Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Restructured V3

[Delpheas]

Apologies. The one on .info hasn't been updated because it usually takes quite a while for the admin to update the listings. I did not bother sending him V2 since V2.1 will be due out soon, and I'll need the 'Mega' space for that. It would have been obsolete by the time it was listed, and the links would have been gone. I'm afraid you downloaded V1. 
There's a Reddit post, which I won't link to here, where you can find V2. Again, I regret the confusion for the present.

No worries. I did figure that out after reading more of the thread, found my way to reddit. I'll review after!

 

[Daxtreme]

I loved your first version of this edit, but it did have a few minor issues.

I'm wondering: what are the main differences between the 1st version of this edit you made last year and the newest one?

If I recall correctly there were some continuity issues with Kylo Ren's mask and 1 or 2 awkward transitions on Maz Kanata's planet.

I'll be checking this one out for sure!

edit: not sure if v2.1 is out yet, should I wait?

 

[Hal9000]

I would wait for V2.1, since it should be finished and put out there very soon. I'm just waiting on one thing from someone. 

The difference between V1 and V2(.1) is incredible. A few key people, most prominently Sir Ridley and NeverarGreat, at OriginalTrilogy.com have elevated this from something I thought was a good idea but doesn't work when executed into something virtually flawless. I am thrilled and very proud of what they've done to get this group effort into the shape that it is.

The biggest changes are in executing the core idea of moving the Hosnian system's destruction to right after Han's death. 

- A new crawl by Sir Ridley looks screen-perfect and helps establish the Starkiller weapon and subtle political exposition which is helpful since the weapon's reveal is later in the film than in the theatrical

- As a star destroyer appears over Maz's Castle, new music and effects allow for a much more convincing and seamless implementation

- Much better effects, particularly the slowed down shots and redone audio, make the Hosnian destruction sequence and Starkiller explosion sequence feel like they were always this way

- Added a critical short scene between Snoke and Hux to make it clear that they are preparing to fire upon the Resistance base after the Republic has been destroyed, giving our heroes a reason to keep fighting beyond an unspoken sense of 'revenge' or preventing an unspoken potential future threat. 

- New FX to finally solve the continuity error of Kylo Ren appearing hooden when he shouldn't, due to moving parts of scenes around.

Aside from these, there are a few new surprises to boot which don't really fit in with the project's main goal but are too good and noncontroversial not to include:

- As Rey pilots the Falcon into the skies above Jakku after her and Finn's chase sequence, it now jumps to hyperspace. It is shown falling out of hyperspace after something explodes at the end of the scene. This helps their running into Han not feel like such an enormous coincidence. Han later references finding the Falcon on their scanners, presumably due to their use of hyperspace. This also helps prevent a rather abrupt scene transition in the theatrical cut.

- After BB8 and 3PO talk about R2, a little light starts blinking inside R2 as he appears to begin searching his database for the rest of the map, a possibility he had not considered before. This is exactly what the canon explanation is anyway, but now we get to see it made a little more clear onscreen. Toward the end of the film, when we see R2 wake up, we first see the blinking light come to a stop.

- The final shot of the film, swirling camera around Luke and Rey, has been stabilized.

 

[Scar]

These updates sound fantastic; I was a fan of your first attempt, but now eagerly look forward to version 2.

 

[Daxtreme]

I'm...

Incredibly eager to rewatch an updated version of this. Thank you, looks amazing.

At this point I'm left wondering if there ever will be a Blu-Ray Star Wars cut in my collection, except for Ep 1

It may sound controversial but... I like Episode I the way it is  :angel:

It might be the only one I'm gonna watch the Blu-Ray of since I dislike most of the cuts that people make to this movie (cutting anything from the PodRace is a big no for me)  

Anyway, looking forward to this cut replacing Episode VII for me (either that or DigiModification's, but that will depend on episode 8 edits)

For now, looking at:

Episode I - Blu-Ray
Episode II - I just don't watch this one....... Maybe Sanded Down might do it for me
Episode III - [font=Raleway, sans-serif]octoroxx's [/font]Extended Edition or maybe... the Blu-Ray version
Episode IV - Harmy's Despecialized Edition or Revisited Purist Edition, depending on mood
Episode V - Same as above
Episode VI - Harmy's Despecialized Edition or Revisited when it comes out.
Episode VII - Looking forward to this one replacing theatrical, or DigiModification's
Episode VIII - At this point, I'll take pretty much any edit over the theatrical  :dodgy:

 

[parras]

come on... there is so much good stuff around here! you can improve that list!

