My Star Wars Saga Episodes 1-6 Edits (2/6 available) (WIP)

This is a thread for my personal fan-edits of episodes 1-6, my Star Wars saga.

My edits are admittedly a combination of others ideas (mainly Hal9000, octoroxx, Gigawattboy, NFBisms, Adywan, IIFanEditore, and others) combined with my own, as sometimes I disagreed with some of their changes there are some things I added or deleted because of my own preferences. My most unique one will definitely be my edit for A New Hope, which will have three completely new added scenes.

The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are now done and available (though I’m planning on fine tuning and rereleasing them), the rest are in-progress. Revenge of the Sith is next and is almost done.

Here is a Google doc with the list of all of changes I am planning on making. Suggestions are more then welcome.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/12-t92zTXPCqb389uPcuJ6Yq7J3BTijTd_JR96GN0U5Q/edit?usp=sharing

I apologize if I seem a little mean or hostile when defending my decision to use FXItInPost’s Darth Vader vs. Obi-Wan fight for my ANH fan-edit, I just wanted to be blunt to prevent any argument.

Here are some synopsis of the major stuff I’m doing with each film. For the record I do love episodes 3-6 and think they are fantastic movies, and I actually do think 1 and 2 are pretty good, so don’t take any of this as me hating on the films.

The Phantom Menace

Probably the most prominent change is that I’ve included an excellent fan-dub by YouTuber Gigawattboy which redoes Jar Jar’s dialogue and basically reimagines the character as a rogue everyman with an Australian accent. I loved it. He also redubbed the rest of the Gungans, giving them less goofy voices and lines, and I also thought it worked perfectly.

Here is a link to a video he posted with a clip of his dub: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58yrGVFDHc8

I’ve also cut any cringe-inducing or confusing dialogue. Many trims, cuts, and rearrangements are inspired by Hal9000’s edit, one big example being his rearranging of the final battle so Anakin intentionally goes into battle and saves Padme rather then “accidentally” joining a battle and his actions being redundant. Like Hal’s edit I also re-added the deleted scene in which Qui-Gon destroys the probe droid.

I did actually keep midichlorians though. I honestly don’t see what the big deal was and why so many people hate this. As Qui-Gon explains, midichlorians aren’t the force itself, they’re a vessel or bridge by which living things are able to be connected by the force, which is why having more midichlorians means you’re stronger with the force. It doesn’t ruin any of the force’s mysticism, it just explains how they’re able to measure a being’s force potential and how living beings are connected to the force. So that’s why they’re kept. I really like the scene with Qui-Gon testing Anakin’s blood, so it stays.

Attack of the Clones

My goal here was similar to many other fan-editors: remove any cringe dialogue and make the Anakin and Padme romance more believable. Once again many trims, cuts, and rearrangements were inspired by Hal9000’s edit, and also octoroxx’s. First, Padme doesn’t first address him as a little boy. Now their introduction is more of a shared awkward moment, but Anakin proves his maturity later during the majorly trimmed packing scene. Then the deleted scenes with her and her family and the one in her bedroom are readded. This way Anakin actually gets to know Padme as a person and meets her family; they share personal stories and the fact that she lets Anakin in her bedroom is really telling of how comfortable she is with him. She even kind of flirts with him a little. So instead of Padme being uncomfortable she’s open with him. Like in Hal’s edit, the first kiss is placed after the dinner scene, regraded to look like its evening, and from this point on they’re officially an item. I’ve also included Hal’s version of the droid factory sequence, removed the “I killed them all” scene, rearranged R2 receiving Obi-Wan’s message, and more.

I had to cut all of Jar Jar’s dialogue as the guy who did the dub for TPM hasn’t done one for this film and I can’t have Jar Jar just have a completely different voice. Hopefully a AOTC dub for him is done eventually so I can update my edit.

There are some scenes that I didn’t find offensive that those who inspired me did, like Jango giving Zam the worms (I was originally going to cut this but then there wasn’t any other way in the film itself that the audience would know the worms are poisonous), the Yoda and the Younglings scene (this scene proves that Yoda trained Obi-Wan at one point, making the one line of dialogue in ESB make sense, and I find the scene itself to actually be kinda sweet and warming), and Yoda and Dooku’s duel, and others, so they are kept.

