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

Most fans of Star Wars can admit that Jedi is nowhere near on-par with Empire. Having been released thirty years ago, I decided to do some research to find out what the awesome community at Fanedit.org was doing about this film. Spence's final cut was the first edit of Jedi that I watched, and I wasn't very moved. Many of the cuts made were great, and I have to compliment the editor on the entire last act (save a few music choices I'll mention). The complete rearranging of the final battle added more tension than I ever felt during that scene. The Ewoks and their "shenanigans" were limited and tolerable, drawing the focus to the Rebellion in a much more convincing way.

Most of my problems come from personal preference, though I'll try to stay unbiased: The Tatooine scene was cut way too short. Jabba's palace has this slow buildup in Jedi, which I think adds more to Han's rescue in terms of tension and adventure. Some cuts of redundant conversations were good, but the scene moved much too quickly, which resulted in a "tying up loose ends" scene from that whole Cloud City arc from Empire. The strongest part of Jedi, I felt, suffered the most amount of cuts in this edit.

There were a lot of smaller cuts, mostly with Han, that I actually approve of. His humor was tagged down in this edit, I think that adds a ton to his character's growing maturity (which, of course, stemmed from the moment he joined the Alliance). Some transitions from scene to scene were a bit too jarring, but the characters didn't suffer from it.

The biggest problems I have with the edit involve the choice of adding tracks from the prequels. I love those soundtracks, but Duel of the Fates did not fit at all. That scene didn't need music, it dragged my focus away from the Vader/Luke conflict. The new song over their last conversation was also distracting and too overbearing. Simplicity and a minimalistic sound worked well in both those scenes in Jedi, they seem too bogged down now.

Was the edit truly bad? Not at all, and I can see why it won Edit of the Month. Would I watch it again? No, most of the cuts were just too radical for my taste.

A/V Quality 9/10
The quality matches the source. There are noticeable video quality differences during the intersected scenes from the original version, but again, they match the source material. Audio levels were not always consistent, e.g. the ending credits volume jump and skip. Pretty good though

Visual Editing 7/10
I liked the idea of this edit, but some of the cuts are just too hard and make the scenes feel like they are going by way too fast. I know this is due to video cropping out scenes for continuity's sake, but it just seemed a bit off and rushed. The vision scene were Luke senses what is happening in Jabba's palace was a neat concept, but didn't really work for me. I've struggled with this too in my own edit of this movie. I think one obvious look from Luke and a cut to Jabba's palace let's the audience make the connection to the scene in empire and know that he is seeing what they are seeing. And who doesn't want to have Jedi vision? :) But that should go in the narrative section I suppose. I didn't care for the lightsaber duel cuts either. They felt very jarring and mispaced. Not sure how they got from in front of the emperor to coming up the steps. Video played backward was noticeable also. The death star in the background was intriguing and looked like it was still in concept phase (graphic wise), however it was integrated very well. No more jiggling stars during that scene :) Other nitpicking comes from the transitions. Not sure why a still of the outside of Jabba's palace was used for such a long duration without sound. Other transitions seemed rushed or out of place. However most of the small cuts that took out phrases were done quite well and are only noticeable to those of us who've watched the ot a billion times.

Audio 6/10
I had a hard time with the audio in this edit. I appreciate the fact that some scenes had to receive a new soundtrack for them, did you do foley? It was neat to think of you actually creating those sounds, but the mix was off in most of those scenes. I like the idea of music during the speeder chase, but the music was a little off for the scene and ended anticlimactically. As stated above, the end credits aren't synced with the edit material and jump dramatically in volume. Last, duel of the fates seemed out of place. It did heighten the intensity of the scene, but once the scene was over, the movie felt flat. This seems to be my main complaint of this edit. Great ideas, but the implementation makes me feel like a short winded sprinter who sprints 100 meters then has to walk 400 meters to catch my breathe.

Narrative 7/10
So this is hard to rate for me. I'd give you an 8 or 9 on story, but the visual aspect of the narrative distracted me from what you were trying to accomplish. As I said, I liked the vision concept, I even liked the flashback ideas, but they were forced (no pun intended) in their presentation. I think a minimalistic approach, like the one I mentioned about the vision, allows for greater story telling as it allows the viewer to fill in and actively collaborate with you as editor. I like the boldness of your edit, but I think it needed a revisited treatment in order for the visuals to equal the story you were trying to tell us, and I do like your story more than Lucas'.

Enjoyment 7/10
The enjoyment of this edit came from the concept and changes such as the death star floating behind the emperor's head. I liked the idea and the fact that Jabba's palace was cut way back. This edit gave me some great ideas for my own personal edit that I work on now and then. So, Thank you spence for your contribution. Even though it's not what I would call "the version" of rotj, I'd still recommend this to anyone that is searching for ideas on how to tighten up the story of jedi.