logo Sign In

STAR WARS: LAST OF THE JEDI (fanedit of 'Return of the Jedi' - unfinished project)

Author
Time
 (Edited)

This is not an attempt at making the SE of Return of the Jedi closer to it’s original theatrical version - I am simply trying to make Jedi into what I feel would be a better film, one that is closer to what the story was originally planned to be (and no, I do not buy the canonical “Lucas history” of the SW film series)

Changes/Cuts

  • Leia is NOT Luke’s sister: relationship now takes on a slight romantic undertone
    As far as I am concerned, the “Leia is Luke’s twin” plot twist is one of the worse re-writings/retconings that I’ve seen in a serial film series. By all accounts, she was never written as nor ever intended to be the main character’s twin or the “Other” mentioned by Yoda; the reason WHY she became that was due to Lucas’s fear of not being able to make more Episodes/Chapters of the series (which would include a prequel trilogy and two more trilogies series FOLLOWING the Original Trilogy), so he decided to “wrap up” any and all plot points in RofJ.

  • removal of the Leia/Han romance subplot
    The main reason why I’m cutting the Han/Leia romance is because by getting rid of the “Twin Sister” subplot from the story, the relationship between Luke and Leia seems to take on a more romantic ‘undertone’ than what was there previously. The way that I look at it is that during the years following the events of Empire Strikes Back (and yes, I say years because this fanedit’s story is taking place 4-5 years after ESB… I still can’t believe that Jedi’s story took place just one year after ESB: the characters definitely look more than a year older), the two characters’ relationship developed a lot further than what the audience saw onscreen. Plus, there were plans at one point that if Harrison Ford had not come back to play Han in the final film, there would’ve been a brief (but unsuccessful in the end) romance between Leia and Luke, so there was always a possibility of such a relationship existing in the original material.

  • reduce Han Solo’s “nice guy humor”

  • reduce Darth Vader’s and the Emperor’s constant “Turn to the Dark Side” speeches

  • reduce Luke’s constant “There is good in him” speeches

  • reinstating Sebastian Shaw into the film as the older Anakin

  • reduce the role of the Ewoks (along with their “humor”)

  • remove/reduce the “music video/big-lipped alien singer” sequence at Jabba’s palace

  • miscellaneous other tweaks and cuts

Author
Time

are you going to attempt any of the more drastic cuts as demonstrated in the FAN-O-MATIC?

Author
Time
 (Edited)

Sounds to me like your cutting most of the good stuff from Jedi. Luke and Leia being twins is great it makes perfect sense as to why they love each other but feel weird about it in TESB. 

 

As for Luke telling Vader there is good in him that the whole point of the movie. Luke showing Vader that there is good in him and bringing him back to the light side.

My Youtube Accounts OfficialPeterFisher http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialPeterFisher and JediMasterFisher http://www.youtube.com/user/JediMasterFisher

Author
Time
 (Edited)
ben_danger said:

are you going to attempt any of the more drastic cuts as demonstrated in the FAN-O-MATIC?

 

From what I've seen of the Fan-O-Matic (I've only watched the first 3 videos), the only ideas that we both share is that I might possibly move the "Yoda's death on Daigobah" sequence to the beginning of the film before the arrival on Tatooine and some restructuring of the Tatooine scenes; I'm also toying with the idea of completely removing the "Obi-Wan talks to Luke" scene that follows it.

(note, though, that none of these edits have been 100% decided on yet)

Author
Time

This and the Fan-O-Matic could serve as interesting counterpoints to each other.

The fan edit community is almost like a laboratory for finding in what we were given the continuations of the saga most of us feel were not.

I look forward to seeing this and other projects of it's type at the very least to see what works and what doesn't.

Just as I look forward to the radical redux prequel thread baring fruit.

 

Author
Time
 (Edited)

With my Prequel Trilogy more or less finished (although I will be doing to revisions for the DVD versions to improve their quality further), I've now started work on this edit. :)

Without going into too much detail into it yet, I will say that I am trying to see how possible it would be to make an entirely new ending to the film, which would essentially be a "10-20 Years Later" montage featuring the fates of the main characters:
- Leia is ruling her planet and people by herself
- Han Solo continues to get into trouble with Bounty Hunters (Chewie may or may not be with him)
- Luke is either the head of a new Jedi Order or alone as the last Jedi (possibly including the ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the "Shaw" Anakin)

Now, I should say that I am completely unsure as to whether or not this is even feasible; it would require an insane amount of rotoscoping/compositing and reworking of footage from numerous films. If this is not possible or I am not satisfied with the results, than I will just reinstate the original version of the Jedi ending for the fanedit's ending (with Sebastian Shaw as Anakin and without the planet celebrations of the Emperor's death)

Author
Time
JasonN said:

With my Prequel Trilogy more or less finished (although I will be doing to revisions for the DVD versions to improve their quality further), I've now started work on this edit. :)

That's great! I've always wondered why there is such a small amount of fanedits of ROTJ. Everybody does the prequels, which need it, but ROTJ needed it as well. I am also working on one of my own, but I probably won't release it.

 

I look forward to seeing yours!

Author
Time
 (Edited)

A suggestion for the montage:

Have you ever watched the Sandlot? You could have a voice-over of an older Luke keeping a journal entry (call-back to the journal of the whills) to upload into R2. Have footage from the previous films showing the characters, and whenever a character's "fate" is done being revealed by Luke, the image of the character sort of vanishes into thin air.

