Return of the Jedi
| Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Richard Marquand George Lucas (SE) |
| Written by | George Lucas (story/script) Lawrence Kasdan (script) |
| Produced by | Howard Kazanjian George Lucas Rick McCallum (SE) |
| Starring | Mark Hamill Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher Billy Dee Williams |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release dates | May 25, 1983 (USA) |
Running time | 134 min. (original) 135 min. (SE) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $32,500,000 |
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 science fiction film directed by Richard Marquand. It was the third film to be released in the Star Wars saga, but it is the sixth part of the series by chronology of events. On original versions of the film, such as on posters and box covers, it was written Revenge of the Jedi. Among fans, it is commonly referred to as simply ROTJ.
In this epic conclusion of the saga, Luke Skywalker and friends travel to Tatooine to rescue their friend, Han Solo. The Empire prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, while the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke Skywalker confronts his father, Darth Vader, in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.
The film debuted on May 25, 1983, and was released on VHS and LaserDisc in this form in the 1990s. It was re-released with changes in 1997 (all cinema), 2000 (VHS), and 2004 (DVD). A 3-D release is planned for 2007.
Plot summary
Backstory
Construction has begun on a new, more powerful Death Star than the previous one. At the suggestion of Prince Xizor, Emperor Palpatine allows the plans to this new station to slip into Rebel hands, albeit at a price. The Bothan spies have discovered that the plans are to be sent in a small computer onboard a fertillizer freighter, en route to their home planet of Bothawui. The Bothans send an alert (in the form of a message droid) to Tatooine, believing rebel leader Princess Leia Organa to be present. The alert asks her to come to Bothawui, as they have this information for her. However, she is not on Tatooine, so Luke Skywalker and Dash Rendar intercept the message instead, and take up the challenge. Luke and Dash, along with a fleet of volunteer Bothans, intercept the freighter coming out of hyperspace. They mount an attack which proves successful, albeit at the cost of the lives of several Bothans. The victory allows the plans to come into the rebel hands, ready to be decoded.
Story
Returning from Coruscant, Darth Vader arrives on the station, where he terrorizes the station commander into doubling his efforts. Vader reveals that the Emperor himself will be visiting the station in order to oversee the station's final construction stages. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and his friends return to Tatooine in an attempt to rescue Han Solo from the gangster Jabba the Hutt. It is there that Luke constructs his new lightsaber.
R2-D2 and C-3PO arrive at Jabba's palace with a holographic message from Luke that unsuccessfully pleads Jabba the Hutt to release Han Solo, who is held prisoner in carbonite. In the middle of the night, Princess Leia, disguised as a bounty hunter, removes her disguise and frees Solo from the carbonite, only to be discovered and captured by Jabba. The next morning, Luke arrives to make one final plea to Jabba to release Solo, but Jabba orders Luke to be thrown into the pit of the rancor monster. Luke overpowers the rancor and kills it, and as punishment, Jabba sends Luke and his friends to the Pit of Carkoon to be destroyed by the Sarlacc. With the help of R2-D2, Luke retrieves his new lightsaber, and a large battle erupts, in which Jabba is killed. Luke and crew escape just before Jabba's Sail Barge explodes.
Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training, but Yoda is ill and says no further training is required. Before dying, Yoda tells Luke that all that remains to be done is to confront Darth Vader, whom Yoda confirms is indeed Luke's father. Later, the spirit form of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears, and confirms that Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, a former Jedi who turned to the Dark Side. It is also revealed that Princess Leia is Luke's twin sister, hidden from Luke at birth to protect them both from the Emperor.
At the rendezvous point, the Rebel Alliance discusses the plan to attack the new Death Star. The rebels have decoded and analyzed the Death Star plans, and have devised a strategy for an attack. As part of the attack, Luke and his companions must penetrate the shield generator on the moon of Endor and deactivate the shield that protects the Death Star.
On Endor, Luke and his companions are discovered by Scout Troopers, but they manage to escape following a speeder bike chase through the forest. They later encounter a tribe of Ewoks, indigenous forest creatures of Endor.
They forge an alliance with the Ewoks, who agree to join the fight against the Empire. Later, Luke decides that the time has come for him to leave Endor and face Darth Vader. He surrenders peacefully to the Empire, and unsuccessfully tries to convince Vader to abandon the Dark Side. They go to the Death Star and meet the Emperor, who reveals that the Rebel Alliance is falling into a trap that he had prepared. This leads to the climactic end of the film with three plot lines running simultaneously: Luke facing Darth Vader and the Emperor in the second Death Star's throne room, a ground battle on the Endor moon between Imperial forces and the Rebels and their Ewok allies, and a huge space battle between the Rebel and Imperial fleets above the moon.
