Cool - thanks a lot!

I'll answer the points one at a time:

"I like the new crawl, but I’m not sure how I feel about the movie opening on a shot of empty space. The lack of a ship is very evident, but is really unavoidable when the next scene takes place on Dagobah. I like the idea of Luke completing his training before going to recue Han, but visually, it feels very much like a fan edit."

I'm on the fence about starting the film on Dagobah, but this edit is all about the father-son conflict, so starting with Luke asking Yoda about his parentage, then cutting to Vader, and then back to Luke was a way to get the main theme into the first scene (scriptwriting 101). Highlighting the father-son conflict was also why the lightsaber scene HAD to be in this edit, although I'm sure it would work better as Luke's introduction in the film.

"The sandstorm scene is very interesting. I had no idea that some of the audio in the final cut was lifted from this scene. I think the briefing room scene is edited well, with the sandstorm scene in mind (the heroes have already had their kiss and cuddle on Tattooine, so no need to have another in front of the other rebels). I really hope this deleted scene can be cleaned up somehow"

The original audio in the sandstorm scene is totally unusable - I took the audio from the space scene that replaced it in the film. I much prefer the sandstorm scene though, and I think the way I changed the order of the scenes "fixes" the pacing problem that made Lucas scrap it in the first place.

"I love the new shot of the Tydirium entering Endor. It really adds to the feeling of the rebels sneaking into the lion’s den (so to speak)."

Totally agree. It adds a cinematic moment that really helps the film.

"I’m in two minds over Vader’s force-choke of Jerjerrod. It is a nice little reminder of Vader’s intolerance of his underlings (after his killing spree in ESB, we could certainly use a few more scenes like this in RotJ!) But, on the other hand, I am a little unsure of Jerjerrod’s motivations. Does he get some kind of pleasure out of butting heads with Vader? Together with Jerjerrod’s reluctance to fire on Endor, you can almost see a sub-plot involving his ‘good guy’ personality – but this maybe doesn’t came across as well as it should do. As such, it may be better simply to leave these scenes on the cutting room floor for the sake of pacing."

Yeah I agree that Jerjerrod's motivations are a little unclear, but it seems like he's trying to compete with Vader for the Emperor's attention. I like the idea of trying to add to Vader's internal conflict about Luke, but it doesn't come across as well as I'd like. Still, him choking a minion is pure Star Wars, so it'll probably stay in.

"The new shots of the Endor battle between the rebel Commandos and Stormies give a very chaotic feel, akin to the final shots of the Droid vs Clones battle on Geonosis in AotC. They are well done, but I’m not too sure if they really fit into the visual style of RotJ. I’m probably being a little biased here, as I have never liked action shots done entirely in close-ups."

I hadn't thought of the Geonosis comparison for that scene, but yeah, it definitely feels like that. I agree with both your criticisms, but I wanted to show the stormtroopers being all hardcore, and that's the only footage I could find that fit at all. I'm not sure how well mixing the forest battle works with Jerjerrod telling the TIE bombers to napalm the forest, but I'm keeping it. Beats Ewok traps anyway.

Again, thanks for the comments.