Post by Lensman on Feb 22, 2007 19:07:23 GMT 1
"The Phantom Edit" refers to a series of fan edits of "The Phantom Menace". Generally speaking, they try to eliminate as much as possible about what older fanboys (like myself) found objectionable about "The Phantom Menace", the first of the Star Wars prequels. Specifically, they seek to eliminate the annoyance of Jar-Jar Binks, eliminate the midichlorians or at least reduce their importance, and reduce young Anikin's kiddie antics.
The one I've been after is a DVD source re-do of the first one to receive wide publicity and distribution. The first released version was officially titled "The Phantom Edit I.I" and was made from a videotape source. It's also called the "West Coast" or "L.A." (Los Angeles) version. It was produced by "The Phantom Editor", a guy named Mike Nichols who is a professional film editor-- and it shows. This DVD re-do is officially known as "version I.II".
What Nichols has done is less intrusive than other fan edits. He tried to find the good movie inside the bad one and bring it out. Jar-Jar isn't gone-- he's necessary for the story, and (as the Phantom Editor repeatedly complains about on the commentary track), for most of the movie he's in nearly every scene! But Jar-Jar's lines and annoying antics have been cut wherever possible. It's amazing how much less annoying Jar-Jar is when he's just standing quietly and not saying anything.
Likewise, many of young Anikin's antics in the original version seem out of place for the character. In the pod race he appears competent and in charge of the situation-- the "young jedi" he's destined to become. Yet when he's in the fighter cockpit he acts like a kid-- pushing buttons at random and yelling "Whoopee!" What Nichols has done is just edit out the silly lines, so it looks like Anikin *knows* what he's doing, *knows* how to operate the fighter, and *deliberately* attacks the bad guys. Which, believe me, works *much* better in the story.
As for the midichlorians, much as we'd like to have them eliminated, Nichols said that since Lucas spent so much time setting that up in the movie, he didn't think it was appropriate to eliminate them altogether, as they would probably be referenced in following films. And this is an important point-- what Nichols has done, or at least made every effort to do, is make a version of "The Phantom Menace" which can *replace* the theatrical release. In other words, you should be able to watch "The Phantom Edit" followed by the "official" DVD of "Attack of the Clones", and the story should make sense. Some of the other "Phantom Edits" have gone in for a more radical reinterpretation of the film, such as making Jar-Jar a wise counselor who's strong in the Force. *Gag* *Barf*
As it turned out, I think Lucas dropped the midichlorians entirely from further movies, in a nod to the fans in at least this minor respect. Anyway, Nichols leaves in references to them, but diminishes their importance to the point that such references are no longer annoying. We're no longer asked to believe that people are "strong with the force" just because they have a lot of a certain kind of bacteria inside them.
You can find articles on "The Phantom Edit" here:
archive.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/11/05/phantom_edit/index.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Edit
And if you want to know where to get a copy-- well it's hard to get version "I.II". That's the one that the Phantom Editor re-did when the DVD was released-- the original (version "I.I") was done from a videotape, and copies of that look as bad as any other multi-generation videotape. And with my home theatre system, the sound is perhaps even more important. Version I.II has full Dolby Digital sound, and sounds as great as a Star Wars film should! The sound on a multi-generation copy of Version I.I is pretty bad, and simply unacceptable for use in a quality home theatre.
The way to be sure you're getting the "good" version is, it's the one with the commentary track by The Phantom Editor himself. You can't get a copy on e-bay, not ever. If you can download bit torrents, try googling <torrent "the phantom edit">. I think it's available on some peer-to-peer exchange networks too, but since I don't do any of that stuff I don't know how to look for it.
After looking for a copy of this, repeatedly, for *years*, I finally got one with the help of a friend of mine who knew how to download bit torrents. I'm quite pleased with what The Phantom Editor has done, altho the video on the DVD looks a bit grainy and somewhat washed out compared to the official DVD.
Of course, as they say "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." Nichols has eliminated a lot of the bad stuff from this movie, but he couldn't eliminate the basic problems: The dispute between Naboo and the Trade Federation is never explained, we don't care about Queen Amidala and her people, Natalie Portman's performance was flattened by another actress dubbing her voice, the movie for much of its length is nothing but meetings and talking heads, there's shockingly little real humor in the movie for a Star Wars film, etc. etc. So while "The Phantom Edit" is a *better* film, perhaps an "okay" film, it's still *very* far below what I think of as Star Wars standards.
I should mention that this *is* an illegal copy. Lucas at first seemed to be okay with "The Phantom Edit", but when an L.A. fan network began mass copying and distribution, he became alarmed and his lawyers went after them. So that's why you won't find it on e-bay.
