Topic: Adywan's Star Wars Revisited - DVD Review

[hangarbay94]

After being told about this Fan made edit by Wraith9 I tracked down the DVD version which is free to download and burn straight onto DVD, provided you own the Lucasfilm version. I will post the link to the download page and try to explain how to burn the files onto disc at the end of the review.

For those of you who have not seen it, Star Wars Re-Visited is a fan made special edition of Star Wars A New Hope. Incredibly its creator 'Adywan' has brought the movie right up to date by adding new scenes and special effects and a more realistic and involving Dolby Surround Sound experience.

Believe me when I say this production does not look like an amateur piece of work, even before you play the film you'll find a new home screen and intro sequences with a full interactive menu. The disc has special features, giving an insight into the creative process involved in creating the movie edit.

Picture and Sound Quality
Now onto the movie itself. I played the film on a Sony BluRay player through a Hitachi Digital HD projector and onto a 7-foot wide projector screen, and the first thing that hits you is the clarity of the picture. On such a large screen it is usually easy to see the difference between BluRay (HiDef) and standard DVD movies, yet with this production it could easily have passed as a BluRay disc.  Colours were vibrant and crisp and even in close up the detail was noticeably improved . During the opening scenes where Princess Leia programmed R2 with the Death Star plans I noticed that the background computer lights had been enhanced, and it is this attention to detail that gives the movie a much fresher look. There is no noticeable digital fuzz on the picture at all and I can't see the BluRay version being any improvement on this production.

The digital soundtrack is presented in Dolby 5.1 and the improvements are instantly noticeable. I played the film through a Cambridge Audio Azure 650 HD Amplifier, and again the soundtrack had all of the detail of an HD disc. Rather than sounding flat like the DVD version, Adywan has managed to create a wonderfully detailed sound experience. Bass effects are magnificent, lasers seem to bounce around the room and there are tons of small details that give the viewer a much more immersive experience.

The Fan Edit  

As a life long Star Wars fan I can honestly tell you that this is how the film was meant to be shown, every care has been taken to add what is needed and remove what is not and it has been done with respect to both the the original and Special Edition versions. Adywan has also added new special effects that blend perfectly with the film, some of which are so subtle that they are hardly noticeable. For example during the scene where R2 wakes up on-board the Jawa sandcrawler the broken head of a Clone Wars Droid soldier can be seen in the foreground, it's only seen for a second at most. There are numerous tiny tweaks you would have to look hard to notice and that is part of the fun, where as before you would have to forgive the film for it's 70's production values, this version stands shoulder to shoulder with the prequels.

There have been major changes too, the scene where Alderran is destroyed has been totally re-done and I was totally blown away when I saw the new scene. Rather than the Superlaser firing and the planet blowing up Buck Rogers style (lots of bright sparks) this time you actually see the close up shots of the planet coming apart with continents splitting, culminating in a huge, high definition explosion.  The whole revised edit makes the Death Star seem far more ominous.

My favourite re-working is the light-sabre duel  between Vader and Obi Wan. Adywan has re-cut the scene so that there is much more pace. He's also cleverly mixed music in from Episode 3, tying the scene with the Mustafar battle. The whole thing is very emotional.

We now lead on to the Falcon escape scene. Adywan has again managed to completely re-work the effects, adding sections where the Falcon is actually seen moving through space fighting the ties off. There is much more movement, and the whole battle looks like it was part of Lucas's Special Edition, and not the work of someone on his home PC. I cannot stress how spectacular these additions are, you need to see them for yourself.

Now onto the crescendo, the Death Star battle. I won't give too much away, but let's just say that this scene has been totally transformed. Not only has it been re-edited to give it a faster pace, stunning and dramatic effects have been added too. Rather than a handful of tie fighters entering the frey, this time there's a whole swarm of them, all flying headlong towards the screen, the effect is too much to describe in words.  Cockpit shots have been transformed and we see fighters everywhere. The whole scene is a marvel yet all of the new effects work in harmony with the original effects.  

When hearing Adywan interviewed about the effects he explained that none of it was CGI, it was simply cut-outs of the movie models rendered in Adobe Aftereffects, which is probably why the added sequences look as if they were part of the original film.

In summation, if you are a Star Wars fan this movie version is a MUST SEE. While being a homage to this film, it also puts Lucasfilm to shame, in fact it also puts the whole BluRay format to shame. The culmination of perfectly crafted additional effects and scenes, crystal clear picture and energetic and involving sound score  make this the definitive Star Wars version.

How to Download and Play

Here is a link to Adywan's Facebook page giving some pointers on how to download and burn the movie to disc. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=316830255423&topic=16278

The movie is free to Download but remember you need to own the official DVD version to be allowed to download this version (as if any of us doesn't already own the Video Box Set, the DVD Box Set, the Special Edition Box Set  and the Special, Special Edition Box Set with the original version already)...

