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Return of the Jedi: Radical Re-Edit (Released) — Page 4

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I've had to redo the render unfortunately, so it'll be another 2-3 days before it's online.

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sorry to hear that Dan keep us posted

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 (Edited)

I watched the latest version of the edit this morning, and the new opening scene doesn't work at all. It'll have to be cut. So I'll do that and make a few other small changes today and tomorrow, then render it.

So, sorry folks but it'll be a few more days.

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Just now seeing this... Looks interesting. Hope to take a look soon!

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I've sent out links of the latest workprint to everyone who asked for it... I think. If I missed you out then PM me and I'll send the links your way.

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 (Edited)

Just finished watching the new Radical Workprint of this ROTJ edit...

Short review = Loved it!

Very clever radical changes that I would never have dreamed were possible. Hats off for taking footage from so many sources and combining it so well.

Now for the long review...

I disagreed with so little of the many changes that it hardly seems worth mentioning the few that I did (Especially as radically changing things is the reason for the edit!). So mostly I'll just list the few minor technical issues I had:

- Squashing and stretching of footage is a BIG NO for me. A shot's aspect ratio should not be tampered with, cropping is always preferrable. Given the generaly very-high quality of the rest of the edit these really stand out e.g.


               ^ Below is an example of a squashed shot from the edit.
^ Top is a partly restored and cropped shot I did. It's still a little squashed but is much less noticable.


- The Boba subs aren't right at all. Controversial, but may I suggest you could construct viable dialogue from Jango, redubed-Boba and clone lines. There is plenty to choose from across the saga.
- The use of the 2011 CGI "Enhanced" Jabba's palace door is an irritation for me. I'm sure others won't really have a problem with it though. Down to taste I guess.

Can I make a couple of suggestions to improve things IMO that wouldn't take much doing...

- A brown/orange tint to the two Dagobah x-wing shots of Luke leaving Tatooine would be easy and really help them blend with the rest of the footage.
- Do we have to loose the cool footage of Boba fighting over the Sarlaac pit? Couldn't he just get knocked out cold, when he crashes head first into the skiff and just remove the rolling into the sarlacc shots. Since you've nicely beefed up Boba's role in the film it seems counter-intuitive to cut this great scene.

Now that's outta the way, onto the good stuff:

- Generally seemless blending of the deleted material back in (It's all here, bar the pilot chatter).
- The re-arrangement of events in the first act (Especially Luke on Dagobah) is a huge improvement to pace.
- The new Star Destroyer shot after the post crawl pan down is such a little thing but makes a huge difference. This whole sequence works perfectly now.
- Nice cleanup of the sandstorm footage. Why wasn't this in the original cut. Having our heroes face to face is soo much warmer and more memorable than chatting over the radio as an after thought.
- The darker music queue over the shot of Luke putting on his black glove is such a subtle change but probably my favourite change in the whole edit!
- Removal of Wicket as a prominant character really helps bring-out the darker side of the Ewoks.
- Removal of Han's hissy fit in the ewok village when he over hears Leia and Luke was great.
- I thought the insetion of the deleted bunker assault footage was particulaly well executed.
- Tie-fighters launching shot kicked ass! (Like frickin' Babylon 5 Starfurys yo!).
- Loved all the new rebels-v-stromtroopers battle footage. It's cut so well into the flow of the scene.
- The integration of the Boba footage is very clever. I couldn't imagine how it was possibly going to pay off in the end... but Dan did it. Great job!
- LOVED the new music at the end. I was getting all emotional.

Guys n gals, you need to see this edit. Not just people who think ROTJ was weak and needed fixing, hardcore Jedi fans too. ROTJ is my favourite Star Wars film and I thought this version was a blast!

p.s. As I've mentioned before, I'm of the opinion that Lando yelling "Yee-ha" while blasting out of the Death Star, is one of the two or three greatest moments in the history of Cinema. But I know Dan feels exactly the oposit, which is why he has made the grevious error of cutting it lol... but nice job on the removal, silky smooth!

VIZ TOP TIPS! - PARENTS. Impress your children by showing them a floppy disk and telling them it’s a 3D model of a save icon.

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First off, thanks a lot for the detailed (and favourable) review! Much appreciated.

I'll to do something about the squished shots. There used to be quite a lot scattered throughout the edit - the most glaring example left is Han during Fett's final scene (a shot that has to be cut).

