Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi

Opening crawl

Plot summary

Vader's arrival to the Death Star

Almost twelve months following the events depicted in The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader arrives at the docking bay of the still-under-construction second Death Star, envisioned by the Empire to surpass the power of its predecessor. He is met by Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod, to whom he gives the order to accelerate the construction schedule to meet the deadline. Jerjerrod responds by stating that he requires more personnel, but quickly agrees to double their efforts upon learning of the Emperor's impending arrival.

Arriving at Jabba's Palace

In a parallel narrative, Luke Skywalker and his companions arrive on Tatooine with the intention of freeing their friend Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt's desert palace.

Initially, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO present themselves, bearing a holographic message from Skywalker requesting Solo's release. In return, the droids are offered as gifts to the crime lord; Luke vouches for their diligence and assures Jabba of their excellent service, to which Jabba silently consents. However, upon the message's conclusion, Jabba refuses to bargain and declares his intention to keep Solo as his "favorite decoration." The droids are then directed to their quarters, where EV-9D9 scolds them for explaining their capabilities. 3PO is assigned the role of Jabba's interpreter, while R2 is tasked with maintaining the Khetanna.

That evening, the Max Rebo Band (featuring Sy Snootles) provides entertainment for the Hutt's guests. Jabba, captivated by the movements of his leashed slave girl Oola, tugs on her chain and orders her to approach his throne. Oola fearfully resists, prompting Jabba to press a button on his throne, causing Oola to fall through a concealed trapdoor at the base of his throne, into the lair of the rancor monster, which promptly consumes her.

Saving Han Solo

Subsequently, Princess Leia Organa (disguised as bounty hunter Boushh) arrives with Chewbacca as her "prisoner" to claim a portion of the bounty Jabba had placed on Solo's head years prior. After extensive negotiations (including Leia threatening Jabba with a thermal detonator), Jabba agrees to a deal and imprisons Chewbacca.

Later that night, Leia frees Han Solo from his carbonite encasement, revealing her true identity with a kiss. As they attempt to escape, they are apprehended by Jabba and his henchmen. Ignoring Han's pleas, Jabba throws the captain into prison with Chewbacca. Although Lando Calrissian (disguised as one of Jabba's prison guards) attempts to sneak away with Leia, Jabba intervenes and orders a Gamorrean guard to bring Leia to him. Leia warns Jabba that he will regret capturing the Rebels, but Jabba disregards the threat and licks her face. Leia is then forced to become Jabba's new slave girl, adorned in a dancing costume and chained to his throne as a trophy.

Luke Skywalker arrives at the palace

Later, Luke arrives at the palace. Jabba and most of his court are asleep, but are awoken by Bib Fortuna (who, in trying to impede the Jedi's entrance, is Force-tricked into welcoming him). Leia remains silent beside the Hutt, despite her rising hope at seeing Luke. Luke demands that Jabba release Han and his other friends, but Jabba refuses the young Jedi's offer. Luke uses the Force to pull a nearby blaster and attempts to shoot Jabba, but the Hutt activates the trapdoor to protect himself, dropping the Jedi and an unfortunate guard into the rancor pit.

After a battle with the rancor (which devours the fallen guard), Luke ultimately kills the monster by crushing it under the gate of its compound, piercing its neck with the spikes at the bottom of the gate. He is then captured and brought up by Jabba's thugs. Jabba, furious, chokes Leia until she falls back on his stomach, and orders the prisoners to be brought before him. Luke, Han, and Chewbacca are brought before Jabba, exchanging relief at each other's safety as Leia struggles with Jabba to sit upright before him.

Using C-3PO as a translator, Jabba sentences Luke and his friends to be taken to the Dune Sea for termination (over a course of a thousand years) by the man-eating sarlacc at the Great Pit of Carkoon. Leia is spared from execution since she is Jabba's favorite slave. As Jabba orders the prisoners to be taken away, Luke warns him that he's made his last mistake, at which the Hutt laughs in amusement.

