Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace: Reborn

I really enjoyed this edit. The editor managed to keep the same movie in essence, in fact no relevant plot points has been left out, but the movie improved in many ways. Now it really feels as the old trilogy movies. In a way I feel this edit is what Lucas intended, but he could not do because he is lost in his new CGI toys he could not have at the time of the originals.


I see the theatrical release of Ep. I long ago, so some comparison might be off.
The obvious improvement of this movie is from the characters, as in the old trilogy, the characters are nice, enjoyable, and somewhat feels credible in the alien universe they exist.

Jar-Jar gained a lot since the theatrical version; he might appears a little clumsy or dim but he is still fairly normal and not the complete idiot we know. TM2YC changed his dialogs completely using new subtitles and giving him an alien speech, now Jar-Jar helps us understand the relation between Gungan and Naboo. He is the son of Rugor Nass, the leader of the Gungan, and really tries its best to help the characters. Besides being the prince it makes sense he becomes Senator with Amidala for the planet. I am impressed how few cuts there and there and new dialogs can improve a character and a movie.

In the description we read "Padme and The Queen are one character," but in the movie it feels even better. The queen staying undercover as one of the maid still seems to happen as you see her in maid clothes and when asking for the Gungan alliance you see the decoy queen in the background. Even if it was not what the faneditor intended I really liked this "show, not tell" approach; because protecting the queen with a decoy makes sense and it is important for Episode II begin. But it makes no sense that a decoy sends the real queen to do a menial task like cleaning R2D2! Unfortunately since TM2YC wanted to remove the subplot I felt one scene as missing: the decoy asking the undercover queen what to do and she answers "No have no fear" in the begin of the movie. Since it is not a mystery that the queen is in decoy (or she is not always in the regal clothes) Qui-Gon decision to go on Tatooine with the Queen and Prince makes more sense as he might want the support of powerful figures. In the original movie the reason to bring Jar-Jar was unphantomable.
Moreover the Queen now is the strong politician we expect, not only a soldier as she appeared in the second half of the theatrical release.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon Jinn were as in the original movie for what I recall, Qui-Gon improves more because the other characters make more sense. But Anakin improvement instead is impressive; the faneditor managed to make him to feel like a future Jedi. Many people seems annoyed by Anakin saying Ops or Whooooa and some fan editor remove those completely.
TM2YC instead kept two similar sounds in light-hearted situations: Anakin forgets to plug C3PO's eye (opss...), and Qui-Gon lifts Anakin to put him in the racing pod (wow!). That's it. I liked quite a bit because I felt that Anakin is still a child at heart (he is 9-10 years old after all!), but when the situation becomes harsh he become completely absorbed and concentrated. This is evident during the pod race, there are various perils, but he solves, fixes, and wins without even grumble. Besides removing the dialogs that made him appears a bad racer has been removed and with the Watto partial faith in him Anakin appears as the great racer we expect. Also Qui-Gon appears less crazy in his plan.

Lets see other improvements.
Cutting the water travel removed some terribly nonsensical elements from the theatrical release. It is not stated the army arrived in the other side of the planet and still manages to go faster than the Jedi passing through the center. It simply seem the two parts took a different way to reach the city; one underwater the other on the ground. Simpler and better.

The blood test is cut in a great way: Qui-Gon sends the blood to Obi-Wan and asks for the results: Obi-Wan simple states they are out of the charts and ask what it could mean; Qui-Gon still is not sure. The feeling of scene is that in Star Wars is there some blood measurement that force aware people usually have high; but it is not definitive or mandatory. It if just another piece of the puzzle that is the mysterious boy.

During the final battle Anakin goes to space willingly and he has more control of what is going on. Unfortunately the lack of good dialogs in the original movie make the part a little too silent. And in this case Qui-Gon feels weird at not saying anything seeing his wanted apprentice go to war. I am not sure it is possible, but possibly having Qui-Gon yelling to stay in the fighter shipcraft and Anakin disobeying and go to battle could feel better.

The Obi-Wan victory in the final duel is completely changed. I think the original with Obi-Wan in serious difficult actually added tension, but the ending was badly executed. And so I liked more the TM2YC's lightning fast attacks of Obi-Wan that cuts in half the Sith.

