

Attack of the Phantom is an aggressive cut of Episode II with many changes to almost every element of the film. Nichols calls his edits "fixes" and believes that his version is a stronger and better narrative than the original, and to be frank, I find it hard to argue with him. His edit, with a runtime of 104 minutes, is actually pretty good.
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These were all addressed by Nichols with a series of edits, and by cutting 38 minutes from the film. The main problems with Lucas' cut are numerous: the lack of human connection behind our protagonists the terrible pacing and dialogue Anakin is a creepy and unlikable character the plot is predictable and there is no tension at all.

In fact, everything else is easily forgotten from the theatrical cut of this film. But between them, there's just too much that is inferior and bland. It is a film that people (including me) fast-forward to get to the parts that they like: the battle with Jango Fett on Kimono, the battle of Geonosis and every Christopher Lee scene. Nichols tried his hand at saving this film, setting his goal as the same as that of the Phantom Edit, "to make a much stronger version of film based on the previous execution and philosophies of film storytelling and editing of George Lucas." There are some great moments in Attack of the Clones but there is so much wrong it that they get lost. Following the success of the Phantom Edit (a fan-edit of Episode I), Mike J. It was a film filled with nonsensical dialogue, awkward scene after awkward scene and then the worst love plot in the history of cinema. Nichols, by looking at his second work, Attack of the Phantom.Īttack of the Clones was created under the watchful control of George Lucas, and as any cursory glance around the internet will tell you, the result was a critically hammered disappointment.

This story opened up a big question for me as a fan: could this be done again with the worst film in the series? Could editing save Attack of the Clones? This article will focus on the case for the existence and merits of the Phantom Editor, Mike J. Once a good editor was introduced, we of course got Star Wars: A New Hope. But other than these small glimpses, the Lost Cut remains an intriguing but unseen artefact to most of us. Also, a few short snippets from the Lost Cut were used in the Star Wars Holiday Special to introduce the "Life On Tatooine" segment of the program. Despite this cover up, a large section of the footage from the this version of the Cantina scene can be found on the Behind The Magic CD ROM from 1998. Within it, there are scenes that have never been seen elsewhere, as well as alternate takes of scenes we know from the finished version. This version of Star Wars (dubbed the "Lost Cut") was a complete disaster: according to an article in Star Wars Insider #41 by David West Reynolds, it contains about 30-40% different footage from the final version, and to this day the Lost Cut has been seen by very few eyes. Star Wars is no stranger to the spectre of a phantom editor - most will know the tale of how Star Wars: A New Hope was "saved in editing," not by George Lucas, but by John Jympson.
