Jair Crawford

Hal 9000 said:

I am interested to hear any and all of your ideas, man. I sympathize with not feeling up to tackling a fan edit. I, fortunately, am in the process of doing a set right now. I'd love to give more ideas a hearing!

Awesome! Well, to start off simply, Episode 4 would probably get the least amount of treatment, because Adywan's already done such a superb job, there isn't much from his version that I would change. Only things I would do is maybe saturate some of the color inside the Deathstar interior (only a bit, not nearly like the special editions and certainly not like the dvds) and see if there'd be a way to add in one or two of the deleted scenes with Luke and his Friend on Tatooine. 

A lot of the editing would be done to the prequels, understandably. I love them, but they have a lot of issues. lol

For Episode 1 ... Jar-Jar's screentime would be reduced by about 50%. He may possibly get a re-dubbing.

Boss Nass's dialogue would be snipped a bit so that he doesn't drawl on and on seemingly forever.

I would /not/ reinsert the Anakin fight scene, however, if I'm not mistaken, there is some extra footage where Anakin shows a little bit of aggression on the pod-race... am I right? If so, I would insert that back in. Anakin is a flawed human, not an angel.

I would cut most of the two-headed announcers at the pod-race. They drive me insane. lol Honestly I tolerate Jar-Jar better than those two.

Some of Anakin's unnecesarry line's would be cut: "... and they blow you up! BOOM!!! ... We could try spinning, that's a good trick! Woahoahoah! ... Yippieee!! ..." ... you get the idea.

Anakin destroys the droid control ship on purpose. He does not use auto-pilot to happen to get there. He flies there. He's the best starpilot in the galaxy, remember? So lets see him be just that.

Obi-wan no longer talks about Anakin being a "pathetic life-form". Come on Obi-Wan, you're a nicer person than that.

There's more, but It'll come to me later. lol

I'll post more on Episodes 2 and 3 later. They are the ones that need the most treatment, I think.

Bingowings said:

"Anakin was a good friend".

Thanks for pointing this out. This is something I'd like to see brought out more in episodes 2 and 3. Particularly episode 2. Too much squabbling between Anakin and Obi-wan.

I like that idea. That would make for better continuity for sure.

You've already done all three? I'd like to hear more about what you did with AOTC and EpIII. Based on your description, your TPM edit sounds epic.

I like the idea. I should have specified though; I want to keep as many surprises as I possibly can.

Therefore, in ESB (since it's the second movie being watched), I would cut the mention of Luke being "the offspring of Anakin Skywalker". I don't want Anakin's name mentioned at all during ESB because I want people to wonder still, after the big reveal in ESB, 'Is Vader really Luke's father?' And upon starting TPM 'Who is this Anakin fellow? Surely he's not... could he be? Nah' But then at the end of Episode III it'll be like 'O_O No way... he IS Vader...'

I want there to be an element of surprise in the big ESB reveal, as well as surprise in the transformation into Vader in Episode III. Of course, a lot of people will still be able to put two and two together, but, it can still be made to have some punch to it. Does that make sense?

I decided to make this thread for a bunch of reasons.

First of all, there are a lot of great ideas here. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and, like most, I've had my different thoughts on how things would be if I had the ability to make, or change things.

That being said, I have zero editing skills nor do I have the means to do any editing. So I decided to create a thread for ideas, kind of like the Prequel Radical Redux thread... except to discuss changes not quite so radical.

For instance, if I were to make an edit of TPM: I'd cut a lot of Jar Jar's dialogue, and I might even have him re-dubbed, but I would not have him completely removed from the film.

I wouldn't change any characters or merge planets, or make any radical changes to the plot, with one MAJOR exception, however... the portrayal of Anakin's character in general. As it stands, his portrayal is inconsistent and choppy.

The difficult thing is, I would want to add more than what I would want to cut. Because I feel like, particularly with episodes 1-3, there was not enough time to properly portray Anakin's fall to the darkside. Palpy's rise to power was depicted impeccably well, imho. However Anakin's story seemed neglected, and well, he's kind of the main character.

I feel like I'm rambling now... so I'll just leave this open for ideas. Sorry if the thread seems ambiguous, but I want to contribute some ideas in some way, and I want to hear what other ideas people may have as well. I just felt that a lot of times the Radical Redux would go a little too far with some of the changes. Again, all imho.

Edit: One thing I forgot to mention; I'm a firm believer in what I believe is called the machete order of watching the movies. 451236. If I were to make an edit, I'd plan it according to that order.

