I’m trying hard to resist opening this post with the clichéd original Star Wars ( Episode IV: A New Hope ) version of once upon a time, but you all know what I mean. Anyway, back then a film was “finished,” then released, shown to audiences and that was that. With cinematic success and the rise of the home video market, certain directors saw fit to tinker with their creations before re-releasing them, adding a subtitle here, tweaking an edit there. Some of these changes make sense, while others certainly didn’t. From there, we move into the realms of the “Director’s Cut” – an auteur returning to his magnum opus and doing it his own way, perhaps after having changes forced upon him by the studio (see Blade Runner ).

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Then we have George Lucas.

When the Special Editions were first announced, the whole world was excited by the idea that we’d get to see our favorite films on the big screen again, and also to bring the experience to a new generation. Indeed the tagline for them was, “See it again, for the first time.” I was even a bit excited about what they’d do with all this newfangled CGI technology. What we weren’t expecting of course was for Mr. Lucas to tinker so much with the story, and in the process completely change one of the main characters. I refer to, of course, the fact that Han didn’t shoot first – he was the only one to shoot because the other guy was dead! There were so many silly decisions made across all three Special Editions and they’re well documented all over the web, so there’s no need to go into them here, but they still did well enough at the box office and paved the way for the prequel trilogy.

With the release of The Phantom Menace in ’99, it would seem that Lucas learned his lesson – namely that Star Wars fans will still pay money to see a film even if it is a bit rubbish – and he never looked back. With each new release, he tinkered more and more with his films, sometimes trying to appease the fans by releasing the originals like they’d asked for (except if they weren’t what we’d asked for), but mostly slowly chipping away at the fond memories we have from our youth. (Nooooooo, what the hell is the ghost of Hayden Christensen doing here?)

The rise of the internet gave us plenty of ways to vent our anger and frustration at all this, but also the means by which to do something about it. Just after Episode I was released into the home market, a fan going by the name of “The Phantom Editor” (later revealed to be Mike J. Nichols) took matters into his own hands, and, grabbing a VHS copy of the film re-edited the movie to concentrate “on creating the storytelling style that Lucas originally made famous.” It certainly wasn’t the first of what became know as “Fanedits,” but it was the first one to gain widespread media attention and brought the concept of Fanediting to the mainstream.

Subtitled The Phantom Edit , the original VHS edit circulated around Hollywood and garnered praise from the likes of Kevin Smith (who at one time was rumored to be The Phantom Editor himself) and even a kind of off-hand approval from Lucasfilm themselves. Nichols cut around 18 minutes from the film, mostly consisting of the juvenile humor of Jar-Jar Binks, the chatter of Battle Droids and young Anakin’s more childish moments. He also trimmed superfluous story elements (for example the detour through “the planet core”), reduced the amount of politics (which no-one really cared about) and removed the introduction of midichlorians (which everyone thought was a stupid idea). Later on, an updated (and further improved) version was released via the internet with a fascinating commentary track where Nichols explains his reasoning and motives, including why Jar-Jar is just not obliterated from the entire film. He is needed in the same way that the Ewoks are need in Jedi, for the big battle at the finale, but what has been masterfully removed are his scene-stealing antics – the dive into the lake, the long-tongue fruit grabbing, etc. – that can often take away the emotional aspect of a scene.

The Phantom Edit opened up the floodgates and Lucasfilm’s “leave them to it” attitude encouraged other faneditors to fire up their computers and get cutting. Currently on the Internet Fanedit Database, Fanedit.org, alone there are a total of 89 different versions of the six Star Wars . Each editor brings their own ideas to the table, and sometimes they see a bit that someone else has done, borrow it, and add a bit more – but always crediting the original source or inspiration. Some of them take the movies in completely different directions, others try to bring them back to the films we all grew up on, still more offer a look behind the scenes of the filming process. Even the celebs are getting in on it with actor Topher Grace’s 85-minute condensed version of all three prequels – but he won’t let anyone but his friends see it!

