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

(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!)

This is a great example of fanediting, and it eliminates just about everything that can be eliminated while still retaining what is important. Some people claim that the cutting down of the dialogue hurts the characterization, especially of Qui Gon, however, I feel like 90% of the problems with this movie is that the character talk to much, especially Qui Gon. He does not feel like a Jedi Master, but a crotchety old man who gets upset and snippy every time someone questions his "great wisdom". This edit manages to jetison most of that, so in my book it improves the character tremendously. I stand by my opinion, how ever, that the Jedi of this era are not to be liked are are to look like fools too wrapped up in their own self-righteousness that they can't even see the obvious degeneration of the galaxy happening all around them.

That said, the editing itself was solid, although a few bits seemed a little out of focus. Not talking about the inserted scenes either. It may have been the sources, or maybe it was on my side as I had ran it through Handbrake to put it in H.265 format for storage. Not 100% certain, but my other movies have not had that issue after the same treatment, so just tossing it out there in case it is something in the files themselves. I did not detract for it, as I was uncertain of the origin.

All in all a great version of this movie, and so far my favorite that I have watched.

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!

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!