Nov 06, 2017 The pink engines turned into red engines, there is a good bit of time from a New Hope to Return of the Jedi. Tie color changed after A New Hope. It could be the “gray” models came from the Death Star. Also the Stormtrooper helmets changed to black teeth.
At the end of, I mused that perhaps would be my only hope for a decent version of my favourite movies. This fan edit of A New Hope was a massive endeavour, undertaken by “Adywan”. While the end result is very impressive, it probably still isn’t the right version for me either.The edit isn’t the easiest thing to obtain. For obvious reasons, it’s all a bit clandestine.
Being somewhat inexperienced with downloading bootlegged movies, it took a bit of stumbling around before I could figure out how to get a copy of the edit. Eventually I had it sorted and let it download. Getting it burnt to a DVD was another challenge but I got that figured out too. If anyone needs some help in that area just drop me a message and I’ll see what I can do.I had read through the long list of changes so I knew what to expect. I was aware from the start that while Adywan had in some instances been extremely faithful to the original edit, in others he was just as bad as George Lucas.All of the clean-ups were extremely welcome.
In particular the edits to fix up the broken music cues were a nice touch that few would notice. The smoothing of the conspicuous jump cuts were also a great change, and it is certainly a mystery why Lucasfilm hasn’t tweaked these already. Blackening Darth Vader’s and R2-D2’s lenses works well too; Lucasfilm seems more interested in making Ewok eyes more realistic than central characters’ eyes. One of the more impressive changes, although probably unnoticable to most, is an entire colour correction for the whole movie. Adywan has also cleaned up a lot of the lightsaber effects better than Lucasfilm managed.The reversal of many of the Special Edition changes is also noteworthy. Han shoots first and Greedo not at all.
CGI Mos Eisley extras no longer provide awkward comic relief or walk through the middle of otherwise nicely composed frames. The run in with Jabba no longer occurs. There’s still a bit of Special Edition in there, though for the most part it’s not offensive.What does stray into the offensive side is some of Adywan’s additions. He’s added extra music to scenes that worked far better without them. Silence is often a conscious musical choice on John Williams’ part, and to go against that seems against the spirit of the edit.
For the most part, musical additions consist of pieces composed for other movies, and even other scenes with their own very different pace. The Death Star is first introduced in an extended scene, featuring more Star Destroyers and a planet for the space station to orbit. However, the element that really irks me in this scene is the addition to this scene of the Imperial March, music which ordinarily does not feature in A New Hope at all. There’s also the Emperor’s Theme that plays in the Death Star meeting room, and later on during the lightsaber duel we hear Battle of the Heroes, a piece of music from the prequels!
To be fair, Adywan also offers an edit called the “Purist” edit, which does not feature these musical changes.Unfortunately, some of the other “enhancements” still exist in the Purist edit, though thankfully all the music changes are gone. It seems little, but adding sparkly electrics to the torture droid’s needle is only a short step from what George Lucas does.
And giving Chewbacca a medal, as much as he deserves one, is completely in Lucas territory. It seems quite odd that Chewbacca still gets a medal in the Purist version. I guess our definitions of “purist” differ.
Not that I think Chewbacca shouldn’t have received a medal, but giving him one is decidely not “pure” Star Wars.In addition to the questionable musical accompaniment, Adywan has also recut the lightsaber duel to give it a bit more pace. In some ways it works really well: the quicker cuts make you believe the duel between the cripple and the old man is a lot more intense. But he’s also made some other odd choices, like fiddling with the lightsaber ignitions. Overall though, the new edit looks really good, but the music doesn’t fit well and ruins the scene.On the other hand, some of the additions work really well.
All the computer displays in the Rebel Base have been given a Lucasesque CGI makeover, and although I was dubious at first, it actually works pretty well. For starters, Adywan has fixed the Death Star superlaser position on the schematic that Artoo displays. To me, this was always far more noticable than the English lettering on the Death Star tractor beam switch that Lucasfilm did fix.
The schematic itself now closely resembles the plans the Geonosians gave to Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones, so it’s also a far more palatable link to the prequels than, say, replacing Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen. The briefing room scene has also had a CGI makeover, as has the Rebel command room during the battle itself.
