Topher Grace Screens Star Wars Prequel Re-edit

silentbrad writes "/Film (as well as IGN and A.V. Club) reports about Topher Grace's fan re-edit of the Star Wars prequel trilogy into a single, 85-minute film titled Star Wars: Episode III.5: The Editor Strikes Back.' Quoting /Film: 'His idea was to edit the Star Wars prequels into one movie, as they would provide him a lot of footage to work with. He used footage from all three prequels, a couple cuts from the original trilogy, some music from The Clone Wars television series, and even a dialogue bit from Anthony Daniels' (C-3PO) audio book recordings. He even created a new opening text crawl to set up his version of the story.' It continues with what stayed and what was cut. It's just too bad it was a one-time-only screening."

Comments

What, no torrent?

[bill_mcgonigle]

He also seems to want to favor storytelling over merchandising, which is a strange and unusual concept.

Re:What, no torrent?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

This isn't really what your Mother and I had in mind, when you decided to stay here at home.

Dumbass. No wonder Donna dumped you on your sorry butt and left for Madison without looking back.

Re:What, no torrent?

[Anonymous Coward]

Needed moderation:

-1: ...What?

Re:What, no torrent?

[Asmodae]

-1 BURN!

That 70's Show

Re:What, no torrent?

[Demolition]

Needed moderation:

-1: ...What?

FYI... It's a "That '70s Show" reference.

Re:What, no torrent?

[GodfatherofSoul]

"You sir are incorrect. She was waiting eagerly for my return from Africa, even dumped her loser replacement boyfriend as soon as the word came I was due in town."

Of course, that would all be in my head because no one mouths off to Red.

Re:What, no torrent?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

God Father of Soul?

James is the First, the Middle, and the Last.

Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[cpu6502]

Separate, boring they are.

Together, one good movie it would be.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[demonbug]

Separate, boring they are.

Together, one good movie it would be.

Nah, just cut all three movies together as one. I think the best cut would be about 136 minutes long.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Rizimar]

I'm not sure that editing them down to one movie would even save the sequels. Though, if you want more of The Matrix, The Animatrix has some really good short animations surrounding that universe.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[cpu6502]

I thought Part 3 was a good ending. It was part 2 that had too many extraneous scenes like dancing and sex and other crap. So I think 2/3 would work best as a single movie. (Probably what the writers originally intended but the studio saw a chance to divide the sequel in half and double profits.)

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Rizimar]

I suppose. Part 2 may have soured me on the rest of it.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Picass0]

Nothing can save that sugar-coated ending on the park bench with the Oracle and the children and the sunset.... It's like someone stole the movie I was watching and slipped in Micheal Jackson's 'Moonwalker' movie.

Matrix 2 and 3 are better forgotten. The first movie stands better alone.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[hughJ]

If the problem with the prequels were length or pacing then editing them down would help. The problem though is that the screenplay is so weak in characters. If you don't value the friendship or love story, then you can't feel the emotional pay offs to any degree. Editing alone definitely can't fix that. It pretty much needs a top to bottom rewrite.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[elgeeko.com]

Come on, the highway scene was pretty awesome. If you went into it looking for a great story I can see the disappointment, but as far as action scenes and special effects go I thought it was worth the watch... then again the first movie had a good story AND all the special effects/actions so if you compare the first one to the next two then yeah, I see your point.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[marnues]

I've never understood this. All 3 are fantastic action movies wrapped in a painful shell of horrendous sci-fi and philosophy. In fact, if the whole thing were one movie with the only intention of creating a fighting god out of Neo and then mashing all the Neo/Agent Smith fights together, watchability would skyrocket.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[omnichad]

I'm fairly certain I remember correctly that the writers are quoted as saying they would only do the first movie if they could have a trilogy.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[roc97007]

Disagree. The plot was fundamentally broken from the second movie on. My personal theory is that The 13th Floor stole their ending and they had to wing it.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[bill_mcgonigle]

I thought Part 3 was a good ending

I guess tragedy does have its fans.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[metacell]

The philosophy in the first movie made sense... not so the 2nd and 3rd.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[EdIII]

I thought the dancing scene with the techno music was awesome.

You probably could have just used that scene, the highway scene (also awesome), shortened the crap out of the journey to the Architect and made a longer 2nd movie.

Personally, I don't know why they don't do that. I remember the full version of Dune. For something that awesome, a 3 hour movie does not bother me at all.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Separate, boring they are.

Together, one good movie it would be.

Fan-edits exist.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[BlackSnake112]

http://xkcd.com/566/

the last 4 frames.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Jarik C-Bol]

I read somewhere that the original concept for the 3 movies is that 'The Matrix' which we know as part 1, was originally supposed to be the middle movie, with the actual 'first' movie supposed to cover the machine war, and subjugation of the humans. However, they decided that the fans would not stand for a matrix movie without the stars from the first one, so that story ended up getting pieced out into 'The Animatrix' and they broke part 3 in half.

based on THAT theory, a re-edit of part 2 and 3 into 1 film might actually work.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[yodleboy]

You might be interested to know it has been done.

The Matrix Deionized

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Rizimar]

Basically that, yeah. I also don't remember a whole lot of either one since it's been a while, but I remember the final fight in Zion as being particularly cool.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Rizimar]

This, exactly. As long as the prequels/sequels are attached to a successful movie, there really isn't much incentive to spend a whole lot of time developing those sorts of things because those films don't have to stand on their own; they'll already attract an audience, so the directors and producers don't have to make a high quality production. Well, past a certain point; if there are some fancy visuals, then the characters can afford to be lackluster. They'll just use that for promotion, saying, "Here is the Star Wars/Matrix/Whatever universe, but with high-resolution, sparkly special effects! Clearly, this is better than before. You can't not spend your cash now."

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Junta]

Really? Humans as 'batteries' makes sense? Not merely sucking out energy of those living, but actively feeding and breeding them?

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[jedidiah]

No. The last 2 movies were tedious attempts at one-ups-manship that quickly grew tiresome. They were failures for much the same reason that the Star Wars prequels were. The producers lost site of the fact that they were trying to make a good movie.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Desler]

The effects were terrible. The hideously obvious jumps from the real person to the mannequin-like CGI version of them during the action scenes was groan worthy.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[spike1]

I take it you've never seen "the matrix: dezionised"?
2 and 3 edited together, removing all traces of zion and various other tweaks.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Anonymous Coward]

They originally wanted to have it as a human-brain-powered computer, but thought the audience wouldn't get it so they went with "Lol we r batteries"

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Wraithlyn]

To be fair, the original script had them using humans as CPUs, tapping their brains for processing power... which is at least plausible. Some genius decided this was too complicated for American audiences to understand and thus it was switched to the "humans as power generators" nonsense.

