Synopsis:

The third of the revamped '9000 Series,' Labyrinth Of Evil delivers a re-crafted perspective on Star Wars Episode III in keeping with the drive of the original trilogy of films. Anakin's fall to the dark side is portrayed in a more believable way, with political motivations that are ignited by, rather than preceded by, a desire to save his wife. Padme's role is expanded, and her fate is made to match her daughter's memories.

Intentions:

By stripping away extraneous tangents and bolstering attention to character development, this edit seeks to improve the original film. The original trilogy is regarded as the template toward which the prequels strive. The prequels are made to submit to the continuity and drive of the originals to the degree possible.

Change List:

Cuts and Additions (An asterisk, *, signifies a change for V6): New title crawl, courtesy of Sir Ridley. Trimmed unhelpful dialogue during the opening battle. Trimmed the buzz droid sequence. This and other trims serve to downplay Obi-Wan's familiarity with R2 somewhat. Removed Obi-Wan leaping from his cockpit, and his little jump during the fight with the battle droids. Lovingly borrowed audio from L8wrtr's edit in a few spots to remove battle droid voices. Dooku is not mentioned until he arrives to confront the Jedi. Obi-Wan never refers to R2 by name. It's not much, but it's a small way to gloss over the tension between the continuity of the PT and OT. *Partially reinstated confrontation with destroyer and battle droids while boarding the elevator. A match cut removes bad dialogue before the duel. Removed sound effects in the rear audio channels that were lifted straight from The Empire Strikes Back. Cut away as the railing starts to land on Obi-Wan. The original made it look like his legs were crushed. *Anakin quickly decapitates Dooku with no influence from Palpatine. However, he still questions his actions afterward. (V6 reinstates Palpatine instructing Anakin to kill Dooku, whereas V5 and prior removed this completely.) *Trimmed dialogue and tightened up the action sequence leading up to the bridge fight, including removing R2 slapstick humor. (V6 goes further to remove R2 striking the super battle droid with electricity, thanks for Siliconmaster and Adam Burrows.) Corrected two inaccurate lightsaber ignition sounds during the opening sequence. Obi-Wan and Anakin's sabers must match their ANH and ESB sounds. Removed as much silliness as possible during the fight on the bridge of the Invisible Hand. Grievous says, "Time to abandon ship" as he breaks the hull and escapes. *Reinstated snippet in which Grievous mans the escape pod and launches, addressing an abrupt musical transition introduced in prior versions of the fan edit. Used dialogue from The Clone Wars to replace line that was moved to earlier. Lightly trimmed dialogue during the crash landing on Coruscant. Trimmed Anakin and Obi-Wan's dialogue recounting past adventures we never get to see. Removed Jar Jar's one line. In this version, we see Anakin's political motivations for turning to the dark side and tensions with Padme before he develops concerns about her impending doom. He is only shown to have one nightmare about her, and the order of scenes implies it was planted by Palpatine. Anakin never tells Padme about his nightmare, another conflict within him. *Replaced scene with Windu hearing that Obi-Wan has engaged Grievous with deleted scene "A Plot to Destroy the Jedi” earlier in the film. (V6 repositions this scene immediately prior to Anakin missing the briefing, up from right before Anakin’s appointment to the Council as in prior versions of this fan edit.) Dialogue trimmed in most scenes, especially during Anakin's appointment to the Jedi Council. *Borrowed audio work from MalàStrana to incorporate an eerie rendition of the Imperial March as Windu denies Anakin the rank of Master. Reinstated the deleted scene in Bail Organa's apartment, gently color correcting it to appear to be a bit later in the day, in order to give Padme something worthwhile to do in the film and contribute to a sense of tension between her and Anakin. *Reinstated a brief reference to the Jedi Code. Moved Grievous' arrival on Utupau to after Anakin and Padme's tense political discussion. Placed Anakin's sole nightmare after this, with the opera scene right afterward. During the opera scene, removed reference to midichlorians. Also removed Palpatine calling Anakin out on spying on him. It is more effective to let Anakin carry that tension inwardly only, and provide no relief. *Reinstated reference to Plagueis having learned to “create life” and an ability to cheat death. *Chewbacca’s onscreen appearances have been altered to either remove him or disguise him by recoloring his fur and adding alternate clothing. (Thanks to Poppasketti) Reinstated the sunset meeting between the loyalists and Palpatine, further elaborating on the tension between Anakin and Padme. Anakin is depicted as being in his right mind up until he formally joins the dark side. The scene where he seems to have paranoia about Obi-Wan being as Padme's apartment is gone. I guess we can interpret his crazed psyche at the end of the film as being caused by using the dark side. Your guess is as good as mine, but it's better than having his personality fluctuate throughout the film. Along with other dialogue trims, removed Obi-Wan telling the corduroy man to summon warriors. *Reinstated Boga’s introduction, though trimmed her very slightly later on. Removed the first half of Grievous' line, "It is a volcanic planet. You will be safe there." Volcanic equals safe? Trimmed Grievous' lunge that Obi-Wan does not react to. It betrays the chasm between the CGI and live.

Additional Notes:

The following three goals are held in balance. 1) Bend the prequels to the story continuity of the original trilogy and the impressions it gives. 2) Improve the prequels in and of themselves, as films, through conventional 'FanFix' methodology. The pacing is improved, dialogue trimmed, and characters are developed better. This is the most readily apparent of these three goals that can be seen in The Phantom Edit, for example. The edits should be viable as films on their own. 3) They ought to be functional as replacements for the original versions. This means leaving the film's thoroughly "prequel" nature unaltered, respecting the broad strokes of Star Wars orthodoxy, and avoiding making changes that would betray to the audience that they're watching a fan edit. In other words, none of the other two listed goals should put undue stress on the goal of producing something that would have been suitable to have been released in 2005.

Other Sources:

The Other Boleyn Girl.

Special Thanks:

Seciors L8wrtr TV's Frink DominicCobb Kerr MrBenja0618 Hundsdorfex Jackpumpkinhead Emanswfan OnlyOneKenobi Smudger9 DrDre Schorman Erik Pancakes Sir Ridley.