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We did not know it at the time but the title for Episode VI, “The Return of the Jedi”, was meant to foreshadow the title for Episode III, “The Revenge of the Sith”. Of course rumor has it that there were several working titles for both movies so maybe it was all just a coincidence that worked out well.
Despite what today’s die-hards will tell you, “The Return of the Jedi” barely outperformed “The Empire Strikes Back” and did not even come close to matching the box office success of “Star Wars” (before and after it was retitled “Episode IV: A New Hope”). Both sequels in the original trilogy were plagued with problems. Like “The Empire Strikes Back”, “The Return of the Jedi” was not directed by George Lucas. He handed the directorial reins over to Richard Marquand. Lucas, because of his fights with Hollywood industry bodies, had to step outside the numerous circles of power in order to make his movies. These disputes unquestionably hurt the quality of the two sequels. But Lucas made his choices as an artist and as a business man.
Lawrence Kasdan also co-wrote this movie with George Lucas. Because it was the final act of the trilogy their job was somewhat easier than with “The Empire Strikes Back”. There was no more need for setup and this time the bad guys had to be defeated, really defeated, and buried in such a way that they could never come back (despite rumors that Lucas wanted to make six more movies, including 3 to be set some time after “The Return of the Jedi”). Even so, with a huge fan base supporting his efforts, Lucas continued to play with the plot lines and the characters. He even introduced more characters.
It has been noted many times that George Lucas keeps trying to fix things with each new movie. He had wanted to show off the planet of the Wookiees but he could not make that happen, so he gave us the holiday special and then substituted Ewoks in “The Return of the Jedi”. The Ewoks were cute but many people in the audience struggled to accept that they should be able to overcome Imperial stormtroopers with such apparent ease.
And thus was sealed the myth of the inept stormtroopers. You don’t want to work for the Empire because you won’t be able to shoot straight and any furry little creature will frustrate you. You almost have to conclude that the stormttroopers were recruited from all the prisons of the galaxy, a bunch of losers who had no hope of redeeming themselves and who figured they could at least go down shooting. George Lucas had no one to blame but himself for creating the myth of the stormtroopers, but what else was he supposed to do? Kill off the good guys? Technically he had already done that in “Star Wars” (now dubbed “Episode IV: A New Hope”) where Obi-Wan Kenobi told Luke that Darth Vader had helped to hunt down and kill off the Jedi.
Stormtroopers are terrible villains with impressive-looking armor (that apparently only deflects raindrops because it doesn’t do anything to protect you from blasters). They do kill off rebel troops with apparent ease but that just means the rebels must be recruiting their soldiers from the winos and drunks in the back alleys. It’s no wonder all the planets are reluctant to join the Rebel Alliance: they must be afraid their own troops will be killed by friendly fire.
Nonetheless, “The Return of the Jedi” was better than “The Empire Strikes Back” once we got Han Solo out of carbonite and killed off Jabba the Hutt. Now most male fans will insist they loved the Jabba scenes if only because Carrie Fisher was decked out in that slave outfit. She has had to live with that legacy for many, many years. But we also got to see Luke take on Jabba’s minions with the confidence and skill of a full Jedi Knight. But what was up with the black outfit? Was this to honor his father, Darth Vader?
In the course of plotting their victory over the Emperor the rebels sacrificed “many Bothans” to seize plans for the new Death Star. Fans have been asking questions about the Bothan spies ever since. Are they humans? Humanoids? Non-humans? So far only one book about Star Wars aliens has said anything about them (noting that about two dozen Bothans died getting those plans). The ubiquity of Bothan Spies in the Star Wars expanded universe (and fan fiction) has drawn some fire from people who question the sanity of it all. We don’t know anything about Bothans, really, except that some of them helped the rebels steal plans for Death Star II (a name not mentioned in the movie but used on the Internet).
There are other crazy racial moments in this movie, such as the mixup of exotic species hanging out at Jabba the Hutt’s palace (fortress? casbah?). Let’s face it, Lucas realized early on that if he was going to portray a distant galaxy he was going to have to throw in as many non-human creatures as possible. But Star Wars introduces so many species they defy the laws of mathematics in their improbably uniform distributions (only humans seem to be everywhere).
Nonetheless, an elaborate strategy is put together on the basis of three pieces of information: the new Death Star is being constructed in orbit around the forest moon of Endor, the new Death Star has a vulnerability in its power systems, and the Emperor will be there to oversee its construction in person. And no one suspects a trap …
We are introduced early on to one of the best Darth Vader lines in the entire Star Wars universe. He arrives on Death Star II (now you have me saying it) to find out why development has fallen behind schedule. When he warns the commander that the Emperor himself will be arriving soon, Vader also nonchalantly adds, “And the Emperor is not as forgiving as I am”. That was quite an “oh shit” moment for audiences around the world because Darth Vader just casually uses the Force (or his machine-augmented strength) to choke people, either to teach them lessons, to accept their apologies, or just because he has no further use for them.
Up until this point Darth Vader has been painted as the most evil character in the Star Wars universe, and suddenly we learn that he is more tolerant and forgiving than his master (which must mean there is still good in him — we should be able to feel it!). It’s a good gag that plays out well on audiences that have only seen Episodes IV and V. But if you watch Episodes I through III first then you know too much about the Emperor already to be able to fully appreciate the depravity of the evil Emperor. After all, you have already seen him sacrifice his former apprentice Count Dooku to make room for Anakin Skywalker (now Darth Vader).
