There are quite a number of confirmed canon planets not on the map, but it’s really surprising not to see Lothal on there, considering how much emphasis Lucasfilm has placed on Rebels.
Personally, I think the Anakin confessing to murder scene, while incredibly poorly executed, has a purpose. A key part of Padme and Anakin’s relationship dynamic is that it’s dysfunctional. She’s an enabler of his behavior. While I think the literal admittance to killing kids and Padme’s acceptance is ridiculous, I think too many fan edits, including L8wrtr’s and Hal’s, go too far to remove the dysfunctional aspects of the relationship. To see how this can be written well and how it adds to the characters, check out the Rush Clovis Arc in Season 6 of the Clone Wars.
I actually agree about the deathsticks exchange, and I do like Hal’s edit, but I just think he leaves in too many lines of dialogue that I know my group will have no tolerance for “That creep is gonna end up deep fried!” “So have you, grown more beautiful I mean” “You’ve come to the right place at the right time” “Dear!”, the silly lines from the techno union/banking clan etc. My preferred edit would probably be a sort of middle-ground between the two. I also think the way L8wrtr approaches the romance progression works better than the day-for-night kiss.
So, I’m doing a rewatch of the saga with some friends and none of them have ever seen a fanedit before. I’m trying to decide between your Ep I and L8wrtr’s. I’ve already decided to go with L8wrtr’s other two edits (although your v4 of EpII could persuade me differently) but I really do think I prefer your Ep I. Does anyone know on any glaring inconsistencies between Hal’s Ep1 and the other two l8wrtr films?
GOUT, Laserdisc, Despecialized, or Semi-Specialized? Original trilogy only or the complete saga? Fan edits of the prequels? If so, which ones? How about order? Chronological, Release, Rister or Machete? Alone or with friends? Will there be snacks? I want to know!
Personally, this is what me and my friends are doing. Most of us have seen all the films but one has seen none of them. We mostly dislike the prequels but there are a few that are fans of them. I am the only one among us who has watched any fan edits:
1.)Star Wars (1977) Despecialized 2.5
2.)The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Despecialized 2.0
3.)Shadow of the Sith (l8wrtr EP 1)
4.)The Republic Divided (l8wrtr Ep 2)
5.)Dawn of the Empire (l8wrtr Ep 3)
6.)Return of the Jedi (1983) Despecialized 1.0
I have to agree. KK650’s versions are a massive improvement over the blu-rays but all the skin tones look very yellow and I feel like a little red could be brought back in. Your prequels do look a little better than your OT in terms of skin tone.
My only other concern is that your prequels are too large to fit on a SL blu-ray when turned into blu-ray isos via tsmuxer.
My favorite prequel ship design has to be the Venator class Star Destroyer with the nifty hatch that opens up and reveals hangars and an aircraft carrier-like landing strip:
My second favorite has to be the clone dropship
I’m also a fan of all of Naboo, Darth Maul, Coruscant, the Jedi Starfighters, the art deco-like interiors on Coruscant, the Clone Troopers (especially EPIII) and General Grievous (although I’m not much of a fan of the character)
Things I’m not a fan of: Dex’s Diner, some of the more outlandish alien designs, The super-orange look of Geonosis, the fact that all the clones are CG (effects are another story in general, but I like the designs), some of the more CG-heavy planets (Utapau I’m looking at you)
Tbh, anything could happen between now and then. I mean, we were also supposed to get a Star Wars spinoff directed by Josh Trank. I wouldn’t get too worried about Episode 9 until we’ve all seen 7 and 8 first.
So not to revive an age-old debate, but most new-canon materials including Rebels and Battlefront have been presenting TIE Fighters as gray. I’m wondering, has Ady made a definitive statement as to whether the TIE Fighters ANH:R HD will be blue or gray? I’d personally rather he just leave the colors as they are in each film but I believe a while back he said something about making them uniformly blue in all the films.
In my opinion Anakin from Clone Wars really illustrates how that kind of character can work if done well. He’s still hotheaded and impulsive but there’s a heart and passion there that didn’t exist in the prequels. In Clone Wars you get the sense that Anakin is damaged and misguided but he’s still fundamentally a good person. His passion, for his friends, for his wife, toward his moral convictions, is ultimately his downfall. He doesn’t know how to let go. I think that’s what George was ultimately going for in the prequels but the character wasn’t fully baked and Hayden’s performance only exacerbated the problem.
I did do a 3 in 1 edit a while back that contained a lot of my ideas of EpIII. However I abandoned that edit after I decided that the 3 in 1 approach was not the best one for these films, as it was difficult to pull off an a way that still felt seamless and professional. Unfortunately my hard drive has crashed since then and I no longer have the files. I’ve been watching the Clone Wars series recently and it has rekindled my interest in the prequel era, so I may return to do an Ep III edit, since my 3 in 1 edit was like 65% Episode III anyway. Basically my idea for EpIII is more dialogue trims than anything, Kerr’s edit provides a strong template although I think some of his cuts are more aggressive at times than is actually necessarily (I appreciated that you didn’t hack down the opening space battle as much as most edits).
Yeah that’s fair. I think the edit is just not for me, but judging be FE.org reviews you’ve definitely created an edit that strikes a chord with a lot of people.
Personally, EPIII has always been my favorite prequel (EpII is my least favorite). That said, It’s a film filled with a lot of extreme and heightened moments, which under GL’s hands can sometimes be really dramatic (The birth of Vader and the delivery of the twins, the opera scene) and sometimes really corny and over the top (The Palpatine face scarring scene, most of Anakin’s dialogue in the Mustafar duel, NOOOOO!). It is the prequel film where the “sith hits the fan” (pun intended), and in that sense it avoids one of the major problems of the first two films (being boring/feeling inconsequential), but brings with it another problem (having some of the most over the top/campy moments in the entire trilogy).
