War of the Stars: A New Hope Grindhoused

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War of the Stars: A New Hope Grindhoused
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1977
Original Running Time:
124 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
97 minutes
Time Cut:
43 minutes
Time Added:
16 minutes
Synopsis:
This is a “grindhouse” version of George Lucas’s Star Wars (Episode 4 'A New Hope'). Some of the deleted scenes, alternate takes and behind the scene footage are now back in the movie. New music. New special effects. Key scenes have been reorganized.
Intention:
To complete a “grindhouse double feature” I needed a second movie. (The first is JAWS: The Sharksploitation Edit, now The War Of The Stars: A New Hope Grindhoused.) When you talk about “grindhouse double feature” Planet Terror/Death Proof comes to mind, and what people usualy says?… “Damn, Planet Terror was fun, but Death Proof was a bore!”

Personally I like Death Proof a lot but I can understand why people felt it was boring. I hope this edit will not bore you too much! I took as an advice a comment on my JAWS edit who said it was “too long for mockery” so I made the overall length quite short this time.

I want to thanks Puggo for letting me use his 16mm preservation work, known as The Puggo Grande. I just zoomed and cropped it for it to have a more “Star Warsish” aspect ratio. (So the picture quality of the Puggo Grande is better, I wanted to point out that fact.) Only I think that quality loss helped me a lot to blend some documentary footage back in the movie.

And THAT is one of the main purpose of this edit: to bring back a lot of deleted scenes and various footage. Does it make it a better movie? Hell no. This is a cheap version of Star Wars. Hopefully fun for the fans to watch.
Other Sources:
- Main source is the 16mm print restoration of the 1977 cut (this original cut is available in the 2006 DVD release of this movie).
- A countless of other sources (alternate shots, deleted scenes, behind the scene footages, fan films..), mainly available in the Bluray release of the original trilogy.
- New music: Isao Tomita (Mars the Bringer of War and Aranjuez), Judas Priest (Peace), Neil Young (Twilight, live), Lalo Shiffrin (Free Ide and Days Of Wine And Roses), SPOCK (The Force Of Life), Carrie Fisher (Happy Life Day), The Great Luke Ski (Star Wars Homesick Blues)
Special Thanks:
To everyone at originaltrilogy.com and to Doubleofive who came with the idea of R2D2′s subtitles.
Release Information:
  • DVD
  • Digital
Special Features:
- "Before After" little video about the new special effects and "grindhouse" effects.
- 2 Little Star Wars related music videos made by The Man Behind The Mask.
Editing Details:
Too much to list. See the overall description, but be prepared for major twists and changes.
WarOfTheStars_ThrowgnCpr_3D2
WarOfTheStars_ThrowgnCpr_disc
WarOfTheStars_ThrowgnCpr_cover
TWOTS_cover_v3
The War of the Stars - A New Hope Grindhoused FULL FANEDIT
Original Movie/Show Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1977
Original Running Time:
124 minutes
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
97 minutes
Time Cut:
43 minutes
Time Added:
16 minutes
Synopsis:
This is a “grindhouse” version of George Lucas’s Star Wars (Episode 4 'A New Hope'). Some of the deleted scenes, alternate takes and behind the scene footage are now back in the movie. New music. New special effects. Key scenes have been reorganized.
Intention:
To complete a “grindhouse double feature” I needed a second movie. (The first is JAWS: The Sharksploitation Edit, now The War Of The Stars: A New Hope Grindhoused.) When you talk about “grindhouse double feature” Planet Terror/Death Proof comes to mind, and what people usualy says?… “Damn, Planet Terror was fun, but Death Proof was a bore!”

Personally I like Death Proof a lot but I can understand why people felt it was boring. I hope this edit will not bore you too much! I took as an advice a comment on my JAWS edit who said it was “too long for mockery” so I made the overall length quite short this time.

I want to thanks Puggo for letting me use his 16mm preservation work, known as The Puggo Grande. I just zoomed and cropped it for it to have a more “Star Warsish” aspect ratio. (So the picture quality of the Puggo Grande is better, I wanted to point out that fact.) Only I think that quality loss helped me a lot to blend some documentary footage back in the movie.

