With The Rise Of Skywalker on the way this Friday, I decided to do retrospectives on each of the films. I am going in the order of the story which means we’re continuing on with Return Of The Jedi. This film came out in 1983 and marked the ending of both the original trilogy and what was once though to be the end of Star Wars films in general. This film was always my favorite though and when I think about it, it probably still is. There’s something about the ability to stick the landing the way they do in this film that is just perfect. So let’s get right to it.
The film starts with Darth Vader visiting the second Death Star and being just the massive imposing figure that he is. The commander of the Death Star is basically beside himself with fear pretty much the entire time. Vader tells him that he needs to hurry up and finish the new battle station and that he’d better do so before The Emperor gets there. Following this we head to Tatooine where most of the opening of this film will take place. C-3PO and R2-D2 have been sent to Jabba’s Palace with a message for him that R2 is carrying. He’s good at that. Jabba’s palace is basically like the Cantina 2.0. There’s creatures everywhere and they had way more money this time around to create multiple new characters. The message for Jabba featured Luke as a hologram stating that he wished to Bargain for Han’s life and that he offered R2 and 3PO as a token of goodwill. I’ve always like that Luke gave Jabba as many chances as he could…even though he knew he would have to take him out. R2 and 3PO get taken away and given new assignments by a Droid Overseer. Then we go back to Jabba’s Throne Room and we get one of the weirdest scenes in Star Wars History but it’s weirder because of how they changed it in 1997. Lucas was intent on using CGI to improve the dancers and singers so he recorded an entirely new scene with them in it. I’ll never forget watching the VHS because it had this video of him talking about how the male singer, Joh Yowza, was brought to life. It’s always weird to hear because he’s very genuine in how he believes this was completely necessary. Anyway, right after that Leia comes in disguise as Boushh, the Bounty Hunter. She says that she’s looking to claim the bounty on Chewbacca, who she has in shackles. Jabba agrees after she threatens everyone with a Thermal Detonator, which is a pretty solid plan actually. As Chewbacca is taken away, we see that Lando is in disguise as one of the guards. While everyone’s asleep, Leia sneaks in and releases Han from Carbonite. Unfortunately, Jabba suspected something like this would happen. He captures Leia and throw Han in the cell with Chewbacca.
This leads to Luke showing up at the Palace and just being awesome. He’s all in black and he straight up force chokes two of the Gamorrean Guards. Like Father, Like Son! I’ve never cared that he did this because everyone here is pretty much evil. He uses the Jedi Mind Trick on Bib Fortuna and begins talking at Jabba. Not “to”, “at”. Luke is here to be a badass and chew bubblegum and he’s all out of gum. Even when he gets thrown into the Rancor pit, he’s awesome and defeats it even without his lightsaber. Also, it has to be mentioned that the puppetry on the Rancor is absolutely fantastic and this is a scene that still looks fantastic to this day. The following conversation is one of my favorites of the series :
Han : “How we doing?”
Luke : “Same as always.”
Han : “That bad, huh?”
Luke, Han and Chewbacca are brought before Jabba who says that they’ll be executed in the Sarlacc Pit. Luke continues to Threaten Jabba and even says : “That’s the last mistake you’ll ever make.” They go out on Jabba’s sail barge and I love that Han still sees Luke as the kid, he hasn’t seen him since the beginning of Empire and he doesn’t know that Luke is an actual Jedi Knight now. He assumes that they’re all about to be killed even though Luke tells him that he has everything under control. They get to the pit and Luke gives R2 the signal who then throws Luke his new lightsaber…and then we see it : A GREEN LIGHTSABER! You have to realize that this was awesome because all that we had ever seen until this moment was a blue or red one. To see a different color was something pretty great plus it backs up the memory of him losing his old one when he lost his hand. Luke just starts taking people out left and right. Meanwhile, Han still can’t see, Chewbacca is trying to help him and Lando basically just falls over. Luke is finished with the first skiff of people and starts to attack the second one while the other three are basically performing the Star Wars equivalent of a slap comedy sketch. This seems like a good time to point out that Leia is the slave costume, yes, you know the one. I basically hate this part of it because everyone turned her into a sex symbol because of it. Carrie Fisher was once asked about it though and although she said she hated wearing it, she did like that Leia kills Jabba with the chain around her neck. She liked that her captor’s choices for her were what ultimately killed him. I personally really love that too. They eventually all escape while the barge is exploding and Luke returns to Dagobah while everyone else goes to meet up with the alliance.
