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Return of the Jedi - The Spence Final Cut (Released) — Page 29

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I’ve heard that before but never had a problem with it, FWIW.

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Can you please send me a link to the edit? i have all the films (not including star wars 7 (yet)) and i would love to see this edit.

From ccateni 😉

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Anyone have a copy of this? Right now fanedit.info isn’t showing anything on the fan edits tab and nobody’s seeding on MySpleen.

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Jdownloader extracts just fine for me, even in cases where I need to tell it a password to use.

If you’re having trouble extracting rars, are you clicking the first rar file? (sometimes the extension is .rar, other times ‘part 1’ or .001). Clicking on random ones in the middle of the sequence would cause problems back in the day, but I figured most software packages deal with it fine now.

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 (Edited)

SpenceEdit said:

Hey everyone,

You guys don’t really know me over here, but I’m a faneditor named Spence. Some info on my Star Wars edits pops up over here from time to time. I have done Ep. II, III and VI, and my current projects are turning The Force Unleashed games into animated features and, coming more recently, a new and pretty extensive fanedit of Return of the Jedi.

I thought you all might be interested in hearing about it, so I’m going to put my cutlist over here. Also, over at FE.org's forums there’s a pretty extensive thread discussing it, with preview clips and more information.

Here’s what I originally wrote over there, with my cutlist included. Let me know what you think.

I’ve also been sending out some more extended test clips for people who are interested. I’d be happy to give you the link to those via pm, but you have to provide feedback!

I’m looking forward to getting more involved on this forum in the future!

Return of the Jedi is my least favorite star wars movie. 4 and 5 are great as is, and there’s prequel edits that make them work. Jedi has really never been right for me. I’ve tried to edit it twice, and neither of those satisfy me. Apparently, they didn’t satisfy much of anyone . By the way, I’m aware of the bad quality of my version 1, and it will not repeat here. Also, that’s why I did a version 2, so leave the poor first guy alone, will you?!

My quest has always been to figure out what that element of the film is that keeps it from succeeding. I assumed it was the ewoks, as I really dislike them, but its not. The biggest problem with the movie is the lack of tension.

During the entire battle on endor, there’s not a single moment where it feels as of Han and Leia will not succeed. The humor of the sequence, the cuteness of the ewoks, its just really hard to think the empire will kill all the Teddy bears and capture our heroes.

Their success is what Lando and the fleet are depending on. So if Han seems like he’ll obviously win, this feeling stretches to the fleet as well.

The only tense sequence is between Luke and Vader. Its the core or the story, and there are real moments of darkness and doubt within it. Except, since this whole sequence happens on the Death Star, it’s essentially meaningless, as regardless of what happened, they would’ve all been blown up anyway.

Having seen the new edit of phantom, Shadow of the Sith, I realized how rearranging the ending can really help with the tension. everything has to feel as if our heroes will all fail.

Basic concepts:

  • The set up for the movie is totally different, as per the new crawl. Luke’s been training with Yoda since shortly after ESB. Chewy was already captured when he and Lando went to Tattooine at the end of ESB, and Lando has managed to get under-cover inside the palace. Leia grows restless waiting for Luke to return, and goes to rescue Han herself.

  • Luke is forced to use a simpler plan, sending the droids in with his lightsaber, then going in himself to break everyone out. It clears up the original completely stupid and illogical plan.

  • No Boba Fett. He isn’t at Jabba’s. There’s really no reason for him to be there, and it gets rid of his silly death.

  • No Rancor. Our first action scene is Luke being a full on Jedi, and beginning is all build up to that.

  • Lots of trims to Han being an idiot. Removed all of his jealousy toward Luke. The love story was resolved in ESB, so his jealousy just makes him seem foolish.

  • Lots of trims to the Ewoks. They’re still likeable and kind of cute, but not over the top. you can kind of believe they succeed in their battle now, with the way it is cut.

  • The emperor’s throne room is moved to a big Star Destroyer instead of on the Death Star, so Luke’s battle still has meaning. This Star Destroyer does not blow up in the battle. Lots of establishing shots and additions to make this very clear.

  • The battle is totally reordered for pacing, making it appear that the rebellion is losing the battle up until after the emperor is killed.

  • We get the release of winning the battle, then go to Vader’s death, so the sequence never slows down. Because they were on the Death Star, the emotional beat with Vader had to happen before the Death Star explosion, but it totally ruins the pacing. Now, that doesn’t matter, because they aren’t on it.

  • New ending with a little more emotional resonance. The final shot of the movie is now Luke burning Vader’s body, bringing the whole saga full circle.

  • Some musical call backs to the prequels.

An exact cut list below, though there are too many little changes for me to list (or remember) all of them:

-ADDED new opening crawl. Title is still RETURN OF THE JEDI. (thanks to L8wrtr)

-MOVED Dagobah sequence to right after the first Death Star scene.

-CUT Yoda confirming Vader is Luke’s father.

-CUT Obi-Wan’s ghost visiting Luke on Dagobah.

