Star Wars: Revisited – A Fan Edit That Does It Better?

The Star Wars movies sit atop my list of favourite films, with The Empire Strikes Back holding the number one spot. I’ve watched the Star Wars movies for more than 25 years and I’ve never really had a problem with the Special Editions like some folks do. Some of the changes I like, some not so much. Some suggest that George Lucas was blind-drunk while making the decision. Either way I just enjoy watching Star Wars but when I do, in my head Han always shoots first.

Fan edits are not something I knew existed until recently. Wikipedia describes a fan edit as “…a version of a film modified by a viewer, that removes, reorders, or adds material in order to create a new interpretation of the source material.” Star Wars: Revisited by ‘Adywan‘ is a fan edit that does all of those things.

 

What started off as colour balancing the 2004 Star Wars: A New Hope Special Edition DVD, led to much bigger tweaks, and ultimately to some major changes. After two years of work and commitment Adywan finally released Star Wars: A New Hope Revisited. Adywan’s edit of A New Hope features over 250 changes ranging from an improved 5.1 mix to scene restoration and CG work. Some comments and forum postings I’ve read claim that Adywan’s edit of Star Wars Episode IV puts Mr. Lucas to shame – that it is the definitive version of the movie. A bold claim, but one that gets me very excited …Maybe even aroused.

Fanedit.org describes Star Wars: Revisited like this – “Star Wars: Revisited represents perhaps the boldest and most sophisticated of any of the fan edits of Star Wars EP IV: ANH. Star Wars: Revisited not only fixes errors and technical limitations to the film that should have been made in the first SE, but gives us a whole new vision for the movie, tying it to the rest of the Star Wars saga while correcting many of the excesses of the original SE. Shots are re-mastered and restored, special effect shots are re-composited and whole new sequences are created, giving the viewer a taste of what the SE could have been.”

You can find the full list of 250+ changes and info on the SW:ANHR releases here. Adywan tells us why he made certain changes here. Reading some of the changes (and the reasons why) makes me realise just how much Georgey has buggered about with the movies over the years, and how many versions of the same thing there are floating around.

 

Adywan is now working on finishing his hugely ambitious edit of The Empire Strikes Back before moving on to Return of The Jedi and finally going back and releasing an 720p version of A New Hope Revisited (HD ANH only became available 80% of the way into his edit). He then hopes to tackle The Phantom Menace and make some serious cuts (*ahem* midichlorians). Tampering with the movies in this degree (or at all) may not sit well with some, especially those at the Lucas Ranch but everything I’ve seen so far rocks. Just seeing Chewy finally get that medal will make it all worthwhile.

Read a Q&A with Adywan here and keep up to date with Adywan’s ongoing work on the Star Wars Revisited project here.

As for how to get hold of Star Wars: Revisited, I suggest you Google it 😉