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STAR WARS: Episode I - Return of the Sith

And also i have a fan edit ( a walking dead season 1 movie ) from a faaar less used subject, that wasn't done before on this site and it still waits on this forums unapproved. But i dont act like that... i feel your frustration, but dude, chill....
 
No problem; in fact, maybe it is one of the best, who knows? So far the only two reviews are quite positive:

It is absolutely awesome. (easily one of the greatest prequel edits imo)
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and
...I have seen countless edits from The Phantom Editor to The Gathering Storm and again, this beats them all....SUPER 10/10. If I could I would rate this [an] 11 or higher.
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If I get around to releasing my Abyss edit, that will probably garner enough attention to get me out of firstling status and the point will be moot -- this edit will no longer need approving. :)
 
yeap saw your trailer for that. looks interesting. its been quite a while since i last saw the original movie. dont remember much from it
 
In the words of Obi-Wan, "Patience."

That word can be infuriating, particularly after putting so much time into something you care so much about. The unfortunate fact is, as you indicated, TPM is a truly difficult first edit to introduce yourself with.

I hate seeing any edit, SW or otherwise languishing in the unapproved section. As I've edited the PT myself, and actually started with TPM no less, I have avoided reviewing most of them so as not to come off as a douche, but there has been enough time between my release and this that I've been planning to get to it sooner than later. Unfortunately, at least for me I have such limited time and still owe people feedback on workprints promised that things just take.. a while.

The 'approval' system is something that will be looked at in the coming months so as to bring uniformity to the process, as well as more timely responses. Such hard work deserves an up or down approval, along with details for either result. My hope is that we can start to get some edits resolved before we get to that revision process.

Stay thirsty.
 
Thanks L8wrtr, I appreciate your support and understanding. Congrats on getting Ep2 out the door too; I haven't watched it yet since I am/was so close to finishing my own that I wanted to complete it first before doing so. But I will, once that happens. :)
 
STAR WARS: RETURN OF THE SITH Review

First off, let me say that I haven’t watched many of the other Fan Edits of the prequel trilogy. I’ve seen The Phantom Edit and Shadows of the Old Republic. I say this so that it’s known what my points of reference are. When watching Return of the Sith I compared it to the original Episode One and what I could remember from Phantom Edit. I feel this gave me a fair view with no preconceived idea of how it should be.

Technical Quality: Video quality is perfect. Everything looked crisp. Audio is perfect. No discernible problems. 10/10

Editing Quality: Superb. No hard cuts. No jarring audio cuts. Scene transitions done very well. Overall flowed seamlessly. 10/10

Presentation: Pretty good. Nice main menu. Scene selection was good. Wish there could have been more to it, but it was totally fine. 9/10

Entertainment: Like pretty much everybody in the world, I hated Episode One. Boring as hell, terrible dialogue and acting. Epic fail. In my opinion it’s impossible to fix this movie and still make it a movie. You could cut it down to only a half hour and there would still be traces of bile that float to the top.

That being said... The majority of your cuts were well placed and did improve on it. The last time I watched TPM I just had it on as background noise and paid little attention. Your edit was able to hold my attention most of the way through. Twice I paused it to go dick around on the internet, but came back each time within a few minutes. After the halfway point I was glued to my seat and didn’t leave until it was done. There were still a few groan moments, but nothing compared to the original.

The Jar-Jar cuts were very nice. Almost down to the absolute minimum. Now he just happens to be along for the ride, and as you say, is kind of like C-3PO from Episode IV. Personally, I would have liked to have the “Yousa people gonna die” scene go as well, but this time it didn’t detract as much.

The Anakin cuts were good. A lot of his dumb lines are gone. Not all of them, but the most atrocious ones. Once he leaves home he shuts up and gets to work. Jake Lloyd was still annoying, but I guess the only way to fix that is to redub all his lines with a different actor.

The cutting a lot of the politics worked really well. Now it’s more focused on Qui-Gon and Anakin.

Most intriguing was your cutting of Sidious. When I first read that you cut him out I thought, “How’s that work?” Then watching it, I realized that with cutting him you make Darth Maul the primary (really the only) villain. Then with Yoda and Windu’s discussion at the end, the viewer questions who’s behind it all. That made me very interested in seeing your edits of Episodes II and III. I really want to know where this story is going and isn’t that the point of it all?

Entertainment: 7/10

Overall, I feel this is a worthy addition to the community. It may not appease those who are worn out with the prequels, but it should make the average Joe happy.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Well done.


approvedpl.png
 
Neglify,

Thanks so much for taking the time to write out your well thought out review! I happen to agree that TPM is my least favorite of all so I appreciate you not only watching this but writing this too.

