THE LAST JEDI REFORGED

Introduction:

First of all, I want to introduce myself. Hello everybody! As English is not my mother tongue, there will be mistakes and I apologize for this!
The first time I heard about fan-edits was on Youtube. I was disappointed about the theatrical cut of the Last Jedi and found a user named Ivan Ortega who claimed he would fix the whole movie. There was a little hype around his project, but in the end I didn’t like his final cut and overall behaviour. Plus the community around that project being very toxic, childish and misogynist, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it.
But I got interested in fan-edits, and that’s the positive side about it. This is how I found this forum and I was blown away the quality of the edits and the community! I love this place. My favorite editors are Hal 9000, Poppasketti, L8WRTR, DonKamillo, DigMod & TheFallenKnight (Clark Zuckerberg, even though I don’t know if he is here in this forum, cause I found his edits on reddit).
I watched many of these edits and found my favorite versions of Star Wars 1-7, Solo & Rogue One. The only problem I had in the end: I still didn’t like the Last Jedi. Most of the edits either removed too much or not enough for me.
So I took the decision to take the (in my opinion) best versions of The Last Jedi and “reforge” them to a cut that I would like.
I never wanted to publish my version, but then I thought that I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to watch these edits when their creators would have thought the same way. I want to give something back to the community, so here it is…

This is my first fan-edit, so there certainly will be weak spots. I have some basics knowledge of cutting a movie as I produced some mountainbike (amateur) movies a few years ago, but this project was on a whole other level. As Software I used Vegas Pro. I know there are better Programs around, but I am used to it and don’t want to learn everything again.
The biggest problem I had was with sourround-editing. I didn’t have any experience with that so I think there’s quite much room for improvement.

Important notes:

This edit is based on the fan-edits realized by Poppasketti (based on Hal 9000’s edit), DonKamillo & TheFallenKnight. So all the praise for their ideas and cuts belongs to them! It was too extensive to include everyone involved in these projects and I don’t even know everyone involved, so please take a look at these edits in the forums.

Prior Changes:

• There is no Canto Bight sub-plot. I feel sorry for Kelly Marie Tran as it’s not her fault, but this whole segment just doesn’t work for me and makes everyone involved look stupid in the end.
• No Canto Bight means less Finn and no DJ, Phasma & Maz. I don’t really miss these three, but Finn’s reduced screen time bugs me the most.
• Luke doesn’t throw away his Lightsaber, he gives it back (idea by DonKamillo).
• There is no daily routine of Luke on Ahch To. No milking, etc. The removed material is later used in another context (Reys training scene).
• I included the epic trailer music of Rise of Skywalker as main “Luke & Rey Theme” (the music was made by Samuel Kim, find him on Youtube, awesome music!).
• Leia doesn’t die (taken from TheFallenKnight-edit).
• General Hux is not/less silly.
• Poe and Holdo don’t have any dispute.
• Caretakers are in this edit (2 scenes). I think they are funny and the deleted scene is important for the plot (Lukes third lesson?).
• Porgs are in this edit (2-3 scenes). I think they are funny as well.
• Rose appears in the end as a side character. No love story, no saving Finn. They both are hit by a cannon (idea by Poppasketti/Hal).
• Luke’s Lightsaber in the final battle is green (Effects by ImmersionVFX)
• No broom ending (taken from TheFallenknight-edit).
• I included most Palpatine teases from Poppasketti’s edit.

Detailed changes:

Intro:

• I used a disclaimer similar to this of Hal 9000 because most of my favorite edits are realized by him and I wanted continuity.

Space:

• Cut Poe/Hux Joke (taken from TheFallenKnight-edit).
• Bomber scene: Trimmed the time Paige takes to catch the remote (it still seems to take forever).

Ahch To:

• Luke already holds the Lightsaber in his hands and gives it back to Rey (idea by DonKamillo, audio by Poppasketti/Hal). I had to cut the scene in which Rey walks towards Luke. I used material from a documentary about Skellig Michael instead.
• Rey doesn’t translate what Chewie is saying (taken from DonKamillo-Edit)
• Added “Luke mourning Han” deleted scene
• Luke isn’t milking, fishing & acting silly. After leaving his house, he climbs up the hill. Rey attempts to follow him, but is “called” by the Jedi Tree.
• In the Jedi-Tree: removed Reys line “I saw your daily routine” (as she didn’t in my edit).

Space:

• Leia doesn’t die. Kylo doesn’t pull the trigger & the Tie Fighters fly by. No explosion. Leia is alive the whole movie.

Ahch To:

• The Caretakers appear the first time after Rey shoots a hole into the cabin.

