War of the Stars II: The Future in Motion

Overview - Fuse the strongest of the original trilogy with the weakest, redraw Luke’s character so he now carries Anakin’s bad seed, alter Vader’s character, juice the mojo for Fett, those are just elements of an exceptional edit.

Video - Quality choices top to bottom. Now, I KNEW when an alteration was made, but my reaction was always Ooh or Whoa. War Of The Stars is an genuine alternative, not a nip n tuck edit, the flow twists in unexpected directions. The editing was seamless, which I appreciated more during repeat viewings.

Audio - Great sound. Loved the musical alterations (Planets repeated perhaps once too often). Aside from that, again there are countless modifications and the audio editing is demonstration time.

Narrative - The first two thirds of War Of The Stars is inspired. Changes in story structure, character behaviour, Luke’s peccadillo, Darth’s red-eyed fury. Fun times. Jedi is what it is, though TMBTM minimized the Ewoks, brutally truncated all threads (in the best way), slammed the action. Jedi roared past and I did not cringe once. That is a feat.

Enjoyment - A terrific version. Truly. Must see for Sith faithful. Have rewatched a couple of times, this will be going to Star Wars buddies who think they have “seen it all.”

Original review: May 8, 2012

Brilliant. Bursting with creativity and imagination, not to mention technical wizardry. I loved watching empire and jedi with the deleted scenes reintegrated, that actually would have been enough. But in addition to that, we get a whole new story, achieved by…well I have no idea how to be honest. But it was completely entertaining. Congratulations TMBTM, this is one to be shared and savoured.

This has got to be one of the most impressive fanedits out there, even more so than the first edit. TMBTM has crafted a completely new narrative from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi using some very impressive special effects. A lot of imagination and unique ideas - truly spectacular work, This was a lot of fun, as I honestly no idea what direction things were going, which is a unique achievement among fanedits. I highly recommend watching this if you haven't already.

May 7, 2012 @ 11:22 pm

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

I write this review with mixed emotions. The original War of the Stars remains one of my favorite fanedits ever, and so I was beyond excited for the sequel. However, as much as it pains me to do so, I have to consider this a slight disappointment.

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty to love in this edit. The reworked narrative is amazing, especially the new journey that Luke goes on. I also enjoyed Boba Fett's new fate. There were some great new special effects, and it was a treat to see the new deleted scenes inserted into the movie.

But I couldn't help but feel that some of the fun was missing this time around. It just wasn't as wacky or silly, and while I know that was TMBTM's intent, I still felt let down a little. I also felt the deleted scenes weren't as well integrated visually this time, due to the improved source used for the main movies. Finally, there were a few wonky effects shots that stood out (such as the new Wampa head while Luke was being chased).

This was a really difficult edit to rate for me. I'm sure if I had seen this before the first War of the Stars, I would have rated it higher. As it is, I gave it an 8/10, because it's still a worthy watch and a great achievement.

(Note: I did not rate A/V quality as I only watched this on my phone.)