Star Wars - Episode I: The Ridiculous Menace
Updated
User reviews
45 reviews
Overall rating
8.0
Audio/Video Quality
8.5(26)
Audio Editing
6.9(27)
Visual Editing
8.6(27)
Narrative
7.8(26)
Enjoyment
8.3(45)
(Updated: May 25, 2014)
Overall rating
7.8
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
6.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
8.0
I watched this the other night. My impression:
It's a mess of a movie-edit and yet it is brilliant at the same time!
First of all, it's simply awesome to make a parody out of "Phantom Menace", the movie is pretty bad, so why not make it at least funny?
Great idea and I'm open to parodies if they are well made like "Naked gun" or "Airplane".
I think the key to a good parody is that it has heart and a comedy at its core. Most parodies fail because at its core there is no believable and relatable character and story.
You can't just cram one funny scene after the other and expect it all to work together. But this edit does just that:
Every scene is made to be funny, every frame really, and that's why it's a mess. The problem is that it doesn't gel as a whole.
So I can understand some of the harsh reviews, scenes are repeated too much to cause laughter, audio is not very smooth...
But even though it's a mess, it's also brilliant because some (not all, about half) of the ideas and humour, and there's a boat loads of it, are spot on and really make you laugh hard:
SPOILER-ALERT
1. Those trade-people always saying "Now there are two of them"
2. That Samuel Jackson, I mean Mace Windu, is constantly beeped out, the bad motherf...(shut your mouth).
3. That all the robots are talking dirty. In fact I wished they were more frivolous and I wished Mace Windu claimed to have written once a speech-code for the android's (no pun intended) operating system...
4. That Anakin despite having lost the race before he could start his engines nonetheless tries to complete the race alone, with that song "Going the distance" playing, pure brilliance!
5. That it was made look like Qui-Gon Jinn desires Anakin's mother, haha! But why did he decide then to take Anakin with him instead of her?
6. That Obi Wan misaimed his jump and came down the other side, haha!
7. That Qui-Gon Jinn wants to communicate with Obi Wan and then doesn't, great!
SPOILER-ALERT-END
So there's a lot to laugh and love in this edit, but it could be better if it was reedited to get rid of those jokes that didn't work, or gel the story and characters better.. there's a real gem here, but it needs polishing, to make all those funny jokes and good ideas work together as a movie with a comedy-heart at its core.
Still, kudos to TV's frink! I laughed quite a few times real hard and felt entertained.
P.S.: At the end I was surprised by the credits, seems like half of this fanediting-community were involved in this edit.
P.P.S.: Oh, just read in TV-Frink's signature, that there is a sequel to this, great: "Now there are two of them"
It's a mess of a movie-edit and yet it is brilliant at the same time!
First of all, it's simply awesome to make a parody out of "Phantom Menace", the movie is pretty bad, so why not make it at least funny?
Great idea and I'm open to parodies if they are well made like "Naked gun" or "Airplane".
I think the key to a good parody is that it has heart and a comedy at its core. Most parodies fail because at its core there is no believable and relatable character and story.
You can't just cram one funny scene after the other and expect it all to work together. But this edit does just that:
Every scene is made to be funny, every frame really, and that's why it's a mess. The problem is that it doesn't gel as a whole.
So I can understand some of the harsh reviews, scenes are repeated too much to cause laughter, audio is not very smooth...
But even though it's a mess, it's also brilliant because some (not all, about half) of the ideas and humour, and there's a boat loads of it, are spot on and really make you laugh hard:
SPOILER-ALERT
1. Those trade-people always saying "Now there are two of them"
2. That Samuel Jackson, I mean Mace Windu, is constantly beeped out, the bad motherf...(shut your mouth).
3. That all the robots are talking dirty. In fact I wished they were more frivolous and I wished Mace Windu claimed to have written once a speech-code for the android's (no pun intended) operating system...
4. That Anakin despite having lost the race before he could start his engines nonetheless tries to complete the race alone, with that song "Going the distance" playing, pure brilliance!
5. That it was made look like Qui-Gon Jinn desires Anakin's mother, haha! But why did he decide then to take Anakin with him instead of her?
6. That Obi Wan misaimed his jump and came down the other side, haha!
7. That Qui-Gon Jinn wants to communicate with Obi Wan and then doesn't, great!
SPOILER-ALERT-END
So there's a lot to laugh and love in this edit, but it could be better if it was reedited to get rid of those jokes that didn't work, or gel the story and characters better.. there's a real gem here, but it needs polishing, to make all those funny jokes and good ideas work together as a movie with a comedy-heart at its core.