So I just tell myself that's what the machines are REALLY using the humans for, and the "humans as batteries" crap is just Morpheus's woefully ignorant pet theory. It kinda works if you squint real hard.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[hairyfeet]

The ONLY way the Matrix trilogy could be saved is if the fan theory was true and Neo never left the Matrix. then instead of some lame electro jesus it would be a royal mindfuck where the machines, realizing that a percentage would never accept the construct, created a much worse "real world" to give them something they could believe.

Can you imagine if one of the machines popped into Zion at the end of the third and simply told them" you are suffering and living like this because this is what you wanted. You poisoned the planet so badly during the war it is simply unfit for life. We first tried to give you paradise, that failed. We then tried to give you the height of your civilization, but you rejected it, so we had only the choice of creating this "hell world" or killing you and we chose what we thought would be more humane. sorry if it doesn't make you happy but this is all you would accept, a world of suffering".

Now THAT would have been a truly awesome ending that would have left you seriously wondering about big questions like whether man could accept a true paradise. as for the prequels? I'd say Plinkett nailed it and anybody who hasn't watched these videos really needs to. he points out thing I never noticed...but my brain did, like how lazy Lucas had gotten with the "over over two shot" like on soap operas, just so he could do everything in front of green screens. he points out in great detail the incredible fail that is the prequels, how they even butcher their own mythology just so Lucas can throw more shit at the screen and do more CGI. BTW watch his review of the last indy flick and you'll find out how big a hack Lucas really is. Did you know he wanted to set indy 3 in a fricking haunted house? You listen to what his original ideas for indy and Star Wars were and you think "ZOMFG, what is he insane?" and then you realize the ONLY reason he ever made anything good was people willing to stand up and say "George that just doesn't work" but now he's so rich nobody will stand up to him and this is what happens.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Canazza]

There were lots of good "Bits" of 2 and 3. Like the first Smith fight in the park, or the highway chase, or the zion fight. The Hovercraft race-against-time chase down the narrow passage. The Merovingian scenes. They had the potential to be really good. But for some reason they weren't.

The problem is that they spent *far* too long on these bits with nothing to break them up. If they weren't fighting for ages, they were talking your ears off. I remember feeling like my eyes were about to start bleeding during that first Smith fight (partly due to the bad CGI). The Zion fight focused on the mech walkers too much and not enough on the foot soldiers, or the drama behind it. It was all action, for the full duration.

The fight scenes were all fighting, and no plot progression, and plot progression happened in massive info dumps.

Remember in the first film where Neo first takes on two agents on top of the building? That was an awesome scene and lasted one minute. It progressed the plot by making you realise Neo IS the One, and it was pretty awesome to watch. The climactic lobby fight scene was 3 minutes long and showed what exactly was possible in the Matrix. The subway fight was 4 and showed Neo going toe-to-toe with Smith for the first time. Between each of these was somewhat of a breather to let the audience relax. The film was well paced between fights and dialogue.

Now take Reloaded. The mid-film vs Smith scene in lasted over five minutes, was mostly blurry, bad CGI and did sod all to move the plot forward. The Architect on the other hand was EIGHT minutes long, 'moving the plot forward' is an understatement, as it pretty much WAS the plot, and such a large dump of information was boring as fuck. If they weren't relentlessly chaining fights they were droning on and on incessantly.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course, "coppertop" as a slang term/insult for those still plugged in to the Matrix is pretty awesome.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Endo13]

I just mentally change everything as if the script had stuck with humans as CPUs. Picture Morpheus holding an Intel chip instad of a Duracel, and it all works out and makes so much more sense.

Not all the plot holes go away, but a lot of them do. (For example, why the Agents can't just break rules in the Matrix willy-nilly however they please, but rather must stick to bending them.)

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[godel_56]

Really? Humans as 'batteries' makes sense? Not merely sucking out energy of those living, but actively feeding and breeding them?

"Lisa, in this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics!"

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[DragonWriter]

Really? Humans as 'batteries' makes sense?

GP said the philosophy, not the technology, in the first movie made sense, so the question is irrelevant.

(Also, Morpheus and others reporting and believing as an article of revealed quasi-religious truth that the machines were using humans as batteries makes sense -- as Zion and the illusion of "free" humanity, and consequently the information the "free" humans are fed are revealed to be part of the same system of control that the Matrix is -- in the context revealed by the later movies, even though using humans as batteries itself doesn't make a lick of sense.)

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[DragonWriter]

I just mentally change everything as if the script had stuck with humans as CPUs. Picture Morpheus holding an Intel chip instad of a Duracel, and it all works out and makes so much more sense.

Or you can just imagine that the script stuck with humans as CPUs but still has Morpheus holding a battery and saying exactly what he said about the machines using humans for energy, but that Morpheus is a religious fanatic successfully deceived by misleading propaganda spread by the machines as part of a system of control...

Which, even though it may not ever be stated on screen to be the explanation for that particular statement by Morpheus, is actually entirely consistent with the rest of the series.

You just have to drop the idea of Morpheus as a completely reliable narrator, which, is a pretty unjustified idea to start with.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Anonymous Coward]

"The ONLY way the Matrix trilogy could be saved is if the fan theory was true and Neo never left the Matrix. then instead of some lame electro jesus it would be a royal mindfuck where the machines, realizing that a percentage would never accept the construct, created a much worse "real world" to give them something they could believe. "

To me that's pretty much exactly what the Architect tells Neo in the second one. Since they kept losing some individuals who didn't accept the primary construct they created another one to allow people to escape to and then periodically wiped out everyone in that secondary construct.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Kylon99]

It would also make much more sense with the theory that I came up with while watching to explain why the AIs acted so human. The secret being the AIs required human neural patterns to create anything more than a very basic AI. As if the first few AIs really were transferred neural patterns from humans and that this was their great secret that they could never reveal.

Which is why they couldn't just kill all the humans and be done with it and wanted not just to subjugate them but required them to be convinced that their way of doing things was 'right.'

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Rakarra]

Some effects were great, but any effect involving a CG human (especially Neo flying) were horrible. Explosions beautiful, machines were great, fire and lightning effects. But CG humans and cloth? Forget it. Much harder to do.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[VortexCortex]

Disagree. The plot was fundamentally broken from the second movie on. My personal theory is that The 13th Floor stole their ending and they had to wing it.

Everything in the matrix was tainted green... I had an old green monochrome screen on my first XT machine.
Neo gets blinded in "the real world" but can still see the "machine-world" in orange... I had an old amber monochrome screen on my 286.

Of course "the real world" they've escaped into from out of the matrix is actually just another virtual world. If you can create one reality in a machine, why can't you encapsulate that in another reality as a "system of control" AKA fail-safe? How else can you explain Neo's ability to literally explode sentinel machines with his mind? It's not like he's doing a real-time hack over WIFI...

