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Fan Edits - Marc - 12-03-2008
I originally wrote this on my new site SecondChanceTV.net but thought I'd post it here. Recently I've become a fan of, well, fan edits. The original article was posted here in the hopes of bringing greater awareness to this new movement.
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There is a movement I've recently come across I wanted to share: fan edits. Fan editors are a group of people that for one reason or another want to modify films either to improve the film, preserve it or create extended cuts.
The first time I'd heard of a "fan edit" was when The Phantom Edit (aka The Phantom Menace) was released in the early 2000's. I can only assume that this is truly the grandfather of fan edits, and the group has grown ever since.
A few months ago I was re-watching the Star War prequels (it always comes back to the prequels) and really wished there was a DVD version of The Phantom Edit. I'd only ever seen MPEG-1 VCD versions at very low resolutions and wanted a version that looked good on my HDTV.
After doing some searching I found the prequel trilogy had been re-edited by a fan editor named Slumberland. Curious, I got my hands on copies.
Slumberland managed to pull off what George Lucas couldn't: he made the prequel films enjoyable. The Phantom Menace (Slumberland's edit is known as Rise of the Sith) cuts approximately 20 minutes of footage, most notably Jar-Jar and Anakin. He also cut the "kid" burp and fart jokes, terrible dialog and most of the exposition. What remains is a streamlined version of The Phantom Menace that is quite enjoyable to watch.
The Coming Storm (aka Attack of the Clones) cut out the bad dialog and vastly improved upon the relationship between Anakin and Padmé. Two deleted scenes from the DVD were added to help smooth over the relationship and now it's a believable courtship.
Fall of the Republic (aka Revenge of the Sith) is handled in much the same way as The Coming Storm. Clunky dialog, exposition and gags are all cut. Also gone is the awkward balcony scene between Anakin and Padmé, the medical droid at the end saying Padmé lost the will to live and Vader's "NOOOOOOO!" is quiet and fades quickly resulting in a sympathetic moment instead of a cringe.
And for those that consider the original trilogies Special Editions as bastardized versions of the originals you're in luck. An editor by the name of Adywan has taken it upon himself to created the ultimate versions of the original trilogy. His first release is obviously Star Wars.
The DVD's released in 2004 had a blue tint to them. This was the first thing he corrected. He also fixed the jump cuts and the matte lines. Dialog changed in the special editions have been changed back to how they originally were. Han shoots first and the Jabba scene has been cut. Adywan even went so far as to fix the lightsabers so they match the rest of the films, sped up the fight between Obi-Wan and Vader and added effects during the attack on the Death Star. All this makes what many fans consider what the special editions should have been: Definitive Editions. (Preview on YouTube)
And now Adywan is working his magic on The Empire Strikes Back, due for release in 2009. Each release appears to take about a year and a half to complete. (Teaser on YouTube)
I've mostly talked about Star Wars in this article but other films have been worked on as well. The Matrix trilogy, Superman... even Dune and Titanic have had their releases extended. Utilizing the script, Dune: The Third Stage gets the film as close to what writer/director David Lynch intended. For those that want an extended cut of Titanic (a 4 hour cut mind you) are in luck with Titanic: The White Star Edition that incorporates many of the deleted scenes.
Unfortunately fan edits aren't easy to come by unless you use what some consider shady means. But all fan editors share one thing in common: they want you to own a copy of the official release before seeking out their edits. They also don't want you paying for their edits. This ensures the studios and filmmakers are still receiving a profit for their hard work.
If you want to learn more about fan edits you can read up at Wikipedia.
If you'd like to see a list of some fan edits please visit The fan edits page over at OriginalTrilogy.com.
Fan Edits - Marc - 12-03-2008
ImDeranged Wrote:Superman Redeemed was a great fan edit. Someone took Superman 3 & 4 and cut the Richard Pryor and Clone bits from 4 out, replacing them with the evil Superman from 3.
I watched that earlier this year and while I commend the effort it ultimately failed for me. I think the problem is that neither Superman III or IV was very entertaining and while editing out a lot of the crap that was in both and mashing the two together it still couldn't save the films.
Or maybe I just couldn't stop laughing at seeing the wires holding up "Superman". :p
Speaking of combining films, someone tried to combine the first of the SW prequels together into a two and a half hour film. It was basically all the action and everything else cut. Not THAT was a total failure.