Anyone know of any copies of ANH that were remastered but not edited? My copy is like VHS quality(sound and picture) but Id rather watch the original and not the edit. Stupid Lucas, Han shot first.
I thought Lucasfilm finally did a version like that, but I’m not sure how close it stuck to the theatrical release. (Frankly, I lost interest. I have my memories of the twelve times I saw it the first time around.)
Well good sir, there’s nothing on Earth like a genuine, bonafide, electrified Fan Edit!
What’d I say?
You: Fan edit!
What’s it called?
You: Fan edit!
That’s right, Fan Edit!
The idea with these are that folks who love the films come in and muck about with them. Occasionally, they suck, but Adywan did an amazing one for Star Wars a few years ago that fixed the “suck” added by the Special Edition.
Here’s his newest version, and it seems to be getting rave reviews. He’s actually added some scenes and fx:
Thanks Thunderscreech.
Yeah, Adywan’s ANH Revisited Version is also my absolute favorite and I can’t wait for ESB:R hopefully next year.
Here’s a version of Alderaan’s explosion that he did, but which was slightly different in the DVD version of ANH:R
//youtu.be/qBAZGtBfcY4
a few days ago a new facebook group was founded with images and clips: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=316830255423&ref=ts
I believe the DVD release was supposed to include the theatrical version.
Thanks for the replies folks! That clip was fantastic, the special effects were darn good. As if I needed anymore reason to love Governor Tarkin, there he is murdering that Binks fellow, awesome! Cant wait to watch some of these fanedits. Whoever said the democritization of technology was a bad thing certainly didnt know of these.
Edit: I own this:
Unfortunately the theatrical version of ANH is pretty terrible, quality wise (been a long while since I saw ESB and RotJ so I cant be sure on those).
Edit2: Even this supposedly has a few minor differences from the original theatrical release, but its a lot closer than the special edition or the other one.
For those who want to see more clips of Adywan’s fan edits, here’s the youtube playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4DB0EA9A58709519&sort_field=added
Actually I think thats the exact same release included in my box set, grainy 4x3 included as a special feature.
Honestly, that’s probably the best we’re going to get…at least for now. Mainly because Lucas resents that the fans did not like what he did with the original.
What a coincidence then that I resent him for making all of those unnecessary changes. 
If you have Other Means, you may want to track down The Phantom Edit. It’s episode “one” of Star Wars, trimmed down to minimize Anakin and Jar-Jar. Essentially the same show, but infinitely more palatable.
Very cautious verbiage there Mr. Pike. I will be on the lookout for that one as well. 
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
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What do you lose by watching the 1977 version? Dolby Digital 5.1 EX sound, for one thing (only 2.0 Surround here). Digital cleanup for another–Tatooine looks like it’s been coated with an additional layer of sand cloud. But for home-theater owners, the biggest frustration will be from the non-anamorphic picture. On a widescreen TV, an anamorphically enhanced (16x9) picture at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio will fill the screen with the exception of small black bars on the top and bottom. The original edition of Star Wars, however, is not anamorphically enhanced (sometimes referred to as “4:3 letterbox”), so on a widescreen TV it will have large black bars on the top, the bottom, and the sides unless you stretch the picture (and distort it in the process, especially considering the substandard picture quality). If you’re watching on a standard square-shaped (4:3) TV, though, you won’t notice a difference.
Sorry for double post, but here’s info on future releases of Star Wars. It’s not our on Blu-ray yet (surprise!). There is a chance, however small because it seems Lucas stopped listening to what fans want, that the Blu-ray editions may include unedited, pristine, hi-def editions of the original movies. The details used to be listed on wikipedia (yes, I know it’s that trust worthy), but they have been removed.
So, since they haven’t stopped milking us yet, you may want to hold off on spending money for whatever means you plan to use. Then again, it could be years (tenth anniversary of Episode 3 for example) before the Blu-ray editions are released. And, there’s no guarantee they’ll include the editions we want.
Finally got to watch Adywan’s Star Wars ANH edit found here. Combines the video quality (much as you can get in an AVI) of the 2004 edition with a bunch of more or less minor cuts/improvements. Very cool. Far as Im concerned this edit is how it should have been. Definitely worth checking out for those of you who havent seen it yet.