AI [Super-Toys Last All Summer Long]

NOTES:
Artificial Intelligence is one of the first experiences in my life where I walked out of the cinema HATING the film that I had just seen.

The strange thing is, it wasn't like I hated everything about the film; there were many things about it that I found interesting and engaging (the concept of robots becoming human, the fairy tale aspect of the story, the archetypal "odd" characters, the questionable "morality" of the narrative). However, there were an equal amount of things in the movie that I totally despised and ruined whatever positive aspects that I had observed (especially the end, which to this day continues to infuriate me more than any other film ending).

Initially, this edit was started to develop a better ending for the film - at the same time, I discovered the original short story by Brian Aldiss that provided the basis of the film (which I totally fell in love with). So I decided to make the film more akin to the themes of the short story, in addition to changing the ending to better fit those concepts.

FanEdit Information
Original Title: Artificial Intelligence (or A.I.)
New Title: Artificial Intelligence [super-toys last all summer long]
Original Runtime: 2 hours, 26 minutes
Edit Runtime: 1 hour, 39 minutes
Time Cut: roughly 47 minutes
Software Used: Sony Vegas 7 (video/audio editing), Bauhuas Mirage (compositing), Audacity (sound editing), DVD Architect 4.5 (DVD authoring)

DVD Information (version 2.0)
DVD Format: NTSC - DVD9 DL
Region: 0 (region free)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1, 16x9 widescreen
Audio format: 5.1 Dolby Digital
Language: English
Subtitles: none
Custom DVD Menus
DVD Extras: Alternative Ending: "Happily Ever After..."
DVD Extras: Fanedit Trailers - "The Matrix Evolutions", "Silent Hill: Red God Remix", and "Noir Simulacrum"

Major Edits/Changes
Change/Cuts: David's Family & Monica aka "Mommy"
In the original story, the Swinton family really didn't give a damn about David: he was merely an object, a "toy" for them play with and use. The Monica character was more conflicted about her feelings for David than Henry (because David really did "love" his Mommy), but in the end, she continued to view him as an artificial mecha (never as a real child). For this Edit, I decided to remove any additional scenes/subplots that focused the story more on the Henry, Monica, and Martin characters instead of David: this was because I felt that once David finally "awakened" in the story (i.e., when he is imprinted onto Monica and became a true conscious entity), the film's focus should be entirely on him and his quest to become real.

Cuts: "Pool Party" + "Letters to Mommy" Scenes
The Pool Scene was one of the major scenes that I hated from the original film, both from a narrative point of view (Martin hates David... OK, we get it now...) and from a logical perspective (so spinach can harm David, but not water? WTF?!). With the scene gone, the ending that I developed for the Edit (David "dying" in the ocean) is now plausible and understandable.
The Letters Scene I was a little more hesitant on removing, because it was a scene from the original short story. However, Spielberg completely missed the point of it: in the short story, the focus of the scene was on David and his attempts to understand these feelings he had toward Monica; the film, however, he pulled the viewers focus entirely on Monica and her "dilemma" on what to do with David (also, the scene no longer had any context due to the Pool Party scene being removed).

Changes/Cuts: Gigolo Joe
Gigolo Joe never meets the murderer of his female client.

Cuts: No Philosopher Robots
I prefer it when a film's philosophical concepts are presented either informally or as subtext - NOT when characters on screen go jabbering on and on about Humanity's prejudices/intolerances and random crap like humans' "Rite of Blood". Also, I felt that only David (and to a lesser extent, Gigolo Joe) should be advanced enough to contemplate intellectual/emotive human concepts.

Cuts: Professor Hobby
A few minor cuts which dealt with Hobby and his son who had died (and who was the basis for David's design) - the notion is still there, except now it's just briefly implied (and doesn't beat the viewers over the head with scenes of Hobby looking at his dead son's photo).

Changes/Cuts: The Ending
This was the major reason I decided to do this edit, as I absolutely and completely HATE the ending of the original film. For me, having David finally realize the truth of his nature - that he can never be a real human, that he is a mere 'product' for humans to use and discard, and most importantly of all, that he will never gain the love of the one being that he loves above everything else (his "Mommy") - and then choose to end his existence rather than continue to live a never-ending lie, that is what I believe the end of A.I. should have been.
So we have the following changes:
- No jump to 2000 years into the future
- No aliens/robots (yes, they're technically supposed to be advanced robots, but come on Spielberg, get more original with their design!)
- No meeting the (fake) Blue Fairy
- No one day together with (fake) "Mommy"
- No going to sleep/being able to "dream"

Change: End Credits
For this, I switched the color scheme of the credits from "white text on a black background" to a "black text on a white background" scheme - the music for the credits was also changed from John William's score to a song of my choice (which is listed at the start of the end credits).


DVD9 DL "Version 2.0" version
Maybe downloadable from Fanedit.info

thanks a lot for the upload.

