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Revenge of the Jedi 4K (A DonkeyKonga Fanedit of RotJ)
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Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1983
Original Running Time:
132
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
117
Time Cut:
15
Available in 4K?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
This is the old version of this edit. The new version can be found here:
https://ifdb.fanedit.org/revenge-of-the-jedi-redux/
Gone are Han Solo being Jealous, gone is Luke Skywalker's rediculous plan to give away his droids to the biggest jerk in the galaxy. Gone is Vader changing character since Empire. And a lot more!
https://ifdb.fanedit.org/revenge-of-the-jedi-redux/
Gone are Han Solo being Jealous, gone is Luke Skywalker's rediculous plan to give away his droids to the biggest jerk in the galaxy. Gone is Vader changing character since Empire. And a lot more!
Intention:
I always loath watching ROTJ. It just doesnt work for me, and I know a lot of others feel the same way. The movie isnt BAD, by any means. It's just perfectly 'ok'. What's worse is that the movie doesn't fit the previous two when it comes to it's characters and story. This I could fix.
Other Sources:
I used 4K83 because it's the best source available to create that original trilogy for me.
Special Thanks:
As always thanks to ArtisDead! You're the best!
Phase3 for writing and rendering that amazing crawl!
Phase3 for writing and rendering that amazing crawl!
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
My goal here is to create a more mature cut of Return of the Jedi and make something more in line with George Lucas' original title: Revenge of the Jedi. It has less sillyness and a better story that fits the first two films. Characters feel like their characters in the previous two movies. Mostly Han and Vader are far better in this Cut.
Cuts and Additions:
- As of January 8th this edit is available in 4k HDR.
-Used 4k83 as my only source (the real heroes are those people restoring these films!)
-New opening crawl
-Every cut is seamless. Show this to someone who hasn't seen the original and they won't notice.
-Goal was to make the movie tie as close to the first two in feel as possible. Just like my indiana jones edit was meant to make it fit the series more.
-Removed c3po mentioning of chewbacca disappearing at Jabbas palace. He litterally shows up at jabba AFTER c3po lol. Big plothole.
-Removed every line regarding a gift to jabba.
-Jabba doesnt even listen to luke offer after he realises it's about Han. He seizes the droids. No gifts here, just vile gangster behaviour. (what's Luke's plan anyway? Would he really give away his droids in exchange for Han? What if Jabba agrees with the trade?)
-Luke doesnt tell Jabba to underestimate his powers, because Jabba immediately uses the trap door when Luke tells him he is taking captain Solo anyway. Jabba does NOT fuck around.
-Removed a few small sections of C3po being comedic, but not all of them.
-Boba Fett crashes into the sail barge but we dont see him fall into the pit like an idiot.
-Boba Fett doesnt fire a shot and misses like a blind idiot. Han now hits him on the jetpack before he takes the shot.
-Re structures the entire sail barge fight sequence
-Removed the emperor foreseeing that luke will come, considering he couldnt even sense him on the ship lol.
-Removed the point of view line by Obi Wan
-Removed Luke immediately realising who his sister is
-Removed a few cheesy lines during the briefing, but not all of them.
-Restructures the Han/Lando conversation at the Falcon to feel more mature.
-Leia is found by a mysterious figure (spoiler alert: it's a fucking ewok)
-Removed the ewoks not listening to God C3PO. They now immediately release Leia and she rushes to Han to kiss him
-Removed the entire bedtime story
-Removed a few lines during luke/leias conversation to keep Luke more mysterious
-Leia is upset by the news about being a sister and tells han to go away. He clearly realises she is emotional and doesnt go away. She notices him and asks him to hold her.
-Removed every mention that Vader must obey his master.
-Removed Vader's dumbass 'HEEEEE will come to MEEEE????' line.
-Emperor now says : 'you are now mine' instead of 'you and your father are now mine'
-Removed the star destroyer captain spoiling the emperors surprise like an idiot! Now Lando asks 'why arent they attacking' and we cut to the emperor announcing the operational battle station.
-Reduced the corny ewok battle but still kept a lot of the epic moments like the ropes being tossed around the speeder bikes!
-removed the ATST boobytraps even though it hurt my childhood. The goal is trilogy consistency! Not nostalgia!
- Edited out the tell your sister line at the end, but kept the rest of the emotional moment with luke and vader.
-Removed every Han being jealous of Luke moment. Leia litterally declared her love two times already so no need for it.
-Luke isnt at the celebration, he just lost his dad
-Movie ends with Vaders funeral, leaving a far more impactful final image with viewers.
-Used 4k83 as my only source (the real heroes are those people restoring these films!)
-New opening crawl
-Every cut is seamless. Show this to someone who hasn't seen the original and they won't notice.