Skirmish at the Great Pit of Carkoon

Jabba, accompanied by Leia and several of his thugs, travels to the Pit of Carkoon via his sail barge, while the prisoners are taken on a smaller skiff. En route, R2-D2 is tasked with serving drinks to Jabba's guests, and the Max Rebo Band plays music in the background. Jabba allows Leia to climb off his throne and watch her friends from a window. After a while, he gives a tug on her chain, playfully commanding her to come to him. Leia glares back at him and returns to watching, and Jabba chuckles. He later pulls her chain again, this time forcing her to run to him on his throne. Jabba then informs Leia that she will soon learn to appreciate him and makes her drink from his goblet.

Outside, Luke and his companions (with Lando, still in disguise) discuss their situation. Han, still half-blinded from the side-effects of carbonization, is sure that they are all going to die, and Luke tries to reassure him of their ultimate safety, but Han is not easily convinced. Elsewhere in the sail barge, C-3PO literally runs into R2-D2 and knocks over the shorter droid's drink tray. C-3PO laments their friends' imminent deaths, but R2-D2 shows a kind of confidence, which C-3PO doesn't see any reason for.

When the vehicles ultimately reach the pit, Jabba has C-3PO announce the group's deaths, but that he is willing to now listen to their pleas. Han calls Jabba names and tells him that he'll not get any pleasure from their pleading, much to the Hutt's amusement, and Luke offers a final chance for Jabba to free him and his friends or die. Jabba and his guests laugh off this last threat and order the execution to commence. Luke gets ushered off of a plank and into the sarlacc, only to Force-flip up through the air and onto the skiff. Meanwhile, R2-D2 launches Luke's newly built lightsaber from a hidden panel in his housing, and Luke catches it and begins to attack his captors. As Jabba furiously orders his thugs to intervene, C-3PO gets knocked over. Leia looks around, ready to use her false submission to the Hutt to her advantage.

Boba Fett uses his jetpack to fly off of the barge and land on the skiff as Luke is in the act of freeing Han and Chewbacca. Luke uses his lightsaber to cut Fett's blaster in half, and Chewbacca pushes the bounty hunter onto the deck. Luke then jumps onto another of the accompanying skiffs to fight off the thugs there.

While fighting the skiff pilot, Lando falls off the side of the skiff, and although he manages to hold onto a wire, one of the sarlacc's tentacles begins to pull him to his death, and Han and Chewbacca have to carefully rescue him. Han accidentally activates Fett's backpack when he turns around and smashes the butt of an axe against it. Fett subsequently flies out of control from the skiff, crashing against the hull of the barge before falling into the sarlacc's open mouth, making it belch.

Aboard the sail barge, Leia smashes the controls for the sail barge's interior lights, throwing it into darkness, and proceeds to strangle Jabba with her chain, killing him. Leia jumps off of the throne and has R2-D2 help break her chain, then heads for the stairs to the top level of the sail barge. Meanwhile, Salacious B. Crumb attacks the fallen C-3PO, and R2-D2 uses the same device he'd freed Leia with to chase the lizard-monkey away. Reaching the surface, the droids jump off the edge of the sail barge and land in the Tatooinian sand.

Luke and Leia defeat the remaining thugs on the sail barge, then Luke has Leia point the gun toward the heart of the vehicle. They prepare to swing from a loose cable on the barge's sails, and Luke discharges the gun, beginning to destroy the barge. They swing to their rescue on the land skiff with Han, Lando, and Chewbacca, then use magnets to pick up the two droids from the sand. They all drive off just as the sail barge explodes.

Later, the crew departs Tatooine, all but Luke and R2-D2 headed for the rendezvous point near Sullust where the Rebel Alliance is assembling, while Luke and R2-D2 (in their X-wing) head for Dagobah to fulfill a promise to Yoda.

