The Phantom Edit 1.1

[Jedieb]

How many people have heard of this? It's been "in the news" for the last week or so. Apparently someone in LA put together their own version of TPM and it's been making its way around LA for a few weeks now. Early on Kevin Smith was rumored to be the man behind the edit but that rumor has been pretty much shot down by now. From what I've read most of the changes revolve around Jar Jar and Anakin. TFN has had some good coverage on the re-edit so head over there if you want to learn more. I don't know if this is something I'd ever fork over any cash but I certainly wouldn't pass up a screening of the new version.

[Darth23]

From what I've heard theres NO Jar Jar, or almost no JJ, almost all the comedic stuff is gone, the midichlorians are gone, and nothign has been added.

Aside from the fact that there's no new Darth Maul scenes, it's basically a basher's wet dream. ;)

[Force Master Hunter]

Wow. That might be interesting to see.

[Jedi Master Kyle]

Yeah, Kevin Smith was the rumored source of the edit, but he denied doing it, but did confirm it's existence and said he had seen it. I'd love to see it.

[Jedi Master Carr]

First off I doubt Smith did it, it sounds very amateurish to me and is probably the work of some fanboy basher. I think it is just stupid because if you don't want to see Jar Jar just fast forward thru his scenes. Besides this is Lucas's movie it would be like cutting out the scenes that you don't like of Casablanca or even a better analogy putting a fig leaf over Michangelo's David's privates (which was done by the way) because you object to something. This is the artist/filmakers' vision and we must respect that whether we like it or not.

[JediDave]

Lighten up francis.

Having another version of the film won't hurt anybody. Especially one without Jar-Jar! Just think of it as a Weird Al Yankovic song. This world's big enough to accept a Gangsta's Paradise as well as an Amish one. :smokin:

I think it's someone withIN the industry that created this. Someone with access to the raw footage and audio tracks on an Avid. Maybe someone at ILM? But not a fanboy basher.

Some would say that George destroyed his own art when he manipulated the trilogy with the SE versions. What do you think of the new ending for ROTJ Special Edition though? I think it was great. A vast improvement over the original edit with the annoying Ewok song. And I'm sure George agrees.

[Jedi Master Carr]

But that was George's choice besides somebody on another message board saw it and said the editing was lousy and looked like it was done by amateur. I was fine with Lucas redoing the special edition but that was his choice not on a whim of someone who hated Jar Jar.

[JonathanLB]

Yeah, please don't confuse an artist changing his OWN work to someone else TOTALLY NOT ASSOCIATED WITH IT ruining the vision of the filmmaker. There is NO SIMILARITY.

I find that Jedi Master Carr and I seem to agree a lot here, so I appoint him as my official opinion on every matter if I do not respond! Haha, so if he makes a comment about Star Wars or anything else in another thread, consider it my opinion too unless otherwise stated! :)

You're awesome, Carr.

"Besides this is Lucas's movie it would be like cutting out the scenes that you don't like of Casablanca or even a better analogy putting a fig leaf over Michangelo's David's privates."

YES! Exactly. Come on people, NOBODY here would make Star Wars exactly the same as Lucas did, but it's his vision and who are we, or anyone else, to tamper with his movies? He made them that way because they are his films. I loved them all and I respect the way he did them. I certainly respect him and film in general enough to know not to tamper with other people's work when they spent decades of their life on it.

The Phantom Edit is more like the Phantom Hack Job. How dare anyone tamper with copyrighted material and hack up a filmmakers movie? If they consider themselves a fan, I hope they are struck by lighting and killed. True fans may not like all of the films even, but at least they have enough respect for Lucas and the films to know that tampering with them is wrong. A true fan doesn't have to like every aspect of every Star Wars movie. Not at all! But a true fan does have respect for what is in the films, even if he/she disagrees with something. They at least have enough class to say, "You know, I wouldn't have put that in, but it's Lucas's movie and he did want it there, so I respect that."

I really hate some fans. They are so utterly hopeless and stupid yet they call themselves Star Wars fans, which utterly insults my intelligence and fandom, as well as everyone else's.

