Star Wars - Episode I: Return of the Sith: Revisited Edition

Pros:

A. The pod race was quite exciting, not sure what edits were made here, but it seemed better than I remembered from the theatrical release.
B. Young Anakin cringe was kept to a minimum and Jar Jar never got the chance to upset me while still having a quirky personality.
C. Cut small problems that then get solved moments later as they aren't suspenseful during repeat viewings thereby making them pointless.
From a technical stand point this was an impressive fanedit, visual quality was astounding and there were no dodgy frames/cuts, no audio blips or glaring sudden musical cues. The deleted scenes that were incorporated back into the movie added to the experience and development of characters.

Cons:

A. The film has been cut down to a mere 78 minutes excluding credits - there are no brakes here, the movie shares the necessary information then moves on. The end result is a nice action piece where you don't really care about the characters/events too much. It feels more like a recap than immersion into a living breathing world.
B. The final battle and Sith duel seemed cut down a fair bit - slightly disappointing as its one of the more interesting parts of the movie.
C. Cut nearly every character exchange not essential to the plot - this severely affects the character development of Qui-gon and Obi-wan, most of the other characters get developed effectively.

Final thoughts:

Ultimately, Phantom Menace is a hard movie to save, but the editor cut a little too much here, leaving bare bones dialogue which made the film feel like an empty shell. A great version if you're marathoning the films and needed to get this one out of the way fast.

Way better than the original by far and the best edit I have seen of Episode 1 until now. I particularly enjoyed the fast pace of the first 15 minutes and the edit of the end battle.

I do find that the music sometimes cut abruptly (but I understand how hard it is to make the music fit sometimes), but the only negative point I have is that even though most of the Gungans/Nemoidians scenes were cut (a must in any respectable Episode 1 edit) the original voice acting was left intact.

Some other editors have just replaced the voices of Jar Jar and company with alien languages and added subtitles: removing the horrible voices and thus allowing the editor to make the aliens more threatening and badass.

But all in all, great work! I can't wait to show that to my brother during our Star Wars Marathon before we watch Episode VII in theater.

Way, way better than the original. It was actually enjoyable! Thanks and keep up the good work!

Recently I recommended the originalo Star Wars trilogy to a friend who had never seen them, and I sat down to watch the prequels again to see if they warranted a recommendation as well. I was surprised that they were even worse than I remembered them.

Years ago I saw an SD version of TPM by "The Phantom Editor". I thought that it was an intriguing concept, but the low res quality of it put me off and I never really dug any deeper. Last month I dug out that copy of "The Phantom Edit", but was again disappointed. I decided to look for an HD copy, and that's when I stumbled onto FanEdit.org.

Seciors was the first fan edit that I watched here, and he hooked me immediately. The relentless pace of his editing is incredible... this edit makes TPM not only watchable, but actually enjoyable. Almost every transition is flawlessly executed, and I agree with pretty much every trim he made. Jar Jar no longer annoys me in this cut, and I never once felt myself rolling my eyes.

Since watching Seciors Episode I, I think that I've watched three of the other highly rated edits as well. As much as I like them, I keep coming back to Seciors as my favourite. There are really too many good things to say about this cut to list out. What sets him apart in my opinion are his bold editing choices. He's the only one that I've seen that chose to remove Darth Sidious altogether, which really paid off in my opinion. I love not only his editing out the "Chosen One" subplot, but also his clever editing of that entire discussion with Shmi. His restructuring of the final battles come to a much more satisfying conclusion. This edit actually feels like a Star Wars movie.

I only have two suggestions that would make this edit flawless, and both deal with transitions in the last act. The audio transition after Queen Amidala says "everything depends on it" needs tweaking, but that's probably because you couldn't separate her dialogue from the musical queue. I'm not sure what can be done about this, but if you could somehow clean it up the transition would be flawless.

The other suggestion is the end of the "Master and Apprentice" segment. If you could just find a way to extend the beat on Qui-Gon's funeral pyre, the transition would feel more natural. As it was, the transition felt a little abrupt. Again, not sure how this could be achieved with the footage available.

I don't want to sound negative. Seciors edits of Episode I and II have restored my faith in the prequels. If I thought his Episode I edits were bold, wait until you get to Episode II. Who else would have thought to put the end of the movie at the beginning? I can't begin to tell you how brilliant and inspired decision that was.

What I really want to know is, are you working on an edit of Episode III? I hope so, because I'd love to see what you do with it, and I'd love a proper ending to my favourite series of fan edits! My only request is not to add the footage from "The Other Boleyn Girl" that some chose to use. The colour pallets of the two movies couldn't be more different, and although the idea is a good one, the execution is too jarring.

Please do Episode III!

This is one of my favorite fanedits of Episode I, and the main reason is the pacing. This thing just barrels along, with smart choices to the action to make it more lively and exciting. Of all the edits of Ep. I I've seen, this one feels the most like a "Star Wars" movie.

My favorite little edit is the way the Anakin/Greedo deleted scene is cleverly and seamlessly incorporated. A fantastic use of that sequence.

My only complaint would be that the speed sometimes feels a little too break neck. Tatooine especially suffers from this, as I feel like a little more time taken here would help us get to know the characters. But if the material wasn't there, I'd rather it went by quickly like this anyway.

There were a couple of slightly odd Audio cuts and transitions. Nothing was particularly wrong with the cut, but it would sometimes very clearly start or end a piece of music at a point that wasn't the natural conclusion. No biggie, especially since Star Wars movies are so difficult to edit sound wise.

Overall a fantastic edit that's well worth your time!