The Emperor arrives

On the second Death Star, the Emperor, Darth Sidious, arrives and praises Darth Vader on his efforts in the construction of the Death Star. He also senses that Vader craves the continuation of his search for his son, Luke. The old Sith Lord assures his apprentice that Luke will seek Vader out, that only together would the Sith be able to turn Luke to the dark side of the Force, and that everything was proceeding as the Emperor has foreseen.

Returning to Dagobah

Luke and R2-D2 arrive on Dagobah to find a terminally ill Yoda. Luke has returned to complete his Jedi training, but Yoda declares no further training is required. All that remains for Luke is to confront Vader. Yoda then reveals that Vader is indeed his father. The 900-year-old Jedi Master gives one last mention of wisdom to the young Jedi before he dies, disappearing in the way Obi-Wan Kenobi did aboard the first Death Star, thereby becoming one with the Force.

As Luke approaches his X-wing, the ghost form of Obi-Wan confirms that Vader was once Anakin Skywalker, a former Jedi Knight who turned to the dark side of the Force. Kenobi also reveals that Luke has a twin sister, hidden from Luke at birth as protection from the Emperor. Luke senses that his sister is Leia. Kenobi warns Luke to bury his feelings, for they could in time "serve the Emperor."

The mission begins

At the rendezvous point near Sullust, the Rebel Alliance gathers to reveal plans to attack the Death Star. As part of the plans, Luke, Leia, Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, and a strike team must penetrate the deflector shield generator on the forest moon of Endor in order to deactivate the shield if the Rebel fleet is to attack the Death Star. However, Vader knows this because he could sense that his son was with them and allows them to land on the planet. Luke senses his father as well and begins to believe that he has endangered the mission by coming.

The strike team lands on Endor only to be discovered by Imperial scout troopers. A speeder bike chase ensues, only for Leia to be thrown off her speeder and knocked unconscious. Luke and Han discover Leia's helmet, then they, with Chewbacca and the droids, try to find her. Leia is awakened by one of Endor's forest creatures, an Ewok named Wicket W. Warrick. Suddenly, another scout trooper discovers Leia, but Wicket does away with the trooper before rescuing Leia.

Luke, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids, meanwhile, fall into a booby trap set by the Ewoks. R2-D2 cuts open the net, setting them free, but the Ewok tribe discovers C-3PO and proclaims him to be their god. The droid's Human and Wookiee friends are taken prisoner, and the Ewoks proclaim Han to be the main course in a banquet in C-3PO's honor. Discovered by Leia, Luke then uses the Force to levitate C-3PO to show off his "great magic." Convinced of the Rebels' good intentions, the Ewoks set them free and later that evening make them "part of the tribe," thereby agreeing to join the fight against the Empire. But Luke decides the time has come to leave Endor and face Darth Vader. Leia follows Luke out of the tribal gathering, whereupon he tells her that Vader is his father and she is his sister. Leia is utterly shocked, but accepts the truth. She is comforted by Han Solo.

Meeting the Emperor

Vader arrives in his shuttle on a docking bay, and Luke, having already surrendered to the Empire, talks with Vader in an attempt to bring the Sith Lord out of the dark side of the Force, but to no avail. The Empire takes Luke into custody for transportation to the Death Star. The next day, the Rebels attempt to locate the shield generator, and the Rebel fleet enters hyperspace from Sullust to prepare for the final attack. Luke and Vader finally enter the Death Star and confront the Emperor, who looks forward to completing Luke's training and believes that while Vader would never turn from the dark side, neither would Luke. He also reveals that it was he who coordinated the Rebels finding the secret plans and locating the shield generator so that the Alliance can fall into a trap of Sidious' devising.

