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

I've always liked Return of the Jedi, but the story always felt a little flat and tensionless. Plus the special editions put some stuff that worked and didn't work. Like changing the band in Jabba's palace and putting Hayden Christensen in the movie is ridiculous, but changing that stupid song "Yub Nub" or "Ewok Celebration" or whatever, with "Victory Celebration" and adding the Galaxy Celebration is great (aside from "Wee'sa free!"). Neither the Theatrical Cut/Harmy's Despecialized Edition nor the Special Edition were perfect for me. Then, I found Q2's hybrid cut.

The M4V quality was great, the audio was great, and it put Lapti Nek and old Anakin to the movie! For lots of hardcore fans of ROTJ, that's amazing.

For now, this is my go-to ROTJ. ADigitalMan has the same concept but this is better, I haven't seen the Dan edit and the Spence makes no sense at times.

1080 MKV looked great. Audio sounded good, glad it was included. Overall this was a good edit, my go-to ROTJ.

A/V Quality - 10
Editing - 10 visual, 8 audio
Narrative - 9
Enjoyment - 9 (OUT 9, SE 7)

Recommended drink: Shift (Pale Lager)

Technically, Q2 has yet again proven his skills with this edit. I couldn't fault any of the visual or audio transitions. Additionally, you'll get no complaints from me with regard to the BD source material.

My only comment is that I wish Q2 had been a bit more liberal with the scissors. Sure, all of the most offensive 'special edition' changes have been removed, from the new dance number, to the 'NOOO', and the Hayden ghost.

However, there a few things in the theatrical cut that I would also loved to have seen the back of. In particular, I am thinking of the awful (and unnecessary) droid slave/torture scene that has been like a thorn in my side for the past 30 years!

Even so, this is firmly in my line-up of 'go to' Star Wars fan edits. Thank you, Q2.

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.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Wesa Free of Hayden and Nooooooo!

Q2's Return of the Jedi edit is subtle, yet effective. I appreciated the minimalist approach to this edit, replacing only those things that really stood out negatively.

Video Quality: I personally disapprove of the Blu-Ray quality for this film. While some scenes look brilliant, others stand out for not having received the same treatment. I often found Harmy's footage preferable to the worst portions of the blu. This is not the editor's fault, though I do wish a few of the worst offenders could have been cleaned up slightly.

Visual editing: Everything transitioned smoothly. Nothing took me out of the edit at all.

Audio editing: Everything was crisp and clear. Certain portions MAY have had volume issues, but I watched it with kids running in and out of the room so I won't mark you down there :P

Narrative: The narrative really wasn't affected in this cut. It was nice to view the original musical number and the Shaw Anakin in such a high quality format, which are technically small narrative pieces. The only reason I mark this down at all is... after seeing Spence's cut placing Yoda at the beginning, it's how I want it to be.

Enjoyment: This was very enjoyable to watch and will be my go to version, especially for marathons. The only real reason for the point of is the same as narrative - I really think if done well, Spence's rearranging of the beginning is the way that it should be. However, that is outside the scope of this edit's intended purpose, and the original narrative track is still very enjoyable. Oh... and the herd of banthas is still awful...

In the end, this is a wonderful addition to the fanedit community, and I will go so far as to say this is a worthy placeholder for RotJ:Revisited, especially for purists.