Neglify said:
The Jar-Jar cuts were very nice. Almost down to the absolute minimum. Now he just happens to be along for the ride, and as you say, is kind of like C-3PO from Episode IV. Personally, I would have liked to have the “Yousa people gonna die” scene go as well, but this time it didn’t detract as much.
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I have to say I really wanted to cut that scene, and did so in an early draft, but realized that it was the only real way we can connect Padme's knowledge of the Gungan army ("Jar-Jar Binks, I need your help") and helps her decide to return to Naboo.

Neglify said:
Most intriguing was your cutting of Sidious. When I first read that you cut him out I thought, “How’s that work?” Then watching it, I realized that with cutting him you make Darth Maul the primary (really the only) villain. Then with Yoda and Windu’s discussion at the end, the viewer questions who’s behind it all. That made me very interested in seeing your edits of Episodes II and III. I really want to know where this story is going and isn’t that the point of it all?
Click to expand...

I'm glad you think it worked; to me, I found that cutting Sidious really helped simplify the story politics-wise, and it allows the mystery of who the Emperor is to be carried through to Episode 3, instead of being ruined right off the bat. It's a mystery that should work with or without prior knowledge of the OT.

Again, thank you!
 
I see it's been posted on the main page and moved to True Fanedits. Congrats to you :)
 
Thank you again Neglify for officially reviewing my edit! Signature changed! :)
 
Congratulations Seciors! Looking forward to this.. eventually ;)
 
"I found an edit of The Phantom Menace that actually looks watchable," I mentioned to an attractive female friend. "Hmmm," she responded and raised her finger to her chin, "Let's watch it!" She does audio editing professionally, hence her curiosity.

Secior, you've successfully raised this movie from atrocious to just barely passable. The source material's extremely limiting, and the child actor can't be fixed, but it now feels like a Star Wars movie instead of something I need to pretend doesn't exist.

I'm not a tremendous Star Wars fan. I've never previously managed to watch a Star Wars fanedit all the way through, despite having tried a few times. I keep fanedits of about a half-dozen other movies from this site as my permanent replacements for the official releases, and Return of the Sith has now achieved this place for The Phantom Menace. Your edit kept both my attention and that of the aforementioned pretty girl.

I love the removal of Darth Sidious. Senator Palpatine comes off as possibly quite genuinely well-intentioned. Even if we take him as having been a Sith all along, this interpretation of the first film, combined with a clever approach to the second, leaves open the possibility of his having had at least partially noble intentions, which inevitably became corrupted in his hunger for power.

The action sequences did not feel boring. Even the pod-race was fun. Jar-Jar did not get annoying. In the avi version on my laptop and TV, the dialogue sometimes felt muffled relative to ambient sound and music, but the quality of audio and video were both top-notch. All in all, stunning.


Exactly two moments took me out of the movie.

The first came in the opening crawl! The text mentions a Federation of "rebelious" star systems. The word is spelled "rebellious." This sort of error at the very start of the movie raises a waving flag of a fanedit. Considering the quality of the rest of your edit, this sends a very unfortunate opening impression!

Second, the Federation representative interrupting Amidala on the floor of the senate at 53:44 involves the only unnatural feeling cut in the movie. You did this, of course, because she's about to refer to the TRADE Federation, and your cut can't have that. Would it be possible to cut to the Federation representatives just a half-second earlier, with Amidala's "armies of the..." fading and cut off underneath the Fed rep's exclamation? This will sound more like the rude interruption it's meant to be.


These are the only points separating this edit from what two casual viewers would accept as a real studio movie release. I'll refrain from any speculative commentary on any other tweaks, since you released this edit months ago and rightfully consider it a finished product. The first point is an especially easy fix, so I hope you get the time for tiny touch-ups for a dual-layer release.

Thank you for this edit!
 
Wow, thanks for the review Menbailee! I am grateful you enjoyed it!

I can't believe I have a spelling mistake in the opening crawl -- :-o -- I will most certainly fix it as soon as I can. How annoying!!! Thanks for finding it though.

I will take a look at the awkward moment at 53:44 and see if there's anything I can do. You are correct that I am trying to keep "TRADE" out of the description of the federation. I do remember it being a harder scene than I thought due to the movement of the trade federation reps and trying to make sure it all makes sense visually. But shaving off a half second might not be a problem.

Thanks again for watching and taking the time for this in-depth review (as well as the constructive feedback!)
 
The other way to handle the 53:44 cut would be to have the Fed reps rapidly fade into audio while Amidala is still speaking onscreen for a half-second or so, then cut to them visually on whatever frame looks most natural. This is probably more natural than the reverse approach, since it corresponds to the experience of hearing someone interrupting and turning your attention to the new speaker. Either way, they're breaking in mid-sentence.

Meanwhile, looking forward to your other projects!
 
Thanks for the ideas Menbailee! I look forward to getting my other projects out the door as well! :)
 
It looks like this edit belongs in the Star Wars Hall of Fame page now. I know it's the ONLY way I'm watching TPM from now on. (It's going to be very difficult to top this one.) Are you going to do HD versions of these? That would be awesome if you did. :)
 
stretch009,
wow, that's high praise and i am grateful for it!

