Is anyone here aware that a Darth Vader breathing sound is heard at the end of the credits? It’s a nice touch and I think it could be added to The Approaching Storm. The only edit of Episode II that I’m aware adds in the breathing is Attack of the Phantom.
Here’s something simple you could add in. You could add a subtle Darth Vader breathing at the end of the credits. This is something that is in The Phantom Menace. The only edit of Episode II that I know of that also does this is Attack of the Phantom.
Personally a no for me. Since one, the scene doesn’t really serve any purpose but a “Oh hey its Greedo!” and two, importantly it is another example of trying to shrink the Star Wars Galaxy. All these silly cameos and connections just make the whole narrative small when we are talking about countless galaxies, planets, etc.
Maybe so, but it does show off an aggressive side to Anakin and would work as foreshadowing for his future.
What are your thoughts on the deleted scene where Qui-Gon finds Anakin and Greedo fighting? Have you thought about putting it in (not how l8wrtr did, but inserting it in the spot where Qui-Gon heads back into town to free Anakin)?
I honestly prefer that the droid factory action sequence was removed entirely. The use of the deleted scene involving Padmé meet with Dooku definitely helped things flow much better. The droid factory sequence was an afterthought by George Lucas while he was on a conveyor belt and decided to shoot the scene after the film was story boarded (it was added in later, but after they shot the scene). The only reason why they added it in was because they didn’t think the film had that much action in it. Mike J. Nichols even comments on this in his commentary to Attack of the Phantom where the Obi-Wan and Jango Fett chase through Geonosis’ ring was added in last minute as well.
I didn’t go with that version of that line because the action climax has many other lines in her deep voice, so making that one change would seem weird.
I’d love to have the whole movie in her higher pitched voice but it seems virtually impossible to adjust pitch of just her voice and not the rest of the soundtrack.If you like the line from the trailer then it wouldn’t be too hard to just deepen that one if you don’t want to pitch up everything else.
That’s true. Aside from the sound of her voice, it’s really the delivery that sounds better. There’s some actual tension in her voice compared to the take used in the final film.
I tried. Certain scenes may isolate dialogue to the extent to which this would be possible, but they are few and far between. If there’s any reverb, it sounds very unnatural. And if there is any music or other sounds in the center channel, same story. It might work for an isolate line or two, but it’s far beyond my skills to do this for the whole film.
Very understandable. I find it very hard to isolate voices from the rest of the audio for any movie.
I didn’t go with that version of that line because the action climax has many other lines in her deep voice, so making that one change would seem weird.
I’d love to have the whole movie in her higher pitched voice but it seems virtually impossible to adjust pitch of just her voice and not the rest of the soundtrack.It is quite possible to go into the audio channels and separate her voice to adjust her voice close to how she sounded in the trailers.
I don’t see why this is worth the effort.
I just think it sounds unnatural for a fourteen-year-old girl to sound like an older woman. It also makes her voice sound very robotic.
I didn’t go with that version of that line because the action climax has many other lines in her deep voice, so making that one change would seem weird.
I’d love to have the whole movie in her higher pitched voice but it seems virtually impossible to adjust pitch of just her voice and not the rest of the soundtrack.
It is quite possible to go into the audio channels and separate her voice to adjust her voice close to how she sounded in the trailers.
Another interesting aspect of The Phantom Menace that I discovered is how different Queen Amidala’s voice sounds in the film compared to how she sounds in the trailers. She sounds far more like Natalie Portman in the trailers, but less so in the movie. They may have lowered the pitch of her voice as the Queen intentionally in post. There are not that many edits that attempt to slightly raise the pitch in her voice as the Queen.
On a side note, her line, “Get to your ships!” also seems to be a different take in the movie than in the trailer. The take used in the trailer sounds far more natural given the environment and situation she is in at the time. Both The Phantom Edit and seciors’ edit use the take from the trailer.
Here’s what I am talking about.
So, Anakin throws an absolute fit about his mother dying and that’s it?
Essentially. Your intentions of removing the scene are quite legit, but I personally feel that re-cutting the scene to make Padmé suspect that something may have happened to him while he was away, while also foreshadowing Anakin’s eventual fall to the Dark Side. Despite that, she still wants to help Anakin over the pain he has endured. That’s just how I would personally re-shape the garage scene.
