diff --git a/nbs/dl1/00_notebook_tutorial.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/00_notebook_tutorial.ipynb
index 71adfd4822..c74109e83f 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/00_notebook_tutorial.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/00_notebook_tutorial.ipynb
@@ -381,7 +381,6 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "# Import necessary libraries\n",
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import * \n",
     "import matplotlib.pyplot as plt"
    ]
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson1-pets.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson1-pets.ipynb
index e7901d815a..064ff69e48 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson1-pets.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson1-pets.ipynb
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson2-download.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson2-download.ipynb
index c1ba33f1fd..f9c2584c8f 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson2-download.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson2-download.ipynb
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
    },
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson2-sgd.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson2-sgd.ipynb
index ba103d2b24..602377f295 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson2-sgd.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson2-sgd.ipynb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "%matplotlib inline\n",
-    "from fastai import *"
+    "from fastai.basics import *"
    ]
   },
   {
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-camvid.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-camvid.ipynb
index 1af071d81b..5089fe89d2 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-camvid.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-camvid.ipynb
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *\n",
     "from fastai.callbacks.hooks import *\n",
     "torch.cuda.set_device(3)"
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-head-pose.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-head-pose.ipynb
index a8244bd3bb..374069743c 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-head-pose.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-head-pose.ipynb
@@ -31,7 +31,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-imdb.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-imdb.ipynb
index 1333cf9a2d..9400f98bec 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-imdb.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-imdb.ipynb
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.text import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-planet.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-planet.ipynb
index b9e765ebd4..896ed5d16b 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson3-planet.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson3-planet.ipynb
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson4-collab.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson4-collab.ipynb
index 65f8e1f5e0..498151f487 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson4-collab.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson4-collab.ipynb
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.collab import *\n",
     "from fastai.tabular import *"
    ]
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson4-tabular.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson4-tabular.ipynb
index 81595f5791..3abbcd952c 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson4-tabular.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson4-tabular.ipynb
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.tabular import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson5-sgd-mnist.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson5-sgd-mnist.ipynb
index a808383de5..543cff4115 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson5-sgd-mnist.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson5-sgd-mnist.ipynb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "%matplotlib inline\n",
-    "from fastai import *"
+    "from fastai.basics import *"
    ]
   },
   {
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson6-pets-more.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson6-pets-more.ipynb
index 6589591875..870b767911 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson6-pets-more.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson6-pets-more.ipynb
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
     "%autoreload 2\n",
     "%matplotlib inline\n",
     "\n",
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson6-rossmann.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson6-rossmann.ipynb
index ba40d43daf..816467969a 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson6-rossmann.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson6-rossmann.ipynb
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.tabular import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-human-numbers.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-human-numbers.ipynb
index 70e59914bf..06832f0939 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-human-numbers.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-human-numbers.ipynb
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.text import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-resnet-mnist.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-resnet-mnist.ipynb
index bf7dd58694..bd10c3d14c 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-resnet-mnist.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-resnet-mnist.ipynb
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "%matplotlib inline\n",
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *"
    ]
   },
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-gan.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-gan.ipynb
index 747ceae043..26ca78d626 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-gan.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-gan.ipynb
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "import fastai\n",
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *\n",
     "from fastai.callbacks import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision.gan import *"
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-imagenet.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-imagenet.ipynb
index 16c781c84a..fc862a69cb 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-imagenet.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres-imagenet.ipynb
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "import fastai\n",
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *\n",
     "from fastai.callbacks import *"
    ]
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres.ipynb
index 77b7872431..506bcfeb9c 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-superres.ipynb
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
     "import fastai\n",
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *\n",
     "from fastai.callbacks import *\n",
     "\n",
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-wgan.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-wgan.ipynb
index 2965935e04..3635958c79 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/lesson7-wgan.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/lesson7-wgan.ipynb
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision import *\n",
     "from fastai.vision.gan import *"
    ]
diff --git a/nbs/dl1/rossman_data_clean.ipynb b/nbs/dl1/rossman_data_clean.ipynb
index e304894c63..0f7ad6d53c 100644
--- a/nbs/dl1/rossman_data_clean.ipynb
+++ b/nbs/dl1/rossman_data_clean.ipynb
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
-    "from fastai import *"
+    "from fastai.basics import *"
    ]
   },
   {
diff --git a/tools/fastai-nbstripout b/tools/fastai-nbstripout
index ec04282b8e..023b7565f3 100755
--- a/tools/fastai-nbstripout
+++ b/tools/fastai-nbstripout
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ for filename in args.files:
 
 # implied textconv mode
 if not args.files and input_stream:
-    s = json.load(input_stream)
+    try: s = json.load(input_stream)
+    except: raise Exception(f'failed to load {input_stream}')
     clean_nb(s)
     x = json.dumps(s, sort_keys=True, indent=1, ensure_ascii=False)
     output_stream.write(x)