STAR WARS: ATTACK OF THE FEDERATION

FanEdit Information
Type of Fanedit: True Fanedit
Intention With This Edit: To combine the best aspects from other TPM fanedits along with my own concepts/edits to create a definitive version of "The Phantom Menace".
Original Titles: Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace
New Title: Star Wars: Attack of the Federation
Original Runtime: 133 minutes (2 hours, 13 minutes)
New Runtime: 106 minutes (1 hours, 46 minutes)
Time Cut: 29-30 minutes
Time Added: 1-2 minutes
Software Used: Sony Vegas 7 (video editing), Adobe Photoshop CS2 (image editing), Bahaus Mirage (compositing), Adobe After Effects 6.5 (compositing), Sony Sound Forge 8 (audio editing), Sony DVD Architect 4.5 (DVD authoring)

AVI Release Information
- Resolution: 720x320
- Audio format: 5.1 Dolby Surround
- Language: English

DVD-9 Release Information
DVD Format: NTSC - DVD9-DL
Region: 0 (region free)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1, 16x9 widescreen
Audio format: 5.1 Dolby Digital
Language: English
Subtitles: none
Custom DVD Menus
DVD Extras: Fanedit Trailers - "Star Wars: Twilight of the Republic" and "Star Wars: The Black Knight Rises"

Major Cuts/Edits/Changes
01. Added a new title crawl (developed from an After Effects "Star Wars title crawl" sequence originally created by Taolar)
02. Major cuts/edits to Jar-Jar Binks, Anakin, Padme, the Gungans, and the Trade Federation
03. Removed all references to midichlorians, Anakin's virgin birth, or the Chosen One prophecy
04. All scenes featuring Sidious's now has his face from under his hod removed and his voice has been altered/lowered to conceal his identity
05. All Battle Droids' voices have been removed (with the exception of one scene, where the voice is needed for plot purposes)
06. Removed dialogue redundancy throughout the film
07. No "Planet Core" sequence (both first and second parts)
08. Removed a lot of redundant dialogue by Ric Olie (aka "Captain Obvious")
09. Took out the Viceroy's "Now there are two of them!" line followed by his croony's "We shouldn't have made this bargin"
10. Removed Jar-Jar's redundant scene with Padme cleaning R2
11. Removed Jar-Jar stepping in sh*t
12. Added in Watto humming the "Cantina theme" in his first scene in the film (audio taken from Magnoliafan's "Balance to the Force" edit)
13. Added Watto shouting "You break it, you buy it, eh!" line to Jar-Jar (audio taken from Magnoliafan's "Balance to the Force" edit)
14. Added the deleted scene of Anakin beating up Greedo back into the film - it now serves as Anakin's character introduction to Qui-Gon
15. Removed the "Jar-Jar antics" at the Skywalker table
16. The Pod Race has been patterned after Slumberland's cut (with a few additional tweaks/edits of my own)
- No two-headed alien "sports announcer" commentary
- No scenes of Jabba the Hutt
17. Added the deleted scene of Qui-Gon cutting down the probe droid back into the film
18. No mention of Queen Amadala being "elected" in the Senate scenes
19. Anakin does not talk after the "No Sir" line during the Jedi Council's testing
20. Took out Qui-Gon's description of Obi-Wan to the Jedi Council to "sell" them on making him a Jedi Knight
21. Numerous cuts to the Battle of Naboo sequence (Gungan army, Padme's group, Anakin in space)
22. Padme's "Get to your ships!" line has been replaced with the voice that was used in the TPM trailer
23. Anakin's ship is no longer on autopilot (now pilots of his own choice)
24. Removed Qui-Gon asking Obi-Wan to train Anakin at his death
25. Removed Obi-Wan's "I gave Qui-Gon my word" line to Yoda on training Anakin at end of film (Obi-Wan now decides to train the boy on his own)
26. Corrected the bad match-cut of Anakin turning his head at Qui-Gon's funeral
27. Added "Faneditor's credit" to the end credits

900mb AVI Version (xvid-encoded)
Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info

DVD-9 DL Version
Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info

This sounds cool. Looking forward to it.