Personally I don't have any ethical problem with this SO LONG AS the person downloading it owns a legal copy of the movie already-- which I do. George Lucas has my money for the movie. But I won't post any links to where you can download this, and if you do find such a link I ask you not to post it in this thread.
The one I've been after is a DVD source re-do of the first one to receive wide publicity and distribution. The first released version was officially titled "The Phantom Edit I.I" and was made from a videotape source. It's also called the "West Coast" or "L.A." (Los Angeles) version. It was produced by "The Phantom Editor", a guy named Mike Nichols who is a professional film editor-- and it shows. This DVD re-do is officially known as "version I.II".
What Nichols has done is less intrusive than other fan edits. He tried to find the good movie inside the bad one and bring it out. Jar-Jar isn't gone-- he's necessary for the story, and (as the Phantom Editor repeatedly complains about on the commentary track), for most of the movie he's in nearly every scene! But Jar-Jar's lines and annoying antics have been cut wherever possible. It's amazing how much less annoying Jar-Jar is when he's just standing quietly and not saying anything.
Likewise, many of young Anikin's antics in the original version seem out of place for the character. In the pod race he appears competent and in charge of the situation-- the "young jedi" he's destined to become. Yet when he's in the fighter cockpit he acts like a kid-- pushing buttons at random and yelling "Whoopee!" What Nichols has done is just edit out the silly lines, so it looks like Anikin *knows* what he's doing, *knows* how to operate the fighter, and *deliberately* attacks the bad guys. Which, believe me, works *much* better in the story.
As for the midichlorians, much as we'd like to have them eliminated, Nichols said that since Lucas spent so much time setting that up in the movie, he didn't think it was appropriate to eliminate them altogether, as they would probably be referenced in following films. And this is an important point-- what Nichols has done, or at least made every effort to do, is make a version of "The Phantom Menace" which can *replace* the theatrical release. In other words, you should be able to watch "The Phantom Edit" followed by the "official" DVD of "Attack of the Clones", and the story should make sense. Some of the other "Phantom Edits" have gone in for a more radical reinterpretation of the film, such as making Jar-Jar a wise counselor who's strong in the Force. *Gag* *Barf*
As it turned out, I think Lucas dropped the midichlorians entirely from further movies, in a nod to the fans in at least this minor respect. Anyway, Nichols leaves in references to them, but diminishes their importance to the point that such references are no longer annoying. We're no longer asked to believe that people are "strong with the force" just because they have a lot of a certain kind of bacteria inside them.
You can find articles on "The Phantom Edit" here:
archive.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/2001/11/05/phantom_edit/index.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Edit
And if you want to know where to get a copy-- well it's hard to get version "I.II". That's the one that the Phantom Editor re-did when the DVD was released-- the original (version "I.I") was done from a videotape, and copies of that look as bad as any other multi-generation videotape. And with my home theatre system, the sound is perhaps even more important. Version I.II has full Dolby Digital sound, and sounds as great as a Star Wars film should! The sound on a multi-generation copy of Version I.I is pretty bad, and simply unacceptable for use in a quality home theatre.
The way to be sure you're getting the "good" version is, it's the one with the commentary track by The Phantom Editor himself. You can't get a copy on e-bay, not ever. If you can download bit torrents, try googling <torrent "the phantom edit">. I think it's available on some peer-to-peer exchange networks too, but since I don't do any of that stuff I don't know how to look for it.
After looking for a copy of this, repeatedly, for *years*, I finally got one with the help of a friend of mine who knew how to download bit torrents. I'm quite pleased with what The Phantom Editor has done, altho the video on the DVD looks a bit grainy and somewhat washed out compared to the official DVD.
Of course, as they say "You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." Nichols has eliminated a lot of the bad stuff from this movie, but he couldn't eliminate the basic problems: The dispute between Naboo and the Trade Federation is never explained, we don't care about Queen Amidala and her people, Natalie Portman's performance was flattened by another actress dubbing her voice, the movie for much of its length is nothing but meetings and talking heads, there's shockingly little real humor in the movie for a Star Wars film, etc. etc. So while "The Phantom Edit" is a *better* film, perhaps an "okay" film, it's still *very* far below what I think of as Star Wars standards.
I should mention that this *is* an illegal copy. Lucas at first seemed to be okay with "The Phantom Edit", but when an L.A. fan network began mass copying and distribution, he became alarmed and his lawyers went after them. So that's why you won't find it on e-bay.
Personally I don't have any ethical problem with this SO LONG AS the person downloading it owns a legal copy of the movie already-- which I do. George Lucas has my money for the movie. But I won't post any links to where you can download this, and if you do find such a link I ask you not to post it in this thread.