Basically, this is a film that I have a begrudging affection for, and I haven’t really seen an edit yet that satisfies me, so I will probably just “shut up and do it” and make my own.
Honestly the plots of all three of these movies are relatively straightforward. It’s the execution that muddles them. I kind of differ from a lot of people here in that I think 99% of the problems with the prequels are execution problems, not conceptual ones.
I have to say, I love your Episode I edit, and I think it’s the best one out there, but I started watching your Episode III edit to provide feedback and gave up about 20-25 minutes into the movie. Everything up until they land on Coruscant is great but after that, the way you reorder so many scenes just doesn’t work for me, it feels choppy and disjointed, especially the music transitions. I understand that you’re trying to emphasize the political reasons for Anakin’s fall and demphasize the love story related reasons but I just don’t think it works, the material is just not strong enough to support that change. Ultimately it feels less like a comprehensible, flowing story and more like a collection of random scenes designed to set things up later on. Sorry to say this, but I actually think the theatrical cut is stronger so far.
Please don’t take this the wrong way, it’s just my personal opinion. I honestly have not been satisfied with an EpIII edit since Kerr’s, and I have similar feelings about L8wrtr’s edit. I feel like faneditors really tend to overthink EpIII and overestimate what they need to do to fix it.
EDIT: I guess this basically means I should make my own EpIII edit…
Thanks but unfortunately that trick didn’t work for me. I’m still encountering the same problems 😦
This may seem like a stupid question but have you considered trying to find a way to just cut out the “No”? Here’s a quick mockup that uses just a bit of the Japanese audio. I imagine the music and audio as well as the transition could be finessed to seem less abrupt. Password is “fanedit”
https://vimeo.com/144902210
Yeah to be fair, I just skimmed through, I haven’t watched the edit in full yet. I’m planning on using your edits for a saga watching with friends before TFA so I’ll see what kind of feedback I receive. It’s just hard for me to imagine a context in which that scene works.
The “first time” scene I never minded, it seems more natural than 90% of the romance scenes in this movie and seems like something young lovers might actually talk about. I also think it might take the edge off the “creepy” political talk that occurs right after.
I also wanted to recommend a few dialogue trims in the Padme’s family scene from L8wrtr’s edit. Particularly the line “our relationship is strictly professional”. In this scene we should see Padme’s barriers start to break down. That line smacks of the “will they, won’t they” nature of the romance in the original that has largely been removed in this edit. imo It’s a lot more effective to hear “Anakin and I are friends…” then Sola gives her a look and she looks doubtful. The other lines are mainly lines from the parents that just come across as a little hammy in the original. I’d recommend giving the L8wrtr version of this scene another watch.
Last thing I wanted to mention was the scene with Anakin in the Lars garage. I’ve noticed you chose to totally excise this scene but I believe other editors such as L8wrtr have proven that this scene can be downright effective when edited down. I definitely miss it in your edit. I think it’s more essential than say, Cliegg’s speech at Shmi’s funeral which is 100% skippable imo.
That said, I don’t want you to feel like I’m unnecessarily comparing your edit to L8wrtr’s. Honestly, I’m just trying to give input in what I feel would make the best edit possible. I listened to your commentary on EpI and I really liked what you said about your edits being a sort of “curation” of the best decisions from various fanedits so my suggestions are totally in that spirit. I hope they help.
EDIT: I also wanted to ask about the removal of the Droid Factory scene and the substitution of the war room scene with Padme, Anakin and Dooku. Right now it doesn’t work for me. Essentially Padme’s “diplomatic solution” is to walk in and ask Count Dooku to set Obi-Wan free. Beyond that she has no plan, essentially gives up when Dooku says “No” and they both get themselves captured. Imo, this makes Padme look stupid and weak-willed. You could argue that they are intentionally getting themselves captured in order to free Obi-Wan later, but if that were the case, you would expect there to be some discussion about it beforehand. In the original, it at least seemed like maybe they were trying to sneak in and find Obi-Wan covertly and in the original context of the deleted scene, the diplomacy was a last ditch effort after they had already been captured. Imo I would STRONGLY recommend reinstating a cut down version of the droid factory for this reason.
Hey Hal, I’m curious. What is your rationale for keeping in the scene where Anakin rides the fat CG animal in the meadow? Imo, it’s a hard scene to stomach and totally takes me out of the film. I realize that part of your philosophy with these edits is to salvage as much of the original films as possible, but imo I’d rather see the extended conversation where they talk about past relationships than that scene.
Hey Hal, I’m not sure if you can help me but I’m having an issue burning your v4 of Ep1 to Blu-ray using tsmuxer. Basically I’ve been able to burn the movie but when I try to play it on my PS4 the video is glitchy and stutters. Is your mkv supposed to be blu-ray compatible?
Yeah, I tend to agree. An explanation, however flimsy, is better than none.
Well technically neither Rebels or the Force Awakens are EU 😉
I agree that a slight pulsating effect to the sabers might make them look a little less digital and a little more organic. Perhaps a little more understated than in Rebels or that commercial.
I’m a fan of that solution, can’t wait to see how it plays out. I agree that the election at 14 thing is silly but I’m willing to accept that conceit because I believe the rest of the scene strengthens the relationship and also provides some more context for Padme’s character.
Thanks! The Vimeo link isn’t working for me though.
Hey Hal, for V4, do you plan to do anything about the clearly temp/animatic shot of the Coruscant senate building used before cutting to the discussion in Palpatine’s office? I would honestly prefer a reused shot from either another part of the movie or ROTS to seeing that clearly unfinished shot.
Sad that you’ve ruled out the Japanese audio. Well, I guess that’s more motive for me to actually do my own fan edit.