I watched this for May 4th and it warmed my heart. Whatever else I may say or you may read, know this: TM2YC has made a this into a much better movie than the theatrical version, and one that every Star Wars fan should watch! (detailed comments for hardcore fans follow)

This is really a fanedit for the Star Wars fan. And I mean unqualified fans, not people who worship the original trilogy and s**t on the prequels. If someone is just determined to hate the prequels, there isn't anything that can change their mind. But if you view them as imperfect films with very enjoyable parts, then this is a very smart and thoughtful edit which will greatly improve your enjoyment.

Firstly, some technical details. I used Handbrake to shrink the size of this file, and I applied some filters as well so that there's less of a difference in the footage between scenes. However, the audio is only available in 2 channels, which is disappointing since the audio for this film is some of the most intricate and robust I've ever heard. In terms of editing though, TM2YC did a phenomenal job editing around a very dense score, so I found the audio to be quite enjoyable. The visual editing was top drawer as well, though a trifle quick on some of the wipes. Not a big deal, as it makes the film really move, but it's a stylistic point I would've slowed down by a 1/2 second.

Okay: narrative. It should be said that the deleted scenes for the prequels are almost all great, so I'm happy for their inclusion here. They would've made the films too long though, but thankfully other bits are deleted instead. The only deleted scene I felt added nothing was the "dawn before the podrace" scene, but it's like 25 seconds, so not a big deal. Of the scenes that were eliminated from the theatrical cut, most were excellent calls. I could've done with a bit more of Padme/Amidala, a fuller Darth Maul/Qui-Gon fight (which somehow lost impact for me), and I actually liked the 3 stooges droids. I understand leaving them out, though.

The effect of the deleted material is to reshape the portrayal of several key characters, which is the real genius of this edit....

Jar Jar: the elephant in the room. What you do with Jar Jar defines TPM, and it's the greatest strength of this edit. Using the Portuguese voice performance not only allows for rewriting the bad dialogue for him, but it highlights how ridiculous Ahmed Best's performance was. Honestly, credit should be given to the Portuguese actor in the end titles, because he saves Jar Jar. There are notes of strength and pride in his voice that don't come out in the original, which combined with the new subs allow him to be a bit naive, a bit scared, but ultimately a worthy ally, and dare I say it....likeable?

Anakin: poor Jake Lloyd. This movie both made and ruined his life. Lucas' philosophy was basically to cast the right actors and then let them do their thing, giving them minimal direction. That may've worked for actors like Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Liam Neeson, Frank Oz, or Ian McDiarmid, who have all given iconic performances in Star Wars films. But for younger actors like Mark Hamill, Hayden Christensen, or Jake Lloyd, it has always left their performances feeling weaker by comparison. Lloyd could just not pull off the ridiculous dialogue thrown at him in many scenes, but thankfully: they're almost all removed here! The line-by-line dialogue editing leaves us with an Anakin that's kind of an adorable little kid: brave, talented, and earnest. With the deleted scenes and keeping C3PO in, it paints a picture of him as a loner, a bit of an outsider who feels a lot of social pressure, and also the jealousy and mistrust of others. It's nearly perfect for a young Vader. My only quibble is that just after Qui-Gon tells him to "keep close" at the end, Anakin runs off with Padme in the palace and immediately jumps into a starfighter. It feels a bit TOO bold in this edit (though I appreciate cutting the ridiculous coincidences..."What does THIS do?"). Perhaps a simple line of Padme yelling "ANAKIN!" from a later film would at least lend context to him running off (whereas now it FEELS like an edit).

Padme/Amidala: okay, as I mentioned, I could've done with more of her scenes in the film. Portman is a great actress, and always a pleasure to watch. Anakin's responses were often cheesy though, so I can forgive the deletions. The big hang-up is the reveal with the Gungans. If you've seen the film even one time, that's clearly Portman in plain clothes talking to Boss Nass in that scene, with her double as the Queen behind. Then you rewatch and notice that yes, Keira Knightly and Natalie Portman are two different people, and Knightly is often playing the Queen with Portman at the side. With no explanation, this just makes little sense. I always thought this aspect of TPM was quite clever really, and it's touching when the double is killed in the assassination attempt at the start of AotC. Without the reveal to Boss Nass here, that later scene will lose impact. I really don't understand the editor's insistence of the two being one person, as the film loses nothing by having the plot, and arguably gains a lot. The little hints along the way are unnecessary, but the ending scene where Padme talks to Noss really needs the full reveal.

