Star Wars: Episode I - Cloak Of Deception

This is my first edit of TPM I've seen, so I hesitate to say anything too definite, especially as I've seen the original so many times. I greatly enjoyed having less of Jar Jar, and thought removing the whole sequence with him worked surprisingly well once I got over my surprise at it not being there. I actually missed Anakin's annoying moments, but that is my own preference. Sometimes pacing of the cuts felt a little weird, but frankly no weirder than the original in some places, and obviously vastly improved in the majority on pacing. Greatly enjoyed the experience.

While I admire the ambition to rework TPM so significantly, sadly I don't think this works very well.

Quite a lot of times, the rhythm and pacing of the editing is off with scenes feeling rushed or jumpy.
Some edits make little narrative sense (Jar Jar tagging along for no reason and Gungans appearing out of nowhere via jarring (pun intended) voice over, which must be the only use of it in SW outside of Force voices, being the worst offenders I think). Others, while trying to get at something interesting, just feel chaotic (the final battle).
Music editing also needed more work between the newly created transitions as cues often sound just faded at random points with no regards to phrasing.

That said, I counted ca. 20 smaller trims that work very well and would certainly find their place in a perfect edit.
I just don't think it's technically possible to fulfill the ambitions of this edit with materials available commercially to fans and not throw the whole rhythm of the edit off.

I'll just recycle my review of Hal9000's Episode II edit since I watched them back-to-back and found them to be equally impressive and enjoyable.

At last, I can finally enjoy the prequels! Years after giving up hope of finding prequel edits that I could really enjoy, Hal9000's Episode I edit has done it!

I watched so many fanedits of Episodes I & II that left me wishing I could get my time refunded (nothing against the faneditors, just the material). I recently realized I had been taking the wrong approach by looking for an edit that removed all of the elements that I disliked, as edits that took that approach never seemed to have enough material left to craft what felt like a full film. Hal9000's edit is more reserved cut-wise and seems to try to include as much as possible to give the film enough content and weight to flow smoothly and feel like a complete film. Somehow Hal9000 was able to include much more of the film than I would have though possible while still (mostly) avoiding the frequent criticisms of the film like bad writing, acting, attempts at humor, etc. and the quality of the edit is top-notch.

There were at most a couple of instances where I felt like a transition wasn't quite flawless, either visually or audibly, but it may just have been a result of knowing the original too well or watching too many fanedits. Regardless, they were the most minor of issues, and I can't even recall which scenes were involved because I was just so surprised by how much I was enjoying myself watching this film!

Hal9000 has elevated this film to a place I never though possible: a worthy companion to the original trilogy!

Holy shit. This is surprisingly good. (Not amazing, but really good. It's now a decent and watchable movie.) I've always hated all those silly childish jokes. There were just too many of them. You accomplished to make Jar Jar and young Anakin much more likeable and deeper characters. Especially Jar Jar now seems like a funny person and not a clumsy idiot. Thumbs up for the podrace and the final battle. It was very enjoying to watch.

Pros: This edit takes a moderate approach, leaving the TPM story basically intact. The editing quality is overall pretty good, though a couple of the added SD scenes are glaring reminders that this is a fan edit.

Cons: In general, the cuts made it harder for me to care about the story. Cuts to the opening chapter in particular make it hard to get attached to the Jedi so that I found myself indifferent to the outcome of the lightsaber fight at the end. I've always felt the pod race is long and boring, but because the build-up to this shorter pod race was so quick, it was hard to get emotionally invested. The added music felt a bit manipulative to me because the story didn't move me.