Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – A Q2 Fanedit

What the SE should have been - nice job!

This is simply the best version of ROTJ out there. Everything wrong with the SE is fixed and it feels like the best balance of what was good about both versions. The victory fanfare at the end works well as it makes it feel like it belongs to the greater saga. Removing Jedi rocks is always welcome and while the quality drop is expected with the re adding of the original Jabba palace scene, it is as good as it could ever be. The removal of the Sarlaac beak is incredibly done.

Overall this fanedit is fantastic and Q2 is yet to be topped with this version.

I must start by saying that Q2 has made something very refreshing by re-releasing his fanedit with superior video/audio quality. I wish some other faneditors would revisit their old projects and do the same. I never saw the original versions of this fanedits but the image quality of the HD edition is great. It's not perfect but still very good.

I liked the blu-ray release but I also must admit that it had some terrible moments like "Noooo!", Jedi Rocks and Sarlacc pit for example. I feel Q2 has addressed all the things that bothered me in the blu-ray release... he's done not too much and yet not too little. As I personally already love Return of the Jedi, I don't feel it needs more editing.

Out of all the Return of the Jedi fanedits this is the one I want to watch the most.

I just can't understand why this edit only has one review? (well at least until now that is!) This is an great edit. Really it's more of a reconstruction of Return of the Jedi, removing the worst offences of the special edition (SE) and of the blu-ray release. It also keeps the things that worked from the SE, such as updated effects.
I watched the mp4 and the HD quality was excellent. I'm sure the blu-ray version will be even better, maybe I'll update this review when I've watched it. But it's safe to say that the mp4 has already replaced my original saga BD disc.
Q2's edits are spot on. The sound sounded pretty good to me. Obviously inserting the upscaled SD footage back into the film is noticeable, the original song at Jabba's palace being the biggest culprit and to a much lesser degree Anakin's force spirit at the end. But it's great having them back in the movie.
I did wonder with the Jabba song, whether rather than inserting the whole 1 minute scene in upscaled SD, he could have kept as much of the HD footage as possible while editing in only the SD parts of the female singer creature and her band. Of course keeping the original sound track and song (I think it's called Lapti nek?) As quite a bit of the scene doesn't even show them and is identical to the the HD version. Even if he had only kept the parts focused directly on Jabba and Boba Fett in HD then I feel it would make the SD footage less noticeable. Well who knows perhaps he tried it and wasn't happy with the result. Another possibility is (and I can't believe I'm suggesting this!) I wondered whether it might be possible to salvage some of the awful CG from Jedi rocks and try to sync the CG singer to the original song? That way we keep the original song plus it stays in HD. It's possible the CG might be bearable when used sparingly and by cutting the worst stuff out.
But anyway, all of this is a minor issue in what is an excellent piece of work. And I can't tell you just how great it was to see Sebastian Shaw back in his rightful place at the end and not Hayden Christensen!
So if you're looking for a HD version of ROTJ which includes the original song at Jabba's palace, a beak-less Sarlac pit, Darth Vader not saying NOOOOOOOO!, and the original Anakin force spirit then this is for you. I highly recommend it.

This is my go-to version of RotJ. While Q2's edit doesn't replace the original, it's a fine complement. This surpasses other HD fan-edits to date.