-Goal was to make the movie tie as close to the first two in feel as possible. Just like my indiana jones edit was meant to make it fit the series more.
-Removed c3po mentioning of chewbacca disappearing at Jabbas palace. He litterally shows up at jabba AFTER c3po lol. Big plothole.
-Removed every line regarding a gift to jabba.
-Jabba doesnt even listen to luke offer after he realises it's about Han. He seizes the droids. No gifts here, just vile gangster behaviour. (what's Luke's plan anyway? Would he really give away his droids in exchange for Han? What if Jabba agrees with the trade?)
-Luke doesnt tell Jabba to underestimate his powers, because Jabba immediately uses the trap door when Luke tells him he is taking captain Solo anyway. Jabba does NOT fuck around.
-Removed a few small sections of C3po being comedic, but not all of them.
-Boba Fett crashes into the sail barge but we dont see him fall into the pit like an idiot.
-Boba Fett doesnt fire a shot and misses like a blind idiot. Han now hits him on the jetpack before he takes the shot.
-Re structures the entire sail barge fight sequence
-Removed the emperor foreseeing that luke will come, considering he couldnt even sense him on the ship lol.
-Removed the point of view line by Obi Wan
-Removed Luke immediately realising who his sister is
-Removed a few cheesy lines during the briefing, but not all of them.
-Restructures the Han/Lando conversation at the Falcon to feel more mature.
-Leia is found by a mysterious figure (spoiler alert: it's a fucking ewok)
-Removed the ewoks not listening to God C3PO. They now immediately release Leia and she rushes to Han to kiss him
-Removed the entire bedtime story
-Removed a few lines during luke/leias conversation to keep Luke more mysterious
-Leia is upset by the news about being a sister and tells han to go away. He clearly realises she is emotional and doesnt go away. She notices him and asks him to hold her.
-Removed every mention that Vader must obey his master.
-Removed Vader's dumbass 'HEEEEE will come to MEEEE????' line.
-Emperor now says : 'you are now mine' instead of 'you and your father are now mine'
-Removed the star destroyer captain spoiling the emperors surprise like an idiot! Now Lando asks 'why arent they attacking' and we cut to the emperor announcing the operational battle station.
-Reduced the corny ewok battle but still kept a lot of the epic moments like the ropes being tossed around the speeder bikes!
-removed the ATST boobytraps even though it hurt my childhood. The goal is trilogy consistency! Not nostalgia!
- Edited out the tell your sister line at the end, but kept the rest of the emotional moment with luke and vader.
-Removed every Han being jealous of Luke moment. Leia litterally declared her love two times already so no need for it.
-Luke isnt at the celebration, he just lost his dad
-Movie ends with Vaders funeral, leaving a far more impactful final image with viewers.
Trailer
User reviews
8 reviews
Overall rating
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
9.4(8)
Audio Editing
9.8(8)
Visual Editing
9.8(8)
Narrative
9.0(8)
Enjoyment
9.0(8)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
A huge improved over the original, and edits are seamless. Return of the Jedi was always my least favorite film of the original trilogy, but this edit makes the film watchable again. This is definitely my "goto" version of the film.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
C
Overall rating
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
8.0
As advertised, excellent editing and cutting. Besides one minorly noticeable cut they are indistinguishable from the original movie's quality. Audio is well mixed also.
Several interesting changes that I really liked, besides many trimmed shots and scenes that did help with pacing and silliness. I never really had an issue with Luke immediately realising who his sister is, but removing that imformation from the Obi-Wan conversation does add a nice extra bit of suspense to the film. The re-edit of the Han & Lando conversation outside the Falcon is an emormous improvement. The original conversation is so stilted and awkward, and "would you get going you pirate" was always way too cheesy a line and too cheerfully said. I like the choice to end on Vader's burning pyre but I think the cut to credits probably should've been on the pan up to fireworks rather than the pan back down.
Thanks for making this, enjoyed it a lot. I would have preferred some more cuts to Han especially, and I feel like there's only so much you can do to improve the narrative of the movie, hence the lower score here, but regardless I definitely recommend to people who want a fan edit that doesn't stray too far from the original, but feel the pacing and tone suffers from all the ewok and han goofiness.
Several interesting changes that I really liked, besides many trimmed shots and scenes that did help with pacing and silliness. I never really had an issue with Luke immediately realising who his sister is, but removing that imformation from the Obi-Wan conversation does add a nice extra bit of suspense to the film. The re-edit of the Han & Lando conversation outside the Falcon is an emormous improvement. The original conversation is so stilted and awkward, and "would you get going you pirate" was always way too cheesy a line and too cheerfully said. I like the choice to end on Vader's burning pyre but I think the cut to credits probably should've been on the pan up to fireworks rather than the pan back down.
