Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 'Sanded Down'

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Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 'Sanded Down'
Faneditor Name:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2002
Original Running Time:
142
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
108
Time Cut:
44
Time Added:
10
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
This edit takes many popular fan edits of Attack of The Clones and combines their best ideas with my own to create one "ultimate cut" of the film. It's mostly the same story you remember but streamlined: with more believable character interactions and a quicker, lighter pace.
Intention:
Like The Phantom Menace, it's sequel is one of the most fanedited films of all time, but also like The Phantom Menace, no one fanedit has ever fully satisfied me. In particular, I don't think any edit has quite nailed the film's pacing or created a version of the romance arc that fully tracks with me. I feel they all have their strengths and weaknesses, so I set out to make a cut that combined my own ideas with curated edits from various fan cuts to match my vision for the film.
Additional Notes:
There are two ways in which I hope this fanedit stands out from similar edits of Attack of The Clones: The pacing, and the romance arc. In cutting out or shortening so many scenes, I paid careful attention to the amount of time we spend with Anakin and Obi-Wan's respective plotlines before cutting away to the other's story. I found that in many other edits, we'd only get a minute or less with one of the characters before cutting away to the other. This gave these edits a feeling of whiplash that I'm not sure was intentional. I got around this by sometimes stitching together multiple scenes following the same character to create a short arc before checking in with the other Jedi. As for the romance, I tried to find a happy medium between the aggressive cutting seen in some edits and the lax approach seen in others. I wanted to come the closest I could to a believable arc for these characters, which meant I had to cut as much of Anakin being a creep as possible, but there also needed to be enough development and progression on screen in order to buy a marriage at the end of the film.
Other Sources:
While some of the non-original cuts were recreated by myself, I confess that most of them were cribbed directly from the source material: the original fanedits (with permission)

Fanedits and other sources used include:
- Hal9000’s 'The Approaching Storm' (primary source)
- l8wrtr’s 'The Republic Divided'
- The Phantom Editor's 'Attack of the Phantom' (audio only)
- 20th century Fox logo from official 4K Blu-Ray release.
Special Thanks:
Initabsolute, Hal9000, l8wrtr, Mike Nichols (The Phantom Editor), MalàStrana, TM2YC, George Lucas, Lucasfilm and Disney
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
I've put an emphasis on matching the professionalism of the original edits I used as sources and wanted to make the film a suitable replacement for someone who has never seen Attack of the Clones before. While I tried to improve the storytelling and characterization through editing, I did strive to keep everything relatively 'canonical' so you can watch other Star Wars media like The Clone Wars without skipping a beat. The toughest call was probably the Death Star plans sequence. While it does tie directly into Rebels, it has no real context or reason for being in this film. I ultimately decided to cut it for story flow and pacing reasons, but other references like 'Darth Tyranus' remain.
Cuts and Additions:
A full cutlist is available at https://docs.google.com/document/d/12dAvtrsxZT66tM_uZ5bRpxFb8Y4e8m5mY6iE7YXKCmE/edit?usp=sharing

User reviews

11 reviews
 
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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.8(11)
Audio Editing
 
9.3(11)
Visual Editing
 
9.6(11)
Narrative
 
9.3(11)
Enjoyment
 
9.0(11)
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Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
'Sanded Down' does everything you'd want from an AOTC edit and includes some nice things I haven't seen in other edits of the film. That being said, and I don't quite know why, but it didn't wow me like octoroxx's TMP edit did. My only real critique is that it's slightly too long, although like I said I enjoyed the unique parts of this not found in other edits. l8wrtr's edit is still my preferred version, but I will no doubt revisit this, based of how good TMP: Faster, More Intense is.