I’m not deleting Yoda having a lightsaber or dueling. Both his duel with Dooku here and his duel with Sidious in ROTS are kept. A lot of the reason they’re deleted in other fan-edits is because in the OT Yoda is a pacifist, but I view that as him having had character growth between the prequels and OT. He learned “Wars not make one great” from the Clone Wars. I mean, how else would he have learned that, he wasn’t alive during the last war that was waged before the Clone Wars. Besides, I feel AOTC is anti-climactic without the Yoda saber duel. I like Yoda dueling, so it stays.

Revenge of the Sith (in-progress, should be out in the coming weeks)

This edit is a lot more similar to the original film then the previous two as I love the original movie a lot, it’s much better then it’s predecessors, but I have made some minor changes. I’ve incorporated some of NFBisms’ ideas for added/changed dialogue in the first half, all of which with the goal of making Anakin more mature and his friendship with Obi-Wan stronger, reinserting deleted scenes (“Plot to Destroy the Jedi”, Rebel alliance subplot, and Yoda arriving on Dagobah), Anakin killing the younglings is replaced with the deleted scene of him killing Shaak-Ti, “From my point of view the Jedi are evil!” is gone (conversation ends with “I have failed you Anakin… I have failed you”), and Vader’s “NOOOOOO!” will be replaced with the Russian dub so it sounds like a anguished scream rather then a no (taken from Hal’s edit).

A New Hope (in-progress)

I’d like to use the HD version of Adywan’s edit once he’s done with it as the base, but until then I may just release an edit of the Blu-Ray first.

First, I’m going to have the ending scene of Rogue One be the opening. The Darth Vader hallway scene is perfect visual exposition for who his character is now since we left him at the end of ROTS. It establishes Vader as a badass, powerful Sith enforcer. After that it will cut to an added scene of Yoda communicating with Qui-Gon on Dagobah, and then the beginning of the original film. This connects it with the prequels and reminds us that these characters are still relevant. Other prominent edits include using the Imperial March for Vader and the Empire (music from ROTS will also be added during the meeting in which Vader force chokes someone), readding “Vader Widens the Search” in place of the Jabba scene, removing anything that implies Vader is Tarkin’s lackey (rather they are just two high-ranking villains working together), making Alderaan’s destruction much more dramatic, and adding a new scene between Vader and Sidious. And of course there are more typical edits like removing the Jabba scene, trimming the SE entrance to Mos Eisley, Han shooting first, fixing Luke’s lightsaber jumpcuts, etc.

I’m also editing in FXitinPost’s version of the Darth Vader vs. Obi-Wan duel, as it’s infinitely better then the one in the film. Like, it’s become one of my favorite duels in all of Star Wars.

Basically my goal here is to give this film some more gusto. It’s a great film but it’s also the most dated. More references to deeper Star Wars lore will be added, a few scenes will be added that show what this story has to do with the grand scheme of things, and certain scenes will be made to feel more powerful, impactful, and epic (the lightsaber duel and the destruction of Alderaan).

Empire Strikes Back (in-progress)

This edit is the least blown of them all. It uses Adywan’s as a base, as he made so many stunning, brilliant edits that I honestly can’t resist. The most prominent things I’ll do are readd the special edition shots of the Wampa, removing Leia kissing Luke because incest, readd the new special edition dialogue between Vader and Sidious during the hologram conversation with each other, and add a new force vision like that of Anakin for Luke when he’s meditating and see’s his friends in danger. Some minor changes are also going to be made to stay consistent with the prequels: Obi-Wan referring to Yoda as “A Jedi Master who instructed me” instead of “THE Jedi Master…” (a Hal9000 edit I burrow), and cutting the “That boy is our last hope”, “No, there is another” exchange.

Return of the Jedi (in-progress)

Once again, I’d like to use Adywan’s revisited version of the film as the base, though I know it probably won’t be out for a long time, so I’ll make an edit of the Blu-Ray first. I’m using Hal9000’s custom special edition as a base, and any SE things readded use the 2020 Blu-Ray.

In my edit, the new opening crawl states that after his defeat to Darth Vader in ESB, Luke returns to Dagobah to train with Yoda, and his allies have formulated a plan to free Han Solo from Jabba (including the droids). My idea is that the film will be edited to make it appear as if Luke had been training with Yoda in the time period between ESB and this film, which explains how Luke became a better, more powerful Jedi in-between. It also helps the plan to free Han Solo make more sense, as now the efforts by the others can be seen as them attempting to free Han without Luke during his absence on Dagobah. However, since their plan doesn’t work, Luke has to go to Tatooine to save their asses. The scenes on Dagobah will be moved to the beginning and intercut with the Jabba’s palace scenes.