"You ready R2? All right. Journal entry of Luke Skywalker. 40 ABY." Maybe start off with something like that.

Show Han cleaning the Falcon in preparation for its take-off from Mos Eisely: and when Luke is finished saying "last we heard is that he had a run-in with bounty hunters. We haven't been in contact with him for years." have the figure of Han gradually disappear, leaving the Falcon alone in the docking bay.

That's one example.

"Fuck you. All the star wars movies were excellent. none of them sucked. Also, revenge of the sith is the best."

- DarthZorgon (YouTube)

Author
Time

Now that is an intriguing idea, DarkFather!  It would require the voice talent of someone who sounds like an older Mark Hamill.

Hell, maybe we could contact Mark Hamill and get him to do it for shits and giggles.  (Half joking.)

Author
Time

You know...  you might be able to use dialouge from some of the Jedi Knight games, the Luke voice in there was pretty good...

_________________

In the Works - TMNT:Return to New York -

robduenas.deviantart.com

sketchrob.com

 

 

Author
Time

if you are unsure about the celebration ending, could you have it end with the pyre, then when we pan up, there are no fireworks, but maybe just end there? if we pan to stars it would be like a reverse of the star wars opening.

 

are you going to attempt any of the ROTJ Fan-o-matic changes? the one with the bunker was very good.

Author
Time

JasonN; just go nuts. Interested to see what you come up with.

Author
Time
ben_danger said:

if you are unsure about the celebration ending, could you have it end with the pyre, then when we pan up, there are no fireworks, but maybe just end there? if we pan to stars it would be like a reverse of the star wars opening.

 

 You should do a reverse crawl with 'The End' rushing towards the camera.

Author
Time
Sluggo said:
ben_danger said:

if you are unsure about the celebration ending, could you have it end with the pyre, then when we pan up, there are no fireworks, but maybe just end there? if we pan to stars it would be like a reverse of the star wars opening.

 

 You should do a reverse crawl with 'The End' rushing towards the camera.

 

Or George Lucas' head with a bewildered look on his face!

Author
Time

Great, now that image is in my brain.  Dammit!

Getting back on topic, I think ending Jedi at the funeral pyre isn't a bad idea.  It may not offer the closure for the movie the way it is now, but if the movie is less about the rebels and more about Luke, I think it would work.

Author
Time

DarkFather's idea is amazing. Sure it's not Star Wars canon, but as it is the conclusion of the whole saga I think it could work.

Author
Time

JasonN - Have you soncsidered the idea of starting the film with Luke on Dagobah? Having gone to complete his trainging and then moving to the Tatooine sequence?

_________________

In the Works - TMNT:Return to New York -

robduenas.deviantart.com

sketchrob.com

 

 

Author
Time

DarkFather, that's a GREAT idea! And as people have said, perhaps pooling together some dialogue from the Jedi Knight games would be a good idea... or the radio drama?  Heck, I'm sure someone at the VAA could do it!

A Goon in a Gaggle of 'em

Author
Time
DarkFather said:

A suggestion for the montage:

Have you ever watched the Sandlot? You could have a voice-over of an older Luke keeping a journal entry (call-back to the journal of the whills) to upload into R2. Have footage from the previous films showing the characters, and whenever a character's "fate" is done being revealed by Luke, the image of the character sort of vanishes into thin air.

"You ready R2? All right. Journal entry of Luke Skywalker. 40 ABY." Maybe start off with something like that.

Show Han cleaning the Falcon in preparation for its take-off from Mos Eisely: and when Luke is finished saying "last we heard is that he had a run-in with bounty hunters. We haven't been in contact with him for years." have the figure of Han gradually disappear, leaving the Falcon alone in the docking bay.

That's one example.

Yes, I've seen The Sandlot (good movie, btw) - interesting concept, although I was looking to keep the montage just music without any voice-overs.

 

ben_danger said:

if you are unsure about the celebration ending, could you have it end with the pyre, then when we pan up, there are no fireworks, but maybe just end there? if we pan to stars it would be like a reverse of the star wars opening.

That was my other idea for the ending (except I do kinda like the scene of Luke seeing Obi-Wan, Yoda, and older Anakin, which would have be cut if the celebration is removed from the end)

Author
Time

You could show Luke at the funeral pyre, then cut to Ben and Yoda watching him as Anakin fades into being.  Ben and Anakin smile at each other, then turn and watch Luke as Luke watches his father's body burning.  The Force Theme swells, the camera pans up to the sky, and the saga ends.

The biggest difference here is Luke doesn't see them, but they see Luke.

And I'm all for cutting Luke/Obi-Wan's earlier conversation, especially since Luke is no longer Leia's sister.  It now serves no purpose, really.

Author
Time

i like the idea of the ghosts at the fire. only problem is that they are grinning quite a bit, so maybe the ghosts could be created from other clips of obi-wan/yoda and shaw (other films?)

Author
Time

They could be smiling in approval at Luke for finally coming into his own, I suppose.

Author
Time

What about my ideas about killing Lando?  You still thinking about it?

Star Wars Revisited Wordpress

Star Wars Visual Comparisons WordPress