Matt.F

.Mac. said:

Wanted to let Ady know I just made a small $50 contribution for Revisited that I hope can be made useful 😃 More will be on the way next month when I am able!

Good man! Suggestions are great but what Ady really needs to make this a reality is donations. I really hope everyone can chuck a little something in the pot. If you’ve got paypal it’s literally 30 seconds of your time, be awesome and follow this link… https://swrevisited.wordpress.com/

In the words of Shrek, “You’ve had a lot of time to plan this, haven’t you…”

There are some good suggestions for continuity or error fixes, and some of the small enhancements suggested such as Jabba’s eyes going bloodshot when he’s strangled could work, but imho you’ve also gone way leftfield into fan fic territory.

Well done Adywan - I’ve just gladly donated £20 to Return Of The Jedi Revisited. One small point is that on the paypal giving page it still lists Empire Strikes Back Revisited as the beneficiary so you might want to swap that to Jedi now.

Also, i’ll take this opportunity to implore all the other commenters and readers of this thread to send a little contribution Adrian’s way. And to do it right now, don’t delay!
The main point of the original post was for a donation drive, although that has naturally been lost somewhat in the excitement at the change list, and the reaction to it. But the main body of info that Adrian has provided isn’t the change list - it’s a well thought out explanation of why he will need approx. £6,000 to make this a reality.

So please do send a contribution however modest.
Here is the page that contains paypal links to donate: https://swrevisited.wordpress.com/

Here is my review of Adywan’s masterpiece, hope you enjoy the read…

The Empire Strikes Back Revisited (2017)

In short: A VERY special edition. The Empire Strikes Back gets a meticulous makeover courtesy of fan editor Adywan.

Review: I have been following the progress of The Empire Strikes Back Revisited for what seems like much of my adult life. Fx guru Adywan (Adrian Sayce) began work on the movie soon after releasing its predecessor, Star Wars Revisited, to fan acclaim way back in 2008. Here we are nearly ten years later and the finished sequel has just been released. It has clearly been a labour, but a labour of love, and after viewing the movie I can say that all those years of tinkering, polishing, correcting and perfecting really have resulted in something very special.

And it was something ‘special’ that set the Revisited project in motion. The Special Edition re-releases of the original trilogy back in 1997. Fan grievances over the Special Editions are well noted (with crowbarred-in incongruous CG and some clunky retconning - most infamously Han’s dispassionate dispatch of Greedo) but The Empire Strikes Back arguably came off the best of the three in terms of avoiding any really contentious changes. There are a few Special Edition ‘changes revoked’ in Revisited (when Luke comes to the aid of R2 on Dagobah his original 1980 dialogue “You’re lucky you don’t taste very good” is restored, as is Boba Fett’s original Clint Eastwood-esque voice) but for the most part ESB Revisited isn’t about restoring - it is about enhancing.

And wow – what a difference these enhancements make. Even if you have seen ESB a dozen times or more I guarantee that watching Revisited will feel like seeing it for the first time. The sensation of experiencing the movie afresh is perhaps the greatest accomplishment of Adywan’s version - although on the flipside I’m not sure that I could go back to watching the original after being so thoroughly entranced by Revisited. Before I get too hyperbolic or mislead you as to what this version is – it is still The Empire Strikes Back that we know and love, but it so beautifully presented and polished as to shine.

The blue tint that was bluntly applied across the Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back is now gone, and the richness of the colours are at times a revelation. The deep gold of C3PO, the obsidian sheen of Vader’s helm, and the warm skin tones of Han and Leia as their romance blossoms all contribute to enhance the already superb cinematography.

Continuity and production errors have also been corrected. The thing about ‘movie mistakes’ is that they’re usually hard to spot but once you have seen them they’re equally hard to un-see. From Adywan’s change log there are a multitude of corrected mistakes, ranging from wobbling sets to cameramen being visible in reflection. However, the really big one is the carbonite block, and the frozen Han is now wearing the same shirt that he appears in when descending into the freeze chamber. Seamlessly done.

Throughout the movie there are small enhanced details. On first viewing I’m sure I have only picked up a fraction of these. For example; the Wampa’s severed arm now has burning strands of fur from the lightsabre strike, the Snowspeeders cockpit displays are alive with new instrumentation, the hangar bays below the Star Destroyers are illuminated, and there is even a new creature glimpsed on Dagobah (the knobby white spider, first visualised by Ralph McQuarrie in his original ESB concept art).

