Return of the Jedi: Remastered

Great edit, took out many things that did not need to be in this film. Unfortunately Boba Fett is something that didn't need to be in this film so if you make another version I suggest you cut alot of him out. This was a smooth edit, I never noticed it was fan made even with the addition of your own special effects like Vader vanishing after death. Great work.

It's been some time since I downloaded this movie, apologies to darthrush for taking so long to post a review. Much like all the other positive reviews I have to agree. All the pulp removed, and the core retained. Smooth editing and even my 6yr old son agrees with my preference and has now watched this a number of times with me. Very annoying how he recalls so the minor edits better than I do, but still highly recommended to watch it and make your own decision on the changes. It's worthit!

This fan edit of Return of the Jedi is currently my go-to version, and it's because it really still feels like the good old Return of the Jedi you remember loving as a kid, but it's so much better watching it as an adult.

Nothing too drastic is changed here: seemless edits improve the pace of the movie a lot, removing large chunks of silliness and bad acting, making the entire Endor part of the plot a lot less stupid and making the characters feel more like the ones we always knew from the past 2 movies (mostly Han and Leia) to the best possible degree. It's as good as it's going to get without traveling back to 1983 and reshooting several scenes with the original cast.

To close things off, I always wanted Return of the Jedi to be my favorite, and now it's possible. Thank you darthrush. This is the best version of Return of the Jedi I have watched, and it is much superior to the original movie. I highly recommend it.

I was 6 years old watching "Return of the Jedi" in the theater, and all too well I remember the collective *gasp* of the crowd when Yoda did indeed confirm that Darth Vader is who he was. It was a sublime moment. Those my age may have forgotten how much buzz and excitement surrounded the OT when this film first came out - there was definitely a lot of magic to behold in this presentation. And you can dare guess how the final lightsaber fight, with those choral background voices, affected this young American kid. Star Wars has been an undeniable part of my mythology since then.

Alas, time was not kind to ROTJ. Watching it years later the magic moments are still there, but the shock of the "new" has worn and the flaws become undeniably present and irritating. I have been on the lookout for a good fanedit for years now, and this is the one that's my current go-to.

Adywan currently has captured my imagination as to what the art of fanediting is, and what it can be. He is currently out to tackle this movie for his next project, which I will happily wait years for, if necessary. In the meantime, darthrush's edit will do you better than anyone could hope for. I made my own attempt at ROTJ and was mildly pleased, but this one handles itself gracefully.

The bad is essentially gone. I couldn't be happier with the Endor battle, the lack of Ewoks in general, the silliness of Jabba's palace toned down, the deletion of the uber-corny moments between Han and Lando or Han and Leia or Han and the Ewoks or Han and his jealous alter-ego (poor Harrison, no wonder he wanted to get out of this series). The final half-hour of the film has a real dynamic sense of story flow, and I couldn't be happier with how the elimination of the Ewok "noble savage" element actually makes perfect sense in light of the fact that Han hadn't yet blown up the generator. They totally SHOULD be losing.

No speeder-bike-Ewok nonsense. No "Jedi Rocks". No screaming, tortured droids. No bad matte shots of the Falcon. No Leia sharing rice cakes with teddy bears. Trimmed 3PO story-ridiculousness. No Chewie tarzan scream. No "I love you" during the big battle. No Hayden ghost. No yub yub....man, the more I think about how much CORN was in ROTJ, the more you see....and now it's gone!

That said, we could have lost Jabba's little pet-dude (made him disappear almost entirely from my fanedit), or maybe even more Ewok-whatever. There are a few roll-your-eyes moments left in. Still, it's hard when you're dealing with ROTJ....Star Wars has always had an amazing sense of humor when it's good.....but when it's bad, it REALLY IS BAD. There is also a "hurried" feel to the film.....I can't even now remember if that element existed in the original. It's slight, maybe a necessary evil of the fanedit.

I'll for now match this one up with both Adywan edits as my OT trilogy. This edit has read my mind in a great many ways, and has salvaged what really isn't a great film on par with ANH and ESB. The magic of Star Wars permeates this film throughout, however....some of that is probably nostalgia (people DID cry in the theater when Yoda "sleeps"), and some of it is this film's determination to see its own mythology through to the end. Maybe it would have been great if it was Kashyyyk and David Lynch was at the helm. But hey, we got what we got, and we care enough about what we DO have that we even bother with any of this at all.

Bravo, darthrush. Thanks for the experience!

Let me just say this real quick: OMFG THIS IS THE BEST DAMN EDIT OF ROTJ POSSIBLE AND I AM SO FRIGGIN HAPPY IT EXISTS!!!

Ahem... sorry about that. I just got ahead of myself. Alright, let's do this. darthrush has done the best damn fan edit of Return of the Jedi I've seen, and I've watched maybe 3 or 4 versions. While the Ewoks are still in the movie, they're cut down SIGNIFICANTLY. I mean, short of refilming a bunch of scenes or CGIing the hell out of every Ewok to make them into scary awesome wookies this is the best you can possibly do with it. Also, I really appreciate how darthrush 'fixed' much of Han's clunky dialogue, looks, and actions. I mean, either Harrison Ford was phoning it in or the director was telling Harrison to 'act worse' (or both?) but darthrush did the best he/she could to trim that stuff out, making Han seem much cooler and sharper like in the previous SW films. There are a few Special Edition CGI elements (the Sarlacc) I miss but I'll take losing that to get rid of the stupid Jabba's Palace musical number (FINALLY!!!).

Does this fan edit reach the level of Empire or A New Hope? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA uh still no. HOWEVER, it does make for a SIGNIFICANTLY better cut, the story flowing more smoothly, having less of the kiddie crap, and making Han not a dumbass anymore. Additional wishes wouldn't be possible short of refilming or creating custom CGI, so this makes for a solid deal for me! There's still a few lines that could have been trimmed or re-edited (mainly about Leia's memory of her mom. Did you see Episode III?), but on the whole I have found my new definitive cut of Return of the Jedi. Thanks darthrush!