Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – The Spence Final Cut

The first half of the edit, being significantly trimmed down, feels like something is missing. It ends up feeling like there is little character development and we're just going through the motions. That said, I agree with pretty much all the content that was cut (these issues are present in the original film too, this cut just speeds through them).

I would say that first time viewers should watch a full original cut, but from now on I think this will be my default choice for which cut to watch.

Great job!

I finally watched this, and I have to say it's a tough one to review. Overall I think I enjoyed it, and although there were many things that didn't work for me, it was a pretty interesting watch.

The main footage (I assume) is from the 2004 DVD, which means in some cases we get some SE footage I would rather not see again. Spence did cut around some of the worst stuff (the Jabba palace musical number and the Hayden force ghost, for instance), but Vader's awful candy cane lightsaber is still there. And in some cases he replaced SE footage with other sources (presumably the GOUT?), but it sticks out pretty badly. I know he did the best he could with it, but it still bugged me.

As others have mentioned, there were a few audio hiccups, mainly several places where the lip sync was slightly off and the really jarring increase in audio levels when the credits roll. Oh, and the fact that the "Fanedited by Spence" credit is superimposed over another credit feels sloppy. Give yourself more credit, man!

The prequel music worked fine, but it's always jarring for me when I hear it during an OT music.

The other two things that stood out for me were that I missed some of Han's lines (like "fly casual" and "hey, it's me") and I was at first confused by the Emperor not being on the Death Star. I thought that needed to be established better.

The opening sequence was pretty neat to watch, although I still think I prefer the original. The way Spence handled Leia meeting Wicket was fantastic. And the Ewok battle was pretty well done as well.

In, the end, I gave this a 7/10 due to the minor tech issues and the things that just didn't work for me. At the same time, I do recommend watching this, as it's a really interesting attempt at editing a Star Wars movie that hasn't seen too many edits.