Revenge of the Jedi Redux

[DonkeyKonga]

I think I did. What error are you talking about specifically? PM me for an updated link 😁

 

[DonkeyKonga]

I'm revisiting this edit entirely. I've learned so much and this was only my second edit and Star Wars really deserves a worthy edit. Already improved it by removing the 'ask me again sometimes remark' and greatly improved the visuals and dialogue in the Han/Lando dialogue about the Falcon to feel weighty. Besides that I won't change alot, because I feel like it's almost as good as it can get with the source material, but at least the audio mixing will be improved quite a bit. And let's be honest, audio is everything when it comes to Star Wars!

 

[DonkeyKonga]

Scenes that I redid from scratch:

The singer scene at jabba has been 50% shortened and only used the best looking puppet shots.

The ewoks capturing and releasing our heroes has been redone. The part of the tribe scene has been cut since it adds nothing. We cut to them celebrating and Luke leaving.

Removed the 'what's wrong?' and 'ask me again sometimes' moment

The 'Hes my brother' scene has been tweaked to be completely seamless.

Closing credits start before the camera pans down on the forest.

The Han Solo/Lando conversation is now seamless and serious.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

Rendering now on my ancient computer. Will be done rendering in 60 hours lmao. Gotta love 4k HDR.

Scenes that I redid from scratch:

The droid at the door is now far more aggressive and does all the talking. C3PO doesnt get to say a word.

We skip the intro with Jabbas henchman. Helps pacing quite a bit!

The singer scene at jabba has been 50% shortened and only used the best looking puppet shots.

Removed a small shot of Chewy standing next to Leia in disguise and flailing his arms in protest unconvincing. Now he acts more 'captured' if that makes sense.

Changed 'Because hes holding a detonator into 'He's holding a thermal detonator!'

Re-instated the 'On second thought let's not do that' comment. I removed it in V1 but ended up missing it a bit.

Removed the 'Now you're going to die here, convenient' comment.

Removed the 'what's wrong?' and 'ask me again sometimes' moment. As reviewers have rightfully said: removing it is better.

The Han Solo/Lando conversation is now seamless and still serious. Better shots are used. This scene really shows how much more I've learned since.

The emperor saying 'You are now mine' is now one continuous shot using some trickery.

The ewoks capturing and releasing our heroes has been completely redone. We show them tied up, but not to be sacrificed for better visual continuity (the original edit is a bit rough here retrospect). The part of the tribe scene has been cut since it adds nothing. We cut to them celebrating and Luke leaving distressed. Zero mentions of banquets.

Big change for tone: The shoulder tab Han solo chase to around the corner with the stormtrooper is cut. Instead we see Han Solo sneak up to the guard, cut away to the interior of the bunker and hear a BONK noise, suggesting he knocked the trooper out.

Cut the goofy face after Han accidentally closes the blast door.

Quicker cuts when Leia gets shot and shoots the Troopers. She now shoots them as they're talking.

Reinstated 'Tell your sister you were right'. I ended up missing the line after removing it in V1.

The 'Hes my brother' scene has been tweaked to be more seamless, better Han shots are used

Closing credits start before the camera pans back down on the forest.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

This sounds good. I am one who absolutely loves all the throne room stuff from this movie but can do without almost everything else. However my single biggest gripe is Han and it sounds like you’ve tried to tackle that. One question, you say you’ve tweaked the end Leia/Han scene ti be more seamless but I don’t know what that means. I’ve been able to edit that scene to remove Han’s jealousy; is that you’ve done? If so, sign me up!

 

[DonkeyKonga]

This sounds good. I am one who absolutely loves all the throne room stuff from this movie but can do without almost everything else. However my single biggest gripe is Han and it sounds like you’ve tried to tackle that. One question, you say you’ve tweaked the end Leia/Han scene ti be more seamless but I don’t know what that means. I’ve been able to edit that scene to remove Han’s jealousy; is that you’ve done? If so, sign me up!

Yes that's what I did, but the shots I used for Han felt a bit off. I now have better audio and video transitions.

Regarding Han, they went overboard. He was always a bit goofy at times 'it's not my fault' comes to mind. But for RotJ they went overboard by not giving him his epic moments as well. Also the jealousy was completely stupid they declared eachothers love in part 5 AND several times in part 6 and somehow he is still jealous over Luke??? The romance angle is so stupid in 6.

The biggest change though is the pacing. Jabbas Palace goes past way faster as well as the Ewok scene which always drags on a bit.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Yes that's what I did, but the shots I used for Han felt a bit off. I now have better audio and video transitions.

