Wow, that looks seamless! If that’s an option, I’m definitely all for it.
Yes! If that’s an option then that’s it!
My only concern is that when Yoda is attacked there are two Wookiee’s roaring, so perhaps he can be augmented/disguised just for those couple shots.
Maybe it would be possible to rebuild some of the audio in that scene?
For what it’s worth, I made a custom “v5.5” edition of Cloak of Deception that removes JarJar slurping apples and a couple of other bits not to my taste, and I will probably do the same with The Approaching Storm. Right now my plan is just to remove the creepy Anakin moment and a few bits of JarJar that snuck back in, but I could maybe make a version without Dex and the Droid Factory if people really want it. Personally, I think Hal’s new edits of these scenes work quite well in context.
I expected a little backlash for that one, but I feel like
A) It doesn’t end abruptly as it did in prior versions
B) It mediates the smoothed over love story and the very next scene where the two are a little cold toward each other
C) It includes a movie trope that goes way back about the woman initially resisting the man’s advances (the #MeToo thing) which is consistent with the love story’s ‘old cinema’ style (and begins to show us that she is denying to herself that she may have feelings for him, as continued in the family dinner scene)
And mutters D) The Phantom Editor saw fit to leave it in for his cut.All around I felt like it was the right thing to do, though I anticipated some blowback. I’m sorry, everyone.
JEDIT: I actually shortened it slightly, mimicking Attack of the Phantom. I would suggest watching this cut and see how that moment strikes you in context of the whole.
Thanks for the thoughtful explanation Hal. I understand your reasoning, although I don’t agree with it. I felt that ‘old cinema’ trope was tired and outdated (not to mention harmful) in 2002, let alone 2019. Regardless of the real-world optics of the scene though, I think the bigger problem is that it just doesn’t work in the context of the movie. After all, The Empire Strikes Back (my favorite Star Wars movie) employs the same trope, but far fewer people take issue with it because of the direction and performances. Even when Han and Leia are at each others throats, we can tell they have feelings for one another. Christensen doesn’t play the scene with old hollywood charm, he plays it as genuinely creepy. Portman seems firmly repulsed; there isn’t really a second layer to her performance that suggests her defenses might be coming down.
Congrats on finishing V6! Looks promising, and I can’t wait to check it out.
Hal 9000 said:
*Reinstated the original ending to the packing scene
Oh no, please don’t tell me you reinstated the moment where Anakin stares lustfully at Padme and she tells him that he’s making her feel uncomfortable, to which he smiles(!) like an absolute creep. That’s easily one of my least favorite moments in the entire film. My reaction every time I see it is “get the hell out of there Padme”. Especially in the #MeToo era, this moment seems in poor taste, and I felt the way you had handled it previously was completely seamless.
I think if you cut Rose’s line identifying the creatures as Fathiers, you also need to cut the preceding line where she says “are those what I think they are?”, however I also don’t really think that cut is possible so I’d err on the side of leaving both lines.
I agree that I’d also rather see some deleted or BTS footage cleaned up and included over the BB8 coin joke, there’s actually quite a lot of it on the Blu-Ray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVEoevKRE3M
I haven’t seen your original edit so I cant compare the two scenes but I really enjoyed this 10min footage. The removal of the fart jokes and the two headed alien commentor (I always hated that alien) from the scene gives it a more serious tone. It would be good to remove that American accent commentator to if possible and just leave the Alien language in. I thinking adding Jabba back in doesn’t take away anything from serous tone and adds a bit of fan service. I would be really interested in watching you V2 version. Do you have an ETA?
Thanks for your feedback! I don’t think I will be removing the American announcer voice, but if you’d like to see an edit that does that, check out l8wrtr’s shadow of the sith: https://ifdb.fanedit.org/sots/
The new version looks great, thanks for all your hard work Hal. I have to point out though, that the changelog isn’t entirely accurate anymore. Thumbing through the edit, there are several small visual alterations from 2004 and 2011 that aren’t listed. Also, the Wampa cave scene is clearly the theatrical version and not Adywan’s version. I think these changes are mostly for the better so I’m not complaining, but perhaps it would make more sense to list what visual changes were made from the 2011 version rather than the 97 release?
