Star Wars VI: Last of the Jedi

Hello! This is my first topic here, though I've been working on this edit for a while and have posted about it over on Fanedit.org

This edit was inspired after watching Spence's edit and finding the story much improved. The goal is to present a darker,  more enjoyable take on take on this story that is more in line with ESB and ROTS than TPM or ANH. My intent is also to have the end result still be canon. So characters who die in the original will still die here, even if I change exactly how that happens. Many ideas are drawn from Spence's "Final Cut", Yad's "Dan Edit" and from reading some of the "RotJ Edit" suggestions on this board.

Footage is sourced from Spence's RotJ Final Cut, Harmy's DeSpecialized RotJ, (Both with permission) and the RotJ BluRay. The footage is 720p, as that is all my machine can handle editing.


Spoiler:

ADDED new opening crawl. Title is now LAST OF THE JEDI. (still WIP, made in Windows Media Maker...)

As per the new crawl Luke has been on Dagobah for a while to train and determine whether Vader was telling the truth. about being his Father.

AS SUCH:

- Film starts with Vader arriving at the Death Star

- Inserted deleted scene of Vader contacting Luke and Luke making his saber. 

- CUT Yoda confirming Vader is Luke’s father.

AFTER Yoda's Death CUT TO Jabba's Palace-

- CUT frog guy eating a rodent in in the Jabba’s palace wide shot.

- REPLACED many of Jabba’s subtitles, hoping to give him more character.

- TRIMMED Lapti Nek Musical sequence so that C-3PO is not in scene. 

- CUT SE shots of the Rancor pit.

- TRIMMED Leia the Bounty Hunter delivering Chewbacca. New subtitles allow the scene to proceed without C-3PO. 

- Reworked audio in Leia/Chewie scene, set to ‘Bounty For A Wookiee’ from the soundtrack, rather than the Max Rebo Song

- During Han's thaw, shots of Jabba re-framed to cut 3PO out of the shot.

- ADDED Luke sensing his friends are in trouble when they get caught by Jabba, using shots from him feeling Kenobi’s presence on Dagobah. Inspired by the way ESB did his "there in danger" visions

-TRIMMED Obi-Wan’s ghost. They no longer discuss Leia being Luke's sister. This is better discussed later. 

- MOVED Han and Chewy in the prison cell to after Luke speaks with Obi-Wan.

- CUT Han being filled in by Chewy on what’s going on.

- ADDED shots of Luke flying away from Dagobah from ESB, making it appear that he is headed for Tattooine.

- MOVED Droids arrival to after prison cell scene.

- CUT 3PO’s dialogue about Lando and Chewy never returning.

- ADDED Leia chained up with Jabba during the scene with the droids.

- CUT/CROPPED any shots that show Leia not being there.

- Reworked Luke’s message to get to point faster.

- Reworked scene where Luke confronts Jabba, many small cuts and changes to heighten drama

- Reworked the ‘sentencing’ scene with tense music,

- CUT 3PO not knowing about Luke’s plan to give them to Jabba.

- CUT the end of the droid scene, ending it now with 3PO’s “We’re Doomed!” leads into the torture scene 

- MOVED Emperor’s arrival at the Death Star to after the Droids in Jabba’s Palace.

- MOVED Luke’s arrival to right after Emperor Death Star scene.

- REPLACED original Sarlaac and sounds in every shot.

- CUT “3PO, tell that slimey piece of…” Now Han just says “He’ll get no such pleasure from us!”

- CUT a few shots of everyone looking at each other before Luke walks the plank.

- CUT Threepio on the barge from action sequence.

- CUT many little things in the Skiff fight for pacing.

- ALTERED the Bobba/Luke fight so that it is Luke who sends him flying.

- ADDED shot of Bobba laying face down in the sand. Repurposed from shots of Boba lying on the skiff.

- MOVED 3PO and R2 falling off the barge to after Luke fires the canon at the deck. Now it looks like they jump off just as the explosion occurs.

- CUT dialog about the group separating on their way to the fleet.

- MOVED Rebel briefing to after they leave Tattooine.

- CUT some of the dialogue after Han is announced as leading the Endor away team to remove some cheese.

- TRIMMED Luke walking into the briefing to seem less like he's been gone weeks.

- CUT the beginning of Han and Lando talking about the Falcon, so it feels like we come into the middle of their conversation.

- MOVED the shuttle arrival at Endor to right after they leave the Fleet.

- ADDED Death Star establishing shot to smooth transition between these scenes.

