Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens: Restructured

This is a very important fanedit for the Star Wars community at large, not just because of how well done it is, but because the feelings of rebootness and staleness are gone. The edit feels like a product of love for Star Wars rather than a product of fan service. I only suggest watching this version of the film and it will definitely replace my blu-ray. V3 is masterful.

I agreed with every single cut and addition in this edit and I don't have any big complaints. The best part about this cut is that Force Awakens no longer feels like a reboot and remake of the OT. It actually feels like the film can take place in the Star Wars Universe. Like Hal states in the commentary, the simple restructuring of the destruction of the Hosnian system opens so many doors for the film that you can only really feel if you watch the edit itself.

The VFX work done is just plain seamless. With the frame by frame removal of the black time stamp on the deleted scene, the new star destroyer hovering over Takodana, and the charging of StarKiller Base, it really is what the film should have absolutely done in the first place.
The best scene of the edit is the removal of Chewie walking directly past Leia after Han's death.

Watching the edit and listening to Hal's commentary, I felt re-invigorated with the new Star Wars movies and fan-editing in general. It seems I had forgotten that there are other star wars fans with creativity and passion in the community at large. Everything you see nowadays is just so full of hate and vitriol, and this edit represents the COMPLETE opposite to that. To those Fans who feel like there is no hope for the community like I did, you should give this edit a watch. You won't be disappointed...

Probably one of my favourite go-to cut!

Hello there.

I finally had the chance to watch this fanedit again. I had originally watched the first version of this fanedit, I and have been able to now watch the final cut.

What can I say? Thank you HAL. This is a top notch job.

The idea of changing the timing of the Starkiller base firing for the first time works like a charm. And now it is seamlessly and beautifully executed.

I love the appearance of the Star Destroyer at Maz Kanata's. This reinforces the feeling of dread of the First Order that we get at the beginning of the movie.

I also love how the storytelling is reinforced. The presence (and demise) of the Galactic Republic is more felt.

Starkiller firing is more dramatic.

Han Solo's fate is more relevant to the story....

Even R2-D2 has a bigger, more consistent role in the story now!

All in all, this makes the movie BETTER, with some great editing and wise retelling of the story.

It is a must in everyone's STAR WARS fanedit collections. Thanks again!! Keep it up!!

I really enjoyed everything about this edit, Especially the re-positioning of the Starkiller firing sequence. Excellent Work, HAL.

I was very intrigued by what HAL 9000 set out to do with The Force Awakens. I LOVE this movie, small warts and all, and I wanted to see what rearranging the narrative a bit might do for it.

Ultimately, I found myself not liking the movie nearly as much as the theatrical version. It's not a bad edit, per se. Not at all! It just didn't play to what I would have liked to see changed around. Whereby removing the use of Starkiller until the end gives it an unknown fear, by having it sooner everyone knows what the stakes are-- even if it more closely mirrors A New Hope.

The technical prowess is still pretty great, and perhaps others will like the reshuffled narrative more than I did. Personally, I would have liked to simply seen some edits made to any mentions of Kylo being Han and Leia's son until Han calls out his name on the catwalk, then would mention 'the face of my son' for the first time. It would make you wonder why Snoke was so invested in this former pupil of Luke's and Han and Leia seemed worried about him. It would leave questions like 'is he Luke's son?', 'is he Han and Leia's son?', 'was he a former trusted friend?' until the 'ah ha!' moment later on.

Maybe in another edit! :)