In December, 2006 a user named ZakDrizzt on the originaltrilogy.com website posted a request in the forums for someone to put together a longer cut of LEGEND that included footage from all available verisons of the film. Another user, LeoneNut, rose to the challenge. The dialogue back and forth can all be found at http://www.originaltrilogy.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=11&threadid=7110.
LeoneNut did most of these edits on an old Acer Notebook and a Western Digital External 500gb Harddrive. The software he used was DVDDecrypter, AVISynth, TMPGEnc, Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD, and DVD-lab Pro. In March, 2007, LeoneNut finished two longer cuts of LEGEND.
The first version, called the Extended Version, was 118 minutes long.
The second version was built upon the Extended version and included the original beginning of the film. This version was called the Workprint Version and was 127 minutes long.
The following abbreviations are used below in the discussions of the changes made to the film :
AC = American Cut
EC = European Cut
DC = Director's Cut
This version uses the 113 minutes Director's Cut as a base and the following footage was added/replaced:
1) Extra closer shot of bird on Jack's shoulder, and him whistling at the bird. (AC) + audio of whistling added also
2) "Maybe innocent, maybe sweet..." speech by Blix is now around shots of Jack & Lily crossing a river, before they run off (AC)
A shot from the DC that was originally bookended by Blix's speech, has been removed. It is a continuation of a shot found in the AC but there is a gap in the footage so couldn't be used.
3) Shot of clouds gathering in the sky, while the Goblins chase the Unicorn (EC)
4) Shot of Jack turning to Lili. And another of Lili crouching to kiss Jack "Jack...I'm sorry." (AC) - Some lip synch improved, but not perfect
Shot of clouds gathering has been added here to make the scene flow a little better, it has been reversed and flipped to make the sun appear from behind the clouds (EC)
An alternate extended shot of Lili trying to kiss Jack and him not responding (AC)
The same shot in the DC has been removed.
5) Shot of lightning hitting tree, while Jack is searching for the ring underwater. (AC)
6) Closeup of the Alicorn being hewn off. (AC)
7) Shot of Blunder jumping up onto a table in the cottage moved earlier in the scene (DC)
Shot of Blunder putting face in bowl put in the above's place. (AC)
8) Shots of Jack searching for Lili in the blizzard "Lili!". (AC)
Shots of Blix and company riding through the storm, and Lili following. (AC)
Pox's line "Four, Five, Six, hurray for Blix! Hey!" has been removed as it was used in the DC earlier. The music from the AC has been replaced with blizzard sound fx.
9) Shots of Gump jumping around and throwing fairy dust at Jack. (AC) - Actually makes Gump appear more magical
Shot of Elf legs running past Gump and Jack in the background. (AC)
Shot of elves watching Jack, while Gump gets angry that Jack let Lili touch the unicorn. (AC)
Shot of elves giggling and Gump's line "But love is another story." (EC)
Shot of elves throwing up snow, moved to a more appropriate place in the DC when Gump is "bested" by Jack and goes crazy. This shot may be from The Fairy Dance originally. (AC)
10) Shot of Screwball watching Jack with the Unicorns, moved so that he is watching Jack walk back and not disrupt the scene as cut in the DC. (AC)
11) Shots of Lili in the blizzard approaching Blix and company. (AC)
Extra shot of Lili watching the Goblins by the fire. (AC) + added audio of Blix laughing
Blunder's line "Adios Amigos" removed.
12) Odd out of place wipe removed between the Goblins capturing the Unicorn and Jack & Gump finding Brown Tom
13) Shot of glowing eyes on shelf watching Lili who has been taken to the Great Tree. (AC) + music looped to cover new shots
Shot of chained Unicorn looking uneasy. (AC)
14) Two shots of the demonic cherubs and a cook chopping up "meat". (AC)
This is taken from the AC intro which makes it look like Darkness is sitting in the kitchen. Took some liberty with this as it makes Screwball's reaction funnier when the cherub goes back and investigates something else, while Screwball has run off.
15) Dialogue for Oona as she spies on Lili "You should see your princess now!" (EC)
16) Scene of Jack and Gump searching the Great Tree and being attacked by "pygmies". (AC)
17) Shot of statue getting up, as Lili inspects the necklace. (AC)
Shot of dancing dress engulfing Lili with added flash. (AC) + music shifted and repeated, really surprised how this worked out
Next shot is taken from the AC, to continue the flash and replaces the non-flash DC version.
18) Shot of Brown Tom and Screwball, after Jack and Gump find them. (AC)
Shot of Jack looking at them. (AC)
19) Shot of one of the cooks being attacked by Gump and company, moved to a more appropriate place in the DC. Was shown in completely the wrong place in the AC (AC)
20) Scene of Lili at the table looking at the black fruit on a plate, and the wine glass filling up. (AC)
This scene is moved to appropriate place in the DC.
Darkness' line "Eat" has been removed from this footage, as he says it again in the DC footage.
Shot of Lili saying "I do nothing for your pleasure" has been added but shortened so she doesn't say the line, as she says it in the DC footage but from a different angle.
21) Shot of Unicorn being held down by Darkness' minions, before Darkness starts his "sermon". (AC)
22) Screwball's line "Get up there!" after he gets the plate to the top of the chimney. (AC)
23) Shot of Screwball falling asleep in exhaustion at the top of the chimney. (AC)
24) Extra shots where Jack swings his sword on Darkness a second time, Darkness screaming and sparks from the hands. (AC)
25) Scene of Alicorn being restored on the Unicorn, the sun rising and the Unicorn getting up. (AC)
This has been cobbled together from the intercutting scenes in the AC, so that the Jack and Lili scenes don't suffer as edited. Music is repeated from Jack recovering the ring, but plays a fraction longer. When the Unicorn gets up a Unicorn sound has been added.
26) Overhead shot of Lili under the spell lying on the grass. (AC)
27) Music shifted and repeated to account for Gump shot below, and have added a bird whistle when it lands on Jack's shoulder. Reminiscent of when Jack whistled at the bird earlier in the film.
28) Shot of Gump reaching the top of the cliff. (EC)
This version uses the 118 minute cut above as a base:
1) Alternate Goblin Intro added. The original DC intro plays up until we see Blix in the DC. The music has been moved during this sequence so it flows with the rest of the alternate intro later. The sound fx (forest sounds) from the DC are absent (an oversight, but not really noticeable).
The alternate intro then plays minus some repeat shots up until the Goblin's ride off with the Unicorn hair. Some shots of Blix have been replaced with the better shots from the DC with credits. Extra shots of the four goblins riding have been added from later in the DC (where they chase the unicorn). While shots of the Great Tree and the remaining two credits are shown. One shot of the Goblins riding has been removed from the alternate intro footage.
The rest of the alternate intro plays out, and the DC version with just Darkness and Blix has been removed.
Darkness' last two lines in this scene have been taken from the DC version.
2) Faerie Dance sequence has been added, some storyboards have been removed and instead documentary footage of Gump and the Faeries dancing has been added. Some clever editing has been done to show double storyboards in the 2.35:1 frame and showing the production photographs as fully as possible.