Still, kudos to TV's frink! I laughed quite a few times real hard and felt entertained.
P.S.: At the end I was surprised by the credits, seems like half of this fanediting-community were involved in this edit.
P.P.S.: Oh, just read in TV-Frink's signature, that there is a sequel to this, great: "Now there are two of them"
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
N
(Updated: July 17, 2013)
Overall rating
8.2
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
6.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
8.0
I want to start off by saying that Frink has created a truly unique edit of TPM. Turning TPM into a comedy is a wonderful idea, one that seems obvious given the source matieral, yet no one to my knowledge has done so up to this point. And with a few caveats, Frink pulls it off very well, showing signs of true comedic and editing talent.
AUDIO/VIDEO QUALITY: 10
I am rating this based on the source I was watching, which was streamed from Vimeo in SD (and I know Frink used the SD as a source). All the additional video and audio material (and there is A LOT of it) were also of high quality. I have no problems with the video quality for this edit. The only minor problem I had with audio was that some of the added audio clips were not intelligible to me due. But I think that might be an editing issue, not a quality one.
VISUAL EDITING: 10
I noticed no problems with the visual editing aspect of this movie. I loved the fact that Frink used purposefully silly transitions in place of the standard star wars ones, and it really had the ridiculous feel of someone who is editing a home movie and thinks that using every single out-of-the-box transition is a "good idea." Not for a real movie, but it was comedic genius for this edit! I only wish Frink had replaced the very few real star wars transitions that were left with his own. But that isn't a technical problem, so it doesn't detract from my visual editing score.
AUDIO EDITING: 6
This, unfortunately, is where I had the most problems with the edit. While some of the audio editing was terrific and well done, there were far too many dubs that were jarring. I understand that part of the goal of this edit was to make the comedy more important than audio editing, but at a certain point, the distraction caused by the sheer number of these types of edits became too much for me to ignore.
I want to point out that Frink did do some excellent audio work in terms of integrating sound effects, droid voices, and new sound track material. And some of the dubbing did work well.
But the big problem for me were the audio dubs that just completely did not fit and felt like they were jammed in there for the sake of a joke. Unfortunately for me, when the audio was too jarring, it made it so I couldn't appreciate the joke. It might have been better to cut the scene or try a different approach. That way it would have not detracted as much from the other elements of the edit which worked so well.
NARRATIVE: 7
There are some moments in the edit where Frink pulls off some really nice new narrative elements/ideas. I loved how Qui-Gon bet on winning Anakin's mother instead of Anakin. Also, the Pod Race change was also great (though it did kind of go on too long after the main point was made). Little ideas here and there also worked well. But in the end, I really couldn't follow what could be called a true narrative for the edit. That would be fine for a comedy, only the problem became the length -- many areas of the story were drawn out by using dialog that was either repeated multiple times in a row, inserting extra pauses, or just having parts of the story that weren't funny but there anyway. My least favorite aspect of the narrative was (what must be an inside joke) the obsession with wookies that seemed to crop up mid-way through the edit. I just didn't get it.
However, with all that being said, the narrative wasn't "broken" in any way; it just didn't appeal to me as a whole.
ENJOYMENT: 8
Comedies, more than any other genre, are very subjective. Luckily, Frink demonstrates he has some true comedic talent, and there are some hilarious moments sprinkled throughout this edit. Some of my favorites include the new TC-14 voiceovers, calling Darth Mall "Darth Darth," all the droid subtitles as well as R2s subtitles, the new sound effects such as ringing phones, Banaka's ring tone, and the video game Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul at the end. The beginning of the movie is especially strong.
What ended up making me lower my rating here were two things: first, the aforementioned audio editing which was just too jarring to ignore. Second, the edit felt like it dragged on too long...and while Frink tried to make Jar-Jar more palatable by adding subtitles, he kept Jar-Jar's annoying english voice and also the subtitles weren't really trying to be funny...so yes, there was too much Jar-Jar for me in this edit.
Also, some of the jokes just didn't work for me, and these had to do with extended sequences of repeating the same thing over and over, either by rewinding footage and showing it again (and again), or having characters continuously say the same things to each other (over and over).
But these were still not enough to cause me to not enjoy this edit overall, which is a tribute to the quality of Frink's best ideas. Perhaps, if Frink ever does choose to revisit this edit, he can take a more critical eye at condensing things so that the best parts are able to stand out more, as there really are some hilarious moments in this edit!
Note - My entertainment rating for the original Episode I is probably around a 4, so obviously I enjoyed this edit much more than the original!
