Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones – The Spence Edit

Updated
Star Wars - Episode II: Attack of the Clones – The Spence Edit
Faneditor Name:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2002
Original Running Time:
142
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
101
Time Cut:
41
Brief Synopsis:
This is now a better paced and more to the point Star Wars film. Distracting plot elements and unnecessary scenes were removed, resulting in an over 40 minutes shorter version.
Intention:
To create a better paced and more to the point Star Wars film.
Release Information:
DVD
Cuts and Additions:
- No “we’re making our approach to coruscant.” right after he says that, we can see they are making their approach to coruscant.
- No dialogue from Typho before the explosion on the Senator’s ship.
- Padme reacts faster to her handmaiden dying. There seems to be a lot of strange pauses and weird pacing in the dialogue throughout the film, so I minimized it across the board wherever I could.
- Shortened Anakin and Obi-Wan in the elevator.
- Jar Jar greeting Obi and Ani is gone.
- “Grown more beautiful…for a senator…” that’s all gone. I decided not to have any of the heroes be bumbling idiots.
- Anakin doesn’t talk back to Obi-Wan.
- We don’t see Jango until he shoots Zam Wessel.
- “I don’t think she liked the idea of me watching her sleep” is gone. As are any instances of Anakin being a creeper.
- There’s an odd pause between Anakin jumping on the bed and cutting up the slugs and Padme waking up. This is now shortened.
- “are you alright, m’lady?” is gone. We now just see her entourage run into the room after Anakin leaves.
- Loads of cuts to the coruscant chase. No straight down drive, no power couplings, Anakin doesn’t jump down 400 stories to land on the target car, Anakin doesn’t lose his lightsaber.
- Obi-Wan no longer feels that Anakin will be the death of him. I’m not certain, but I’m pretty sure Obi-Wan Kenobi has not seen A New Hope.
- Wessel never gets out “It was a bounty hunter called…” Jango shoots her before she can even start.
- I lovingly borrowed the “Kamino System” voice over from Attack of the Phantom.
- Removed the awkward Palpatine scene. I like the idea that Palpatine and Anakin get close during the clone wars and ROTS, not in this film. It’s never mentioned again anyway.
- “Don’t look at me that way. It makes me feel uncomfortable” is gone. Anakin, stop being such a creeper!
- No Dex, no Yoda and the Younglings.
- Used the deleted scene of Mace and Obi-Wan in the hanger, with some slight omissions.
- Removed Anakin and Padme walking with their bags, talking about Naboo. Also removed the meeting with the Queen.
- Kept the first half of the waterfall scene. Not the part where Anakin rides that weird thing, but there’s some nice Anakin/Padme bonding in the first part.
- Then go straight to the dinner scene where Anakin cuts the fruit for Padme. Again, it’s some really nice bonding stuff between them.
- Removed any instance where Padme and Anakin confess their love to each other and explain the predicament they’re having. We’ve already set up that Anakin and her cannot be together, we don’t need a reminder every 10 minutes.
– Added back in the scenes at Padme’s house and with her family, with some small cuts.
- Heavily trimmed the Jango/Obi-Wan fight.
- Anakin and Padme kiss on the balcony, but she doesn’t pull away. This way it is set up that they are more or less together, but Anakin instead has to focus on finding his mother. It also explains why she wants to go with him. The rest of the scenes in the movie up until the arena fight have a different feel to them because of this change.
- No Jango/Obi space battle. It makes Obi-Wan look like a moron.
- Trimmed the scene with Watto on Tattooine.
- Cut lots of little dialogue bits at the Lars homestead.
- Anakin’s mothers dialogue has been cut to the bare minimum.
- Jar Jar no longer suggests Palpatine gets emergency powers, it is discussed in Palpatine’s office, then we follow Windu show up at the senate just in time to see it happen. By the way, Jar Jar has one line in this film.
- The conveyor belt sequence is highly edited. The droids never get off the ship. No Super Mario “run, jump, duck, jump” sequences. Padme is dropped out of that giant cauldron by the Geonosians so they can capture her. Anakin doesn’t jump to different conveyor belts, simplifying the geography of the sequence.
- Padme just says “I love you” and they kiss before going into the arena. Short, sweet and effective.
- The creature fight in the arena is also heavily trimmed.
- The jedi attack has 3PO and R2 completely removed, and also some slight trims to improve flow.
- I removed the shot of Boba holding Jango’s helmet. I like it, but due to my other cuts it didn’t really fit nicely, and isn’t crucial to the film.
- Some little trims to the battle for flow and pacing.
- Removed that terrible shot of Christopher Lee on the obvious green screen speeder bike.
- Padme doesn’t order the Clone trooper to find a ship. He asks her if she’s ok, and she says “uh huh” and stands up.
- NO YODA LIGHTSABER FIGHT! Yoda doesn’t even come to the hanger that Dooku is in. He chops off Anakin’s arm, Padme and the Clones arrive, he flies away. You seriously wouldn’t miss it if you didn’t know it was supposed to be there, backing up my claim that Yoda fighting is completely unnecessary and stupid in both films.
- I removed Obi-Wan’s line about whether the Jedi think Dooku was right about a Sith Lord controlling the senate. That’s like the third time somebody has dismissed that idea, and it starts to make the Jedi seem a bit stupid and incompetent.
- Various small cuts.
Cover art by AvP (DOWNLOAD HERE)
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User reviews