Other edits include replacing Jedi Rocks with Lapti Nek, fixing Boba’s laughably-missed shot, removing Vader’s “NOOOO!” and having him say “Your mother once thought as you do” (rather then Obi-Wan), among other things. The reason why I’m doing that instead of editing ROTS to have Obi-Wan want to redeem Anakin is that Obi-Wan giving up on Anakin shows the flaws of Jedi indoctrination; their belief that once someone turned to the dark side, they cannot be redeemed and must be eliminated. It’s consistent with Yoda’s line in ESB “Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny”, which, while wrong, is what Obi-Wan was taught to be true. Luke being the first one to believe his father could be redeemed shows how he is different from previous Jedi.

Videos

Compilation of all of my new crawls for all 6 movies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhAaPtENXTw

AOTC:
New Padme apartment scene: https://youtu.be/hQw_Pzm6p7U
Trimmed Packing scene: https://youtu.be/a86_BStLJkw
Mace & Obi-Wan scene (readded deleted scene, now with a new line, see if you can spot it): https://youtu.be/lGA9593v-wE
Padme’s Bedroom scene (readded deleted scene): https://youtu.be/9Iz7v6sp1CQ
New Dinner/First Kiss scene (first kiss scene regrade by Hal9000): https://youtu.be/Ma15X-fzggY

ANH:
Vader tells Sidious he killed Kenobi first draft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am4HiwXBCAc

And finally I don’t plan on doing the sequel trilogy.

I’ve thought of a possible way I can do the Sidious draining Padme’s life force scene at the end of my ROTS. However I’ll need someone who could do a voice over for a couple medical droids (one that talks to Sidious about Vader and one that talks to Obi-Wan and Yoda about Padme) and someone who can do a really good Yoda and Palpatine impression.

Knight of Kalee said:

Your ideas surprised me for the best. For me it’s always been hard to choose prequel edits because while they get rid of the cringe, most also trim scenes I genuinely like (Yoda using a lightsaber comes to mind) or try too hard to make them match the OT. Your intended edits to Empire and ROTJ are the exact same ones I had thought of making to Adywan’s Revisited edition and IlFanEditore’s color-corrected ROTJ. So far your changes list strikes a good balance for me, so I’m looking forward to see them finished!

Thanks! And yeah I agree here, I never thought it was a problem for Yoda or Sidious to have lightsabers at all. The first two answers here explain better then I can:
https://www.quora.com/Did-people-hate-Yoda-having-a-lightsaber-in-the-Star-Wars-prequels

Just curious, what do you think of V1 of the ANH Vader and Sidious scene I linked that I made?

Knight of Kalee said:

Your Vader vs Obi-Wan idea is alright for me, if the rest of the movie is suitably improved to look more like the redone scene.

I see, do you have suggestions for how I may be able to do that?

ExpandedUniverses said:

This sounds incredible! It sounds like an excellent edit of the Saga that bridges everything together. I’ll be very excited to see the finished products. : )

Thank you very much! Imma be honest, I was a little worried I would get bad reactions for some of my more radical changes or using Adywan’s edit as a base but you’ve made me feel much better now lol

You know what? If you’d like I wouldn’t mind volunteering to dub over another medical droid. Lol

Hal 9000 said:

You know what? If you’d like I wouldn’t mind volunteering to dub over another medical droid. Lol

Wow, thank you! I’m working on a little mini-script for the scene right now, I’ll let you know when it’s done.

Just a little bit of an update, I’ve been spending the last two days working a lot on my edits for TPM and AOTC. They’re not done but I can say for certain they will be next week. My ROTS edit is done except for Padme’s new death. Hal has generously given me lines for one of the droids but I need someone to do another droid (though I may just do this one myself), Yoda and Palpatine (each only has one new line). I will be uploading previews of this new scene as I’m working on it.

As you can probably tell the prequel edits will be available before the OT ones.

I’ve just found this fandub of Jar Jar that I actually quite enjoy. I think I may include it in my fan-edit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58yrGVFDHc8

Knight of Kalee said:

Very interesting concept! It gives Vader more of a personal agenda, rather than being Tarkin’s lackey as the film itself suggests. If Palpatine’s hologram and lip-syncing can be done in a convincing way, I support it 😄

Oh yeah, I actually didn’t have that in mind but it’s another great reason! Maybe I’ll also trim Leia’s line “I should’ve expected to find you holding Vader’s leash” as another way of making him seem like less of a lackey.

