Well that's part of what's nice about starting with the yoda scenes. Luke is told he is finished training and must defeat Vader. the goal of the movie, the personal story is set up right away. The excursion to Jabba's now feels like Luke proving to himself that he is a Jedi, so that scene becomes an extension of his personal story. Luke has to save those he cares about, and use his new skills to do so. A lot of what you said I've had in mind as I cut this. This isn't a "cut the bullshit" fanedit, the entire feel and through line of the story has been changed. The story is the same, but told in a new way. The story telling related cuts are the ones I'm happiest with. The emotional beats are what I wanted to improve the most, and every change I made was to change how we, as the audience, feel about the story we're being told.

For instance, I didn't just change the ending to remove the Ewok stuff that I hate, I changed it to create a moving and cathartic conclusion. Sometimes, scenes I would like to cut were kept. For instance it'd be nice to remove the SE planet celebrations, but if we need grandeur, and we need a cathartic release, then we need more than just teddy bears dancing and Luke burning Vaders armor and everyone happy and smiling at the end.