Thanks for making this, enjoyed it a lot. I would have preferred some more cuts to Han especially, and I feel like there's only so much you can do to improve the narrative of the movie, hence the lower score here, but regardless I definitely recommend to people who want a fan edit that doesn't stray too far from the original, but feel the pacing and tone suffers from all the ewok and han goofiness.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
E
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
Another great work by DonkeyKonga! I have lost count to how many fanedits I have watched about Star Wars. The prequels were actually the ones that got me into the wonderful world of fanedits, but that's irrelevant.
My go-to version for this movie was/is (haven't decided yet) Darthrush's "Remastered" edit. He also dealt with the out of character Han Solo stuff, the Ewoks shenanigans, the Endor mess and some other details. So, as you can understand if you read DonkeyKonga's changes, I had some extra changes to enjoy that I actually agreed with. Like the plot with Luke gifting the androids and how this whole sequence takes place, more trimming of Ewoks, Vader staying in character etc.
I won't go into detail, I'll just say that this is definitely a very interesting and refreshing version for anyone who is not a complete purist. For any Star Wars fan, you can understand if you are going to like this edit by simply reading the basic changes that the editor mention in "fanedit information" or reading the more detailed one. And I'm saying this because technical wise is excellent, so only if you like the changes matter.
The only thing I realized I did not really enjoy, was the different ending. I prefer the original one. Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the way Luke just knows Leia is his sister. Especially the "ask me again sometime" line feels kind of out of place. I'm guessing the logic has something to do with the force etc., but still..
Finally, I have one little suggestion. When bounty hunter Leia goes to rescue Solo at night, we see her at first going down some stairs and hitting some kind of wind chimes. Leia is very smart, plus she is in an extremely important mission and I don't think she would do something so stupid like accidentally hitting some wind chimes in the dead of night where there is absolute silence. I'm not an editor, so I don't know if it can be removed, I'm just suggesting it.
Other than that, I definitely recommend this edit, there are not many editors who actually change stuff in the original trilogy, few dare to do that, so be sure to try it if you agree with the intentions of the editor.
Thank you once again DonkeyKonga for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!
My go-to version for this movie was/is (haven't decided yet) Darthrush's "Remastered" edit. He also dealt with the out of character Han Solo stuff, the Ewoks shenanigans, the Endor mess and some other details. So, as you can understand if you read DonkeyKonga's changes, I had some extra changes to enjoy that I actually agreed with. Like the plot with Luke gifting the androids and how this whole sequence takes place, more trimming of Ewoks, Vader staying in character etc.
I won't go into detail, I'll just say that this is definitely a very interesting and refreshing version for anyone who is not a complete purist. For any Star Wars fan, you can understand if you are going to like this edit by simply reading the basic changes that the editor mention in "fanedit information" or reading the more detailed one. And I'm saying this because technical wise is excellent, so only if you like the changes matter.
The only thing I realized I did not really enjoy, was the different ending. I prefer the original one. Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the way Luke just knows Leia is his sister. Especially the "ask me again sometime" line feels kind of out of place. I'm guessing the logic has something to do with the force etc., but still..
Finally, I have one little suggestion. When bounty hunter Leia goes to rescue Solo at night, we see her at first going down some stairs and hitting some kind of wind chimes. Leia is very smart, plus she is in an extremely important mission and I don't think she would do something so stupid like accidentally hitting some wind chimes in the dead of night where there is absolute silence. I'm not an editor, so I don't know if it can be removed, I'm just suggesting it.
Other than that, I definitely recommend this edit, there are not many editors who actually change stuff in the original trilogy, few dare to do that, so be sure to try it if you agree with the intentions of the editor.
Thank you once again DonkeyKonga for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Overall rating
7.4
Audio/Video Quality
7.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
8.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
6.0
I have a lot of mixed thoughts about this edit. I was very excited to see how it worked out, taking one of my favorite flawed movies and improving upon it big time. DonkeyKonga's edit list sounded pretty interesting so I gave it a watch. After doing so, I figured my review would work better in a good/bad split way:
What I liked:
• Flipped Boba Fett to face the right way in Jabba's palace.
• Much fewer Ewok antics.
• Trimming the first Vader/Luke convo was great. Vader is now less sad and unsure sounding. Keeping him still very cold and serious, but the last shot brilliantly shows he’s internally having some doubts about his loyalty to the Emperor.
• It was really good to remove the Imperial general saying the Emperor has "a special surprise" for the Rebels. Now it’s actually surprising when the Emperor reveals to Luke the Death Star is operational.