DarthBo said:

Haven't visited these boards in over a year now, but with TPM in theaters again, I finally got round to (trying to) edit the space battle at the end of TPM.

I always liked the design of TPM (not that there was anything else to like), especially the Naboo starfighters (visually and audibly) and the "Death Saturn" (as I like to call it).
By all logic, that space battle should have been awesome, but I have only seen it once or twice as I really just can't stand the way it plays out.

This was an attempt (more a proof of concept) to see if the battle itself could be made a bit more enjoyable (aka make Anakin a bit less useless/annoying)

Biggest changes:
- Anakin flying a starfighter is now part of the plan
- Anakin no longer arrives late to the battle
- Anakin knows how to fly
- Anakin _decides_ to take out the generator (instead of doing it all by accident)

Don't pay too much attention to the audio; it's a rough cut, and I'm not an editor, so I do mean ROUGH...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWNFfFLnESM

Love it. Although there are a few things I would do slightly differently.

- Anakin flying a starfighter is NOT part of the plan, but he decides he wants to do it, and proves himself to be an exceptional pilot in the end. After all, he is the best starpilot in the galaxy.

- I'd take out the "This is tense!" and the "Aaaaaaaaah!" lines.

I think, when it comes to the PT, a lot of good things have been done in fan edits already.

But... there are certain key things that are much more difficult to fix than others. Cutting out all of Jar Jar's annoying antics from TPM is simple enough. But making Anakin's fall seem more believable is much more difficult.

I think the problem here starts with TPM. George Lucas intentionally portrayed Anakin as a perfect little angel, but that really deters from developing into the future of the character. I mean yes, we have some fear and the attachment. But he has no aggression at all, whatsoever, in the first film and I think that creates some problems. This could be fixed by re-inserting the scene where he shows some aggression during the pod-race. (But not the fight with Greedo... that scene wasn't very good. lol)

Now when we see Anakin in Episode 2, he comes across as depressed. And he complains. And he argues with his master. He becomes a whole different person. And then when his mother dies, he goes on a killing spree. However he manages not to fall to the darkside.

And then in the Clone Wars, he seems to be doing better than ever. The reason I like the Clone Wars is because we finally get to see Anakin as the hero he was alluded to be in the OT.

But then, in ROTS, Anakin continues to be fine in the first half... has a bad dream, falls to the Dark Side in the second half and proceeds to kill younglings.

See... Anakin's fall to the Dark Side seems very patchy in the way it was portrayed. It doesn't really flow like it should.

So how would we go about fixing this? It's a big issue since it is such a pivotal part of the plot of the PT, yet it will be VERY difficult to edit this.

TV's Frink said:

Jair Crawford said:

Now I know that I am probably in the minority with this, but, I don't believe that there were any truly 'fatal' flaws with the PT. Rather, I believe there are many 'near fatal' flaws that were 'rescued' by certain strong points.

Yes, you are very much in the minority.  The only rescuing that can be done is by faneditors, and even that can only go so far.

What I meant by that is, for me, despite those flaws, I can still pop TPM, AOTC, or ROTS into my DVD player and enjoy them. I tend to tune out the flaws and focus on the main points of the story. I've seen them so many times now that I think I've gotten pretty good at that. XD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqEdQgFYluQ&feature=related

In my opinion this scene is far superior to the shortened version in the movie. "... you saved my life..." Wow. So much more powerful. Something to consider for edits.

Worst dialogue? Well that would have to be this:

"Bllrrbllwrrbllwrrbllwrrbllwrrbllwrrblllwrrrblaah!"

Now I know that I am probably in the minority with this, but, I don't believe that there were any truly 'fatal' flaws with the PT. Rather, I believe there are many 'near fatal' flaws that were 'rescued' by certain strong points.

Let's start with Episode 1. The movie starts out very nicely with the tension building up from the very beginning. The Jedi enter the scene and I'm sure for most of us in 1999 it was like Star Wars all over again. It was great! Then... dun dun dun! Jar Jar Binks appears!