OVERALL RATING: 8
Again, I want to applaud Frink for taking a bold new approach to a much edited movie.
RECOMMENDATION:
I can recommend this movie with the strong caveat that one must be prepared for the audio to not be on par with standard edits, and the smaller caveat that the movie is a bit long for a comedy. If you can live with that (and I suggest you try!) then by all means watch this edit, as you will find much to enjoy!
Kudos to you Frink, on your first edit, and I look forward to seeing your future works!
--
REVIEWER'S NOTE:
I edited this review to coincide with the format of my other reviews, and added what my rating for the original movie would be in the enjoyment section.
AUDIO/VIDEO QUALITY: 10
I am rating this based on the source I was watching, which was streamed from Vimeo in SD (and I know Frink used the SD as a source). All the additional video and audio material (and there is A LOT of it) were also of high quality. I have no problems with the video quality for this edit. The only minor problem I had with audio was that some of the added audio clips were not intelligible to me due. But I think that might be an editing issue, not a quality one.
VISUAL EDITING: 10
I noticed no problems with the visual editing aspect of this movie. I loved the fact that Frink used purposefully silly transitions in place of the standard star wars ones, and it really had the ridiculous feel of someone who is editing a home movie and thinks that using every single out-of-the-box transition is a "good idea." Not for a real movie, but it was comedic genius for this edit! I only wish Frink had replaced the very few real star wars transitions that were left with his own. But that isn't a technical problem, so it doesn't detract from my visual editing score.
AUDIO EDITING: 6
This, unfortunately, is where I had the most problems with the edit. While some of the audio editing was terrific and well done, there were far too many dubs that were jarring. I understand that part of the goal of this edit was to make the comedy more important than audio editing, but at a certain point, the distraction caused by the sheer number of these types of edits became too much for me to ignore.
I want to point out that Frink did do some excellent audio work in terms of integrating sound effects, droid voices, and new sound track material. And some of the dubbing did work well.
But the big problem for me were the audio dubs that just completely did not fit and felt like they were jammed in there for the sake of a joke. Unfortunately for me, when the audio was too jarring, it made it so I couldn't appreciate the joke. It might have been better to cut the scene or try a different approach. That way it would have not detracted as much from the other elements of the edit which worked so well.
NARRATIVE: 7
There are some moments in the edit where Frink pulls off some really nice new narrative elements/ideas. I loved how Qui-Gon bet on winning Anakin's mother instead of Anakin. Also, the Pod Race change was also great (though it did kind of go on too long after the main point was made). Little ideas here and there also worked well. But in the end, I really couldn't follow what could be called a true narrative for the edit. That would be fine for a comedy, only the problem became the length -- many areas of the story were drawn out by using dialog that was either repeated multiple times in a row, inserting extra pauses, or just having parts of the story that weren't funny but there anyway. My least favorite aspect of the narrative was (what must be an inside joke) the obsession with wookies that seemed to crop up mid-way through the edit. I just didn't get it.
However, with all that being said, the narrative wasn't "broken" in any way; it just didn't appeal to me as a whole.
ENJOYMENT: 8
Comedies, more than any other genre, are very subjective. Luckily, Frink demonstrates he has some true comedic talent, and there are some hilarious moments sprinkled throughout this edit. Some of my favorites include the new TC-14 voiceovers, calling Darth Mall "Darth Darth," all the droid subtitles as well as R2s subtitles, the new sound effects such as ringing phones, Banaka's ring tone, and the video game Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul at the end. The beginning of the movie is especially strong.
What ended up making me lower my rating here were two things: first, the aforementioned audio editing which was just too jarring to ignore. Second, the edit felt like it dragged on too long...and while Frink tried to make Jar-Jar more palatable by adding subtitles, he kept Jar-Jar's annoying english voice and also the subtitles weren't really trying to be funny...so yes, there was too much Jar-Jar for me in this edit.
Also, some of the jokes just didn't work for me, and these had to do with extended sequences of repeating the same thing over and over, either by rewinding footage and showing it again (and again), or having characters continuously say the same things to each other (over and over).
But these were still not enough to cause me to not enjoy this edit overall, which is a tribute to the quality of Frink's best ideas. Perhaps, if Frink ever does choose to revisit this edit, he can take a more critical eye at condensing things so that the best parts are able to stand out more, as there really are some hilarious moments in this edit!
Note - My entertainment rating for the original Episode I is probably around a 4, so obviously I enjoyed this edit much more than the original!
OVERALL RATING: 8
Again, I want to applaud Frink for taking a bold new approach to a much edited movie.
