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!