Star Wars - Episode I: Shadow of the Sith

*This rating was given before reviews were given*

SPOILERS

I just got around to watching this recently. L8wrtr has put together one great story. I was unsure this could top The Phantom Edit, but it does. Primarily the video quality is much better & there is a true intro crawl (other than an apology).

But other than that there are a myriad of changes that definitely make this edit my Episode 1 video to watch. The extras in the DVD pretty much explain the reasons why this edit is great. Only one other thing that could be done is to replace that annoying looking yoda-puppet, but perhaps that will come in the next few months? (yay)

There are a few spots I’d like to point out.
1. Removal of the “Negotiations haven’t started?…” scene at about the 8 minute mark.

I understand that the scene, as written, is too long. However, when included it does provide the viewer with some reference to the queen sitting with her advisers. I would agree with the wipe occurring when it does, but instead of wiping from a space shot to another space shot, rather wipe to the palace fly-over, show the static transmission on the Senator, and let the scene end on “communications disruption can mean only one thing… Invasion!” Then wipe straight to the invading ships. This way, the scene is shorter, and it provides the viewer with some reference as to whom she’s walking with down the stairs after her capture. I believe this is how the trailer had it, and it works great!

2. The scene where they get interrupted by a probe droid, from 49:30 to about 49:50, the colors are too ‘white’, not as warm as the scene right before it. Not sure what can be done about that, as I believe it was a cut scene from the original source material

3. At 24 minutes, the “He said I cheated” scene. I struggle with this scene. It shows that Anakin can be a hothead, and seems to fit well into the flow of events. But what was he cheating at? And is the scene a bit too cutesy? I struggle….

4. At 1 hour 14 minutes – “Roger Roger”

(5). (At 16 minutes, When Qui Gon Jinn is being questioned by the robot about his passengers. Robot looks around a bit too much) – I was gonna include this, but after rewatching the scene as is (and comparing it to the original) it actually is not bad. Now he seems to be giving them a quick look-over, then decides they’re up to no good.

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There are other things that, initially, I was surprised were left in, that I find I actually liked, for example letting Jar Jar search for the Gungans. With the rest of the cuts made to his character, other things that he does now allow him to actually do something… his character has purpose near the end. Plus the Jedi/Sith battle is a lot better.

I also love the ending (and the musical choice!!!) where we wipe right after Qui Gon Jinn’s funeral. It literally left me wanting to watch Episode II.

All in all, a 9/10. Great work!

STAR WARS EPISODE I: SHADOW OF THE SITH by L8WRTR

The Phantom Menace. What is there to say about the original 1999 prequel? Well, I would like to say that when I first saw it, I loved it. There were certain annoyances (ahem…Jar-Jar…ahem…Jake Lloyd), but I mean, I was pretty young, so I thought it was awesome. I don’t completely disagree with my less wise self, as there are some genuinely cool parts of the film. However, as I’ve gotten older, these annoyances have intensified. I can still watch the film and enjoy it, I just cringe a lot. One other annoyance has become more evident though, and that is the pointlessness of the story.

Unfortunately for L8wrtr, he’s only managed to intensify this fact. In this process of cutting the film down to the bare necessities, he’s dramatically increased the pacing of the film. While many might think this a good thing, it’s really detrimental. The original’s problems were conceptual. I re-watched it recently, and I noticed something I hadn’t really noticed before: it’s pacing is actually much better than I remember. For awhile I’ve been trying to pin down what makes TPM and Attack of the Clones different in badness. I’ve figured it out. TPM’s story is pointless, however, when shown with a 2+ hour runtime, there is time for the story and the world time to flesh out, which allows me to enjoy the movie as a self-contained little tale. AOTC’s story is kind of what TPM’s story should have been, but the movie still sucks because the pacing’s all screwed up.

So, sadly, by making the movie 1 1/2 hours, circulation has been cut off to the plot. The movie now feels like just a set up for the next movie, but it can’t really even function this way because, like I said, the story is pointless. This is the movie that starts the saga, it doesn’t feel right that it would be this short, faced paced adventure. Now I don’t really miss anything L8wrtr cut, but the movie doesn’t really work when its that short. I know many people will disagree with me, but its just how the movie feels when I watch it. The pacing is so quick that I feel like some of the sequences go by so fast that you’re almost questioning what happened. I like getting rid of Jar Jar’s banishment, but the whole scene with Boss Nass and Qui-Gon goes by so quickly that your left trying to figure what just happened after the scene is finished. One scene that really lags in my opinion is the pod race. Without the announcers, the opening is really quite uneventful. Speaking of things that are uneventful without voices, the battle droids. Also at the end of the film, when all hope is supposedly lost in the battle, the editing is so quick that the possibility that our heros might actually lose doesn’t even occur in the mind because, before you know, Anakin has just saved the day.