Now we finally see the Emperor. He’s this sunken old man but he still has a sense of power surrounding him. He plans on bringing Luke to the dark side and perhaps even making him his new apprentice. When we switch back to Luke, he’s on Dagobah with Yoda during his last moments. Luke tells him he’s back to complete his training but Yoda tells him that he doesn’t need anymore training, he just needs to face Vader. Luke asks him to confirm if Darth Vader is actually his father and Yoda does. He warns him to beware the Emperor’s abilities and he tells him that there is another Skywalker. Luke goes back to his X-Wing and is greeted by Obi-Wan’s force ghost. Luke asks him about Vader and Obi-Wan says that what he told him was true, from a certain point of view. In his eyes, Vader murdered Anakin. Luke also asks him about the other Skywalker and it’s revealed that Leia is his twin sister. He returns to the Rebel Fleet as they’re discussing the plans for the attack on Endor. Basically, their information says that the Death Star isn’t fully operational and that it’s being shielded from the moon below. Their plan is to deactivate the shield with a strike force lead by Han while Lando and Admiral Ackbar lead the attack on the death star itself. Han even lets Lando use the Millennium Falcon in the battle.
The emperor tells Vader to move the fleet to the far side of Endor until they are called for. Han and Everyone else get past the imperials using their shuttle and land on the planet below. I love that Han tries to sneak up on a Stormtrooper and then steps on a stick right as he gets behind him. This leads to the fantastic Speeder Bike chase. it’s one of those scenes that will always stay in my memory and I love how they just filmed it by walking and then speeding up the film when playing it back. Luke and Leia get separated during the chase and the main group goes to look for her while the rest of the rebels go to prepare for the assault on the Shield Generator.
Now, at last, we’ve come to it. The most spine tingling, horrifying creature in the Star Wars Universe. Behold! :
The fiercest of all. I love the ewoks and I always will. Wicket is no exception, in fact, he’s probably my favorite of them. The ewoks are an indigenous race on Endor and they have the absolute best tree houses ever. They’re incredibly resourceful creatures overall and, as seen later, are pretty solid warriors. We switch back to seeing Darth Vader report to the Emperor that the Rebels have landed on Endor and the Emperor is like : “Dude, chill.” Then Vader tells him that Luke is with them and he’s like : “Say what?!” That’s the original script. Hopefully it clears things up a bit for everyone. The Emperor tells Vader to go down there and that Luke will come to him. Meanwhile, Luke, Han and the rest get captured by the Ewoks. Once again, because they’re the best…or because Chewbacca was hungry, either way. They get taken back to the Village and are about to be served as a meal due to the fact that the Ewoks think C-3PO is a god. They fortunately end up talking the Ewoks out of it when Luke has the idea to use the force to scare them. Following that, they all listen to C-3PO tell them the story of their journey and the Ewoks make them part of their tribe. Luke walks off from the group and Leia goes after him. This leads to a paradox discussion because he asks Leia about her mother and she says that she doesn’t remember a lot but she does remember her. This obviously doesn’t work since Padme died in Childbirth, but hey, it’s whatever. Luke admits to her that Vader is his father and that Leia is his sister. “The force is strong in my family, my father has it, I have it, my sister has it.” It’s a great quote and it shows the beginning of the force in Leia cause she says “I know, somehow I’ve always known.” I’ve always wanted to see Leia with more force powers…and we will, soon.
