In its opening minutes, Return claims to be Episode VI in the Star Wars saga, but the viewer is disappointed to learn that in fact it is two episodes. Episode VI-A involves Solo's escape from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt, and Episode VI-B details the turning point in the rebels' war on the Empire. The two plotlines are fine, but Lucas should have merged them so they ran in parallel, just like the plotlines in each of Episodes IV and V.
It might have gone as follows: The movie opens with a dramatic confrontation between Luke and the rebellion's military commander. The commander has decided that time is too pressing and Luke too important to expend, so Solo's rescue must wait until after the Death Start falls. Luke appeals to Leia, but she reluctantly agrees. Luke heads off in a huff to finish his training with Yoda (when Luke arrives, Yoda admonishes him, "Much to relearn have you."), and Leia begins preparations for the assault on the generating station. However, a new rebel superweapon breaks down, and only Solo knows some piece of information that is vital to its repair (perhaps the Worm Asteroid from Empire has high concentrations of a rare mineral, and only Solo knows the coordinates of the asteroid). The rebels judge the generating station to be inpenetrable without the superweapon, so Luke is summoned from this training to rescue Solo while the rebellion fights a holding action.
This way the movie could have worked toward all its climaxes simultaneously -- the success of the battle hinges not only on capturing the shield base, but also rescuing Solo and then retrieving the minerals from the Worm Asteroid. Or perhaps the expedition to the asteroid could fail, forcing a hasty revision in plans (as it is, the viewer becomes bored that the rebels' plans succeed with clockwork precision). For example: The rebels originally judge the base to be inpenetrable, and plan instead to take the Death Star directly, but when the expedition to the Worm Asteroid takes too long they are forced to make a desperate assault on the generating base. The Ewok's surprisingly useful aid would be even more appreciated under these circumstances.
But these enchancements of the plotline would have made only the action- adventure elements of Return acceptable, and the Star Wars saga is much more than an action-adventure series. More properly, Star Wars is a great epic of high fantasy, a close cousin of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, and Alexander's Prydain series (Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant may also be similar, but the viewer may not have read them). As such, the saga must have strong elements of action and adventure, but it must also devote some time to examining human and philosophical issues. In this latter category, Return fails as well.
The movie fails because it does not offer any new blows to the solar plexus. The first Star Wars (Episode IV, A New Hope) delivered the highest concentration of adventure to come along in decades, perhaps ever, and it gave the viewer some outstanding human moments -- Leia's brave defiance in captivity, Luke's uneasiness and frustration with his special gift, Obi-Wan's defeat-cum-victory beneath Vader's saber (a scene which will no doubt become even more meaningful when the first trilogy is released), and Solo's last-minute heroism.
Empire also came through with the thrills (although they were old hat by then), but it went further and clobbered the viewer with betrayal and defeat -- consider the many scenes of betrayal by the Falcon's hyperdrive, the wrenching scene where Solo first meets Vader and learns of Calrissian's betrayal, the air shaft scene where pious Luke learns of his profound connection to the Dark Side and Obi-Wan's betrayal by omission, and finally, the scenes where Solo and then Luke are outright beaten, betraying their guaranteed victories because they are Good.
Return offers some plot elements similar to those of Hope and Empire , but the viewer has already seen them and hence is bored. What Lucas should have added was a sense of tragedy, a sense of loss to temper the final victory. Yoda's death does not suffice, since it does not directly contribute to the final victory (in fact, Lucas should have kept the Jedi Master around).
On a minor point, more Ewoks should perish during the assault on the generating station. In these battles the Imperial Storm Troopers, supposedly the deadliest in the galaxy, are too easily beaten. And although the Ewoks, like Hobbits, are easily underestimated, they get off altogether too easily. Also, the rebels in the space battle around the death star should suffer devastating losses.
On a more important point, however, Luke should die -- and he should die by Vader's unrepentant hand. The viewer knows he should die because throughout the middle trilogy Luke has become a symbol for the battle against the Empire -- he and the battle are one. Luke has only secondary relationships with the other people in the rebellion, yet he is the deciding factor in this decisive phase in the rebellion. As he has prospered, the battle has prospered; as he has waned, the battle has waned. It was his spark that rekindled the hopes of Light Side, and as the fire catches, the spark which ignited it must die.