I - Shadow of the Sith by L8wrtr 
II - The Republic Divided by L8wrtr
III - Labyrinth of Evil by Hal9000
IV - Revisited by Adywan
V - Revisited by Adywan
VI - Q2 fanedit
VII - this one, no doubt!
VIII - I bet for Hal9000!

And you can add Rogue One - Rise of the Rebellion

Lots of good, good, good stuff.

 

[Hal9000]

Version 2.1 is now available in the usual channels. (Though, the .info will likely still list V1 for the time being, so be aware!)

This release is intended as FINAL, barring any dramatic revelations.

 

[Daxtreme]

[font=Raleway, sans-serif]Finn’s line to Han about the First Order has been changed, including a brief visual modification to his mouth. (FX by Sir Ridley and NeverarGreat)[/font]

Yessssss, aside from a few visual/audio twinkles, this was my main issue with the 1.0 cut. Hopefully his new line works well visually.

This looks.... DAYUMMMMMM interesting

Will watch and review soon, thanks a lot HAL, and everyone involved.

edit: will there be a 720p version?

 

[Hal9000]

Yeah, 720p version will be appearing there within a few hours from now.

 

[Hal9000]

Sorry, everyone. The 720p version had an encoding problem, but I know what caused it, so it should be ready hopefully by tomorrow.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Hey Hal, I downloaded the 1080p version last night. I have to convert to get it to play on my AppleTV so perhaps it’s my issue alone. But there’s a thin green line at the very bottom of the picture on my version. It’s not a deal breaker, but I thought I should mention it so you can check your original. It’s probably my issue but I’ve never had this happen before.

 

[Hal9000]

No green line present in the 1080p output, or any other version. I've gotta think it's something with how its being converted. 
Sorry, but  I have no idea outside of that.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

I re-encoded and the green line is gone. Thanks.

 

[Moe_Syzlak]

Just watched this. The cuts and additions are seamless and welcomed. The overall intent of the edit (moving the destruction of Hosnian) definitely helps the overall narrative. And the small changes that necessitated are welcome, such as changing the lasers from the Starkiller Base to a star destroyer. It just fixes a stupid moment. I would’ve liked to see a few deeper cuts. The  gangs and rathtar scene, in particular, I’d like to see shorter. I’d like Han’s “I like this thing” line removed. These are, of course, minor, personal quibbles. One thing that is not a minor quibble for me (but understand it is a personal preference) is that I feel Rey should just run after defeating Kylo and the stupid chasm opening up between them should be eliminated. I’ve seen this done seamlessly in Digmodification’s edit. It is simply a horrible effect and feels way too Hollywood. My biggest issues with this movie were that it hemmed to closely to the OT and that the Starkiller Base itself was just silly. I don’t think there’s much that can be done to fix those issues. But, for the movie we were given, this is very close to as good as it can get for me.

 

[Hal9000]

I don't disagree, however, the intent of this project was a tight execution of this single idea. There are a few other editors already planning to use it as a starting point to edit further, which is welcome.

 

[Daxtreme]

I must commend you Hal for sticking to the original intent and making a cut exclusively about Starkiller Base firing at the end.

Like you said, others can use your edit to make something different anyway.

But for those who enjoy TFA as it is, this should be the definitive edit out there.

 

[Hal9000]

There were a few exceptions, which I made because they seemed uncontroversially positive:

- The Falcon jumping to hyperspace and falling back out right after Rey and Finn escape Jakku

- R2 begins indexing his hard drive after BB8 and 3PO talk about the map, and is shown to finish this at the end of the film

- Final shot stabilization 

But yes, I was initially reluctant to mess with TFA at all. I decided that, for my part, I would just bear its faults the way I do when I watch ROTJ; no fan edit necessary. However, this elegant Starkiller idea had to be attempted. V1 was... okay, but people came out of the woodwork to perfect it.

 

[Hal9000]

The 720p version should appear in the same places within about 30 minutes, thus concluding this whole sha-bang.

 

[Daxtreme]

> [font=Raleway, sans-serif]- The Falcon jumping to hyperspace and falling back out right after Rey and Finn escape Jakku[/font]

I have a slight problem with this, namely that after they jump, Rey asks Finn to know where they're going, but if they don't know where they're going...

Why did they make the jump to hyperspace and where were they going anyway?

Right after knowing the location of the resistance base, Rey says "I'm gonna drop you at Ponemah Terminal" but she couldn't know that beforehand so really, the jump makes little sense in context too.

Or did I miss something big?

 

[Hal9000]

I just figured she jumped anywhere to get away from the First Order’s presence right there in orbit of Jakku.