Fanedit News

Several months ago a writer named Blair Fischer contacted several members of FE, wanting to interview people about Fanediting, saying the article might appear in Maxim. The article has showed up now, though in a slightly more NSFW publication.

Penthouse published the article on their site on Sept 19th, and can be viewed here.

Our own Blueyoda, TMBTM, ReverendBeastly and of course The Creator, Boon23 are prominently featured in the article, as well as The Phantom Editor and Greencapt.

One can argue the “fan edit” subculture began the instant Jar Jar Binks opened his computer-generated mouth. When he did, some 15 minutes into 1999’s The Phantom Menace, the Star Wars übernerds simply wished he’d shut the hell up. The clumsy, floppy-eared Gungan from the planet Naboo, who spoke with a grating, pseudo-Rastafarian accent, was more than enough to piss off the lightsaber wielding dweebs who’d camped in front of Cineplexes in anticipation of the first Star Wars prequel.

For a while, copies of the tape circulated at comic-book conventions and from friends to friends of friends, until somebody uploaded The Phantom Edit to an internet newsgroup in early 2001. While the identity of the Phantom Editor remained as shrouded as a pre-Jedi Darth Vader, news of the Edit’s existence circulated mostly as rumor—like a yeti or a sexually active nerd. With no one to credit, one theory was that Clerks director (and known Star Wars nut) Kevin Smith did it, until he was forced to deny it—while at the same time confirming its existence. But as the internet expanded, so too did newsgroups, and soon the Edit was readily available—for free! When the Menace DVD came out in October 2001, Nichols reedited Edit—this time with commentary. He was an instant legend.

Even Ahmed Best, the voice of Jar Jar Binks, calls The Phantom Edit “great.” Best doesn’t feel at all slighted by Nichols’ mostly Jar Jar–free version. “If a fan thought that character should have been taken out and he took his time to do that, why should that affect me?” Best says. “That’s their idea. That’s their vision.”

Ralph Winter, producer of many X-Men and Star Trek films—both frequent fan-edit franchises—thinks fan edits are “kinda fun.” He says, “As a film maker, I think it’s incredible that fans want to participate and delve a little further into the material.”

So what do you think? Are Fanedits finally starting to get the credit they're due?

Please join the discussion of the 3rd Annual Fanedit Awards here....

You can also check out the new Awards page here.

Award video created by Blueyoda.

So you were probably expecting to see the Fanedit of the Year announcement now, but since you're all watching, I wanted to use this time to announce something else.

I have been thinking about this for a long time now, and recent events have inspired me to move forward on it.

Originaltrilogy.com and Fanedit.org have had a shaky, if not usually respective relationship at times. The time has come to bury all of that, and move towards a more unified and powerful fanedit and preservation community. I chose today because it is a day of great tragedy that has seemingly already united our sites in the common cause of preserving and enhancing the legacy of Star Wars.

I personally have had an attachment to Originaltrilogy.com since its earliest incarnation as a mere petition to release the Original Trilogy on DVD. I moved into the community further as the site developed into a wonderful resource for all things related to Star Wars video projects. Then came The Phantom Edit, and our little community received a spark that exploded into the fan-built community that we sometimes forget the value of.

As I moved into fanediting myself, I joined the then brand new community of Fanedit.org, while still using originaltrilogy for the valuable resource it is and to maintain the great friendships that I had built there. As time has passed, and my personal life became busier, I had less time for OT and lost touch there. I also began to notice some of the bad mouthing that was going on between the sites, and was turned off by it all.

Reflecting on that all recently, I realized that it wasn't FE or OT that was responsible for the animosity, but rather the actions of a few bad seeds. It is time to push those who want to divide our community out of the way and allow our complimentary scenes to become a united community. With that all in mind, I recently decided to make my feelings and the mutual feelings of the staff at FE official.

And so from this day forward, September 16th will be known as International FE<3OT Day. A day that could be blackened by the release of the horribly disfigured Star Wars Blu-rays, will instead be known as a day of community rejoicing in our common goals of preserving and
enhancing the Star Wars legacy, as well as the other great movies we all love and enjoy.

I ask that all FE members who share my love of OT also proclaim their love in the forum thread I will be starting at OT in off-topic titled "FE<3OT". You can also change your signature image at Originaltrilogy.com to the FE<3OT logo to further show your love and respect for OT.

Please also post in this thread.

Rise up brothers and sisters, and love our greatest ally in this battle, Originaltrilogy.com. Thank Jay, Moth3r and all the staff at OT for creating and maintaining a wonderful site for the Star Wars and fanediting community, that ultimately helped foster this very community at FE that we love so much. Now more than ever, you are a truly valuable resource to us all.

Thanks guys. Long live OT!

So here we finally are. The big award. The one every faneditor hopes to get. "Best Fanedit of the Year". Which, along with "Best Faneditor of the Year", is one of the most difficult to judge. Because each fanedit is different in how it found new ways to make their audience experience their favorite movies.

Some fanedits are leaner versions of their original counterparts making for a more intense experience, others were originally more than one movie and they have been re-edited into a single viewing experience. Others played with the order in which scenes were presented; some completely reconstructed the audio track. Some went so far as creating entirely new special effects sequences.

Trying to figure out which took the most talent and skills is like comparing apple and oranges. In the end, what matters the most is how deeply the Fanedit managed to provide a new take on a movie (or more than a movie in some cases) and how appreciated the final creation was.

The nominees are:

Please join the discussion of the 3rd Annual Fanedit Awards here....

You can also check out the new Awards page here.

Award video created by Reave and filmed by Todd Fuller.

Please join the discussion of the 3rd Annual Fanedit Awards here....

You can also check out the new Awards page here.

Award video created by L8wrtr.