From Filmmaking to Toymaking: The Downfall of "Return of the Jedi", Pt. 3

The final bit that changed with the alternate script and draft was the ending. It was to derive inspiration from a "Clint Eastwood spaghetti western", as Kurtz put it. More precisely:

"The discussed ending of the film that <I> favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns."

What we can pull from that, at least what I did, is that the ending was going to be a lot more bittersweet than the one that currently exists. Like we saw Luke Skywalker conquer Vader, defeat the Emperor, and rather than happily celebrate with his friends, he would've slapped on the Jedi robes and walked off into the sunset. This ending would've made a shit load more sense, considering where they took it with The Force Awakens. Instead, the ending of Return of the Jedi sees Luke reunite with his friends and party with them and the Ewoks and everybody's happy. It's only the fact now that between those movies that Luke decides to train some people, then one pupil ruins the whole thing for everybody, causing Luke to go into excile. Personally, I think it would've been neat to have Luke just immediately go into exile at the end of Jedi, considering the emotional shit that he just went through. I mean, he had a cyborg and an old wizard taunting him to turn angry for an entire final battle, when does the poor kid get a break? Considering Luke kinda came into Jabba's Palace as a loaner, it would make more sense for him to disappear as a loaner. Then when Force Awakens comes around...*gasp* Luke's still in exile, as he had vanished from sight after helping the rebels in Jedi only to now be called upon once again. I think the story of Force Awakens was written for this ending (and to rip off Star Wars, but that's beside the point). Luke Skywalker would've been a far more powerfully present character on screen if he were treated more as Clint Eastwood from the Dollar trilogy; somebody who shows up when called upon and commands the entire screen with his presence. Luke's still valiant as a regular ol' swashbuckling hero, but I think this idea of sending Luke off into the sunset without his friends at the end of Return of the Jedi would be more poignant and iconic. Instead, we have Ewoks...that is one massive one-eighty.

What about the Leia ending? There's potential that could of happened with that as well. In my view, it could've made The Force Awakens make a ton more sense too. Let's face it; the prequels kinda ripped a rug out from underneath the whole "princess/royalty" thing. I mean, even if Padme's a Queen by title, she's still an elected Queen...however that works. Even then, she was adopted by a senator from Coruscant, Bail Organa. Would she still carry her phony Princess title through the adoption? Maybe; an argument can be made for that. Still, if they really followed through on it, this is the ending that would've been a better story to run all the way into The Force Awakens. It could have eliminated the need for this superfluous good-guy faction in the Resistance, by replacing it with just the New Republic with Leia as its Queen. That way, The Force Awakens doesn't leave the Resistance to get all the spotlight and this so-called New Republic to get destroyed by a Starkiller Base super-laser attack after about one hundred and twenty seconds of screentime.

So take it as you read it. Gary Kurtz claims that we've missed out on a possibly more power ending to the fabled Star Wars original trilogy. If you ask me, I'm content with the one we have. It's still a childhood favorite, and there are redeeming things about it. Luke Skywalker is walking badass in the movie, and every scene he's in, Mark Hamill's surprisingly deadpan delivery works amazingly in sync with the flow of each scene. A lot of people say he's dry, but with him, it works. I can't explain it, it's just something I know. I know that when Hayden Christensen tried to replicate it for the prequel trilogy as Luke's father, it came off more boring and less inspired than Hamill's. Yet, it was basically the same style of delivery.

I hope you learned something, or at least gave it some thought. This version of Return of the Jedi is lost forever, nothing more than a few ideas that never came to fruition, but it's certainly interesting to think about. I find it fascinating to find out what some of my favorite movies could have been, and Star Wars is of no exception. Return of the Jedi is not a quality follow-up to The Empire Strikes Back, but it still does great in a few areas. The style is there, the settings are exotic, the special effects are superb. Just some story and character elements could maybe have used a second going over. But, it is what it is and it exists for a reason. The ending cap of the middle trilogy, in a saga originally conceived to be four trilogies of films, then three after the release of Star Wars, two after the release of Empire, and then none after Jedi. Until George decided in '94 to kickstart the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Well, thanks for reading. Again, I hope you at least enjoyed and learned a little something. I would say "May the force be with you", but that's just a tacky way to end it.