Yeah, it's subtle, but the "13th Floor" elements were certainly present. IMHO, I fully expected yet another sequel having this premise -- I thought everyone did...

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Rakarra]

The ONLY way the Matrix trilogy could be saved is if the fan theory was true and Neo never left the Matrix. then instead of some lame electro jesus it would be a royal mindfuck where the machines, realizing that a percentage would never accept the construct, created a much worse "real world" to give them something they could believe.

The biggest reason I disliked Matrix 3 was that I thought the ending of Matrix 2 was great and it opened up so many -cool- possibilities. "Wait.. he just used his powers in the real world? Is that not the real world after all, but another matrix? Are there matrices inside of matrices like the layers of an onion? How deep does it go? What are the other realities like?" And then the third movie swept all that aside with an explanation that was far less creative and far more boring: "oh yeah, his powers work in the real world too." Oh.

Plus the entire "attack on Zion" involved none of the principle characters, with people we didn't know or care about. Pretty and boring. It was an SFX exercise with no artistry.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[TheRedSeven]

For those looking to respect the storytelling of the original trilogy while still recognizing that some of the prequels have some sort of place, consider the Machete Order. Quite ingenius.

The movies are viewed: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and Return of the Jedi.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[roc97007]

Yes. The plot points were there. You could see them going in that direction. But they didn't. Because they couldn't without looking like copycats.

After the end of the first film, I fully expected Neo or someone to wake up in the next level at some point. But then I saw The Thirteenth Floor and realized the Wachowskis probably had to abandon that direction. Which is too bad because the sequels may not have sucked quite so much.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Spazntwich]

Apparently there's a rule on slashdot where I only run across underrated insightful comments on days I don't have mod points.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[hal2814]

A group of my friends went to see the first film before I saw it. When I asked about it, they mentioned the special effects but spent most of their time talking about the idea of the matrix. Sure, such an idea has been a staple in science fiction for decades but this was really new thing to bring to mainstream film. And they absolutely ate it up. When the Matrix became popular, I don't think the production team acknowledged exactly how much the plot contributed to the success of the first film. The first film turned Ubik into a martial arts flick. The sequels turned the back of a Chinese restaurant menu and an "End is nigh" prophecy brochure into martial arts flicks. The Matrix production team made the same mistake Gary and Wyatt made in Weird Science when they tried to make a new Lisa at the party: They forgot to hook up the doll. (And I personally don't think in the Matrix case that they really "forgot." I think they were just too arrogant to give credit that plot the credit it deserved.)

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Fierlo]

The highway chase was one of my least favourite scenes of all time.

I found it to be incredibly long and repetitive. I enjoyed the special effects and the fight scenes from the first movie, but they weren't the only thing the movie had going for it. I found the second and third movies were just glorified Michael Bay movies (which I can enjoy, just wasn't what I wanted from the Matrix trilogy). It really cemented why I did not enjoy the sequels to The Matrix.

In summary, I agree with your assessment. :)

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Skreems]

the actual 'first' movie supposed to cover the machine war

They already made that. It's called Terminator.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[metacell]

I said "the philosophy"... not "the science".

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[yahwotqa]

To be fair, the original script had them using humans as CPUs, tapping their brains for processing power... which is at least plausible. Some genius decided this was too complicated for American audiences to understand and thus it was switched to the "humans as power generators" nonsense.

Dollhouse TV series did this - and was cancelled. Luckily they sort-of managed to finish telling the whole story.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry if the sequels don't make you happy but this is all you would accept, a world of suffering.

Oh, and the first two or so Matrix (Matrices?) constructs were perfect and failed. It was part of the story (or lore, if you prefer) of what came before the current rendition of the 'imperfect' Matrix that symbolized the only construct that humans could accept at a subconscious level.

Re:Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3

[Anonymous Coward]

has been done. Hyperion.

Ok I'll start....

[Anonymous Coward]

Video or it didn't happen.

Star Wars: The Editor Does His Job

[Chris Burke]

Without Being Prevented From Doing So By Lucas

would have been the name of the Star Wars movie about an alternate reality where the prequels were substantially better.

Magnet Hash?

[Jonah Hex]

Since Torrent Links are so... last... something! HEX

Interesting concept...

[Oswald McWeany]

Interesting concept... could never happen for legal reasons... but I'd be intrigued if people could "cut n' paste" scenes from OTHER films into a meaningfull order to make it look like another star wars film.

For example- Take Ford from the Tom Clancy Films- and Indiana Jones; cut and paste them together- with a few special affects and make it look like episode 7.

C3P0 could be in episode 7- just rip scenes of Rex from "Yo Gabba Gabba". Mark Hamil has been in so many block buster films since Star Wars- should be easy to get footage of him to use.

Re:Interesting concept...

[Anonymous Coward]

Interesting concept... could never happen for legal reasons...

Of course it can happen. It probably already has. There's a thriving (some might say obsessive) fan-editing community, particularly around Star Wars. George Lucas is, by all accounts, pretty cool about it as long as no-one's trying to get rich.

Re:Interesting concept...

[Jason Levine]

Yes, but Luke laughing like the Joker would just be creepy.

Re:Interesting concept...

[K. S. Kyosuke]

...but I'd be intrigued if people could "cut n' paste" scenes from OTHER films into a meaningfull order to make it look like another star wars film.

You mean something like this?

Re:Interesting concept...

[jason.sweet]

Mark Hamil has been in so many block buster films

As long as everyone is OK with a land speeder that looks like a Corvette.

Re:Interesting concept...

[Em Adespoton]

Interesting concept... could never happen for legal reasons...

Of course it can happen. It probably already has. There's a thriving (some might say obsessive) fan-editing community, particularly around Star Wars. George Lucas is, by all accounts, pretty cool about it as long as no-one else's trying to get rich.

FTFY

Re:Interesting concept...

[omnichad]

Wish granted:
Tie-Tanic

Although this is actually a CG mashup of Star Wars and Titanic, it's pretty hilarious to watch.

Re:Interesting concept...

[The Grim Reefer]

Mark Hamil has been in so many block buster films since Star Wars- should be easy to get footage of him to use.

"Don't fuck with the Jedi master, son." -Cock-Knocker

Re:Interesting concept...

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish that really had the English subtitles working- that looked awesome! :)

Re:Interesting concept...

[i.r.id10t]

Do an "old fashioned" radio show style then. Bring back a classic medium!

Re:Interesting concept...

[LordLucless]

Interesting concept... could never happen for legal reasons...

Sure it could. Just wait the 16 years for copyright to expire, so you can create more art building on the legacy of previous contributors to our culture.

Re:Interesting concept...

[Anonymous Coward]

Click the CC button to turn on closed captioning and they work.

Link to movie

[Galestar]

Can we get a link to where we can watch Episode III.5?