However, the grandstanding sequence in terms of enhancements is the Battle of Hoth. The ferocity, the scale, and the sense of geography are all improved. As a child I recall the giant lumbering AT-AT’s seemed less mechanical and almost bestial to my eyes, and that sensation is now made even more acute by a contingent of AT-ST Walkers. These cluck alongside the elephantine AT-ATs almost like Velociraptors, their cannons and gaze darting here and there, protecting their larger charges. The rebels now truly do feel hopelessly outgunned, and it makes their small victories in the battle seem more significant. In fact, there is a new sight gag when one AT-AT falls that Lucas himself would have been proud of – I won’t spoil it, but it’s the kind of moment that would draw cheers and whoops from a theatre audience. Bravo Adywan!

Apart from letting rip on the Hoth battle, Adywan has implemented the rest of the enhancements with a good degree of subtlety, elegance and restraint. The techniques he has used are varied, and certainly not all reliant on CGI. In fact, like The Force Awakens and Rogue One, Revisited is well served by going back in time and embracing physical model building and costuming. New miniatures for Dagobah and the Rebel Hangar on Echo Base are massively impressive and add to the solidity and tangible feel of the Star Wars universe. I honestly think you could watch The Empire Strikes Back Revisited and Rogue One back to back, and see them as companion pieces rather than films separated by over 3 decades.

And so, how do you watch The Empire Strikes Back Revisited? Is this some murky, illegal dark web endeavour? Not at all. The only legal requirement for downloading this fan edit is that you must already own the source – in this case The Empire Strikes Back on blu ray disc. If you’re like me you’ve probably bought The Empire Strikes Back multiple times over the years on different formats, but do make sure you don’t buy Revisited – this is a free-to-view fan edit, and anyone trying to sell copies on Ebay or elsewhere is on very shaky ground.

The download is a 7.5GB Mkv file, presented in crisp and clear 720p, and it’s available through torrent sites or through Megadownloader links on the Star Wars Revisted facebook page. I know that some people watch films on their tablets or smart phones, but I would say that it’s well worth finding the biggest and best screen to properly enjoy this spectacular movie on. Now Adywan, please don’t make us wait another 9 years for The Return Of The Jedi…

Adywan, well the sun is out and summer seems to be coming to England. What a great opportunity to get away from it all for a few days, have a little adventure camping down in Dorset or somewhere nice. Only one rule - no tech. No phones, no tablets, no screens. Take a walk round Corfe Castle, visit Durdle Door or swim at Lulworth Cove. No human being can be stressed there. You will come back a new man.

The ramp being down is like the door being unlocked, and to tell the truth most of those rusty bangers aren’t locked because no one would want to steal them, so that doesn’t bother me.

But the lights being on seems almost like the Falcon is sitting there with its keys turned in the ignition and the engine running. ‘Awakening’ is a theme of the film so don’t you think it would have been neater if the Falcon had seemed to be asleep and was only powered up when Rey reached the cockpit?

“What about that ship?”

“That one’s garbage (KABOOM)… the garbage will do!”

The first appearance of the Falcon is one of the highlights in The Force Awakens, but when Rey and Finn first run onboard was anyone else struck by the fact that all the corridor lights are on and the ship appears primed for take off?

Seeing as the ship is under tarp, like an old banger slowly rusting in a farmers front garden, wouldn’t it be more fitting if the ship was powered down when they first enter and the lights didn’t come on till Rey reached the cockpit?

I know Adywan recently showed off a little fix for ESB Revisited where he made a light that was off appear on - could the reverse be done here or is this too hard a alteration?

Darth Lars said:

Matt.F said:

Snoke, I have to say, is where the movie proverbially ‘shit the bed’. It’s just not good enough fx to pass as authentic, and really shows up as a CG construct.

There are more issues with Snoke’s hologram. According to the script, in the first scene with Snoke the audience is supposed to be led into thinking that Snoke is a real person and not a hologram until the transmission ends. This means that the fidelity of the hologram has been made higher than any hologram in the OT or PT, in order to pull off this trick. Personally, I don’t see the point of that at all.
Also, the hologram room has windows with sunlight shining behind Snoke, and that light should reasonably make the holo-projection suffer, but it doesn’t and that just looks weird.

I think best would be to first reduce the shots of Snoke to a minimum – making him more of a mystery, as the Emperor in ESB.
Second, if possible, lower the fidelity of the hologram – which I think would mask the low quality of the CGI and make the hologram look more like a hologram in Star Wars should look. Mask off Snoke from the background, lower the resolution of the holo by dividing into artificial scanlines, add noise and possibly interference, give it a blue tint and add that onto a new background that does not have a light shining directly into the camera.