What I didn't like:
• The video quality is kind of low. It looks like a softer past version, especially since this is based off of the original theatrical cut and not the more recent Special Edition (which has some great fixes TBH).
• Kept the original Jabba's palace musical number. I hated that and the Special Edition one so excising both would have been better.
• Trimming the Obi-Wan/Luke convo led to losing the 'certain point of view' line that ties into the prequels. Also not confirming Leia as Luke's sister gives him no struggle to hide the truth from Vader.
• This causes another issue: When Luke and Leia reunite she asks him 'What is it?', to which he replies knowingly 'Ask me again sometime." With the earlier reveal to Luke cut it now doesn't make sense that it looks like he knows something.
• Han and Lando's goodbye scene is too short now. I know it's to omit some cheesy dialogue but it makes it odd with some dialogue over the pan-down and music, and ultimately almost feels unneeded since it's so brief.
• Some of Han's quips are cut short. It was good to lower the humor in the edit but these cuts felt a bit sudden.
• Removing Vader saying "Tell your sister... you were right". It was a nice line where Anakin returns to the light and acknowledges both of his children.
• Removing Luke reuniting with his friends after burning the body of Vader, panning up to the ships' fireworks, and see all the freedom across the galaxy.
• Removing Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda's ghosts appearing at the end (either the Sebastian Shaw or Hayden Christensen versions). It gets rid of a touching moment where Anakin becomes one with The Force, and he and the other Jedi say goodbye to Luke and Leia.
What I would have done differently:
• Used a high def version of ROTJ's Special Edition, which has a sharper image with more vibrant colors.
• Had the updated scene of unmasking Vader with his eyebrows removed (he was burned on Mustafar).
• Replaced the original Yub Nub song kept in from the end of the theatrical cut with the orchestral John Williams song from the Special Edition. More dramatic and emotionally uplifting.
A great attempt with some solid fixes, but most of the changes weren't my cup of tea. Still, big props for making your vision of a ROTJ edit!
What I liked:
• Flipped Boba Fett to face the right way in Jabba's palace.
• Much fewer Ewok antics.
• Trimming the first Vader/Luke convo was great. Vader is now less sad and unsure sounding. Keeping him still very cold and serious, but the last shot brilliantly shows he’s internally having some doubts about his loyalty to the Emperor.
• It was really good to remove the Imperial general saying the Emperor has "a special surprise" for the Rebels. Now it’s actually surprising when the Emperor reveals to Luke the Death Star is operational.
What I didn't like:
• The video quality is kind of low. It looks like a softer past version, especially since this is based off of the original theatrical cut and not the more recent Special Edition (which has some great fixes TBH).
• Kept the original Jabba's palace musical number. I hated that and the Special Edition one so excising both would have been better.
• Trimming the Obi-Wan/Luke convo led to losing the 'certain point of view' line that ties into the prequels. Also not confirming Leia as Luke's sister gives him no struggle to hide the truth from Vader.
• This causes another issue: When Luke and Leia reunite she asks him 'What is it?', to which he replies knowingly 'Ask me again sometime." With the earlier reveal to Luke cut it now doesn't make sense that it looks like he knows something.
• Han and Lando's goodbye scene is too short now. I know it's to omit some cheesy dialogue but it makes it odd with some dialogue over the pan-down and music, and ultimately almost feels unneeded since it's so brief.
• Some of Han's quips are cut short. It was good to lower the humor in the edit but these cuts felt a bit sudden.
• Removing Vader saying "Tell your sister... you were right". It was a nice line where Anakin returns to the light and acknowledges both of his children.
• Removing Luke reuniting with his friends after burning the body of Vader, panning up to the ships' fireworks, and see all the freedom across the galaxy.
• Removing Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda's ghosts appearing at the end (either the Sebastian Shaw or Hayden Christensen versions). It gets rid of a touching moment where Anakin becomes one with The Force, and he and the other Jedi say goodbye to Luke and Leia.
What I would have done differently:
• Used a high def version of ROTJ's Special Edition, which has a sharper image with more vibrant colors.
• Had the updated scene of unmasking Vader with his eyebrows removed (he was burned on Mustafar).
• Replaced the original Yub Nub song kept in from the end of the theatrical cut with the orchestral John Williams song from the Special Edition. More dramatic and emotionally uplifting.
A great attempt with some solid fixes, but most of the changes weren't my cup of tea. Still, big props for making your vision of a ROTJ edit!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
K
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Looks beautiful! Im an 80s kid so growing up the first 3 star wars were magical and rotj was my favorite. as i grew up i started to hate it, too silly, too many puppets, it just seemed like such a little kid movie - especially after how dark empire ends. The trims made this movie much more adult, much more organized better paced.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
K