holds up despite them, and its emotional beats resonated very well. Star Wars Episode VII is now a thing that exists, rather than a hypothetical full of infinite potential, and that reality bothered me a little at first. Seeing it for what it is, I think it’s a success. And more importantly, it’s executed well enough that it worked its way into my heart despite the direction being something I would have resisted on paper. JJ’s own style was apparent, but compared with his Trek films, I appreciate his perceived effort to reign in his own style and maintain visual continuity with the legacy left from the old films.
The film feels authentic. The humor had me lightly shaking my head at certain points, with a simultaneous smile I couldn’t suppress. The characters felt legitimate, and I found myself emoting and empathizing with them without knowing exactly why. I suppose a better way to say that was they felt three dimensional.
I feel like this is a bonafide continuation of the story we got from ANH, ESB, and ROTJ. Since I’ve done Star Wars edits over the years, I can’t help but pose the question to myself of working with this one. But the reality is that I don’t want to; it’s solid, and does not need fan help. Perhaps an extended edition could be fun, but it doesn’t need fan fixes IMHO. Once I was able to get the initial viewing out of the way, and all of my projected hopes with it, I was able to sincerely enjoy the film for what it is.

Lord Haseo said:
Come on now there has to be something wrong with them. I simply can’t believe they didn’t screw that up too. It’s easily the hardest part of the film to make

Whereas the previous six films’ starfield faded away prior to the scrolling portion of the end credits, this one carries it until the end.

Cool! Once V4 is out, and if you end up doing subs for 2 and 3, I could post all three subtitle files as a very small download.

I’m okay with that as long as you are sure to be up front that it consists of direct lifts of prior edits.

Hal 9000 said:

FanEdit.info is the place to find them.

From the FanEdit.org/ifdb main page.

FanFix With a FanFix, the editor is typically attempting clean-up or otherwise modify the original so as to make it a more enjoyable viewing experience. Quite often this entails adding and/or removing portions of the movie, reordering scenes and in general, addressing aspects of story and/or character that detract from the movie. In general terms, a FanFix tends to be an effort to polish the movie, often removing contrivances added by studios or filmmakers which interfere with the story. The goal here is not to invent a new movie or narrative, but to clean-up the existing one and hopefully make the movie more enjoyable. Examples of FanFixes are havok1977’s Codename: Wolverine, gekko’s Mission Impossible 2: Disavowed and The Phantom Editor’s Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Edit.

This sounds amazing, and I look forward to hoarding the end product! It’s too bad every release we have is pan-n-scan (or probably just pan). This film is my childhood, and it’s good to see someone sprucing it up as an alternative to the shit VHS and DVD I have.

I agree with towne32 about the colors; KK650’s version takes liberties with color, whereas Schorman’s is a better representation to how the films originally looked, which is what I’m going for. And I still hope that somewhere down the line I can do a special release using Emanswfan’s regrades.
Since V4 will be it, I’ve held off for Schorman’s V2, but might just use V1 if it ends up being the last thing I’m waiting on and he’s still away from the forum. I don’t know where it is patched or anything, but it looks beautiful to my eyes, especially AOTC. Far superior to the BluRay.

Bumping in the hopes of an update

Frink, you slay me. Been nice knowin’ ya.

Hi there, and welcome. V4 for Episodes 2 and 3 have been nearly finished for a while, and I’m just waiting on a few key resources. The biggest is Schorman’s V2 HDTV source material update, but I may forego this if I don’t hear anything after getting all the other bits and pieces ready; I’ve never noticed any issues at all with his V1 and am very happy with it. And they’ll have commentaries too.

Yes, thank you, that’s true. As much as I don’t care for it, the scene doesn’t really work without the Death Star. It’s still not in Ep2, though, because that one is a totally pointless cameo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSu1hnlzZs4

Thanks, I appreciate you chiming in. Just to help in your evaluation, here’s how the Alderaan scene will look in V4, having been brightened up a little: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5UmTwj6Y18

towne32 said:

Suggestion: Don’t use the same title as Hal. Someone might accidentally download yours and come to this forum to complain.

