Synopsis:

The Republic Divided continues the approach that L8wrtr established in his first edit, Shadow of the Sith. This fanedit radically improves the relationships between the key players of the Prequel, creating believable friendships and more importantly a love story which is no longer creepy and forced. The action sequences are drastically altered to improve pacing and keep the focus on story.

Intentions:

Attack of the Clones is a frustrating film. It looks and feels like a Star Wars film, but there are so many moments that just take me out of the film that I find it hard to watch. Whether it’s Mel’s Couuscant Diner, Obi-Wan’s feeble intellect, Anakin’s explosive whining, or the dumbfounding Droid Factory sequence, anything that is done well in this film is negated by a wave of inexplicable story-telling choices. As with Shadow of the Sith my goal with The Republic Divided is to trim out the inexplicable story elements, improve the quality of the characters by relieving them of annoying and/or frustration dialog, and in general, improving the tone and pace of the film. When all of this clutter is removed, a respectable movie emerges, with Palpatine quietly setting all the pieces for his master-stroke which unfolds in Episode III.

Change List:

This is a general list of cuts, order may be slightly off and many are not listed (over 250 edits in total) - New Title and Crawl establishing Count Dooku as the leader of a Separatist movement threatening Civil War. - Cut announcing Coruscant inside the Naboo Cruiser - Cut ‘We made it’ dialog - Cut Cordé’s dying words - Cut 1st half of dialog in Chancellor’s office about their not being enough Jedi and the Dark Side clouding everything. - Trim dialog throughout the Chancellor’s office - Trim dialog inside elevator - Cut most of Jar Jar introducing the Jedi - Trim dialog throughout meeting with Padme, including creepy lines about being beautiful, antagonism between Anakin and Obi-Wan, and Anakin’s whining afterwards - Cut Jango giving Zam poisonous bugs - Trim dialog between Anakin and Obi-Wan while bugs are making their way to Padme - Trim speeder chase in half, Anakin no longer loses his saber - Cut most dialog outside of nightclub (resolves saber issue, plus more antagonism between Obi-Wan and Anakin) - Trimmed nightclub sequence, eliminate Anakin POV shot, gratuitous cameo shots. - Toned down Anakin’s anger while interrogating Zam - Removed Obi-Wan’s Ric Olié moment “Toxic dart” - Removed contradictory Yoda line about Padme having to listen to them. - Cut the entire sequence from Padme giving authority to Jar Jar and Anakin and Padme’s conversation as she packs. - Cut the entire conversation in skybus between Padme and Dorme. - Cut ‘we’ve got R2? joke - Cut entire Diner sequence and Library sequence - Insert portion of deleted landing platform scene - Trim dialog between Padme and Anakin on refugee transport - Cut entire Yoda/youngling scene - Cut entire sequence of Anakin and Padme arriving on Naboo and seeing the new Queen - Insert deleted scene of dinner at Padme’s (with dialog trims) - Cut Obi-Wan dialog about their missing planet Kamino - Re-cut Kenobi’s visit on Kamino to support new sequence of Anakin/Padme scenes on Naboo. - Trimmed conversation with Prime Minister so as to not have Obi-Wan completely give away that he has no clue what is going on. - Trimmed confrontation between Jango and Kenobi. No more “I’m just a simple man…” - Trimmed Obi-Wan’s report to Windu and Yoda, and cut out their discussion after they dismiss Kenobi - Trim out most of the Jango/Kenobi fist fight. - Trim the various scenes between Anakin and Padme to remove both the forced nature of the story-line, as well as their resistance. Also cut the giant tick-cows and of course the conversation at the fireplace (though the opening footage is still used with a new purpose - Cut creepy shot of Anakin having his nightmare. - Lightly trim conversation on balcony about his nightmare - Trim chase through Asteroid belt - Trim conversation between Wato and Anakin - Trim conversation between Anakin and 3PO, and Anakin and Owen - Trim conversation between Anakin and Shmi as she dies - Cut out ridiculous cartoon voices of varios Separatists as Obi-Wan listens in (nearly cut for cut of Attack of the Phantom) - Trimmed Yoda and Windu’s conversation about Skywalker in pain - Trim/restructure Dooku’s interrogation of Kenobi (cut out Darth title) - Massively restructure Anakin’s break-down in the Lars homestead garage - Cut R2 receiving message from Kenobi - Trimmed funeral sequence to focus on Anakin and remove over-the-top dialog/delivery - Cut Padme’s “R2? What are you doing here?” - Trim conversation in Chancellor’s office to remove ‘If only Senator Amidala were here…” - Massively restructure Droid Factory sequence. No flying R2. No 3PO. No trapped Anakin - Reinsert scene of Padme demanding Kenobi be set free. - Restructure pre-arena conversation between Anakin and Padme - HEAVILY recut arena battle, too much to list. - HEAVILY recut Battle of Geonosis, including entire removal of Geonosian War room - Cut Nute Gunray leaving from the same hangar bay as Dooku - Trimmed conversation between Kenobi and Dooku - Trimmed lightsaber battle between Dooku and Anakin - Trimmed duel between Dooku and Yoda, including the saber duel (HUGE thank you to BobGarcia for providing special effects shot which removes Dooku’s saber as he runs up the gantry)

Additional Notes:

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Other Sources:

Special Thanks:

BobGarcia rescued me by providing a short but critical special effect shot to allow the fix of Yoda and Dooku’s confrontation, a HUGE thank you Bob. Also, Dwight Fry, Hebrides, Elbarto1, BionicBob and TV’s Frink provided invaluable feedback on the original release. THANK YOU. Everyone in the community who chimed in on the thread, thank you and I hope you enjoy the final product. Lastly, thank you George. That I take the time to modify these films speaks to how deeply the Star Wars universe affected me growing up. Special thanks to Rogue-theX for his amazing cover, to Q2 for his assistance with HD editing, and NJVC for the sweet menus and hard work in making the HD remastered releases so slick.