Laugh

[koan]

You can't edit out bad acting Topher.

Re:Laugh

[Oswald McWeany]

Sure you can... ... although admittedly Episode 4 would be a little strange without the Luke character appearing in it at all.

Re:Laugh

[sexconker]

You can't edit out bad acting Topher.

The season of That 70s Show without Eric says otherwise.
Of course, that didn't edit IN anything worthwhile, either.

Re:Laugh

[godrik]

yes you can!

rm -rf /scratch/footage_dump/

Re:Laugh

[AshtangiMan]

It would have tobecome a narrative: "Luke wants to train to be a pilot" , "I know. I told him he has to help with the farm ... what a whiney little bitch". Then when they die it's now narrated through c3p0, with Stewies voice. "hey ahhtwo, did you hear what that Luke fellow is up to? Learning the force can you believe it. He's getting pretty good too. I'll be he fights that vader guy soon enough."

Re:Star Wars: The Editor Does His Job

[Anonymous Coward]

Forgive me, but if you have a fifty-five gallon drum full of pure water and in it place a dropperful of crud, you have a fifty-five gallon drum full of crud.

In the case of the prequel trilogy, we have a fifty-five gallon drum full of crud with a dropperful of pure water in it. Care to guess what you get, even if you re-edit?

One Word

[HoboCop]

NnoooooOOooooooOooooooOOoooooooooo!

Re:One Word

[demonlapin]

I believe that's spelled "DO NOT WANT".

Re:One Word

[Anonymous Coward]

And there was a great disturbance in the Force as if millions of fans were screaming in agony.

Re:Make something new

[Anonymous Coward]

So you failed an art class in college because you lack any artistic creativity*. Get over it. Please don't vent all over the comments on an article where someone actually HAS some creativity.

*: Alternatively, "So you had a bad breakup with an artist".

Re:Make something new

[Chris Burke]

The goal wasn't to make the prequels not suck. He's learning about editing film, and used the prequels as a medium to do so (and probably make a great test case to show both the potential and limitations of post-production editing).

Calculus and science are great, but I don't think everyone should do that and nobody should do art. Once you accept that the entire concept of movies aren't pointless, then learning about editing is a useful skill.

Re:Star Wars: The Editor Does His Job

[Chris Burke]

Yeah, an 11 gallon drum of crud and a dropper full of water -- a significantly higher concentration of water.

P.S. don't mistake "better" for "good". :)

So what's the point of telling us?

[SilverJets]

He can't release it or George will sue him into oblivion. We'll never get to see it. So why even tell us it exists?

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[Anonymous Coward]

Theoretically it could inspire someone who actually has balls to undertake a similar endeavour.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[geekoid]

But a construction worker might see a disk lying on a counter and torrent it. Plausible deniability.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[fahrbot-bot]

He can't release it or George will sue him into oblivion. We'll never get to see it. So why even tell us it exists?

The lesson I took from telling us is that George *could* have made better movies if he had concentrated less on merchandising angles, dumbing things down for toddlers and whatever else is rattling around in his addled brain - like making Han shoot first - and concentrate more on telling a good, crisp, clean and, perhaps, semi-adult story. While the original three Star Wars films are not perfect, they're an order of magnitude better than the prequels, especially considering they were made using a lot less technology and resources.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[PCM2]

Why can't he release a detailed list of every edit he made (allowing someone else with a nonlinear editing suite, lots of time on his hands, and fewer qualms about BitTorrent to piece it together)? Surely he kept records, if he's studying to be an editor?

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because slashdot is shit, and they post non-stories all the time.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[omnichad]

But he could release an edit list script, that would take ripped movies and cut them in the correct order and produce the final movie output (provided there's no effects). Of course, you'd have to add the disclaimer that you should never ever rip the DVD's and actually run the script.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[Verdatum]

I'm amazed I had to scroll this far down to find this suggestion. (Lower quality of comments than usual for slashdot. I guess the science people don't bother as much to comment on SW stories these days). But this is exactly right, there are zero legal implications of a list of "frame 456-789 of RotS synced with audio from frame 1024-1138 of Clone Wars S3E2" type instructions. Naturally, he shouldn't encourage anyone to push the result up to the Internet, but naughty people never need to be advised to be naughty.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[jedidiah]

One of his geekier friends could even release it as a complete script involving a lot of mplayer command.

Feed in originals... get out the fan edit.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[farnsworth]

there are zero legal implications of a list of "frame 456-789 of RotS synced with audio from frame 1024-1138 of Clone Wars S3E2" type instructions.

Or just export the project files without the media...

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[farnsworth]

there are zero legal implications of a list of "frame 456-789 of RotS synced with audio from frame 1024-1138 of Clone Wars S3E2" type instructions.

Or just publish the project file without the media.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[Verdatum]

Well yeah, I assume it's something like this. I'm no video editor. I'm used to the simpler world of diff outputs!

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[VortexCortex]

We'll never get to see it. So why even tell us it exists?

This is DRM done right. The best way to prevent people from copying it by any means -- especially mentally -- is to not release the media at all.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[Raenex]

Why can't he release a detailed list of every edit he made (allowing someone else with a nonlinear editing suite, lots of time on his hands, and fewer qualms about BitTorrent to piece it together)?

The article is actually a good overview of the resulting movie and major edits made. Granted, there's a lot of work if anybody wants to try to use it as a guide for a similar edit, but it's at least a starting point.

Re:So what's the point of telling us?

[MMC Monster]

Or even better:

Someone can take the edits and make a script out of them.

Then others can run the script, insert the necessary DVDs, and create their own copies.

Potentially it can be posted on a website and not even break any copyrights.

Hater?

[Anonymous Coward]

Normally, I would write this off as nerd hate. Don't like Lucas? Masturbate to your own fanmade films. Don't go and mess with Lucas's vision, he does enough of that on his own. But, this is a study of editing? Then, it's a pretentious study. The thought that student know-how exceeds that of a multi billion dollar franchise? Re-edit something contemporary, Michael Bay could use one. Tarantino too! My point is that this is a wasted effort. All it does is add to the cliche that Star Wars dorks are jihadists. When Trekkies look sane in comparison it is time to search out a new obsession. J.J. Abrams did an okay job with Star Trek. Nothing could please the Star Wars dork.

Re:Hater?

[marnues]

I preferred all 3 Star Wars prequels to JJ Abram's Star Trek. The movie was all fan service throw backs and Michael Bay action sequences. Even if George Lucas did a poor job with the prequels, at least he tried to create something new-ish.

Re:Hater?

[jedidiah]

New Trek was a remake. Expecting something "newish" is a bit retarded really. It's old material. There's only so much you can do while rehashing something like the Illiad or Batman or Sherlock Holmes without completely jumping the shark.