Something that I know people, including me, don’t like is the ending. Yes, no one really likes the celebration, I know I’ve hated it since I first saw it, but the ending as is in the edit is far too downbeat. Now, I saw in one of the forums someone said that they think the movie should end with the scene of Obi-Wan talking to Yoda. I didn’t like this idea the first time I heard it because I think the funeral scene is a good one. But it got me thinking, what if the funeral scene played first (sans Anakin and Kenobi dialogue) and then the Yoda and Kenobi scene is the final scene of the film? One other random edit suggestion that came to me while watching the movie is during the scene when Padme discusses the battle plan. As she goes over the different parts of the plan, there are cutaway shots to the other people listening. When she mentions the pilots, in the original film the cutaway shot is of Obi-Wan, but I think it would a good edit to make the shot of Ankin instead, showing that he’s taking interest in that particular part of plan, which makes his decision to join the battle later make all the more sense.

One technical problem I noticed was when Watto is first introduced, the subtitle starts and ends too soon.

Okay, rant done. I just felt I needed to explain the main flaw of the edit properly. Now, like I said before, none of the cuts are really missed, or noticeable. There were a few that I definitely noticed, but they were only because of my knowledge of the original film. The only really slightly almost sloppy editing came at the end during the final battle. The music was just all over the place, but I honestly don’t think there was much that could be done when so much was being cut out. Don’t get me wrong though, this is by no means a bad edit. I really enjoyed all the little plot points that have been changed. Making Anakin the hero was particularly ingenious. Also, the editing was superb in the scene where Obi-Wan kills Maul. I have to say one of my favorite parts of the edit was the opening crawl. To me, it was the perfect way to set up the film, and its what the original movie needed. It put emphasis on the real point of the movie (the sith have returned), which, in the original movie, felt like an unimportant sub-plot. It also reduced the complexity of the trade dispute because, honestly, we really didn’t need to know exactly why there was a blockade, especially considering less than 10 minutes into the film Darth Sidious says f*** it, and reveals that the whole thing was part of an invasion.

Anyways, I would give the original TPM a score of 6 out of 10. As a movie I would give Shadow of the Sith a 7 out of 10. Since I know that it wasn’t really L8wrtr’s fault that the movie still isn’t great, and that, for the most part, the editing is supreme, I give STAR WARS EPISODE I: SHADOW OF THE SITH 8/10.

EDIT (2/12/13): I just re-watched this edit, and wanted to give my (second) thoughts. Like I said in my review, when I first watched this edit, I had recently re-watched the original film. I think this negatively affected my opinion of the edit. I was, frankly, kind of tired of the movie, and wasn't paying too much attention to all of what this edit had to offer.

So here are my thoughts. Almost everything I said in my original review still stands, but more over-all feelings are more positive. I stand by the fact that the pacing of this edit, while good, leaves something to be desired. There's no breathing room. Things just keep happening. There's no introduction to the world of Star Wars. But this isn't quite L8wrtr's fault. What this edit gives us is one hell of an enjoyable movie, one that is without the Phantom Menace's cringe-worthy distractions. Everything that's in works, and is fun. Yes, is goes by too fast. Yes, the length isn't Star Warsy. But I blame George Lucas for that - for not giving us a meaty enough story. So no, the edit doesn't work as a standalone film, like the original film does. No, it also doesn't really work as opening to the saga. But it works as a good version of Episode I, that you can watch in order of release, Machete order, or really whenever you want (providing you understand the world). It's a great edit.

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Shadow of the Sith review

Ok, I just geeked out and watched 3 Phantom Menace fan edits in a row. The Phantom Edit, followed by JasonN’s Attack of the Federation and finally L8wtr’s Shadow of the Sith. For a while I considered Phantom Edit to be the definitive version, but having rewatched it tonight I came to see a lot of the problems that have been previously highlighted by others. I didn’t feel like JasonN’s cuts went nearly far enough, while the emperor’s cloaked face seemed quite clumsy. Finally, I viewed L8wtr’s edit, which I have had on my laptop for a while but never ventured more than 20 minutes into.

Well, blow me away, I now have a definitive Episode 1 for my collection. *But* – and this is a massive but – there are a couple of problems that I feel should not only be highlighted, but if at all possible edited. L8wtr, I hope you’re listening! :P

First and foremost, the ending. I can understand you cutting the celebration: personally I’ve always enjoyed it, I love the music and I think its shot well, it’s a highly enjoyable end to a movie which is as much an old-fashioned adventure as anything else. But I think ending on the funeral also works: it’s a beautiful scene and it also perfectly mirrors the ending to Return of the Jedi… however, the final cut of the film into the credits DOES NOT WORK. It has three major problems.

Firstly, while the scene is good, the final shot of lingering of Palpatine is too heavy handed. The PT is pretty clumsy with its reveals; its not clear at what point the audience is actually supposed to realise that Palpatine is Sidius, but to anyone with the slightest understanding of film language, the pyre scene makes it abundantly obvious. Within the original film I dislike how the shot stops on Palpatine (I feel it’s one of the scenes that should be edited) but at least it is immediately followed with the street celebration scene and the audience is just left with a pretty major hint. But to make it the very last scene of the film is simply too heavy handed in my opinion. The fix to this would be to try and make the shot linger less, or to use a different final shot. (This ties to the third problem, but I will get to that.)