Firstly you will need a free program called FINAL TORRENT here is the link: http://www.finaltorrent.com/

It is advisable to have a broadband connection for this as the files total 7.8Gb and take about 24 hours to download.

Here is the link to move file. once you have installed Final Torrent you can select "TORRENT DOWNLOAD" here: http://www.kickasstorrents.com/star-wars-iv-a-new-hope-revisited-adywan-pal-dvd9-dual-layer-t3283394.html

When you have saved the Torrent File click on it and Final Torrent will open. Select the Downloads button and there you will see the Star Wars Revised file in the queue. Select it and press Start. If the download is interrupted you can always go back to the Downloads tab and re-start it.

When complete you should find the file sitting in My Documents / My Downloads. You will need to extract it, and most new versions of windows will do this by right clicking on the file and selecting "Extract Here".

Once extracted the Star Wars revisited folder should contain several movie files and image files. The image files are disc and cover art, for those of us who are anal enough to want to have the film presented in a DVD case.  The files need to be burned straight onto a Dual Layer DVD +R disc using a program like Nero. I used PowerLink Power-to-Go to burn my version. Select the slowest burn speed. I cannot advise you on how the different burning software will work, but you just need to make sure that you are burning the folders to the disc and not creating a movie disc.

This is how I burned the disc using Cybermedia's Power-to-go (which came free on my HP PC)
First off make sure you know the location of the extracted Star Wars Revisited folder (it should be called 'STAR_WARS_REVISITED_PAL_DVD_9')

I then opened Power To Go and selected the 'Video / Photodisc option. then I selected the 'Burn DVD Folder' option


Then I was asked to browse for the location of the Folder I wanted to burn to the disk. So I selected the extracted Star Wars Revisited_PAL_DVD_9 Folder, making sure I opted for the slowest burn speed.


The I just pressed BURN! and hey presto it worked...

When the disc is burned this should be the contents...


Once completed, simply take the disc to your DVD player, inset and enjoy.....

How to View

This film must be seen in a dark room, with no screaming kids or nagging wife anywhere near. Watch it in its entirety, you'll enjoy every second of it I promise!

[artilarytrooper321]

well i might have to get this to go with my 1st version caset original trilogy

[Luke Sprywalker]

An exelent idea to feature this film edit! I have seen it on youtube but will have to download it now. The scenes are exelent and very well done. Why has Lucas Film not scooped this guy up and offered him a job?

[Tamer]

Wow, this is some great news. Thanks for the skippy Jules! You have been on fire this week my friend.

[Spookymufu]

I'm getting this now

just a small note, the link on the front page dosnt work, you have "whttp:/" instead of "http:/" for the link....

[hangarbay94]

Got it... and hi...and welcome!!!!

Just seen your collection and posted comment!

[Spookymufu]

Got it... and hi...and welcome!!!!

Just seen your collection and posted comment!

awesome

Thanks Jules, appreciate it

[Havoc_Hobby]

cant wait to see it

[Spookymufu]

okay, I DLd this and extracted everything then I opened the VIDEO_TS folder and inside were 175 files various versions of VTS files.....okay, now, can someone explain to me where I go from here, preferably someone with Nero......How do I burn these so the DVD player can read it?
I used to be pretty good doing this stuff but it's been years since I'd done it.

[hangarbay94]

Spooky, the easiest way to explain it would be this...

 if you were to get a DVD and rather than play it you were to explore the contents, you'd see a bunch of files, just the same files that are im the extracted Star Wars Revisited file.

So its quite straightforward really, you just need to burn the contents of the Star Ward Revisited  folder onto the disc.

If I get a moment later I'll do a screen capture of my disc's contents...

[Spookymufu]

okay, so when I burn it I need to burn it as a movie DVD on a DL DVD-R right?

[hangarbay94]

You'll know if you're doing it right as you'll be asked for the location of the files you wish to burn to the disc. You'll need to browse and locate your extracted Star Wars Revisited folder and select it. Then burn. Remember to select the slowest possible burn speed.

If you're still not sure then why not do a screen capture of the Nero burn screen and post it here, I'll take a look and see if you are doing it right.


 

[Spookymufu]

yeah I got that part but do I burn as DVD or just a strait burn to disc?

[hangarbay94]

If I was offered those two options I'd select Burn Straight To Disk. If you get it sorted, please let us know what you think of the editn

[Spookymufu]

well...........after 4 unsuccessful attempts, and 4 wasted DL DVD-Rs at $3ea I am ready to give up. I dont know if it's my PC (probably) or if the download is corrupt but NERO gets about 3/4 through and then fails. The buffer goes from 98% to 0 at the same time. So, going to try one more time on my wifes laptop and then I'm giving up.