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- Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Spence Final Cut
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace - Spence Final Cut
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Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1999
Original Running Time:
136
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
118
Time Cut:
18
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
After 15+ years of noodling, I've finally landed on a version of the prequels that I prefer. The main concept is to fix AOTC, the weakest link that brings down the other two, and make TPM lead into it, and ROTS build from it.
The biggest problem I have with these movies isn’t necessarily the content. There’s some stuff I’m not crazy about, such as midichlorians and some of Anakin’s whiney, creepy behavior, sure. However, the biggest problem to me is in the minute to minute pacing. They just feel… weird? Off? Something’s not quite right in every single scene. The most egregious example is AOTC, where seemingly nobody talks like a human being, characters stand around clearly waiting for their cue, and much of the action mostly falls flat.
Even worse, the love story doesn’t work, partly because I think they focused on it way too much. The dialogue between Anakin and Padme is shockingly strange, but the chemistry between the two actors is definitely there. Just letting them spend time together would have sold it enough.
So I’m taking another crack at the Prequels, but I’m starting with AOTC, the biggest problem with the trilogy. Once I get that working, I can build up to it with TPM, and off of it with ROTS. The idea here is to go into every scene and remove that disjointed, stagey, unnatural feeling that permeates the film. Action will be pumped up and pacey, conversations will have that zing that they’re lacking, and the movie will move along at a steady pace.
There’s a lot of PT edits out there, and I’m not the most technically accomplished editor to tackle them. However, I think my particular knack for action and pace (I’m aware of my strengths as well as my faults) will make these stand out.
The biggest problem I have with these movies isn’t necessarily the content. There’s some stuff I’m not crazy about, such as midichlorians and some of Anakin’s whiney, creepy behavior, sure. However, the biggest problem to me is in the minute to minute pacing. They just feel… weird? Off? Something’s not quite right in every single scene. The most egregious example is AOTC, where seemingly nobody talks like a human being, characters stand around clearly waiting for their cue, and much of the action mostly falls flat.
Even worse, the love story doesn’t work, partly because I think they focused on it way too much. The dialogue between Anakin and Padme is shockingly strange, but the chemistry between the two actors is definitely there. Just letting them spend time together would have sold it enough.
So I’m taking another crack at the Prequels, but I’m starting with AOTC, the biggest problem with the trilogy. Once I get that working, I can build up to it with TPM, and off of it with ROTS. The idea here is to go into every scene and remove that disjointed, stagey, unnatural feeling that permeates the film. Action will be pumped up and pacey, conversations will have that zing that they’re lacking, and the movie will move along at a steady pace.
There’s a lot of PT edits out there, and I’m not the most technically accomplished editor to tackle them. However, I think my particular knack for action and pace (I’m aware of my strengths as well as my faults) will make these stand out.
Intention:
Improve the pacing of all three films to feel more in-line with the originals. Flesh out the story and characters with deleted scenes and content from other Star Wars projects.
Other Sources:
Star Wars soundtracks
Special Thanks:
Artisdead
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
TPM is definitely the prequel that's in the best shape as far as acting, effects, and story. It's also aimed at a younger audience, and I didn't want to lose that in the process of editing. Huge attention is paid to the pacing of every individual scene, often just removing little gaps and pauses in dialogue to move things along. Action is re-edited to be more exciting, and character arcs are clearer. Deleted scenes were used to flesh out areas that were lacking.
This edit retains more of Jar-Jar and the Gungans than most TPM edits, though they receive considerable trims. I am of the mind that they exist for specific story reasons, and should remain as much as possible.
This edit retains more of Jar-Jar and the Gungans than most TPM edits, though they receive considerable trims. I am of the mind that they exist for specific story reasons, and should remain as much as possible.
Cuts and Additions:
- Replaced 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm logos with the old 70’s versions (I do this on all my Star Wars edits)
- Removed Nute’s "As you know, our blockade is perfectly legal"
- Removed Nute’s first “WHAT?!” before “what did you say?!” to the protocol droid.
- Removed some of Qui-Gon being brought tea for pacing.
- Cut straight from Palpatine’s “Kill them immediately.” to the ship being attacked.
- Removed some battle droid dialogue.
- Removed some of Nute’s dialogue before the destroyer droids show up.
- Removed some stilted dialogue from the Amidala video chat.
- Cut straight to the army arriving after “a communications disruption can mean only one thing: Invasion”
- Trimmed Jar-Jar’s introduction to make Qui-Gon purposefully tackle and knock Jar-Jar to the ground instead of Jar-Jar jumping on him and being ridiculous.
- Removed “exsqueeeeze me”
- Removed some of the business of getting to Gunga city.
- Tidied up dialogue throughout Gunga City. No Boss Nass ticks save one irritated jowl shake, and no mention of the planet core.
