Comments on: Return of the Jedi – The Spence Edit

By: thefaneditcritic

thefaneditcritic — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:13:02 +0000

SHORT REVIEW>>>
While it does have a lot of good intentions, RETURN OF THE JEDI- THE SPENCE EDIT fails to be a more satisfying experience than its original version, nearly sucking the life of an already entertaining picture.

** out of *****

By: joebshmoe

joebshmoe — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:25:18 +0000

(in reference to the 1.0 cut)

this was entertaining, but did not feel like an improvement. the pacing suffers from the editing choices. a great idea that may or may not be improved? 3/5

By: gaith1

gaith1 — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:47:19 +0000

The edit:
I’ve no doubt that this is a better cut than the theatrical. We’re off of Tatooine in 35 minutes, which improves the flow greatly. I didn’t really notice where the Ewok stuff had been toned down, but it worked.
Still – just my personal opinion – Jedi needs even more editing. Han has lots of corny lines, especially in the first half, which it would be well to cut. Vader says “give yourself to the Dark Side” way too often; a mere twenty-six times would suffice. And there’s lots of bits and pieces here and there – Yoda doesn’t have to say that Luke’s training is complete, for instance, and how could it be?
On the technical side, there were some jarring cuts, maybe six or so. Many were seamless, and the rest aren’t too bad, but they’re visible.
editing: 3 of 5,
entertainment: 3 of 5

Image quality:
Looked dvd-quality to me.
video quality: 5 of 5

Audio quality:
Again, there were some jarring audio/visual cuts. And the new ending, while cute for sure, sounds a bit rough. I know that SW dvds are tricky like that, but I must report the facts, especially in the OT’s final scene.
audio: 3.5 of 5

Overall (not an average):
I’m still waiting for a definitive Jedi, one that will, I hope, feature a new intro crawl and begin as the sail barge makes its journey, bringing the Tatooine sequence to an absolute minimum, and that will trim the general flab further. And I think that FEers should do a commentary whenever possible.
Still, this is a definite improvement over the theatrical. A hearty cheer to Spence for blazing a path to a better Ep. 6!
3.5

By: Juk

Juk — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:50:57 +0000

Though the video and audio is a bit lacking I quite liked the idea of the edit. Maybe removing all of the ewok scenes wasn’t the best idea as the story does make too many jumps and ruins the continuity, but all in all it’s a good concept. It’s not a 5 due to the technical issues, but the concept makes it better than a 3 so I gave it a 4 star. Definitely has potential!

By: cockringwraith

cockringwraith — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:50:06 +0000

With all respect to the editor, this was a terrible edit. Just didn’t work.

By: LeoneNut

LeoneNut — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:50:03 +0000

Despite the criticisms of previous posters, I actually quite enjoyed this edit. Apart from some jarring music changes between cuts, I think he accomplished the almost impossible. Maybe someone could smooth over the cracks, and digitally alter the Luke and Leia scene so they are on the ground instead, but the story still seems to work without the ewoks. It makes the Imperials seem inadequate as a ground force on Endor, even though the Emperor mentions the trap for the rebels.
If I were to edit this myself, I would leave some Ewok action in place, and make them less cutesy and fun.
4/5

By: Zarius

Zarius — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 03:33:59 +0000

I can’t believe this…CRAP won Fanedit of the Month. Spence has much worthier, and more original work than this lying around here that deserves the accolade, but everything Lou says is true regarding this edit. Editing out The Ewoks is a virtually petty task because they form a vital aspect of the film’s primary narrative. Nothing makes sense without them in regards to the Endor battle for the Sheild.

I would have loved to have seen some miracle, a way of using the Wookie homeworld in ROTS, which Lucas originally intended for ROTJ years ago, to fit into this movie, but without careful editing, that remains an impossibility.

I can understand Spence’s intentions…but god I cannot apologise enough this waste of space was made Fanedit of the Month. Utter case of clear favouratism for an established veteran instead of a rookie who respects all aspects of the source material.

By: LouVanHille

LouVanHille — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 05:27:12 +0000

The idea was good… Making JEDI a better film… Some people have done it before with the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and some of the edit versions were really well-made…
Unfortunately, that’s NOT the case of this JEDI SPENCE EDIT… The “editor” wanted to take ALL the Ewoks away from the movie… He did so and cut all the scenes including the Ewoks (well, in fact, he missed one Ewok in the background when Luke and Leia talk together in the Ewok Village…). He cut and cut and cut… And in the end, there’s a huge lack of continuity. After the speeder bike chase, Luke and Leia are together again miraculously up in the trees talking about Luke’s connection to Darth Vader. Some time later, Han, Leia, Chewie are right in the middle of a fight next to the bunker. How did they get there ? What happened ? That’s left to your imagination… As for the cuts themselves, they are NOT correctly made. The music stops abruptly, there’s a black screen, no transition screens as there were for the Prequel Edit versions… As for the final scenes, the editor changed the music too to evoid the Ewok song or the south american-like music and the result is awful. Not balanced, you can hear the cuts here and there. The projet was ambitious but is unfortunately not a success. The “editor” wanted to make a better film of Jedi. He failed. It’s worse.