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

Masterful. Absolutely masterful. Seciors has made some deep cuts to this movie (which is exactly what TPM needed) and has pulled it off seamlessly. The Phantom Menace is finally a fun, engaging, and dare I say exciting movie. This is the movie we all wanted back in 1999, and seciors has delivered the perfect introduction to the following two prequels. I recommend Q2's Episode II and L8wrtr's Episode III, btw. Q2 and seciors don't allude to the fact that Palpatine is Darth Sidious whatsoever (spoiler alert?). In fact, that's what I like about Q2 and seciors; they don't spell everything out for you and insult your intelligence. Thus, it is in L8wrtr's Episode III, beginning with the opera scene, that you begin to feel a sense of dread as you start to realize what's really going on. These three edits together succeed in keeping the viewer in the dark for as long as the main protagonists are (although it's hard to say whether we really would have been fooled since we've all seen these movies before). Together, seciors, Q2, and L8wrtr have rescued the PT by cutting out the bloat and adding some much needed subtlety and nuance to these films. However, seciors has demonstrated exceptional skill in ascertaining when less is undoubtedly more. Bravo.

Finally...A version of TPM that I actually enjoyed and I mean, I actually really enjoyed this.

I noted the kinda quick runtime of just under 85 mins and I was a bit dubious as to whether this would feel rushed. It doesn't.

Perhaps because the editing is spot on, there's nothing boring and ultimately is was (boringly)directed by George Lucas - this feels like a totally fresh film to me. When compared to the likes of Transformers or Man of Steel or even Avengers...this feels engaging, but never OTT.

I think the removal of Sidious in this edit is genius. I was also very impressed with the removal of Gungan City and going through..the planet core. Even Jar Jar didn't annoy me. He said what he needed to say and it felt like what he was saying was important to understand the later plot.

Relegating the Trade Federation to simply a separatist Federation works spectacularly well. The pod race felt like such great fun now - not too short or too long.

I was really keen to see the end battle and once again, this really impressed. All that stupidity is gone.

Technically, it was utterly seemless and I noticed not one single thing out of place. So I've given this 10/10 in all aspects. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Talk about taking a turd and turning it into a diamond....wow.

Wow. Just wow. Episode 1 is still ridiculously over-complicated with no clear baddies and goodies (my kids kept asking me) and the Padme/Queen thing (my kids kept asking me) - BUT, it was an enjoyable story with enough flash-bangs and pace to ensure we weren't bored.
The film rollicks along at a great pace without feeling rushed, and never gets too bogged down in the frankly boring story.
Taking out Darth Sidious was a stroke of genius - he is completely unnecessary. Knowing that the Sith have arrived is enough.
And I LOVED the edit of the pod race. Not too long, not too short, and just enough of the announcers and stadium reactions to keep you up to date with what's going on.
The edit was seamless, the quality was excellent, audio without a hitch. Seriously impressive.
Flawless.

This is my favorite Episode I edit by far. Seciors has managed to achieve that delicate balance of improving the pacing greatly without making the movie feel rushed. Also, technically the editing is superb. Everything fits together seamlessly and it really does seem like an original movie, not an edit!

Plot points that were improved: Hiding Palpatine's identity which helps put more of the focus on Darth Maul which is never a bad thing, also no midichlorians and no virgin birth.

In the end this movie achieves what the original missed, a fun fast paced adventure that hints at plot twists and dark turns up ahead without actually giving it away.

(I apologize for making so much of this review about myself, but I just didn't know how else to get my point across.)

I was huge Star Wars fan as a kid, but when The Phantom Menace came out, it was "just another movie". Maybe I was a little disappointed, but it was no big deal to me. I think I only saw it twice. Once when it was in theatres and again when it was on TV for the first time. All I ever saw of it since were the Red Letter Media reviews, which I think are brillant.

After watching SECIORS' fanedit, I thought I needed to see the original again though, so I'd be able to actually judge what he did. In doing so I realized, that I loved all of SECIORS' editing choices and that he did an impressive and flawless job in reducing the film to its core. I also realized that most of the hate TPM is getting nowadays is totally justified. What a godawful movie the original is.

Although I always considered myself a movie geek, it was only over the past ten years that I started focusing on things like storytelling, character arcs, character motivations, pacing, expositional dialogue, directorial choices, etc. I believe TPM fails on all accounts. (I also feel like even stating that I'm aware of the fact, that there is nothing that hasn't been said about TPM, is a cliché.) In my opinion the movie doesn't even work, if you look at it as a film purely aimed at kids, due to all the political crap, the pseudo-philosophical nonsense and the overlong action sequences.

Having said that, I think this is exactly why SECIORS' edit succeeds. Halfway through his version I stopped overanalyzing everything and just let my seven-year-old self take over, and looked at it on a scene by scene basis, enjoying the spectacle, just like I saw Return of the Jedi for the first time. (I loved the Ewoks, for chrissake!)

SECIORS turned a bloated mess into the entertaining and easily digestable kid's movie Lucas probably wanted it to be in the first place. My initial thoughts were, that this edit must be every parent's dream come true. Finally parents can watch TPM in less than 90 minutes and without having their ADD kids go bonkers before the third act starts. I actually suggested calling it "The Parent's Edit", but SECIORS decided against it. Whatever!

:-)

I don't know too much about the technical side of video editing, so I'll give it all 10's there, since I didn't see or hear any flaws. I also thought the narrative worked perfectly fine, despite the fact, that 50 minutes (!) were cut.

I'm torn when it comes to enjoyment though. I didn't really enjoy the movie, I enjoyed figuring out the amount of work and thought that was put into this edit. I think this is the best version possible, although I probably should check out some of the other TPM fanedits to properly comment on that. Unfortunately I can't do that right now. It's just not physically possible, at least within the next couple of months. I'm still recovering, you know?

:-)

On a sidenote: I think the obsession faneditors have with TPM is fascinating and I'd love to read you guys discuss this topic in the forums. This is going to sound brutal, I'm afraid, but I think even the best edit is just damage control. Like …, you can get Daft Punk or Moby or Four Tet or whoever to remix Rebecca Black's Friday, but it's still an embarrassingly bad song, and listening to the remixes is something you do out of curiousity, because you respect the DJs, but it's still rather unlikely, that you'll put it on your playlist, no matter how impressive their work is. Right?

Right?!

Again: I loved SECIORS work. If I had kids, THIS is the version I'd want them to see. I just think the original movie is beyond salvageable.

(EDITED: Now, that's what I call a great poster!)