- Ok, I know that right now everyone is wanting to pull their hair out just at the mere mention of that name, but let me say, it wasn't his character that bothered me. I just think they needed to cut down his scenes and his dialogue by at least 80%. He dominates the movie, his presence grows tiring very fast, and, there is just too much of him in the movie as a whole. He gets WAY too much screen time, and he is a naturally annoying character, which would be fine if he didn't get so much screen time but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

- Now, onto the next case: The portrayal of the young Anakin Skywalker. First of all, Mr. Lucas, Anakin is 9. 9 year olds don't yell "Yippiiiieeee" unless they want to be laughed at at school. lol Now that that point has been made, I feel like... I understand WHY Lucas wanted to portray Anakin as a perfect angelic innocent kid in this movie, but, in doing so it really takes a big bite out of the realism of it. Anakin almost doesn't seem human here. And then in AOTC I have a hard time believing that it is the same person. Now, on Jake Lloyd's performance... I honestly don't have too many gripes with him. I felt he did a pretty fair job. Yes, there were times when he didn't seem like he was in character, but there were also times (ie, the scene where he leaves his mom) that were absolutely brilliant. So I felt his performance was fair, especially given his age. Not fantastic, but not terrible either.

- While I'm on the acting... I don't know what it was but Natalie Portman sure had a rough time with this film. She looked confused in like, every single scene she was in. lol

- The Gungans... I have to be honest, I love the Gungans. lol Yes, as I said there is WAY too much Jar Jar in the film. And yes, Boss Nass is also a bit on the annoying side. But the rest of the Gungans, I have no qualms with. I loved the scene with the Gungan army (minus the overwhelming amount of Jar Jar antics in that scene) and that General dude (don't know his name) is my FAVORITE. lol

- The two-headed announcer thingy... ok those guys DRIVE ME INSANE. Like... I don't know what it is but they just irritate me, like, more than Jar Jar. lol Ahhh... >.<

Ok... now here are the things that rescued the movie for me.

- The visuals. I honestly don't have issues with Lucasfilm's and ILM's CGI effects. I really think it's pretty cool. The action scenes, the battles, the lightsaber duels, the pod-race... loved all of it.

- The story, while it could have been executed much better, was not at all a bad story. A lot of people say it was an unnecessary story to the SW main overarching plot, but I have to disagree with that. TPM's storyline sets the stage for EVERYTHING that happens in the rest of the saga. And that leads me into the point that not only rescues this movie the most for me, but rescues all of the PT.

- Palpatine. His role in this film and all of the PT are essential to the plot. The way he sets up the ENTIRE WAR... EVERYTHING... it is pure evil genius. (I in no way endorse his character's views, just saying... lol) And not only that, but the acting... I have always believed that Ian McDiarmid's performance was the best out of all the actors involved in the saga. He was absolutely incredible!

- Finally... the music of John Williams. No matter how much you may despise The Phantom Menace, you can't deny the inevitable chills that will course down your spine when you hear those powerful opening chords to "Duel Of The Fates". Simply phenomenal.

Well, that's it for TPM. I'll post next about AOTC.

LOL Yeah, those are amazing pics! But, again, in my opinion, don't take out ALL the orange... Geonosis is supposed to be a little bit orange. Just, not so much that it becomes cartoony. lol

Bingowings said:

Cade Skywalker and vaderios did some fine colour adjustments on the redux thread. e.g.

I like the idea here, but I think the color correction is just a bit TOO desaturated here. Maybe more of a happy medium? imo, at least

MagnoliaFan! SO happy to hear your at work again. I saw Balance on youtube a few months back, and I must say, it was absolutely brilliant!

I would say that some color correction would be pretty nice, just cause I think the PT, especially the dvd release, is over-saturated. I mean... all the scenes on Geonosis are completely orange. Now, I love orange, my favorite color but... come on... LOL Everything is absolutely dominated by orange and it makes it look to cartoony. Just an example. But, again, that's just me. Now I must go... back to youtube to watch the rest of Clones! XD

I know I might get yelled at for suggesting this, but, could we possibly give the Ewoks some eyes? I mean, the 'buttons' are driving me crazy! lol

Well, that's true. I just don't see how that is necessarily a bad thing. lol Another thing is, keep in mind that Mace Windu was the most experienced duelist among the Jedi. Having a special colored saber also ties in with that. I mean, lets face it, he disarmed Palpatine! Not even Yoda managed to do that. lol

I dunno. I mean, I know you're right in that all those explanations are just fictional while the real reason behind the purple saber is simply that Sam Jackson wanted a purple one, so they gave him one. But, like I said, imho, I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. lol

I've been reading through large portions of this thread, and I see a lot of discussions about lightsaber colors.