Later on the forest moon, the Rebels enter the shield generator, only to be taken prisoner by waiting Imperial forces. Solo and company are led out of the bunker, but the Ewoks begin their attack. A battle begins with the Rebels and Ewoks against the Empire.
The Rebel fleet emerges from hyperspace for the battle over Endor, but they discover that the shield of the Death Star is still functioning. An intense space battle takes place as the Imperial fleet engages in a holding action to prevent the Rebels from retreating into space, while the Rebel fleet battles to give the surface party more time to complete their mission of deactivating the Death Star's shield. During the battle, the Death Star is revealed to be operational; its superlaser is fired at the Rebel fleet and obliterates two Rebel star cruisers.
Meanwhile, back down on the forest moon of Endor, Chewie and two Ewoks take over control of an Imperial walker, and use it to turn the ground battle in the favor of the Rebels.
On the Death Star, Luke duels with Darth Vader and gains the upper hand in the battle, cutting off Vader's robotic arm in a rage. However, despite the Emperor's goading, Luke refuses to kill his father, realizing that he is traveling down his father's path towards the Dark Side. Seeing that Luke cannot be swayed, the Emperor uses Force Lightning against him to deliver the final blow. Deeply affected by the sight of his son dying, Anakin Skywalker returns, as he lifts the Emperor, and despite the deadly lightning surging through his suit, drops his former master into the shaft, which destroys his body and sends Palpatine's spirit into temporary submission. The Emperor's Force Lightning causes fatal injuries to Anakin, as it seems to overload his breathing system. Knowing that there is no hope for his own survival, Anakin asks Luke to take his mask off. Luke removes the helmet, revealing the pale face of his father. Anakin says Luke was right about him, and asks Luke to tell his sister. With those final words, Anakin dies.
Once the strike team finally destroy the shield generator, the Rebel fleet seizes the opportunity to launch a final assault on the Death Star. Lando Calrissian leads Wedge Antilles and his fighter group into the bowels of the Death Star and they fire at the main reactor, causing its collapse. Luke, with the body and armor of Anakin, escapes the Death Star in an Imperial shuttle. Moments later, Wedge in his X-Wing, and Lando in the Falcon emerge from the Death Star as well, just as the Death Star explodes.
That evening, Luke cremates the remains of his father. The entire galaxy celebrates the death of the Emperor and the major Rebel victory against the Empire. It is a major turning point in the Galactic Civil War, which will ultimately lead to the fall of the Empire and the formation of the New Republic. Back on Endor, Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, and the rest of the rebellion, along with the ewoks, celebrate the victory as well. Amidst the celebration on the forest moon, Luke catches sight of the spirit figures of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker, who are staring proudly back at him, as balance has finally been restored to the Force. The prophecy has been fulfilled.
Cast
Overview
The film's director was the late Richard Marquand, who passed away in 1987 of a heart ailment. Some reports have suggested that George Lucas was so heavily involved in the shooting of Return of the Jedi that he could be considered a second or a co-director. It is likely that he directed much of the second unit work personally as the shooting threatened to go over schedule and this is a function Lucas had willingly performed on previous occasions when he had only officially been producing a film. (i.e. Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, More American Graffiti). Lucas himself has only ever gone as far as admitting (in the documentary Empire of Dreams) that he had often to be on the set due to Marquand's relative inexperience with special effects, possibly because he does not wish to be seen to make negative comments about a deceased colleague who has no way to reply. Comments by The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner on that film's DVD audio commentary track suggests that Lucas had a much larger role on the production of Return of the Jedi than is often thought.
Commentators have noted the differences between Richard Marquand's direction style and Lucas' direction style and say that they're greatly dissimilar; arguing that Marquand was a much more orthodox director than Lucas, less interested in using light and creating space. For comparison purposes, one could consider Jabba's palace in this film and the Mos Eisley cantina in A New Hope. Jabba's throne room was a bigger set, but appears smaller onscreen because of the way it was shot. Marquand's other work, such as Eye of the Needle is, like much of Return of the Jedi more concerned with traditional midshot/dialogue/reaction shot sequences and rarely ventures into the very wide angles one associates with Lucas. Marquand also uses a more straightforward 'moving camera' style, whereas Lucas alternates between large, classical and abstract tableau compositions (often involving vertical lines) and a cinema verite approach to film, using hand-held cameras during action sequences. Examples of scenes in Return of the Jedi that seem more like the work of Lucas than Marquand include elements of the final Vader/Luke duel, scenes in the Death Star's hangar bay, and Luke's arrival in Jabba's palace.
