Let's just talk Return of the Jedi

I love ROTJ, I have it third on my list behind TESB and ANH.
I went to see this in the Cinema when I was 4 years old so it was the first Star Wars film I saw on the big screen as I'd seen ANH and TESB prior to this at home on Betamax video.

What's not to like about this film, it's fantastic!

The rescue of Han from Jabba, seeing Luke as a Jedi going head to head with Vader again and facing Palpatine. The BEST space battle in Star Wars, new ships and I loved the battle on Endor. I even loved the Ewoks, as a 4 year old seeing them for the first time was fun and I still enjoy watching this film.

It was a great ending to the OT.

 

not my favorite, but certainly among the best 3 SW films. ;-) I adore those ewoks.

 

The main reason many have for dissing "Return of the Jedi", is the existence of the Ewoks. Accusations have been hurled for years that Lucas purposely geared the film toward young kids, instead of carrying on with the darker themes presented in "The Empire Strikes Back". Personally, I think those accusations are complete BS, and I like the Ewoks for the most part. If anything, their participation in the fight exemplifies the classic battle between nature and technology. My only beef with the film is the "Jedi Rocks" sequence, from the Special Edition. It stops the movie dead in its tracks, and the song makes no sense because its done entirely in an alien language with no subtitles.

 

Me too, but I'll always regret George, in the special edition, decided to design that stupid singing toad in the Cantina, rather than animate the Ewoks masks to make them more "living beings".
That moment Wickett encounters Leia, and is being convinced by a little biscuit, he eats without moving a single lip has always bothered me (1:34 in the video below)

 

ROTJ is my favorite film of the classic trilogy because it's the culmination and climax of all the story elements that AHH and ESB set up. I would change nothing of the original movie. I loved the classic special effects that brought such a handcrafted art to the screen, and seeing this movie in its original release in 1983 was, and still is, the greatest moment of my life.

 

Ah, thanks for sharing. I didn't know all that. There's still a part of me that feels it would've made more sense to have a band of Wookies instead of the Ewoks. But for me, it's really just a nitpick in the grand scheme of things. ROTJ isn't just my favourite of the original trilogy, but my favourite Star Wars film period. (with ESB in second place)

I've welcomed the new movies and TV shows, yet ROTJ is still a wonderful culmination of everything up to that point. From the rescue at Jabba's Palace to the final battle against the Empire's forces; just an incredible journey. Vader and Palpatine are both fantastic. I love the progression of Luke's character too; you can see how far he's come since ANH.

And of course, Vader's redemption and death. Still one of the saddest movie scenes ever.

 

I always had trouble choosing my most favourite Star Wars movie because I just love all three OT ones but I think I RoTJ is the most special for me, mostly because it's the perfect ending to the perfect trilogy. Also the battle scenes of the Battle of Endor were nothing short of amazing, Palpatine had a lot of screen time and was extremely scary, conversations, interactions and banter between the characters were memorable and often hilarious, Sarlaac pit, Jabba's palace & carbonite-frozen Han, the throne room, Luke and Vader's duel; it's just so action packed and epic. Vader's redemption and the force-ghosts ending makes me tear up every time. I didn't mind the Ewoks either... I actually liked the idea of low-tech natives helping bring down a high-tech tyranny and they also provided some comic relief.

 

One of my favorite parts was the sand barges.
It was just so far ahead of a concept for its time.

Now, seeing flying boats on sand is trope, but then it was a marvel.

Ralph has talked about the design and said it wasn't from any specific thing; that he was more just waxing on various ships he had seen when sketching.

I have to wonder, however, if his subconcious was pulling on visual memories of the French Redoubtable when making his initial sketches.
It's a really unique design, the Redoubtable, looking like something almost sci-fi itself - a mix of old and new kind of slammed together in a way I think only the French of the 19th century could have done.

Here's an image of both.



It's not the only inspiration, but, to me, it's hard to pass it as part of it.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

You must love the huge Sand Barge they made recently:

 

I don't collect stuff anymore. I used to, about 20 years ago, but after I lost my entire collection I never really bothered to get back into it.