Looking for forward to this one Jason.

I'll give it a stab.

JasonN - I really wanted to take my time on pointing out all the cool stuff seeing as your hard work deserved some early praise right away!!

What was Great -

Sidiuous actually being a shadow/phantom and his voice having a deeper more "sith-like" feel to it, a totally orig on your part and a perfect addition!

The Alien Subtitles - they are all great and add a humor/danger whatnot to all the scenes!

Anakin- again, great job keeping what worked in his performance and making him a talented kid and future Jedi rather than the *ahem* "chhoooseeennnnn ooonneeeee" ... lol

Jar-Jar - wow, I barely even noticed him, awesome job!!!! He really is a second player now and blends nto the background more so than the Ewoks did in ROTJ, so great work!!!

What was Good-

Video quality/coloration is exactly as it appeared in the movies, barring full dvd release, but for xvid, plays great!

Sound- great work!!!!!!!

What stood out too much -

Only one gripe and it might be me so bear that in mind, but when the Trade Federation ships land on Naboo to invade, as the tanks dispatch there is a hard cut to the Naboo Palace. I figured you were trying to cut out the Niemodians and Droids talking scene, but it seemed pretty abrupt to me PLUS we then go to Naboo Palace where the Queen says she didn't want to start a war.. seems wierd we would see the war starting before she says that, but thats my opinion.

The opening crawl... LOVE The BLUE scheme, glad you kept it, but the description still reads boring Lucas style, kinda hoped you would have kept the "Slavery" being outlawed bit rather than taxation.... but oh well


And of course I still really like ADM's OT music addition to the podrace scene, mostly cause it added OT Williams music and the force theme to Anakin as he fixes his pod, for my own purposes I'll prob re-edit that into the vid for my own viewing pleasure, please don't take that as a crit - I understand you wanted a true 5.1 so I completely get it, but I'm not as picky on that front and would prefer more variety in the tunes... as it stands now, there just way too much Trade Federation music being looped by ol Ben Burtt.

What I could wish for -

A true color fix - but were all gonna have to wait til lady gets to this for that to happen, as it stands now the colors are all pink hued and bloomed out... *sigh* not yur fault just another Lucas decision...

Again phenom work JasonN!!! I know these three edits almost killed you so you deserve high praise and I truly look forward to the Episode release...

Review by White43

I have to date watched at least 4 edits of the PM. None of them ever seemed to come up to scratch - none of them simply went far enough. We all know the issues, but does Jason's version finally achieve this?
Well, I can say - The Force is strong with this one!
Jason pretty much made public what he was doing with the film, so I knew what to expect somewhat.

Audio and Audio Edit
Sound was good, I detected no problems. Nice and clear. The audio edits were largely seemless.

Video and Video Edit
No issues. Nice clear pictures.

A couple times I did note what seemed to be a quick edits, but then, I'm looking for them and I know the film. They were however minor and didn't bring me out of the film. The reviewer above states where a couple are.

I noted an error in a Watto subtitle. It's where he's telling Anakin and Padme that Qui-Gonn shouldn't keep betting "I'll being owning him soon."

The edit.

Good

Blacking out Sidious and deepening the voice is excellent. Makes him feel like a separate character. Jar Jar has been hacked down to an absolute minimum, I barely noticed him in this edit. He no longer irritates. Anakin is trimmed down and although he's still fairly annoying, all his yippies and whoops are gone...bar one at the end of the battle......do we really need it?

No underwater fish attacks, no podrace commentary, removal of most of Sebulba - excellent. Not missed and works very well.

Boss, no ticks.
Droids - no voices. This is very effective.
Anakin deliberately piloting the ship, that has always been a good idea.

Stuff not so good....

Captain Obvious still says too many things. :lol:

A scene which I've never liked is when they all leave Tattooine. Anakin being cold, "I made this for you.", "I don't need this to remember you." "I'll always care for you..." etc etc. My god she's only just met the kid. It turns out they care about each other so much he doesn't see her for 10 years. :roll:

Big celebration at the end! I thought you'd kill that one. It's a horrible scene.