-CUT Lapti Nek/ Musical sequence.

-CUT Boba Fett from every scene of the movie.

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

-CUT Leia as Boussh handing Chewy over to Jabba.

-MOVED Liea freeing Han from carbonite to after Dagobah.

-ADDED Luke sensing his friends are in trouble when they get caught by Jabba, using shots from him feeling Kenobi’s presence on Dagobah.

-REPLACED all of Jabba’s subtitles, to give him more personality and help with my cuts.

-RECOLORED 3PO when Jabba catches Han/Leia, so he appears to be a different droid. In this chronology, he hasn’t arrived yet.

-CROPPED 3PO out of many shots in this sequence.

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

-MOVED Han and Chewy in the prison cell to after Luke leaves Dagobah.

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

-MOVED Droids arrival to after prison cell scene.

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

-CUT Eye droid (IDroid?) At Jabba’s gate. 3PO knocks, begins to walk away, and the door opens.

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

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

-CUT much of Luke’s message to get to point faster.

-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!”

-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.

-ADDED Day time establishing shot of Jabba’s before Luke arrives.

-CUT Luke choking the pig guards. That would get him at least 2 dark side points.

-CUT all of Bib Fortuna’s dialogue with Luke. We don’t know he’s doing the mind trick until he repates things to Jabba.

-CUT much of Luke’s dialogue with Jabba. The only lines kept are “I must be allowed to speak” “You will bring Captain Solo and the Wookiee to me” and “You can either profit from this, or be destroyed. It’s your choice, but I warn you not to underestimate my powers.”

-CUT Rancor sequence. Moved some shots and dialogue from Jabba to make this transition work.

-CUT the droids interacting on the sail barge.

-CUT Luke and Han dialogue scene on the skiff.

-REPLACED original Sarlaac and sounds in every shot (sourced from the GOUT DVD.)

-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 some of Han’s dialogue.

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

-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 leaving Tattooine after “I owe you one”

-MOVED Rebel briefing to after they leave Tattooine.

-CUT Han’s dialogue with Lando. “Well look at you, a general…” etc.

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

-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.

-ADDED music to Speeder Bike chase. (thanks to Rogue-theX)

-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.

-CUT Luke finding Leia’s helmet.

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

-CUT some of the end of the Levitation scene. I don’t really need to see the heroes happily reunited yet again.

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

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

-CUT some of Leia’s dialogue about her mother. She didn’t really know anything about her, as she died two minutes into Leia’s life.

-CUT Han coming outside at the end of this scene.

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

-CUT some of the Ewok on the Speeder bike.

-ADDED shots from ESB of a shuttle flying to The Executor and landing, which moves Luke/Vader/Emperor scenesto a Star Destroyer rather than the Death Star.

-CUT “Bring those two down here!” When 3PO distracts the Imperials.

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

-ADDED Death Star into the viewport in the throne room, so Luke can see it next to the battle.

-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 new music to fight to make it more exciting, sourced from TPM.

-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.

-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 comedic.

-MOVED Leia being shot to after ATST sequence.

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

-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.

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

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

-CUT some of Vader’s lines during his death, and used new music over the scene.

-CUT Leia and Han’s dialogue about Luke. Now they look up at the explosion and kiss.

-CUT Wicket interrupting their kiss.

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

-CUT Endor Celebration, other than one shot that pans down from the fireworks.

-MOVED the funeral pyre scene to the end, new music to make it fit better.

-ADDED Iris transition to credits after the camera pans up from Luke to the fireworks.

-ADDED a couple of extra credits at the end for me and everyone who has helped me with the edit.

There’s also a plan to do some slight color correction, mainly to make Vader’s saber look less pink.

I’d like to entertain any other ideas anyone would like to submit, so feel free to throw some stuff out! Also, there’s some preview clips all throughout the thread, but they’re all tests or works in progress, so nothing is finalized in them yet. Some of them I know I won’t be using, but will be included on the DVD.

Speaking of which…

PLANNED SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • Full length commentary track

  • Clips of ideas I abandoned and a little discussion about them and why they were not used.

  • A Basic Fan Editing Tutorial, basically a video version of ADM’s tutorial. Great for noobs!

  • Previews for my upcoming edits.

  • “George Lucas Can’t Win” a short opinion piece by me on George Lucas’ decisions when making the Star Wars films. It’s a little essay I wrote a while back that I was going to turn into video. This will be on the disc if I can finish it in time, if not I’ll just youtube it. Basically, it’s a little bit of understanding about Lucas and his “bad decisions” in regards to the Star War saga. I guess it’s defending him a little bit, but it also attempts to make sense of his thought process.

I agree with almost all of these edits.

However,

  1. Retain the both ghost of Obi-Wan appearing to Luke as well as Obi-Wan and Yoda confirming that Darth Vader is his father. They have to explain why they refused to tell him earlier. Also, it is necessary to confirm to children viewing the film that Darth Vader was not simply lying.