From Filmmaking to Toymaking: The Downfall of "Return of the Jedi", Pt. 2

Read "Part 1" Here

As production on the third and then-final Star Wars film was picking up steam, several things were in place that were eventually going to be dropped entirely, delayed for later films, or changed completely. Return of the Jedi, early on in production, was ultimately a very different movie, both artistically and thematically, then when production finished two years later. It would tell a very different story with a very different ending. Hell, it wasn't even called Return of the Jedi. It was originally going to be released as Revenge of the Jedi, but that title got changed right before release because Lucas felt that "Jedi do not take revenge". *Cough* Anakin killing the sand people *cough* *cough*. Gary Kurtz, producer of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back and former producer of Return of the Jedi, outlines why things changed the way they did. Kurtz says:

“I could see where things were headed. The toy business began to drive the Lucasfilm empire. It’s a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It’s natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that’s not the best thing for making quality films.”

Toys. Again, it all comes back to toys. Let's face it, the first Star Wars movie in '77 didn't have much in the way of tie-in toys. After all, kids literally bought empty cardboard boxes from Kenner because the movie did so well, that Kenner wasn't prepared for the movie's huge success with the lack of toy development they had made. So kids bought an empty cardboard box from Kenner promising them that they'd get free figures when they became available. How psycho is that?! That's like if Microsoft totally underestimated an Xbox launch, so to compensate, they made you pay $500 for an empty cardboard box that you then sat on for five months until you got the actual console shipped to you, if you even got it at all. Kids in '77 must've been desperate. So in '83, during the release of Return of the Jedi, I guess we can put together that Kurtz is suggesting that toys factored in to a lot of Lucas's decision making, the biggest one being cancelling Han Solo's untimely demise.

That's right, before he was due to die in The Force Awakens, Han Solo was slated to die in Return of the Jedi during a rebel raid on an Imperial compound. Harrison Ford was notoriously behind this idea way back then even, so this could have been a very real possibility. Gary Kurtz states that he "was never a fan of the Han Solo character", and thought too that Han should die "to give Jedi some grim moments". George Lucas stated in the documentary "Empire of Dreams" that Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill were the only ones to sign on for all three films. Harrison Ford signed on film-to-film, hoping that Han Solo would be killed off. In the original, much more poignant script, Han was to still be rescued by Luke and Leia at Jabba's palace, only to die about halfway through the movie in an Imperial raid. This was apparently dropped, against the wishes of both Gary Kurtz and Harrison Ford, when Lucas came to the decision to save him. There's even a rumor on the quote that Lucas used to back his decision, which was "You can't sell dead Han Solo action figures". So, take it however you want. Plenty of articles on this subject. Kurtz even goes on further to state:

“We had an outline and George changed everything in it. Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason [the change was made]." "The first film and 'Empire' were about story and character, but I could see that George’s priorities were changing."

All of this seems to just further persuade the reader that Lucas is how people later on have made him out to be; a toymaker who just so happens to be in the filmmaking business. While it's not the worst thing in the world to have a merchandising plan in place for your movies to get non-moviegoers at toy stores and clothes stores into the theaters to see your movie, it does get to be a bit ridiculous to let the toymaking machine completely change how you want to tell your story. Apparently, that ideology must've changed somewhere down the road too, because The Force Awakens killed Han Solo off and they made Han Solo action figures for that movie. So...ha? Lucas has always notoriously been a person to let his personal beliefs influence how he makes his movies. His changing mentality throughout the years has also been a driving force for changing the original editions into the Special Editions and why those changes were awful...we've already talked about how much they sucked.

Part 3 coming soon...

From Filmmaking to Toymaking: The Downfall of "Return of the Jedi", Pt. 1

Now I know what you're thinking: "Cody, would you kindly do your blog a favor and just shut up about Star Wars?", to which the correct response is "I don't know enough about Harry Potter to sound intelligent, go write your own blog". Anywho, one thing this blog is heavy on is the criticism of George Lucas. Then again, the whole internet is heavy on that stuff, so I'm just hopping on the bandwagon.