But the sand barge had a huge chunk of inspiration in my own conceptual designs when I did a bit of preliminary work for a start-up MMORPG company back in the early 2000's (don't look for it; they ended up dead before completion - like so many, but hey - I was only in the front-end period so I got paid a bit).

They wanted a way to travel that was different; that would set them apart from other MMORPGs (of the time - this was 2005). Someone said Sand Sail ships, so they wanted that designed. Sand Sails are a very old Sci-Fi trope, but they always look like just...well...boats (often Elvish looking) hovering in the air.
Star Wars was different because, while the ships were hovering like the classic idea, they looked radically different with sharper angles and a more metallic and technical build design - like a space ship for going over sand. I liked that approach, and I also wanted to put the ships in the sand; not above it. So that dunes road like waves.

So...I recalled the barges from Star Wars (of course), and I also watched a lot of Star Trek and realized that if you flip Jabba's barge upside down, it somewhat looks like the hull of a Star Trek ship.



So I thought, well...if it works [ Star Wars barge] + [flipped around] = [Star Trek ship], let's see if [Star Trek ship] + [flipped around] = Star Wars-like barge (but...we'll add in gear to skid along the sand with since we're not hovering).

The result was this.





The first one is a Romulan hull (chopped up where I liked the lines) mixed with the wings from the Klingon Bird of Prey, and sails added accordingly.
The second one is, again, a Romulan hull, but mixed with Federation parts for the skids instead of Klingon.

Again, this was all inspired by my love of the sand barges of Star Wars.

So, though I don't have a collection...the point in all of this, I suppose, is that the whole beginning of ROTJ is basically burned into my psyche. lol

Cheers,
Jayson

 

ROTJ has so many amazing moments, for me, as an X-Wing and Wedge Antilles fanatic, it has to be this moment....

Red Leader, standing by....

 

True, Wedge is generally an interesting character, and I like his role in ESB and ROTJ, but it disturbs me that he leaves the Death Star trench run as soon as his craft is damaged, even though the remaining rebels at the base are counting on the fighters to take down the Death Star before it blows them up. Wedge's desertion contributes towards Biggs's death too, if I remember right (unless Wedge couldn't shoot).

 

Don't hold your buttons on that too much. That trench run mostly had things happen as they do because those were beats that happened in The Dambusters film's dam run. Sometimes almost line for line.

Cheers,
Jayson

 

He does both in ROTJ. He still brings the machine metaphor, or the lack of compassion metaphor from ESB, that cautionary idea that Luke is turning into Vader.

We have an overtly happy ending at the end of the film, and we have an almost literal scene of Luke on the verge of making a decision of going to Hades over killing his father, (who deserves to die for the most part from killing the Jedi from their supposed betrayals, passively observing the dstruction of Alderaan, and killing the rebels) , over an admittedly implausible taunt.

He shows Ewoks looking cute and Ewoks dying in the heat of battle. It's pure nightmare fuel with the contrast, in my opinion.

Also, I like the Native American influence on the Ewoks and the fact that they used dwarfs for the Ewoks.

 

I have to say I love the new DVD cover for ROTJ:

 

It's beautiful! Reminds me of all the things I love about the movie. Always had a soft spot for ROTJ. Actually come to think of it, it kind of reminds me a little of the official poster for TROS (probably bacause that one was heavily inspired by the OT posters).

 

ROTJ is the favorite OT film for most of the members of my family, including me. Thd Throne Room scenes with Luke, Vader, and Sheev will live on in our memories. I especially love that the Dark Choir (Palpatine, Sith Theme) was introduced in ROTJ; just when you thought the Inperial March couldn’t be topped.

 

I love the Dark Choir theme too. So haunting. I'd never heard it called that before, but I immediately knew what you were talking about.

 

It is William’s genius. He has given us so many iconic themes, I even love Kylo Ren’s theme. I hope we get the Dark Choir reprised in TROS.