For as long as there have been movies, there have been those who detract from them. Many of these displeased viewers would exclaim “Well, if I had a made this, I wouldn’t have removed X, Y or Z”! In the past, it used to be just something fans would dream and bitch about, but with the greater availability of editing tools, especially with software like Final Cut Express and Womble being cheep or free, it is now possible for anyone to make a version of a film that more suits them. Beginning in 2001 with professional editor Mike J. Nichols’ cut of the Phantom Menace, the art of fanediting has grown to encompass any and all films that people want changed. Dune too long and David Lynch-ian for you? Wish you could have less Richard Pryor in Superman III? Is any Michael Bay/Joel Schumacher film just too terrible to watch? You can now make it better, and more importantly, yours, with a growing online community to support you.
The clip embedded below the jump is a trailer for a fanedit of Star Wars Episode IV. Adrian Sayce, the author of the fanedit, using the 2004 DVD of A New Hope as his primary source, went back and fixed every single special effect, every single jump cut, and removed as much of the ridiculous Special Edition footage as possible, including pooping animals and Greedo shooting first. And you’d be surprised just how many changes there are. Few of the changes are drastic, but the nuances are what make the difference.
A couple of the big communities are as follows:
Fanedit.org – For all types of edits
originaltrilogy.com – For Star Wars Specific edits, though there are a few non-SW ones featured.
Image via filmingilman
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