Hal 9000

It gets my vote for best use of R2 popping out of a starfighter toaster-style.

Good question! Let me start by answering a question you didn't ask: why I back tracked by reincluding it in the first place. 

Upon viewing V1 with some friends, it seemed very odd for the films to totally omit any information whatsoever about Anakin's father. So, removing it seems to go against my goal of maintaining a theatrical level of quality. Also, I'd bet future films will at some point reference it. While I don't particularly like the chosen one plot thread, I had sufficient doubt to think it'd be better to include at least the establishment of it. 

I did tone it down a bit, especially in Ep3 where Obi-Wan doesn't mention it during his "I love you" speech to quadruple-amputee Anakin. And I think Qui-Gon's words to Yoda, "You must complete what I could not," could be viewed as telegraphing that perhaps Luke is the chosen one after all. 

Did you compose the base script yourself? Things like "R2 mugs for the camera yet again" don't sound like Lucas would have written them. ;)

The first step is admitting you have a problem. 

I'm posting this here to hold myself accountable. I could fiddle with my edits, review other edits, and think up ideas for further tweaking. However, I really want to put a stop to this and close the door. However, I need to keep all the files in place for an eventual version with Emanswfan's sources. Therefore, I'm announcing that I am done with the edits. What lies in the Final Cut timelines is the final product, and there will be no further changes until encoding V3. The madness has to end somewhere, and I'd love to put the prequel era behind me as we coast closer to the 'big bang' of the sequel trilogy era. 

I'm in the contemplation stage of encoding what I have as V3, the finished version "for the ages," and publishing it, rather than waiting for the regraded sources. Once all three of those are extant, I will likely reencode V3 with them. That way I can mentally be finished with the PT edit project and move on. 

And as a way of leaving myself an out clause, if any worthwhile ideas for changes cross the threshold of breaking my announcement of being finished, I will post about it here. Aside from such a case, I am finished! And I'll likely be releasing V3 in the near future, once I get my Custom ANH:SE finished.

Just stumbled onto these gems.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSCm8yAxBr8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI8aSJBC9u0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itkl7cHcX_E

The Inquisitor was revealed as a glimpse at the end of the episode. Seems weird for him to turn around and call Vader right then. Will Vader then turn around and call the Emperor right then, too?

+1 for 4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6.

I wonder, are you planning on shifting the 'ruminations of Padme' scene to before Anakin informs Mace about Palpatine being a Sith? If so, have you done any work on that portion yet? That sounds like a very interesting change to make.

If it wasn't so well done, I'd pick a consistent low quality version over Harmy's. Harmy's are beautiful to look at, and seamless enough for me. (ROTJ is a bit rough for the time being, but that'll be addressed soon enough.)

For my edit of AOTC, I amalgamated other editor's ideas for the various plot threads, largely operating as a curator. 

I more or less mimicked Slumberland for the romance plot. He carved out a nice little bit of characterization early in the film for Padme. She refers to Anakin as a child when they meet, then points out that he's grown up before leaving together. He also converted the lakeside kiss scene into a day-for-night replacement for the fireside scene, though he inexplicably included Padme pulling away from it.

I retained a truncated version of the "forbidden love" angle. It is hinted at that Jedi aren't supposed to do that, but it's not expressed as being strictly forbidden necessarily. It's enough to get the audience to understand (and remember through to the next film) that the two of them need to keep it a secret. (And hopefully the sequel trilogy depict "New" Jedi who are free to marry and procreate, and retcon the PT such that only the latter Jedi were so conservative.)

I used part of Secior's idea for Count Dooku. Seciors moved his meeting with Sidious to the front of the film and made it much more clear that Dooku is working for Palpatine by trying to assassinate Padme. I did not reorder that particular scene, so Dooku does begin as a ""mystery"" in my edit as in the theatrical version, though we do find out that Palpatine's behind it all (rather than Nute Gunray demanding Padme's head out of pettiness).

I lovingly borrowed many ideas from the good 'ol Phantom Editor, including his method of removing some of the ""mystery"" plot thread about the toxic dart, and the general order of scenes during that part of the film.

Two small things: I changed the recurring mention of "ten thousand" Separatist systems to merely "one/a thousand," because I feel it alienates the audience a bit less. Incredibly minor, though. I also removed many of the Jedi's commands to Clonetroopers during the battle, implying that the Jedi are going to become dependent upon them during the war.

That's my take on Episode II, following in the textual tradition of fan editing and making use of what others have done. As always, I edit because I want the end product to exist.

I quite liked Droids in Distress. I think the show's shaping up to be something nice.

You might put footage from Groundhog Day of either Bill Murray reporting, or the top hat men themselves on stage. 

