Finally got to see this.
This marks the second SW fan edit I've gone to the trouble of downloading, so that's quite a feat. I don't know if you want feedback of any kind...but I'm going to give it anyway, dammit! :p
Okay, I'll say straight up, I have never been particularly fond of Jedi the way I am with the other two films in the trilogy, of course it is still the OT and I love it. However, watching Jedi was often a bit of a chore, so this was a terrific second chance at making it fresh again. I can say without question you succeeded.
Overall--this is the most ambitious fan edit I've seen in terms of re-interpreting a film, and overall I would say it is quite a success. The film, overall, works, although I have some big reservations.
First, on a technical level, I did notice some major synch issues with the sound. This affected pretty much every scene in which cuts had been made. Usually it was only slight, but you might want to go through and do a total audio re-adjust, because it's throughout the entire film. And of course, there is that one shot of Lando in the sarlac that looks like it doesn't even have the right audio. Not sure what's up with that. Also, in the transition away from Vader in the first scene, you can hear the music from R2 and 3P0 approaching Jabba just as it fades out, so you might want to swap in the raw music score and hide the transition better. Otherwise, I thought it was a pretty polished edit, and the composites you did on the throne room were unexpectedly high in production value. Good job!
Now, as for the actual content, I really do think I honestly need a second viewing of this to totally absorb it, just because it's such a departure from what I'm used to. It's very ambitious in terms of changing things, and sometimes when stuff wasn't the way I was used to in major ways it jarred me but that's my fault and not the edit, so I need a second viewing to totally absorb it as it's own entity. Of course, there are a lot of things I would do differently. Mainly, a lot of little beats that I would keep. I think the main section this has to do with is the first half of the film, on Tatooine. It all feels a bit rushed and choppy on first impression; some stuff, like 3P0 encountering the gamorean guard and Bib Fortuna, or Luke choking the guards and mind tricking Bib, I felt could have helped the pace settle a bit, just so one scene or location didn't immediately fly to the next as quickly as possible (prequel syndrome). I would have also moved the Emperor's arrival to between Luke leaving Tatooine and the start of the briefing, just because that jump seems so rushed and the end of that intense action scene really needed a slow, talking scene to let the film breathe, the way the Dagobah scene originally facilitated. The film feels a bit rushed, but I like the choices you made in the second half, it just feels like there was no build-up to the Death Star attack like in the original and I think drawing out that first section might have helped. On a technical level, the only edit that didn't work was Luke sensing his friends in danger; I don't know if you can do more there, but it's the only part of the edit that feels unprofessional and it pulled me out. I feel like there is more that can be done to make that work, as it is a nice idea.
My other main qualm is that I really missed a lot of the Han Solo humour and felt his character had been severely neutered. Almost every deleted bit with him I felt took away a lot of his character, and it also makes his importance diminished because he has less screentime; he's a central character, 50% of ESB and the whole motivation for the first act, but he's off to the side here and doesn't feel like he does much or has much character. Stuff like, "hey, it's me" and his reaction to the shield generator exploding seems like totally unnecessary deletions that lessen the impact and likeability of him. Other stuff like him hoping Leia is alright seemed to me like served no purpose other than diminishing the importance of their relationship, which is pretty underplayed here.
I thought maybe you would get rid of the sister subplot, but I liked the way you handled it. I also thought I would miss a lot of the Ewok traps, but the Ewok portrayal was perfect. I also really liked the re-ordering of the scenes for the last act, it really made a lot of sense and made the final act a lot more dramatic.
The one thing I really hated, however, was the music in Vader's goodbye to Luke. It was horrible and so overwrought and melodramatic and killed what is the most beautiful scene in the entire film. If you ever revisit this edit, please change it to the beautiful and quiet original, because I think I would prefer Hayden at the end of the film instead. I also thought the fast-paced lightsaber duel with bombastic music all as one section ruined all the tension of the duel--that duel had so much character pyschology going on it, but it's mostly lost. I greatly prefer the original order and edit of this section. All the new music here makes it too much of an action scene and not a character conflict.
Having said all that, I hope this doesn't seem like I dislike this, because you have done a fantastic job. This was a super ambitious edit, and whenever you do that you are going to do some things people don't like; I hope you like your edit and it's great that you shared it. I was very suspicious of the whole Stardestroyer plot point, but you nailed it well, although I feel like the establishing shot needed a bit more to better emphasize it. At a lean 90 minutes, there is almost an hour missing, but aside from a good 20-30 minutes at Jabba's, it's often hard to tell where stuff was taken out, and that's mighty impressive. I thought I'd miss the Force ghosts too, but in truth I forgot about them! The ending was well done too, although I probably prefer the original SE version but with Shaw. Again, the stuff with the Ewoks was superb. I really like the whole Luke-Leia Ewok village edit, and the shortened 3P0 monologue was so seemless I practically didn't notice the snip. I forgot about no Boba Fett until the film was over, and the new edit with Luke and Jabba all is first class and works better than the real film, even if I might have kept the rancor in for excitement's sake. Very nice, sir.
So, sorry if it seems like I have a lot of complaints, most of the editing here is very, very good, enough to stand as a legitimate professional film. My overall impression is that it's a very concentrated edit that get's rid of most of the bad elements in the original, but introduces a couple of significant new ones in that its swiftness makes it seems choppy and rushed at times, aside from Han's lessened characterisation and a few odd miscellaneous cuts. Like I said, I think to be totally fair I need to see it again. And it's significant that I do actually want to see it again. It's been a long time since I felt that way about Jedi, so that is saying something. It's a very ambitious edit, and in my books it's at least 85% good. Very well done.