- Removed planet core sequence.
- Move Jar-Jar’s explanation of being banished because of his clumsiness to just before they arrive at the city.
- Generally removed all of the “now there are two of them!” “we shouldn’t have made this deal!” “A Sith, here?!” nonsense at the end of the Trade Federation scenes.
- Removed Jar-Jar stepping in poop-eh and his ruckus in Watto’s shop.
- Removed Anakin’s “all my life” response to being a pilot. Just always sounded silly to me. He’s 9.
- All of the Anakin’s yippees, whoooahs, and oopses have been removed.
- 3PO has been completely removed from this film, as with AOTC.
- Toned down Jar-Jar’s reaction to Qui-Gon grabbing his tongue at the dinner table.
- Removed the sequence where Anakin’s crappy friends come by to be crappy to him.
- Cut straight from Watto and Qui-Gon’s chance cube scene to the racecourse.
- Trimmed up the intros and pageantry at the podrace to get to the action faster.
- Ben Quadrineros’ pod no longer stalls out in addition to Anakin’s.
- Lots of little nips and tucks to the podrace for pacing, including adding a portion of one of the deleted scenes.
- Inserted the scene where Anakin beats up Greedo, but removed the explicit mention that he is Greedo.
- Created a new transition shot of Shmi’s door to get out of that scene.
- Inserted the deleted probe droid sequence.
- Removed "Master Qui-Gon, I’m tired."
- Lots of small cuts to the Coruscant section of the film for pacing. It’s an important section of the plot, but it grinds the movie to a halt. Need to get in and out of there as quickly as possible.
- Midichlorians are gone, obviously.
- They no longer test Anakin by asking him what’s on their etch-a-sketch, which to me is a supremely stupid way to determine if someone should be a jedi.
- Maul is not shown again until Duel of the Fates, so the audience can forget about him for a little while till that reveal.
- Made everything Anakin and Jar Jar do a bit more deliberate throughout the ending so they’re not “accidentally heroes”
- Used Hal’s structure of moving the Queen capturing the Viceroy to after the control ship is destroyed.
This is a high level list, there are small trims, lines removed, shots rearranged, etc. through every scene. Again, I’m not doing anything revolutionary with this one, as to me this is still the best and most functional of the prequels. Just trying to smooth it over and remove some annoyances. while linking it up with AOTC.
- Removed Nute’s "As you know, our blockade is perfectly legal"
- Removed Nute’s first “WHAT?!” before “what did you say?!” to the protocol droid.
- Removed some of Qui-Gon being brought tea for pacing.
- Cut straight from Palpatine’s “Kill them immediately.” to the ship being attacked.
- Removed some battle droid dialogue.
- Removed some of Nute’s dialogue before the destroyer droids show up.
- Removed some stilted dialogue from the Amidala video chat.
- Cut straight to the army arriving after “a communications disruption can mean only one thing: Invasion”
- Trimmed Jar-Jar’s introduction to make Qui-Gon purposefully tackle and knock Jar-Jar to the ground instead of Jar-Jar jumping on him and being ridiculous.
- Removed “exsqueeeeze me”
- Removed some of the business of getting to Gunga city.
- Tidied up dialogue throughout Gunga City. No Boss Nass ticks save one irritated jowl shake, and no mention of the planet core.
- Removed planet core sequence.
- Move Jar-Jar’s explanation of being banished because of his clumsiness to just before they arrive at the city.
- Generally removed all of the “now there are two of them!” “we shouldn’t have made this deal!” “A Sith, here?!” nonsense at the end of the Trade Federation scenes.
- Removed Jar-Jar stepping in poop-eh and his ruckus in Watto’s shop.
- Removed Anakin’s “all my life” response to being a pilot. Just always sounded silly to me. He’s 9.
- All of the Anakin’s yippees, whoooahs, and oopses have been removed.
- 3PO has been completely removed from this film, as with AOTC.
- Toned down Jar-Jar’s reaction to Qui-Gon grabbing his tongue at the dinner table.
- Removed the sequence where Anakin’s crappy friends come by to be crappy to him.
- Cut straight from Watto and Qui-Gon’s chance cube scene to the racecourse.
- Trimmed up the intros and pageantry at the podrace to get to the action faster.
- Ben Quadrineros’ pod no longer stalls out in addition to Anakin’s.
- Lots of little nips and tucks to the podrace for pacing, including adding a portion of one of the deleted scenes.
- Inserted the scene where Anakin beats up Greedo, but removed the explicit mention that he is Greedo.
- Created a new transition shot of Shmi’s door to get out of that scene.
- Inserted the deleted probe droid sequence.
- Removed "Master Qui-Gon, I’m tired."
- Lots of small cuts to the Coruscant section of the film for pacing. It’s an important section of the plot, but it grinds the movie to a halt. Need to get in and out of there as quickly as possible.