Jurassic Park theme durin the SE Looksirdroids scene.

Hope things are going well. Any updates you can share with us?

Y'know, if they are following the germ of the (cursed) GL story treatments, I could picture the Luke-as-villain thing happening. George reportedly loved Dark Empire when it came out. For the record, I'd much prefer Luke to remain 'good,' though a gritty moral streak at the end (as rumored) would be okay.

When the Disney sale was news, I described a scene in my head of the final pieces being put in place. George is about to sign on the dotted line, and he hands Bob Iger the treatments. Iger is smiling and using his executive charm to politely send George out the door. As soon as he's gone, Iger tosses the treatments in the trash without looking at them.

I was about to suggest playing it during the next scene, as Anakin runs through the theater to reach Palpatine. That is, until I realized that scene doesn't follow the nightmare scene in the original film, only in my own edit.

I got the chance to sit down and watch the premiere last night, and I was mildly surprised by how decent it was. 

That's not exactly a glowing review, but I think this show might actually be somewhat enjoyable for me. I can picture myself taking the things I don't like in stride, rather than giving up on the show as I did with Clone Wars. 

I will say that this premiere was enjoyable, whereas Clone Wars' was not at all. 

I doubted they were. Thanks for the answers.

This thread may be pretty short if the answer is no.

Do the prequel DVD deleted scenes have any alternate language audio tracks, or are they only in the original English?

If you want to do a prequel viewing with a different fan editor for each film, you could use Seciors' Ep1, L8wrtr's Ep2, and my Ep3. (Ep 2 and 3 could be swapped.)

Mixing and matching like this is always problematic for continuity, though. Someone should really make a compatibility spreadsheet. TV's Frink has been a lazybones the past several years. Lazybones!

Erik Pancakes said:

HAL 9000 v2 the whole way for me. Seciors' Ep I is also a good alternative if you prefer deeper cuts (no Sidious in his version).

I would have preferred the production team had respected the broad strokes of the EU fans have interacted with for decades, but that would be a very messy situation for everyone. I'm still mildly disappointed we haven't gotten a list of a few story-group-approved EU novels to form a bedrock for the new canon, even if all post-ROTJ material has to be let go. 

I do feel bad for fans who have digested and enjoyed the EU for years. I know, "It's all fiction anyway," but they are having to move all their knowledge from the EU into a different realm and brace themselves to accept new continuity that overrides the old.

I've said it before, but I cite the mini-episode of Doctor Who "Night Of The Doctor" as an example of the kind of care I like to see for a franchise's spinoff material. Part of the fun of a "subcreation" world like that of Star Wars is making it all fit together with in-universe explanations. Massive retcons like this can be frustrating. That being said, it's for good reason: a slew of Star Wars feature films.

Even as I'm continuing to encode and upload v2 of Labyrinth Of Evil, I'm preparing small changes for the eventual v3 release featuring Emanswfan's regraded video source.

Because my cut does away with the duel between Palpatine and Yoda, I revisited the scene where Obi-Wan and Yoda find the security footage of Anakin slaughtering Jedi. It plays out very similarly now to Kerr's edit, removing dialogue about killing the Emperor and Vader. The way it plays out now, we do not get any indication that Yoda intends to do anything proactive other than to bide time. Obi-Wan, rather than tracking Anakin on a hit assignment from Yoda, now finds Anakin in order to confront (though not necessarily to kill) him. This, along with the change described next, eases the discrepency a bit between ROTS and Vader's line in Return Of The Jedi, "Obi-Wan once thought as you do."

Another related change will be to reinstate the dialogue between Obi-Wan and ANakin during the latter part of their duel. Allow me to offer an apologetic for this. I think their exchange has value. Obi-Wan tells Anakin he has failed him, offering a small hint at the regret that Ben expressed to Luke in Return Of The Jedi. Anakin retorts with, "I should have known the Jedi were plotting to take over." In the theatrical ROTS this line was jarring because it didn't jive with Lucas' re-edit that played up Padme's impending doom as motivation for Anakin to turn to the dark side. In Labyrinth Of Evil, this line has context in which to function to cement the viewer's perception of Anakin's reasons for his turn. At least at this point in the story, Anakin seems to have forgotten about saving Padme and clung to the other reasons he had. Anakin's next line, "From my point of view the Jedi are evil," demonstrates that he has internalized Palpatine's teaching and is acting with a perverse sense of integrity. (Again, as opposed to the jarring way this dialogue played out in the theatrical cut.)

I don't know what you're doing with this scene, but here's an idea. As Obi-Wan walks toward Yoda from the security camera footage of Anakin, he could say, "I have seen a security hologram..."

'The Unarchiver' on my Mac. I can send you a myspleen invite if you'd like to get it that way.