Star Wars actors John Boyega and Mark Hammill have reacted with incredulity and derision at a fan’s rather pathetic attempt to re-edit The Last Jedi with its female characters removed.

An angry fan of the franchise took the time to create a “men-only” version of The Last Jedi on file-sharing site Pirate Bay, reducing its running time to just 46 minutes, lopping out nearly two hours of material in response to what he (obviously a he) regarded as the over-population of the latest movie’s plot by female characters.

Laura Dern’s character of Admiral Holdo was cut out of the film entirely, with Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Kelly Marie Tran’s Rose Tico both having their roles drastically reduced. Even the late Carrie Fisher didn’t escape unscathed, edited down so that Princess Leia no longer “scolds, questions nor demotes” the rebel fighter pilot Poe Dameron.

Film critic Priscilla Page soon picked up on a news report about the so-called ‘De-Feminized Fanedit’, adding a very long laugh to a screengrab of the story’s headline on Twitter.

Daisy Ridley Mark HammillDaisy Ridley and Mark Hammill at the European premiere of 'The Last Jedi'

The film’s director, Rian Johnson, and cast members Mark Hammill and John Boyega all joined in the derision of the story on Twitter on Tuesday night (January 16th).

More: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ takes in $450 million at the worldwide box office on opening weekend

“The intro sequence is now very watchable and actually much cooler without all of Leia's nit-picking,” wrote the unknown uploader in justification of his sad actions.

“Now it's all one united Resistance fighting without inner conflict and that's much more satisfying to watch. Due to the extreme shortening, the whole movie is much more fast-paced now.”

None of the petulant fan outrage from some quarters has affected The Last Jedi’s commercial performance, with the eighth Star Wars movie released to the second-biggest opening weekend of all time in America when it arrived back in mid-December, taking $450 million in only three days.

More: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ – movie review