RECOMMENDATION:
I can recommend this movie with the strong caveat that one must be prepared for the audio to not be on par with standard edits, and the smaller caveat that the movie is a bit long for a comedy. If you can live with that (and I suggest you try!) then by all means watch this edit, as you will find much to enjoy!
Kudos to you Frink, on your first edit, and I look forward to seeing your future works!
--
REVIEWER'S NOTE:
I edited this review to coincide with the format of my other reviews, and added what my rating for the original movie would be in the enjoyment section.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
S
Overall rating
7.2
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
6.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
6.0
Enjoyment
6.0
Review from January 2 2012
I’m afraid I’m in the boat with those who thought this idea was probably better on paper than in reality. The video editing was great (I enjoyed the funny transitions/wipes etc), but the audio editing was far too choppy for me. I also found the laughs were few and far between, even though I was able to appreciate the effort that went into this grand production.
It’s clear the film was intended to be in the vein of funny youtube clips like “Vader being an ass” where he keeps closing his ‘pod’… Many of the jokes felt like they were trying to replicate this style of humour. But trying to stretch this concept out over a whole film was hard to watch. Some of the humour works well, but for me, the majority felt forced and fell flat, particularly due to the hard audio cuts.
If this had been released as a series of funny clips from episode 1, just taking the funniest scenes as ‘skits’, I think it would have worked better than trying to thread a whole movie together. But for originality and the immense creativity and effort required to put this whole thing together, drawing individual lines, songs and sounds from so many different sources, credit is certainly due.
I’m afraid I’m in the boat with those who thought this idea was probably better on paper than in reality. The video editing was great (I enjoyed the funny transitions/wipes etc), but the audio editing was far too choppy for me. I also found the laughs were few and far between, even though I was able to appreciate the effort that went into this grand production.
It’s clear the film was intended to be in the vein of funny youtube clips like “Vader being an ass” where he keeps closing his ‘pod’… Many of the jokes felt like they were trying to replicate this style of humour. But trying to stretch this concept out over a whole film was hard to watch. Some of the humour works well, but for me, the majority felt forced and fell flat, particularly due to the hard audio cuts.
If this had been released as a series of funny clips from episode 1, just taking the funniest scenes as ‘skits’, I think it would have worked better than trying to thread a whole movie together. But for originality and the immense creativity and effort required to put this whole thing together, drawing individual lines, songs and sounds from so many different sources, credit is certainly due.
N
Overall rating
4.0
Audio/Video Quality
7.0
Audio Editing
3.0
Visual Editing
4.0
Narrative
2.0
Enjoyment
4.0
Review from 1 January 2012
Sorry, just didn’t work for me. I admire the idea and even the execution, but I really couldn’t get into it, however much I wanted to.
The repeating clips I found particularly unfunny, and the constant (unavoidable?) cuts made it very difficult to follow the movie and to understand the (new) motivations of the characters.
A lot of it didn’t make sense to me – like Anni saying “are you an angel” to everyone. Is he retarded?
Also, the cuts were a bit too long, so everything seemed very slow. Cutting fast to the next dialogue would really have helped keep up the tempo.
I did like:
the video game sounds entering the Gungan city
the Darth Vader voice out of Anni
the new subtitles
the video game health bar in the final fight
“Obi Wan”
but, unfortunately I was really bored: Phantom is boring anyway – A new hope may have been better to do this with since the humour doesn’t have to carry the entire film.
I very much uhmmed and ahhed about writing this review because I really like Frink on the forums and felt like I was being somehow disloyal. Then I realised that this is a rating site, and some people LOVE certain movies, and others don’t, and people have different tastes and some people might find this review helpful.
Don’t take it personally Frink. Didn’t work for me, but others loved it. It certainly shows that we can expect more from Frink in the future. For what it’s worth, Congrats on your first edit!
Sorry, just didn’t work for me. I admire the idea and even the execution, but I really couldn’t get into it, however much I wanted to.
The repeating clips I found particularly unfunny, and the constant (unavoidable?) cuts made it very difficult to follow the movie and to understand the (new) motivations of the characters.
A lot of it didn’t make sense to me – like Anni saying “are you an angel” to everyone. Is he retarded?
Also, the cuts were a bit too long, so everything seemed very slow. Cutting fast to the next dialogue would really have helped keep up the tempo.
I did like:
the video game sounds entering the Gungan city
the Darth Vader voice out of Anni
the new subtitles
the video game health bar in the final fight
“Obi Wan”
but, unfortunately I was really bored: Phantom is boring anyway – A new hope may have been better to do this with since the humour doesn’t have to carry the entire film.