The screenplay was written by Lawrence Kasdan and Lucas (with uncredited contributions by David Webb Peoples and Marquand), based on Lucas' story. Howard Kazanjian served as producer.
The film was originally named Revenge of the Jedi until Lucas decided that a Jedi taking revenge was out of character (the prequels would denote such an action as being against the strict Jedi code) though many speculate that George Lucas had planned to call the film Return of the Jedi all along, and only used "Revenge" as a means to throw off merchandise counterfeiters. However, the original teaser trailer for the film carried still carried this moniker. It has also been claimed that the original title of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was originally The Vengeance of Khan, and that the title was changed because of its similarity to Revenge of the Jedi. In any event, the original title was partially reused for Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
The working title of the project was Blue Harvest and dubbed "Horror Beyond Imagination" to engender no interest whatsoever in the film. This would disguise what the production crew was really filming from fans and the prying eyes of the press. George Lucas had severed all his remaining ties to the Hollywood system out of a feeling of persecution after the success of The Empire Strikes Back and had become a truly independent filmmaker. According to producer Howard Kazanjian in the documentary Empire of Dreams, the fact that Lucasfilm is a non-union company made acquiring shooting locations more difficult and more expensive, even though A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back were mammoth hits.
Release
Return of the Jedi was released on May 25, 1983.
Reaction
Return of the Jedi is widely considered by many critics and fans to be the weakest film of the original trilogy. Some indication of public opinion can be gleaned by its relatively modest 115th place ranking in the Internet Movie Database's Top 250 films list. In comparison, A New Hope is ranked at #8, and The Empire Strikes Back is ranked #9.
While the action set pieces, particularly the speeder bike chase on the Endor moon, the space battle between Rebel and Imperial pilots, and Luke Skywalker's duel against Darth Vader are well-regarded, the ground battle between the Ewoks and the Stormtroopers remains a bone of contention. A large number of fans believe George Lucas pushed the "cutesy" factor with the Ewoks with many accusing Lucas of adding them only for their commercial merchandising value. This theory, while taken as gospel by many, was debunked when Academy Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss (who performed in Lucas' film American Graffiti) was quoted multiple times over the years that Lucas had revealed his idea for the Star Wars saga to many of Graffiti's cast and crew during filming (some four years before the original film was released), including making specific mention of a species of small, furry, teddy bear-like creatures called Wookies (later changed to Ewoks when Wookies evolved into a different species) who defeat the evil Empire. However, fans seem to be rather divided on the premise that an extremely primitive race of small creatures could, albeit with minimal aid, defeat an armed ground force comprised of the Empire's best troops. Some fans call it ludicrous, while others credit the Ewoks' bravery, ingenuity, and determination. The latter group may also sometimes cite the Ewoks' ability to easily lift large boulders over their heads as proof of Ewok strength.
A vocal group of fans flatly dislike the Tarzan yell by Chewbacca as he swings from a vine on top of an Imperial Scout Walker (an incident that was nonetheless repeated in Revenge of the Sith). Fans were also disappointed at the quick demise of Boba Fett in the Sarlacc Pit after offering only a brief glimpse of his abilities.
However, contemporary critics seem to have been largely complimentary. In 1983, Roger Ebert gave the film a four-star rating, and Gary Arnold of the Washington Post described Return of the Jedi as "a triumph".
Awards and nominations
At the 1984 Academy Awards, the following either won, or were nominated for, their respective roles in the production of the film:
Awards
Special achievement award for visual effects:
- Richard Edlund
- Dennis Muren
- Ken Ralston
- Phil Tippett
Nominations
Best art direction/set decoration:
- Norman Reynolds
- Fred Hole
- James L. Schoppe
- Michael Ford
Best effects, sound effects editing:
Best music, original score:
Best sound:
- Ben Burtt
- Gary Summers
- Randy Thom
- Tony Dawe
Re-release
There were LaserDisc and VHS releases of the orignial version. The VHS version was Pan and Scanned.
Special Edition
Along with the other two films of his original Trilogy, George Lucas issued a Special Edition of Return of the Jedi in 1997, making a number of changes and additions, which included the replacement of music from a scene at Jabba's palace as well as the closing scene.
