10 Best Movie Fan Edits Of All Time
10. Harmy's Despecialized Edition (Star Wars)
No movie franchise in history has received as many fan edits as Star Wars, owing to both George Lucas' refusal to simply leave the Original Trilogy alone, and the rather tawdry release state of the Prequel Trilogy.
There are many impressive and worthwhile fan edits of the O.T., but the crown jewel is undoubtedly Harmy's Despecialized Edition, an industrious attempt to replicate the theatrical presentation of the original three movies before Lucas tinkered with them for the 1997 "Special Edition" releases.
Especially egregious additions to these newer iterations include a CGI Jabba the Hut, a new musical number in Return of the Jedi, and the infamous decision to have Greedo shoot first rather than Han Solo (Harrison Ford), scrubbing away the ruthlessness of Solo's character in the process.
Further home video releases saw Lucas continually molest his creations, yet following the 2011 Blu-ray release, an editor by the name of Harmy set to work compiling a high-definition recreation of the original theatrical release, combining numerous sources - even digital transfers of film prints - for the best possible picture quality.
Critical and fan response has been universally positive to the restorations of all three movies, even as fans hope that Lucas might one day authorise an official 4K restoration of the original cuts.