The best place to find them is FanEdit.info

hydrospanner said:

Did anyone else not understand that Luke was a moisture farmer and thought his family just grew plants like normal farmers when they were a kid? I think Han Solo’s line about traveling through hyperspace not being like dusting crops may have had something to do with this.

I figured they used the vaporators to get moisture to then use to grow food, perhaps including what we see Beru cooking.

Case closed: no revisions to the younglings plot. Upon hearing the scene again, it’s most certainly a young Rey. (I heard a distinct, “Come back!”)

Would you mind uploading a clip of what you’ve done?

Aha! Smacks forehead A little hovering bed droid is just what that shot needs!

But really, the “NOOOOOO” is a necessary evil to facilitate the larger editing choices. I believe the shortened version you’re remembering is from ADigitalMan’s edit, but I don’t really think it’s any better. If anything, just a little distracting because it’s different, but not any better.
L8wrtr’s upcoming revision to his Ep3 edit will, as I understand it, use The Cutter’s mockup idea for that scene. The Emperor says something about Padme, and Vader responds with, “She no longer has any meaning for me, Master.” Then the scene ends somehow. I don’t remember exactly. His V2 may be right up a lot of people’s alley who liked some parts of my edit but can’t get past the retention of that gol-dern’ NOOOOOOOO!

Awesome! Thanks for filling me in. This is not the sort of thing I can remember objectively; there’s no way for me to remember it clearly. Consider my redaction for V4 aborted. Good thing, too, since I thought the whole youngling was sidestepped nicely.
I even already patched up the commentary track for that scene, bookended by TARDIS sounds. Just need to restore the whole project from a backup, and we’ll be in good shape. Just biding my time like Luke, waiting for any sign of schorman.

MORE SPOILERS FOR TFA
Well, it seems I may have been a bit hasty. Like I said, on my second viewing I noticed the screaming children since I knew she was approaching Anakin’s lightsaber. However, the “leaked script” from a few days ago that contained information subsequently confirmed by Pablo Hidalgo describes the scene as a little girl crying, implying it to be Rey. That makes sense, though I couldn’t say for sure without seeing the film again… I suppose it won’t be too hard to justify going to the theater again.
Here’s a snippet. I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Rey is heartsick, but she turns as she hears the sound of a young girl in anguish, crying. She follows the sound into the castle, turning so she can’t see that Finn has looked back at her one last time.
INT. MAZ’ CASTLE - BASEMENT CORRIDOR - DAY
Rey steps down into the basement corridor. BB-8 follows
her. Walking carefully and confused, she is not sure why she’s down here. She can hear the echoing sounds of a young girl crying. She heads down the hall… to the very end, where there is a door. It is almost as if a SOULFUL VIBRATION draws her closer. She looks at the door lock – AND THE
DOOR OPENS.

Well, that’s how it’s been in the edit up to now. Obi-Wan and Yoda know everything but Padme doesn’t necessarily.

Here’s what I’m thinking at this point. I’m planning on reinstating the scene where Anakin ignites his saber on the roomful of children, but not to reinstate any subsequent mention of younglings. We see it happen, so that it can be referenced in future films, but we don’t see Obi-Wan telling Padme about it. Younglings can continue to be ignored as a term, and Padme’s character still is not made to rationalize Anakin murdering children.
So, my edits will continue to not explicitly state that Jedi are harvested as infants. The most specific information we get is from Qui-Gon saying that they are ‘identified early’. You can read as little or as much into it as you want, and it’ll be compatible with whatever future storytellers in the franchise want to do.

Thanks for the input. Yes, it would be the first appearance of younglings, since I am not using the scene with Yoda and the younglings from Ep2.
If I go this route, I won’t trim the child’s line. I believe I said earlier that the scene stands or falls as an over-the-top piece, and trimming the dialogue undercuts its effectiveness. I stand by that, just like the Palpatine vs. Yoda duel shouldn’t be edited to remove silly humor; that’s the point of it.