Conclusion
The pace of this film is spot on and it's the first time I've watched TPM without it seeming to drag ass. I enjoyed this edit more than any other edit I've seen of the film. It felt liberating not to see all the crap that's usually in it and actually enjoy it!

Tommy two thumbs up from me 9/10 (For the few technical errors and the reasons above).(but hey - apparently my reviews aren't up to scratch, so you know, ignore this review.....)

Thanks for the reviews, guys
(and thanks for catching that typo, white - I'll fix that for the DVD release)

There's another typo in the Greedo scene - "You're such an fool, Greedo".

Great edit, by the way. Not sure if it's my favorite Ep I edit, but it's a really good one. I'll see if I can whip up a proper review soonish.

kerr said:

There's another typo in the Greedo scene - "You're such an fool, Greedo".

Click to expand...

Crappppppppppp.

That'll be fixed for the DVD, too.

This sounds awesome! I've been wanting to do a similar cut to this, but I'm obviously not the fastest editor in the world, so it's months/years off. Hopefully you've done what I wanted to do, to save me the trouble. Hurry up with that DVD!

any news on the DVD releases of this trilogy?

The "Version 2" DVD is nearly finished - I just have to finish trailers for my EP2 and EP3 edits. The types of updates/changes on the DVD version (from the AVI version) will include:

- improved audio cuts/transitions

- fixed the SW title crawl for better pacing/speed with the soundtrack

- spelling corrections to title crawl and alien subtitles

- rewrites to a few portions of the title crawl and alien subtitles

Fanedit trailer now available:

[youtubewide:2ddvi5s4]

DVD-9 version is now available via RS.
(thanks to elbarto1 for WinRARing and uploading the DVDs for me)

JasonN - I can't thank you enough for this fanedit. Great video, great audio, smooth editing...it's exactly what I was hoping for. A great editing job along with DL quality video and full 5.1 audio - it was wonderful!

There were a few minor things I would probably change if I were making the edit - removing Jar Jar's two "How wude" lines, the bit in the Gungan battle with him riding the tank, and the end celebration scene. But no matter - I do not expect anyone to come closer to what I want than what you've done (until Adywan gets this far, of course).

Attack of the Federation is now my official version of the movie. Congratulations on a job well done!

(BTW - I was thrilled to see my name in the "Special Thanks" section of the DVD - and in no way did it affect my review of this fanedit )

TV's Frink said:

Attack of the Federation is now my official version of the movie. Congratulations on a job well done!

Click to expand...

That's what I think too. Best version of this film by far. I've yet to watch Jason's versions of the other films - but I'm fairly sure they'll be good.

Top work Jason and thanks.

Has anyone had trouble with a good burn of the movie? I noticed a minor problem in that if I pause, when I start up again the sound doesn't work. It starts working again after 5-10 seconds. This was on my main DVD player. On my computer, there's a much bigger problem - the last 30 minutes or so are almost unwatchable because the player stutters and skips so much. And on my older computer, it doesn't even recognize that there is a disc in the player.

I'm hoping this is a bad disc issue. I burned a second copy and same result. I'm going to buy a new pack of DL discs and see if the last two discs in the previous pack were bad. It wouldn't be the first time, I almost gave up on this site when I first came here because I ran into a whole pack of bad discs, and I though I was just burning incorrectly.

Just wondering if anyone else has run into problems.

I tested the DVD-9 for disc errors before I sent elbarto1 and it played perfectly on the players that I tried it on, so I don't think that's what causing the problems.

I expect you are right, I haven't heard anyone else complain. I'm betting it was a couple of bad discs. I'm currently downloading the SL version, which hopefully will let me continue on the cutlist until I get this sorted.

Incidentally, do the SL and DL versions have the exact same cuts/changes or are there any differences?

The dual layers bitrates are to high,DVD Rb made the audio go out of sync...i had trouble shrinking them.