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. And what about that poster? He’s also combined Empire and Jedi into one sequel called “The Future in Motion“ and made all six films into 30s style silent movies!
For the info-freak:
Star Wars Filmumentary Trilogy by Jamie Benning
Jamie Benning’s Filmumentaries (Star Wars Begins, Building Empire and Returning To Jedi) 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!
Some others fan edits to look out for
MagnoliaFan edits: Episode 1: The Balance Of The Force, and Episode 2: The Clone War.
Starting with the Phantom Edit, MagnoliaFan rearranged scenes, changed music cues, tightened the pace and changed all of Jar Jar’s spoken dialogue into a new alien language, adding subtitles to turn him into a totally different, and better, character.
L8wrtr’s Prequel trilogy
Another set of edits trying to fix the deeply flawed prequels, L8wrtr concentrates on removing the flawed characters, improving the overall tone and pacing of the film and restructuring the narrative so that Anakin Skywalker is the true hero of the film.
Or if you just want someone else to tell you all the flaws in the prequels then you should check out Red Letter Media‘s full length reviews.
Have you got a favourite fanedit that we’ve not mentioned? Let us know in the comments.
My thanks to Drew (@doubleofive) for his vast knowledge and invaluable help in putting together this post.
Remember! Fanedits are in a very grey area regarding copyright, and we recommend that you follow the Fanedit.org guidelines before watching any the movies listed here. The TL;DR is basically that you must already own copies of the original movies
and that you should never pay money to anyone to own a copy of a fanedit.
