hk47awesome

This fan edit was a delight. Does it truly turn KotCS into a genuinely worthy successor to Last Crusade? No, not really… And part of the problem is that Last Crusade is just such a perfect ending that nothing short of a miracle would have resulted in a film that would be the perfect follow-up. But this edit does make it a much more watchable version of the film and a fun adventure in its own right especially since I enjoy the happy ending.

I started watching CS fanedits because after watching Dial of Destiny (which I didn’t like whatsoever; whole other story) I decided to give KotCS another shot and while it was still VERY bad in a LOT of places, I realized that if I compared both films with all of the stuff I disliked cut out, I was left with at least a fun adventure film with KotCS and… I’m not really sure what with DoD.

Just considering the released/theatrical/official KotCS – the first half was already much stronger overall IMO. The 50s vibes, the hangar discovery/fight, the G-Men interrogation, Indy at school, meeting Mutt & the Greaser vs Jocks, the city chase… all of that to me felt like great Indy action-adventure in a new era. The latter half of the film at once veers closer to the original trilogy and feels even further: it mostly loses any and all 50s flair other than Greaser-Mutt & Commies since it’s in an area totally reminiscent of classic Indy… and yet, it features more egregious and over-the-top barfed up CGI effects in the jungle chase, Mutt’s terrible swordfight to splits to getting hit in the nuts repeatedly, the absurd CG monkey swinging, the ants, the triple waterfall sequence, the “interdimensional” alien closeups, etc. All just one after the other. This edit proves that the first half is stronger yet still manages to pull the latter half closer to the first which is a great feat.

FIRST HALF
Right off the bat, the opening is fantastic. I like the “making a molehill out of a mountain” transition sans gopher/prairie dog created by 15 MaF – actually all of the small visual edits made by 15 MaF are utilized well here but /their/ fan edit removed a few more things than I’d have liked that weren’t really part of the problem IMO (i.e. the “you don’t 'Im!!!” or “damn, thought that was closer” which feels all fairly standard Indy to me) and so I’m glad MMP preserved a lot more of the smaller interactions.

This entire portion of the film focuses primarily on minor minor MINOR edits to just strengthen the otherwise already pretty solid chunk. It’s cleaner, it’s nicer. The first big (ish) edit is removing the alien corpse hand which is nice to not just immediately “show the goods” so to speak.

By far the biggest edit of the first half is the removal of the nuke town which is a mixed bag for me. I, like many, thought the sequence was absolutely dumb when I watched it, but I do like how that town adds to the 50s vibe, especially since we lose most of that in the second half. I think I’d have preferred a way of keeping it but toning down the unbelievability factor, but the editing does a fantastic job of switching over to the military base regardless.

SECOND HALF
This edit streamlines the entire back half which not only makes it flow a bit quicker, but also removes a lot of the unbearably bad sequences. This is made up of far more significant or big cuts. Most of the Indy/Marion reunion is preserved, but the alien corpse is once again cut for the better. The whole snake bit, which in general is kind of bad and an absurd way of handling the snakes joke, is still improved with the removal of Indy needing(?) them t call it a rope, then them calling it a rope, then him grabbing hold of it. THAT is just beyond mind boggingly dumb so the most egregious aspect was removed.

The jungle chase is probably the choppiest and most “fan edit-y” section like someone else said. For instance, after Mutt is swept away, they say that Spalko is getting away but due to all the cuts, the next shot shows the two cars have swapped with Indy’s now in the lead at the cliffside – if that’s how it is in the film as well, I don’t recall it being as obvious. I also find the total removal of the sword fight a bit of a bummer… Mutt mentions fencing earlier on, he clearly gets the sword in the edit still, AND the edit still makes a point of showing Spalko unsheath her sword… so it feels like we should have at least seen Mutt and Spalko lock swords for a second before pushing on. That being said, the removal of the splits, most of the sword fight, AND the monkey swinging is just… it makes that sequence so much more Indiana Jones, y’know? Even with the elements cut that I’d have liked kept some way, this version is far superior because it doesn’t have those in-your-face terrible moments. The chase is now exciting and feels more real as a result.