I agree totally that Fett's subtitles aren't right. The first scene on Endor I think is fine, but his big showdown with Han is all wrong. My long term plan is to hire someone on fiverr.com to do the voice (in original TESB style), but before I spend any money on it I need to get the lines perfect.

I don't have a problem with Jabba's big door... but you're certainly not the only person who does. :)

I like the idea of changing the colours to a more Tatooine brown/orange to match the rest of the scene. Think I'll do that right now. Thanks.

Adding Fett to the sarlacc scene is definitely an option that I'll play around with, but I really don't like Han's stupid bit where he accidentally hits his jetpack. Plus if Fett flies into combat, falls over, and then is knocked out within about a minute it doesn't exactly make him look fearsome. Or competent.

Overall the Fett stuff is still so rough that I'm not sure it should even be in the edit. But I like the ideas - especially of Chewie saving the day, as well as obviously giving Fett something meaningful to do, and upping the stakes during the last third of the movie.

Thanks again for your input.

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Hey! I helped you come up with the Fett stuff!  It has to stay ;)  I'm just kidding.  It's bound to be a little rough because it comes from so many fan films, so it won't be perfect.  But if you want to cut it, I understand your reasoning :)  If nothing else, it shows that Fett can be put to good use pretty seamlessly in the movie, and I think Ady could film more consistent footage to get it exactly right when that time comes.

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I'm not cutting anything right now, but it pulls me out of the movie when the Fett subplot scenes happen. It's not merely less good quality, it's much less well shot

Hopefully the Fett movie will have lots of usable stuff. I can hope.

As for Ady, I'm sure he's got better ideas up his sleeve than I could think of.

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An ideal wishlist edit of the sarlacc would go:

1. Solo hits Fett's jetpack on purpose

2. Fett slams into skiff

3. Shot shows Fett lying spark-out in the sand

4. Rest of the scene plays out

5. Cut back to Fett waking up, dusting himself off, then looking skyward with arms outstretched he yells "SOLO!!!!!" in his best Shatner voice.

6. Shot of him flying away on Slave1 after Han

btw would love to see the footage of Fett shooting at Wicket cut into the Endor bunker raid. But I can't think of a possible justification for why Fett would be inside the bunker, shame.

VIZ TOP TIPS! - PARENTS. Impress your children by showing them a floppy disk and telling them it’s a 3D model of a save icon.

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Yeah that would be cool (the Fett scene not the Wicket thing). Unfortunately quite a bit of it would need to be filmed. There is a fan film called Escape From Tatooine which shows Fett get out of the sarlacc pit, but it's a total waste of time.

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 (Edited)

Ok I Watched it... And I enjoyed it.

I do have some points I would like to raise.

1. You Changed the order so Chewie get's delivered to Jabbas palace earlier but then cut the conversation with C3PO and R2 regarding "poor chewbacca and Lando never returned from this awful place" It felt like you did that to make the dialogue fit and then cut the dialogue?

2. Missed Lapti-Nek yeah it's sleazy but that is how it should be

3. Because droid torture got cut (yeah I understand) it felt weird C3PO was talking on behalf of Jabba

4. I Really liked the second conversation that Vader had with Luke telepathically very well done... Amazing what music can do

5. I like the opening you have but I think it would be better if you cut the emperor saying "my friend" for no reason when it feels like the conversation has already ended

6.I Loved the Ties Launching during the Battle... This was great moment

7.Bobba Fett plot although I think you did the best you could possibly do with it and I think you did a great job of showing how you would like to see the story progress, I kind of felt that it dragged it down a bit... But It's obviously not your fault If it were Proper footage this would actually work a lot better... Although I still think he should just bite the dust in the sarlaac but done better so you did not manage to change my mind on that unfortunatley. 

8.Really liked what you did with Jejerrod looking at the video screen.. But I also think you over did it a bit here... I would suggest reeling this in a bit.. But I did enjoy it how it was done so no bad thing.

9. The Luke / Leia brother sister plot got a bit lost and I felt that this was something missing from the drama.

Thanks for your hard work and overall well done... The Pacing is much better than some other edits on Jedi I have seen that cut Large Clumps out and butcher it... You have done well in this regard but Jabbas Palace has been carved up a bit.... but not butchered so well done

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Thanks for the review.

The conversation between the droids is basically just exposition to let the audience know where everyone is at the start of the movie. Because in this edit we've already seen Chewie, Lando and Leia there is no need IMO for the dialogue exchange. I also think the pacing is better without it.

