Star Wars - Episode I: Shadow of the Sith

I was always of the opinion that the prequel trilogy was a complete mess and pretty much beyond redemption (with a few exceptions) but L8wrtr's edits for each of the three prequel films has proven me wrong and I couldn't be happier about it!

It can't have been an easy task to try and salvage "The Phantom Menace" but this edit goes a long way to restructuring the narrative of the film to make it far more cohesive and in large part makes more "sense". The film gets going much faster and has cut out a lot of the gripes fans had with the prequel such as the overlong podracing sequence, the clunky dialogue and of course Jar-Jar in general. Not to mention all the stupid over-the-top CGI scenes and that awful parade scene at the end of the movie. All gone!

Even the title is far superior. "The Phantom Menace" was a really weak title but "Shadow of the Sith" fits better with the overall story that the Sith appear to have made a return. I recommend this edited version to all my Star Wars friends as a way to try and redeem the Prequel Trilogy and I am happy to say that it has changed their opinions of them after watching these edits.

I would definitely recommend this edit!

I watched all of l8wrtr's prequel edits not long ago during a machete order marathon of Star Wars over a few days. Accompanied by the de-specialised editions by Harmy (which I also recommend).
At first I was a little worried reading the cutlist about some parts of this movie and the others that I was fond of, but mostly interested to see how far l8wrtr had come after been inspired as so many were by the infamous Phantom Edit.

To sum it up, I was blown away. Any doubts that I had about things I liked were quickly forgotten. It sweeps you up and thrusts you into the great story that was hiding within this movie and doesn't let go until all is said and done. Rather than casually trodding through odd places until something interesting albeit confusing happens.

Even the pod race, which I've always loved with its whacky deaths and Tusken Raider interferrence was perfect in its new form. Only a couple of deaths remain and they're the ones that keep just the right tone in the overall Star Wars universe. The raiders are gone but now I'm sitting here on the edge of my seat, watching with an intensity that I've never felt for the pod race. I don't miss 'em.

No more distractions, no more crap, just the inspired Star Wars universe that Gearge Lucas imagined in all his craziness. And I mean that as a complement, this is Lucas' brilliant dreams, fine tuned and honed to tireless perfection from the eyes of a keen fan, and it allows them to glisten and shine as great companion pieces to the original trilogy and even greatly entertaining movies in their own right.

What about this episode in particular?
Jar-Jar's a background character, no-one wants to watch something so unlikeable.
As mentioned the pod race is tense and thrilling.
Gungans are surprisingly stomach-able.
Neimoidians are just evil side characters with intentions undescribed, as opposed to unsure fools.
Young Anakin is very tolerable without removing the character completely from the story. (tricky to say the least)
Scientific explanations are gone, you can fill in the mystical implications with your imagination, as Star Wars should be.
The third act is compelling and character building, an excellent staging for the next episodes.

Only cristisicm (if you can call it such), deleted scenes look a little out of place, but only professionals with the source material could refine the visuals of these to 100% compatibility. And the benefit of having them over not, is fantastic.

I almost feel that there's next to no way to further improve on this edit. Unless you did more shooting, which we can't now, and that would no longer be an edit anyway.

It was so exciting to see what was made of this movie and very entertaining itself that I went on to watch the next two of l8wrtr's prequel edits in the same day. I think that really says something about these edits, as the last time I did a single day prequel marathon it was tiresome as I'm sure you understand.

Thank you l8wrtr!

After really enjoying your edit of Episode 2 (and deciding to keep that as my definitive version) I thought I might as well check out your edit of Episode 1.
I gotta say I always liked the movie in general, but I felt that a lot of stuff simply didnt need to be in it and was actually keeping the movie from being as good/entertaining as it could have been.
Watching your version I was quite surprised at how much this movie was improved by simply deleting a few "ingredients".
Jar jar not being a total goofy is probably the biggest improvement, followed by the Gungans being much more graceful in general.
Next big thing on my list is having a lot of the unfunny dialog/comments of the battle droids removed. Makes them seem a lot more like an actual threat, instead of a total (unfunny) joke.
Without going too much into detail (and repeating whats already in your list of changes) I gotta say I really like this edit. Watched it about 8 times so far, and I´m slowly starting to forget a lot of the crap thats shown in the original version. I think I´ll keep this one as my definitive version of the movie, the version that should have been the official one. The regular version will simply serve as an extended cut.
There are only 2 things I am really missing and I think they shouldnt have been removed.
Number one would be Obi-Wan´s comment about it not having been their day of warm welcomes, before diving down to the Gungan city. I liked that comment and cant figure out why it was cut out.
Number two would be the Tusken Raider attack during the pod race.
Both scenes/comments keep on popping up in my head while watching the movie and I miss them somehow. Other than that I´m perfectly happy with this movie.
So thank you for all your efforts on trying (and achieving) to make this a much better movie that actually feels like a star wars movie!

This was the second fanedit that I ever watched, second only to L8wrtr's "Dawn of the Empire". This version of Episode I is now my go-to version of the film. It has a darker and more ominous feel to it. It removes lots of Jar-Jar speak (thank you! thank you!) as wells as many of the needless "humor" that was present. It tells a much better story than the original and does an excellent job of flowing with future SW films. The commentary is a must on this one. L8wrtr does a great job of going through his edits throughout the film and explaining why particular edits were made. It gives real insight into the editing process. The visual edits done very well. This is a definite must-see version of Episode I.

This is the fanedit that replaces The Phantom Menace in my DVD box. I will not be watching any more versions from this point on. This is it! Thank you L8wtr. And I really enjoyed the commentary track too.