  2. Cut Luke’s line “Do you remember your mother…your real mother?” to “Do you remember your mother?” so Leia’s memories can be of her adoptive mother.

  3. Cut Leia’s line, “Somehow, I always knew,” which is completely illogical because she made out with Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.

  4. Retain Han Solo’s line, “But you could tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?” It is his most memorable line in this film.

  5. Use Adywan’s edit as a starting point if he grants you permission.

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Scott109 said:

  1. Use Adywan’s edit as a starting point if he grants you permission.

You do realize that the post you quoted (unnecessarily, by the way) is over five years old, right?

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Scott109 said:

  1. Cut Luke’s line “Do you remember your mother…your real mother?” to “Do you remember your mother?” so Leia’s memories can be of her adoptive mother.

Ok wait… you are telling him to make a change in the OT in order to fix a continuity error that the PT created?! And then you comment on my edit thread telling me to make it so that Padme dies?! WHAT

Prequel Fan-Edit thread: http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Yet-another-series-of-prequel-edits/id/17329

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Scott109 said:

  1. Retain Han Solo’s line, “But you could tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?” It is his most memorable line in this film.

No, it’s not. Or, I guess it might be for the people who hate it being there, but that doesn’t help your statement.

Army of Darkness: The Medieval Deadit | The Terminator - Color Regrade | The Wrong Trousers - Audio Preservation
SONIC RACES THROUGH THE GREEN FIELDS.
THE SUN RACES THROUGH A BLUE SKY FILLED WITH WHITE CLOUDS.
THE WAYS OF HIS HEART ARE MUCH LIKE THE SUN. SONIC RUNS AND RESTS; THE SUN RISES AND SETS.
DON’T GIVE UP ON THE SUN. DON’T MAKE THE SUN LAUGH AT YOU.

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Does anyone know where this is available? Fanedit.info has been down for quite a while.

“Always in motion is the future” 🌌

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Hello! May I ask if this edit is still available somewhere? There’s nothing on fe.info and I’m really curious about this.

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Hi,

How do I request a link to this cut?

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Hi, does anyone still have a copy of this? Preferably one that’s one video file rather than a whole slew of VOB files?

I’ve downloaded the link to this edit from fanedit.info but I’ve been having one heck of a time trying to take all of the separate files and converting it into one playable movie file. I’m at wit’s end in regards to this and I feel like I’m about to start pulling out my hair.

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Hi,

i hope this will help :

  • open a linux window & look for your xxx.partyy.rar files
  • then type “unrar e xxx.part01.rar”
    it should extract all the parts & combine them in 1 file

regards

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SpenceEdit said:

The Aluminum Falcon said:

being on the Death Star since if the Rebel fleet was unexpectedly successful quickly, Luke could be blown to bits! Furthermore, I’m pleased that you’re doing color correction since Vader’s saber looked godawful in the 2004 DVDs. Are you deleting the Jabba music number with Jedi Rocks?

is your AOTC edit or V1 (with no ewoks whatsoever) of the ROTJ edit still online somewhere? If so, can you please PM me the links?

Yeah, the biggest change is probably moving Luke off of the Death Star. Being there makes his story totally meaningless. Think about it, Luke has no effect on whether the rebels are successful, so theoretically they would have succeeded at blowing it up no matter what. So if Luke turned to the dark side, died, or never even showed up the ending would’ve been the same: The Emperor and Vader are dead, and the Rebellion wins. I don’t know about you, but I like my main characters to be involved in the plot. See Indiana Jones 4 for a similar problem.

Hi,

I know you discussed this point 10 years ago, but i just discovered this Spence Cut a few weeks ago, and i’d like to share my feelings :
Luke went to Darth Vader in the hope to save him.
The fact that they’re on the Death Star makes me feel that he has to hurry to do so (or at least to save his neck) BEFORE it blows up
So there are 2 questions the viewer can ask himself during the final duel :

  • will he have time to flee before the explosion ? As he’s the hero, we should think YES so it doesn’t bring much suspens,
  • will he have time to/will he succeed in saving his father ? It’s a more difficult question to answer, which brings THE suspens to the sequence (IMHO)

And I don’t see what Luke, being on a Star Destroyer, can do more to help the Rebels, than being on the Death Star…

For me, the main Rebel goal is to kill the Emperor, more than to destroy this new Death Star - because if the emperor still lives after the explosion, he’ll be able to create an other one once again (they don’t know that Vader will kill him, or if luke will be able to defeat him…).
So it’s more logical that the characters are on the Death Star than on a Star Destroyer, so the Rebels are there to try to kill the emperor.

That being said, I found this cut much more serious, “adult” (like ANH in fact, where only C3PO was “funny”), so better than the original one !
I was suprised not to see the rancor scenes, where we see that a Jedi can’t do nothing against this sort of beast, & so that even Luke can be afraid for his life…

best regards from France 😉

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Can someone pm me this? I am on mobile so jdownloader doesn’t really work even though I have it downloaded sorry if I waste anyones time.