And THAT is one of the main purpose of this edit: to bring back a lot of deleted scenes and various footage. Does it make it a better movie? Hell no. This is a cheap version of Star Wars. Hopefully fun for the fans to watch.
Other Sources:
- Main source is the 16mm print restoration of the 1977 cut (this original cut is available in the 2006 DVD release of this movie).
- A countless of other sources (alternate shots, deleted scenes, behind the scene footages, fan films..), mainly available in the Bluray release of the original trilogy.
- New music: Isao Tomita (Mars the Bringer of War and Aranjuez), Judas Priest (Peace), Neil Young (Twilight, live), Lalo Shiffrin (Free Ide and Days Of Wine And Roses), SPOCK (The Force Of Life), Carrie Fisher (Happy Life Day), The Great Luke Ski (Star Wars Homesick Blues)
Special Thanks:
To everyone at originaltrilogy.com and to Doubleofive who came with the idea of R2D2′s subtitles.
Release Information:
  • DVD
  • Digital
Special Features:
- "Before After" little video about the new special effects and "grindhouse" effects.
- 2 Little Star Wars related music videos made by The Man Behind The Mask.
Editing Details:
Too much to list. See the overall description, but be prepared for major twists and changes.
Cover art by The Man Behind The Mask (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

Cover art by ThrowgnCpr (DOWNLOAD HERE)
image

Trusted Reviewer reviews

14 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.5
 
9.4(8)
 
9.4(14)
View all Trusted Reviewer reviews View most helpful
(Updated: May 12, 2021)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
This fanedit is unlike anything I've seen yet. It remixes A New Hope into a Grindhouse film which plays out differently, and has a very different feel to it. There are a bunch of different scenes used and modifications made. I laughed out loud quite a few times. I recommend watching this without reading anything about it as you'll be surprised by some of the changes made.

My one critique is that, even though a lot was cut, this could've been packed even more tightly so as to resemble A New Hope even less, especially the final sequence with the attack on the Death Star. After the first 30-40 minutes, it began to feel like more like A New Hope again. However, this is only a minor criticism. The work on display here is truly imaginative and is a great example of what fanediting represents. The mind of TMBTM is something to behold.
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(Updated: November 10, 2017)
Overall rating
 
8.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Enjoyment - I think my biggest problem with this edit is that it feels like a job half done. It has the potential to be great, but it stops just short of that. The opening presents us with something that implies we are in for a real treat, something that is radically different to the original movie: we have a very retro opening crawl, deleted scenes of Luke with his friends, witty subtitles for R2-D2 and excessive gore as rebels and storm troopers get shot (which I loved!). Unfortunately, as the film goes on, R2-D2 subtitles become less frequent, the changes become less inspired and the blood/gore we were previously exposed to is pretty much non-existent (bar the odd effect here and there). Things do pick up again in the last act though, and TMBTM introduces a fun and unexpected twist which I won't spoil for those who haven't watched it. But in essence, it basically felt like I was watching a slightly trimmed version of A New Hope, book-ended with a genius opening and climax. Love the beginning, love the ending, but the middle felt a bit dry.

Audio/video quality - Ironically, I'm marking this down one point because of a scene that looked good - and by that I mean bad. This is a grindhouse edit, and so the entire film is meant to be laden with poor audio/visual quality and awkward cuts. However, despite most of the film being consistently grainy and crackly, the reunion between Biggs and Luke at the Rebel base looks completely fine. Well, not good as such, but certainly not grindhouse. It's the only scene in the entire edit that isn't covered in film grain and it just stands out in a really weird way.

Visual editing – one point off for the above reason.

Audio editing – generally excellent, except for the noticeable changes in Darth Vader's voice. I didn't think that all of the altered dialogue really worked, but I imagine this is a hard thing to make fit.

Narrative - was fine. Nothing confusing. The twist possibly could have been executed a bit better, but this is a minor qualm. At the end of the day, the only people watching this will be people who know Star Wars. The aim was to create an alternative experience, and for the most part that is what this is.

Overall, a fun edit and well worth a watch despite its flaws. The highlights for me were the subtitles on R2-D2 and the excessive gore, so it was a shame these were inconsistent. The Neil Young Cantina scene was genius. The "address me as Lord Vader" moment followed by Tarkin doing doing so was brilliant. I also cracked up after Obi-Wan dropped the f-bomb when talking about Mos-Eisley.

Anyway, good work, TMBTM. I'd love for you to consider revisiting this and turning things up to 11, but in the meantime I look forward to watching The War of The Stars II.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Nifty reworking of a classic viewed numerous. Edit incorporates plenty of ugly, deleted footage, making the experience greasier and dirtier. No disrespect intended. This is a snickering subversive retelling that takes its sweet time before slithering into broken territory.

Video - Decent 720p, MPEG 2. Outtakes were all crappy, with poor resolutions and bleached out colours. Editor TMBTM matched the look across the edit, so there was no jarring feature - bonus - feature - bonus recognition. The editor is too professional for his own nature, however, and transitions and edits were smooth and thought out.

Audio - 2 Channel, 448 Kb. Dialogue easy to understand. No subs - and yet - R2D2 is subbed throughout, and it proves to be one smart ass astrodroid. I also wondered about reinserted footage of storm troops on Tatooine. If redubbed, clever dialogue of poorly motivated workforce. The old saw about good help being hard to find applies.

