PT Prequel fans - Would you be open to Special Editions of the PT...?

Just finished the german Attack of the Clones Audiobook (read by the german voice of Obi-Wan) after a long time not reading the noveland I thought about a possible SE of that.

Of course thats all fanboy mode from my side: First and foremost: insclude Padmes Speech after the assination attempt at the beginning. It's her only political active scene in Episode II and its a shame its not in themoive.

Include the Padme Family scenes (which show her soft voulnerable side before heading for the sea land), include the extended Obi-Ani-Dooku fight with Anakin fighting longer against Dooku and the longer Yoda-Dooku Lightsaber Fight. Maybe include the trail scenes agains Padme and Anakin at Geonosis, just for some more character development.

 

If it meant we got the droid control ship raid from AOTC in it's full glory then HELL YEAH!

 

Great Idea too indeed!

 

I would make @Deliveranze CGI....

 

I feel like we've already gotten the Prequel Trilogy Special Editions. The changes to Episode 1 are fairly substantial first for the DVD and then with the new Yoda on the BluRay. Ep 2 came out on DVD as an improved cut with important additions that for dramatically improved the movie from the theatrically released film print. And Revenge of the Sith seems to have been largely the movie Lucas wanted it to be upon release, but as listed here there are some minor enhancements to the film.

Some of the suggestions in this thread are fantastic on scenes that could be added back into the Prequels. Those ideas might take the films beyond a SE and could turn them into Extended Edition.

I would love to see Attack of the Clones get a full CGI makeover. I wonder how 3D helped anchor those CGI effects. I really don't hear EP2 getting the credit it deserves for how it reinvented the tools for making movies for the Digital world most films are made in today.

 

I would like it if the extended pod race parts at least matched the quality of the rest of the race.

Would like to see the jedi side mission during the arena fight in attack of the clones. Sure there are more but off hand thats what id like.

 

Good to see ya, Ezon.

 

I would like to see Padme's cut scenes with Bail and Mon Motha added back to ROTS. The way her character gets shortchanged in that film is my only real gripe with the PT, and the idea that she secretly helped found the Rebellion fits so well within the overarching theme of the saga. It's a shame that it was left out.

 

Seconded. Seeds of Rebellion adds so much depth to ROTS and the overall Anakin/Padme relationship, the division of the galaxy etc. Not to mention that it gives Padme more agency- which is lacking compared to the previou 2 movies, and it's imo ROTSs biggest flaw.

To answer OP's question, I would be happy if LFL released PT Special Edition, especially if it included more content. One thing that they can pry from my cold dead fingers though, would be Augie's Band. That is a charming ending. Makes me happy. It works for the first film in the Saga.It shouldn't be changed. And I say that as someone who prefers Victory Celebration to Yub Nub.

 

After finishing the german Ep III Audiobook again I really wish that they would add those little Rebellion Scenes. They are just amazing, Padme is amazing in those. The 3 Cutscenes which are on the 2005 released DvD really would add some stuff to the overall plot and would not have stretched the movie to much. And it would add to Anakins distrust to Padme on Mustafar having the Delegation of the 2000 Scene in it.

Thats my only complain with Ep III...that those scenes are missing . Would have made the 6 movie arc even more full circle with Padme starting what her daughter continues...

 

Episode III already runs long for a Star Wars movie at 2 hours 20 minutes. It hurt to lose those scenes, but the core of the movie is Anakin's fall and the focus and pacing needed to revolve around that.

 

I disagree, I think a longer movie would have benefited ROTS's presentation of Anakin's turn and the Republic's fall.
There was just so much material, Imo too much for a two hour film to do real justice.

Tbh I think the original cut of Anakin turning would suit this also. The originally shot turn would need an Ep3 with more screen time to make the political aspect of his fall make more sense.
As is it isn't as important because his turn occurs more due to desperation and a last-minute decision to join Palpatine to save Padme's life. He is still consciously embracing evil in the final cut, but is just selling his soul and doesn't truly buy into Palpatine's ideals.

From what I know of the original cut - while the emotional and tragic aspect with a shorter movie is strengthened, a longer movie would make Anakin's motive more complex, and flesh out some of the Republic's nature at it's height and end.
For example I think there was arguably a little more to explain why the public would turn on the Jedi so fast, originally. And I say that as someone who sees the Jedi as righteous and far wiser than the Republic that basically abandoned them.

The Padme scenes also needed to be in the film, but the versions available on the DVD bonus disc weren't that amazing, being honest. It could have said so much more than the versions of those scenes we got in late '05. Padme being one of the founders of the Rebellion I have always loved, however.
It ties in well to the OT, particularly in ANH when Leia is the more actively defiant (like her father) and Luke is more passively defiant (like his mother).
And then on another level Leia is totally continuing her mother's cause.

 

It’s difficult to discuss adding deleted scenes without having seen them in the context of the film. Lucas is very conscious of pacing, and he cut those scenes for a reason.

That said, there are definitely some that would make me happy to see in the body of the films. The proto-rebellion scenes in ROTS are at the top of that list. Farewell to Jira in TPM would be good with me too.

And I’m on the fence about the Padme home scenes in AOTC, but I wonder how differently I’d feel about her character if a number of her excised scenes were back in both films. Sometimes I do think she gets a bit of a short shrift in the trilogy.

But to be honest, if I had to pick one thing to change in the prequels, it would have been to replace puppet Yoda with a digital one in TPM, so I’m pretty content with that having actually happened. I’d be ok with switching out for the updated model in AOTC too, but that seems expensive and pointless, and I still really like some of the shots of Yoda in that film, even if they look a bit rougher by comparison.