...and here is my review for:A.I.: Supertoys Last All Summer Long by JasonN

The edit:
This is a pretty good fanedit. There were no hard cuts, no flaws to the image or the plot which I did notice, the plot was complete and although I did really like the Alien ending and thought it would still make more sense to the story than David's suicide does, it had a nice flow to it. To me the ending came to abrupt and I would have needed a bit more information on the suicidal tendencies of David. Also the "adventure" seemed rather short to me, especially when Prof. Hubby mentions it as a big deal. So, the new ending is not totally convincing to me and left me a bit unimpressed, meanwhile the original ending and the "loving" act of the aliens to fulfill his biggest wish ever and let him then die, forced me to tears. This way, it's all very cold. This does not mean, that it is wrong, the coldness is part of the story all along and most of the time, it is merely David, the machine, who brings emotion into the orga world. I enjoyed watching this version a lot and I think the faneditor addressed the correct spots to be corrected. Unlike the original I was not bored to death. Well done.
editing: 5 of 5,
entertainment: 4 of 5

Image quality:
The image quality is perfect (IMO).
video quality: 5 of 5

Audio quality:
The audio is could be slightly louder, else it is perfect, no hard cuts, no flaws. There is a repeating audio stutter to the end credits song, but since I don't know it, it could be intentional.
audio: 4 of 5

The DVD:
The DVD comes with a nice still menu, scene selection and an about menu. All the menus look real good. Animation would have been great, but still, an exceptional DVD design from what I am used to. Audio to the menus would have been nice. No artwork is attached.
DVD: 4 of 5

resulting in a 4 of 5 overall rating from me. This is a very good fanedit and definitely a huge improvement over the original. I recommend anyone who liked A.I. a bit and owns the original to watch this one. This is hereby approved to FANEDIT.ORG.

Much thanks for the review, boon. :smile:

The Edit: David's "suicide" (or "attempted suicide" in the orginal film) didn't feel too sudden for me when I watched the film (it was always that way in both versions): the only differences between my edit and the original is the outcome of it. Also, I felt that David's violent (and suicidal/self-destructive tendencies) first become present through his "murder" of his other self in the library.
The "Adventure" was also a very short affair in the original version (it's not like I cut any "side quests" from the film).

Audio Quality: If you're refering to some of the stutter effects in the end music, yes, that is a part of that song.

The DVD: As far as artwork for the edit, right now I don't have time to do a true DVD cover for it (as I'm diving straight into my Matrix edit). Maybe a little later down the road, I'll be able to work on one (for now, the mini-poster that I designed above will have to do).

what I could have imagined to work real good for the ending would have been to hear voices in David's head:
"I am special" "He's a toy" "I love you, mummy" "I am the blue fairy" and so on... and maybe one last thought, when he closes his eyes: "I love you, mummy"

boon23 said:

what I could have imagined to work real good for the ending would have been to hear voices in David's head:
"I am special" "He's a toy" "I love you, mummy" "I am the blue fairy" and so on... and maybe one last thought, when he closes his eyes: "I love you, mummy"

Click to expand...

Hmm, that is an interesting idea, although I am just fine with leaving it silent with the music.

Also, for this project's fanedit page, could you possibly use the image that I provided as it's "cover" (unless that is reserved only for DVD covers)?

it is reserved only for dvd covers.

Ah, that's kinda what I thought.

perhaps I'll whip up a really quick cover art using the idea you have for your poster.

ThrowgnCpr said:

perhaps I'll whip up a really quick cover art using the idea you have for your poster.

Click to expand...

Mucho thanks for the offer, throw

no prob. I started it this morning over breakfast. I should get it done later this evening at some point (with disc work) If there are any particular images you are fond of for the back of the cover let me know

let me know what you think, and if the back image is appropriate (I havent had a chance to watch the edit yet, so I am not sure). I had an image on the back that I liked better, but I don't think that it fits with your edit.

I like it.

Wow throw, that is really great.

The scene that you have for the back cover doesn't appear in my edit, but I think it does work kinda well for that concept and design.

i was curious about that. If there is a scene you think would translate well, you can send me a screen cap or something. Will only take a sec to modify

Glad this project worked out well. Look forward to giving this a viewing. Oh and like the cover art Throw

Can't wait to see this one, although it does sound like we have diametrically opposed views of the movie (a good thing in my book ). Is this being seeded?

corgicar said:

Can't wait to see this one, although it does sound like we have diametrically opposed views of the movie (a good thing in my book ). Is this being seeded?

Click to expand...

Not at this time - lately I'm viewing the idea of torrenting fanedits as kind of an unsure method of distribution (since people seem to just leech until they have the file and then not seed it), so right now I'm not currently planning on making Super-Toys available as a torrent.

Any edit that truncates the god-awful "second ending" of the original gets a thumbs up from me.

I've gone back and created a "Version 2" of this Edit, which doesn't have a lot of changes to the film, but does features:

- improved audio editing/mixing
- I've added back the "murdered woman" subplot back into Gigolo Joe's storyline (but the part with the murderer confronting Joe has been cut from the scene); I've realized that putting the subplot back into the movie really adds more to Joe's character and better explaining why the police are after him.

I will be sending the DVD5 of "Version 2" along with the DVD version of my Silent Hill Edit (once I finish it) to another member for Rapidshare upload.