Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

• Add

Overview

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It was the third Star Wars film to be released and chronologically the sixth and last entry in the Star Wars saga.

The film is set a year after the events of Empire Strikes Back and begins with Luke and Leia mounting a daring rescue to save their friend Han Solo from the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. The Empire is preparing to crush the Rebellion once and for all with a new and improved Death Star, while the Rebels mount a large scale attack on it. Luke Skywalker confronts his father, Darth Vader, in a climatic final duel in front of the evil Emperor.

Return of the Jedi was released on May 25, 1983 following a hectic production and was met with a positive critical reception. While the entire Jabba the Hutt sequence and various action scenes were praised, it is widely viewed as the weakest film of the original Star Wars trilogy. This is largely due to the scenes on Endor involving a new species called the Ewoks, who were criticized by some fans and critics as being too cutesy and kid-friendly.

Creation:

George Lucas had strived mightily to stay independant from Hollywood throughout the making of the first two Star Wars films and Return of the Jedi continued that line with Lucas funding the whole thing himself. The screenplay was given to Lawrence Kasden to write, along with Lucas, and was actually written late in pre-production with many of the film's departments based their work on a Lucas rough draft of the general story. Most of the stars of the first two films were contractually required to retain their roles in the new film, except for Harrison Ford.

Ford and Kasden both discussed and agreed that Han Solo should be killed off during the movie both to allow Ford the freedom to explore his new stardom from other films. Kasden also wanted Solo to be killed off early on in the film to give the audience the sense that no character was safe. Lucas wanted nothing to do with the idea of killing on Solo and Ford agreed to do the whole movie.

Plot Summary

"We shall double our efforts!"

It is a year after the Imperial occupation of Cloud City and the capture of Han Solo by bounty hunter Boba Fett....

Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, has landed in the docking bay of a new Death Star to check in on its construction. When told by Moff Jerjerrod that he needs more men, Vader portends that the Emperor himself is on his way to oversee the station's completion. Hearing this troubling news, the Moff says that they will double their efforts towards completing it. Meanwhile on the desert planet Tatooine, C-3PO and R2-D2 nervously approach the gangster Jabba the Hutt's palace. They deliver him a holographic message from Luke Skywalker, who in a misdirection, offers them in return for the carbonated Han Solo. Jabba refuses the offer and the droids end up as his slaves.

Later that day, a bounty hunter named Boushh arrives with a chained up Chewbacca to collect on the other part of Jabba's bounty. After a heated moment involving a thermal detonator, Jabba pays Boushh and sends the Wookiee down to his prison. That night, Boushh secretly frees the carbonated Han Solo from his prison and reveals himself to be Leia in disguise. Their moment of joy is interrupted by Jabba and his minions, who reveal themselves to be watching the whole time. Han is thrown down into the prisons with Chewbacca and Leia is made a slave girl to Jabba himself. Now dressed in a revealing gold bikini, Leia is forcefully chained to his throne.

"I like Captain Solo where he is."

The next morning, Luke arrives and offers one final plea to Jabba for his friends. Warning him not to underestimate his powers, Luke then force pulls a blaster in an attempt to shoot Jabba, but falls into the dreaded Rancor pit. Luke successfully outsmarts the giant Rancor and manages to crush it under the weight of its own gate. An enraged Jabba sentences Luke and the others (with the exception of Leia) to death over a thousand years by the man-eating Sarlacc. They are taken out through the hot Tatooine desert on a floating skiff to the Pit of Carkoon, where the monstrous Sarlacc lies in wait. Jabba looks on from his nearby sail barge and, through C-3PO as his translator, gives them one last chance to beg for their lives. Luke refuses and subtly signals for R2-D2 to launch his new lightsaber over to him.

"Free us... or die."

With his lightsaber in hand, Luke battles Jabba's henchmen on the skiff. During the chaos, Han, who is blinded by his recent carbonization, accidentally launches Boba Fett into the Pit of Carkoon and then tries to save a disguised Lando Calrissian from falling in himself. Leia manages to wrap her chain around Jabba's throat and chokes him to death. After killing the henchmen on the skiff, Luke jumps over to the sail barge to rescue Leia. The droids escape off the barge and fall to the desert floor. After rigging a laser turret to fire upon the barge, Luke and Leia swing over to a captured skiff and take off with their rescued companions as it explodes.

The reunited heroes then depart Luke's home planet in the Falcon. Planning to regroup with the others at the Rebel fleet, Luke heads off to Dagobah in his X-Wing so that he can repay a promise to an old friend. Unfortunately for Luke he finds that master Yoda is dying and he cannot help Luke complete his training. But Yoda does reveal that Luke can become a Jedi Knight, to do this he must confront Darth Vader who Yoda confirms is Luke's father. As Luke talks to Obi-Wan Kenobi's force spirit about Darth's true past as Anakin Skywalker he reveals there is another Skywalker, Princess Leia.

"Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational battle station!"