 

Well, I just rewatched TPM for the first time in ages. This time in 4k on Disney+ and I have to say, yes I would still be open to an SE of TPM especially. My biggest takeaway from the film is how poorly the CG animation has aged. It looks very "low res" by today's standards. They look too much like they're made out of putty or something and their coloring is kind of smeared like bad smoothing effects in Photoshop (Facetune lol). This is most noticeable for Jar Jar and Watto, I think due to their prominence in the film.

I definitely think some effects could be cleaned up for sure. I also have always wished the music could be smoothed out and fixed by John Williams and team, as the edit has now been mostly locked for 20+ years. I really forget how badly hacked up and chopped apart the music was.

 

I would prefer the deleted scenes of Episodes II and III added into the films proper. I don't care if some of them are dry. They are good. Anyhow, the deleted scenes in I don't seem to change the story. TPM remains my overall favorite prequel by default. I do like the message of ROTS. Lucas was not saying that Anakin was a good person. He was saying that he was tragic because he wasted his power on the wrong things. Anakin, had he been strong, would have saved Padme and the Jedi from Palpatine. Instead, he chose selfishness. Yet paradoxically, he chose to love his wife. It was a selfish love, an unhealthy, insane way of doing it...but still....it was an attempt to save her. The problem was that he went off the deep end and betrayed her. Padme made her mistakes, but she did not deserve this at all. No one does.

I would not mind a Special Edition. Just as long as we retain the original prequels as they were alongside them. Lucas clearly enjoyed the process of making the films, and he advanced technology. I don't think he should have used the digital cameras he used for II and III. That's just me. I also feel that the CGI of II and III is too rushed in places, but in I, it's all but perfect. Lucas is an interesting, strange bird. He doesn't get enough credit for his instruction to Hadyen and Ian in III. He's no genius, but he's clearly thought this out thoroughly. Overall, he's telling a Faust story, and he did that well. III is both a masterpiece and shlock, but it's still a good film.





I also think it's funny how Lucas says things like, "And when he bursts into flames and everything." He's dry, but he's amusing. Lol.

 

I'm not sure what else you could add to the Prequel Trilogy in terms of content for a "Special Edition"? George Lucas really seemed to go out of his way to show every aspect of the trilogy's production when they were released on DVD in a way I don't think a lot of people were doing until Peter Jackson really made it popular with the Extended Editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

I like some of the deleted scenes, but with how long the films are, I completely understand why they were removed - even when they were as pivotal as Padme's contributions to creating the Rebellion in Revenge of the Sith.

Just to get wild here, the one thing I'd want to see, but know will never happen (because of how much time has passed) is Padme being alive and joining Leia on Alderaan just to compensate for Leia's "beautiful, but sad" memory from ROTJ. Seeing Ian McCraig's (???) concept art of Padme with the twins on her back had me singing "Rolling in the Deep".

 

There is a ROTS deleted scene with Yoda landing on Dagobah, stepping out of his ship, taking in his new home. I really liked that scene.

 

How could I forget about some of those deleted scenes from AOTC?? I definitely think a few of those should be added back in... especially the ones that help the love story.

And before I even rewatch AOTC, which I haven't seen in almost ten years, I can definitely say that parts of the film (in a special edition) really need a re-edit. The editing and pacing were just off in places. Tighten things up, improve the flow, add a few of the key deleted scenes, fix some special effects issues, smooth over the jarring score edits (there's far fewer than TPM, but still).

 

Once upon a time, yes, but not now.

I don’t want to see Yoda having a vision of Rey or Kylo Ren in AOTC or ROTS, for example.

 

I really want a 3 hour cut of ROTS. There's so much that was cut, especially in the first and third acts that we never got to see. I believe the first act was originally close to an hour long with extended sequences of the Jedi working their way through the ship and then trying to get back to the hangar with Palpatine. As for the third act, I believe there's more Order 66 stuff but what I really want to see is the entire duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin. In one of the featurettes from the film, Nic Gillard mentions it was originally 15 minutes long. Even if he was exaggerating, there's still a lot of the fight that's only been glimpsed at in BTS footage.

Obviously, once Lucas decided to intercut the Mustafar duel with the Senate duel a lot needed to be cut out for pacing and putting it back in would mess that up, perhaps even necessitating putting the Sidious duel before the Mustafar duel but I don't think pacing is as much of an issue in these kinds of extended editions because you're already committing yourself to watching a long movie with the mindset that it's something extra.

Then of course there's the deleted scenes we did see like Yoda's exile and Padme's attempts to curb Palpatine's power before planting the seeds for rebellion.

Oh and Shaak Ti. She's died...what...three times? Four? She has two death scenes in ROTS and one in Force Unleashed, the latter no longer being canon. Perhaps some post-Disney comic has given her an official death but personally I'd like to see her death at the hands of Anakin being restored because frankly, we need to see Anakin kill more Jedi. I don't know how much of the temple assault was actually filmed but I'd love to see more of it, especially with Anakin leading the charge.

 

I don't think there's any story reason to do that. Nor any "maintenance" cleaning up effects type reason either.

 

The pacing is why those scenes were deleted. If you add them back in, there are even longer stretches without any action.

I like all the deleted scenes on their own, but we don't really need to meet Padme's family to understand the story. It just slows things down for marginal benefit.

 

As if action is the most important thing...

 

Who said it was?

 

Your comment that "If you add them back in, there are even longer stretches without any action" seems to imply that stretches without action are somehow bad and the film is better with less character driven scenes between the action.