The other trims are all very good choices that remove 100% of the slapstick from the film, and 97% of the silliness. There are still a couple yelps from Jar Jar and whoops from Anakin, and the droids are often a source of levity. However, those parts are mostly consistent with the original trilogy. This edit does a great job of trimming the most over-the-top bits of the theatrical cut, while keeping it essentially the same. For example, the Republic does have science that can test people medically...the Force isn't all magic. But specifics are left out. (I could've dealt with cutting out the "virgin birth" explanation by Anakin's mom, too, preferring her to simply look aside and then ask if Qui Gon could help...) All the rigamarole with the Gungans is cut out, allowing them to appear simply as a proud nativistic warrior race. The pod race, the 2nd best part of the film, is given its full due. The final fight with Maul flows better as well, with trims to the cross cuts away from it being much shorter, so it keeps momentum. Personally, I liked the original ending to the fight, as the symbolism of Obi Wan taking his master's lightsaber was great, and it seemed more realistic that he struggled more to fight the man who beat his master. But I can forgive the edit, because it's done so well.

All in all, there are a few quibbles I have with the edit, but it's far and away the best edit of the film I've seen (out of MANY), and a much superior version of the film to the original. You're doing God's work, TM2YC.

This is an INCREDIBLE fan edit--perhaps the creme-da-la-creme of Phantom Menace edits.

It's difficult to pick a clear TPM FE "winner" because each edit has its own intentions and each that I've seen has been skillfully executed and most have achieved their stated goals, but given that my desire in a Phantom Menace movie matches very closely to TM2YC's stated goals, I cannot help but vote this so very highly.

TM2YC's goals were to:

- Create a movie that is enjoyable, without moments where you cringe.
- Add depth and clarity to the characters.
- Keep the length up--a Hollywood movie should be 1.5 - 2 hours long.

All of these goals were achieved, admirably. The Portuguese soundtrack was used to obscure bad dialog, and the associated subtitling allowed the movie to go "off script" where needed to clean up a lot of problems and add interest and depth to the characters. A lot of deleted scenes were introduced and the quality of the upconversion is astounding. Some of the edits (trims, cuts, transitions) are amazing. There is an edit during the Gungan / Droid fight that is so seamless, and so craftily fixes a certain unbearable issue in the original movie, that I was floored at the solution that TM2YC employed. I watched the entire movie and actually forgot what a train wreck the original was...I was pulled into the movie and found myself enjoying it. If I had to create a time capsule for future generations, this edit of the Phantom Menace is the one I'd probably drop in.

No review is complete without attempting to lend some critique to the FE. This is quite difficult, in this case, but I'll try and mention a few things so as to have performed my duty in providing feedback to the editor.

- Portuguese works really well...unless you're a Portuguese. But that's an intrinsic problem with the use-an-alternate-soundtrack approach to "alien-izing" and subtitling the CGI characters.
- I think, perhaps, the pod race may have been a minute or two longer than I prefer. It's a great bit of movie-making--probably Lucas' showpiece of the movie--but there's a "diminishing returns" aspect of having the pod race go on for so long. Maybe the deleted scenes could have been trimmed a tad.
- Of course their will /always/ be differences in opinion with regards to where exactly to cut and splice. During the course of watching this FE, there were a handful of moments where I thought that I would have made a mildly different modification. They were few and far between.

An astounding accomplishment. I burned this onto a dual-layer DVD for a friend and told him, "Watch this. This is NOT the prequel(s) that you remember. You'll enjoy this." And that is the essence of a perfect Star Wars prequel fan edit.

TM2YC plainly states that his intention for his PT edits was "to make good versions of these films that still felt like the same films in essence." Furthermore, an important goal was to make "a true SW film [that] should give you around 2 solid hrs of entertainment."

In some aspects, I feel he succeeded; in others, I believe the source material was just not there for him to achieve his goal.

It is from this perspective from which I have chosen to review this edit, and thus while I do have some detailed criticism, I feel it mostly is due to the poor source material that failed the editor, as opposed to the editor failing the source material.

