Phantom what?
The Phantom Edit a re-cutting of The Phantom Menace that seamlessly eliminates the worst twenty minutes of the film.
This is old news to hardcore Star Wars fans, but it only just came across my radar the other night, and I thought I’d share. I’ve had some limited experience in cutting together family videos; just enough to have a great deal of respect for the art of editing. Editing is difficult enough when you’re sorting through all the takes, mixing in soundtrack and voice overs from scratch… but to attempt to re-cut a movie from its final theatrical form is almost inconceivable.
Nonetheless, the man responsible—Mike J. Nichols—knows his craft, and loves Star Wars. He managed to successfully eliminate the entire underwater chase scene, parts of the podrace, some of the Midi-chlorian crap, and all but the essentials from Jar Jar Binks. Additionally, he carefully re-cuts the Jedi Council scene to kill much of Anakin’s childishness, making him appear a more mature character, worthy of Obi-wan’s respect.
Granted, I saw the original theatrical Phantom Menace exactly once, but for those severely burned by it, this much improved edition may provide some consolation. Wikipedia has more info, and this interview with Nichols is good. Finally, if you’re looking to check this out, Mininova can hook you up. Although The Phantom Edit chops 20 minutes, this excellent article proposes a total of 42 minutes that can be abandoned with little remorse.
For more of this kind of thing, the Fan Edit Forum is a clearinghouse of similar projects.
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