I just thought I'd throw my two cents in. :)

First of all, the Jedi, by the time of the PT, were generally using 3 colors, based on what type of Jedi they were. (Note that Mace Windu was an exception)

Wookieepedia has an interesting entry about lightsaber colors. "Around 4,000 BBY, lightsaber crystals were used to indicate a Jedi's chosen class. Blue indicated a Jedi Guardian, a Jedi who used the Force on a more physical level. Green indicated a Jedi Consular, a Jedi who preferred to ponder the mysteries of the Force and fight the dark side at its heart. Yellow indicated a Jedi Sentinel, a Jedi who honed their skills in a balance of combat and scholarly pursuits."

So, if any lightsaber recoloring is to be done, I think one thing that would be cool is to make some of the Jedi's sabers on the Geonosis arena battle yellow. That way, we can say that some Jedi Sentinels were there too, not just Guardian's and Consulars.

Now, Mace's saber color is a total exception to this. According to Wookieepedia, Mace "...informed the Council that he wanted a true challenge in order to find the best pieces for his lightsaber. After considering this, the Council sent Windu on his own to the world of Hurikane. While on this mission, Windu was at first chased away by the natives that resided there, but was easily able to resist them using the Force. When he caused one of the fragile natives to shatter, he sobered, and painstakingly restored it using the Force. Learning a valuable lesson about being a Jedi, the natives rewarded him with a violet-colored special crystal. He used this crystal to construct the lightsaber he had seen in his visions and it produced its distinctive violet blade."

So, imho, taking away Mace's purple saber would be an injustice to his character. :P lol

Anyway, that's just my two cents. XD

I think it could use just a miniscule amount of color saturation. Just a tad. Oh, and remaster the sound to make it not as tinny. But other than that, I can't think of anything.

Oh yes, I definitely agree. My main point is... well... let me put it this way.

Taking out the references of Sifo-dyas in EP II would be an appropriate change, imo. Also, taking out the references that Padme "lost the will to live" in EP III would be an appropriate change.

But, when people talk about taking out the entire pod race, or taking out all references of gungans, or completely removing the Yoda vs. Dooku lightsaber duel, that would disturb the flow of the movies even more rather than smooth the flow. I just have the feeling that those sections would just be too big to lop off effectively.

But hey, I could be wrong. ;)

Fantastic ideas! This sounds very promising!

You refer to the order of viewing the movies, but let me ask, have you ever watched them in the order 451236? In that order, for a first time viewer, you can experience just about ALL the surprises. You get the "I am your father" surprise without spoiling the "Henceforth you shall be known as Darth Vader" surprise.

"Only a Sith deals in absolutes" is a crucial line in the movie. It shows the arrogance of the Jedi, and how their blindness was partially responsible to their fall. The irony there is important.

However, the "You're breaking my heart" has got to go. It should just go like this:

Padme: I don't know you any more...

Anakin: Because of Obi-wan...?

Padme: Because of what you've done! ... what you plan to do! Stop! Come back! ... I love you

Anakin: LIIIIAAAAARRR! ... etc.

Well, yes. The script has many faults. But I think that has more to do with the dialogue and the way some scenes were written, not the general plot. I mean, if the dialogue was more realistic, the story would shine.

I like a lot of the ideas here. But I will say one thing, and that's, imho, the story of the PT does not need to be changed all that drastically. 

The main things that need to be done is, re-editing scenes, cutting some dialogue (like, the balcony scene in EP III *shudders*), cutting Jar-Jar's screentime, re-inserting deleted scenes, stuff like that. lol But taking out the entire Yoda v Dooku duel in EP II and taking out the entire gungan battle in EP I would be too much, imo.

Also, I REALLY like the color edits on here. Just one thing, be very careful that you don't take out ALL the color in the process. Some desaturation is necessary, but people do tend to get carried away sometimes.

This is exciting! :D

Hmm, well, I've seen a few different color correction jobs, like the pics above, and on adywan's threads, and of course, I've seen SW: Revisited.

I really like the concept behind it. It shows a LOT more detail, and everything is very crisp and clear.

But then... sometimes, it can seem to be just slightly too... much. Er... well, I guess, what I mean is, too little. lol

I think that color correction is absolutely necesarry from the 2004 DVD edition, especially... (blue Yoda does not work. lol) But at the same time, just make sure you don't take out TOO much color. There should be a slight natural tint there, very slight. You know what I mean?

I don't know if it was mentioned before, but I was thinking about the Mace Vs. Palpatine scene in Episode III and I stumbled across this edit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7_APMciyOg&feature=related

I personally found it to be quite impressive.