The Battle of Endor begins

The Rebels enter the heart of the shield generator, only to be taken prisoner by the Imperial forces. The fleet emerges from hyperspace for the battle, but discovers the shield is still up. As they contemplate their options, the Imperial fleet, which they were led to believe was away, appears and an intense battle begins. Han and the strike team are led out of the bunker by the stormtroopers, but the droids and the Ewoks have already orchestrated the attack on the Empire, and another intense battle commences with the Rebels and Ewoks on one side, the Empire on another. The Emperor shows Luke the full power of the Death Star as the station, now fully operational, destroys one of the Alliance's ships. Meanwhile, on Endor, the battle continues, with casualties (Rebel, stormtrooper, and Ewok) already mounting. Eventually, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca gain access to the bunker.

Duel between father and son

Back on the Death Star, Luke, with the encouragement of Darth Sidious, lashes out at him with his lightsaber, only to be deflected by Vader, and the final duel between father and son begins. As Luke climbs onto a balcony, Vader throws his lightsaber at his son. It misses Luke and knocks the balcony down, taking Luke with it. Vader stalks for a hidden Luke to let down his guard, while quietly sensing within his son's mind that Luke has a sister. Vader threatens to turn her to the dark side if Luke will not, prompting Luke to respond viciously in intense saber fighting, up to the point where Luke strikes off Vader's right mechanical hand. Sidious betrays Vader by encouraging Luke to take his father's place at his side, but Luke controls his anger and throws his lightsaber aside. He declares himself to be a Jedi Knight like his father Anakin had been before he turned to the dark side into Darth Vader.

Anakin's choice

Han, Leia, and Chewbacca escape from the bunker just in time for its destruction, thus bringing down the shield. The Alliance is now free to attack the half-completed Death Star. On the Death Star, the enraged Emperor declares that if Luke will not turn to the dark side, he will be destroyed, and uses Force lightning against the young Jedi. He revels in torturing Luke by slowly increasing the intensity of the lightning. Luke then cries out to his father to help him. As the Emperor prepares to deliver the killing bolts, Vader looks at Luke and then the Emperor, conflicted whether to save his son or to continue serving his master.

Moved by his son's cries for help and unwilling to see him die, Vader turns back to the light side as Anakin and lifts the Emperor into the air, carries him over and throws him into the Death Star's reactor shaft, killing him. However, in the process, Vader is struck by the Emperor's Force lightning, which enters his organic remains, striking his life support system and his respirator, mortally wounding him. The Millennium Falcon and its remaining Rebel fighters enter the bowels of the Death Star, and some fighters engage in a point-blank attack on the Super Star Destroyer, causing the Imperial flagship's destruction.

Anakin Skywalker's Death

On the Death Star, in the middle of the evacuation, Luke carries his father's ravaged body to the foot of an Imperial shuttle's ramp. Anakin stops Luke and asks him to remove his mask so that he can look upon the face of his son, just once, with his "own eyes."

Luke removes the mask and sees the face of his father for the first time. Anakin's face is revealed to have turned pale white and scaly, and his head retains some vicious scars after 23 years from his duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar.

Anakin tells Luke that his son was right—he did have good left in him, and asks him to tell his sister the same. With that, Anakin Skywalker, the redeemed Jedi Knight, smiles at his son and dies peacefully. Luke bows his head in sadness.

Knocking out the main reactor

The Millennium Falcon and its strike force (in the last Rebel fighter inside) reach the Death Star's main reactor and fire concussion missiles and proton torpedoes at it, causing it to collapse. Luke escapes the Death Star with his father's body and flies out through the flames, as do Wedge Antilles and the Millennium Falcon before the Death Star explodes.

Seeing the destruction from above, Han senses Leia's love for Luke. He offers to step aside when Luke arrives, but she tells Han that Luke is her brother. After a moment of speechless surprise, Han and Leia engage in a passionate kiss.

The big galaxy victory celebration

That evening in Endor, Luke sets a funeral pyre ablaze to cremate the body of his father, still encased in Darth Vader's outfit, per the Jedi funeral rite. His father's organic body becomes one with the Force. Through the rising flames and fireworks, Rebel fighters streak across the sky in celebration of one of the greatest Rebel victories in the Galactic Civil War.

