Fall of the Jedi: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Full disclosure: I watched The Phantom Menace in the theater when it came out when I was 10-12, so the original has a bit of nostalgia value to it. Also this is the first fan-edit I've seen.

I've seen this TPM dozens of times and I know pretty much every line and audio/visual cue, so to me, things seemed a bit too fast paced, but only slightly. I love that that almost all Jar-Jar "shenanigans" are gone (and his entire subplot of him being banished from Otoh Gunga), and C3PO is only seen a couple times in the background with no dialogue. The other big change I noticed is a couple of 4th wall breaking lines such as "What are you some kind of jedi?" from Watto and removing Anakin from the final space battle, which was done VERY well in my opinion. There were a few audio cuts that didn't sync too well with the video (sudden score changes) but if I wasn't looking for changes, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

As someone who thinks the original TPM film was pretty good (I love poking fun at the awful dialog), I'd recommend this to anyone who wants to get through the movie in marathon mode or maybe to show someone who hasn't seen it before. To me, it was a bit too fast paced, but I still recommend it to anyone looking for an alternative edit to TPM.

After watching Harmy's new version of Star Wars, followed by the first versions of ESB and ROTJ, my wife insisted we watch the prequels too. I protested, but gave in. I glanced to see which fan edits of the prequel trilogy were rated highly. I had seen L8wrtr's edit of TPM in the past, so I decided to give yours a try.

I've only seen TPM so far, though I briefly scanned II and III and will watch them in full next. While I don't think it's perfect, I can honestly say I had never had such a painless viewing of TPM before. The film blew past quickly, with everything critical to episodes II and III remaining. I do support the idea of removing R2-D2 and C-3PO from the prequels as much as possible, if not totally. 3PO has no business on Tatooine prior to ANH, IMHO. I understand recoloring R2 is impractical, though I believe it would have to be done to really sell the concept that this is a different droid. Threepio could be redubbed, when he appears in II and III. He could still be personably similar to the 3PO we know from the OT (given his onscreen mannerisms and body language), yet different enough to distinguish him. He could even identify himself with a new name, and identify R2 with a new name too.

I second the opinion that removing Anakin's involvement in the final battle seems strange. Anakin is painted as being the [Plinkett Voice] protagonist [/Plinkett Voice] and it seems strange to have him be next to the Jedi in the midst of danger one moment, and be absent the next. (Did he die?) I'd suggest either including Anakin in the film's climax, or downplay him as a main character until Episode II. If I could make another suggestion, showing some close-ups of R2 during the final battle would help prevent it from looking like a "mystery pilot" that never gets revealed later.

My only other complaint, and unfortunately both HD sets of prequel trilogy fan edits retain these, surrounds the bound up issues of Anakin's virgin birth and the chosen one prophecy. I don't really need to say much about these.

You did well to make Obi-Wan seem more jealous of Anakin, and to take him as an apprentice himself. It makes him more responsible for his fall later, which is something Obi-Wan seems remorseful about in ROTJ. It also gives us less reason to view Obi-Wan as annoyed at Anakin in AOTC, since he's not a horrible kid that he was obliged to train.

That being said, I really did enjoy the film. The pacing and focus makes this film much more... enjoyable. There are very few things about it that I would change. If I can, I should like to finally find a decent program and gain the skill needed to edit from this HD source and merely make a few small changes to your edit so that I could have a version I could really be happy about.

Tremendous job! It's really a tough call between your edit and L8wrtr's. Yours is bolder, though I think his sits more securely by being more conservative.

Hi again!

After watching all your fanedits of Star Wars prequels, and watching some other fanedits, first of all I can only say THANK YOU for all your superb work. It is a work all Star Wars fans should check out, and even people that want to learn of this new experience that these edits give.

This said, I have to admit that despite the astonishing work on the Phantom Menace, this is not my favourite edit of the 3 movies.

I love the beginning of the movie. The pace is a bit too fast, but the overall experience of the movie is far better than the original, more mature, more focused, and removed all the nonsense and almost all stupid sentences that appeared on the original version.

