Review Detail

6.8 6 10
FanMix August 22, 2012 6279
(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Review by The Aluminum Falcon — October 4, 2011 @ 6:09 am

I watched the digital copy and here is a slightly-updated version of my review from originaltrilogy.com:

“All right, well I saw the whole thing and here are my thoughts. To preface this, I must say that I loved the narrative style of this edit. The Godfather II-style works here: a story of similar fathers and sons. I took notes while watching this so here they are:

A technical thing I noticed was that the alien captions varied between ANH and AOTC. The AOTC alien captions were the plain DVD subtitle track captions while the Greedo captions were hardcoded; I don’t think this could be helped though unless Asteroid-Man would create new captions exactly like Adywan’s.

While watching, I thought that the AOTC speeder chase looked slightly color corrected to look more real, so it seemed less CGI-like; in any case, I did enjoy it here because of the Classic OT music Asteroid-Man inserted at the beginning of it as well as the precise excising of the CGI shennanigans. Speaking of music, all of the added music was utterly fantastic and achieved an alternate mood, which I believe was Asteroid Man’s intention. Some scenes, in particular that were improved, are R2D2′s capture by the Jawas which is now more menacing, the Death Star round table sequence, and absolutely especially all the sequences during Geonosis, which now were filled with excitement and suspense as opposed to before when John William’s rather luckluster score was all to be heard. The only music addition which seemed a bit too sudden and a tad rough to me was the Imperial March during Vader’s entrance. It seemed very sudden.

The love between Anakin and Padme now seems genuine and there appears to be chemistry between the two actors. I was a bit surprised at the new scene but it worked, and it made the promise not to fall in love mentioned at the end all the more effective. Also, not being distracted by Ewan MacGregor at the cloning facility was a definite plus. When Anakin and Padme leave the ship on Geonosis and are immediately apprehended, it was a very good move to cut the conveyor belt scene, as it’s unnecessary action; however, I was surprised to see the tail end of it rather than the alternate negotiations deleted scene presented on the DVD.

The Phantom Menace clips were a bit surprising; I didn’t expect them. The green tint was personally a bit much for me, but I found I got more used to it the second time I saw a TPM clip. Anyway, as AOTC and ANH transition, it is very effective and I like it later when they seem to be one narrative and flow more together, as you put it. An early transition I did like was between Anakin killing sandpeople and the Death Star; it seemed to suggest how evil in the past leads to evil in the future, very Godfather II like. The only (IMO) awkward transition was when the AOTC timeline suddenly jumped back to the bar where they were chasing the Zam. Granted it goes well with the Cantina, but it seems odd to go back in one timeline. This did not deter my enjoyment though.

Also, I was surprised that Asteroid-Man cut the legendary “I care” scene since it made Luke a little less light-hearted and more grieved. This actually accentuated his likeness to Anakin and was a pretty good change; Luke seems more sullen like his father.One thing I was actually surprised Asteroid-Man didn’t go as far as to cut out the TIE fighter scene. It is classic but it may not fit as well into this edit.

Now onto my most favorite parts of this. I liked how the protocol droid in Geonosis is not C-3P0. The voice modulation clearly pointed this out; you can assume he’s just a droid of Padme’s and it works since we didn’t see him at the Lars Farm. I also liked Obi-Wan’s death; it’s very powerful how the music overpowers everything and there’s no dialogue. It also makes it a bit surprising when Obi-Wan talks to Luke in the X-Wing from beyond the grave. You felt Luke was more sad there and also switching to AOTC seemed to allow Luke to grieve longer and not suddenly be happy when destroying an X-Wing. In short, it had good music and was a good version of the scene! I really did love the scene where Ben describes Vader. The tint and the distortion on Vader’s face fits perfectly and those who don’t know would not suspect it’s Anakin. The music works fantastically too.

However, the absolute end-all best part of this edit for me is the Owen and Beru/Shmi deaths which Asteroid-Man successfully blended. The effect on the video was great and showed the emotional turmoil both main characters were suffering. The music was emotionally overwhelming in this one and it was perhaps the greatest parallel of father and son. For me personally, it was just as powerful as the christening/assassination scene in the first Godfather.

So, those are all my thoughts about the edit! I really did love it and can’t wait to see the full DVD version… It’s a fantastic reimagining and retelling of the Star Wars story in it’s own right.”

Video: 10/10
Audio: 8/10
Editing: 9/10
Story: 10/10
T
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