And the viewer knows Vader (and hence Anakin Skywalker) must die unrepentant. The viewer realizes that good is corrupted instantly, while evil yields to good only slowly -- the priest may lose his collar and the virgin her maidenhead in a second, but the alcoholic remains an alcoholic, the pederast a pederast, the tyrant a tyrant even after years without sin. Hence, given the urgency of battle, the only believable way to purge the galaxy of Vader is by annihilation.
The very structure of the middle trilogy demands that good meet evil, that father meet son, that the Jedi Knight Skywalker meet the Dark Lord Vader. And the viewer feels it is fitting that at this crucial balancing point within the trilogy-of-trilogies -- between the first trilogy's descent from light into darkness and the third's ascent back into light -- that the two balancing representatives of good and evil -- the Skywalker of the Light and the Skywalker of the Dark -- should meet and destroy one another, tipping the balance toward the light.
The viewer expects a scenario along the following lines: First, after his return from the rescue mission, Luke does not pose a threat to the assault on the generating station -- his presence does not disturb the force unless he performs extraordinary feats -- and it is he instead of Solo (who is off chasing minerals) that leads the battle on the ground. When the generator starts to fall, the Emporer sends Vader and an additional brigade of Stormtroopers down to defend it. Vader meets Luke just as the rebels take the central control room and he again tries to win his son to the Dark Side. The Emporer, still in the Death Star, senses the disturbance in the Force and uses the Dark Side to create a field which keeps Luke's cohorts out of the duel (although they can see it). The Emporer also sends down a spectre of himself to help Vader in the fight.
Fortunately, Yoda's additional training has honed Luke's understanding of the Good Side, and Vader's and the Emporer's advances are as ineffectual as light sabers against a perfect mirror. In fact, Luke begins to win over Vader. Vader banishes the Emporer's furious spectre, turns off his saber, and opens his arms to Luke. As father and son embrace, however, Vader unsheaths his saber and literally stabs Luke in the back. In his dying moment, Luke dissolves the Emporer's isolating shield, then disappears into vapor. Chewbacca, only an arm's distance away, reaches out and rips off Vaders mask and respirator, exposing the ravages wreaken not only by Obi Wan's saber in Episode III, but also by the insidious Dark Side. As Vader flops around gasping for air and reaching for his saber, the remaining rebels finish him off. Perhaps Leia gives him a parting message and performs the coup de grace.
With the shield generator disabled, the final, desperate assault on the Death Star commences. Only a fraction of the rebel fleet remains after the earlier battles, and to make matters worse the Emporer is using the Dark Side to unleash a terrible pyrotechnic barrage agains the rebels. Nonetheless, the rebels fight determinedly. They make one unsuccessful try at the core of the Death Star, then succeed in reaching the core, only to have their bomb misfire.
Then, when everything looks utterly hopeless, Solo shows up with the asteroid in tow. It is much too late for the minerals to do any good, but, while Calrissian keeps the Imperial Fleet busy, and while the ghosts of Luke and Obi-Wan distract the Emporer, Solo leads the giant worm down to the center of the Death Star. The worm goes gaga over the large power source and starts feeding. Solo races to the surface. Boom.
Everybody except Luke survives, and he does too, as a ghost. The Emporer lives to serve as a nemesis in Episodes VII through IX, and to die in the final, ultimate battle of Episode IX. Yoda and Leia remain to carry on Jedi traditions. Hans and Leia live happily ever after. In Episode IX we learn that even the worm has survived.
Unfortunately, in Episode VI Lucas chooses not to use a plot which adequately follows the excitement and meaning introduced by Episodes IV and V, hence the viewer leaves Return of the Jedi deeply disappointed. The viewer can only hope that after a much-needed rest Lucas can overcome the shoddiness of Return when producing the first and third trilogies.
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(Updated August 26, 1998.)