2004 DVD
On September 21, 2004 the three original movies were finally released on DVD. There were a few further minor changes to the film on this release - such as sound effects and improvements to the visual quality of the film.
During the sequence when the Emperor's defeat at Endor is announced to the galaxy, an additional scene showing the celebrations in the city of Theed on Naboo was added. A Gungan can be heard yelling, "We-sa free!". Although the Gungan does not sound like Jar Jar Binks, many speculate it is him.
The Shaw/Christensen Controversy
With the release of Revenge of the Sith, which depicts how and why Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side of the Force, George Lucas once again altered Return of the Jedi to strengthen the relationship between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy.
In Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, Anakin Skywalker is played by Hayden Christensen. However, in the original and Special Edition version of Return of the Jedi, a much older man named Sebastian Shaw played both the dying Anakin Skywalker and his ghost. In the DVD release, Anakin's ghost has become a young man, played by Hayden Christensen. Changes such as these have drawn considerable fan criticism directed at George Lucas, and incited more vehement cases of the reactionary criticism known as Lucas Bashing.
Expanded Universe
In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Battle of Endor was not the end of the story. The destruction of the Death Star, the loss of Vader and the Emperor, and the defeat of the Imperial fleet represented a major turning point in the war. Within five years, well over half of what was Imperial space was under the control of the New Republic.
The war continued for another 15 years. The New Republic would be challenged by Imperial commanders, such as Grand Admiral Thrawn, Admiral Daala, Admiral Pellaeon, and Ysanne Isard. The New Republic would even be challenged by the Reborn Emperor—the spirit of Palpatine in a new clone body. But the New Republic would weather all these storms.
Fifteen years after the Battle of Endor Admiral Pellaeon and the other Imperial leaders realized that further military conflict with the New Republic would be fruitless. The remnants of the Imperial forces signed a peace treaty with the New Republic. The decades long Galactic Civil War was finally over.
As several of these stories were written during the period after Return of the Jedi hit theaters and before Episode I: The Phantom Menace was made, numerous potential errors in the Expanded Universe continue to exist and several of the tales have been deemed apocryphal with regards to the continuity of the six films.
The character of Wicket was seen many times, along with other Ewoks, in the two Ewok TV films, which were: Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor; and in an unreleased film of his own, Return of the Ewok, by the man who played him, Warwick Davis.
Errors
- When Han Solo was frozen in carbonite at Cloud City he was wearing an untucked, button down shirt. When Leia releases him from the carbonite at Jabba's Palace he is wearing a tucked in, double breasted shirt.
- In the final lightsaber duel on the second death star, Darth Vader's and Luke Skywalker's lightsabers have shadows
Trivia
- Filming began on January 11, 1982 and ended on May 20, 1982.
- With a massive worldwide marketing campaign, Star Wars series artist Drew Struzan created the iconic and distinctive images for the movie posters and other advertising. (In the film's release poster, Luke Skywalker is depicted holding a blue lightsaber - a lightsaber colour that does not appear in the film. His new lightsaber is green - although it is blue in the trailer, suggesting the decision to make it green was taken late in production. In fact, the decision was made to make Luke's blade contrast with the blue sky of Tatooine and make it more visible during the skirmish at Carkoon.)
- This is the only Star Wars film that does not feature a blue-bladed lightsaber. (However, an early trailer for the film did show Luke on Jabba's sail barge holding a blue-bladed lightsaber.)
- The first two Star Wars movies were adapted for National Public Radio in the early 1980s, but it was not until 1996 that a radio version of Return of the Jedi was heard. See Star Wars (radio) for details.
- A serious wardrobe problem was present in the film in that all Imperial characters, regardless of rank, are shown wearing identical rank insignia, being that of an Imperial Navy Commander. This was not recognized by the production staff until halfway through the film's shooting and the error remained uncorrected in the final version of the film. However, there are two extras wearing the rank of lieutenant in the scene where the Emperor arrives.
- In the battle over the Sarlacc pit this is the only time (besides the battle between Vader and Luke) that a lightsaber does not cut through a body.
- George Lucas included the scene in which Yoda confirms that Darth Vader is Luke's father because, after a discussion with a children's psychologist, he didn't want younger moviegoers to dismiss Vader's claim as a lie – during post production of "Empire," even James Earl Jones' initial reaction to Vader's revelation was "Oh, he's lying!"