Torrent here

[geekoid]

http://tinyurl.com/2g9mqh

move quick

Re:Torrent here

[Lord Kano]

LIES

Machete needs a fan edit

[SethJohnson]

Someone needs to edit down Robert Rodriguez's movie, Machete. The original concept was great. When he unnecessarily extended the story to fit all the Hollywood celebrities on screen, the movie goes downhill. Booth was a terrific character. When he dies, the movie should end. Fin.

Oh, but keep that scene in there where Danny Trejo is in the swimming pool with the topless women.

Seth

Re:Machete needs a fan edit

[PCM2]

Yeah. That movie would have been better if it was about the length of a trailer inserted into the middle of another movie.

Re:Machete needs a fan edit

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember a trailer for a film where some cars (or maybe motorbikes) go racing by, there's an explosion, and some woman ends up with her skirt blowing up around her waist showing us her legs and underwear. Best part of the movie, I reckon. I just wish I knew what movie it was....

Want!

[CokoBWare]

Man this would be fun to watch!

ow To Fix The Phantom Menace In 12 Minutes

[SpryGuy]

Listening to this guy describe how he would change the first prequel is really interesting... it would actually make for a pretty decent movie.

I'd love see his take on the subsequent two movies.

This 12 minute video is totally worth your time:

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/02/how-to-fix-the-phantom-menace-in-12-minutes/

Re:ow To Fix The Phantom Menace In 12 Minutes

[MozeeToby]

I agree, I stumbled on that the other day and watched it all the way through. I was more interested and engaged in his verbal telling of the story than I ever was in any of the prequels. It is exactly what the prequel should have been, with surprisingly minimal changes to the overarching plot... if I were a movie producer in a world with loose copyright and trademark laws I'd greenlight his version in a heartbeat.

Re:ow To Fix The Phantom Menace In 12 Minutes

[bfandreas]

OMG, thank you!
That guy narrating his version of the story was actually better than watching Episode 1. Which in retrospect now clearly and specifically appears to be a tangled mess of no focus whatsoever. Only now I understand how.

So how long has George Lucas to be dead so we can have this kind of movie?

Re:ow To Fix The Phantom Menace In 12 Minutes

[marnues]

Wow, that guy knows how to make a movie. I'd like to hear more, but his Episode 2 would differ so greatly that I'm not sure it'd be feasible to use mash-ups. His episode 3 would circle back though, and be more than just Anakin's transformation. Multiple threads of interest, o my!

Re:ow To Fix The Phantom Menace In 12 Minutes

[metacell]

Very interesting.

Re:ow To Fix The Phantom Menace In 12 Minutes

[Phrogman]

I have to agree that his version is a far better sounding film. Much more coherent and focused.

Now all we need is a pile of 3d Animation students & artists with far too much time on their hands to produce an animated version of this...

 

Re:Make something new

[geekoid]

How manyn peope beciome scientist andengineers because of star trek?

" You can't put lipstick on a pig."
I must, disAgree withyou mY good man. With the patented Frink 3000 piglipstick-abaug , you most certainly can.

Or to be more modern.

"You see Perry the platypus, people say you can't put lipstick on a pig, but with my Piglipstickanator, you can. Once peoples see how cute pigs look with lipstick, they won't eat pork. And as you know, Bacon is this economic back bone of the tri-state area... there's more, but you see where I'm going with this."

It'll be released eventually

[Anita Coney]

If there's one thing George Lucus loves is DVD/Blu-ray releases. Eventually he'll release it to make a few extra bucks.

Re:Make something new

[sexconker]

The goal wasn't to make the prequels not suck. He's learning about editing film, and used the prequels as a medium to do so (and probably make a great test case to show both the potential and limitations of post-production editing).

Calculus and science are great, but I don't think everyone should do that and nobody should do art. Once you accept that the entire concept of movies aren't pointless, then learning about editing is a useful skill.

Please.
He watched some film student sit at a Mac cutting shit together in Final Cut Pro.

Who's Topher Grace?

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I supposed to have heard of this guy, or what? Because, I have not.

Re:Who's Topher Grace?

[SilverJets]

Red Forman's son on That '70s Show.

Re:Who's Topher Grace?

[marnues]

Lol, nice reference. Easily the best character and actor on the show, but I'm not sure that helps establish who Toper Grace is.

Magnet link

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a magnet link that may last longer. But I think it's only a clip.

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:DWVMSVWSA2YSSGNCYIKO3WK722VPMCNH

Re:Magnet link

[Anonymous Coward]

Downloaded and tests. A/V ~ 7/7.

Re:Make something new

[Anonymous Coward]

DNS-and-BIND seems very angry, so I'm gonna go with "failed an art class in college due to a bad breakup with an artist".

Re:Make something new

[Chris Burke]

He watched some film student sit at a Mac cutting shit together in Final Cut Pro.

Who are you talking about?

"He" is the film student who was learning about editing by doing it.

the prequels are

[Anonymous Coward]

crap.

Description Not Copywritable

[Fieryphoenix]

Mr. Grace should be able to "release" his version, not directly, but by describing what sections of each source were used. For instance, something like this made up example: "Scene 1, five segments, 5 minutes 10 seconds. First Segment: Episode I Blu-ray, begin 1 hour 1 minute and 11 seconds, end 1 hour 3 minutes 52 seconds. Second Segment: Episode II Collector's Edition Blu-ray Deleted Scenes, "Meditation", begin 32 seconds, end 1 minute 2 seconds." etc etc.

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[Crookdotter]

In these days of high horsepower CPU and quick app development, surely there is a program to format edits correctly based on timecodes, and input the movies, and it spits out your edited movie? Add in a few effects maybe like fades and wipes, what else would be needed? Surely this would bring editing to the masses where the community provide the timecodes for it, and the end user self edits the source. That's not copyright violation is it?

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[Anonymous Coward]

That's called an edit decision list, and it's usually software specific and always requires the original source material that is accurate down to the frame.

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[omnichad]

As long as you release the edit script with a big disclaimer that basically says "DON'T USE IT," you're probably fine.

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[Ichijo]

And the hardware to apply a list of edits to a DVD while it's playing already exists, too!

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[Animats]

Right. That's called an "edit decision list". It would be amusing to have a setup where you could order all the components from Netflix, then run a program which assembled them appropriately. Lucas still gets paid, and Jar-Jar gets cut out.

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[Pope]

He could upload an EDL to pastebin with no violation.

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[DreadPiratePizz]

This would be trivial if he simply released the Final Cut Pro or Avid project file, or an EDL and had people rip their own dvd's to get the media. They would just contain information on the edits done, which would be applied to the media that the viewer legally owns.

Re:Description Not Copywritable

[Anonymous Coward]

Why would he have to say don't use it?

I see no reason why it would be illegal to skip through the DVDs in the sequence described.

Re:gay

[Anonymous Coward]

um.... So?