Regarding Han, they went overboard. He was always a bit goofy at times 'it's not my fault' comes to mind. But for RotJ they went overboard by not giving him his epic moments as well. Also the jealousy was completely stupid they declared eachothers love in part 5 AND several times in part 6 and somehow he is still jealous over Luke??? The romance angle is so stupid in 6.

The biggest change though is the pacing. Jabbas Palace goes past way faster as well as the Ewok scene which always drags on a bit.

Han’s arc was concluded more or less in Empire. I’ve got zero editing skills but the way I handled him is by having him die in the freezing process in Empire. My RotJ edit is just to basically tack on the throne room scenes to Empire as that, to me, is the only story left unfinished. But obviously it’s less than ideal as it’s probably impossible to make it all work seamlessly. But so much of the problem with Jedi is that it’s so much spinning wheels. Nevertheless I’m excited to see what you’ve done here. Congratulations on finishing it.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

Han’s arc was concluded more or less in Empire. I’ve got zero editing skills but the way I handled him is by having him die in the freezing process in Empire. My RotJ edit is just to basically tack on the throne room scenes to Empire as that, to me, is the only story left unfinished. But obviously it’s less than ideal as it’s probably impossible to make it all work seamlessly. But so much of the problem with Jedi is that it’s so much spinning wheels. Nevertheless I’m excited to see what you’ve done here. Congratulations on finishing it.

Thanks! I actually stopped rendering so I celebrated too early, because I'm looking to see if I can make the speeder chase more intense. I kinda hate how everyone just doesnt crash and it ruins the tension in the forest. Goal is to make them look to the front as much as possible.

Which is also a problem in RotJ: a lack of a sense of danger, ever.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

Took away a whopping 23 seconds of the speeder chase by removing all shots that remove suspension of disbelief (looking back for a few seconds etc) really like it!

With the emperor I removed the 'your journey towards the dark side will be complete' line. He now simply says 'strike me down with all of your hatred'.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

I don't think anyone has cut this scene like this before, but I'm very pleased with the result!
Never thought I'd use Lego star wars sounds in the edit but here we are lol. Sound is an Indiana jones punch effect meshed with a grunt from a LEGO stormtrooper.

I also read a change describtion on an other edit where they had Chewie give away Han and I tried it. I think it's a pretty good cut, but I'd like to hear wether this is better than the stick? Not sure how the other editor cut this, probably the exact same way lol. I tried to make it seem like a miscommunication.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

Almost finished one of the most important reworked scenes: The ewok feast. Removed the cannibal bit and the bed time story and made it seem more like a village meeting where they discuss wether they should help our heroes. The audio was a PAIN to work with here lol. Still not sure if I should keep floating God C3po though.. The bed time story imo always had to go, but the God C3PO bit I'm still a bit torn over. It's lame, but also one of the few uses of force levatation.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

Edit is coming along nicely. Not sure if I'm going to render it in 4k though. I feel 1080p is sharp enough and it litterally saves me days in rendering lmao.

The only scene that I'm still working on is the Ewok intro. I cant decide how I want to cut God C3PO.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

Almost finished one of the most important reworked scenes: The ewok feast. Removed the cannibal bit and the bed time story and made it seem more like a village meeting where they discuss wether they should help our heroes. The audio was a PAIN to work with here lol. Still not sure if I should keep floating God C3po though.. The bed time story imo always had to go, but the God C3PO bit I'm still a bit torn over. It's lame, but also one of the few uses of force levatation.

Reworked and reuploaded. I'd love feedback on this one. Kept god C3PO, but removed the eating of the heroes and the bedtime story! The cuts and audio are all seamless afaik but I'd love to have another set of eyes on this!

I particularly like the removal of mentioning the use of magic. Just the notion of being angry at the ewoks upsets a protocol droid which makes complete sense!

 

[DigModiFicaTion]

Congrats!

 

[keithbk]

I did a trim on my version of Jedi to simply cut seeing Vader's face.

I NEVER liked the reveal, and I like it even less after Revenge of the Sith (that is NOT a burn victim). Now, I love the shot in Empire, because it's ENTIRELY up to your imagination as you only see the back of the head.

Basically, Vader says he wants to look at Luke with his own eyes, we see Luke starting to remove the mask, then switch back to the Falcon flying toward the core of the Death Star...

I don't miss ANY of the cut dialog and I like that Luke is the ONLY one who saw his face (not even the viewer gets to do that). It makes him so much more mysterious that way. It also is a fitting end to Vader where the last thing he does is look upon Luke. NO MENTION OF LEIA, as it really isn't necessary.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

I did a trim on my version of Jedi to simply cut seeing Vader's face.

I NEVER liked the reveal, and I like it even less after Revenge of the Sith (that is NOT a burn victim). Now, I love the shot in Empire, because it's ENTIRELY up to your imagination as you only see the back of the head.

