MalàStrana

I bet you don’t.

chyron8472 said:
It’s not incomprehensible. It works. Between 3 and 4, Obi-Wan would have learned of Vader’s existence and known it was Anakin. Besides, Obi-Wan never called Anakin “Vader” in the theatrical version anyway. And the OT has inconsistencies with itself, without the help of the PT.

Removing inconsistencies with new ones is not a good deal. There is no perfect way though.

TV’s Frink said:
Machete order removes 1. “Full Machete” is really “no machete” because the machete removes something.

If I cut my steack in half, I still get to eat the very same amount of meat…

Just to clear something up, in order to lessen any disappointment: Anakin’s fall to the dark side will never be really believable with the available material. All fan edits remove the silliness of his fall, but they can’t add necessary dialogues or scenes that have never been shot by Lucas and his crew. In the theatrical version his fall is silly, in edits his fall is just less silly (if you watch a few very good Clone Wars episodes before, it can smooth a little bit the steps that lead to his choice). But as a whole the movie is far more enjoyable (no more Palpatine paying his tribute to Jar Jar for instance), especially the added seed of rebellion subplot (I believe Lucas removed them from his final cut at the very end of production). Kerr’s seems heavily cut (88 minutes ?!?), try also Q2’s or Hal’s.

Sorry I don’t seem to be able to invite someone on myspleen (it says “no invites”): how does it work ?

There is a little sound glitch when Anakin says “I’m going to turn you over the Jedi council” (0:52:03), on both tracks.

I don’t think it works (if it does to you, I believe you): if you remove the naming and the suit from EpIII, some events of EpIV appear to be incomprehensible (“Vader, who was a people of mine”, “now I am the Master”) instead of being mysterious. Hence, the reveal of the end of EpV wouldn’t still be a reveal, because the audience (let’s assume someone who has never seen the movie before) would easily guess it with all the elements found in EpIV:

“well, Vader was Obi-Wan’s disciple (IV), we know he was seduced by the dark side (IV), he helped the Emperor to destroy the Jedi (IV), he has killed Anakin (IV), but Anakin was killed by Obi-Wan (III), and moreover he seems pretty damaged under this suit (V), so… yeah, this dude is Anakin. Why make a mystery to the audience of something so obvious ?”

The best way to keep the reveal is the full machete order: 4-5-1-2-3-6 (or 1-4-5-2-3-6).

Well, it’s basically “Star Wars” without light sabers and with incestuous scenes that go really beyond Luke and Leia kiss. So, yeah it’s boring, you can skip it.

chyron8472 said:
Oh, and have I mentioned that the scene of Padme alive on Alderaan with Leia clinches it for me and that it makes me smile every single time I see it? I haven’t?

If you had watched the movie this shot comes from, you wouldn’t smile at all…

( 😃 )

(funny fact is The Other Boleyn Girl is kinda a prequel to the Cate Blanchett Elisabeth movies).

I’ve made french subtitles for CLOAK OF DECEPTION, and I’m currently working on LABYRINTH OF EVIL, which is a little bit harder to do (4 deleted scenes which are highly talkative). I plan to do the same for APPROACHING STORM. It’s in french but it’s easy to use the srt file template to produce english subtitles. Note that I’m not going to produce the english version (I would however like to have them).

DominicCobb said:
Personally I go with Hal EpI, EpII, and L8 EpIII. But even then I’m not completely happy so I’ve decided that I’ll have to do my own hybrids at some point.

The same: Hal’s EpI is almost my perfect cut (as soon as I get a better source of L8 version and I correct Premiere Pro issues with Windows 10, I’ll try to make my hybrid of them); seems Hal’s EpII will also be very close to my taste (again, I’ll probably try to add some minor scenes from L8 version); as for EpIII, I have watched entirely Hal’s v4 version, and I must say that I agree with changes I didn’t support first (like removing entirely Yoda vs Sidious: the scene is fun and I like the symbolic of it, but there is too much silliness for such a dark moment of the saga, besides I’m not a huge fan of Yoda’s figthing, as he is a spiritual warrior; I’ll put it on a bonus section when I find time to build blu ray versions), but I still strongly disagree with his ending (from Qui-Gon speaking to Yoda - which I would keep 'cause it’s awesome - to the end credits) and I’m really missing the cut of the Jedi temple interior (not the youglings shot, I mean the large interior shot where clone troopers are killing Jedis). So, for the ending i’ll use L8 cut (I’ve read he’s been working on a v2 version, so I might wait to get it; in the meantime I’m getting Schorman’s HDTV version in order to have the theatrical ending in the exact same picture quality as Hal’s). L8’s EpIII is very good, but he tends to cut too much things (the opera entrance of Anakin, some of the space battle), and to leave other bits I don’t like (the balcony scene, Yoda escapes from Kashyyyk). I would call it even but Hal’s v4 is more polished and has a better picture quality.

