Crystal Skull fan-edits

EddyW

Active member
With the DVD and Blu-Ray hitting stores across the globe I figure it won't be long before fan edits of the film start raising to the surface. I don't have much experience with fan edits (watching them I mean, I won't even try doing one), but a re-edit of Crystal Skull would definitely have my interest. A brief search on the Internet lead me to a few forums where I had to register to get into and a couple where people are gearing up to start editing, discussing ideas etc. but since I have no idea which of them are actually capable of delivering a good alternative version of the film I wouldn't know which ones to keep my eye on. One of the sites I came across is this one, one of the guys on there posted a sample of the color correction he planned to add and it looked pretty good. But a good color correction doesn't make for a good film, so I was hoping we could monitor some promising fan edits in here. Which sites usually deliver good fan edits? Maybe we could collect our ideas for possible changes and let some of those guys know?

Edit: Oops, sorry I noticed I put this in the wrong place... Could somebody move it to the proper forum section?
 

Deckard

New member
I was already thinking this myself but im not sure how to do it.

For starters, I would cut down the Mutt Swinging scenes, from 3 or however many times we see him, to the initial swing and then him just coming out of the jungle. You' can't cut it completely and still have the chase make sense. I think that might even be tough, depending how they cut away from Indy vs Spalko exactly.

Then I'd cut right after John Hurt delivers the "space between spaces" line. It goes to another shot behind Indy overlooking the landscape b4 they cut to the close ups and have the KNowledge was there tresure line and the whole why didn't you stick around crap. It all felt so stiff and forced. So cut right at that last shot of Indy looking out as the water floods in instead and go right to Broadbent running down the hall. w/ the Music in those scenes it would be easy to do that one.

Other then that, I'd have to think about it, Maybe if you can make it work, just cut the whole doomtown and nuke thing out. Go right from the rocketsled to Marshall college.

Make those 3 cuts smoothly fit, and I would be thrilled.
 

torao

Moderator Emeritus
Sure, the author is dead etc etc .... and huge parts of Crystal Skull don't work for me but I absolutely don't get behind the idea of re-editing this or any other movie*.

Someone mentioned today that when he watches Last Crusade he skips the whole opening sequence. That's also some kind of re-editing.
But I think a movie made by certain people is still too "holy" to me to actually re-edit it. (Besides, I'd rather use that time to do something original.)




*I find it interesting, though, that some people do.
 

Agent Z

Active member
I think fan edits are fine. It's interesting to see just what people want to get rid of. I was reading a thread somewhere and some guy was wanting to get rid of damn near everything...even scenes that I thought everyone liked, like Indy's intro, in silhouette! :eek:

To each their own, I guess...

I would like to play around with some edits, just for fun.

For example, when Indy whips onto the warehouse light fixture and starts swinging down from the boxes, there has to be an edit in there where we can cut to him making it on the back of Spalko's jeep, and deleting the missed first attempt.

Not that I have anything against Indy failing on the first try, but it would just be cool to see if that edit could be done.
 

Indy's brother

New member
I was just thinking of a few cuts in the dialogue. The end credits for Skull are rolling in my living room right now, and though I enjoy Skull more with repeat viewings, the non-action scenes really drag with repeat viewings. Also, replacing line delivery for "I never should have doubted you my friend" and "Part time" from the bonus features. Just subtle little touches, you know? I should note that I neither have the time nor the know-how to do it myself, but if I did, that's the direction I would take.
 

Agent Z

Active member
Indy's brother said:
I was just thinking of a few cuts in the dialogue. The end credits for Skull are rolling in my living room right now, and though I enjoy Skull more with repeat viewings, the non-action scenes really drag with repeat viewings. Also, replacing line delivery for "I never should have doubted you my friend" and "Part time" from the bonus features. Just subtle little touches, you know? I should note that I neither have the time nor the know-how to do it myself, but if I did, that's the direction I would take.