- CUT some of Han’s shenanigans and other dialogue from the Faking the Code scene. Now the focus is mainly on Luke and Vader sensing each other. 

- CUT “Hey, it’s me!” sequence.

- CHANGED is so it isn't Han walking on the twig that alerts the stormtrooper, instead it is Chewie's loud growl.

- ADDED music to Speeder Bike chase. (sourced from Spence's edit)

- CUT various shots from Speeder chase for pacing.

- CUT Leia/Luke dialogue in this scene other than “Jam their comms!)

- CUT Leia passing out after she falls off of her speeder bike.

- CUT most of Wicket’s first scene. We just see him walk up to Leia with his spear. (I hope to trim this even more so that we don't know what is coming at Leia)

- CUT the stupidity of everyone standing around looking at the Ewok’s trap. Chewy now goes straight for the meat.

- CUT Han and 3PO’s exchange about “proper”

- CUT some of the end of the Levitation scene. 

- MOVED Vader arriving on Endor to right before the C3-PO storytelling sequence.

- CUT 3PO’s story after “Yes, R2, I was getting to that.” Removed rest of that scene.

- MOVED Luke walking outside to earlier in 3PO’s story.

- TRIMMED Han coming outside so that he asks "What's Wrong" and Leia says "hold me"

- CUT Vader’s dialogue about it being “Too late for me now”

- CUT some of the Ewok on the Speeder bike.

- CUT Han tapping the guard on the shoulder. It’s now implied that they all followed the Ewok on the bike and we cut straight to the door opening.

- ADDED shots from ESB of Vader’s shuttle flying to The Executor and landing, which moves Luke/Vader/Emperor scenes to a Star Destroyer rather than the Death Star.(FROM Spence's edit.)

- CUT “Bring those two down here!” When 3PO distracts the Imperials. It makes no sense, they only saw 3PO.

- CUT many Ewok scenes. Anything involving traps or over-cutesy stuff is gone.

- ADDED Death Star to many window shots in the Throne Room (Thanks to Bobgarcia74 FROM Spence's edit.)

- CUT “Witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!”

- ADDED Reversal of the shot where Luke/Vader clash sabers in front of the Emperor, so it looks like they lift them up again.

- MOVED all of the Vader/Luke fight to immediately after they clash sabers.

- Added Duel of the Fates the Vader/Luke battle. (would not be in Purist Edit)

- CUT Emperor’s dialogue during the scene.

- CUT Luke kicking Vader down the stairs and him walking back up.

- CUT all dialogue from Luke jumping to the rafters to Vader throwing his saber. Now he throws it at him immediately after he jumps out of the way.

- CUT some of Vader walking down the stairs.

- CUT Luke responding to Vader while he’s hiding.

- DARKENED Luke standing in the shadows.

- MOVED some of the fleet battle to after “So be it, Jedi.”

- MOVED Leia and Han trying to open the door to after “we’ve gotta give him more time!”

- MOVED Chewy and Ewoks taking the ATST to after the extra blast doors close.

- CUT some bits of the ATST takeover to make it less silly.

- MOVED Leia being shot to after ATST sequence.

- MOVED Vader’s redemption to after Han’s “I’ve got an idea.”

- ADDED flashes from AotC/RotS to show that Vader is remembering all the lies that Palpatine has told him. (Will be cut for purist edit)

- MOVED Han taking the bunker to right after Emperor’s death.

- MOVED Han running from the bunker and the explosion to right after they set the charges.

- CUT Han’s reaction to the explosion.

- Altered shots of the exploding shield generator to not appear to destroy the entire forest.

- MOVED “The shield is down, commence attack!” to right after explosion.

- CUT the Executor being destroyed. The Rebels still attack it.

- ADDED Anakin’s Theme from TPM over his death.

- MOVED Celebrations around the galaxy to after Leia and Han kiss.

- TRIMMED Endor Celebration right when Luke is about to see the ghosts.

- MOVED the funeral pyre scene to the end and inserted the Ghosts. We see Anakin join his old friends after his body has been burned.

- ADDED Iris transition to credits after the camera pans up from Luke to the fireworks so that the film ends on a shot of the stars!

To do:
Trim Han's jealousy throughout. 
ADD Fan Editor's credits...

I'm open to suggestions, and if anyone is interested in a workprint version, that can be made available!


Here is a possible version of the cover art, based off the Revenge of the Jedi posters.

It is currently only available as a workprint, as I'm still making adjustments. If you are interested in watching to review it/share thoughts, just PM me.