The ants were surprisingly preserved nearly 1:1 – if there were any edits, they were very minor and I didn’t notice them. I’m not a fan of the ants and if I did my own edit, I’d have likely tried to skip over them with them pretty much driving over the cliff quickly. I think. And that’s why I’m torn – removing the ants entirely would also cut out Indy’s fist fight with the henchman and that’s such a classic Indy bit… I just can’t stand the ants concept or visuals really. I guess I’d prefer it best if we cut most of the closeups of the ants or Spalko squishing them with her knees for instance and keep mostly to Indy and his fight but it is what it is.

Waterfalls: I think the idea is funny and works as well as ToD’s raft fall… but the execution and the triple nature of it is just a bit wonky. I think the biggest issue for me is the way they get into the water with Marion landing in a CGI tree, driving off, and the clearly CGI tree then swinging up and knocking the Commies down. Maybe that could have been edited a bit? I don’t know.

Then whole temple sequence is fine, but the true triumph of this edit is the ending. It preserves the over-the-top “Hoist with his own petard” death of Spalko bursting with flames from her eyes and then disintegrating but completely removes the weird skeleton movement, the skeletons coalescing into that terrible CGI alien, and all of the UFO taking off (the spinning room is already evocative of a spinning saucer in a more subtle way!). The only change I’d have made is to cut Mac’s death scene which never made any sense to me and just felt supremely weird. “I’ll be fine…” and then falling into the swirling death abyss? Why? He never had any sorta redemption where I should feel bad for him, none of his actions seemed to suggest he’d be willing to die, literally the last thing he does is save his own skin before foolishly sticking around to get more treasure. I guess I wish he either got swept up on his own or Indy tries to save him, but we omit his weird comment(s) and he gets dragged away.

I’m glad the little bit with Indy calling Mutt “Junior” is preserved, the randpa comment, AND the wedding. All things some edits remove or heavily alter that I personally don’t think need to be whatsoever.

Overall, Mutt is DEFINITELY more likable with his outbursts either toned down or cut and the Indy-Marion romance is strengthened by the omission of the random “honey” type comments.

In summary, I can’t imagine rewatching the theatrical cut of KotCS again. This version preserves most of the film as it originally was but removes the most egregious aspects, thus turning it into an immediately more exciting adventure with far less eyeroll-inducing moments. I HIGHLY recommend it as an alternative to the original. But if you truly despise Mutt as Indy’s son or the jokes, it might not be for you. I, for one, am glad it didn’t edit out all the humor like a lot of edits seem to do.

I agree to an extent with most of the criticisms but unlike OP and a lot of others who share them, I don’t hate the films at all just as I didn’t hate the Prequels either. The Sequel Trilogy has not ruined Star Wars just like Rebels, TCW, and the Prequels didn’t ruin it either. And let’s not forget the Holiday Special. Star Wars fans are too hyperbolic.

I do think they missed an opportunity at showcasing a new dynamic. Instead, the Republic is destroyed like that and the heroes are once again Rebels. I feel the same about how Lucas decided ti create a new planet, Naboo, instead of having it be Alderaan so that way when it’s destroyed in ANH, we’d have had more of a connection to that place. I thought about tweaking the Prequels to change all instances of Naboo into Alderaan but that’d be next to impossible. Without the technical wizardry of Adywan, I certainly wouldn’t be able to fix Sidious’ face in ROTS much less restructure the Prequels so significantly that Naboo becomes Alderaan. Hosnian Prime is perhaps a different story if it’s mentioned in the Opening Crawl and all instances of its name are simply cut, leaving us to assume it was Coruscant.

The Sequel Trilogy has seemingly pulled the worst elements of the old Legends post-ROTJ continuity into the new Canon without carrying over some of the better aspects. Both continuities now share the silly premise of “yet another superweapon!!” I wonder if Lucas hadn’t made a Death Star II, if we would have had the bajillion other superweapons in Star Wars history… But I digress. I would have much preferred the new dynamic of the New Republic battling a small faction known as the First Order that still believes in the ideals of the Empire. The old Legends continuity managed to find a way to tell stories that had this dynamic while still having stakes. At the end of the day, they both used the OT as a crutch. After ROTJ, they battle Imperial Remnants which basically amounts to the heroes of the OT battling against stormtroopers led by some new red lightsaber wielding villain. That’s the same as TFA and TLJ albeit with completely different framing. It does feel like their victory in ROTJ was for nothing. Technically, in canon, it’s been thirty some odd years but TFA is literally the first film after ROTJ, in the main saga, and so the fact that we go from “we did it!” to “welp, it was nice while it lasted” just like that is disappointing.

