Thread: Outlaw Star Fanedit Movie Trilogy

Long thread! (No way to make this shorter due to the nature of it. ) This is a little side-project of mine which hasn't actually taken a great deal of time. For years I've thought this would be a great idea. In case you don't know what a fanedit is, they're fan-made movie cuts. This might be to improve pacing, clean up mistakes in the official releases, or in some crazy cases... crossovers. I'm not sure if anybody has tried this though, or if many people make edits for TV or anime.

I am compacting Outlaw Star into a movie trilogy. My main reason for doing this is that it makes Outlaw Star easier to watch with family or friends which in my opinion is a better way to introduce people to a story. Some find TV series with dozens of episodes a struggle. As movies Outlaw Star can be completed in only three sittings. Best of all, each movie should be no more than two hours each. But how can I do that when every episode (at about 25 minutes each) comes to over 650 minutes? (Nearly eleven hours!!) It's easier than you'd expect.

First of all, obviously there's the intro, the opening and the ending in each episode. When they're cut that saves almost five minutes per episode. Little by little, by making lots of other cuts you can shave a helluva lot of time, not to mention removal of the filler content. Although I need to give it a full test viewing to check for any errors, the first movie is complete. I'll explain the edits. As a quick note, despite there being plenty of cuts the first movie will probably have the least because I want as much of Hilda's episodes there as feasibly possible. Not to mention, EP1-7 are plot-essential.


Outlaw Star: Sentinel

The first movie lasts until the end of episode seven, Creeping Evil. As mentioned, all OPs, EDs and narrations have been cut except for the beginning of the first episode and the end of Creeping Evil. (Although the "Next Time" part is cut.) I have decided to remove all of the gunshot intermissions from all episodes because they break the movie immersion. Obviously, the ad break eyecatches are all gone. While many unessential scenes are cut, those that are shortened are done without breaking context. I am going to miss some edits here. It's working well enough for even me to not notice some.

Episode 01 - Outlaw World: 0:00:00 to 0:20:18

• A lot of interactions between the Kei Pirates are shortened
• Jim's Ehefrau doesn't break down

Episode 02 - World of Desire: 0:20:20 to 0:38:21 (Length: 18:01)

• Horus' time docking at Blue Heaven and crew's entrance shortened
• Hilda's talk with Swanzo shortened slightly
• Jim doesn't have conversation with Melfina in their hotel room
• Final scene showing McCoy and his mech-thing slightly cut to seamlessly blend with next episode

Episode 03 - Into Burning Space: 0:38:21 to 0:57:18 (Length: 18:57)

• Some small cuts to Hilda's interaction with McCoy's gang
• Aisha's "discussion" (just a recording) with the Ctarl-Ctarl governor is shortened quite heavily

Episode 04 - When the Hot Ice Melts: 0:57:18 to 1:17:33 (Length: 20:15)

• A few segments slightly shortened, nothing notable

Episode 05 - The Beast Girl, Ready to Pounce: 1:17:36 to 1:31:14 (Length: 13:38)

• Scene where Jim tries to console Melfina and Gene is mad cut
• Aisha in the restaurant scene cut
• Swanzo's Toward Stars explanation cut
• Jim's mention of Fred Luo in the Outlaw Star cut (not doing so would have been problematic as Fred is mentioned in above scene)
• Aisha cleaning dishes at end cut

Episode 06 - The Beautiful Assassin: 1:31:17 to 1:48:25 (Length: 17:08)

• Short scene in rental car cut
• Gene's discussion with Fred and his bodyguards about Suzuka cut
• Interaction between Gene and disrobed Suzuka heavily shortened (still retaining all context)

Episode 07 - Creeping Evil: 1:48:28 to 2:04:37 (Length: 16:09)

• Gene's failed XGP liftoff simulation cut
• Gene's handsy Melfina scene cut
• Gene's discussion with spaceport staff cut
• Suzuka's brief discussion with brutish pirate (at end of battle) cut
• Jim's drive through Sentinel to get to Starwind & Hawking Enterprises cut

I know it seems like an awful lot has been removed but you'd be surprised by how easily these changes can be made unnoticed. Creeping Evil is such a satisfying conclusion to the first movie since Gene is poisoned at the end. Quite the cliffhanger! Some extra information...

Movies two and three will be called Heifong and Leyline. They will obviously divide episodes 08-26, but there will be a lot of cut episodes. These aren't essential to the plot in the slightest.

Completely cut episodes:

• 13 - Advance Guard from Another World
• 14 - Final Countdown
• 16 - Demon of the Water Planet
• 19 - Law and Lawlessness
• 23 - Hot Springs Planet Tenrei

"But wait, Mantis!", you cry. "We need Tenrei because it explains how Gene got the powerful caster shells." Well yeah, true, but you didn't need that context when you watched on Toonami. That's only a few minutes out of a full episode. It's hard to justify keeping Tenrei (which is almost wholly fan service) for that. An unfortunate but necessary sacrifice.