The planets, including Bespin, Tatooine, Naboo, and Coruscant, join in the celebration. Luke finds himself once more with his friends Han, Lando, the droids, Chewbacca, the surviving Rebel fleet members, the Ewoks, and his sister, Leia. Subsequently, Luke observes the spectral forms of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda, and Anakin Skywalker, who have become Force ghosts. Luke is overjoyed because he has become a Jedi and his father has returned to the light side of the Force. As the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin watch with pride, Leia and Luke reunite with their comrades and allies.

Development

The project was initially called Blue Harvest for a number of reasons and was subtitled "Horror Beyond Imagination" to discourage interest and hide the true nature of the production from fans and the media. Following the success of The Empire Strikes Back, George Lucas, feeling persecuted, severed his ties with the Hollywood system and became an independent filmmaker. According to Howard Kazanjian in Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy, Lucasfilm's non-union status made securing filming locations more challenging and costly, even though A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back had been enormous successes, despite Lucas's influence.

Richard Marquand, who passed away in 1987 due to a heart condition, directed the movie. However, reports indicate that George Lucas was heavily involved in the production of Return of the Jedi and likely directed some second-unit work when the schedule was in danger of being delayed. In the documentary Empire of Dreams, Lucas acknowledges that he frequently had to be present on set because Marquand was relatively inexperienced with special effects. However, Irvin Kershner, the director of The Empire Strikes Back, suggests in that film's DVD audio commentary that Lucas played a similar advisory role in the production of Return of the Jedi, as he had on The Empire Strikes Back. Furthermore, according to Kershner, George Lucas referred to The Empire Strikes Back as Kershner's film, not his.

Some individuals have pointed out that Richard Marquand's and Lucas's directing styles are different, asserting that they are not alike. The screenplay was a collaboration between Lawrence Kasdan and Lucas, with uncredited contributions from David Webb Peoples, and it was based on Lucas's story. Howard G. Kazanjian took on the role of producer.

According to the documentary Empire of Dreams, George Lucas initially wanted to call the film Return of the Jedi, but he changed it to Revenge of the Jedi after Lawrence Kasdan told him that "Return" was a weak title. A few months before the movie's release, on January 27, Lucas revealed that the film would be called Return of the Jedi. Lucas explained in interviews that the change was made because a Jedi would not seek revenge. However, many people believe that George Lucas had always intended to name the film Return of the Jedi and only used "Revenge" as a tactic to deter counterfeiters of merchandise. It has additionally been asserted that the title was altered because of its resemblance to Revenge of the Jedi, as the working title of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was The Vengeance of Khan. In William Shatner's autobiography Star Trek Movie Memories, Nicholas Meyer, the director, verified that he did not think 20th Century Fox would permit Paramount to rename his film from The Undiscovered Country to The Vengeance of Khan due to the production of Revenge of the Jedi. When Star Trek II was renamed The Wrath of Khan and Revenge of the Jedi ultimately became Return of the Jedi, all of this potential controversy vanished. The working title was partially reused for Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

Filming spanned from January 11 to May 20, 1982, taking place in the Redwood National Park forests of California, the Yuma desert of Arizona, and at Elstree Studios in the United Kingdom. The final shot to be completed was from the speeder bike scene. During breaks in filming, First Assistant Director David Tomblin collaborated with Warwick Davis on Return of the Ewok, a short film intended for promotional purposes. However, the project was abandoned and is considered lost, with the only known copy being a VHS in Davis's possession (which Lucasfilm has since digitally archived).

Drew Struzan, the artist behind the Star Wars series, developed the distinctive and iconic images for the movie posters and other advertising materials as part of a large global marketing effort. Luke Skywalker is seen holding a blue lightsaber on the movie's release poster, even though this color lightsaber is not used in the movie. His new lightsaber is green, although it is blue in one trailer, which suggests that the decision to make it green was made late in production. The decision was made to make Luke's blade stand out against the blue Tatooine sky and to make it more visible during the Carkoon battle.