There’s nothing wrong with removing a scene that doesn’t work, it’s your edit. I just think the scene would work better in that format to come off as believable.
In reality, this is how the scene in Attack of the Clones would’ve played out.
I won’t be doing that. I’m somewhat restricted at the moment but I’ve written about it elsewhere. In short: it doesn’t compute that such a thing would endear Anakin to Padme, and it is against her character. In Ep3, she again learns he slaughtered children and suddenly she is horrified. Well, she didn’t care at all in the last movie!
The scene is awful through and through IMHO. Anakin is on display as an unambiguous, violent lunatic.
“I WILL EVEN LEARN TO STOP PEOPLE FROM DYING”
That is true, but removing Anakin telling her that he killed the Tuskin Raiders, keeping it as a dark secret to himself can work for Padmé’s character and not make her come across as a hypocrite in Episode III.
What I’m thinking right now is that I will revert the bounty hunter’s dying words to the original and reinstate an abbreviated Dex’s Diner scene, but otherwise leave that section of the film structured as it has been in TAS. This solves a minor curiosity about How Obi-Wan knows where the planet is, and adds a little of the original film’s whimsy without going quite as far over the top. I still see virtue in using the landing platform deleted scene due to the tidbit about a Jedi potentially deleting the system from the archives. (The Yoda scene makes Obi-Wan look stupid, and the kids are unbearable.)
I am also planning not to reinstate the droid factory action sequence, but will consider whether to structure those scenes the was TAS has been, or reorder them.
TAS: Dooku interrogates Obi-Wan > Anakin and Padme land on Geonosis, enter the door > Dooku interrogates Padme > Palpatine granted emergency powers > Anakin and Padme prepped for execution.
Potential: Dooku interrogates Obi-Wan > Palpatine granted emergency powers > Anakin and Padme land on Geonosis, enter the door > > Dooku interrogates Padme > Anakin and Padme prepped for execution.
How do you feel about reinstating the garage scene between Anakin and Padmé? That is a scene that has the potential to be emotionally powerful for both characters. You could trim the scene down to make it believable for her reasons to stay and support him, while removing Anakin revealing that he killed the Sandpeople. I intend to do these things for my edit of Episode II.
I’m leaving away from the droid factory action sequence, partly because I’m hoping to cull a line from it for 3PO to replace his line as they leave Tatooine.
Fair enough, but I do want to point out that I don’t think l8wrtr’s edit of the Droid factory scene includes R2 and 3PO at all, so you’d likely be able to use the line elsewhere if you adhered to a similar edit. Ultimately it’s your edit and I think the way it plays now works, even if it does seem a bit odd that they sneak into a secret entrance only to immediately sit down at the negotiation table.
Hard to disagree too much with that. Let me sit on this for a bit, but I do like it and it makes good sense.
On second thought, the deleted Obi-Wan and Mace scene does add some connective tissue to the Kamino mystery that isn’t there without the “Yoda & the Younglings” scene, which I don’t think anyone wants back. Without the presence of either of those scenes, Obi-Wan goes straight from not finding Kamino in the library to arriving on the planet, with no mention of someone possibly deleting the files from the archive.
You could add the edited-down Dex scene anyway, right where it was the theatrical cut, but I don’t think it allows you to remove the deleted Obi-Wan and Mace scene like I had previously thought. At that point, it might be best just to leave things as they are, even though I kind of like the idea that Obi-Wan has weird alien friends/informants.
Hal borrowed audio from Attack of the Phantom to alter Zam Wesell’s dying words to “Kamino System.” This helps remove the Dex’s Diner sequence as Obi-Wan now has the information about where the dart and bounty hunter (Jango Fett) is from. The dart has no context now. I personally think The Approaching Storm is fine the way it is.
I do have to admit, if any scenes to bring back into a new version of this edit, it would be a trimmed version of the garage scene between Anakin and Padmé. Anakin still doesn’t have to admit to her that he killed the sandpeople.
Yeah, if I remember right, the new part comes between the fart joke and Sebulba’s sabotage.
Also of note is the pacing of the podrace introduction announcements in general, which is completely destroyed in the DVD/BR cut by adding a ton of unnecessary new racer introductions.