The new CGI displays in the latter work really well: they’re similar to the Rebel briefing before the Battle of Endor, and they give Leia and Threepio something to watch that actually conveys the drama of the battle.And the battle itself? It’s definitely the highlight of the re-edit. Adywan has edited a lot more energy into the battle, as well as adding a lot more fighters. When the TIE Fighters first approach, there is a overwhelming swarm of them. It looks great. Throughout the battle, Adywan has also added the planet Yavin to a lot of the shots. I thought this would be distracting, but it actually works quite well as a reminder of the battle’s stakes.
Adywan has also extended the battle itself with more fighting shots. These aren’t in the Purist edit, which is understandable, but I think they fit a lot better than some of the other things I mentioned above that he left it.
In another nice little touch, we see the beams of the Death Star laser start to fire just before the space station explodes. I felt the changes gave the whole battle a lot more tension, and I really enjoyed them.So overall, Star Wars: Revisited is pretty impressive. I’m certain I’d prefer the Purist edit, despite it losing the extended Battle of Yavin. But in the end, even the Purist edit isn’t the perfect solution to the problem of a “correct” version of Star Wars.
Adywan has done an amazing job, but he’s crossed the line in some places and messed with things that shouldn’t have been touched, just like George Lucas. Star Wars: Revisited still isn’t the version of Star Wars I want to introduce to my kids but it is a version I’d be excited to show them one day.
On release the Special Edition's attracted a lot of attention due mainly to the addition of several long lost deleted scenes. However, after the initial excitement many of the additions became the focus of much criticism as many fans felt they were unnecessary.
Some alterations were/are so hated that they are regularly referenced in popular culture and the ‘Greedo Shooting First’ revision incensed so many some fans that it single handily led to an online petition to release the films in their original unabridged form.While the Special Edition's are met with a level of derision in many circles, there are still many fans that feel that any additional scenes that add an extra layer of depth, richness or immersion to the universe are acceptable i.e. Extending the arrival into Mos Eisley by adding shots that better portray the bustling nature of the space port or the addition of extra TIE fighters and X-Wings during the final assault. However silly, comedic elements (a Jawa falling off a Ronto for example) and things that alter the feel and nature of characters that fans have come to love and cherish (i.e. Greedo shooting first) were a huge misstep.
In recent years the accessibility to professional, affordable video editing equipment has led to a passionate internet community devoted to ‘fan edits’. According to Wikipedia a fan edit is “is a version of a film modified by a viewer that removes, reorders, or adds material in order to create a new interpretation of the source material”.Many high profile films have been released over the years that have been critically mauled for their poor editing or the erosion of the films intended narrative due to studio intervention or lack of quality control by its creators. In response, film fans and critics have written reams of column inches explaining the pitfalls or errors certain films and their creators have fallen intoIn some cases the vocal backlash has been so loud the studio has caved, given into the fan requests and released a desired edit (see Bladerunner or Brazil).
In extreme cases, the final version of a film is so far removed from the initial vision of the director and writer that they have all reference to their contribution removed from the final product (i.e. Alien 3)However, the most bitter fan/creator battles have resulted in some taking matters into their own hands and applying the desired changes themselves. Welcome to the ultra-passionate world of the Star Wars fan editFirst, some background information for the uninitiated:In 1996, Lucasfilm went back to the original negatives of the trilogy and digitally preserved and restored them before reissuing them in the cinema. Star Wars: Revisited (by Adywan)'This edit not only aims to fix errors and technical limitations found in the film that should have been made in the Special Edition (SE), but gives the viewer a whole new vision for the movie, while correcting many of the excesses of the original SE. Shots are re-mastered and restored, special effect shots are re-composited and whole new sequences are created, giving the viewer a taste of what the SE could have been '.Star Wars Despecialized (by Harmy)'This is a reconstruction of the 1977 theatrical version of STAR WARS.
The original shots were painstakingly restored using various sources and the film received an extensive shot by shot colour correction based on a fade free 1977 BI technicolor print'.Prequel Trilogy Reissue (by HAL 9000)'The goal was to improve the prequels, as films, through conventional 'FanFix' methodology. The pacing is improved, dialogue trimmed, and characters are developed better. The edits should be viable as films on their own. They ought to be functional as replacements for the original versions and avoiding making changes that would betray to the audience that they're watching a fan edit'.While all three projects are worth any fans time, the main focus of this article will be Adywan’s A New Hop Revisited Edition as this will appear to many as the bravest and boldest edit of the three. However, It's worth noting that based purely on 'effectiveness' the revision of the Prequel Trilogy by HAL9000 is the most striking and successful.
