First of all, this post is not a load of crap like you probably think it is.
There is someone who goes by the name of "MagnoliaFan" on the
http://www.originaltrilogy.com forums.
He has created a very excellent edit of Episode One.
He calls it "Balance of the Force". It is very great.
SPECS:
There have are also been a lot of dialogue trims to enhance performance, and extra cuts applied to the film for pacing and plot. NO Midi-hoobie-doobies or talk of virgin births either! There have also been some changes to the SPFX of the film itself such as Lord Sidious' face has been darkened under his cloak so that you cannot tell as easily that he is Ian McDiarmid. There is an alternate title and crawl, and the Federation is much much more sinister in this version.
Re-Edit runs 1:57.06 and features 23 chapters is encoded in MPEG2 VBR and has an average bit rate of 4.75 MBps - the audio is re-mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kbps) , contains most of the deleted scenes, some alternate music, a completely different edit on the pod race, Anakin is quieter and darker, aliens speak in foreign languages and are subtitled – all the subtitles can be turned of as well (but you lose the new story line)
Here is a list of SOME of the changes made from "The Phantom Edit" to make "Balance of the Force".
Alternate Title and Crawl, giving more history on the Jedi, Republic and Trade Federation
The plot is also altered from revolving around taxation to slave labor.
Opening crawl music replaced with music from EP IV UE soundtrack (a little longer and it just sounded better to me)
Cockpit scene en route to the Federation cruiser was ommitted
New music cue landing in Fed docking bay
Neimoidians are dubbed and subtitled as is TC-14 when talking to Neimoidians. Most of their dialogue has been totally rewritten.
First scene with TC-14 and the Neimoidians is expanded considerably with additional dialogue.
New music cue leading into Darth Sidious' appearance.
Sidious' face is digitally shadowed under the hood hiding his face.
Sidious' line "I don't want this stunted slime in my sight again!" has been altered to "I don't want this slime in my sight again!"
New sound effect added as gun turrret swings around.
The reaction scene in the cockpit has been omitted.
The sound effects for the explosion of the cruiser has been enhanced.
New sound effect added for the battle droid turning off the hologram of Nute Gunray.
Battle Droids dubbed and subtitled when speaking to each other or Neimoidians.
Some Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon dialogue is trimmed from the battle onboard the Federation ship.
Dialogue trimmed in "It's an invasion army!" scene.
Additional little plot twist added in the Viceroy's viewscreen scene with Queen Amidala.
Dialogue trimmed in Naboo council"Senator Palpatine?" scene.
Hologram scene between Nute and Droid commander is cut.
Jar Jar is dubbed and subtitled.
Jar Jar is a pompous ass who believes he saved Qui-Gon's life by dragging him down and thinks Qui-Gon owes him the life debt.
It is also revealed that the Gungans desise humans with a passion... except for Jar Jar, who doesn't mind humans so much, seeing as the Gungans hate him even more than they do humans.
Otoh Gungah referred to by name.
"The Invasion is on schedule, my Lord" scene has been moved to follow Jar Jar's debut, breaking up the Gungan antics.
Boss Nass is now Governor Nass.
Lots of alternate exposition in Otoh Gunga. Jar Jar is revealed to have been thrown out several times. The Gungans hate the Naboo people because humans stole a Gungan relic, the Kyber crystal from them, explaining the big glwoing globe at the end of the film.
Nass is leaning toward supporting the Federation against the Naboo, pre Jedi mind trick.
A sound effect is added to the Jedi mind trick.
There is a little trim to the end of the scene.
In the sub scene it is revealed that Jar Jar was the Gungan charged with guarding the Kyber crystal. He was sleeping on the job and allowed the crystal to be stolen.
The second underwater sequence has been cut and replaced with a recut version of the waterfall scene.
The Viceroy, having captured Amidala plans to force her to offer the people of Naboo as an alternative uncompensated workforce in retaliation to her lobbying to outlaw their slave labor forces.
Instead of telling the droid commander "Process them", he nonchalantly orders the droid to to "Shoot her companions."