I hadn’t considered that, but you are right. The fact that Snoke is represented as a hologram would give a skilled faneditor a bit of ‘wiggle room’ and leeway to tweak what is there and perhaps improve it. The full body shots aren’t too awful but if I recall there is a close up shot of Snoke (head and shoulders) that looks particularly bad and CGI. I haven’t got a copy of the movie yet so I don’t know the dialogue line delivered during that shot but if those few seconds of close up could be snipped that would also help.

We want Star Wars to have that tangible, touchable, textured feel, and it’s frustrating that TFA achieves that so admirably but for this one exception.

I personally was very happy with The Force Awakens, and I dont think it is in need of trimming and reshaping in the same way the prequels are.

For me, I watch the Star Wars movies to be transported to an alien galaxy - but a believable one. The authenticity of what is onscreen - the props, the costumes, the sets, the fx - and the beauty of the cinematography forms a major part of my appreciation.

The elements of The Force Awakens that I enjoyed less are those moments where that authenticity wavered. In particular, the CGI of the Rathtars, Snoke and Maz.

The Rathtars are a bit goofy but I can bear with them. That sequence comes right out of a comic book and is the exact sort of scenario that Han and Chewie would find themselves in week after week on the pages of Marvel.

Maz I would have preferred to have been played by a midget with prosthetics and CGI augmentations, but Lupita Nyong did a good enough job of making her a likable, if not a wholly convincing, character.

Snoke, I have to say, is where the movie proverbially ‘shit the bed’. It’s just not good enough fx to pass as authentic, and really shows up as a CG construct. Particularly disappointing as this character could definitely have been played by an actor in prosthetics, and when you think of all the great veteran actors we have in the UK who could have breathed proper life into Snoke it comes across as a missed opportunity. I did read somewhere that the Snoke fx appear rather better on blu ray than on the cinema screen, so i’ll wait and see once the blu is released, but I would be really pleased if Snoke were played by a live actor in the next movie. Short of a massive Adywan style undertaking to refilm an actor as Snoke and paste him into the TFA scenes then this issue is unfixable.

But those rather small issues aside I felt that TFA did have the requisite sense of place and authenticity. Rewatching Looper as well a few weeks ago I was also taken with how elegant the cinematography and pacing is in that film too, which gives me great hope for Rian Johnson’s take on the next instalment.

adywan said:

Darth Lars said:

The deleted scenes are out there… Timecode confirmed. Effects seem to be finished, but not always good.

Only the Kylo aboard the falcon scene has finished effects. All the others, including the snowspeeder chase have very rough effects, more like an animatic stage. It’s strange seeing the x-wings with red markings instead of the blue. And how the hell did they get aboard the Falcon when the whole one side of the ship outside is seen to be buried? We see Kylo coming up the ramp, but thats blocked

This is why you are Adywan - colour of the X-wings and the buried ramp didn’t even occur to me - you have a good eye for detail!

Have just seen the deleted scenes and overall, yes disappointing. I did however like the short sequence of the X-Wings lifting off and then heading into lightspeed. It gave us a moment to ID some of the individual pilots and also gave us a moment set in space - something which TFA is rather lacking in. I also like the scene of Kylo searching the Falcon and then seeing the X-Wings arrive, I think that sets up the climax well, and also the cinematography and musical score is lovely in this scene (sometimes that is all the justification a moment needs).

I’d like to see a version of TFA that reincorporates these two brief scenes, although with the time counter that may prove impossible, however the other deleted scenes I feel do belong on the cutting room floor.

Thank you for sharing the little clip of ‘Ady in interview’, that was good to see along with a few tantalising glimpses of the Hoth Battle. Even though it was off-topic it was also interesting to read some of Ady’s positive thoughts on TFA, and I know he does not plan to make a Revisited version but it does make me wonder whether one day ‘Chewie Gets A Hug’ will be the new ‘Chewie Gets A Medal’!

Having just seen the new trailer for THE FORCE AWAKENS we are starting to see the 'acting' and performance. The actors already seems so much more alive and emotionally engaged than in the prequels.

It really does bring to the fore how almost every actor performed so poorly in the greenscreen environments, and how wooden and stiff the PT is.

I really do feel for Adywan if he does put years of effort into the PT... it just seems like a no win situation, the balsa wood dead-eyed performances are unsalvageable.