VIDEO/AUDIO QUALITY - 9

This edit is presented in HD, with most of the deleted scenes included. For the most part, video quality was excellent; TM2YC did a fantastic job in upscaling and recoloring most of the deleted material; there were only a few places where I felt I could notice a difference in quality. But I was very impressed with his work in this area. The only noticeable non-HD part was actually the very beginning, where the edit used some non-HD introductory title card and fanfare material, I'm guessing to give the movie a throwback feel. For me it stood out a bit too much though. However, this is a minor point and quickly forgotten once the actual movie started.

With regards to audio quality, it was fine (though surround sound would have been a nice addition). However, the only problem with the audio I noticed was during some of the deleted scenes -- in some cases, voices seemed to have a raised pitch, which implies to me that the frame rate for the deleted scenes didn't get properly converted to what the main movie's frame rate was. The most noticeable voice change to me was C3P0's during the morning of the pod race.

The length of these moments were short though, and since the video quality was so good, I hesitate to mark the overall quality down any further than I already have.

VISUAL EDITING - 9

For the most part, the visual component of the editing was well done. There were a few noticeable issues such as transitions that happened a bit too fast (a few did seem to start before the last line of dialog had ended), and one scene during submarine chase seemed to have a couple frames that stood out. Finally, I think it would have been nice to fix the visual continuity problem from the original footage when Qui-Gon falls after being struck down by Darth Maul (the next time we see him he is in a completely different position). A minor issue, and not really caused by the editor. Just something that I like to see fixed in fan edits. :-)

AUDIO EDITING - 8

In terms of technical editing, I feel this was the weakest area of the edit, but not terrible by any means. However, there were places that had noticeable audio cuts (usually coinciding with the video transitions), but not always. There were a few moments where dialog got cut off a bit too quickly (or not quick enough), but very few. (I think the most obvious one is when the announcer during the pod race says it is the third and final lap -- half the line is literally cut out.)

Generally speaking, I think the attempt to "remove" the presence of the Queen (when Padme was onscreen) led to the most noticeable problems for both audio and video.

Finally, (and this is true of other fan edits so TM2YC is not alone in this), while I understand the desire to remove Anakin's line "Now this is Pod Racing!" as well as perhaps one of his celebratory cheers, this happens to be during the main star wars theme, and without fully re-scoring this section with replacement music, it becomes a very obvious edit point (and kind of hurts the powerful effect the full theme has at this climactic moment).

All in all though, editing Star Wars audio is a very, very tough thing to do, and so I am willing to cut the editor some slack in this area. :-)

NARRATIVE - 7

While I understand and appreciate TM2YC's desire to create a "full length" Star Wars movie that is actually also a good movie, I believe the material is just not there to accomplish this satisfactorily without trying more radical approaches.

There were some good changes done which I greatly appreciated -- Jar Jar's antics are for the most part removed. All of Anakin's yipees are gone, and only one "oops" remained, which I can live with.

However, I unfortunately had problems with some of the other key narrative choices.

The biggest problem for me was the attempt to remove the Queen/Padme ruse that was very much integrated into to the original storyline. While TM2YC did an admirable job in trying to make this work, I feel there just isn't enough source material to really explain this without being confusing to the audience.

I do understand the desire to remove this seemingly silly plot line (though personally I don't have a problem with it), but I just haven't seen a way to do this without causing narrative damage (as well as noticeable editing issues, as mentioned previously). Seeing the Queen in her full costume and makeup, and then seeing Padme dressed as a peasant who talks and acts very differently, made it very difficult to really feel like they are the same person.

Perhaps the biggest incongruity happens when Padme/the Queen asks the Gungans to help, and in at least one shot we can see the fake Queen in the background. This entire scene could have been easily removed by using Jar-Jar's subtitles to explain he has successfully gained support of the Gungans when he returns from the underwater city (he is the Prince, after all...). Which leads me to....

The second narrative issue for me was the use of (or really non-use of) Jar-Jar. TM2YC made the decision to use subtitles for the Gungans, which should have freed him to make much more bold choices with regards to Jar-Jar and especially the visit to the Gungan City. However, beyond calling Jar-Jar a Prince and being Boss Nass's son, there really was nothing different about Jar-Jar, as most of his appearances were cut out anyway (with good reason of course, since most of his appearances after the underwater city are poor attempts at comedy).