5 reviews
Enjoyment
 
8.6(0)
(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Review by Kolpitz — April 18, 2011 @ 12:32 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Review by xGrind — February 14, 2010 @ 10:29 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Review by z-vap — April 11, 2011 @ 3:09 am

What can I say? Wonderful. Audio and Video is crisp and clear. There were a few minor mistakes with either wipes or transitions, but over all things were great. Your handling of the romance was good; not overdone. The conveyor belt scene in the factory was really good. However I disliked all the clicking that the insects were making in the hallway before hand. I also did not even miss the Yoda fight at the end.

I am hard pressed to pick between this one and The Phantom Editor’s. Overall 9/10.

Well done indeed.
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(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Review by buddythegoon — January 28, 2011 @ 8:18 am

I’m on a renewed prequel fan edit kick (burned out on them in 2009 I think).
I’ll first admit to being shallow. I was meandering through all of these pieces of art by all of these very talented people, saw Spence’s Episode II and Kerr’s Episode III, and thought, “hey, those are the shortest ones.”

And there’s the selection criteria.

I have no problem with short. In this case, in particular, I freaking love short.
This is a much more elegant take on the previously bloated and beleaguered Ep. II. Spence achieves his purpose well especially with regard to Anakin. In the scenes with Padme, he actually seems like a somewhat charming kid. Since a lot of expository and ridiculous dialogue is removed, we get to see Padme and Anakin doing things together and actually bonding. The reinserted scenes with Padme’s home and family certainly convey the message that these two kids are going to hook up way better than whatever goofy garbage was in there before. You know what I mean – flaming hearth, dominatrix outfit, dialogue delivery not worthy of a 4th grade Christmas pageant. It has been evicted. These kids are really falling in love now. No more Anakin as whiny baby creepo. No more wondering what kind of horrible treatment Padme was subjected to as a child to make her fall for this maladjusted turd of a person that Lucas made Anakin in the original. He’s a nice kid, maybe a little confused. She digs him. Simple. Elegant. Well done.

I wonder though if it would have been even better had Anakin not told his future wife that he slaughtered an entire colony of Tuskens. “I love you sweetie and I want to be with you. I don’t care what the Jedi say. Also, I slaughtered a bunch of innocent women and children with my lightsaber. Marry me!” It’s just a thought. I still really like the way Spence did it.

I know a few other editors have excised Yoda fighting with a lightsaber. It works here just as well. I didn’t miss it. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about it as all the action moved along. I remember seeing Episode II in a theater on opening night and laughing my arse off when Yoda starts to fight. I know that it’s not supposed to be funny, but it’s an utterly ridiculous scene the most serious point in the movie. Dude just got an arm chopped off, two Jedi heroes lying in a heap, and here comes an 81-year-old man battling a cartoon character? No. I would like it if there were a way to keep the force battle in and just remove the lightsaber portion, but I’m not sure that’s plausible. Regardless, removing the entire Yoda sequence holds true to the more logical flow of the movie for which Spence is aiming.

I really believe that Lucas tried for some kind of profundity in all of the prequels. Unfortunately, he attempted to convey the weight of various moments through unnecessary or repetitive expository dialogue and a bunch of “look-what-I-do-mom!” action sequences. Spence cures this issue as best he can. We’re left mostly with dialogue and happenings that move the plot and elegantly, without beating us over the head with the obvious, convey the weight of what’s going on.

I didn’t hear any wonky audio edits and the video cuts were smooth for the most part.
I gave it a 9/10.
B
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(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Review by pauvre — January 7, 2011 @ 8:12 am

This may be a little late, but this edit is awesome! The whole movie flows much better now. There is a seriousness to the film now that was lacking before. And the most amazing part of this edit is that the romance between Anakin and Padme is actually believable! Anakin does not come off as creepy, is not annoying or childish… very well done! My biggest problem in the original was that there was no way she would like him. He was just weird and annoying. They never showed me any reason why they would be together. In the Spence edit, suddenly it all seems to make sense. You took a stinker and turned it into a good movie! This is my definitive version. Thanks bro.
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