I cant be the only one disappointed that the potentially incredible Return Of The Jedi Revisited (and Star Wars HD Revisited) will be delayed for so many more years because of a fools errand. It's not too late to turn back!

Great trailer! Roll on December, I am looking forward to seeing the final epic edit!

Adywan, I don't think it's fair that you do all the work and self-fund the materials so I've sent a £ donation to help with the resin. Good luck with the project! 

This edit sounds like the best of both worlds, keeping the good elements of the Special Editions whilst removing the bad. I have tried googling around for a torrent link to download it (I do own the blu ray source) and if anyone can help with a PM then that would be really appreciated. I also have to ask - does a semi-despecialized edition exist yet for ESB or ROTJ?

I only saw a non-specific reference to "3 additional discs", although if they were blu-ray they might have trumpeted that. Have you seen them definitely described as DVD discs?

Seems like an utterly redundant re-release - literally just a packaging change with some fugly photoshop pictures on the covers. It would have been easy enough to include an exclusive teaser / tidbit for The Force Awakens to help entice... it's like they're not even trying!

"Given the 2k mastering that went on for AOTC and ROTS, and the DVD-sourced deleted scenes that will likely never be released in higher quality, there isn't really any room to climb. If eventually we get our hands on a 4k version of the films, I couldn't use it because it's be a bridge too far from the SD deleted scenes."

Another chance arises to get those HD deleted scenes... Nov 10th Blu Ray Steelbook set of the saga to be released with 40 hours of extras.

http://www.starwars.com/news/the-star-wars-saga-to-be-enshrined-in-limited-edition-blu-ray-steelbooks

Is Adywan still looking for a Millennium Falcon model? The one/sixth scale Hot Toys Falcon has just been unveiled...

doubleofive said:

Adywan wants to do the prequels, he's putting this on himself. ;-)

 doubleo, you're his friend - can't you stage an intervention?

For me, knowing that it has taken 7+ years to complete ESB Revisited, the idea of encouraging Adywan to work on the prequel trilogy revisited seems akin to handing down a life sentence. Portman and Christensen are such dullard planks of wood at the core of the films, add in the peripheral awful toon characters of Jar Jar, Boss Nass, Grievous, and that Monsters Inc guy from the Diner. Even normally reliable actors Terrence Stamp and Sam L Jackson seem barely awake. Can the prequels be improved, sure. Can they ever be great, no. No they cant, it really is as simple as that - and I think deep down every one of us knows that.

Spending 7-8 weeks cutting together a fan edit is one thing but the effort required and the perfectionism that we all know Ady would put into the PT revisited project... it feels irresponsible to encourage someone to waste possibly 10+ years of their life. The prequels aren't worthy of him.

I'd love to see him complete the Revisited trilogy in HD for Star Wars, Empire and Jedi... and then let him sit back and take a well earned rest - that is service enough to Star Wars, by god it is and we are so thankful! The prequels just seem like such an exhausting amount of work, hours, weeks, days, years - and at the end of it they will still be crap because no matter what you tweak you cant recast Christensen and Portman.

Adywan seems like a really nice guy and he seems up for the challenge, but i'm not sure that I would wish that on anyone. Would you?

The puppet Yoda from Empire and Jedi was such a warm, wise and likeable character.

CG Yoda from the prequels had zero charm, with a permanently constipated 'Watchoo talkin bout Willis' expression.

You could never replace the CG crap with a puppet though because of the spazzed out fight scenes.

Of course you could cut the fight scenes out entirely, but if you start cutting out all the bad stuff from the prequels then... there's not a lot of movie left!

Great clip, thank you for sharing! I have to confess that when watching these I don't 'see' many changes. Partly because the movie is so strong that you enjoy it for the drama rather than playing 'spot the difference' and partly because many of the changes are subtle and well-integrated. But what you do feel is a sense that you are looking at a familiar sequence but with fresh eyes - seeing it like you did for the first time, and that's a great gift for us fans.

Thank you Adywan. I intend to rewatch the Star Wars trilogy with my daughters before The Force Awakens releases in December, in fact I suspect ALOT of fans around the world are going to be rewatching the OT in early December to prepare for it... I think that would be the absolute perfect time to release ESB Revisited for maximum impact and I am crossing my fingers that your masterpiece might be the version we get to see!

Here's a screencap. Uncle Owen (Tommy Lee Jones) celebrates his 30th birthday in the Jungland Wastes...