The Phantom Edit

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The Phantom Edit was an illegally re-edited version of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, that removed elements of the original movie considered by some fans of the original trilogy to be unsuccessful. The purpose of this edit, according to the editor, was to create a stronger film than what was released by George Lucas. This version coined the phrase "Phantom Edit." It was widely believed that it was the first unauthorized re-edit of The Phantom Menace to receive any publicity, although there is some debate as to whether this is true or not.

The changes included removing most of Jar Jar Binks's scenes, limiting the discussion of midi-chlorians, trimming reiteration of the politics, re-arranging some shots and scenes, and removing "yippee" and "oops" from young Anakin's dialogue to give him stronger character.

It was originally circulated on the Internet and acclaimed as providing a more focused and better paced version of the film. It was available on VHS and DVD as well. The DVD contained two deleted scenes and a commentary track by the editor as well as a few easter eggs.

There was also another copy entitled The Phantom Re-Edit. In this version, Jar Jar Binks's dialogue was changed to make him wise in the Force. The Phantom Re-Edit was also circulated on the Internet.

Rumor attributed The Phantom Edit to Kevin Smith, likely because his films frequently referred to the Star Wars mythos, and he edited his own films. Smith admitted to having seen it, but denied that he was the editor. The editor was revealed to be Mike J. Nichols of Santa Clarita, California in the September 7, 2001 edition of the Washington Post, and the June 1, 2002 edition of the Los Angeles Times.

Despite rumors, no lawsuits were filed against Nichols, nor did he sell or make any money from the edit.

After the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Nichols created a new edit of that film entitled Attack of the Phantom.

Episode I: Balance of the Force

In addition to the basic "Phantom Edit," there have been other versions of Episode I along with an edit of Episode II. This specific version of The Phantom Menace had been re-edited by someone who goes by the name of "MagnoliaFan" and had recreated the first episode of the series into a film called "Balance of the Force," which was a much darker version of the film. It followed many of the previous versions of edits to the film, but redubbed the aliens, and almost every droid speaking role, so they were not speaking Galactic Basic Standard but instead were speaking their "native" droidspeak language (or some variation of it).

A short list of the changes to the film are listed here:

• Alternate Title and Crawl, giving more history on the Jedi, Republic, and Trade Federation.
• The plot had been altered from revolving around taxation to slave labor.
• Jar Jar was dubbed and subtitled. He was now a pompous, Han Solo-like character, who believed he saved Qui-Gon's life by dragging him down and thought Qui-Gon owed him the life debt.
• The Gungans now hated the Naboo people because Humans stole a Gungan relic, the Kyber crystal from them, explaining the big glowing globe at the end of the film.
• When Qui-Gon tried the mind trick on Watto, he became very angry and threw Qui-Gon out shouting, "Get lost! Come back when you gotta some money!"
• Many scenes had been resequenced with music from other films (Cantina music from the original Star Wars, and the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back).

See also

• List of changes in Star Wars re-releases