140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Needs to be judged for what it is: one of the first fan edits, based off of a VHS copy. Decent edit for the time that kicked off a movement.
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Star Wars: Episode I.II – The Phantom Edit:
Fanedits are great fun. While I truly venerate original works, I have always been fascinated by the classical music conept of “variations on a theme”. I love remixes, reimaginings, alternate versions – anything that takes an original idea and creatively adds something to it. The original work should always be kept intact – the idea isn’t to replace, merely to enhance. I may be a snob, but I’m not a purist; cover versions of songs are great.
The Phantom Edit wasn’t the first fanedit, but it was probably the first to achieve a high degree of visibility. The story of a film professional re-editing the most hyped film in modern movie history spread around Web 1.0 at just the right time. It resonated with a lot of disappointed Star Wars fans who felt let down by Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
As I’ve stated before, I am a fan of the prequels. I have a ton of problems with them, yes, but I’m still happy that Lucas made them. I liked The Phantom Menace then and I like it now. But yes, I appreciate and approve of the 20 minute haircut that the film gets here.
Episode I definitely needed some work, and without access to the source materials, there is a limit to what can be corrected. The major addition is subtraction; while certain Jar Jar antics and the midichlorian nonsense get the axe, most of the work is done with a scalpel. It’s trim work, not wholesale excising, and the pace is improved as a result. The edits are largely minor, a bit here and there, slimming down the narrative. But film is an artform of timing and beats, frames and pacing, and these things make a huge difference.
I’ve seen edits of all of the films in the past 15 years that rival and surpass what The Phantom Editor (Mike J. Nichols) accomplished with only a VHS tape of the original film, but The Phantom Edit is still an impressive achievement.