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

This is now up there with L8WRTR's trilogy. Very impressive. In fact, though I prefer his episode II to yours, I'd say you've got the better episode I. Just so well paced. It made for an easy, entertaining watch that I didn't begin to zone out of. Even with the best Episode I edits, I often have a hard time keeping my mind on the movie for the duration. You have managed to keep my interest focused squarely on the movie.

The obscuring of Palpatine's true identity was a choice I thought I might have a problem with going in, but it turned out to be an improvement. Still not sure why people have a problem with the "Darth" title, it's used all over the expanded universe, hardly exclusive to the prequels.

Cutting out the entire visit to the Gungan city was bold, and brilliant. It wasn't missed at all. I think you've handled Jar Jar as well as can be done, without perhaps altering his voice in a manner similar to JMB's deepening of Katie Holmes' voice in the Batman Begins Dark Cut. Anything to make him sound less like a Jamaican Elmo.

I personally feel Qui-Gon Jinn's funeral makes for a better ending point than the parade, but that didn't lessen my enjoyment of this remarkable edit. You should be very proud of what you've achieved with this. You've made Star Wars Episode I a movie I can watch all the way through and actually enjoy. Thank you!

Last year I attempted to make my own edit of the Star Wars prequels, albeit with limited skill and very basic software. I eventually disregarded my own efforts and began a search for a more professional edit, eventually settling on Q2’s ‘Fall of the Jedi’ trilogy, which was very skilfully edited. However, what Seciors has done here is a lot closer to what I originally imagined for my own edit.

Despite the fact that I hold Q2’s work in high regard, I struggled with a couple of the bigger editing choices – mainly the concept of an un-named background extra destroying the Federation ship at the end of the movie. On the other hand, I agree with all of Secior’s major choices here.

Additionally, the re-integration of up-rezzed versions of my favourite deleted scenes (Greedo, farewell to Jira) and very clever removal of Jar Jar from a couple of scenes (balcony fall, Anakin/Padme heart-to-heart) brought a smile to my face! Although, there is a (slight and unavoidable) noticeable difference in picture quality between the up-rezzed deleted scenes and the rest of the movie.

I really appreciate the fact that a number of the less desirable characters (Jar Jar, C-3PO, etc) are minimised, rather than eliminated. I’ve seen a number of edits which have attempted to remove them completely from the movie, with varying degrees of success. Instead, Seciors has managed to reduce (rather than remove) their impact on the movie, whilst still allowing them have a proper introduction and moment to shine.

The only character who falls foul of the editing process is Boss Nass. With the removal of the underwater city scene and editing of his initial conversation with Padme, he fails to get a proper introduction. Instead, he unceremoniously pops up from nowhere. But this is a minor issue, and is not enough to pull me out of the movie.

The overall effect of this edit is to provide a much faster paced version of the movie, with a more comprehensible story (no more taxes, treaties, midichlorians, etc) and understandable villain (the Federation). At the same time, Seciors has managed to improve on the mystery of the Sith, by removing Sidious and the unsubtle hints that Palpatine is the master dark lord - including the horrendous close-up during Qui Gon’s pyre scene.

All-in-all, this is my favourite edit of TPM and is now my ‘go to’ version. I’m greatly looking forward to Seciors’s take on RotS!

NOTE: This review is based on a pre-release MKV version of the edit that Seciors kindly made available to me prior to its official release. I believe the only difference between the two was an issue that was resolved with the surround sound.

When I saw this edit the first thing that struck me was the quality. Let me put this straight, It was superb. I saw no flash frames, It was in chapters (Not sure how you did that but it made it look proffesional which I liked), and It was clean and in 1080p. I'm not sure about the audio editing but it seemed great to me.

But the actual edit is a slightly different story, I know you have tried to make this a better movie, and you have succeeded. The problem is is that it still is a bad movie. One thing you did well was giving it the same overall the same tone as the original 2 films, thats great the problem is that there is still bad dialouge, monotone main characters, and a lack of tension. I know you wanted to keep this a you know a normal movie length, but you could of added some deleted scenes to make up for the short length. The dialouge between Anakin and Padme is still awful, and you didn't think to change the Neimodians voices, or change Jar Jars voice to make him not racist and actually funny. The change of opening crawl is a solid thumbs up for me though, and the start of the movie did feel exiting to a degree and the Neimodians are kinda strategically clever this time round. So I thought it was Ok and an improvement from the original, but still not very good.

My ratings pretty much some up my review. The edits great and it is the Star Wars Saga intro that we deserved :) Great Job!

There is a lot to love about this edit. As you can see from the runtime, the cuts are deep. This changes the pacing from the dull slog of the theatrical release to a real roller coaster ride. It moved a little fast for my taste, but then again, that was probably necessary to successfully remove so much of what I hated about Ep I: midichlorians, virgin birth, the chosen one, Captain Obvious (Ric Olie), bantha poodoo, Boss 'Bbbbbbbbbbbbb' Nass and Jar Jar's stupidity.

Removing Darth Sidious was a good move. It largely worked but unfortunately left Darth Maul without motivation. Keeping at least part of Sidious and Maul's 'At last we will have our revenge' scene would have established a nemesis for Qui Gon and a Sith counterpoint to the Jedi's mission, while adding a lingering dread to the story. It would also have balanced Maul's later appearances in the film and provided a coda to Yoda's final scene where he notes 'Always two there are'. But I liked how you kept (and added) scenes with the probe droid searching Mos Espa for the queen. Its menacing black shape floating through the streets helped restore the tension lost by removing Sidious and foreshadowed Qui Gon's later encounters with the Sith.

The pod race edits were miraculous. Thanks for excising the two-headed announcer, but leaving the Tusken Raiders and Aurra Sing cameos. I would have preferred limiting Jabba to his introduction and race announcement. Spitting at the gong and sleeping at the end of the race were useless comic relief. It makes him look like a loser instead of a ruthless, tyrannical gangster.

The final battle between Sith and Jedi also worked really well. The pacing was smooth and consistent. Leaving Qui Gon's meditation with Maul pacing outside the shield broke up the action enough to build tension without destroying its flow.

I wish the space battle at the Droid Control ship lasted a little longer (but with less of Captain Obvious - 'It's one of ours!', 'That's the enemy!', 'I'm breathing air!') However, you did a great job transforming Anakin from a stowaway pushing random buttons into a pilot in command of his ship. Most of his cockpit scenes and dialog from the Theatrical release were useless, but a lot of them would have been fine without his dialog. For example, 'Spinning's a good trick' is ridiculous, but watching him fly the starfighter (without talking) and execute barrel rolls to avoid laser fire only confirms his flying skills and force instincts.

A few of the visual cuts in the edit were jarring, but for the most part, they contributed to the roller coaster pacing. However, the audio was seamless. Seciors did a fantastic job syncing his new edits with the score.

Overall, this is one of the more enjoyable Episode I fanedits I've seen, and I enjoyed this version of Episode I as much as any fan of the OT can. Nice job!