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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(Updated: December 24, 2021)
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Excellent execution like Octorox's Phantom edit, but IMO this one goes a bit too far. The details are phenomenal like the restored deleted scenes and 'Kamino system' audio from Attack of the Phantom to speed along that mystery subplot. But there's less action and Anakin for the sake of pace. Anakin's character is reshaped to a strong, silent type prone to emotional outburtsts - more comparable to his Ep I and Ep II writing, so it works - but I missed darker glimpses like Anakin telling Padme how he killed the raiders without remorse. I also think some action is needlessly trimmed like the Droid Factory and Obi-Wan's first Boba fight. Even if it's filler, fun action is fun action in action-driven franchise lol. Perfectly executed otherwise.
Owner's reply January 03, 2022

Thanks for the review! It's funny, because my previous version of the edit did include a version of the droid factory sequence but I got so much negative feedback about that particular scene that I flip-flopped and took it out completely. It just goes to show that you can't please everyone. It's no secret that Attack of the Clones is my least favorite prequel, so I was a little more ruthless with this one than the other two. I'm glad you gave it an honest review!

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(Updated: April 22, 2020)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
This is a great edit, and I really really enjoyed it. However, some choices create -- in my view -- some problems for character development, and for the larger Prequel arc. Let me try and explain.

I always rather liked AOTC, and even much of Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker. I don't mind the saccharin sweet elements of the Anakin/ Padme romance. I think it was okay that he was awkward,weird and hated sand.

The original film suffered from a few problems, though. There were issues of bloat, pacing and excessive exposition of trivial points, plus bringing in trivial, and irrelevant stuff: why say the initial assassination attempt on Coruscant was by disgruntled miners from a place no one has heard of, especially if it is not even explained why they are feeling murderous? Does it really matter of Jango is a clone? There are jarring efforts at humour and cuteness, like Jar-Jar Binks' idiocy, Dex's diner, some of the night-time chase after the assassin on Coruscant, too much of the droid factory, and R2D2 and C3PIO in the arena. Then there are stunning gaps on major issues. What was so crucial about Padme's appearance in the Senate that people keep trying to kill her? Who exactly is she?

This edit is absolutely amazing in how it speeds things up, guts the padding, and reintegrates crucial, game-changing deleted footage, notably Padme in the Senate opposing the call for an Army of the Republic (why the original cut dropped this is beyond me), and more on Padme and her family on Naboo (including a much better sense that she is attracted to Anakin, marriage and children from an early point). Whole scenes are gone, like Dex's diner (great) and the droid factory (surprisingly, this is a plus). There is less Anakin/ Obi-Wan bickering, less Anakin strangeness, minimal Jar-Jar (and when he does appear, he's a pretty run-of-the-mill and competent Star Wars alien e.g. when he speaks in Senate, rather than a complete numbskull),and, in general, a lot less talking that goes nowhere.

That said, I think there are two cuts that really do harm the story, both in the film and in the larger Prequel arc I completely admit that preferences of this type are pretty subjective, and that doing an amazing, masterful piece of work like this edit is completely beyond my abilities. I also recognise that anyone can criticise, while not many can create.

That said, I think that in making Anakin a bit more likeable, the edit bends the stick too far in the other direction. The presentation of his darker side was a bit heavy-handed in the original, but a significant part of this should be retained because it is important for understanding his evolution over the story arc, and how his fear of loss leads to anger etc., all the way to going full Sith, galactic dictatorship and mass murder. Otherwise we have a cute kid in Phantom Menace, a geeky guy in AOTC, and suddenly, in the latter part of the ROTS movie, a man who massacres Jedi, and becomes the right-hand man of an evil dictator...

Right now, there is very little left that shows how dark Anakin can be.

The massacre of the Sand People after he finds his mother dying after being captured and apparently tortured at their hands, is gone in this edit;it should have been retained, including Anakin's explanation to Padme that he killed everyone, including kids, and considers them all animals. Here is the direct link between his fear of loss, his rage and his simmering brutality. Without this, its simply shown he killed a few Tusken men after his mother died, rather than going well beyond this into simple evil; without it, the vow at his mother's grave not to fail again is no different in principle than Peter Parker deciding after the death of Uncle Ben that with great power comes great responsibility. Where is the precedent for Anakin's murderous actions in ROTS? With this Sand People material, we get a very clear sense of the depths he can easily plumb, and of the fact that he has no remorse afterwards. It is also a crucial moment of loss in which -- like in ROTS -- he acts emotionally and darkly, rather than being a good Jedi stoic.