Secondly, the use of the standard star wars music doesn’t work. Somebody else has commented on this, and I see you have provided the option of an alternative score. This would be fine, except for…

The third and final problem, is the cut itself. The timing is too abrupt, and the use of the circular wipe just doesn’t match what is in the frame. I know this is the standard way to end the films, but just as you are willing to change the music, I would strongly suggest you consider a different wipe. In my opinion, the best cut would be simply to either fade or cut straight to black. I know this isn’t very ‘star warsy’, but it does fit the film itself.

I adored your edit from start to (almost) finish, but that last second of film really left a sore taste in my mouth. I would beg of you to consider either tightening it or changing it for a slightly different climax, by changing the final shot, timing or wipe and keeping either Duel of Fates or another score that is different to the original.

Now, I will briefly mention the other (lesser) issues I had with the edit, before moving onto praise.

The opening crawl
The dialogue is good, but the crawl itself isn’t great. There is too much space between the letters and it just looks slightly cheap. The other edits I have seen – including the Phantom Edit – had scores which could be mistaken for the original if it weren’t for the altered text. Also, the timing and speed of “STAR WARS” seemed a bit off.

Within the film itself, one of the droids says “roger roger” as mentioned by another viewer.

The probe droid deleted scene
The colouring is very apparent. I don’t really mind this, but anything that could be done to lesser the contrast between this and the other scenes would be good.

The timing of almost all the subtitles could do with tweaking, they tend to appear too early. Also, perhaps using a smaller font would make them seem more natural.

Things I missed: Padme’s pouty “Well I don’t like it” and “You assume to much”. I don’t mind their absence, but I do like the lines.

Finally, the only other thing I wasn’t a huge fan of (and this is simply an opinion) is the inclusion of the “chosen one” subplot. It could be dropped entirely from the prequels and we would be left with a more grounded tale of a man’s corruption and its terrible consequences. However, its not really a problem and I’m jumping complaining about nothing now. 

Now, this is where the film excelled:

The crawl. Yes, the actual graphics need changing, but the dialogue is probably the best fanedit TPM opening crawl I’ve seen. It’s both concise and interesting, and I for one don’t mind the TPM reference at all.

The dialogue: all of it. You have done excellent editing throughout, although of particular note were:

Boss Nas – I didn’t think I’d like this change as Boss Nas’s ticks are pretty central to his character in the early scenes and I felt the altered dialogue would be too abrupt. However, I feel it works very well and you succeed in your goal of presenting the Gungans as being genuinely dangerous (quite an accomplishment considering the material).

The ship escape – removing all the horrible references to R2 makes these scenes considerably better. No cleaning, no naming of R2, etc.

Anakin’s mother – This is the finest editing I have seen of this entire part of the film. Removing Qui Gon explaining the he couldn’t free his mother adds intelligence and emotion to the scene. Similarly, I have been waiting a long time for somebody to clean up Anakin’s goodbye and remove his reference to “returning to save” his mother. Brilliant stuff.

Also, the dialogue during scene at the dinner table is really well edited. The removal of the horrible “I die everytime…” line is very well done; now all the characters appear stronger and more likable. Again, the emotion you managed to get out of Anakin’s separation from his mother is incredible: I was genuinely moved by his loss. You also highlight a great deal of the humanity lost in the PT, Qui Gon now comes across as a wise, kind and caring – yet still dangerous – individual. Anakin is now a scrappy and slightly volatile yet fundamentally decent kid, which is exactly what he should be. Bravo!

If I continue highlighting dialogue I’ll end up discussing almost every scene in the film, so I will move on.

Anakin’s fight – great inclusion, it works really well, showing a violent side to Anakin that isn’t normally shown. Removal of his friends also improves the Tatooine scenes considerably.

The Pod Race – less is definitely more. I was sad at Jabba’s removal, I like him in TPM, but you manage to present the pod race as a genuinely dangerous and thrilling race. Its shorter length definitely adds to the effect, it feels less like an endurance and more like a no-limits drag race.

The final battle – I questioned your inclusion of making Jar Jar a general. It seems an unnecessary scene, especially as *all* of Jar Jar’s actions in the final battle are horrible slapstick. As it turns out, you didn’t include any of them – which is excellent – although I’m still not sure if making him a general is necessary. I was also unsure about making Anakin’s destruction of the Control Ship the focus when I read it, but you’re right it works perfectly. The sense of loss when *every* plan fails really works. I did miss the conclusion to Padme’s capture, I wondered if the throne room scene could be re-edited, but I suppose its conclusion is easy presumed and I probably miss it most because I’m so used to seeing it.

All in all, this is a truly excellent edit, by far the best TPM I have seen. You manage to capture a sense of danger, excitement and emotions that the film has never shown before. However, I would truly implore you to change – 1) the opening credits to one that looks more official, and 2) the final few seconds which really undermine so much of your good work.