War of the Stars: A New Hope Grindhoused

ORIGINAL REVIEW DATE: JANUARY 21, 2010

Imagine if you will, two talented editors.

The first, Adywan, takes the Star Wars Special Edition and actually makes it special. With the input and support of many others, he fixes color issues, cuts out misplaced humor, re-edits scenes, adds FX, and gives Star Wars fans a new experience to treasure for a lifetime.

The second, The Man Behind The Mask, is approached by film producer I.M. boon with a difficult task – to improve the original Star Wars. On a shoestring budget and with an insane deadline, TMBTM must fix Star Wars so it can be re-released for mass consumption on boon’s extremely profitable website FE.org. boon requests that TMBTM use an old faded and scratched print of the original movie, as he claims he cannot afford to acquire the 2004 DVD. TMBTM is asked to add better music, add blood, fix Vader and R2, and put scenes back into the film that should never have been removed.

Working alone, TMBTM does his best, and boon declares on his website that it is the best version of Star Wars that ever was or will be. He even goes so far as to claim that after seeing his version, no one will ever watch Adywan’s version again.

Imagine boon’s shock and horror when he learns that people love the film, but for all the wrong reasons. They chuckle at the blood. They laugh at Vader and R2. They giggle at the music. They ridicule the film quality. They shake their heads at the usage of a fan film and an interactive VHS game. The film is an unmitigated failure, boon is ruined, and TMBTM goes back to working on horror films.

In truth, TMBTM is a brilliant faneditor. This movie worked for me on so many levels, I can see watching this many times in the future. I especially loved the music choices and the new Vader, as well as the twists at the end. I find myself thinking of this as an Intentional Unintentional Comedy. My only disappointment is that the ending implies we won’t ever get to see The Striking Back of the Empire…but I say it has to be done. I’m sure a solution could be found – death doesn’t mean anything in a soap opera. Let’s see it, TMBTM!

Thanks for this. 10/10

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.

July 9, 2010 @ 12:35 am

For me this was a masterpiece of fanediting. This edit stands alone in the vast warehouse of Star Wars fanedits. It is entirely original, consistently surprising, and 100% rewarding.

Technical Evaluation
Audio Quality
The sound worked well. The levels were consistent and I was never forced to turn it up or down. The new musical sources blended well with original audio elements and I felt that all of the musical choices were fantastic.
10 out of 10

Video Quality
The beauty of this edit is in the thrashing of the quality. this is one of the driving forces behind the feel of the edit which also allowed TMBTM to incorporate many elements that otherwise would never work in a ‘traditional’ edit. Looking beyond the grain and scratch filters (and original source quality) there is no obvious pixelation, no un-intended quality drop-offs. The integration of the lost/deleted footage is particularly impressive given the quality of the original source.Top notch.
10 out of 10

Visual Edits
As a person who has the ANH permanently etched in memory, every new shot, every new angle popped, and the manner in which this was all combined is truly impressive, mixing and matching so many sources so that it feels intentional and by design. There were perhaps 2 cuts that felt hard where the transition from totally original sequences (Cantina for instance) back to the more traditional footage. The transition was so abrupt it was like waking from a really wonderful dream. These were far and few between.
9 out of 10

Overall Entertainment
For me, the best term to describe this edit is; Relentlessly original. This fanedit injected a sense of joy into a movie that I have seen easily over a hundred times, there was a sense of newness that I never expected to feel in a Star Wars film again.
At the conclusion of every sequence I found myself thinking “Well, that was a good run, but really, from here on out there is NOTHING else that can be done to make this feel as new or fresh as what I just saw” And each time I was wrong. The Man Behind The Mask delivers originality throughout the entire film.
10 out of 10. The shining moments for me had to be the Cantina sequence (simply amazing and original) and the Death Star Trench run. I did not see that bit coming, and I just about spit soda out my nose when it happened.

This edit may not be for everyone, but for me this was as perfect as an edit can get; Well executed, 100% original, and 100% entertaining. Thanks TMBTM!!
Overall Score: 10 out of 10

Review Date: August 23, 2011

THE WAR OF THE STARS by THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK

It seems there’s not much to say about this edit that hasn’t already been said, but I’ll review it anyway as I feel something this good must be. This edit is simply INCREDIBLE. There is so much awesome in this edit that I don’t even know where to begin, but rest assured, TMBTM has done exactly what he set out to do, and its great. I won’t go through everything, for everyone else seems to have already done this, so I’ll stick to my personal reactions.

There were quite a few laugh out load moments, many during the Death Star battle, but for me the best was the shot of Luke’s landspeeder that accidentally reveals why it needs no wheels. I think the single sequence that best adheres to the Grindhouse idea is the Cantina scene which is simply AWESOME. Actually, almost everything in this edit was awesome.

Somethings, though, were awesome in the wrong way, in the fact that they were actually awesome. I’m really just referring to any time John Williams music was used. I think it would have been better if the whole movie was completely devoid of Williams because, well, were talking about the greatest film score of all time, something that doesn’t belong in a Grindhouse movie. Also, the picture quality was noticeably not as terrible whenever footage was used that wasn’t actually from the movie (though the inclusion of Troops was great). In addition (though not really a bad thing) the music used in the celebration regurgitated memories that should never be regurgitated, though honestly, good call putting it in.

Overall, this edit is highly recommended to Star Wars fans. I feel this is THE reason why fan edits exist. This thing is honestly just completely awesome. I think I’ll be watching this again in the very near future, and I feel I’ll continue watching it in the times to come despite its minor flaws. Because of that, I give THE WAR OF THE STARS 9/10.