Knight of Kalee said:

I came across that edit a couple months ago and I liked it, as the new voice and specially the redone dialogue paint him as a completely different character, more like an everyman. How do you plan to implement it? because there’s not many of those new Jar Jar scenes that have been released.

He actually posted a Google drive link to his whole edit in the comments section of the last Jar Jar clip he posted on YouTube in a reply to someone who said “This is great! I can’t wait for the final edit!” I’m going to use his dub for Jar Jar and all of the Gungans.

I have finished editing my TPM edit, complete with that fandub of Jar Jar and the Gungans I linked earlier. I just need to export it.

I’ve found another interesting fan-edited scene on YouTube and it’s made me wonder if I should include something like it in my ANH edit. What do you guys think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPa2p50MuQ4

Knight of Kalee said:

Pretty nice idea, the voice acting for that trooper was very well done.
though how would the order of the scenes go?

I don’t know if Vader talking to Piett is necessary though, mostly to keep continuity with ESB.

Yeah I definitely agree. I’d probably edit it so he tells the thing about closing the space ports to the same trooper.

I have decided to implement a new idea into my Return of the Jedi fan-edit. Basically there’s going to be a new opening crawl that states that after his defeat to Darth Vader in ESB, Luke returns to Dagobah to train with Yoda, and his allies have formulated a plan to free Han Solo from Jabba (including the droids). My idea is that the film will be edited to make it appear as if Luke had been training with Yoda in the time period between ESB and this film, which explains how Luke became a better, more powerful Jedi in-between. It also helps the plan to free Han Solo make more sense, as now the efforts by the others can be seen as them attempting to free Han without Luke during his absence on Dagobah. However, since their plan doesn’t work, Luke has to go to Tatooine to save their asses. The scenes on Dagobah will be moved to the beginning and intercut with the Jabba’s palace scenes.

Btw, my The Phantom Menace edit has been exported and is now available. It’s more of a combination of others edits so I know mine isn’t exactly revolutionary or anything, but if you find my version appeals to you based on the list of edits on the document linked in the first post then I’d be happy to share it with anyone. Don’t hesitate to DM if interested 😃

Next is Attack of the Clones, which I anticipate will be available soon.

Knight of Kalee said:

I think the only con to moving the Dagobah scenes to the opening act would be that the film would lose some of that ambiguity regarding Luke’s allegance at the beginning. The moment Luke arrives to Jabba’s palace kind of plays with the possibility of him having turned to the dark (being arrogant, Force-choking the guards, wearing black and a sinister-looking cloak, etc.).

But otherwise, the arrangement would explain why the Rebels went with such a hasty plan, it would make Luke’s power upgrade more believable and his intervention more badass in hindsight. Anyway, regardless of how you restructure your edt, the important thing is that the film should adequatly convey Luke’s conflict with the dark side.

Yeah, I think the positives of this change would outweigh the negatives. And I think there’s still plenty there to show he’s tipping a little towards the dark side. In fact, what if the reason he’s somewhat angry, violent, and arrogant is because he’s internally frustrated with Obi-Wan and Yoda that they’re forcing him to kill his father, which he doesn’t want to do. So his more aggressive behavior is him venting some of that frustration.

Knight of Kalee said:

And I would be totally interested to have your Phantom Menace version!

Thanks man, a DM is on the way (I just gotta wait for the file to finish uploading to Google Drive, kinda forgot about that part lol, shouldn’t be too long tho).

Because the Return of the Jedi opening crawl now has 4 paragraphs, I have decided to do a new opening crawl for every single film so they all follow the same format. I have updated the document with the information about the new openings and I will update my Phantom Menace edit to have the new crawl.

Knight of Kalee said:

Is there gonna be an explanation for Luke showing up late to the Rebel briefing? 😄

You know what that’s actually a great question XD

IDK… maybe he’s just… late.

I’m debating whether I should keep or remove the Leia and Wicket scene. What do you guys think?

I’d like some advice on something.

What’s the best way to change the color of a lightsaber without affecting the rest of the movie’s color? For example, making Darth Vader’s lightsaber more of a crimson red.

My AOTC fan-edit is now done, and will be available tomorrow.

As I’ve said the ROTS edit is pretty much finished except for Padme’s new death, so that will be the next thing I’ll be working on. I’ll post videos of my progress (as I speculate the reason why this hasn’t gotten much attention is because of the lack of videos, but I’ll correct this).

Since nobody has volunteered I’m going to do the Yoda and Palpatine lines. Time to put my impression skills to the test 😎