Fall of the Jedi: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

I just watched this fanedit, and I am blown away. Not only does the removal of the many unnessecary "funny" scenes improve the movie for me because I simply dont like those scenes, but they strengthen the context of the plot behind it. Of course the plot is still about the trade federation, but through the removal of so many funny elements it was possible to take the matter more serious.
Also gone is the mysterious prophecy and those medichlorians. And stuff that feels really uncomfortable to watch like the "are you an angel?" line. And many other things that made the movie too "Disney" for a Star Wars movie (ironic since Disney now owns Star Wars and their first movie was well in line with Episode 4-6).
The original version i can only enjoy on a shallow pure entertainment level. But this version i can truly enjoy as a Star Wars movie that kicks off the whole story.
I did not recognize any technical flaw. Quality is great from start to end and at no point i could make out anything that would give me a hint that this is "just" a fanedit.

Many thanks and so much respect for his work to Q2.

What can I say other than WOW. Through all three films in the Fall of the Jedi series you've managed to rewrite history. You've taken three of the worst films of all time and turned them into "reasonably decent" films. That's saying a lot. Considering how bad the theatrical releases were (bad enough that I haven't even been able to enjoy the original series since), I would have thought your achievement impossible. Thank you for renewing my enjoyment of the Star Wars movies. Although all new viewers should still watch 6 films in the order they were released theatrically, the Fall of the Jedi edits are good enough to watched, good enough to be enjoyed, and most importantly good enough that they don't ruin the enjoyment to the original movies. Kudos galore!

I watched the 1080p .m4v files, and the video quality was excellent, as was the audio. Quality of the cutting was also excellent. Everything flowed nicely.

BTW, I'm rating this as 10 across the board as a comparison to the theatrical releases. Certain things about these movies could never be completely fixed, such as the nonsense narrative and horrible acting. However, compared to the theatrical releases these definitely deserve a 10 in my opinion.

This review is for V1 of this edit, which has Lord Sideous.

I’ve watched a bunch of episode 1 edits (L8wrtr, Yads, Jasonn, Seciors, Hal9000, Magnoliafan, and Q2 v2) and I have to say Q2’s v1 is my absolute favorite.

What’s different about it from the others?

• It has the emperor/Sideous! A couple episode 1 edits have removed him (Seciors, Q2 v2), which may add to the suspense factor in the later movies, but I think it really hurts episode 1 to not have him present. There is just no driving force for the movie without him pulling the strings. Also, cutting Sideous cuts too much Darth Maul, making his appearance a wtf.
• Jar jar and Anakin are at a bare minimum (in my view hal9000 left too much Jar Jar, Seciors left too much Anakin).
• The underwater Gungan city is preserved, in a very abbreviated fashion. (hal9000 removed completely). Without this, the end battle with the Gungan army is not set up properly.
• No god-awful “are you an angel?” line. Q2 is the only editor which removed that, afaik.
• No horrible scene with young Greedo making his cameo (L8wrtr, Yads, Seciors all kept this)
• No C3p0! It always bothered me having him be built by Anakin, now it doesn’t have too! (hal9000, l8wrtr, seciors all keep 3p0).
• Q2 kept in Padme’s line “Well, I don’t approve!”, which is possibly her best line in the movie. (Seciors cut it)
• Mercifully short pod race
• No necklace (L8wrtr, seciors keep it)
• No ascension guns (yads keeps)
• No Disney parade (hal9000 and seciors both keep some parade)

Of course what really makes this film shine is the editing. Q2 is a master at trimming the fat, while keeping the good stuff.

In my view, the only things that would make this edit better would be to dub Jar Jar, as Magnoliafan has done, and maybe tighten up the Anakin farewell as L8wrtr did.

Bravo, Q2!

Great edit. There were some places that enough narrative was cut out to make it a bit confusing if you hadn't seen the movie before (not that the original movie made to much sense). With that in mind, I felt that the majority of the cuts were well placed and completed the overall goal of the edit, to cut out 3P0, R2D2 and JarJar.

as with many fanditors for me the Phantom Menace is the most watched fanedit I've seen, this is perhaps the 4th or 5th time I've seen this film in some way or another. having seen L8wrt version i wanted to wait a while before i saw Q2 take on the trilogy.

technically this is a fine fanedit the editors aims to remove everything wrong with the trilogy are done incredible well as i didn't notice any errors. you can see a lot of work went into this and the pay off is a more enjoyable version than the original. jar jar is kept to a minimum, he has one or two goofy moments that are probably impossible to remove but overall he is very much a background character. i thought the pod race was extremely well put together however i do wish Obi Wan's 'pathetic life form' line was cut as it doesn't feel like something a Jedi would say regarding someone.

the edits failings however i feel is the amount that has been cut, at just over 82mins (not including end credits) this is a bare bones version of The Phantom Menace. it did feel very choppy while i was watching it, and more often than not reminded me that i was watching a edited version of the film. i feel a extra 10 to 15mins even if it means including one or two cringer moments would have benefited the films narrative in terms of slowing down the pace when needed and fleshing out the characters a little more.

i do agree that removing Anikin from the final battle is a mistake. though it may not be executed very well in the original film at it's core it's what i feel star wars is about. we all grow up watching star wars and more often than not we'd act out scenes from the film (be honest). the prequels failings for me was that they perhaps neglected the older generation as by and large these films are made for new younger audience. for for the 9 year kid watching The Phantom Menace and seeing Ankin save the day he's the hero to which they'll act out. just having a random guy blow up
the ship that takes down the droids and ultimately saves the day removes the hero factor from the film. you have to ask yourself if that was the version you saw in the cinema what would your reaction be towards George Lucas?

overall this is the best version of The Phantom Menace that i seen and I'm already looking forward to EP II (never thought I'd hear myself say that)