Likewise, Anakin's hard-right political views and rants should have been retained, even if trimmed. These views show Anakin's dislike of politicians goes well beyond run-of-the-mill cynicism to something more substantial. Obi-Wan also distrusts politicians, so the contrast between how the two translate this into political views is important and revealing. It also indicates how deep the gulf is between Anakin and Padme on politics and the future of the Republic is. It remains clear in this edit of AOTC that Anakin is being mentored and influenced by Palpatine/ Darth Sidious, and since he is not (yet) being mentored in the Sith arts, on what exactly is Palpatine engaging him?

And, most importantly, these expositions are crucial to moving the development of Anakin from simply the personal and emotional trajectory to the dark side (fear leads to anger etc.) to his political, and (later) quite public (as Darth Vader), trajectory towards dictatorial rule, repression and demands for order. His drive for power, as a response to fear, is not just about getting more power through the Force (and ultimately, the Sith approach) but also about a drive for power over millions of others through the state. That Padme stayed with him is not a huge improbability. Plenty of people marry horrible partners, and plenty of couples disagree on politics in the most profound ways.

That said, I want to thank you again for your incredible efforts in fixing the film. Thank you!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (1) | Was this review helpful? 3 1
(Updated: July 16, 2023)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
The is the best, most balanced edit of Attack of The Clones currently available. I think it is slightly heavy-handed with some of its cuts, but overall, it succeeds in transforming the source material into something enjoyable and worthy of repeat viewings.

There were some things that were cut or trimmed that I didn't think needed to be. For example, I don't know why the dialog from the dinner date scene was cut. But, despite minor gripes, it's the best edit we currently have.

I look forward to Octorox's future edits.

Edit: I want to add that Octorox takes AotC, possibly still one of the most reviled entries into the franchise (TRoS might have it beat though), and with his skillful cuts, makes it feel more like a proper Star Wars film than any other since the Original Trilogy. RotS may be a little too dark, and TPM might be a little boring, but after you remove most of the cringe elements from AotC, you enter the goldilocks zone, and are pleasantly surprised with a SW film with a "just right" amount of humor, action, fun, and emotional punch. The Tattooine scenes are especially good, and this edit really helps them shine.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
8.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
6.0
Visual Editing
 
8.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
I have not watched the majority of AotC edits and jumped straight to Octorox', with it being the most recent and admittedly built upon cuts of previous edits that improved the movie overall.
I think the two biggest issues in this movie were originally pace and immersion. Sanded Down definitely fixes both by streamlining narrative and cutting out the most distracting CGI visuals and sequences (ie digi-doubles, diner, naboo cuisine and wildlife, droid factory and most of the arena).
The edit is competent at cuts but there are at least two really jarring transitions (that I spotted) that plucked me right out of the experience. For me the extreme one was when Obi-Wan is about to record his message from Geonosis after his eavesdropping on the separatists, and then there's a split-second out of place transition to Anakin speeding back in Tatooine only to immediately return to Obi-Wan (00:59:30).
The second most abrupt cut is from Naboo to Kamino, from the moonlit kiss to the kaminoan emerging from the sea, where the music harshly changes from one scene to the other (00:37:54). The moonlit scene artificial grading itself did not bother me as much as other people seem to have taken issue with.
Considering the edit borrowed extensively from previous works, however, I think some of the dialogue could have been further trimmed. Mainly the awkward exchanges between Anakin and Padmé, like "you're always going to be that little boy" to an unwarranted "I love you" for an infatuation affair that's only been going on for less than a week, apparently. But overall I think their romance was well handled with the addition (and omission) of some little details here and there.
Personally I'd also like to have seen some lore tightening as in seciors' cutlist, such as removing red-herrings as Syfo-Dyas and Darth Tyrannus mentions. But that, of course, is not mandatory fanfixin'.
All in all, Sanded Down might actually be the more balanced AotC edit out there, but not without it's downsides. It's easy to overlook the rough cuts and missed opportunities with dialogue, though, in exchange for a bloat-free, better Star Wars episode.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Owner's reply August 15, 2021

Thanks so much for your review. The cut from Obi-Wan to Anakin that you mention is not present in my copy. You may have received a version with an error. Feel free to PM me for another link.

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