I’ve watched the first half hour: it’s great. I’m impressed by the video quality of the deleted sequence (seed of rebellion). Contrary to your edits of EI and EII know I don’t agree on many things (all the ending especially, even if I do like some ideas like Qui-Gon voice), but it’s a very professional editing work, which improves greatly a “not so bad” movie (my perfect edit would mix yours with scenes from L8 version). I’m really looking forward to seeing your v4 of APPROACHING STORM, I really don’t like ATTACK OF THE CLONES but your v3 edit was very watchable.

@ chyron8472
What software do you use to burn blu ray discs of Hal’s trilogy ? I’m looking for one that would work on PC (I don’t have a Mac), with the possibility to add menu and bonus material.

Wexter said:

So you are proposing that the backstory should have gone something like this: Vader conceives two children, but they are both taken away before he learns about their existence – the boy is placed with someone named Skywalker, who wants to raise him as his own, but is soon murdered by Vader. I like it a lot, but it would really strengthen Luke’s motivation to go bad: not only did they blatantly lie to him, they even kidnapped him from his real family.

Well, again the twin plot and the abduction at birth is only contained in ROTJ. It doesn’t change anything to Luke, he still has been kidnapped from his real family (in Lucas canon, Owen and Beru are not bloodrelated to Luke).

About the famous reveal at the end of TESB: Darth Vader is Luke’s father, but it doesn’t imply necessarily that Vader is Anakin Skywalker. Besides, if you remove the part where Leia becomes Luke’s sister (it’s so obvious that Rey in TFA is what remains of the initial project concerning Luke’s real sister), it then becomes a lot easier to make prequels to the trilogy. Really, everything went wrong with RETURN OF THE JEDI (on every level: narrative, aesthetic, kids oriented tale, etc.). So, if you want desperately to have a 6 parts saga that does work with reveals untouched, you also need to make small changes to RETURN OF THE JEDI in order to erase the two problematic reveals (Leia and Vader = Anakin). Good luck with that…

Even if I don’t like the Prelogy (or PT), let’s be fair about the difficulty to make something logical out of the background stories contained in the OT:

• Anakin forgot he had a son and has no clue he even had twins (really ?)
• Leia’s mother has never tried to pay her son Luke a visit (?)
• the Empire is ruled by an old man with skin issues and a cartoon laugh
• Owen Lars is named Lars, not Skywalker, so only Beru is a Skywalker, moreover Anakin’s sister: is she Force sensitive ?
• etc.

In fact, the PT went wrong the day Gary Kurtz left REVENGE OF THE JEDI pre-production, leaving Lucas on his own to finish the 4 new sequels in only one mediocre movie (Luke’s sister being Leia is the worst damage of the project getting shrinked) and the 3 prequels into this awkward and lazy trilogy (which can be fun from a certain point of view). Every Star Wars movie released since the marvellous EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is not worthy of the first two installments of the saga. THE FORCE AWAKENS looks OT but has a PT essence. So, when a 7 (soon 9) parts saga has 5 (soon 7) bad/mediocre movies, it’s hard to bring consistency in it.

That being said, I agree with those who think that the PT should have been set a very long time before A NEW HOPE, like 1000 years before. No Anakin, no Ben, no Palpatine, no Yoda, no Jar Jar. The PT could have even been set such a long time ago that Jedi and Sith didn’t exist the way they now do, with the Force as a living and surpernatural energy not completely released yet. To clarify my view, here are 3 examples of what the PT could have been like:

• DARK CRYSTAL (yep, Gary Kurtz involved, hardly a surprise)

• THE LEGEND OF KORRA Season 2 (the flash back episode with the first avatar)

• SAMURAI JACK (the “birth of pure evil” episodes)

Star Wars went wrong when this incredible universe got resized to family business, and sadly THE FORCE AWAKENS keeps on this stupid idea. I hope ROGUE ONE does not contain references to any Skywalker family issues so it could at least stand as a proper EPISODE III (TPM can still be a “good” prequel film - especially in a fan edit form like A CLOAK OF DECEPTION - because it does not damage too much the OT*, and it could become the “real” EPISODE II if Disney were to produce a KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC movie that would nicely be the “real” EPISODE I).

(nevertheless I still want to see v4 of THE APPROACHING STORM and v2 of DAWN OF THE EMPIRE !)

(* by the way, I wonder if the “ultimate machete” order way to watch the main saga could be the following:
1 - 4 - 5 - 2 - 3 - 6)

(but still the best way to watch the 6 movies is: 4 - 5 - 5 - 5 - 5 - and a digest of 6).

Among all CGI movies released back in the 90’s, JP is still impressive (especially… the non CGI animated creatures !) but not as impressive as what can be seen in STARSHIP TROOPERS.

I’ll would advise to remove the second track, because the added music of the first track is awesome.

evansj1983 said:

It’s the scene where Yoda is in bacta tank and you hear Qui-Gon saying “No… This is not the way.” I placed this over the obnoxious “NOOO!” but I was not at all talented enough to make it work. All I was capable of was reducing the main audio and trying to insert the Clone Wars line, but the background music was just wrong. Plus, the calling out of Anakin’s name was a little too dramatic for the line that followed. I ended up scrapping it and keeping the line as it was but decided on cutting the scene on Mace Windu’s face as the Imperial March is in the background.