Basically, Vader says he wants to look at Luke with his own eyes, we see Luke starting to remove the mask, then switch back to the Falcon flying toward the core of the Death Star...

I don't miss ANY of the cut dialog and I like that Luke is the ONLY one who saw his face (not even the viewer gets to do that). It makes him so much more mysterious that way. It also is a fitting end to Vader where the last thing he does is look upon Luke. NO MENTION OFIP LEIA, as it really isn't necessary.

I disagree.

I get what you're saying but that's simply a possible take on it. The other take is that the Revenge of the Jedi edit makes Vaders reveal more tragic. Behind the stoic figure was a broken man in the end. ( I removed his lines of doubt in the edit before the reveal to keep him in character and give the reveal more oomph)

Him mentioning his sister makes perfect sense as a father. He doesnt say much. He doesnt ask for forgiveness. All he asks is that he tells her he was right. There was still a fraction of love left in him. It also fits right in with what Luke tells Leia. He has to try because he sensed a glimmer of hope. And she understands.

Removing his reveal keeps some mystery, sure. But it's a card already played in ESB. Not showing him again is simply a repeat of the previous film. It's more interesting to get to see him in the end (it helps that I like the performance of both actors)

I hope you enjoyed the edit despite that.

I'd argue the prequels ruin more about Vaders mystery than any shot in the OT though.

 

[keithbk]

I think if you could CGI edit Vader to be a burn victim, it might make sense, but again, the Humpty Dumpty head is just stupid.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

I mean imo the reveal seems like a pretty close match to the back of his head we see in ESB. And again, if we want to retain Vader's mystery we'd have to litterally scrub out the prequels entirely. And if we do thát, well, in that case then he doesn't nessecarily have to be a burn victim anymore (or maybe he didnt actually burn his face, but parts of his body/head). It just seems so oddly specific to get hung up on, considering plenty of visual effects in the OT are dodgy at times and this actually holds up well even today.

That's a pretty close match to the visuals in ESB seen below. And as you can see his head isn't that abnormally large. I think the camera angle in the movie might be giving you that idea. Again look below. Not that large at all.

^ as you can see it's not that big of a head at all. If you remove the vader suit obstructing him (he's lying in that suit uncomfortably, it's a tight fit and he is also kind of actually dying which tends to make you not look so good) you'll see it's actually pretty well done for the most part.
I'm not saying you have to like it obviously, but I'm just defending the make-up department here. But, I will admit removing the eyebrows does make him look like an egg-head. (which is not a problem for me since I used the theatrical version for my edit)

 

[keithbk]

I agree the profile photo is a much better visual, but the final footage just disappoints.

This has been a personal feeling since I originally saw Jedi in the theater as a teen. I lost count of the times I saw Star Wars and Empire. But after one viewing of Jedi, I had no desire to go back to the theater and see it, and my biggest problem was the Vader reveal.

When Spielberg realized that the mechanical shark ruined the realism of Jaws, he wisely chose to show as little of the shark as possible. In the end, that made the movie far more terrifying. Similarly, I don't think the reveal of Anakin lived up to the imagination after Empire. That brief glimpse of the back of the head was all we had for 3 years... and then we got THIS in Jedi... a weak. pasty, raspy old white dude...

I get it, he's "beaten" and now on the verge of death... but a bit of mystery would have gone a LONG way in keeping the "hype" alive.

 

[DonkeyKonga]

I agree the profile photo is a much better visual, but the final footage just disappoints.

This has been a personal feeling since I originally saw Jedi in the theater as a teen. I lost count of the times I saw Star Wars and Empire. But after one viewing of Jedi, I had no desire to go back to the theater and see it, and my biggest problem was the Vader reveal.

When Spielberg realized that the mechanical shark ruined the realism of Jaws, he wisely chose to show as little of the shark as possible. In the end, that made the movie far more terrifying. Similarly, I don't think the reveal of Anakin lived up to the imagination after Empire. That brief glimpse of the back of the head was all we had for 3 years... and then we got THIS in Jedi... a weak. pasty, raspy old white dude...

I get it, he's "beaten" and now on the verge of death... but a bit of mystery would have gone a LONG way in keeping the "hype" alive.

A weak.pasty raspy old white (not sure why his skincolor is relevant since luke and Leia are white also lol) dude is pretty much what was expected. Hes Luke's father, it figures hes old. Honestly anything else would have been weird.

But yeah if you hate it you hate it I guess..

I agree on jaws btw less is more, but let's not forget the shark gets a huge reveal at the end. There is objectively more jaws reveal on screen than mask less Vader . Jaws bad movie confirmed?