Synopsis:
The Expanded Edition aims to extend The Phantom Menace to its maximum possible length with finished effects. Fourteen new, alternate and extended scenes have been masterfully restored added back into Episode I with 6 more minutes of footage.
Intentions:
I wanted to create the longest possible cut of Episode I, as most edits want to make it significantly shorter, let's go with the exact opposite and make an extended cut.
Change List:
- Added the Gungan bongo about to go over a waterfall as the Jedi and Jar Jar escape - Added Anakin, Padme and the droids looking over the Pod the morning of the race - Moved the Probe Droid flying around Mos Espa until later - Extended version of the pre-podrace grid sequence, an extra line from Watto sourced from the Theatrical Cut is also added - Extended Podrace Lap 2, combining the Blu-Ray and DVD Deleted Scene - Added Anakin having scuffle with a Rodian after he's accused of cheating in the Podrace - Cut small piece with Qui-Gon giving Anakin the extra credits from the pod sale - Moved probe droid around Mos Espa to after Anakin leaves his mother - Added Anakin visiting Jira before leaving Tatooine, as Maul’s probe droid watches them, explaining them running in the final film - Added longer shot of the Air Taxi parking on the building roof from the DVD Deleted Scenes - Added alternate shot of Palpatine’s office from the Theatrical Cut - Extended shot of Jar Jar and Anakin outside Palpy's office - Added Alderaan senator Bail Antillies to the senate hearing, voting against Valorum - Replaced audio in the senate scene with the theatrical audio, as the crowd chants "VOTE NOW" instead of the revised DVD incorherent yelling - Added extra shots of a Naboo Starfighter flying in the space battle - Added a few extra shots of the Maul fight in the Theed Generator.
Additional Notes:
I took the extended podrace scenes from the DVD, and replaced most of the footage with the Blu-Ray, so that all the upscaled stuff is weaved through here and there, and hopefully undetectable. ADM had made his edit years ago, and looking back on it now, it's not the most amazingly done one, but I defintely did some similar things here and there. It was his idea to cut the little scene with Qui-Gon giving Anakin the credits, as the Greedo scenes makes the continuity a little tricky. I borrowed one of Hal9000's edits too, which moves the probe droid scene to right before the deleted scene of Qui-Gon cutting it in half, so that the set up is a little bit closer to the pay off. There's still a bit more footage of Adrian Dunbar as Bail Antillies/Organa on my cutting room floor, as it was tricky to get him to work in the scene, as to not show too much of him, and not too little. The blue screen and colour timing was a pain to get right too, but looked good. The new stuff during the duel was upscaled from the DVD, and never had any sound to begin with, so it was fun to go and and edit all the lightsaber spins, swings and hits from scratch, same with the N1 Starfighter shots. Doing all the SFX from the ground up is always fun for me in these edits. The rest of the scenes were more of a drag and drop, and not too complicated at all. This edit really was something between the complex Ep3 and the more simple Ep8.
Other Sources:
- The Phantom Menace (2019 Blu-Ray) - The film was taken from the most recent release - The Phantom Menace (2001 DVD) - The new Starfighter and Duel shots were taken from the Deleted Scenes Documentary - The Phantom Menace (1999 35mm print) - A new shot of Watto and Palpy's Office were taken from a Czech scan done over on TSWT Forum - Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2011 Box Set) - Bail Antillies scene was taken from the Episode I-III Archive Disc - The Phantom Menace: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2000 Ultimate Edition) - 4 Tracks were used to bridge scenes here and there - bryantmh's Upscaled Deleted Scenes - His own upscales were the base of the scenes I used in my edit, but coloured and cleaned further - SFX: Vulture Droids, N1 Starfighter, and Lightsaber sounds were used to create a mix for a few scenes that didn't have any sound to begin with.
Special Thanks:
bryantmh for sharing his upscaled deleted scenes OT.com Cool People Artan42, benduwan, ZaneFlare92, Hal9000 and darth_ender FE.org Cool People lapis molari, heathen3017 and ADigitalMan And also Rick McCallum.