- Midichlorians are gone, obviously.
- They no longer test Anakin by asking him what’s on their etch-a-sketch, which to me is a supremely stupid way to determine if someone should be a jedi.
- Maul is not shown again until Duel of the Fates, so the audience can forget about him for a little while till that reveal.
- Made everything Anakin and Jar Jar do a bit more deliberate throughout the ending so they’re not “accidentally heroes”
- Used Hal’s structure of moving the Queen capturing the Viceroy to after the control ship is destroyed.
This is a high level list, there are small trims, lines removed, shots rearranged, etc. through every scene. Again, I’m not doing anything revolutionary with this one, as to me this is still the best and most functional of the prequels. Just trying to smooth it over and remove some annoyances. while linking it up with AOTC.
User reviews
6 reviews
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
9.8(6)
Audio Editing
9.8(6)
Visual Editing
9.8(6)
Narrative
9.7(6)
Enjoyment
9.7(6)
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Well let me be honest here the edit is well done really this is my first time i come back to that movie and feel okay about it maybe more than that it’s great edit for episode I really enjoyed and feel it deserved but still there is silly cringy part of jar jar binks i wish that is not included specially in the final battle some of his appearance is disturbing and distracting me from focusing other than that i love your work.. cheers
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
M
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I very much enjoyed this edit. Most noticable to me: I did not find Jarjar or Anakin annoying anymore. The decision to make Anakins actions less conincidental work fine for me. I get the idea of a child jedi not being shown already THAT skilled, but by trimming all those little "funny" "ohohs" and "oops" in the last part of the movie, the tone of the various scenes is much more consistent. The inclusion of the bonus scene with qui-gon manages to establish a father-son bond better than the original ever achieved.
Regarding Jar-jar: I think it shows that the character could work, the original cut just pushed too much of him and the sillyness in, often ruining the previously established mood.
A great version and I highly recommend watching it!
Regarding Jar-jar: I think it shows that the character could work, the original cut just pushed too much of him and the sillyness in, often ruining the previously established mood.
A great version and I highly recommend watching it!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
S
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Basing my review compared to the Original.
Spence has done a fantastic job here at making The Phantom Menace flow much better than the original. One problem I have with a lot of edits is that they completely remove the Gungan City, which I believe to be a major part of the theme of this movie. Spence was able to keep it in, while streamlining the journey to get to the surface as well.
As far as the audio/video quality, it is near perfect. If you are a massive Star Wars fan like myself, you may notice that something is missing, but it is purely because I have seen this movie way too many times and am now used to the original.
Jar Jar is toned down I feel like the perfect amount. His inclusion has never been the issue imo, but the poop jokes were never funny. With those and other needless antics removed, he feels more in line with what I would have expected him to be.
Lastly, the final battle order is changed up just slightly, but it works so much better imo.
I would absolutely recommend that you use this version for your next Star Wars viewing.
Spence has done a fantastic job here at making The Phantom Menace flow much better than the original. One problem I have with a lot of edits is that they completely remove the Gungan City, which I believe to be a major part of the theme of this movie. Spence was able to keep it in, while streamlining the journey to get to the surface as well.
As far as the audio/video quality, it is near perfect. If you are a massive Star Wars fan like myself, you may notice that something is missing, but it is purely because I have seen this movie way too many times and am now used to the original.
Jar Jar is toned down I feel like the perfect amount. His inclusion has never been the issue imo, but the poop jokes were never funny. With those and other needless antics removed, he feels more in line with what I would have expected him to be.
Lastly, the final battle order is changed up just slightly, but it works so much better imo.
I would absolutely recommend that you use this version for your next Star Wars viewing.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
B
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Well let's see here ....another Star Wars edit. One of how many? Anyway for me Spence made this a tolerable movie for me. I still cringe when Jar Jar is involved. But with Spence's edits made this a much smoother experience for me. I only gave the 9 for enjoyment is because I'm kinda on a Star Wars overload. I enjoy Spences other edits and I am sure I will find positive things to say about the other Star Wars edits. As usual no techie stuff from me just the enjoyment factor. Even with Jar jar still around and yet another Star Wars title on my pop corn scale I will give this a 4 out of 5. May the force help me when I watch the other Star Wars titles
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
G
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
A surprisingly conservative edit! Nips and tucks here and there, and the very worst of Jar Jar edited out, but not to the extent that the original intent of the film is lost. The removal of 3PO is an interesting touch; remarkable how little changes by his removal from the story. Nothing I can complain about...the pacing feels brisk but not rushed, and much is accomplished here by omission. Very good! This edit falls neatly in the middle between the extreme conservatism of ebumms and catferoze's edits, and Hal's, octoroxx, and secior's revisionism. Very nice compromise! Recommended!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
M