Ohhhh, nice idea! All those lines of dialogue that sounded better in the trailers...sure, put them back in! (y)
 

Kooshmeister

New member
I messed around with the "monkey scene" in Windows Movie Maker, removing the shots of Mutt swinging like Tarzan, instead having him get stuck in the vines, see the monkeys, then cut to the cliffside Ben Hur action as a continuous sequence not intercut with anything, then have Mutt appear out of nowhere as a total surprise, thus making it look less like the monkeys are following him than he just got them riled up, and they were attacking him as much as Spalko and the soldier; he just intentionally led the angry monkeys to them.
 

EddyW

Active member
Kooshmeister, yeah that sounds like one of those things that might make the movie more watchable for people who didn't like the film as much as the instant lovers. Same thing should be possible for the fridge thing. I can even image the sequence going something like this: Indy gets into the fridge, slams the door and on the "slam" the screen goes black. Then we fade in to Indy in the shower getting cleaned of the radiation. It would make it more believable, at least to me, to not see exactly how he got out of the explosion, just like the submarine ride in Raiders.

IndyFan89, what are your plans for the re-edit? Do you have a list of changes you're going for?

It's a shame there are no deleted scenes on the DVD, might have been nice to have some extra material to work with.
 

TheMutt92

New member
EddyW said:
It's a shame there are no deleted scenes on the DVD, might have been nice to have some extra material to work with.

We're there any deleted scenes? I know there was the one w/ Mutt at the train station, but other than that a few little cuts here and there... was there anything major?
 

The Golden Idol

New member
EddyW said:
Kooshmeister, yeah that sounds like one of those things that might make the movie more watchable for people who didn't like the film as much as the instant lovers. Same thing should be possible for the fridge thing. I can even image the sequence going something like this: Indy gets into the fridge, slams the door and on the "slam" the screen goes black. Then we fade in to Indy in the shower getting cleaned of the radiation. It would make it more believable, at least to me, to not see exactly how he got out of the explosion, just like the submarine ride in Raiders.

I don't think that would be a good idea; I think it leaves the scene too obscure. I think a series of small cuts, such as the fridge bouncing around and the gopher, would make it a better scene. It would also be cool if the fridge flies out of the explosion, lands with one thud on the ground, and the door stays closed longer than it was in the movie, to indicate that Indy's pretty beat up in there.
 

emtiem

Well-known member
EddyW said:
Kooshmeister, yeah that sounds like one of those things that might make the movie more watchable for people who didn't like the film as much as the instant lovers. Same thing should be possible for the fridge thing. I can even image the sequence going something like this: Indy gets into the fridge, slams the door and on the "slam" the screen goes black. Then we fade in to Indy in the shower getting cleaned of the radiation. It would make it more believable, at least to me, to not see exactly how he got out of the explosion, just like the submarine ride in Raiders.

It'd be a bit disappointing not to see the bomb go off, though; no?
 

Deckard

New member
The Golden Idol said:
I don't think that would be a good idea; I think it leaves the scene too obscure. I think a series of small cuts, such as the fridge bouncing around and the gopher, would make it a better scene. It would also be cool if the fridge flies out of the explosion, lands with one thud on the ground, and the door stays closed longer than it was in the movie, to indicate that Indy's pretty beat up in there.


I played around with the movie.

The best thing you can do, is after the rocket sled, Indy walks out into the desert and overlooks doomtown.

If you cut right before he actally goes into doomtown, you can get rid of theentire rediculous nuke sequence and the totally unnecassary FBI interrogation. The music drops out smoothly so you don't have to edit, and then you pick up with the shot of Marshall college.

It makes the beginning shorter, like the others, and we never deal with the nuke at all. It then makes the next scene that much better when Broadbent walks into Indy's class. Indy being surprised that the FBI showed up and "ransacked" his office works alot better when he hasn't previously been getting along with them.

It actually made me feel like Indy was in even bigger trouble too, because he never "made up" with that General or explained how he was kidnapped. He was just at the warehouse and invloved in something shady, and they never get his side of the story.
 

EddyW

Active member
I haven't seen the movie since it came out, so I don't have it fresh in my head, but I think I could do without the blast, first time I saw it I thought it wasn't that spectacular. I think what Deckard is going for might work. Though I can imagine some things just can't be deleted out entirely because it would ruin the pacing of the movie, what you are describing sounds pretty good to me.
 
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