I've been pondering a HD version...but the problem is that the deleted scenes I use aren't available in HD. It might be possible, as the two scenes I use are probably removable...but would slightly harm continuity. I'll look into it, definitely, especially since I have to fix the opening scroll spelling error.

For my as of yet unreleased Episode II, I use a lot of the deleted scenes only available in SD (padme's house, padme's room, obi-wan/mace discussion of anakin, and possibly one other) I'd have to re-envision my approach.

Episode III is already going to be in HD; the only deleted scene I use is Yoda's landing in Dagoba, which I am upscaling.

Thanks again for watching and posting your feedback!
 
This is my go to version of Episode 1 so far.

It hits the mark on several fronts:

1. Reduces Jar-Jar severely
2. No midichlorins, chosen one, virgin birth
3. Anakin acts purposefully in the Naboo battle

Personally I prefer the ending of Shadow of the Sith (SOS) to this one, but I think this one addresses more of the problem dialogue and plot lines listed above. I don't miss Sidious. He just serves to explain away the appearances of Maul. I think the SOS ending works better for this cut because it answers the viewers question about how Maul is always able to keep up with our heroes. He had an insider in the form of Palpatine, who the viewer doesn't discover as a bad guy until the very end. This, to me, gives it a good cliffhanger ending feeling. (the combo could be called Return to the Shadow of the Sith?!):-(

The cuts seemed seamless to me, but I am definitely an amateur.

I watched this as an MP-4. The video/audio quality I saw/heard was good. Like I said, I am an amateur so I guess I don't really know what to look for.

I guess I would give it 8 stars.

Bill
 
Ooops forgot to mention. I would prefer no special guest appearance by Jabba.
 
Bill,
Thanks very much for your review and comments!

After experiencing this community for some time, I've come to learn that no two people have exactly the same vision for any of these movies. We all know they can be better, but the "how" is where we all deviate in surprisingly numerous places.

SOS (that's L8wrtrs, right?) is a great edit; and I have in fact seen it. I even "borrowed" an idea from it (Anakin's goodbye scene with his mom...though I went further with it than SOS did and cut even more of it out)

Perhaps my first, "prime directive" if you will, for all my edits of the PT, is to align them as closely as possible to the OT. To me, that includes the spirit and feeling of the OT -- for better or worse. That means taking myself back to who the target audience of the OT was, and that is certainly those under 18 (and probably under 13!) These movies are meant to be magical, full of possibilities, and a true sci-fi epic. It is good vs evil, and not a more adult shades of light grey vs shades of dark grey that the PT tends towards. That's not to say these can't exist. But they shouldn't dominate and should remain steadfastly in the background.

This -- to me -- implies certain choices for each movie. In this movie, it necessitates keeping a "happy" ending. This *directly* parallels ANH in so many ways and it does directly tie us to the next movie (anakin with his padawan haircut...the smile from padme to him...) I went to great pains to make the parade ending palatable by cutting out all the jar-jar antics, and even getting rid of his stupid noises (by redoing he music...if you know the original well, you can pick out exactly where i spliced things together).

To end this movie on the funeral would just feel so deflating for the first of a trilogy of star wars movies. Also, IMO, it is WAY too early to introduce palatine as the bad guy to the audience. This to me is one of the huge mistakes of the entire PT -- letting the audience know that palatine is sidious way before the jedi find out. Allowing the audience to always be one or more steps ahead of the jedi makes the movies so much less entertaining to watch and experience.

Instead, I've chosen to allow the mystery of who is the emperor roughly parallel the mystery of is darth vader luke's father. It is anakin who puts the pieces together in my PT, and figures it out almost at the same time the viewer does; but I'm jumping way ahead now.

At any rate, I believe the funeral scene does leave it quite clear there is another sith out there and we don't know if it is more or less powerful than Maul. (since I removed sidious completely from the first movie, the audience can only suspect it is the emperor but not know for sure).

Finally, regarding the brief inclusion Jabba. I know this is another big "issue" here...most editors cut him out. I think this is due to some (deserved) dislike of the jabba scenes in ROTJ. But in this movie, I think there is nothing especially obnoxious about including Jabba; in fact, the "huts" are mentioned more than once and are the (cruel) rulers of the planet at this time, are they not? It also provides some comic relief which like it or not, is also in the spirit of the OT. Also, I like the concept of getting to see all the characters appear from the OT within this first movie...it helps ground the universe as truly star wars even as we are following completely new characters. This includes the small appearance of guido as well.

Again, thanks so much for your thoughtful review and feedback! I am happy you generally liked my edit! Truthfully, the worst things about this movie can never be rectified, and that is Anakin's acting and Jar-Jar. But for me, cutting out sidious is the idea that got me really excited about editing this movie, and I truly think it is a choice that makes this edit different than the others.
 
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