What I thought I'd try my hand out at is an actual editorial. An informative piece of writing with my own opinions and thoughts. What I'm going to do is discuss the original outline of the third film in the original Star Wars trilogy, which we now know as Return of the Jedi. Jedi was the third film made, but it's the sixth film in terms of chronology. Return of the Jedi is famous to Star Wars fans for being the one that was pretty much two filler-plots thrown in a blender to make a movie. The first act was Luke Skywalker and his cohorts infiltrating Jabba the Hutt's Palace and stealing back Han Solo. The second and third acts became an excursion to destroy a second Death Star. There are some other underlying character arcs that intertwine this story, but ultimately the consensus among Star Wars fans is that Return of the Jedi is a weak follow-up to the glory that is The Empire Strikes Back and couldn't or didn't close the story out the proper way. There were cool parts with Luke/Vader II as well as the ground and space battles on/over Endor, but the rehashed Death Star plot, the overdone Jabba the Hutt-filler opening and the ridiculous inclusion of the Ewoks into the whole thing really leaves a sour taste in people's mouths. If somebody comes up to you and rips on Jar Jar Binks or Midichlorians, you just bring up the Ewoks and you've got 'em by the balls, because anybody who tries to defend the Ewoks is either a liar, an idiot, or someone who's never even heard of Star Wars. The movie is just too happy, even with Luke trying to get turned to the dark side. It's all euphoric and cutesy and its just not as good as Star Wars or Empire. So you could even make the argument that those who worship "the original trilogy" are fools because it isn't even solid. Boy, Star Wars movies just aren't that good when you really think about it, ehh? I kid, I kid. Well, I'm here to tell you that Return of the Jedi wasn't supposed to turn out like it was if the original producer had stuck around. That man is Gary Kurtz, and Kurtz in the recent years has come out to other bloggers and movie outlets stating that had he remained on board, Jedi would've turned out far differently and would've been a far more poignant piece of bittersweet art than the super-happy, glitzy conclusion we know.

L: Gary Kurtz, R: George Lucas

Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, the first two films in the saga out in 1977 and 1980, respectively, were two of the biggest films that Hollywood had ever seen at that time. Both movies were money-making machines and couldn't be stopped at the box office unless you drove two stakes through their hearts. Kids as much as adults were drawn to the adventures of farm boy Luke Skywalker, rogue Han Solo, galactic rebel princess Leia, bumbling droid sidekicks C-3PO and R2-D2 and the sinister Galactic Empire dark lord Darth Vader. Star Wars was a swashbuckling adventure of Luke being led by legendary Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi on a daring missing to rescue Princess Leia from the clutches of the Galactic Empire's sinister weapon, the Death Star, and then lead a rebel fighter assault on the Death Star and blow it up to save the galaxy. The Empire Strikes Back was a continuation of that adventure that saw a love story between Han Solo and Princess Leia blossom while Luke Skywalker sought out Jedi master Yoda on Dagobah to train him to be a Jedi Knight. The movie ends with the oh-so-iconic lightsaber duel between a young, inexperienced Luke and Darth Vader, with Vader defeating him and revealing to Luke that he's his father in probably the most iconic moment in Hollywood history. Empire ends with Han Solo, having been frozen in carbonite, being taken by bounty hunter Boba Fett to gangster Jabba the Hutt. Luke and Leia then hatch a plan to go and rescue Han from Jabba as newfound friend Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca fly away in the Millennium Falcon. Boom. Two movies that are just perfect soulmates of each other, developing new and exciting characters while also flawlessly creating and molding their arcs and behaviors in ways that people can really get behind. So when the third and final chapter was coming, people were ready to see what conclusion could possibly tie this whole thing all together...

Stay tuned for part 2 of "From Filmmaking to Toymaking: The Downfall of Return of the Jedi", where we let Gary Kurtz spill the beans on "what might've been" right here on Spoiler Alert!