“The Return of the Jedi” gives us more cool technology in all sorts of crazy, improbable places. This may be George Lucas flexing his creative muscle but it doesn’t work as well as the technology in the first movie did. Add to that the Ewoks’ penchant for eating anything that stumbles into their traps and you have to wonder how the galaxy manages to stay together either physically or politically. The Force can do anything but disable giant stardrives (apparently even Yoda doesn’t believe enough for that to happen) and if you’re unlucky enough to land on Endor sooner or later the vicious Ewoks will get you.
The Ewoks are nonetheless a great addition to the Star Wars universe because we see more of their culture than we do of anyone else’s since Tatooine. This is the thing about George Lucas: he doesn’t just say, “And there are aliens in the bar”. He shows you the aliens up close, snuggling together, laughing at jokes, and living their lives like normal, ordinary people. But any other director like Irvin Kershner or Richard Marquand just tosses in some people in funny suits and has them act like mind-controlled robots.
The complexity of the rebel strategy in “The Return of the Jedi” is kind of impressive. It implies a vast organization and lots of resources. Of course, “The Return of the Jedi” introduces the Mon Calamari (those orange fishy-looking people in the white spacesuits) with their warfleet. Now the Rebel Alliance has some powerful allies who can (almost) take on the Empire. But there is no explanation for why the Mon Calamari have joined the alliance or who brought them in.
So once again we have a story plot jumping forward without providing any background information at all. Maybe this was all a clever plot by Lucas to force fans to buy the books and magazines. Maybe it’s just too big a story to tell in three movies. But the less-than-clever plot loopholes keep showing up throughout the film. For example, why did the rebels send in a strike team with no means of ground transportation? They were in a stolen supply shuttle, after all. What were they going to do if the Imperial fleet wanted to check their inventory of “parts and technical crew for the forest moon”? And why did they land so far from the target anyway? Shouldn’t that have raised some suspicions among Imperial personnel (assuming no one wanted to draw them into a trap the way Vader did)?
The long, drawn-out fight sequences in the forest were well-orchestrated and the audience did not get bored with all the action. By the time you realize the strike team has been split up by the biker patrol you don’t feel like you have wasted 15 minutes of film time. But at least this contrivance moves the plot forward since the idea is to get Han, Leia, Luke, and the droids to the Ewok village where they can recruit the locals to join the cause.
The Ewoks’ grievances against the Empire are not clear but the implication is that the Imperial construction project has ripped up their part of the forest moon’s environment and they are none too happy with all the bike patrols. The audience has to assume there are other grievances, too. But all we know for sure is that the Ewoks do their best to avoid Imperial patrols and when necessary will take them out. There is no love lost between the Ewoks and the stormtroopers.
Of course, what really counts is the final confrontation between Luke Skywalker and the Sith Lords. Unlike any other Jedi in these movies, Luke faces both Palpatine and his apprentice together. Anakin defeated Dooku while Palpatine was watching, controlling the situation, but he was not in as great a danger as Luke would be when his turn came. The battle between Luke and Darth Vader is impressive, rivaled only by the fight between Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn assisted by the young Obi-Wan Kenobi. Staging light-saber duels is important to the Star Wars saga but it does not always work out well. The duel between Obi-Wan and Vader in Episode IV was subdued and almost comical. Of course, it could be viewed as two masters cautiously testing each other’s defenses; and Obi-Wan had no intention of killing Vader anyway. He had a greater plan.
That plan is the confrontation between Luke and the Emperor. No one ever explains to Luke how he is to win this battle. And in reality he doesn’t win. He is defeated by the Emperor just as Palpatine had been defeated by Mace Windu. The tables are turned in the final installment of the story, but as in the Windu-Palpatine confrontation Anakin turns out to be the loose cannon on deck. He fulfills his role in the prophecy to bring balance back to the Force by returning the Light Side and killing Palpatine.
What brought Vader back? Was it Luke’s growing love for his father, his willingness to sacrifice himself for others? Or was it Vader’s realization that Palpatine was just treating everyone as disposable tools? How long can you serve a master who just tried to replace you with your own son? Maybe part of the answer lies in Vader’s ability to adjust to new circumstances. He is a survivor, a fact that is understated in the original trilogy but which George Lucas highlights in the prequel movies. Vader (Anakin) senses that the Emperor failure to turn Luke Skywalker to the Dark Side of the Force nullifies everything the Sith stand for. There will be no continuity because Luke is not only the last hope of the Jedi, he is the last hope of the Sith.
These are good questions to ask but unfortunately even George Lucas hasn’t provided adequate answers for them. He explains the entire story arc in terms of a family saga about redemption. Vader must be redeemed. The Jedi must be redeemed. The only people who cannot be redeemed are the clones and the Sith. Vader is an exception because he plays a special role in restoring balance to the Force.
The movie ends on the happiest of notes, except for the fact that Luke can never get to know his father as the man Anakin should have been. But it also leaves open the question of what comes next. There is a whole empire out there set up to rule the galaxy even though the Emperor himself has finally been slain. Timothy Zahn attempted to answer that question in the first officially authorized sequels to Star Wars, but now all that is being swept away by the Disney Company’s new trilogy. And the answers may not be universally satisfying because they cannot fix the flaws bound up with the questions.
“The Return of the Jedi” is not as emotionally satisfying as “A New Hope” even though we saw Vader’s TIE Fighter spinning off at the end of the Battle of Yavin. That is because all of the losses experienced in “A New Hope” were redressed by the battle. But the final loss in “Return of the Jedi”, the death of Anakin Skywalker, can never be redressed. He will be okay but he won’t be able to influence Luke and Leia’s lives the way a father should.
The Original Theatrical Trailer for “The Return of the Jedi”
Deleted Scenes from “The Return of the Jedi”
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