I'm keeping every other piece of essential viewing. That will include a few minutes from the ninth episode ("A Journey of Adventure... Huh?") because while it does have some nice character development that's worth keeping a few minutes of, it does have a crucial scene at the end: Gene seeing an advertisement for the space race which he sees the El Dorado in. Everything to do with Zomba will be cut.

So yeah, that's the project so far. Ah, one other thing. There's Through the Night for the first movie (Sentinel), but the second and third will have AMVs in Through the Night's place. I don't know which order yet, but one will be the second song from the Through the Night single (not many have heard it but it's great), the other being an undecided ‎Arimachi Masahiko song. Second movie's AMV intro will have clips from EP1-7, third movie AMV having clips from second movie. (To avoid spoilers.) Hiru no Tsuki is the credits for the first movie as expected. Second movie's credits will be Kuroi Tame from the Tsuki no Ie single. Third movie's credits, Tsuki no Ie.

Finally, I won't be releasing the trilogy publicly. My YouTube channel only took off (a little) because I uploaded all the Outlaw Star episodes back in the day, but I now prefer that people buy a box set. I'd share it with those who have done so privately.

So about a month ago I had the premiere of the first Outlaw Star movie, Sentinel, with Starwind55 and Zemekis. They both seemed to like it but Starwind55 was not a fan of the gunshot transitions being removed at all! It'd look better with any transition than none, right? I might still do some private showings of Sentinel if anybody's interested. Bar a few short parts that could do with minor edits (it got very tedious in those cases so I didn't do a thorough job) I consider the first movie finished. I don't know when I'll continue this side-project but it was fun. Right now there are more important focuses.

Originally Posted by Mantis

Starwind55 was not a fan of the gunshot transitions being removed at all! It'd look better with any transition than none, right?

It didn't bother me as much, but I think I did chime in once to say I preferred them in as well.
That said, I'm not a fan of movies so I don't really have a frame of reference for these fanedit things. I'd always prefer 100% of the source material for context. My thought process has always been to leave everything in and if that makes the work worse then so be it. HOWEVER, the goofy transitions made me laugh so I unironically enjoyed these scenes more with them than without even though you weren't trying for that outcome. Perhaps fanedits should add rather than take away? food for thought, lol.

You've clearly put a lot of thought into this and took Starwind's criticism seriously, so I'm sure there's a method to the madness. If/when you return to this, I'm sure the final product will be something you're proud of.

Well, I'm glad that you took my critique with such grace ;p

To be fair, I was drunk when we watched it so I probably wasn't as elegant when it came to sharing my thoughts. It wasn't that I loved wipes. My point is that, that making the transition go hard cut to black and then hard cut to the next scene didn't make it feel smooth. It worked in certain instances (like in episode two where Hilda's ship goes to hyperspace, you cut to black and then we get into Gene's childhood flashback. The use of the hard cut worked really well.). My example of the Star Wars wipe was a way you could use it as a stylized way of scene transitioning. Of course, it's not always the best course of action in some instances. Fade ins exist too ya know.

But you know what? Some of those scene wipes look like something you'd see in the DIC airings of Sailor Moon . Honestly, if this your way of suggesting that what you really want to do is to do a DIC/4kids style edit of Outlaw Star, then you might be on to something here. Hell, get us drunk enough and we can even come up with with a 4kids version of the Outlaw Star theme in the style of the One Piece rap!

Originally Posted by Zemekis

It didn't bother me as much, but I think I did chime in once to say I preferred them in as well.
That said, I'm not a fan of movies so I don't really have a frame of reference for these fanedit things. I'd always prefer 100% of the source material for context. My thought process has always been to leave everything in and if that makes the work worse then so be it.

Actually, I think so too. For any Outlaw Star fan and anybody who is an active fan of anime I would always recommend the original experience over this. But that's because the aim of this project was never improvement. It was always intended to be an adaptation. Have you ever tried to introduce a friend or family member to an anime or anything else and it didn't work out because it can be too difficult to arrange several (or more) different nights watching said thing? Maybe you haven't because I know you don't like to be pushy as much as you don't like to be pushed, but I've sure experienced that and I know that others I've talked to about this topic have.

In the case of Outlaw Star, that would include one of my girlfriends who expected me to sit and watch her play Oblivion for hours on a regular basis but wouldn't watch OLS, a couple of classmates who don't typically watch seinen types, or even my mother. The latter I eventually got to give the first few episodes a try and she ended up enjoying it overall. She now likes other anime but it takes time to get anybody into anime. Most people typically don't want to watch a series that's dozens of episodes with others because it's a pain in the ass to arrange it. This has gone for series (live action too) with completely different genres.

