War of the Stars: A New Hope Grindhoused

January 9, 2010 @ 9:15 am

Backbackbackbackbackback……. GONE!

TMBTM hits ANOTHER one out of the park! Easily 10/10 and I don’t hand those out lightly. In fact, this is only fanedit that “goes to 11″. It’s one higher than the rest.

I didn’t think it was possible to top Jaws: Sharksploitation, but here it is. In my review of Jaws: Sharksploitaiton, I compared watching it to Eric Clapton’s reaction to seeing Jimi Hendrix play for the first time. After watching The War of the Stars, I’m just speechless. Fanediting is TMBTM’s world. The rest of us just live here.

Dammit man, this is why fanediting exists. For every hack and slash editor out there (myself included), THIS is how it’s done. Take notes, kids. TMBTM is simply on another level.

Pretty much every frame of The War of the Stars is brilliant.

The shot of the twin suns of Tatooine had me howling.

Genius doesn’t begin to describe the cantina scene. I’m a huge fan of the musician featured (no spoilers) and I loved it.

The sound effect when the Strom Trooper hits his head – perfect.

The integration of the deleted and documentary scenes was done brilliantly.

The music, the James Earl Jones lines, R2′s subtitles, the blood, the Obi-Wan/Vader fight scene, the ending….. I could go on. All genius.

I only had a few gripes:
1. The grindhouse effects extend into the black bars in the opening shot. A simple error that should’ve been corrected.
3. The new music added to the Battle of Yavin (right before the first failed shot) felt horribly out of place
2. I can’t see any reason to continue fanediting after watching this.

This is the antithesis to Star Wars: Revisited. If Adywan is the geeky straight-A student who stays home on Saturday night to play with his chemistry set, TMBTM is his cool twin brother who scores the winning touchdown and gets all the girls.

We may only be a week in to the new year, but the 2010 Fanedit of the Year competition is over. Thanks for playing everyone.

Why are you still reading this? Go watch it!

review from March 29 2012

Hard to say much about this edit that hasn’t already been said, but I loved this edit to bits. Bursting with creativity, technical wizadry, respect and love for the original, but allowing us to experience this great film in a whole new way. Personal highlights – Vader’s dialogue replacement, new soundtrack while Luke stares at the two suns (this edit was the inspiration for me to try soundtrack replacement edits of my own), and the brilliant Cantina scene. Neil Young!! Can’t wait for part 2.

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.

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

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.