If someone doesn't like TPM, I can deal with that, especially if they are polite about it (i.e. don't make remarks like, "Anyone who likes TPM is stupid and Lucas has lost his touch").

I think TheForce.net is totally out of line by posting anything about this edit or giving it any coverage whatsoever. It is just because one biased staff member happens to agree with whatever idiot created it.

Without Jar Jar, I think the film would lose a lot. It definitely wouldn't be the same. The midiclorians are fine, so what a dumb thing to take them out.

TPM bashers are generally one of the more vacuous, ignorant groups of people I have ever encountered. Only one in five of them has any ounce of noticeable intelligence.

I define a basher as someone who continually sticks around TPM message boards and trashes the film, as well as people who like it, not just a person who doesn't like TPM. You can dislike TPM somewhat and not be a basher, but if you spend your life on message boards for a movie you don't like, you truly have no life. I don't even know what type of loser would waste his/her time every day making fun of ONE movie. That is so pointless. Take a hint bashers, go away, get a life, and move on.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Thanks Jon I see we do share the same opinion on some things especially Star Wars, but you might want to hold off on making me your official opinion on every thread because you might now know where it will lead ;) Also I agree with you about bashers, while we don't have too many here (except for one that is still around I think most of us know who I am talking about) I think that for some reason they seem to frequent theforce.net boards the most, but I get sick of them too I just wish they would go away and leave us in peace.

[Jedieb]

If someone doesn't like TPM, I can deal with that, especially if they are polite about it (i.e. don't make remarks like, "Anyone who likes TPM is stupid and Lucas has lost his touch") .
Can people who didn't like TPM make these kinds of "polite" comments?

"I really hate some fans. They are so utterly hopeless and stupid yet they call themselves Star Wars fans, which utterly insults my intelligence and fandom, as well as everyone else's."

I guess if you LOVE TPM you can make all the impolite comments you like. ;)

[JonathanLB]

Point taken, but I'm not bugging the bashers on their boards (they do have forums themselves, now). They come over to OUR forums, fan forums, and bash the movies we like. You know, there are about ten or twenty message forums at TFN, even ones on the original trilogy, so why don't they stay in those forums and talk about the movies they enjoy instead of going ONLY in the TPM one and bashing the one movie they didn't like?

It was understandable the first three to six months after the movie came to theaters because it is the newest movie. Two years later though? That seems a little absurd to me.

I do hate fans like that. They are an annoyance and not worthy of calling themselves Star Wars fans, regardless if they have been "following" the saga for twenty years or whatever. They are now no longer fans, they are just detractors.

[Jedieb]

I just don't share your animosity towards bashers Jon. I think many of them are SW fans that were so disappointed and disillusioned by TPM that they bash it whenever the opportunity presents itself. Now, if all they can do is come over here and start trouble than they are asking for abuse. But in a thread that's dedicated to a re-edited version of TPM I would expect them to have opinions that would contribute to the topic. We're talking about a version of TPM that's been re-edited to address certain "weaknesses" of the film. Not everyone is going to agree on what needs to be fixed, and many will think that nothing needs to be fixed in the first place. But these things are BOUND to be brought up in the thread, it's inevitable. So I don't think this is a case of someone looking for trouble.

Back to the The Phantom Edit
If someone could get me a copy as a favor then I might see it. I'm talking about a situation where I send someone a tape and they make a copy for me. I'd wouldn't PAY someone for it though. Because now you have someone doing something illegal. If someone wants to sit down on an editing machine and put together their own copy of TPM for fun then be my guest. Do what you want with your free time, but you don't have any right to make money off of it. The film isn't your property.

I think that we're going to see many more re-edited versions of TPM once the DVD is released. Especially if it's full of cut scenes. Someone will then have extra footage to insert instead of just cutting out fart jokes and Jar Jar's triple Llindy. (I've heard these are some of the things that have been cut in The Phantom Edit.)

[obiwan shinobi]

so is this thing just a rumour or does it actually exist? i would be interested to see it :)