- Kenneth Colley (Admiral Piett) is the only actor to play the same Imperial officer in two Star Wars films.
- This is the only film in the original trilogy in which Denis Lawson's name is spelled correctly in the ending credits. In the other films, his name is misspelled "Dennis".
- A legend among fans holds that Lando and the Millennium Falcon were originally scripted to perish in the Death Star explosion. However, Lando was always intended to escape the Death Star, as has been evidenced in past scripts for the movie. The legend had been fueled by the fact that before the Death Star attack, Han tells Leia that he has a feeling he isn't going to see his ship again.
- In the novelization of Return of the Jedi, Han Solo makes reference to Luke Skywalker's initial impression of the Millennium Falcon, calling it "the fastest hunk of junk in the fleet." However, in the film, Solo refers to it simply as "the fastest ship in the fleet."
- The word "Ewok" is never mentioned in the film. It is only mentioned in the end credits.
- The 1997 CD-ROM Star Wars: Behind the Magic confirms that the sequence showing the cremation of Vader's body/armour was directed by Lucas himself.
- This is the only Star Wars film that has no reference to the film THX 1138.
- This film, though rated "PG", contains brief nudity in the first part of the film, when Jabba's Twi'lek slave attempts to escape by pulling on the chain. She jerks upward, and her right breast flies up from the costume.
- Another interesting piece of content (possibly undetected) is after the Star Destroyer is crashed into the Death Star. When the camera shows Admiral Ackbar and the crowd behind him starts to cheer in victory, listen closely to hear someone shout, "Die, dickheads!"
- George Lucas reportedly took over direction with Irvin Kershner's former assistant toward the end of production, reportedly because the actors weren't responding well to director Richard Marquand. The working relationship between George Lucas and Marquand was said to be bad, and that the main camera operator left the project because he felt Lucas was mistreating Marquand. In his audio commentary for the 2004 film, however, Lucas, insists that he and Marquand had a good working relationship and went so far as to praise Marquand for being a very nice guy who was good with actors.
- Harrison Ford suggested that Han Solo sacrifice his life to save his friends in order to give the film more emotional weight, but George Lucas disagreed with him.
- David Lynch, with a Best Director nomination for the 1980 film The Elephant Man was approached by Lucas to helm Return of the Jedi, but he declined and went on to direct Dune.
- Lando Calrissian's copilot, Nien Nunb, had only one line in ROTJ. It sounds like "Atiriri inyui mwi haria muke haha" which is roughly translated from the African tribal language Kikuyo, meaning "You guys over there, come over here."
Novelization
The novelization of Return of the Jedi was written by James Kahn. It contains many scenes that were deleted from the final cut (including an inspiring Ewok speech), but certain assertions have been superseded by the prequel trilogy. For example, Kahn writes that Owen Lars is the brother of Obi-Wan Kenobi while in Episode II he is shown to be the stepbrother of Anakin Skywalker.
Another facet of the story which was made more clear in the novel was the despair and confusion which overtook the Imperial forces upon the death of Palpatine, who ceased to be the guiding will animating the Empire. This is in the manner of Sauron at the climax of The Return of the King. This further supports the events depicted in all post-Return of the Jedi fiction.
Radio drama
- Main article: Star Wars (radio).
A radio drama adaptation of the film was written by Brian Daley and was produced for and broadcast on National Public Radio in 1996.
DVD release
Return of the Jedi was released on DVD in September 2004. It was bundled with A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, along with a bonus disc in a boxed set. It was digitally restored and remastered, with more changes made by George Lucas, detailed in List of changes in Star Wars re-releases. The bonus disc included, according to the official site, "all-new bonus features, including the most comprehensive feature-length documentary ever produced on the Star Wars saga, and never-before-seen footage from the making of all three films."
Features:
- Available Subtitles: English
- Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
- Commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher
Bonus disc:
- Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy
- Featurettes: The Legendary Creatures of Star Wars, The Birth of the Lightsaber, The Legacy of Star Wars
- Teasers, trailers, TV spots, still galleries
- Playable Xbox demo of the new Lucasarts game Star Wars Battlefront
- The making of the Episode III videogame
- Exclusive preview of Star Wars: Episode III
The set was reissued in December 2005 as part of a three-disc "limited edition" boxed set that did not feature the bonus disc.
External links
- The official Episode VI site
- Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi at IMDb
- Return of the Jedi at Wookieepedia.
- Keith Short - Film Sculptor Sculpted the Emperor's chair for this film