So what follows is a roundup of our favorite ones; please do let us know of any others that you think are worth a look.





For the purist:

Star Wars – Despecialized Edition HD by Harmy

After all of Lucas’ tinkering, this version is an absolute joy to watch. It is as close as you can get to the original 1977 theatrical release – in the opening crawl there’s not even a mention of it being ‘Episode IV’. The original scenes have been painstakingly restored and color-corrected shot by shot based on a fade-free 1977 I.B. Technicolor Print.

Gone are the CGI additions from the special edition. No dewbacks, no shot from Greedo, no Jabba for Han to walk over, no more battalion of troopers around that corner, and the simple, practical effect, exploding Death Star. The best part about it all is that is all in glorious HD too, as the majority of the source material is from the Blu-ray edition, with additional sections upscaled from the 2006 DVD bonus disc and even from TV broadcasts.

For the completist:

Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope Revisited by Adywan

This one is the best of both worlds and is what the special edition should have been. Adywan keeps all the good sections added in Lucas’ special edition, but removes most of the silly ones. So we get the beautiful shot of the Falcon blasting its way out of Mos Eisley, but no Jabba. All of the crazy CGI beasts around Mos Eisley, but no shot from Greedo. Every shot has once again been color-corrected and all the mattes fixed, but Adywan goes that extra mile and actively fixes errors than Lucasfilm and ILM left in. Did you ever notice that the explosion that cripples the Tantive IV at the beginning actually occurs in a different place from where the laser blast hits it? Not anymore; Adywan re-positioned it and this is just one example (of over 250!) that shows the attention to detail he has given to his version.

He also actually created additional shots and effects himself to improve the movie even further. Establishing shots of the Death Star are enhanced with additional Star Destroyers and ships, and it floats above new planets and moons. The shaky and very basic computer animation of the Death Star plans has been completely replaced with a much more ‘modern’ looking one, which closely resembles the schematics shown in Attack of the Clones . The final battle above the Death Star is peppered with extra TIE Fighters and X-Wings, and bigger explosions! And Chewie even gets a medal at the end!

There is barely a scene that hasn’t had an improvement of some kind, and because of this, the Revisited version is now my version of choice. The only downside to it is that it was made before the Blu-rays were released, so it’s not in HD. Adywan is currently working on a Revisted version of Empire and from the screenshots released so far it looks like it’s going to be just as good, and this time it will be HD. For Empire Revisited , he has enlisted what has become known as the “2nd and 3rd Units” to help him out and they have even built their own models and re-filmed some parts, including new shots of Rebel Troopers to add some more bustle to Echo Base. It’s a slow process (not helped by hard-drive crashes and house moves), but it should be finished sometime this year. When it’s done, work will begin on Jedi and then Adywan plans to return to A New Hope and redo it all again in HD – or maybe even 4K depending on how long it all takes!

For the comedian:

Star Wars – Episode I: The Ridiculous Menace by TV’s Frink

The Phantom Menace was a pretty ridiculous movie if you think about, and faneditor TV’s Frink takes it to a whole other level of silliness. His quest is to turn all six movies into Airplane -style spoofs and he’s off to a good start with The Ridiculous Menace . Loads of dialog is rearranged, cut up and repeated, sometimes turning it into nonsense. Some voices are completely replaced by different characters (TC-14 is now Bender from Futurama and ‘GOB’ Bluth from Arrested Development voices C-3PO) and Obi-wan refers to himself in the third person at all times. Battle Droids talk like ’80s videogames. Subtitles are all over the place – Artoo has them again, and Jar-Jar’s lines are also translated for our entertainment, even Anakin and Sebulba are now friends thanks to the change in their subtitles.

In a great nod to Airplane , the classic “White zone is for immediate loading” announcement plays out and the cruiser first lands on the Trade Federation Battleship, and there are unexpected cameos from Bill Murray, Peter Graves and General Zod! “Darth Darth” entertains himself with a little Rick Astley while his droids search Tatooine. In short, it’s a laugh from beginning to end, even if it is a little too long. At the time of writing you can watch it all on Vimeo: Part 1 and Part 2.





