Just so you know, this is the edit that I watched. I've heard that there are many fan edits of episode 1 called "The Phantom Edit" and as the years go on it's gets harder and harder to know what is the original edit. I'm pretty sure that this isn't the original edit, but it's the first stream I found, it does pretty much everything I heard the other edits do, and therefore I'm going with this one.
Now, without further ado, lets get to this review.
If it's not a good game or Catholic...who do you call?...why Pokematic "hi."
Now as I mentioned in my Episode 1 3D review, I love Episode 1. I don't care what the critics say. Sure, it's probably the weakest of the series, as of right now (can't say for certain with the new movies coming out), but dammit I love episode 1. As I said with one of my film friends, all the other star wars movies are "Jedi fighting wars and fighting and their primary goal is to stop the sith whereas episode 1 is a little more in line with what the jedi actually do, and that's help settle disputes between planets, nations, and generally keep the peace." Mace Windu said it himself in episode 2 "we're keepers of the peace, not soldiers," and as Qui-Gon said in episode 1, "I can protect you, I can't fight a war for you," but in all the subsequent star wars movies, the opposite is kind of what happens; the jedi lead armies of clones to fight the separatists and their droid armies in the clone wars and Luke along with the rest of the Rebels fight a war with the Empire. These jedi do a lot of fighting of wars and acting as soldiers from what I see. You may find episode 1 boring, but at least it's pretty in line with what the jedi are supposed to do.
Another thing is that Star Wars has kind of always been "fun for the whole family." The kids like all the sci-fi fantasy action along with all the "wizard" things that the characters do while the teens and adults enjoy the great characters and...well most of the same things the kids like. Episode 1 however really tried to be distinct for all audiences. It had little Anikin, Jar Jar, and much of the same "wizard" sci-fi fantasy of the original but on a grander scale and a far more complex story and elements for the adults. Unfortunately, I'm 1 of 8 people that actually appreciates the immature kid stuff and the mature story elements. Everyone else didn't like that. And that's where the phantom edit comes in.
What does the phantom edit hope to accomplish? It hopes to tone down the kid pandering and "mature story elements" with creative editing and cuts. Does it succeed? Yes. Most definitely yes. It removes as much of the "annoying kids stuff and political adult stuff" as possible in hopes of making a movie that's more consistent with the tone and story style of the original trilogy. And here's the thing, it does a really good job at that. Many times it feels like a completely different movie. In addition to the removal of "the annoying kids stuff and political adult stuff," this particular cut restores many of the deleted scenes. The restoration of the deleted scenes is crucial to the story this edit wishes to tell.
So is this cut better than the original? It's hard to tell. Every review and comment and the like I've read has been positive. In general people really like these recuts. Sure, every recut is going to be different, like apparently one cut redubs Jar-Jar's dialog with alien language and subtitles with "far less annoying and wise sage advice," and I'm sure other cuts didn't include the deleted scenes, and other cuts ACTUALLY LEAVE IN THE BIG CLIMACTIC ENDING, but they all basically follow the same premise of "remove the annoying kid stuff and political adult stuff." Yeah, the cut I watched ended right as Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were getting ready to fight Darth Maul. But anyways, they all end up telling a similar, recut story.
So what did I think of this? Honestly, I'm mixed. I really liked seeing the deleted scenes. They explain why Qui-Gon and Anikin are running when they get to the ship and why they come riding in on those things when Anikin is getting ready to race his pod. The pacing is also much faster. 10 minutes in I was like "we're already at this point? Wow." Is that good or bad, I don't know. It got rid of some of the redundancies and made the flow a little better, but it got rid of the pauses some characters took between lines of dialogue, making things seem a little rushed. Also, some lines were completely removed or reorded, some crucial some not. It was just a little jarring to me since I know the entire movie line for line. I tried doing what I did in the 3D rerelease where I said every line of dialogue as it was said, but I soon found out that would be impossible since the timing and dialogue was completely different. Good, bad, I don't know, just really different. One removed scene that just REALLY got to me though was the removal of the scene where the other slave kids are taunting Anikin about his pod. For me at least, that scene is just so crucial to who Anikin is as a character. It shows us that this junk yard slave is really just a kid. I'm not sure if we could really call them his friends because they are kind of jerks to him, but he doesn't tell them to get lost at the first sight of them so they aren't his enemies. I get that "it's annoying kid stuff," but it was just so crucial to Anikin. They also get rid of so much of Jar Jars dialog. Jar Jar is like my favorite character of the entire Star Wars franchise. Meesa love Jahr Jahr. Jahr Jahr makah meesa laugh so hard. Teysa gettin rid of Jahr Jahr, meesa no liken dat. Yeah, I love Jar Jar. I think he's hilarious. To just get rid of my favorite character, well that hurts.
So what's my verdict? Well if you like the original trilogy but didn't like episode 1, give this a shot. People say it's leagues better. Me on the other hand, it's different. It does follow the tone of the original trilogy better and is faster paced, plus it resorts the deleted scenes, but it removes a lot of the things I liked about Episode 1 and it just isn't the same movie I loved as a kid and still love to this day. Should every star wars fan see it, probably. If you see a good cut, you'll probably enjoy yourself, but I can't guarantee that you'll think it's better than the original. It sure is different though. Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.
PS: I was going to watch the thief and the cobbler the recobbled cut and do a fan edit double feature, but I just got tired and didn't feel like watching that fan edit tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
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