When Qui-Gon and co rescue the Queen, Jar Jar claims credit for it, after lying face down on the ground for the whole fight.
Some dialogue is trimmed outside of the hangar.
The battle droid's "joke" toward Qui-Gon has been cut.
The "You stay here" scene between Jar Jar and Obi-Wan has been cut.
The entire Naboo escape has been resquenced so that they lose shields right away, but don't regain them until the last minute.
Some additional dialogue is trimmed during the escape.
Some dialogue is trimmed in the "Here Master, Tatooine" scene.
The line "Not for a Sith" has been trimmed out of the Darth Maul introduction scene.
As an homage, the Viceroy's aide says, "This deal is getting worse all the time!" in said scene.
Some dialogue trimmed in the Artoo intro scene.
The Padme and Jar Jar scene, cleaning artoo has been cut.
Upon arrival to Tatooine, it is revealed that Qui-Gon is taking Jar Jar with him to Mos Espa because the Queen ordered him to, as she felt he was stinking up the ship.
When Padme is ordered along, Jar Jar wonders if Padme was stinking up the ship as well.
A ship has been digitally painted out of Mos Espa's skyline.
New noises and chatter have been added to the streets in all Mos Espa scenes.
The poop stepping scene has been cut.
When we first come upon Watto, he hums the Cantina song from EP IV for a few seconds before Qui-Gon and co enter.
Watto is considerably harsher toward Anakin in the subtitles.
Jar Jar no longer has slapsticky antics inside the store and the "Are you an angel" scene has been trimmed considerably.
When Qui-Gon tries the mind trick on Watto, he becomes much angrier and throws Qui-Gon out shouting, "Get lost! Come back when you gotta some money!"
As Qui-Gon embarassedly exits the shop, Jar Jar knocks over a bunch of stuff and Watto shouts, "Hey! You break it, you buy it! Eh?!"
Jar Jar's "No again!" speech has been cut.
The scene of Jar Jar stealing the frog has been trimmed.
After Anakin saves Jar Jar from Sebulba, Jar Jar brags that he was about to give Sebulba a beating until that kid got in the way.
The Jira scene has been trimmed to make her less creepy.
Anakin's "very, very dangerous" line has been trimmed to "very dangerous".
Instead of "Hello", Jar Jar remarks "Oh, what a dump." upon seeing Anakin's home.
Anakin's acting is trimmed throughout Threepio's introduction.
Music is replaced throughout the Coruscant balcony scene, using the Imperial march seguewaying into the Emperor's theme. Every piece of sound had to be rebuilt from scratch for the sequence.
Sidious has an alternate line to end the scene, "The Republic will soon be under my countrol."
I love how not only were things removed as in most previous edits, he also adds in new things that make the film better.
I, myself, think this version fits in much better with the original films than the original 'Phantom Menace' did.
For more information, go here:
http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/me ... readid=987
And FINALLY, to download it.
MagnoliaFans_-_Episode_I_-_Balance_of_the_Force.rar
This is a TORRENT file. It is not the above file itself that actually contains the file.
It is merely a link to download from peers on the torrent network.
To download a torrent file, you need a torrent client. The best is
http://www.torrentstorm.com
This download contains an avi rip of the DVD which you can obtain from MagnoliaFan himself for a very small fee. (This is not to cash in on it, but for shipping the disc and the cost of the discs etc)
You can find send him a Private Message at
http://www.originaltrilogy.com
His user name is "MagnoliaFan". If you can't reach him, try PMing another user called "Rikter".
My user name there is "Hal 9000", but that doesn't really matter.
And while you are there, sign the petition which is what that site is all about!
Sign the
http://www.originaltrilogy.com petition to secure the release of the ORIGINAL VERSIONS of the Original trilogy on DVD.
If you have any questions or concerns about how to obtain "Balance of the Force", contact (once again) MagnoliaFan, Rikter, or Hal 9000 via Private Messaging at
http://www.originaltrilogy.com
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!