There is a taugh work there, and the cutting is superb. You don't realise most of the changes.

Removing R2 and C3PO, is a new thing as far as Star Wars edits go, and for me this edit demonstrates it can be a success. The movie is better without them!
At least it works better with them just as another droid would be.

Eliminates a lot of plotholes.

But, the great "but" is the ending. I did not like Anakin is missing from the Naboo battle. I like better the L8wtr version in Shadow of the Sith. This thing really took me out of the movie, so I can say that the perfect edit for me would combine Shadow of the Sith for the ending, and all the previous part of the movie from this edit.

I want to tell people that watch this edit and are dissapointed for its ending, that please don't be let down and please watch the other FALL OF THE JEDI edits. They are perfect and they are 100% worth watching. This one... I think was too agressive on Anakin's role.

So despite all the success in all other aspects, I can only recomend this edit for the beginning and the last 30 min from Shadow of the Sith! You should team up for this one :P

Thank you!

(Spoilers)
This is in my top 3 episode I edits!

Thank you for making an unwacthable film, watchable.

As with any other edit, Q2 has taken out all of the idiotic dialog and pointless scenes.
The difference for me would be that you have taken C-3PO completely out of the picture and at the same time made R2-D2 just another R2 unit.

You handled the escaping of the blockade perfectly. I don’t think it could be done any better. Also, the editing is so good that if it weren’t because I already knew Anakin goes to space I wouldn’t have noticed that in this edit he does not even go into space. Brilliant editing!

Now, because every person is different and have different tastes, I will point out the little things that I might have done differently if I had at least half the talent Q2 has because I have none:

Jar Jar god awful “muy muy, I love you” , “squeeze me” & “I spek”
An R2 unit screams when it is blown away trying to fix the hyperdrive.

No virgin birth.

No abrupt ending (SECIORS ending I consider a bit better)

Apart from that which are MY personal preferences this edit is one the best edit that I have seen yet! Now, keep in mind this is still TPM and nobody can make miracles. The only way this movie could be salvage would be to make a Reboot!

All in all, Spectacular edit!

My top 2 TPM edits (No particular order):
Q2
SECIORS

I haven’t watched L8WRTR'S but have read good things about it.

Well. I never thought it was possible, you saved this picture. The problems with pacing/shitty dialogue/dumb humour is so massively solved in your edit that I’m not going to go into too much detail with that I’ll just assure anyone thinking of watching this that if those were the problems you had with the original cut of the film they are well and truly gone here.

With some neat cuts in dialogue and one well placed cut in the action early on you turned Qui-Gon from ‘that dude..with..the beard..was he.. shmee’s brother?..who was he again?’ into this awesome headstrong Jedi James Bond, killing first and asking questions later. Roguishly disregarding the councils wishes.

The way you used the usually dull Tattooine section to develop the characters was great. By cutting Annikans screen time you managed to make him a pretty likeable character, he doesn’t seem in anyway like the focus of the film, which always spoiled the original cut. Instead he’s just some really brave kid that randomly risks his life for some strangers. We like Qui-gon more because he acts like he doesn’t give a fuck about anything with his ‘I didn’t come here to free slaves’ swagger. But then let’s us know he really does with a few of those Neeson side Grins.

Perhaps the best thing about this whole edit (SPOILERS) was the way you reworked the jedi council scene so that Obi Wan seems rejected and bitter about Qui Gon ditching him for
Annikan. That adds such an interesting dynamic to their relationship, especially when you cut Qui Gon’s death speech. So we’re left with Obi Wan loosing the father he worshipped (but who rejected him) without any closure, and then taking up Annikan as his own son as if Qui Gon totally asked (when really he totally didn’t). This little touch suddenly made the psychology and relationships between the male characters in the prequels a hell of a lot more interesting, especially with all the father stuff going on in the original trilogy.

SO yeah, jeez, nice job.