An old saying

[rudy_wayne]

The editing done by Topher Grace is typically referred to as "Polishing A Turd".

Re:An old saying

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.

Re:An old saying

[DarthBart]

I read the headline + first part of the article summary. I thought some fan of Topher's had some how edited him into the movies. I was hoping for Darth Vader calling him a dumbass and then using the Force to make him stick his own foot up his ass.

Re:An old saying

[Anonymous Coward]

Mythbusters showed this was possible.

Re:An old saying

[omnichad]

So you've seen the Blu-Ray releases of the Star Wars series, then, haven't you?

Re:An old saying

[Anonymous Coward]

But the Mythbusters can!
http://mythbustersresults.com/end-with-a-bang

Re:An old saying

[Pope]

To be called a dumbass he'd have to be edited into Star Trek movies.

Re:An old saying

[Anonymous Coward]

Silly. Everybody knows you can't polish a turd! You have to roll it in glitter...

Re:An old saying

[evilviper]

The editing done by Topher Grace is typically referred to as "Polishing A Turd".

Hold on! Good editing can mean the difference between a masterpiece and a turd.

Ironically, the original cut of Star Wars (EP4) was the penultimate example of this... There are several people who will attest that the first edit was horrible.

"The first cut of Star Wars," Burns' narrator says, "was an unmitigated disaster."
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101040913-692895,00.html

Not much more info at that source, but it's out there should anyone wish to take the time to look for it.

Now, I admit I have a hard time believing EP1-3 can be recut to be decent, particularly using the theatrical release, and not all the raw footage available. But never-the-less, the point remains... editing isn't "polishing a turd", it's so fundamental that it can make or break even the best of films.

Re:gay

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like the perfect man. Do you have any other praise, or can you just pass me contact details?

Re:Make something new

[KhabaLox]

Have you considered learning calculus?

Have you considered learning editing? Topher Grace has.

*IAA

[Anonymous Coward]

So he'll be sued and/or jailed soon, yes?

Should stop putting first sentence in subject line

[Dogtanian]

Should do that with Matrix 2 and 3. Separate, boring they are. Together, one good movie it would be.

That's because they *are* a single overlong movie split into two parts in all but name. Even moreso than the explicitly split "Kill Bill" (where you could enjoy each of the parts in its own right due to its more scene-based nature).

More's the pity because, although it clearly wasn't as good as the original, The Matrix Reloaded was still quite good in its own way (if a bit too long)... but clearly a "part 1" that requires you to watch "part 2" to be complete.... except that "part 2" (i.e. Revolutions) was just lousy, and would have been too long at anything over an hour. I'd personally trim Reloaded and hack all but the essentials from Revolutions.

Even then it wouldn't solve the "resolution" of Revolutions which felt less like a satisfying "tying things up" ending and more like an intentionally incomplete and half-baked non-resolution designed to provide a point to expand the franchise (*) from. Ironically, we *haven't* really seen much Matrix-related stuff in the 8+ years since then (I'm sure they've done backstory comics and such guff for the fanboys, but I'm talking about mass market on the same scale as the movies themselves). Is this because it really was intended as the final movie, or because Revolutions' reception was so poor that it seriously damaged the prospects of more Matrix material?

To be honest, part of the problem may always have been that- although "The Matrix" looks on the surface like it should be one of those films that would work well as a franchise (due to the questions and possibilities it throws up and the expanded world it suggests)... it isn't. What worked about the first movie was wrapped up by the end. You can't redo the sense of wonder and discovery that drove the first movie, and once Neo has made that journey he's no longer really the confused and bemused everyman cipher (that Reeves' criticised acting style actually worked really well for), but a knowledgeable Superman in a much larger world (Zion) of characters with bad dialogue we really don't care about.

(*) Ugh, anyone notice how common that word has become in the past decade? We're all using terminology that makes us sound like a mixture of fanboy and corporate studio types. Though of course it's true- such things *are* moneymaking franchises, but it doesn't say much for artistic integrity, nor for us in that we accept and use the term.

Including the first one?

[Hentes]

He used footage from all three prequels, a couple cuts from the original trilogy, some music from The Clone Wars television series, and even a dialogue bit from Anthony Daniels' (C-3PO) audio book recordings.

He used parts of the first one, that most of us desperately tried to forget? If he was in need of material he should have used the deleted scenes from episode 3, they tell a much deeper story than the final one.

Re:Including the first one?

[metacell]

Just because the first movie was bad, it doesn't mean the individual *scenes* were bad. The same scene can be part of very different stories.

Re:Including the first one?

[UpnAtom]

Pretty much every scene was rubbish apart from the action scenes. Lucas is clueless as a director.

I do like that last deleted scene though of Yoda landing. Thanks for the link.

Re:Make something new

[marnues]

Creativity (no quotes required) is the ability of a human to create. Entertainment from the creation is another issue entirely.

Re:Make something new

[Anonymous Coward]

Movies = entertainment. Science = not entertainment.

It's hilarious [and sad, actually] how the other respondents of this thread assume anyone who disagrees with the prevailing narrative MUST BE some sort of person who wasn't GOOD ENOUGH to be an entertainer. Like, seriously, no. What a total failure of imagination. Small reference pools. But dare to disagree, and you'll be labeled as one of THOSE PEOPLE.

Oh my God, I just did it, didn't I? ALL CAPS, disagreeing with the prevailing narrative, daring to tell the Emperor he is stark naked? Now I'll NEVER get invited to the Kappa Beta Phi [or whatever the fuck the RTF equivalent might be] homecoming party! I'm a failure, a total failure! Boo hoo hoo! Because if I'm not an artist, I might as well be a crack-ass plumber! You know what they say about societies that value good plumbers over good artists...[yikes!]

Re:Make something new

[PCM2]

Uh, no. Please, for the love of God, stop assuming everyone has the same preconceptions as you. "Creativity" = ability to entertain other humans.

No, actually. Not in the slightest. So for the love of god, find a dictionary.

Re:Make something new

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Film editing is a profession that requires both talent and experience. He's developing his abilities towards that goal, and if he can 'polish the turd', so to speak, he'll be able to demonstrate his talent. He could end up doing what he wants for a living.

Basically what I'm trying to say we all know you're not curing cancer, getting us into space, or solving world hunger, so just sit down and shut up.

Hayden's best parts

[roc97007]

So, I'm assuming they cut Hayden Christensen's part down to only the parts he did well, right?

So, he's no longer in the movie, right?

Re:Hayden's best parts

[Chris Burke]

Not a single damn actor in that movie did well. After watching the prequels I had to go peruse some of Natalie Portman's other films. Because I had thought she was a good actor, but was starting to doubt it. Turns out that yes, indeed, she has acting chops. But there's only so much an actor can do with a terrible script, nothing but a green screen to act against, and a director who isn't happy until the actor does exactly what he wants and what he wants is retarded.

