Pulp Empire

I loved this edit. Picture quality was gorgeous and the edit had some very creative effects. Empire Strikes Back has always been a huge favorite of mine, and I don't feel it crapped on it in any way. It was just a different spin & a very fun watch. I'm NOT a Tarantino fan per se, but had no problem seeing all of the obvious similarities, and thought they were very well done. Most fun I've had since watching a fanedit since Jaws: The Sharksploitation Edit. Great stuff.

I'm a big fan of njvc's Where The Wild Things Are, as well as a fan of TESB, so expectations were high for this. And truthfully for the first ten minutes or so I had concerns. I wasn't sure about putting the Dagobah scene first, and although I enjoyed Kill Bill-style Yoda, hearing Frank Oz's grunts and sighs were disconcerting and made me concerned that the whole edit might be a great concept but done a little half assed. And then the first few minutes of Hoth were "relatively" unchanged and felt not as Tarantino-y as I was hoping, which reinforced my concern.

But from the moment Vader is introduced Pulp Empire kicks into high gear. The Hoth battle is totally and utterly awesome. The split screens, slo-mo, music, pacing. It works like gangbusters. And really from that moment on this edit worked for me with hardly any complaints.

Initially the Bowie montage was a bit WTF! But in hindsight it was just what was needed: the music was starting to get a little samey and a totally different style of track couldn't have been timed better.

Then the real WTF moment: the cave scene. I was just thinking at the start of that scene how amazing TMBTM's version was in War of the Stars Part 2, and how the one thing missing from Pulp Empire, by comparison, was something new and truly unique. The cave scene certainly ticks those two boxes. Honestly, I don't really 'get it', I assume that was Anakin (I don't watch the show), but it was a cool fusion of music and image and fit the tone.

I've been working on a rescored TPM for a couple of years now so I appreciate the enormous headache and heartache involved from an audio perspective in a project like this. I was expecting lots of bleed but apart from two or three scenes (and one moment in the otherwise spell-blinding climax) njvc does an exceptional job of hiding the old music.

The Joni Mitchell Bespin flyby is wonderful - and of course Lando fits perfectly at home in a Tarantino Star Wars movie.

While using the blu-ray as source fortunately Morrison's Fett voice was not used (which is my least favourite of the many terrible changes Lucas has made) - and for that I am enormously grateful.

The last few minutes are really special. The black and white is a great choice, the montage including young Anakin and Padme is unexpected and superb. I had started to get concerned towards the end that all the musical choices would be too light and would stop the edit going to more epic, emotional places. Fortunately I was completely wrong, and the last two songs are perfect. Old Man in particular is IMO the highlight of the whole edit - it works stylistically and emotionally, and I'm delighted njvc didn't just do "TESB with Tarantino flair", but created something original. The ending is greatness.

No doubt everyone will download this. But for the two people at the back unsure if they should: do! You won't regret it.

njvc's Edits are always top quality. I've been meaning to watch this one for a while and I had kind of taken a break from the fanedits forum for a while, but was checking out vimeo and njvc is one of the people I follow on there.

It was a really great way to see one of my favorite starwars films. The already dark tone of Empire makes this a perfect choice for a Tarantino style edit. It really was like getting to watch this film for the first time again.

I will have to agree with PatientWho about using Gordon Liu for yoda's voice. I understand it was part of the Tarantino-ization of the film. This is a fan film, and that was fan service, so I think it is totally acceptable choice. But for it it was a bit jarring as I knew what was being said was not what was subtitled.

Overall, fantastic! I was riveted to the story and pacing! Even though I know the story by heart, I constantly eager to see what would happen next! Bravo!

I don't think I've enjoyed any other Fan Edit as much as this one.

What's so intriguing about this Fan Edit is that you can show it to someone who hasn't seen a Star Wars film and/or doesn't even like sci-fi, and they'll dig this, b/c it's just so much damned fun.

Usually when fan editors go to this extreme in a re-edit of a film, I find the 3-act structure and narrative gets completely lost. Not so this time.

The music cues were top notch -- both in choice and edits -- the montage intro's of the characters were clever and funny and the pulp-like changes (i.e., Yoda speaking) were inspired.

My only criticism is that, with scenes from the first Star Wars and even Jedi utilized in some moments of the film, I had expected an actual ending to the story, as opposed to the "To Be Continued" that the original Empire ends on. That is to say, when you (the editor) show clips of the Sarlacc Pit and seem to foreshadow Han's rescue and other future moments in a variety of montages throughout the movie, that indicates to a viewer who knows the movies that that story is being rolled into this one. As such, when it just sort of ends on a "what next?," it is a little dissatisfying.

But, ultimately, I couldn't possibly recommend this Fan Edit more. Great stuff.

This is a passionate tribute to both Tarantino and Star Wars. It manages to enteratain and without loosing the simple but fascinating narrative of the original film. If you love Star Wars and Tarantino you will love this