I very much uhmmed and ahhed about writing this review because I really like Frink on the forums and felt like I was being somehow disloyal. Then I realised that this is a rating site, and some people LOVE certain movies, and others don’t, and people have different tastes and some people might find this review helpful.
Don’t take it personally Frink. Didn’t work for me, but others loved it. It certainly shows that we can expect more from Frink in the future. For what it’s worth, Congrats on your first edit!
D
(Updated: September 10, 2012)
Overall rating
4.3
Audio Editing
2.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Enjoyment
2.0
Review by g1orkatsos — March 11, 2012 @ 3:41 am
VIDEO EDITING. Video quality was fine through the whole movie. fine quality overall. As far as video editing goes it was done quite well. 9/10
AUDIO EDITING. This is what killed the whole thing for me. By using pieces and parts of dialog from the entire movie (and not only)it turned out a big mess and got annoying very easily and quickly. The length of 117 mins didn’t help much either. I understand the reason behind this design choice, but the cuts stood out too much often and they distracted from most of the jokes the editor was trying to make. It got so tiring for me at one point that this is the only fanedit i wasn’t able to complete in one sitting. I know that there was no way around this, other people as i can see here don’t mind and i understand the amount of work that was put into this, but it was a very big issue for me. 2/10
ENTERTAINMENT. As i said i wasn’t able to complete this in one sitting. And that says a lot as i have managed to finish many very bad movies in one sitting. it wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me in the end and i was bored and annoyed of it very early on. The humor mostly failed for me. I found the vast majority of the jokes to not work and many felt repetitive and some dragged on for way more than needed. The sound issues ruined many potential jokes for me and while i found some few stuff funny here and there they weren’t at all enough to make me like this edit. The length of 117 wasn’t suitable for this kind of edit either. Maybe this could have worked as a couple of youtube clips of a few mins in length with a few selected scenes from the movie, but as one whole movie experience it was quite bad. I am really sad to say this, and i understand how much of the pain in the ass the whole creation progress must have been, but i didn’t enjoy this edit. 2/10
i gave this a 4/10 and i feel really sorry for such a low rating but i think i said my reasons for such a rating and i stand by my decision and don’t regret it. Again I understand that a lot of work was needed to make this possible, and i i don’t want TV Frink to consider this as an attack against him or anything like that. I have nothing against him, in fact congrats for getting other people to enjoy your edit and for your really good comments by some. But this edit is a Love/Hate situation and i am in the latter category. It didn’t work for me, and i hope TV Frink doesn’t take this the wrong way. But this is my honest oppinion and i stand by it.
Final Score: 4/10
VIDEO EDITING. Video quality was fine through the whole movie. fine quality overall. As far as video editing goes it was done quite well. 9/10
AUDIO EDITING. This is what killed the whole thing for me. By using pieces and parts of dialog from the entire movie (and not only)it turned out a big mess and got annoying very easily and quickly. The length of 117 mins didn’t help much either. I understand the reason behind this design choice, but the cuts stood out too much often and they distracted from most of the jokes the editor was trying to make. It got so tiring for me at one point that this is the only fanedit i wasn’t able to complete in one sitting. I know that there was no way around this, other people as i can see here don’t mind and i understand the amount of work that was put into this, but it was a very big issue for me. 2/10
ENTERTAINMENT. As i said i wasn’t able to complete this in one sitting. And that says a lot as i have managed to finish many very bad movies in one sitting. it wasn’t an enjoyable experience for me in the end and i was bored and annoyed of it very early on. The humor mostly failed for me. I found the vast majority of the jokes to not work and many felt repetitive and some dragged on for way more than needed. The sound issues ruined many potential jokes for me and while i found some few stuff funny here and there they weren’t at all enough to make me like this edit. The length of 117 wasn’t suitable for this kind of edit either. Maybe this could have worked as a couple of youtube clips of a few mins in length with a few selected scenes from the movie, but as one whole movie experience it was quite bad. I am really sad to say this, and i understand how much of the pain in the ass the whole creation progress must have been, but i didn’t enjoy this edit. 2/10
i gave this a 4/10 and i feel really sorry for such a low rating but i think i said my reasons for such a rating and i stand by my decision and don’t regret it. Again I understand that a lot of work was needed to make this possible, and i i don’t want TV Frink to consider this as an attack against him or anything like that. I have nothing against him, in fact congrats for getting other people to enjoy your edit and for your really good comments by some. But this edit is a Love/Hate situation and i am in the latter category. It didn’t work for me, and i hope TV Frink doesn’t take this the wrong way. But this is my honest oppinion and i stand by it.
Final Score: 4/10
G