blairhollar

Hal 9000 said:

I don’t think a change like that lends itself to the regular/max distinction; it either works well or doesn’t, and no one would think, “I miss this moment.” It’s one of a few things that were undone not because I love the original, but for it to feel seamless. The scene ends very abruptly otherwise.

I managed to find your v5 scene, as it was used in Octorox’s Sanded Down edit. The scene does have a somewhat abrupt end, so now I can see why you decided to make the change for it to be seamless. Perhaps one day someone will be able to cut that line seamlessly, and we can have the “best of both worlds”. I’ve never tried editing anything, but I might try to learn in my free time. And AI video stuff is getting better every day so that might help too.

Hal 9000 said:

At this point, the prequels are closed off; I cannot keep myself open to revising them.

I can appreciate that, and I’m glad you are able to work on other projects. I’m a big fan of your work on the custom special editions for the original trilogy and your edits of the sequels.

Hal 9000 said:

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.

Hi Hal,

Just watched your edit for the first time, and I was listening to your audio commentary. You give a perfect rationale that I would agree with on how creepy this scene is and why it doesn’t work in live action, but then the scene is still present. I had to stop watching to come here and figure out what the rationale was.

It seems like this is easily the most divisive thing that you’ve done on this edit, and many people here have been looking for a v5 version just to be able to revert that single change. With your recent return to editing and the creation of your “Maximalist” versions, perhaps it would be worth taking another look at this scene?

I am not a fan editor and I have no idea how difficult this whole process is, but personally if I only changed one single thing from the cinematic versions it would be removing that line and the creepy smile.

I know we all want the best possible versions of the movies.

Thank you for all your hard work.