Synopsis:
This is a sequel to THE WAR OF THE STARS: A NEW HOPE GRINDHOUSED, released in 2010. The goal is now to mix “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” while taking care of the changes made for the first edit. A lot of deleted scenes are also back in this edit. Some hopefully intertaining twists and more than 90 new special effects turn this project into something that I think is special even if maybe not as “fun” as the first edit. Or fun in another kind of way. (This is not a “grindhoused” version, although some of the deleted scenes are looking old and the main sources used are from the Original Theatrical Cuts released in poor quality in 2006 as a “bonus” to the special edition DVD).
Intentions:
With the incredible praise following the release of the first edit (thank you all!), a lot of people asked for a sequel. But I already made my “silent Star Wars” before and I thought that it was enough Star Wars for meand so I made various edits of other movies for a while, and I’m glad I did that. But the question was brought back each time I finished a new edit: “Will your next one will be Empire Strikes Back grindhoused?" At one point I thought about making a “VHS style” version of ESB but I did not have many ideas back then. Then, the Bluray box set of Star Wars was released with a lot of deleted scenes and I thought that an edit mixing ESB and ROTJ along with those deleted scenes would be great. But I also wanted to keep a “Star Warsy” length. Meaning not much more than 2hrs 20mins max. So a lot had to be cut. It was an interesting challenge and I also thought the “grindhouse aspect" had to go. But to really make a sequel to my edit, a lot more work was needed. The fanedit where I used special effects the most was ALIEN-ATE, my version of Alien 4; 18 effects, and it was tiresome to do. “The Future in Motion” has more than 90 special effects… I started with a few in mind, then the number could not stop to grow and grow! Now, I’m proud on most of them, they are not all 100% amazing but for an edit that is not supposed to be “better” but more an “alternate take”, I think they are good.
Change List:
There are too many cuts to make a real cutlist. But I would say that most of the edit is from “Empire Strikes back” and the last 30 minutes or so are from “Return of the Jedi”. But there are scenes from ROTJ reorganized to appear during the events of ESB. The 24 minutes added time is counting: The deleted scenes of ESB and ROTJ (about 10 of them. Some very short.) Some Star Wars prequels scenes Some scenes from A New Hope Some short shots used from other movies, and most of the time changed with new special effects or heavily color corrected. Shots from two fan films: IMPS the relentless Chapter 2, and Boba Fett Chronicles The Hunt for Varrada.
Additional Notes:
Main original source used: the Theatrical cuts of ESB and ROTJ from the official 2006 bonus DVD releases. The version I use in my edit are from a “restored” version made by Dark Jedi (he made several versions, this is his version3). So don’t look for a perfect quality since the 2006 theatrical release was in 4:3 letterboxed. Dark Jedi made wonders, but it’s obviously not as clean as the special edition DVDs and a lot more grainy. I used those versions because I feel the original colors of the theatrical cuts are truer to what I remember when watching Star Wars for the first time and I somehow wanted to have a little nostalgia feeling for this edit.
Other Sources:
The new music used are mainly from Gustav Holst’s The Planets, Ulysse 31 (revisited by Parallax), and also I used a theme from War Horse, by John Williams. Few shots (special effect changed) from koyaanisqatsi and Avatar.
Special Thanks:
Special thanks to: L8wrtr, Angel and Neglify for previewing my workprint (Angel also provided solid bases for two of the new special effects); thanks to Serling1979 for the making of the German subtitles; and to everyone’s support at fanedit.org and originaltrilogy.com