If Outlaw Star was a movie trilogy, the above people would have probably agreed to watching Outlaw Star in three sittings. They were more than happy to watch all sorts of movies because they are more digestible. This project is definitely a downgrade for an Outlaw Star fan. But I guess it is also for people who complain about filler in anime.

Originally Posted by Zemekis

HOWEVER, the goofy transitions made me laugh so I unironically enjoyed these scenes more with them than without even though you weren't trying for that outcome. Perhaps fanedits should add rather than take away? food for thought, lol.

Haha, that was just me playing around with something I'd never tried in Vegas for one or two hours. I was expecting dislikes on YouTube and didn't think anyone would like it, especially unironically, lol. It's just one of those things. You make some shitpost content one night and it feels like a total waste if you just leave it sitting in a folder forever.

As for adding instead of taking, you'd be surprised. There are a lot of fanedits that add. There are some that bridge a series of movies. Ones that don't "take" to a high extent are those that take all of the scenes from multiple releases and put them into a fanedit cut that's done better.

Or it can get taken to the extreme when people make a fanedit that takes two different movies in two different universes and creates some faux crossover. But they're usually just people pissing about. How about a crossover of Outlaw Star and... C... C-C-Co, urk, I can't say it...

Code GeassCosplay Sex Machine

Originally Posted by Zemekis

You've clearly put a lot of thought into this and took Starwind's criticism seriously, so I'm sure there's a method to the madness. If/when you return to this, I'm sure the final product will be something you're proud of.

I'm taking many crits on board and they're all appreciated. I had made a list of all of the revisions I'll make when I finally return to this in the distant future. The gunshot crit was definitely a valid opinion. Gunshots (or lack thereof) is simply a crit I've reflected on but won't make use of. Probably my strongest point in favour of these small changes is that those I've shown the movie have found it hard to distinguish scenes that had the gunshot/fade/cut to black from those I edited.

I can't believe I forgot the Ehefrau's engine was still running when I shortened that scene and still had Gene turn the key. Good job I was told about that one by Starwind55.

Originally Posted by Starwind55

Well, I'm glad that you took my critique with such grace ;p

To be fair, I was drunk when we watched it so I probably wasn't as elegant when it came to sharing my thoughts. It wasn't that I loved wipes. My point is that, that making the transition go hard cut to black and then hard cut to the next scene didn't make it feel smooth. It worked in certain instances (like in episode two where Hilda's ship goes to hyperspace, you cut to black and then we get into Gene's childhood flashback. The use of the hard cut worked really well.). My example of the Star Wars wipe was a way you could use it as a stylized way of scene transitioning. Of course, it's not always the best course of action in some instances. Fade ins exist too ya know.

But you know what? Some of those scene wipes look like something you'd see in the DIC airings of Sailor Moon . Honestly, if this your way of suggesting that what you really want to do is to do a DIC/4kids style edit of Outlaw Star, then you might be on to something here. Hell, get us drunk enough and we can even come up with with a 4kids version of the Outlaw Star theme in the style of the One Piece rap!

I did think about these criticisms as you identified these at the time. With regard to the hard cuts to black, I would say that only in part it's a creative choice. It's more so the fact that it is pretty much impossible to have the gunshots and shorten the episodes sufficiently. You can't really have it both ways. It's about finding the right times to cut so that it will still flow as best as possible. The flashback example you mentioned was practically impossible not to do (despite you enjoying it, lol) because what was originally there was the advert break eyecatch. Having eyecatches would become inconsistent when they keep appearing at differing intervals.

Something else that makes this all tricky (and difficult to keep the gunshots) is the background music. It's often difficult to effectively edit a scene and switch things around. If you do just do that and only that, of course the music will become jumbled. You'd have to cut out all of the voices and remove the background music (and other sounds) from those voice samples and then redub them onto a new BGM track. All of that would have made what was a two-day job take potentially weeks. Nevertheless I do appreciate the criticisms. And yeah, Outlaw Star already uses a lot of fades but it times them pretty well. It can be tricky to duplicate that usage.

Haha, well, at least we now have a foundation for something 4kids-like with the Toonami episodes!

Originally Posted by Mantis

Actually, I think so too. For any Outlaw Star fan and anybody who is an active fan of anime I would always recommend the original experience over this. But that's because the aim of this project was never improvement. It was always intended to be an adaptation. Have you ever tried to introduce a friend or family member to an anime or anything else and it didn't work out because it can be too difficult to arrange several (or more) different nights watching said thing? Maybe you haven't because I know you don't like to be pushy as much as you don't like to be pushed, but I've sure experienced that and I know that others I've talked to about this topic have.

