goldfunk

regularjoe said:

-- I understand that the editor was probably trying to keep the time down but some of the cuts are too deep and major scenes are reduced to bookends of themselves (the walker battle on Hoth for example or the rescue of the princess on the Death Star, they basically go in, get her, some light saber battle and they leave).

I understand your disappointment. I decided to cut it more like a drama, and less like an action movie, to get the full impact of the character development. That's the benefit this kind of cut brings... I was trying to shy away from simply putting my favorite parts of SW into a highlight reel (if I'd done that, I definitely wouldn't have cut out the banter between Han and Leia on Hoth - greatest dialogue in the series!)

Cool, I'm glad you like it. I understand your complaint, since Yavin is such a classic part of the series.

I felt pretty strongly about making a cut that you could see in one sitting, and there was a lot of dead weight plot-wise with the first death star. In other words, i was making a cut that made sense as its own movie, irrespective of what was in the original movies. So it didn't make a lot of sense to have two death stars. When I made that cut, it made complete sense in its own internal logic - the homing beacon was placed on the millenium falcon, and the empire follows them to hoth, where their base was. 

Of course, it's not perfect, logically speaking, because at first the death star is whole then later on you see it in construction. But that's a small detail that's much more easily overlooked than destroying the death star once, then simply destroying it again later on. Taking everything into account, and seeing as I wanted to make this for the virgin SW mind as much as for the die-hard fan, it seemed to be the right thing to do.

To be honest, the two death star thing has always bothered me. It was like they couldn't think of anything better when they were writing ROTJ, so they just did  the same damn thing they did in the first movie. 

This edit is pretty unique in that it takes all 6 movies and makes them into one, three hour movie viewable in one sitting. 

I designed it, as much as was possible, to be a film complete in and of itself, that someone completely unaware of Star Wars could enjoy - in my mind, it's impossible for someone who's not a fan to start from episode 1 and just watch the series. It's just too difficult. 

Putting everything into one film gives you the advantage of getting the full force of Anakin's story - At the beginning you see him as a child, you witness him turning into Darth Vader, you see how he destroys millions of lives, then you watch as the inherent love he has for his son takes him to a small, almost tragic step towards redemption. Watching it in multiple films, you'll never feel the full impact of that amazing story. 

My cursory research tells me that the following are the closest anyone has come to doing something like this:

1. Topher Grace cut the three prequel films into an 85 min film
2.  SW: Rise of the Empire cuts the three prequel films into a 4hr film
3. SW: Renascent uses ep's 1-4, cutting back and forth between Anakin and Luke's stories, cutting the films to 3h10m

I think there was another edit that cut eps 1-2 together, but I can't find info on it now. There may have been others, but this is all I've been able to find. All other edits I've come across only deal with one movie. 

The principle I used in making the edit was: does this tell Anakin or Luke's stories? Does it tell the story of Jedi v Sith? Everything else I cut. So, there's a lot cut that's really awesome that just doesn't fit into those parameters - all the side stories, a lot of action...and most regrettably, most of Han Solo. Unfortunately, I couldn't fit him in. 

On the plus side, all the lightsaber battles are shown without interruption, and every scene in the film moves the central plot and theme forward. There's a lot less action, actually, but a lot more drama. Watching SW like this gives it a very heavy, almost, I dare say, Shakespearean feel. 

okay thanks for the tip man.

It's online now available for download...

Some may think it’s blasphemous… But there’s a fan edit of the entire 12 hours of the SW saga, cut down to one three-hour movie…just focusing on the story of Anakin, from when he was a little boy, until he becomes Darth Vader and is redeemed by his son.

Trailer’s on youtube and there’s a facebook page.