Luke goes to surrender to the Imperials and they bring him to Vader. He begins to work on Vader’s feelings for him and tries to turn him but Vader tells him that it’s too late for him and that the Emperor is Luke’s new master. Later, the strike force prepares to attack the shield generator with the ewoks while the fleet prepares to attack the death star. Luke is brought before the Emperor and this is when he gets the most screentime in this film. The Emperor is such a great villain in this film but I love that he works as this Puppet Master style character who sees everything except for what ultimately kills him. It’s probably my favorite aspect of him as a character. He keeps trying to tear Luke down and turn him to the Dark Side and Luke never wavers. No matter how many things go wrong. The Strike Force gets captured by a Legion of Stormtroopers and the Rebel Fleet realize it’s a trap far too late(Yes, that was intentional.) The Emperor keeps goading Luke into using his anger but Luke keeps resisting.
Literally everything is going wrong…until The Ewoks and the droids save the day!The ewoks begin destroying the Imperials even though they don’t have the weapons that they empire does but they do have the numbers and they have the knowledge of the land. The battle proceeds and R2 has to save everyone again when he gets to the bunker to open the blast doors but he gets shot and is kept out of comission while Han starts to try and break in. Meanwhile, the fleet keeps attacking the death star which they finally realize is fully operational and starts firing at the fleet. Luke watches on and finally gives into his anger and grabs his lightsaber from the Emperor. This starts what is still my favorite lightsaber duel of the series and there’s a very simple reason for it. There’s so much emotion in it, it’s not the flashiest lightsaber duel but it does a great job of making you feel and to me, that’s more important than even the best choreography.
Chewbacca steals an AT-ST and uses it to start turning the tide of the battle. They actually use it to trick the imperials into opening the bunker up for them. Which allows them to blow it up and destroy the shield and then the Fleet capitalizes on this and begins their final attack against the Death Star. Luke begins to hide from Vader and says that he won’t fight him until Vader mentions Leia and threatens to turn her to the Dark Side which is when Luke gets angry and goes on the offensive against Vader. He even cuts off hand and is about to strike him down while the Emperor laughs and tells him to fulfill his destiny and become his new apprentice. But Luke throws his Lightsaber away and says “I’ll never turn to the dark side. You’ve failed, your highness. I’m a Jedi like my father before me.” The Emperor starts to use force lightning against Luke and is about to kill him when Vader finally picks him up and throws him into the core of the Death Star. Lando and Wedge begin their run on the Death Star which is a little bit different than the trench run from A New Hope, but they ultimately destroy it right as Luke is escaping from it. But before that, you have my favorite scene of the series. Yes, the entire series. Anakin tells Like that he wants to look on him with his own eyes and asks him to help take his mask off. When he does, he tells Luke to go and Luke says “No, I’m not going to leave you, I’m going to save you.” To which Anakin responds, “You already have, Luke. You were right about me, tell your sister you were right.” Anakin then passes away.
The fleet heads back down to Endor and Luke has a private ceremony for Anakin. We get to see all of the other planets celebrating the end of the empire and we go back to Endor because they’re ain’t no party like an Ewok party cause an Ewok party don’t stop. We get to see the force ghosts of Anakin, Obi-Wan and Yoda and we end with seeing our main group together.
Why This Is My Favorite Of The Star Wars Films.
There’s a lot to love about this film but it’s that finale that really seals it for me. Like I said, I love the raw emoition in the fight between Vader and Luke and I love that Luke ultimately wins by refusing to fight. It’s a complete contrast from Empire and it’s one that I think is worth noting. Luke doesn’t need to be the action hero. He just needs to have his compassion for his father. That’s what saves him ultimately. Then you have that perfect moment between Anakin and Luke. “Tell your sister, you were right.” That scene alone is why it’s my favorite of the films.