Luke returns to the rebel fleet and learns of their new plan to defeat both the Death Star and the entire Empire in one assault. With Emperor Palpatine visiting the Death Star while its under construction, Han Solo volunteers for a mission down to the forrest moon of Endor to destroy a shield generator thats protecting the Death Star. Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca all also volunteer for the mission. Using a captured Imperial shuttle and stolen Imperial codes that give them clearance to land, the strike force lands on Endor as the remaining rebel force prepares to attack the Death Star.

"Tell your sister... you were right."

On Endor, after a few run ins with stormtroopers, the strike force is captured and befriends a group of indigenous Ewoks. Luke feels a need to tell Leia the truth, that she is his sister and Vader their father. He also needs to leave to confront Vader and attempt one more time to turn him back into the good man he once was. After Luke surrenders he is brought to meet with Vader who refuses to turn against the Emperor and that its too late for him and decides to bring Luke before the Emperor. Before Palpatine, Luke is told that the Emperor expected the assault team on Endor and that they will find only a group of elite soldiers and the rebel force planning to assault the Death Star will only be trapped.

On Endor, the strike team is trapped and taken prisoner by stormtroopers and the rebel force arrives and waits for the shield to drop only to be cut off from escape by an imperial fleet. Ewoks emerge from the forest and begin disrupting the stormtroopers below while the rebel force in space stalls for time waiting on the shield. Luke grows impatient and tries to attack the Emperor only to be stopped by Vader. As he and Vader duel, Vader attempts to lure Luke over to the dark side but Luke refuses. It isn't until Luke's feelings for his sister give her away to Vader, Vader now knows if he can't turn Luke he can turn her. This angers Luke and with his anger he lunges at Vader, overpowering him and cutting off his hand.

The end of an Empire

The Emperor is pleased and urges Luke to finish him off but Luke refuses, so the Emperor tortures Luke with force lightning. Vader watches on as his son writhes in pain before finally cracking and giving into the light still in him, lifting the Emperor up and tossing him down a shaft, killing him. With Vader badly injured Luke drags him to an Imperial shuttle just as his friends on Endor have overpowered the stormtroopers, thanks to Ewoks, and disabled the shields. Lando Calrissian in the Millennium Falcon is able to fly to the center of the Death Star and destroy its power core. With Luke and his father, who redeemed himself, just escaping in time, the evil Empire is defeated once and for all.

Production:

Filming began in early 1982 with a shorter schedule than usual in hopes of giving the special effects crew more time with their job. The film was given a working title of "Blue Harvest", including the tagline "horror beyond imagination", in hopes of throwing off fans while the film was in production and to prevent the production from facing price gouging from some services. Primary filming took place in Elstree Studios in England for all set filming similar to what was done on previous Star Wars films.

The special effects were done again by Industrial Light and Magic, forcing the company to its very limits in order to create the shots and effects needed for the film. Though the company had learned a lot of techniques and skills from the previous films in the franchise they also strived to push the technology and make the final film the best in terms of effects. This forced the team to work 20 hours a day for 6 days a week at some points during production, working on about 900 different shots which required special effects.

Critical Reception:

Return of the Jedi made over $475 million worldwide over its entire release. After its initial release, it was considered another great movie in the Star Wars franchise, though lamented by fans as the last at the time. Eventually both fans and critics alike would generally come to think of Return of the Jedi as the weakest entry of the original trilogy.

Theatrical Changes

Special Edition:

In 1986 all the way until 1995 the version of Return of the Jedi you bought in stores was the theatrical version until the special edition was hyped and released starting in 1997. This special edition would remaster and digitally restore the film upgrading its overall quality but also included a series of changes that would be debuted with the release of the movie into theaters. For instance the band that plays in Jabba the Hutt's palace was changed and lengthened as an overall scene, replacing puppets that were originally used with CGI characters as well as changing the song to match the new CGI additions.

Return of the Jedi changes

Perhaps the most infamous changes occur at the end of the movie. One change added multiple scenes of different planets around the galaxy celebrating the defeat of the Empire, this was to both emphasize the Empire's defeat as important everywhere but also to tease the upcoming prequel movies which would feature many of the locations shown. A bigger anger inducing change was the replacement of the ewok's song, "Parade of the Ewoks", during the ending credits of the film which some fans didn't like. Also, the actor who originally played Darth Vader, Sebastian Shaw, who only played him once his helmet was removed by Luke and he had returned to the light side of the force, was replaced by Hayden Christensen who was to be Anakin Skywalker in the, then, upcoming prequels.

Blu-ray Release:

In 2011 another release of the Star Wars movies came out but this time on high definition Blu-ray discs. Again, as with the special edition releases, Lucas made several changes that were met with animosity by fans. Some of the changes in Return of the Jedi were met by the most anger from hardcore fans. Some of these changes include a digitally larger door to Jabba's palace, a CGI alien similar to Sebulba is added in Jabba's palace, ewoks now have digital eye ball blinks, and most controversial Dart Vader screams "Nooo!" as he kills Emperor Palpatine.