Narrative - An altogether deceptive story that feints like an extended version, but midway begins to weave into a different direction. Having viewed the sequel first - lame, watching out of sequence - I can reassure uncertain readers that the modifications progress logically and bloom in the second installment.

Enjoyment - A lot of this is funny as hell. Storm troopers, who cannot shoot for shit in the original trilogy (Jango must have been rolling in his grave over nth generation clones) in this edit blast resistance left and right. Jawa haters, check this out. As noted, R2D2 is sees all, chatters away, but no one pays attention to him. Probably because he talks too much. A generous assortment of bonus goodies here, and you can’t beat Frances Gall (thank you for not going with the obvious ”Chick Habit”).

I suspect there may be purists who hate anyone tinkering with this installment, scratching at canon. Forget ‘em. This is a gaspipe kick. Go for it.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: October 21, 2013)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Many edits attempt to make a movie better. Reinstating deleted scenes, cutting stuff that didn't quite work, completely obliterating the existence of Jar Jar - good stuff. But this is something truly special. It actively tries to make a great movie worse - and does so in the best possible way. I was amazed as to how well A New Hope works as an exploitation flick. The use of an actual 16mm print of the movie works wonders for the visually aged aspect of the film. The other sources are also convincingly damaged. Visual quality in the presentation of that decay is perfect. The special effects are amusingly cheezy and in no way distract from the viewing experience. There is one brief instance where effects are visible on the letterboxing, which can be distracting - but I suspect that most won't notice. If I'm not mistaken, this has been cropped out and corrected in the AVI version, regardless. The new music is completely appropriate and blends in seamlessly. Hearing disco alongside John Williams is a unique experience, to say the least. But the real brilliance of this edit is how the characters were changed. Grindhouse is more than low budget. Grindhouse is sleaze. It's cheap monetarily - and - ethically. All the iconic characters are now worse people than they were in Lucas's vision. Darth Vader is completely insane (and even cooler thanks to a clever editing tactic). Luke is an idiotic weak-willed farm boy with no great destiny. Leia is a psychotic animal murderer. Obi-Wan is every bit the senile fool that he only pretended to be in the real movie. Artoo's a foul mouthed wise-cracking sidekick. And Han? Han shoots first. Every. Single. Time.

I can't recommend this edit enough. It's a masterpiece,.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
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(Updated: August 31, 2012)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
N/A
Audio Editing
 
N/A
Visual Editing
 
N/A
Narrative
 
N/A
Enjoyment
 
9.0
April 30, 2012 @ 5:33 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*
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69 reviews
 
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23%
 
3%
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0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.4(26)
Audio Editing
 
9.3(27)
Visual Editing
 
9.7(27)
Narrative
 
9.3(27)
Enjoyment
 
9.2(69)
View all user reviews View most helpful
Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Unlike most fanedits with the intention of making a film better, War of the Stars provides a unique perspective on an old favorite by providing an alternate take. Leaning heavily on the late 70's aesthetic of exploitation films, War of the Stars changes A New Hope into a whole new film. Lots of surprises awaits, it's a messier, weirder picture, leaning into deleted scenes as alternate takes to the originals, the deleted scenes go al long way to make this film feel different. Yet there's a lot more gags, like James Earl Jones' lines, changing tone via inspired music choices (the chase in the death star is entirely hilarious), and added effects. Not only that, there's narrative choices. Not every scene will feel new, but most will. It suffers when it's mostly a new aesthetic on a scene that's familiar, thankfully they're few and far between before the next gag.

This is ultimately a wonderful embodiment of why people watch fanedits, to experience a familiar film in a whole new way.

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Technically hard to rate due to the nature of the film, but still top marks. Enjoyed the translation / interaction between the droids .
The sound effects etc. Makes you fall in love with Grind house, all over again.

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
This cut made me remember to check the vaporators for the umpteenth time lol. When Vader uses the force something like that should have been in the original. Or shake the crap out of them lol.

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
(Updated: May 08, 2022)
Overall rating
 
8.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
I got to hear Obi-Wan Kenobi call Mos Eisley a f---ing s---hole! I recommend this edit!

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Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 2 1
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
I've recently heavily got back into Grindhouse movies and this had to be one of my go-to's.

For some reason, this version gave me more nostalgia than the despecialized edition, probably due to my first time seeing Star Wars being on an old VHS and I watched it so many times the tape broke.

A lot of people would miss the amount of skill and talent it takes to produce such an amazing addition to a beloved franchise but I was in editors Heaven watching this. I love it so much that it's now in the rotation when I binge-watch SW for International Star Wars Day.

Absolutely brilliant. Thank you for producing an edit I didn't know I needed. :)

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Yes
Format Watched
Digital
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