But I still I have a weird feeling that with a decent editor it could work. You get some authentic Liam Neeson… you get Qui-Gon seemingly expressing his disappointment in the path that Anakin is taking…

There is a very beautiful scene where it could fit, in Episode III, when Anakin is waiting alone in the jedi council that Palpatine gets arrested by Windu. At the beginning there is a voice over of the Palpatine speech about Padmé, just after you could insert as a “light” answer Qui-Gon’s “No… this is not the way Anakin…”. This is the scene when Anakin choices the path to join Palpatine, so it might work to get him conflicted between Palpatine’s lies and Qui-Gon’s wisdom. But you need to leave the rest of the scene completely musical, as it is in the theatrical cut (it may be the best scene of the entire prelogy: no dialogue, Anakin and Padmé deeply challenged by antagonist feelings, eerie shots of an infinite yet claustrophobic city, moving score on top of that, and a perfect montage : if the complete prelogy had been done that way, we would not need fan edit to fix everything wrong !).

(the best dialogues Lucas has ever written is when his characters don’t talk !)

Hal 9000 said:
JEDIT: It appears it’s just happening in the 720p version, most likely as a result of transcoding it to AAC.

I confirm there is nothing wrong on the 1080p version.

Alice Jameson said:
I’m a huge fan of the Legend of Zelda series. Ocarina of Time is my favorite game.

Off topic: Just in case some people wouldn’t know about the magnificent Zelda Symphony : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qp-ypYp6rQ

Octorox said:
Are there any audio edits that you found particularly jarring?

Not that much in fact: the arrival on Coruscant, Boss Nass weird noise (but it seems to be improved over L8 version) and the music during the final battle montage.

I have watched a few scenes (sorry I didn’t take notes of where the framerate is problematic, but still I noticed some issues around 0:11’04 and during the duel of the fates). About your edit choices themselves, you aimed at a fast-paced movie, so I guess it works to your taste, though I believe that sometimes you rush things too much and that inoffensive bits are hard to remove without audio issues (the same goes with L8 version, especially for the arrival on Coruscant). You’ve nicely removed the Podrace announcers. I like the working on the pod sequence as well.

The title is offically the long version, with “Episode VII” in it (this is the actual title used in the movie). Lucas emphasized on the number of the episode for the Prelogy (which were even bigger on prom material than STAR WARS or the subtitles) because it was commercially challenging to release prequel movies (people knew they were going to see “Episode I-II-III” and that the original 1977 Star Wars had become the 4th one in the series). The concept of sequel is easier to understand, so there is no real need to put a number on posters and trailers. The absence of the number on prom material will also help the publicity around the spin off movies, which is a little bit odd (I’m sure mainstream viewers will go see ROGUE ONE and won’t be pleased to discover this is not the sequel of TFA…).

Your edit of the 3PO goodbye scene seems nice. Good choice !

I really hope Lucas never finds out this thread because he could be inspired by the worse ideas I have ever read to alter further the classic Trilogy. Though it’s a funny exercise but I can’t imagine that you seriously would like to see those changes made to such masterpieces (well, at least two among them are) ? Or there is something I don’t quite get (I’m still a newb here).

(seriously the Jabba scene is garbage, Harrison Ford sucks completely here and the direction is poor: the issue of the scene is not only found in its cgi shitty effets, but on its totally pointless narrative value: it’s not a deleted scene, it’s an unfinished scene)

(next step: “what if Chewy wasn’t a Wookie but a Gungan called Jar Jar Junior ? It would make sense that Obi-Wan is led to choose Han Solo as their way out of Tatooine 'cause he knew Jar Jar Junior’s father, who was a friend on his… from a certain point of view, of course. Genius !”)

Lloyd is indeed terrible in that scene (that’s not his fault, Lucas did’nt give a s*** about actor’s direction and was obviously lacking an actor coach. He eventually hired one on Episode III, which explains why most of the movie actually works pretty well in spite of awful dialogues). I like 3PO’s lines (Anthony Daniels is always great - only his Geonosis scenes of Episode II truly suck - and the animation is good), but Lloyd’s lines + his acting are lame here. Hal has removed the most offensive parts (“my best paaaaaaal”, oh gosh I almost forgot about this…). I think you should consider a trimmed version of Hal’s: the exact same edit without the “i’m going in a spaceship” (which is true but also very dull to say). However the scene itself has no real purpose, so you could remove it entirely (if you do so I would advise you to add more lines to the goodbye scene with the mother, otherwise the emotional heart of the movie would seem too rush). This is up to you, and keep in mind that you’re trying to assemble your own perfect cut, if you think something doesn’t belong and is too painful for your ears and eyes, just remove it 😃