![Mkv Mkv](http://pre08.deviantart.net/1ca9/th/pre/i/2016/327/5/3/star_wars_a_new_hope___emperor_edition_by_mikeluv80-d6ql9ww.jpg)
However, for many there was not really much at stake as the original edits were so maligned by fans and critics alike. That said, an over-view of these versions will be made available online at a later date as the revisions to the films are superb and massively improve their overall pacing and enjoyment factor.While many fan edits seek to achieve one goal - the preservation of the original cinematic version, or as some call it ‘GOUT’ (George's Original Unaltered Trilogy) – Adywan’s version acknowledges that not all the changes in the Special Editions were superfluous and maligned. While some additions were there to correct continuity errors, special effects and colour correction - these can be referred to as technical changes - others were added in an attempt to enrich the story or experience and these are the changes that caused most of the critical negativity.
The final (most) noticeable revisions are during the Rebel Alliances assault on the Death Star. The original Special Edition had already made several additions to this scene that included extra fighters, various cockpit shots and additional aerial combat footage. This edit looks to improve on this further by upping the ante and increasing the number of fighters and therefore in turn increasing the scope of the fight. This is a positive step as the original conflict, in places, felt a little underwhelming.
It never really felt that the Empire had unleashed the full power of the military to protect its greatest asset and this goes someway to rectifying that. Furthermore this scene contains a slew (44 in fact) of minor corrections to fix audio and visual flaws present in the previous version. The first major alteration is the streamlining of the Mos Eisley sequence as it was presented in the Special Edition. As mentioned previously, this particular edit retains the technical amendments and scope but omits the unnecessary comedic additions.
The arrival of Luke and Ben into this sprawling 'hive of scum and villainy' is no longer overshadowed by ill advised visual gags and superfluous shots. Gone are the Jawas falling off Rontos or robots bickering and the scene is way better for it.The Mos Eisley sequence concludes with the two most hated additions in the whole of the Special Edition reissues; Jabba and Greedo Shooting First. In this print the Jabba scene has been excised completely. As mentioned above this scene was aesthetically ugly and narratively redundant seeing as Jabba essentially just repeats Greedo. Furthermore, the original Greedo/Han scene had been reinstated with authentic hard coded looking subs. HAN SHOOTS FIRST. End of.The next major revision is to the encounter between Darth Vader and Obi Wan Kenobi.
In a post 'Darth Maul vs Obi vs Qui Gon' Star Wars cinematic universe the original lightsaber fight at the end of A New Hope looks pedestrian. Therefore to inject more pace into the scene and convince the viewer these characters are two of the greatest combatants to ever hold a sabre the sequence has been re-edited with less pauses and more energy. It’s easy to understand people’s apprehension towards such a change but the amendments certainly make the scene considerably more energetic. While Adywan’s decision to accompany his vision with music (‘Battle of Heroes’) may not be to everyone's liking it does add a nice symmetry to the two Vader/Kenobi duels. Furthermore there were some additions, that while in principle were acceptable, were so poorly executed/shot that the resulting sequences are simply horrible. In particular the infamous Jabba scene, while piquing the interest of many diehard fans, was not only redundant (as Jabba seemingly reiterates Greedo’s dialogue) but executed with sub-par CG models and woeful manipulation of the original negative.Therefore for the reasons stated above Adywan decided to compile the ‘ultimate’ version of Episode 4 by combining elements of all the existing prints in addition to the inclusion of new effect shots created specifically for this version.The official website for A New Hope Revisited states that this edit contains a total of 250 changes.
A quick scan shows that most of the changes are small revisions and amendments made to correct continuity errors, colour inaccuracies and minor visual and audio issues. While most of these alterations will go unnoticed by a majority of viewers, there combined effect adds a layer of polish missing from all the earlier prints. The uniqueness of this particular print is the acceptance and inclusion of several of the amendments contained within the original Special Edition. As mentioned above, many fan edits adopt a ‘purist’ approach and white wash all of the additional content integrated into the 1996 release of the film.
This ideology is instantly apparent from early Tatooine sequences where additional shots of the Sandcrawler and Storm troopers riding Dewbacks have survived the cut. The approach is therefore to develop a Special Edition ‘2.0’ with the goal to improve on the cinematic release rather than to ignore the reissues completely.To avoid simply regurgitating the aforementioned change log, it would be best to highlight the most affective and satisfying changes and discuss their importance within this print.