Reys Training (made many changes here):

• I used the trailer music (RoS) to make Reys training scene more epic (music made by Samuel Kim).
• Luke doesn’t go away after Rey has destroyed the rock. Instead he watches her and she walks towards him.
• I used the removed footage from Luke’s daily routine scenes. Now you see Luke and Rey wandering around the Island. This includes the fishing scene. It’s left in the eye of the beholder if he really trains her or if she just follows him.
• the “training segment” ends with Rey standing under the Falcon. She seems to be happy.
• After the force connection scene between Rey & Kylo, Rey walks into the Falcon and talks to Chewie. I had to mirror one scene here.

Space:

• Admiral Holdo is introduced. I removed the “Leia is unconscious” part. Instead it’s just a motivational speech.

Ahch To:

• After lesson two I inserted the deleted Caretakers village scene. I think, this scene has an important message and can be seen as Luke’s never released third lesson.
• When Luke is standing near sleeping Kylo he doesn’t hold a Lightsaber. Instead he only uses it to defend himself (taken from DonKamillo-edit).
• Directly after Rey is leaving the Island, Luke wants to burn down the Jedi Tree (idea by TheFallenKnight). In many cuts this scene comes later, but I think it makes Luke’s behaviour more understandable if it’s used immediately.

Snoke’s Ship:

• Many edits took out the close up of Snoke’s Body. I kept it because I liked Hux’ reaction.

Crait:

• Cut the Finn & Rose arriving scene.
• Rose is first seen in the bunker.
• I took Poppasketti’s version for the battle-scenes here, cause his cut worked best for me here (Rose not saving Finn, instead both are shot by walkers).
• Cut Hux getting beaten by Kylo.

Fight between Luke and Kylo:

• I used another version of Samuel Kim’s music to make Rey’s appearance more epic.
• I moved some scenes of the resistance in the tunnels to fit the music.
• Trimmed some other scenes for a better fit.

Ending:

• Cut the broom kid. Instead the end credits appear after the scenes on the Falcon (Taken from TheFallenKnight-edit).
• Trimmed the end-credits-music and
• Inserted full length version of Samuel Kim’s music in the end credits.

There are for sure many more little changes, but these were the significant ones.

Special Thanks:

As I already mentioned, special thanks go to:
Hal 9000, Poppasketti, TheFallenKnight, DonKamillo, Samuel Kim, ImmersionVFX
and everyone involved in their projects!

Final Version & Format:

The final runtime for the movie is 113 minutes (105 min without end credits).

1080p High Quality MKV (20,3gb)
Video: H.264 at 23-30mbps VBR
Audio: 5.1 DTS, 5.1 Dolby Digital, Stereo
Extra: Chapter markers

As I’ve already mentioned, my English isn’t the best around, so I don’t have any Subtitle-Files. If anyone is able to make them, I will include them in a future release.
Feel free to tell me about any mistakes, I will take a look and try to improve.

Examples of changed music:

Reys training: https://vimeo.com/464171658
Final battle: https://vimeo.com/464176803

Blu-Ray-Cover:

The arrangement of this cover and the text are based on a cover created by ForceGhostRecon. As I like continuity, it has the same backside as Hal9000’s Episode VII (and hopefully Episode IX).

Greetings and may the force be with you!

Important Announcement:
Because links to my films were shared again, I decided to take the films offline. Sorry guys.

MMP (ManiacMovieProductions)

Wow! That song synced to the lightsaber training moment works… surprisingly well. It sounds brand new but the key notes really drive at nostalgia in an effective way.

This was also the movie that introduced me to fan editing. I would be interested in checking this out!

Thanks,
Adam

Sounds interesting. Welcome, and congratulations on your first project!

Solemn.Philosopher said:

This looks intriguing. Is the edit complete?

Did you cut the sillier moments from the Porgs and Caretakers? Most edits cut one or both of them out entirely. I think they are fine as background characters, as long as their sillier moments are cut. It appears to be the case in your training edit (where the rock usually hits the Caretakers Cart).

The edit is finished, yes!
And yes, I did cut the sillier moments from both.
The caretakers appear in two scenes. First when Rey shoots the hole. You can’t cut this scene if you want to implement the deleted scene, because Luke introduces them here. The second time is in the deleted scene (caretakers village), which is an important scene for the movie I think. They work good as background characters and I don’t think they are too silly in these scenes.
The porgs are in 2-3 scenes. Maybe I could have removed more, but I like them…and my girlfriend loves them, so I would get some difficulties if I would have cut too much 😉 If you want to watch it yourself, just PM me.