A wardrobe issue in the film is that every Imperial character, regardless of rank, wears the same rank insignia, which is that of an Imperial Navy Commander. The production team only became aware of this halfway through filming, and the error was kept in the finished product.

Mark Hamill speculated before the film's production that Luke would turn to the dark side in the middle of the film, with the main conflict being whether Luke could return to the light side. A similar conflict would appear in the comic serial Star Wars: Dark Empire.

Release

The movie premiered on May 25, 1983, exactly six years after the release of the first film.

Merchandise

James Kahn was the author of the novelization of Return of the Jedi. The release of Revenge of the Sith overturned Kahn's claim that Anakin Skywalker remembers "lava crawling up his back," even though it contains numerous scenes that were cut from the finished product. Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke Skywalker in the novelization of Return of the Jedi that he and Anakin Skywalker fought and that his father "fell into a molten pit." Owen Lars is also referred to as Obi-Wan Kenobi's brother in the novelization. Owen Lars was later revealed to be Anakin Skywalker's stepbrother. Joel and Nash Edgerton, who portrayed Owen and served as Ewan McGregor's stunt double in the prequel trilogy, are actually brothers. The Emperor reads Luke's mind at the start of the confrontation in Darth Sidious's throne room and learns that Yoda finished Luke's Jedi training and that Yoda is now dead. He does not, however, give any indication that he recognizes Yoda's name.

Marvel Comics adapted the film into a comic book. Unlike the earlier film adaptations, it was released as a four-part (1 2 3 4) mini-series rather than as part of the ongoing Star Wars series. Al Williamson illustrated the adaptation, which was written by Archie Goodwin. (Later, in 1998 in Japan and 1999 in the United States, Shin-Ichi Hiromoto created a manga adaptation.)

Although the first two Star Wars films were adapted for radio in the early 1980s, it wasn't until 1996 that a radio version of Return of the Jedi was created. HighBridge Audio produced the adaptation, which was written by Brian Daley and broadcast on National Public Radio.

CBS broadcast Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi, the official making-of documentary, in November 1983. The Ewoks' popularity also resulted in two made-for-TV movies in 1984 (The Ewok Adventure) and 1985 (Ewoks: The Battle for Endor), as well as an animated TV series that aired on ABC in 1985 and 1986.

Special Edition and home video

As with the other two films in his original trilogy, Lucas released a Special Edition of Return of the Jedi in theaters on March 14, 1997. It includes a number of aesthetic changes and additions, such as the replacement of a piece of music from the closing scene. Hayden Christensen portrays Anakin Skywalker in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. However, Sebastian Shaw, a much older actor, played both the dying Anakin Skywalker and his Force spirit in the original and Special Edition versions of Return of the Jedi. Anakin's ghost has been transformed into a young man, played by Christensen, on the DVD release, and this is regarded as the canon version of the ghost. Lucas explains in the DVD commentary that Anakin has learned to control his life force beyond death, just as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda had before him. (This is briefly explained in Revenge of the Sith.) Anakin is able to return to the young man he was before turning to the dark side, rather than appearing as the older man who was Darth Vader.

Lucas's ongoing revisions to all of the Star Wars films have drawn criticism. On the one hand, the redemption of Luke's father as an older man implies that this is the image that ought to represent him after death. On the other hand, the older man was arguably never Anakin Skywalker until his final moments, and the vision of Hayden Christensen brings the story full circle: Darth Vader defeated, Anakin Skywalker at rest. Nevertheless, many fans contend that Shaw is disrespected by Christensen's insertion.

On September 21, 2004, the original three films were made available on DVD. This release included a few more changes, including sound effects and enhancements to the film's visual quality.

