Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Episode II: A New Threat

Disclaimer: I know TCW quite well at this point, so am hyper-aware of where narratives come from and how they interlock. In this sense, what smudger9 is achieving is brilliant - he is condensing the show into accessible films that tell the story, and where necessary he is able to cleverly repurpose a scene for a new narrative.

Unfortunately the problems of the show still plague this edit, but some of the narrative choices are a tad questionable. For example, by the time the film wraps we have seen about 6 plots and subplots introduced, with at least half of them going unresolved. That's a lot of plot for 2 hours 10 minutes, and the first half is very disjointed for this reason.

Overall I can't recommend these edits highly enough if - like many - you'd rather not trudge through the series itself. Smudger's video/audio editing is superb, and if there are problems with the narrative that's at least partly the source - TCW was *very* condensed (some would say ambitious) in the way it told big narratives in short time frames.

Overall, a very very good edit.

I think this EP II is somewhat less than EP I. In terms of narrative i think it is not very cohesive, we jump from one story to another and back too quickly and a bit confusing. Audio editing is good but could be better, sometimes lines would feel a little out of place. Although i'm pointing out this things i won't give you anything less than a 10 because you, and other fans, who can make these excellent edits with such passion don't deserve otherwise. Face it as a good "critic" and i'm looking forward to see the EP III.

PS: Hope you continue to silly droids and other character moments as much as you can, and if possible to make the droids more voice menacing and soulless or silent for the most part. I for play the mod empire at war for forces of corruption and I've used as much as i could of star wars battlegrounds droids voices as much as i could. =)

As a huge fan of The Clone Wars series, I went looking for something else to get a look at the series in a new light. It was such a gem to find that someone was making films out of the episodes to enhance the stories.

The stand-out point of this film was the visuals. From the title crawl to the end credits, it was perfect. Brilliant transitions and swipes were seamlessly edited in.

The quality of the video and audio were also perfect, I heard everything and it all looked beautiful.

A slight downside would be the audio editing, sometimes lines would feel a little out of place, but it didn't detract from the experience.

The narrative focused mainly on two arcs from season 1 and the season 2 finale. I liked how the overarching plot was about the Malevolence, culminating in the destruction of it.
The Boba Fett arc however, felt a little unresolved. With the omission of Lethal Trackdown, Fett's story was left hanging. Personally after crashing an entire cruiser on a planet and then executing the survivors, if I found out my target survived. I wouldn't just stop there and then.

Perhaps in future there could be a film starting with Lethal Trackdown togive Fett closure, maybe an improvised plot concerning Padme and Ziro the Hutt using footage from the Clone Wars film, Assassin and Hunt for Ziro, the episodes could also intertwine with Dooku Captured so as to introduce Hondo Ohnaka (a favourite of mine).
It would make for some good Ahsoka scenes and character development, as I think she has sort of been neglected so far, with her meant to be one of the main cast.
Of course this is all just an idea though. It's all up to the editor.

Overall, this film was great and I'm easily anticipating the coming seven. Keep up the outstanding work! ;)

Really, really great work ! Fantastic :) It looks like real new Star Wars film :) I can't wait to see Maul and framed Ahsoka story-arcs. I also like the idea of making 9 movies, because it's in "Star Wars" style :) (Legacy of the Force and Fate of Jedi book series). There's only one word which could describe this fanedit - "awesome" ;)

Another fantastic addition to Smudger9's Clone Wars saga! This edit contains episodes I tried to include in my attempt at such a project (specifically the Malevolence trilogy and Cloak of Darkness) but the way Smudger pulls them together is fantastic. As I mentioned in my review for Episode I, he does a great job of bringing in dialogue from other episodes to blend totally disparate episodes of the show together into one big arc (one of the only times it stood out in a major way was during the Jedi Council scene).

What blew me away the most were the additional scenes of the Malevolence in action that were created specifically for this. I don't know how Smudger did it but they were flawless and reminded the audience that this was the big threat of the movie even though we didn't really have the characters deal with it until later in the movie (rather like the Death Star in A New Hope - we know it's there from the opening crawl but it's an hour before our heroes actually encounter it).

Throughout this felt like a *real* Star Wars movie, but there were a few minor instances where the episodic nature of the show in its first two seasons popped up - hardly a fault of Smudger's. Boba Fett appearing and then disappearing mid-movie stood out (although we could argue that this is set up for Episode III of Smudger's saga which will deal with the bounty hunters in more detail from what he's said in the forums), as did the story of Kit Fisto and his old apprentice tackling Grievous. That said, they are solid stories which contribute to our understanding of our main villains and the Clone Wars as a whole, and there's no doubt that Smudger did a fine job integrating them into the overall narrative.

But honestly, beyond that, watching this was an amazing experience. Audio-visual editing was fantastic. Transitions between scenes (and therefore episodes) were flawless. While a lot was cut, you honestly don't notice. I looked at his cut list and was genuinely surprised that so much dialogue had gone - you can't tell! While I don't mind the "kiddy-ness" of parts of the early seasons, the cuts improve pacing considerably.

As much as I love the Clone Wars show I feel that Star Wars is best enjoyed as movies and these edits give us just that: a great, well edited story that gives develops both the main characters of the saga as well as focusing on the side characters who will play a role in Revenge of the Sith. More than the Clone Wars TV show, I feel Smudger's edits will make the Order 66 scene hit home because the choice of story arcs he has included.