For the adventurous:

War Of The Stars – A New Hope Grindhoused by The Man Behind The Mask

Have you ever wondered what Star Wars would have looked like if it had been made by Quentin Tarantino? If so, then The War of the Stars is the one for you. The main source for this fan edit is a restoration of an old 16mm film version of the movie, known in the fanedit community as The Puggo Grande . The video has been zoomed up and cropped, primarily to allow the incorporation of many alternate takes, behind the scenes footage, original deleted scenes and even a section from one of the first ever fan-made movies, Troops , without too much of a jarring difference, and the whole thing has been given a grainy, flickering effect complete with fake film burns to further blend all the various elements together.

We get to see a different version of the cantina scene (with a very different soundtrack), Luke and Biggs at Tosche Station, and lots of crash zooms and whip pans to give the whole thing a hand-held, low-budget feel. Synth-Disco and Jazz-Funk music replaces a lot of the classic John Williams score, and there’s even a lament for the death of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Blood splatters have been added to the Stormtrooper deaths and Artoo has subtitles. Vader’s dialog has been ‘pimped-up’ by incorporating lines spoken by James Earl Jones in other films and he has spooky red Devil eyes when using the force. My favorite bit has to be an additional (and totally NSFW) line added to further enhance Obi-Wan’s description of the ‘wretched hive of scum and villainy’ that is Mos Eisley spaceport. Overall, it’s a fun ride and great way to experience the film in a totally new way.

For the info-freak:

Star Wars Filmumentary Trilogy by Jamie Benning

We’ve featured all three of Jamie’s Filmumentaries ( Star Wars Begins , Building Empire and Returning To Jedi ) here on GeekDad before, but they deserve to be on this list too. They offer a completely different look at the creation of the original movies and feature tons of deleted scenes, alternate takes and different camera angles, bloopers, original set audio recordings, and an insane amount of commentary from cast and crew, culled from probably every documentary, interview and commentary track ever made about Star Wars.

What’s really interesting about the format is that the filmumentaries are feature-length, and they each follow the flow of the original movies, with the deleted scenes added where they would have been, and interviews placed over the top of the action they’re describing. The overall effect is much more engrossing than a DVD commentary track and the wealth of material contained in there is so vast that I bet even the most die-hard Star Wars fan will find something that they didn’t know before. Jamie has also made one for Raiders Of The Lost Ark and is currently midway through one about Jaws .





For the chronological order fan:

The Fall of the Jedi Trilogy by Q2

Q2 takes a lot of the ideas first seen (or rather not seen) in The Phantom Edit and applies them across the whole prequel trilogy in glorious 1080p goodness. Each film is trimmed down to around 90 minutes, and for that we get less Jar-Jar, less Anakin, less politics, and less superfluous action. No midichlorians, no chosen one, no prophecy. Artoo and Threepio are reduced to being just another pair of droids in the universe. Indeed, anything that might break continuity with the original trilogy – young Anakin being the creator of C3PO, the names of Padme’s twins, Anakin being rebuilt into Vader, etc. – are gone, so nothing is spoiled when you get to IV, V and VI.

Curiously though, some deleted scenes have been added back in. Whenever I’ve watched Attack of the Clones , I always skip most of the scenes set on Naboo, when Padme and Anakin fall in love. It’s just so nauseating to me. But Q2 has decided to add back in a deleted scene of them having dinner with Padme’s family to “enhancing the romance we’re suppose to believe in.” I’m not convinced about that one but it does make a lot of sense to see Senator Amidala discussing a possible rebellion with Bail Organa and Mon Mothma in a restored Revenge of the Sith deleted scene. Overall, Q2 has made the entire prequel trilogy much more watchable and actually enjoyable too – which is no mean feat!

So, there are our favorite Fanedits, what are yours?