An additional scene depicting the celebrations on Theed, Naboo, was shown during the sequence in which the Emperor's defeat at Endor is announced to the galaxy. A Gungan can be heard yelling "Wesa free" in this scene. The Senate Building and the Jedi Temple have been added to the background in the scene depicting the people of Coruscant celebrating.

George Lucas once again changed Return of the Jedi to strengthen the connection between the original and prequel trilogies with the release of the third episode, which details how and why Anakin Skywalker turned to the dark side of the Force. In the original film, Sebastian Shaw portrayed Anakin in the hangar bay and during the final celebration scene. Shaw played Anakin in the hangar bay scene in the DVD release, though his eyebrows had been digitally removed to make his appearance more closely resemble Anakin's wounded appearance at the conclusion of Revenge of the Sith. However, during the final celebration, he was replaced by Hayden Christensen, who appeared as he did in Revenge of the Sith before being injured on Mustafar. Instead of simply reshooting the Force ghost of Anakin with Hayden, test footage of Hayden's head was digitally grafted to the body of Sebastian Shaw playing the role.

Lucasfilm Ltd. released a two-DVD set on September 12, 2006, that included the 2004 Special Edition and the original theatrical version that had not been altered. This release was limited and lasted until December 31 of that year.

On September 16, 2011, the movie was re-released in the Blu-ray format. This release included previously unreleased deleted scenes from the film among its bonus features. This release included a third round of changes to the film, mostly minor visual alterations.

The Walt Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, and Lucasfilm jointly announced the digital releases of the six released Star Wars films on April 7, 2015. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released Return of the Jedi for digital download on April 10, 2015, as Lucasfilm had retained digital distribution rights to Episodes I through III and V through VI. Luke's lightsaber was blue on the official promo poster for Return of the Jedi, but it is green in the movie.

Despite the Walt Disney Company's 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd. and the release rights to all future Star Wars films, Fox was to retain original distribution rights to Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which they co-produced and co-financed, in perpetuity in all media worldwide. Fox was also to retain theatrical, nontheatrical, and home-video rights worldwide for the franchise's five subsequent films, which Lucasfilm produced and financed independently, through May 2020, at which time ownership was to transfer to Disney. This complex relationship between Fox and Disney, particularly in regards to Fox's perpetual rights to Episode IV, was to create an obstacle for any future boxed set comprising all nine films. The Walt Disney Company announced on December 14, 2017 that it would acquire the majority of Fox's parent company, 21st Century Fox, including the film studio and all distribution rights to A New Hope. The deal was formally finalized on March 20, 2019. It was reported on April 12, 2019, that a Blu-ray box set containing the nine main installments of the Star Wars saga remastered in 4K was being developed for release in 2020.

40th anniversary re-release

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Return of the Jedi received a limited theatrical re-release in 2023, running from April 28 to May 1 in the United Kingdom, and from April 28 to May 4 in the United States.

Reception

Lucas stated in the commentary for the 2004 DVD release that the Ewoks were an allegory for a technologically underdeveloped force overcoming a powerful Empire, comparing it to events such as the Vietnam War, Attila the Hun and the Roman Empire, and the American Revolutionary War. According to The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film, the idea came about and evolved from Lucas's interest in the Vietnam War while making Apocalypse Now, in which the less technologically advanced Vietcong specifically prevailed over the United States. Some people, like conservative commentator Bill Whittle in the webseries Afterburner episode "Han Shot First," have criticized this for its perceived offensive connotations and morally ambiguous implications. However, in the contemporary documentary From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga, Lucas asserts that the Vietnam War was merely the inspiration from which the subplot evolved, rather than a political thesis. However, a note in the 1973 draft for A New Hope (then simply called Star Wars) did make clear that the events of the film were inspired by "a large technological empire going after a group of freedom fighters" in a clear allusion to the events of Vietnam.

The U.S. Library of Congress chose Return of the Jedi for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2021, deeming it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Media

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Credits