Hmm. I can't say i've had that experience because as you say I hate to push media on people. If someone isn't into anime or is wishy-washy about giving it a try, then I don't even make the attempt. In return, I expect that they don't constantly recommend movies or tv shows for me to watch after I've stated my stance on that. I know what I like better than anyone else and won't be swayed, and I find it grating that so many folks think I'm just misunderstanding my own feelings and I'll change if I look at the thing they like. I'm pretty open to trying new things, but once my opinion is made up "stubborn as a goat" doesn't even begin to describe me.

I've only watched anime with people who were interested, or who just wanted something playing on the TV when we hang out. I was lucky enough to have a Mom and Sister that were/are into anime and I tend to make friends with anime-positive people as well so I don't have to fight this battle often. The straw that broke the camel's back was watching Twin Peaks in 2018-2019. My boss goes on and on about it and continued pushing me through season after season despite my protests. He kept telling me that he'd like to explore anime because I have so much knowledge about it and he trusts me to know his likes and dislikes. I got him a copy of Perfect Blue and he gave it back to me saying "to be honest, I'm just not going to make time for it."

Had to get that out of my system. I know where you're coming from though since this could be useful for people who wouldn't watch the series otherwise.

Originally Posted by Zemekis

Hmm. I can't say i've had that experience because as you say I hate to push media on people. If someone isn't into anime or is wishy-washy about giving it a try, then I don't even make the attempt. In return, I expect that they don't constantly recommend movies or tv shows for me to watch after I've stated my stance on that. I know what I like better than anyone else and won't be swayed, and I find it grating that so many folks think I'm just misunderstanding my own feelings and I'll change if I look at the thing they like. I'm pretty open to trying new things, but once my opinion is made up "stubborn as a goat" doesn't even begin to describe me.

I've only watched anime with people who were interested, or who just wanted something playing on the TV when we hang out. I was lucky enough to have a Mom and Sister that were/are into anime and I tend to make friends with anime-positive people as well so I don't have to fight this battle often. The straw that broke the camel's back was watching Twin Peaks in 2018-2019. My boss goes on and on about it and continued pushing me through season after season despite my protests. He kept telling me that he'd like to explore anime because I have so much knowledge about it and he trusts me to know his likes and dislikes. I got him a copy of Perfect Blue and he gave it back to me saying "to be honest, I'm just not going to make time for it."

Had to get that out of my system. I know where you're coming from though since this could be useful for people who wouldn't watch the series otherwise.

I hear what you're saying but in all honesty you are sort of the odd one out in this particular case. Your boss is one example (but I agree he was being a bit of a dick there) but almost everybody I know (or the majority) including Starwind55 (for the sake of argument) will suggest movies (and less occasionally TV) on a regular or semi-regular basis, or be accepting of suggestions. It's how I came to discover a lot of things. If it wasn't for a friend I wouldn't have discovered Outlaw Star.

I know that you had convenience here to discover some of these things on your own. You probably discovered a lot of video games for the same reason as many of us: they are virtual babysitters most of us grow up with. You probably discovered Outlaw Star because it happened to be on Toonami that you discovered on cable. I didn't have any cool channels like that. So if I hadn't had a friend with good anime knowledge (and not just being put off from watching it by bullies who tormented anime watchers in my school) I would not have found it and this site would never have existed.

I know you have your reasons, but the reason I put it that way (pushiness, so forth) is because I know you don't like that kind of thing, but in my opinion it is a common behaviour in society. People love to recommend movies. And far more so before streaming, people saw advertisements or trailers and really liked the look of a film, and likely on some occasions begged a friend to go to the movies to see it because it's kinda embarrassing to go on your own. Especially as a kid. And in many cases, the friend ended up enjoying it. I believe this pushiness is something most of us have had to endure and show in ourselves. To most people I probably wouldn't call it pushiness. Just a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes but a necessary evil that works out well sometimes. For example, I wasn't really enthusiastic about a few of the things Starwind55 "pushed" on me but ended up liking them quite a lot.

Yeah, your boss is a dick for not watching Perfect Blue. Give him a copy of Audition instead. He'll probably watch it because it isn't animu or mango.

Originally Posted by Mantis

I know that you had convenience here to discover some of these things on your own. You probably discovered a lot of video games for the same reason as many of us: they are virtual babysitters most of us grow up with. You probably discovered Outlaw Star because it happened to be on Toonami that you discovered on cable.

I've been very lucky to have discovered nearly everything I like organically rather than through recommendation. I think the line between recommendation and pushing is when the recommender (for lack of a better word) presses on with suggestions when they know the recipient is against it. The idea that someone thinks they know my tastes better than I do despite my protests is what irks me.

Originally Posted by Mantis

society

I think your analysis of me is spot-on regarding my take on recommendations and the ways I discovered media I like. That said, this thread isn't about me in the slightest so let's cut the Zem analysis here because nobody came to read this We can continue in my journal thread if you ever want to pick my brain about this stuff.