Empire Begins, The

This is the best 3-in-1 edit I've seen. The transition from the Episode 2 to Episode 3 material is a revelation. As is the elimination of Greivous. There are areas I still feel have been done better elsewhere. The confrontation between Windu and Sidious has worked better in other edits where the screen has darkened to hide the transformation from Palpatine to Sidious.

I was really disappointed to see Yoda with a lightsaber in this edit. Maybe it's warranted on Kashyyk, but I don't like that the Yoda/Sidious duel was left in this edit.

Also in the Anakin/Obi-Wan duel, I've seen edits that show Anakin and Obi Wan leaping from the tower to the "shore" for the final confrontation. That works better, IMO, as I hate them dueling on those stupid lava-surfing bots.

This works as a single movie, though it lacks a strong sense of three distinct acts.
There are still many issues that keep it from being a great film, not the least of which is the poorly realized villians. At least there is one less in that Greivous is gone, but Dooku is now a throwaway as well. One might say this keeps the focus on Sidious as the villian, but he is unknown through a majority of the film. This isn't necessarily bad, but it doesn't feel Star Wars-y to not have a clear baddie throughout.

Overall I'd rather watch this than any version of the trilogy I've seen so far. Sadly that's in large part because it's relatively brief. That isn't a criticism of the editor, but rather a feeling that the prequels are mostly a lost cause. It could be better by making some of the changes mentioned above., but it is still recommended for anyone that wants a prequel, but really hates the original prequels.

This is the first Star Wars fanedit, besides 'Revisited', that I have seen and it did not disappoint! You certainly achieved what you set out to do; Anakin is a MUCH more likable character, the love story is not frustrating or too long, and the trimming down on dialog has definitely helped the pace and tone of the film.
The plot flows a lot more smoothly and the transition between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith is flawlessly edited, and shows amazing talent. Apart from the deleted scenes (which can't be helped), the video and audio quality is perfect. The intro was amazing and the opening crawl was done very well.

A definite must-watch!

This is a technically (except for a sudden fade to black at minute 58:02 or so) well edited 3-in-1-edit of the Star Wars Prequels. But I felt like the narrative didn't convey well the story of a republic descending into an empire. And it felt like characters required a foreknowledge as they imho weren't introduced well to the viewer and to each other. But that is all subjective, maybe it just hit me the wrong way. I recommend people interested to watch for yourself and to make up your own mind.

P.S.: My wdhd-tv-mediaplayer had problems playing the edit back smoothly, maybe because of the LPCM used for sound. I converted it into a mkv with AC3 sound and then it played it smoothly. On my computer both versions played smoothly.

I thought this was a really interesting take on merging the 3 prequels into one film. It certainly covered all the main elements that contribute to episodes 4, 5 and 6. It seemed very well done and certainly felt seamless. The only crits I have would be,

1) I think the crawling into text should always come at the start. Personally, other than letting us know who Qui Gon Jinn is, I felt the Darth Maul sequence could be missed out.

2) I felt the discovery of the clone army seemed very dumbed down. I remember it being a bit more exciting in Attack of the Clones and it was a lot more mysterious and interesting seeing the clones in production and training.

Other than that I was pretty impressed. I enjoyed seeing the deleted scenes inserted into the film as I hadn't actually seen those before. Good job :)

Whilst nothing can be done to save the terrible acting and over-use of CGI, this edit distills the essential elements of the prequels narrative making a far more cohesive story. This goes to show how those three movies should have been one film, it was far more enjoyable told this way, it felt like I'd just watched a full narrative arc rather than three flabby movies full of so much dead weight. The editing is unnoticeable and expertly done.

For those of you who really don't like the Star Wars prequels, this is an ideal chance to see how it might have been done more successfully as a tight and focussed story.

Well done Darth Awesome, you did a fantastic job.