Review Detail

First off, I should say that I’ve never watched a single episode of this series before watching Smudger's edit. I’d heard bad reviews of the initial movie (bad animation, bad voice sync, etc.), and then I heard that it was pretty childish overall (silly droids, etc.), so although I LOVE the SW universe, I decided to pass on this. Now with Ep. 7 coming out, I’ve been more willing to consume SW media, to get myself back into the mindset.

So, first the good:
This edit is AMAZING. The story is very cohesive, the whole movie seems very well put together and seamless. I couldn’t tell where any episodes started or ended. It was like a standalone movie, worthy of being an actual theatrical release. I was a little concerned about the 2 hours + running time at first, but the story was very well-paced, action packed, and there was never a boring lull. I suspect this has a lot to do with Smudger's editing.

The quibbles:
I’m not sure if Smudger could have fixed this, but the storyline about the old guy, 99, and Heavy, seemed a little rushed and not very realistic. The old guy has 1 conversation with Heavy, and that completely changes his mentality to be a team-leader and to give the old guy his medal? I’m not sure if Smudger deleted too much, or if there just wasn’t any character development to begin with. One other little thing, the dialogue sound seemed to drop a little in certain places. The only one I can remember off the top of my head is Grievous' first appearance, I couldn't understand what he said to the hologram.

A recommendation:
This is just a personal opinion, but the duel between Ventress and Anakin could have seriously used the same background music as the duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gonn, and Maul in TPM. Epic duels just scream for that music, and it would have made it much more emotionally impactful. Also, I would have liked some appearances by Padme, and some more of Count Dooku and Sidious/Palpatine. I’m not sure if that was in the source material that Smudger decided to take Episode 1 from, or if he is saving more of that for later.

All in all, this was extremely entertaining, and now I’m seriously interested in watching the original series. I'm really looking forward to more of Smudger's episodes; I have a strong feeling they will be better paced and not childish. I'll provide reviews for those as well.

Excellent work!

Edit: From reading the rest of the reviews, I may just decide to wait until Episode 2 comes out. I think I'll get a better experience consuming only Smudger's edits than going back and watching the episodes. I definitely don't want to be subjected to some stupid "Baby Hutt" kidnap stories.

Keep them coming, please!