Hal 9000 said:

Sounds interesting. Welcome, and congratulations on your first project!

Thank you very much 😃

poppasketti said:

MMP, congrats on your project! Echoing Hal, you have an interesting take and it’s great to see another contribution on the forum!

Thank you very much! This means a lot to me. Without your (and Hal’s) work I would not have been able to make my edit.

I just wanted to say this edit is a testament to the power of music.

I think this song perfectly encapsulates what the average viewer wanted to feel seeing Luke back on the silver screen (bravo to Samuel for the arrangement). It captures it so perfectly that it can even overpower the true context of the moments around it. I’m generally a fan of fan edits that re-score scenes, but this is one my personal favorite re-scored scenes I’ve seen (the training). I think how you moved the “day in the life” to part of this training sequence doesn’t “feel” like it should work on paper, but it came together so nicely.

I like your whole take, honestly, but I had to specifically comment how such a seemingly small change made such an impact to my viewing.

Also, I hadn’t seen that deleted scene before. I can’t believe they took it out. It really helps give a little more weight to Luke’s arc that was chosen for this movie. I’ve always claimed that I wasn’t against the creative direction of Luke… just the execution. There needed to be a lot more substance to his conflict for me to buy into it. This small scene doesn’t “fix” that but him going out of his way to demonstrate his current change in belief via example gives it just that extra bit of oomph.

You showed both of the scenes you updated the music on, I just had to let you know that, for me, they both land in context as well!

madmanasunder said:

I just wanted to say this edit is a testament to the power of music.

I think this song perfectly encapsulates what the average viewer wanted to feel seeing Luke back on the silver screen (bravo to Samuel for the arrangement). It captures it so perfectly that it can even overpower the true context of the moments around it. I’m generally a fan of fan edits that re-score scenes, but this is one my personal favorite re-scored scenes I’ve seen (the training). I think how you moved the “day in the life” to part of this training sequence doesn’t “feel” like it should work on paper, but it came together so nicely.

I like your whole take, honestly, but I had to specifically comment how such a seemingly small change made such an impact to my viewing.

Also, I hadn’t seen that deleted scene before. I can’t believe they took it out. It really helps give a little more weight to Luke’s arc that was chosen for this movie. I’ve always claimed that I wasn’t against the creative direction of Luke… just the execution. There needed to be a lot more substance to his conflict for me to buy into it. This small scene doesn’t “fix” that but him going out of his way to demonstrate his current change in belief via example gives it just that extra bit of oomph.

You showed both of the scenes you updated the music on, I just had to let you know that, for me, they both land in context as well!

Thank you! I’m really happy, that you like the way I included the new music. And I think the same way about Luke. His story in TLJ isn’t bad, but they did a poor job telling it. I can’t understand why they cut this important scene (and left in so many other stupid ones). It gave me a better understanding of Luke’s behaviour and how he thinks about the (outdated) Jedi.

Welcome to originaltrilogy MMP, I’m a fairly new member as well. I’d love to watch TLJ Reforged at some point, could I have a link too please?

I updated the main thread and added a cover for those, who want to make a Blu-ray. It’s based on an arrangement by ForceGhostRecon. I changed everything except the text, which fits perfectly for the movie. As I like continuity, it has the same backside as Hal9000’s Episode VII (and hopefully Episode IX).

As Software I used Vegas Pro. I know there are better Programs around, but I am used to it and don’t want to learn everything again.

All the cool kids use Vegas Pro 😉

Hey congrats on your first edit and finding the fanediting community. Welcome to the obsession!

macesmajored said:

One thing that stood out to me was Hux going from a frantic “OPEN FIRE” to being calm and collected just a couple shots later. It’s one of the only things that stood out as a potential “acting continuity” error. Not much to do there if you are keeping with all comedy removed in that scene though- so I do understand.

That was in the original version, though. All the trimming occurred before the “OPEN FIRE” line.

This looks like it might be a very promising addition to the sequel fanedits. May I get a link?

DigMod said:

As Software I used Vegas Pro. I know there are better Programs around, but I am used to it and don’t want to learn everything again.

All the cool kids use Vegas Pro 😉

Hey congrats on your first edit and finding the fanediting community. Welcome to the obsession!

Right? 😂🤣

Thank you very much for your kind words and reviews guys!!!
@CaloNord
You are right. I think I will remove Finn saying “Rose” in a future Version of the film. If I find more things that need to be fixed, I will do a Version 1.1.

Right now, I’m working on a Indy 4 fan-edit, which is almost finished.

Would you send me a PM please? 😉