Same with Ewan McGregor. To a lesser extent Liam Neeson, Samuel Jackson, and Christopher Lee, but that's because they had less screentime to erase memories of other things they've done.

So, I don't recall seeing Hayden Christiansen in anything else, but my default assumption is that he can probably act but looked horrible in those movies just like everyone else did.

Re:Hayden's best parts

[roc97007]

Not a single damn actor in that movie did well. After watching the prequels I had to go peruse some of Natalie Portman's other films. Because I had thought she was a good actor, but was starting to doubt it. Turns out that yes, indeed, she has acting chops. But there's only so much an actor can do with a terrible script, nothing but a green screen to act against, and a director who isn't happy until the actor does exactly what he wants and what he wants is retarded.

Same with Ewan McGregor. To a lesser extent Liam Neeson, Samuel Jackson, and Christopher Lee, but that's because they had less screentime to erase memories of other things they've done.

So, I don't recall seeing Hayden Christiansen in anything else, but my default assumption is that he can probably act but looked horrible in those movies just like everyone else did.

You're right, in general everyone did badly. I have seen examples of good acting against a green screen, so I don't think that's the reason. (Or at least, the whole reason.) I think "what the director wants is retarded" is closer to the mark.

I saw Hayden in "Jumper", a movie that didn't totally suck, and he was a bit stiff in that, but not nearly as bad as he was in the SW movies. This could be because he had a better director.

A good director can drag good performances out of a bad actor. (Example, Barry Lyndon (1975)) A bad director can drag bad performance out of nearly anyone.

Re:Hayden's best parts

[Coryoth]

Try "Shattered Glass"; Christiansen's actually quite decent in that -- not the greatetst acting display ever, but perfectly respectable and shows enough acting talent to beliebe that, given a decent director, he can do just fine in a wide range of roles.

Remember the old days...

[sootman]

... when copyrights expired in a reasonable amount of time, the public domain existed, it was legal to do this kind of stuff after a film had been out for few years?

Me either, but I gather it was pretty cool.

Re:Make something new

[Gilmoure]

I prefer the fictionary!

Hey, I just made up that word. I is creatives!

Re:Make something new

[Gilmoure]

*golf clap*

Re:Make something new

[metacell]

STOP REMIXING OLD CRAP. It won't be good, ever. You can't put lipstick on a pig.

I disagre... putting new special effects in the original trilogy, like Lucas did, is like putting lipstick on a pig. But re-editing a film can make the story and pacing different, and make it considerably better or worse. Plus, when you trim three films down to one, you have more options.

Re:Make something new

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Hi DNS-and-BIND,

Your Limbaughian attempt to lay your failings on others is nearly masterful, but you didn't quite hit all the marks. You had to know when you posted this that your disproportionate hostility towards this individual had to imply that there was some sort of sad, deep-rooted story here about some personal tragedy in your life. It made people curious as to what could have happened to make you so bitter. Then you threw in the bit about how this person should learn calculus instead. Ah... well derr, there's a direct line from there to somebody getting a bad grade on their report card. I mean, it's easy to picture. Doesn't really matter if it's true, there just aren't many other obvious reasons for this level of venom. Maybe the love of your life left you for an Editor and your mastery of calculus ripped her back from his evil clutches. That would have been the next likely story somebody would assume was true, but anything else after that would really be too out there to believe.

I'll give you a piece of advice that I try (and admittedly sometimes fail) to follow: Don't hit 'send' or 'submit' while you're gritting your teeth. If you're that uppity about the topic, you're going to attract the sort of attention you're trying to deflect now.

Good luck and have a good weekend.

 

Re:Should stop putting first sentence in subject l

[cpu6502]

Past decade?

Franchise has been around longer than that. JMS started Babylon 5 in 1992 by (1) announcing on the early internet (usenet) that the project was being filmed and (2) saying he would not turn it into a never-ending franchise like Star Trek. That word already had negative connotations 20+ years ago.

Re:Star Wars: The Editor Does His Job

[kimvette]

Sure! If your name is George Lucas, you get a few billion in the bank. :-)

Re:Make something new

[Anonymous Coward]

This.... *SO* much this....

There have been many films out there that need about 30-60 mins just thrown out (im looking at you matrix 2 and 3)

Most interesting thing about movies I ever heard was the guy who made ace ventura. He wanted to toss more out but was already at 80 some mins and couldnt make it shorter or theaters wouldnt show it. They put some of the stuff he cut into the tv version (too many commercials I guess). They were pretty funny but did not add to the story.

Lots of 70s movies are like that. Very long and drawn out and frankly boring. A few snips of film would do many of those films wonders in pacing. Course if you did that to something like to the movie 2001 it would be about 30 mins long ;)

SW2 was the worst of the lot of the 3 movies. I got so bored in the middle of the movie I was looking at my watch hoping it would be over soon. It could have lost an hour and had the SAME story and good effects.

These sorts of 'extra' things can be put into a 'directors cut' or 'special edition' or something. Like the t2 ultimate edition. Not one of the added scenes adds anything to the story. They are just 'cool'.

The same also occured to me.

[guidryp]

I figured there might be enough in the 3 pointless terrible movies, to make one ok, slightly less pointless movie.

In Sequence it should go after ESB. Luke has found out Vader is his father, next movie is the back-story on Vader.

Then finish up in Jedi, now if he could do something about the damn ewoks....

Re:The same also occured to me.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why? It's not a novel, nor a cutscene. You can't just bung in another movie, right in the middle, and then say "30 years earlier..."

Re:Make something new

[Chris Burke]

Movies = entertainment. Science = not entertainment.

Movies = art (yes even crappy ones that's why the phrase 'crappy artwork' exists)

And yes, other posters may have assumed you weren't good enough to be an artist.

I'm saying something much worse about you: That you're too myopic to appreciate the value of art.

And since you did basically suggest that anyone trying to learn a skill involving "entertainment" should do something useful like learn calculus instead, this isn't a baseless assumption.

Casting everyone who replied as saying the exact opposite -- that you're worthless if you're not an artist -- just further reinforces this implication.

Re:gay

[newcastlejon]

Hands off; he's mine!
In fact, I'd like to nominate him as our men-loving equivalent to Natalie Portman: hot grits, but no tits.

Re:Should stop putting first sentence in subject l

[Canazza]

AFAIK, The official plot for the Matrix continued in the now-defunct Matrix Online MMO. I played it for a while, but the plot was less apparent or interesting than the sequel films.

Re:Should stop putting first sentence in subject l

[Dogtanian]

Past decade? Franchise has been around longer than that.

Didn't say it hadn't been. I was talking about how "common that word has become" with the general public (i.e. the "we" in "we're all").