If it can be done convincingly, I’m okay with it. But with all respect to Poppasketti, I just don’t find that clip convincing, and I’m not sure anything short of painting him out completely would work for me. I already know its Chewbacca, so any edits will always just look like a bad disguise.
Sorry, but this doesn’t really work for me. For one, Chewbacca’s bandolier has two shoulder straps in Solo, so I don’t think the double bandoliers really make it looks like a different Wookiee. And with no bandoliers at all he looks strangely…naked?
Chewbacca never interacts with Yoda in the OT anyway, so I never felt showing them together, despite it being a bit convenient, really took anything away from the original movies. This was Peter Mayhew’s last full performance as Chewbacca (In Force Awakens he only plays the character in some shots) so I’d be inclined to just leave it be.
This is exactly what happens in the movie already though. The flaw Galen left on the Death Star was a leaking reactor. How to get to the reactor is a whole different matter - Luke’s miracle.
I don’t disagree with that. This was just an idea I had to address this issue, which I have heard brought up from time to time. I’ve argued against it before, but I can see where it is coming from as well. Kind of want to get a sense of people’s feelings about it.
A lot of your ideas for Rogue One seem similar to mine, but this one in particular I don’t agree with. I think one of the better things about the film is that it retcons a frankly obvious design flaw to be an intentional decision rather than simple incompetence. I think making this change would diminish that, and the fact that Galen didn’t catch the flaw in the initial design would make him look boneheaded.
Use cuts and VFX to remove the data disc being handed off to the Tantive IV. Mask it out of hand. Maybe replace disc with blaster for the second rebel (since he has a blaster in his right hand when he makes it into the Tantive IV). We can assume both ships received the transmission.
I’m also not sure about this change. I think what makes the Vader hallway scene work is that the stakes are clear. The Rebels are desperately trying to hand off the plans while Vader is cutting them down one by one. If there’s no game of hot potato with the plans happening, the scene is just Vader killing dudes because it looks cool, and doesn’t have much of a purpose.
Personally, I think the way TM2YC handled Vader was more or less perfect, and I wouldn’t change it much at all.
I think that’s the only tweak of the sort that I would like to apply to ESB, but for ANH I think I’ll do an alternate track with the following:
- “[I] wanted you to have this…”
- 2004 Krayt dragon call
- Luke calling out to Biggs from the radio drama after his death (similar to Adywan’s implementation - to help the SE scene feel more valid)
I’d be interested in this. Would you also consider bringing in any bits from the mono mix, such as the “Blast it Wedge, where are you?” line?
Here’s what I’ve got going so far for the podrace. I decided to bring back our old friend Jabba and make some other tweaks that align closely with the theatrical edit, check it out: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1yDX303qJdK2qdfHKy5z69zjqRN3d87Wt
I never had too hard a time believing that Obi-Wan was just bending the truth there to give Luke a nudge down the path of a Jedi. I agree that changing “[a] Jedi Master who instructed me” is fine.
I was able to take a look. I actually think it looks more like the HDTV version. It is full 1080p, just with the same image quality problems as the DVD/HDTV scan. The pink shift seems to be gone though
Wow, it looks excellent! Is there any chance we could see a preview of your version of the Dex’s Diner sequence as well? I’m interested in seeing what you did with it.
I don’t own the digital releases, just the Blu-Rays. Does anyone know how the quality is on this bonus feature? Is it SD? HD? How does it compare to the TV Broadcast and Laserdisc versions?
How about the prequel deleted scenes? Are they pretty much identical to the DVD releases? Thanks!
Here’s a pretty minor suggestion, but could you keep more of Obi-Wan snooping around the separatist base? The way the music currently cuts from him observing the droid factory to listening in on the meeting is a bit jarring to me, as the first part of the “conspiracy” leitmotif is removed. My preferred edit of that sequence is the Phantom Editor’s which keeps it mostly the same as the theatrical but cuts the Trade Viceroy’s line “I’m not signing your treaty until I have her head on my desk.” to just “I’m not signing your treaty until I have her head.”