The Emperor saying "my friend" in a menacing way is foreshadowing the end of the film where Palpatine betrays Vader. It's a very difficult scene to get right because there are so few lines of dialogue to draw from. It really has to be something from Jedi as McDiarmid's voice deepened markedly when he did the TESB lines and prequels.

I agree with your criticism of the Luke/Leia plot. I may end up putting the whole dialogue exchange in the Ewok village back in. It doesn't work at the moment.

I'm glad for the most part you enjoyed it. Thanks again.

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First, thanks for sending me the links. Secondly, I really liked this edit. Though I've seen ROTJ countless times, you actually had me wondering what was going to happen next with the editing. Considering the quality of the fan-made films you worked with, I thought the end result was a really unique and interesting version.

I did have 2 suggestions:

- Jabba's subtitles: Instead of saying "Surprise" or "We fooled you," how about something more mean-spirited? Like, "Well, what a touching reunion. Too bad it's not going to last." Or maybe dialogue suggesting Jabba knew it as Leia all along.

- Boba Fett's demise: When Fett is fired upon, the viewer is seeing it from his point of view, looking up. When Fett is hit, is it possible to see his inner viewscreen crack or go static, then just fade to black? If you leave it at that, the viewer gets the same impression of what happened. But without showing the body, the eternal question could still be there if Fett made it out alive.

All in all, nicely done. I'm in the 501st, do you mind if I give out a few copies of this?

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Thanks for the feedback.

I really like both those ideas. The shot of Fett falling is terrible so this would be a nice workaround. I'd probably also show his body dead on the ground as I like that shot, but it's definitely something worth playing around with.

Jabba's dialogue is mostly from my "Dan Edit" from a couple of years ago, and for some reason I kept trying to make Jabba funny - but I think I prefer your reunion line. The dialogue in there is intended to convey that Jabba knew it was Leia all along, but it clearly wasn't effective.

And feel free to give out copies to anyone you want.

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I just wanted to say that the scene you did when Luke inspects his hand and Vader contacting him while Luke is flying his x-wing I feel is a real breakthrough in the potential improvements ROTJ could recieve.

10 out of 10 for this particular edit it was genius.

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I want in on some of this action. This all sounds especially promising. If Return of the Jedi could be polished like this into a definitively better version, the trilogy would finally be completely solid.

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This radical re-edit sounds... radical!  Haven't had a chance to watch it yet but I'm looking forward to it.

One thing that just popped into my head- and this is a VERY tiny thing that has always bugged me about ROTJ- I always hated the cartoony sound the speederbike makes when it spins out of control after Luke chops off the front of it.  Any plans to remove that?

Anyone remember different camera angles from ROTJ?

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Ronster: Thanks!

SpilkaBilka: The cartoony sound when the speederbike spins out of control isn't in this edit.

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 (Edited)

I hadn't noticed that cartoony speeder bike sound effect gone although that is a section of the movie that I tend to tune out.

Is anyone else as burnt out as I am on hearing the Wilhelm scream in every damn movie?  Just wondering....

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daneditor said:

Up until this week Leia wasn't Luke's sister in this edit - the problem is, why does Luke finally attack Vader if it's not about Vader mentioning/threatening his sister?

daneditor and I have been bouncing some ideas around about how to solve this little problem.  I believe his original intention was to remove the sibling subplot completely; after all it is called the Radical Re-Edit.

IMO Lucas never should have put the subplot in the story but rather should have developed Luke's story in more depth or added more to the Han/Leia story besides Han's jealousy.  The whole Luke/Leia thing comes off as an afterthought and just doesn't seem to pay off.

The key to solving this problem is already in the film: The Emperor causes Luke to lose it, not Vader.  Remember the Emperor spends 20 minutes goading Luke about how his friends will die and then starts vaporizing Rebel fighters.  After that he tempts Luke to strike him down with all of his hate, which he attempts to do.  So here we go:

I've made my own clip to demonstrate how this could work.  I've shown this to daneditor; he liked it but wanted feedback from others.  So here it is, let us know what you think:

http://rapidshare.com/files/4124495926/ROTJCLIP2.avi

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The latest workprint is now online. Lots of small changes, and also the complete removal of Boba Fett (sorry, Darth Ender).

I'm gonna send links to the people who have asked for it now. If you also want the links PM me.

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Very cool.  No worries about Fett.  It was more of a proof of concept for those willing to film new material.  You definitely are shooting for highest quality, so I understand.  I'll send you a PM.

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I look forward to seeing this edit....I have sent a PM