I think the biggest problem was having an extremely shortened visit to the Underwater City. The visit seemed to last less than a minute, and merely involved Jar-Jar asking the first person they meet for a submarine, which he gets because he is a Prince. Then they are off and away in the submarine. From a narrative perspective, I'm not sure what this sequence added, beyond a bit of length.

Third...the pod race. Beyond the very basic plot points of Anakin needing to win for the money to repair the ship, as well as Qui-gon's bet to win Anakin's freedom, the pod race serves no narrative purpose. Perhaps some people really enjoy the pod race and can't get enough of it. For those people, this edit will make you happy, since the pod race lasts a full 15 minutes! For me, however, I found this to be a bit boring to watch (though I do admit I ended up seeing pod race footage I never have seen before, which was interesting to some extent!)

I wonder...why use the pod race to fill up time when instead TM2YC could have tried to use the visit to the Underwater City, as he had already made the choice to subtitle the Gungans and thus could really change the plot line and truly make something out of Jar-Jar's character (and the Gungans) given the freedom the subtitles might have provided.

The final problem I had with the narrative was the partial removal of the midichlorians. I say "partial" because the scene where Qui-Gon tests Anakin's blood is left fully intact, except for mentioning midichlorians by name. This ends up being a red herring at best, as Qui-Gon states he is checking for infections, and then Obi-Wan reports the "levels" (of something unnamed) are off the charts. I think the goal was to imply that the "something" is what makes Anakin turn to the dark side, but this is only implied by some musical cues that are part of the next scene, which and since they are part of the next scene, it is not clear whether the editor intended this musical cue to be meaningful for the prior scene or not. And there is no other mention of these levels or their meaning ever again. I really think it would have been better to either keep the midichlorians (yes, I know it's blasphemous, but is it really that much worse than the Virgin Birth?) or cut that part of the scene out completely. While I dislike the midichlorians, they do fit into the narrative of the original plot line.

However, with all that being said, the narrative still works well in many other places, and the 23 minutes removed from this edit were minutes I certainly do not miss in the least bit!

ENJOYMENT - 6

Enjoyment is obviously a purely subjective issue. While I really, really wanted to enjoy an edit of TPM that was of "full Star Wars" length (and this is really why I wanted to watch this edit -- to see if it could be done, and I was really rooting for it to be true), in the end, I cannot say I enjoyed this version as much as I wanted to. Beyond the aforementioned Narrative issues, I also personally do not care for the Virgin Birth, The Chosen One, and Palpatine-as-Sith-Lord being a bit too easy to figure out so early in the PT. I also felt that fiddling with the Queen/Padme plot kind of hurt the relationship building with Anakin.

However, with all that being said, I do feel there are some very nice elements about this edit, and I greatly appreciate TM2YC's effort and skill in making this attempt to provide us a 2 hour version of Episode I. I am sure there are those who will enjoy this edit more than I have, and I'm glad for that. After all, like I said, this is a very subjective category, and you can't please everyone!

NOTE - My enjoyment rating for the original release of Episode I is probably around a 4. So TM2YC's edit certainly is an improvement over the original, from my perspective!

OVERALL RATING - 7

Overall, I think TM2YC did an admirable job, even if I found it to be a bit problematic in certain areas. Again, I want to stress that this is not the editor's fault, but rather a noble goal thwarted by the movie itself. And again, the movie itself, in my opinion, is just not very good, and it is difficult if not impossible to make an edit of this movie that can stand up along with the OT.

Good Job, TM2YC, on your first edit, and I look forward to seeing future works by you, as you clearly have editing talent that will only get better with more experience!

I cannot say How Much I enjoyed this... I take that back.. yes I do...

THESE MOVIES!! THEY are what we should have gotten at initial release!! they are THAT GOOD! there are a few blips here and there.. VERY Few.. to the point I would not take off for them when grading, because as fanedit's go, these are the best. the Most professionally handled material I have had the pleasure of Watching.

My Oldest Son is named Anakin... the first movie he watched, as an infant, was episode I TPM in the theater.... THIS trilogy I watched with Him... He agreed!! THESE put the original works to shame... if I were Disney... I find TM2YC and offer Him a job on the upcoming new work!

.. so yes... I recommend this edit. :)