The race is even longer if you check out the deleted scenes on the DVD release.
A theatrical cut laserdisc cap is on MySpleen. That short moment is not present.
To add to that, here is something I found on YouTube. Read the description.
Wow, if you’re right about that I find it surprising. That would qualify as a “Luke swinging twice” or Berenstein thing for me. If I had a VCR around here I’d check myself.
I found out about that information from Movie Censorship.
Here’s something interesting I found out about before the podrace. The brief scene where Shmi tells Anakin to be safe before the race was not included in the original theatrical cut of the film in 1999. Apparently, the VHS version doesn’t include the scene either, but it was first seen on the first DVD release in 2001. The Phantom Edit also doesn’t have the scene either, but Mike J. Nichols did remove the pack animal farting in Jar Jar’s face (a removal that I’m 100% sure every fan edit of Episode I does for obvious reasons 😛).
However, I do believe the pre-race montage does work slightly better without Shmi ensuring Anakin to be careful, mainly because she asks Qui-Gon later on if he’s nervous. She may know the answer since she just talked with her son. It’s not that critical of a removal, but it is one that could be suggested, since it wasn’t originally in the theatrical release. Check out the original Phantom Edit to see how the scene plays out without the scene.
nl0428, I see what you mean about that order of the sequences; the music does seem to more naturally build up to the dramatic rendition of Duel of the Fates as the trio fight. However, for my part, the cut from Anakin flying up into the clouds to the duel continuing is burned into my brain and it doesn’t feel quite right to cut to Padme and company without a blast of music. I think I will leave it as is for my version, but kudos for finding an interesting change to make.
I appreciate it, Hal! There’s nothing wrong with sticking to what you’re used to, I’ve had that feeling many times myself when I may have a deep love for what was already there.
At the opera house, the background image of sperm fertilizing an egg at the opera is inexplicable without the line “he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create…life.”
Interestingly enough, if you look closely in one shot, it subtly re-creates Vader’s mask.
One change that I made in my edit of Episode I is something that a lot of fan editors don’t usually implement in their versions. I swapped two scenes during the Battle of Naboo around to bridge Duel of the Fates together much better, as it was playing during those scenes.
The original goes like this.
[Anakin Takes Off into Space]>[Maul, Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan Fight their Way into the Generator Room]>[Padmé & the Naboo Shoot Off with Droids in the Hallway]>[Anakin Enters Space]
My version goes like this.
[Anakin Takes Off into Space]>[Padmé & the Naboo Shoot Off with Droids in the Hallway]>[Maul, Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan Fight their Way into the Generator Room]>[Anakin Enters Space]
^ lol
Well, I think Silicon’s idea for how to include the apartment scene works really well… without also including the sunset Palpatine office scene.
Seems to me that we have two options for V6. One is to just leave things as they are, which would be:
[Wookiee battle] > [Anakin and Obi-Wan make up] > [Sunset Palpatine office scene] > [Obi-Wan arrives on Utapau]
Or, including the apartment scene would be:
[Wookiee battle] > [Anakin and Obi-Wan make up] > [Anakin and Padmé in apartment] > [Sunset Palpatine office scene] > [Obi-Wan arrives on Utapau]
In this setup, I am concerned that the sunset Palpatine office scene would become a little bit more of a pacing killer. However, we would go from Anakin making up with Obi-Wan to becoming concerned that he stopped by without his knowing, then to Palpatine prompting him to more explicitly entertain the idea that Padmé has something to hide.
Again, the wipe from Anakin and Padmé after the line “you expect too much of yourself” to the establishing shot of Palpatine’s office will probably feel boring.It sounds to me like one should keep one scene or the other, but I’m open to feedback.
I honestly think you should leave it the way it already is in Labyrinth of Evil.
Is it just me, or does it look like they’re fighting on the Falcon?
There are some similar features, but the overall structure doesn’t really match any specific section of the Falcon as far as I can tell. I think it’s more likely to be somewhere on the Death Star wreckage.
That would make sense considering the wreckage was in the ocean.
I really love this image!
Have you ever thought about recording new commentaries for your new Prequel edits? You originally didn’t do one for The Force Awakens until you did your third revision.