Twenty-plus years ago, it's not an expression the man on the street would have used or even really been aware of in the filmic sense (probably only associating the word with retail franchising).

Re:Should stop putting first sentence in subject l

[Dogtanian]

AFAIK, The official plot for the Matrix continued in the now-defunct Matrix Online MMO. I played it for a while, but the plot was less apparent or interesting than the sequel films.

Ah, good point. I'd heard about that, but forgot because I'm not really into computer games (even though I remember the earlier "Enter the Matrix" because it was hyped at the same time as- and integrated plotwise with- Reloaded). There was also that "Path of Neo" thing.

But that said, these are still- if somewhat more mass market than comics and the like- still not the sort of exploitation of the franchise on the level of a new film that I might have expected them to have tried by now.

Honestly, 8 years after Revolutions, I'm still not sure that I care, and perhaps this feeling among the (ex-) potential viewership is why they didn't bother.

Well they basically stole it from a video game

[NotSoHeavyD3]

I mean the plot is fairly similiar to the plot of Alternate Reality. Actually come to think of it the game would have fleshed it out better if it ever was completed.

World on a Wire

[Anonymous Coward]

Better yet, forget all of the Matrix movies, which feel like they were written by 13-year-old boys.

Instead, go see World on a Wire, which deals with similar themes, but came out decades earlier and actually feels like it was created by an adult:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070904/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welt_am_Draht

Where's the art...

[sleep-doc]

I went through a phase of taking macrophotographs of small portions of classic paintings in a large museum, and turning them into rather nice prints to decorate my apartment. I didn't think, at the time, that was something I would invite people to come and admire. I'm still a little surprised about this much interest in someone rearranging and condensing someone else's art.

There is a way he could show his work legally.

[NimbleSquirrel]

All he has to do is publish his EDL (edit decision list) and just state his exact source material (in a commercially available form, of course).

As the editor, the EDL is Topher Grace's copyrighted work, and as the EDL doesn't actually contain any of the content of the movies there is no way Lucas et al. could claim copyright infringement.

It is then the fans who can rip the content from the sources and use the EDL to assemble their own copy of the fan edit.

By stating the source material in a commercially available form, he isn't inducing the fans to commit copyright infringement, so they can't really get him for anythng.

Already decided by courts - No, he can't.

[Jason Pollock]

There's already been a court case about this, and the company which was doing it lost.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CleanFlicks

Re:Already decided by courts - No, he can't.

[timothyf]

Standard disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, etc.

CleanFlicks edited the movies and sold the edited copies, which was illegal. ClearPlay does something closer to what we're describing (use special DVD player that you can upload a description of an edited movie to, and have the player apply the edits to an unmodified movie), and it's survived the lawsuits brought against it. Even then, posting a description of the edits is not illegal if it contains no copyrighted material from the original movie, which should be possible.

Re:Already decided by courts - No, he can't.

[1u3hr]

There's already been a court case about this, and the company which was doing it lost. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CleanFlicks

If you RTFA, they were actually making the edit and supplying the edited version. So completely different to a bare edit list.

Re:Make something new

[Rakarra]

I'm sorry if you find that scientific advancement is the only possible benefit to humanity, but some of us prize culture very highly as well.

Finally...

[Anonymous Coward]

These ARE the droids I've been looking for!

Who gives a shit.

[Anonymous Coward]

Some has-been actor edits a bunch of shit he can't release, so nobody can see it. Big fucking deal. Slashdot really has hit rock bottom.

Re:Should stop putting first sentence in subject l

[LienRag]

Maybe personal issues of one of the Warschawski brother had a role in destroying his creativity?

The Turning of Anakin

[UpnAtom]

Yeah that's good. Could be better though.

The turning of Anakin has much potential as a story, far more than anything else in Star Wars.

Nearly all films involve positive development of characters but negative development can be far more interesting as it isn't a cliche. It's the archetypal Fall of Satan.

The best way is to make him a likeable Han Solo-like rogue. First scene, he’s on the way to being interviewed by the Jedi for initiation. Obi-Wan tells him Yoda isn’t going to be there. Anakin cracks a joke about Yoda visiting his parents. Obi-Wan frustratedly tells him him off and how to behave in the interview.
We watch Anakin talking in the interview. The camera pans around to Mace Windu’s viewing point and zooms in briefly on something suspicious about Anakin (perspiration or whatever) but gets distracted by Obi-Wan making a strong case. They admit Anakin for training.
Training scene establishes Anakin’s potential with The Force, notably the ability to use Voice powers without weird gestures.
Next scene: the protection of Amidala. Anakin starts charming her and because of his lust, kills the would-be assassin, instead of capturing her.
In a behind-doors Senate investigation, Anakin tries to use the Voice on Palpatine but it doesn’t work and Yoda notices. Amidala tries to defend Anakin, losing her credibility with Palpatine (which ultimately denies her power to stop him). Palpatine suggests the Jedi are no longer up to the job of protecting Senators. Anakin is kicked out of the Jedi.
He is then taken on by Count Dooku (making Christopher Lee's character relevant) and becomes more rogue-ish and thereby more attractive to Amidala – they have a one night stand but Amidala calls it off.
Dooku asks Anakin to do increasingly dirty work and reveals he’s also an ex-Jedi. Anakin finds that father figure he’s always lacked.
Dooku impresses Anakin with his powers. At the end of Episode I, he says that he learnt more from another master than from Yoda et al.

What is Darth Vader's motivation? It's not enough to say that he turned into a psychopath. You have to show it. You could see a little bit why Anakin killed the sand people but you couldn't see why he killed the Jedi children.
Darth Vader is either a psychopathic dictator, or a Sheriff of Nottingham type character.
I think it’s better that he’s the former, lusts for power and that power largely comes through worshipping evil. This is why he serves Sidious.

So Episode II is mostly about Anakin’s unknowing initiation into the Sith training. He meets Darth Maul who embarrasses Anakin with his superior Sith skills, but of course hiding his Sith allegiance. Anakin’s relationship with Amidala grows and eventually she gets pregnant. At the end of Episode II, Sidious is revealed.

Episode III is about Sith worship and structure. Anakin learns how to build a red light saber. He starts being jealous of the attention that Sidious gives Darth Maul and plots to kill him. Anakin starts doing anti-Jedi missions with Darth Maul and they run into Obi-Wan. As Obi-Wan takes them both on, Anakin loses the advantage. Darth Maul intervenes but Anakin sees an opportunity to kill the superior Darth Maul and blame it on Obi-Wan, before running away . Obi-Wan tells Amidala who still dies in childbirth. Anakin blames Obi-Wan and they still have the big albeit shorter showdown where he eventually gets his arse kicked in a less noobish way.

Re:Should stop putting first sentence in subject l

[Stuarticus]

Alright then! Time for a reboot.