I can’t see any way to make a complete removal of the factory scene feel seamless. A Dooku VO would not be enough, a real version of the movie just wouldn’t handle the transition that way. It would establish Dooku finding out about Anakin and Padme, and then it would show Anakin and Padme being apprehended and taken to Dooku. Unless there are deleted scenes somewhere that show this, it just won’t feel like an official edit if we jump straight to Padme talking with Dooku.
Honestly, I think the rest of this edit improves AotC so drastically that it can afford to have a single, trimmed down less-than-stellar scene for the sake of feeling like an official movie edit.
I mean, to be fair, Padme said that she wanted a diplomatic solution to the situation. Therefore, it makes sense that they could simply walk in to talk with Dooku without any real confrontation. The reason Obi-Wan was apprehended was because he was sneaking around and sending messages via his ship.
Why wouldn’t they just come in the front entrance then? I think the preceding scene implies that they are looking for an discreet entrance to sneak in.
Damn, all the technical fixes you’re doing may mean I have to do a hybrid V5/V6 for myself if you do decide to add the droid factory cancer back in…
Good idea. I’ve been making a hybrid V5/V6 Cloak of Deception for myself too, and can even make it available if Hal is okay with it.
Put me in the pro camp as well. Even though the scene itself isn’t exactly a winner it feels like a smoother transition.
That’s alright. Just something interesting to point out. TM2YC also revealed the Jedi the same way The Phantom Editor did by digitally painting out the lightsabers in the background in one shot of Dooku.
This I’m interested in seeing. One of the strongest edits in Attack of the Phantom that I haven’t seen many editors try to replicate.
So I may or may not be working on a V2 of this that is a little more conservative and includes some of the changes from Hal’s latest version of his edit.
Here’s something I’m experimenting with in order to retain the “short negotiations” joke: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kVnqOCAJaq-XftsR1cNXaOqS8GEayAC4
Let me know if you guys think the lip sync is close enough. I also need to add some droid servo sound effects, although I’m not sure where I can source the audio (Qui-Gon’s original lines are mixed into all front audio channels in this scene). Please PM me or post here if you have a source!
Honestly, it’s not a bad bit. Qui-Gon catching the tongue with his Jedi reflexes would be genuinely a fun moment, if not for the fact that it clashes with the scene surrounding it.
Just got finished watching V6. Congrats on the best version of COD yet! Even though my edits have taken the opposite tact, I really appreciate how your edits slow down and let the movies breathe somewhat, and I think it helps them feel less like fanedits. The new 3PO lines work beautifully and I think your version of the “fixing up the podracer” scene fits in much better than the “before the race” scene in previous versions of the edit.
Although I think the majority of V6 changes are improvements, there’s one change that doesn’t sit right with me, and that’s JarJar slurping apples at the dinner table. I’m okay with the fact that your edit isn’t as aggressive on JarJar as some others, and I feel like you’ve mostly done a great job toning him down when his antics detract from the pacing or dramatic impact. However, this scene stood out as particularly problematic to me because they’re literally having conversation about slavery(!) when JarJar starts poaching apples. For me, it was a distraction and totally undermined the dramatic heft of what was going on. There were also some “wacky races” antics in the podrace that I could have taken or left, but I don’t think they were as egregious.
Overall though, I think this is the version of The Phantom Menace I will use when viewing the saga in preparation for Rise of Skywalker. Highly recommended!
V6 exists, and is on its way up into the Google Drive. It should be appearing later on the 'Spleen, too.
Woah, I honestly didn’t expect you to be done with the tweaks so quickly! Changelog?
Please no Greedo scene. It’s one of the few things I really don’t care for in l8wrtr’s edit. Honestly, all of the Episode I deleted footage looks pretty rough from a quality standpoint. The only scene I would include is Qui-Gon and Anakin discovering the probe Droid.
For reference, here are l8wrtr’s takes on the droid factory and garage scenes (I think of the edit’s I’ve seen, his were most successful in editing down these scenes):
droid factory: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L3RMhiG8debz1CUCKgM0gYHrHrN0MUME
garage: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pHLbsJiDweog5gohQGNZTS5ZIuVI4FvX
Personally, I would vote to add the droid factory but keep the garage scene out.