That said – Luke using the Force at the end of TLJ was fucking awesome. I couldn’t think of a better send off for him. The rest of his story in TLJ, to an extent, bugs me. I still can’t determine if it’s purely because I grew up with a Luke who won, who rebuilt the Jedi Order even with many several and varied trials and tribulations along the way, including falling to the Dark Side like his father before him, or if it really is a shame coming off the previous film, ROTJ, to see it all fall apart. If you look at it this way, they really have hit a reset button.

• Han reverts back to being a smuggler which pretty much walks back all of the character’s growth and arc from the OT.
• Luke hasn’t succeeded in rebuilding the Jedi Order so was it really that much of a “Return” of the Jedi?
• The bad guys are still stormtroopers, still flying TIE Fighters, piloting AT-ATs and STs, using mini Death Star tech, and even building an even larger and deadlier Death Star
• The good guys are still called Rebels

Snoke didn’t have to be anyone but they really haven’t gone anywhere in TLJ except backwards. Rey still hasn’t trained much with the Force, the Resistance is still on the run and is back to being a Rebellion, the First Order has basically reinstated the Empire apparently, etc. This is compounded by the fact that it also takes place immediately after TFA which doesn’t allow them to make any sort of jumps in where the characters are at. Even on a microlevel, Rey and Poe have only just met which is weird since everyone has mostly liked the new, younger cast thus far. For two of the big characters not to interact at all for two out of three of the films in the new trilogy is really weird. The OT had a marvelous group that had amazing chemistry. The Prequels didn’t have this because AOTC needed such a massive leap in time and thus swapped out the actor for Anakin out of necessity while one of the other major characters in TPM, Qui-Gon, is too dead to still be around physically. Add on some inferior dialogue and you’ve got a core group of characters that don’t have the best chemistry. But now the new trilogy HAS wittier banter (though some humor in TLJ didn’t feel Star Warsy to me) and characters who have a lot of chemistry and instead, they decide to splinter them up.

Finn interacts with Poe and Rey and BB-8. Poe interacts with Finn and BB-8. Rey interacts with Finn and BB-8. That’s it. That’s how it is in both films. They had an excuse in the first one; they didn’t realize Poe would be as popular as he was, they initially planned to kill him off anyway… but after seeing that chemistry at work, it’s mind boggling that they didn’t, at the very least, have him, Finn, BB-8, and the new character of Rose all go to Canto Bight. That would have been there Butt City. Instead, they decided to fracture the group more by not only having Rey on Ahch-To but also split Poe and Finn up again. So now, they have all of one film to finally stick together and that’s a shame.

TLDR I agree with the criticisms though that doesn’t make me hate the new films just like my criticisms of the Prequels didn’t make me hate them either. I love Luke’s display of Force Mastery at the end and I don’t mind what they did with Snoke. My issue lies more in the over arching story. It definitely should have been New Republic versus First Order. I’ve written new opening crawls for both TFA and TLJ that emphasize the role of the New Republic, acknowledging its presence as if it hasn’t been completely destroyed. From there, the only edits that need to be made are to the few instances where they imply “no one is coming”. No, fuck that, the New Republic absolutely would be coming but they just can’t get the signal far enough or something to that effect. That’s about the best you can hope for. The rest would basically be a fan film, not a fan edit.

Octorox said:
Another sidenote, it bothers me that there are no ALL CAPS terms in the crawl, since that’s a staple of Star Wars crawls.

The ALL CAPS stuff is reserved only for the even-numbered films. There are none in TPM, ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC in AOTC, none in ROTS, DEATH STAR in ANH, none in ESB, GALACTIC EMPIRE in ROTJ. It wasn’t until Force Awakens that they put ALL CAPS into an odd-numbered film and it’s also the first time that there are multiple instances of ALL CAPS used in a single cap (I believe FIRST ORDER and RESISTANCE are capitalized and there might be a third one too. I want an edit that gets rid of the ALL CAPS in VII’s crawl to match the pattern established in the first six. It’s a small thing but eh.