In the spectacular final chapter of the Star Wars saga, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia must travel to Tatooine to free Han Solo by the infiltrating the wretched strong hold of Jabba the Hut, the galaxy’s loathsome gangster.  Reunited, the Rebels team up with the tribes of Ewokes to combat the Imperial forces on the forest moon of Endor.

Meanwhile the Emperor and Darth Vader conspire to turn Luke to the dark side, and young Skywalker is determined to rekindle the spirit of the Jedi within his father.  The Galactic Civil War culminates in the ultimate showdown, as the Rebel forces gather to attack the seemingly defenseless and incomplete second Death Star in the battle that will determine the fate of the galaxy.  

Part of the Star Wars Trilogy (Widescreen Edition) box set.

CRITIQUE

Probably the most underrated part of the series.  Return of the Jedi has always been my favorite.  Guess I’m a sucker for those cute little Ewokes.  But the truth of the matter – the special effects was better, the destruction of the second Death Star was more thrilling.  And the whole second and final duel between Luke Skywalker and Vader was, in my opinion, more emotional.  And while people proclaim Empire to be the darkest of the series, I would say nothing in Empire is as dark (including the “I’m your father” line) as the interaction between the Emperor and Luke.  How the Emperor is presented has almost that gothic “death” tone to it. 

With the special edition version – Return of the Jedi got the most in makeover.  With added visuals – it’s almost like a completely different movie (although the visuals don’t really effect the story.)  With that in mind, it’s iffy.  Depending on how you view the added stuff depends on how you view this film.  In some instances, the added stuff makes the film better and enjoyable.  But there are two added stuff that even bothers me.

In one scene – we see an added song in which Jabba’s band plays in his little shindig.  The song is called “Jedi Rocks.”  Now this is a guy that is adding shit to his original trilogy to add more continuity with the prequel trilogy yet he added a song that presents a paradox.  How does the Jedi rocks when by Return of the Jedi, they were a dying breed and almost close to extinct?  Did Lucas put the song in there to present some foreshadowing that Luke is that Jedi and he certainly will rock by the end of the movie?  That makes no sense since the Lord of the Rings title rip off “Return of the Jedi” already does that.  So that whole entire sequence, as cool as it may look, is also silly and makes no sense.

Another factor is the recent added part to this DVD set.  At the end of the film, we see the ghosts of Obi-wan, Anakin, and Yoda as everyone celebrates.  There is also a similar scene in Scrooged.  Anyway, in all the versions of Jedi before this DVD release it has always been Sebastian Shaw. Well, in 2004 for the DVD release, Lucas did a very controversy thing and basically erased Shaw and photoshopped in Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in Episode 2 and 3.

I have no problem with most of the changes but this is one change that is awkward to see, don’t make no sense whatsoever, and as a result – almost kills the whole entire mood of the film and “original” trilogy. 

THE VIDEO

Twentieth Century Fox Home Video presents Star Wars: Ep. 6 – Return of the Jedi in 2.35 widescreen format.  

By this point, it should be noticeable that Lucas fixed up the quality very nicely.  The battle scenes, the dark scenes - everything about this movie is picture perfect.

THE AUDIO

Twentieth Century Fox Home Video presents Star Wars: Ep. 6 – Return of the Jedi in English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), and French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround). 

This was always my favorite to play in surround sound and that doesn’t really change much here.  You’ll be crapping in your pants when you hear the speeder bikes and the whole climatic death star number 2 destruction in surround sound! 

THE EXTRAS

Commentary by George Lucas, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher

There is much needed closure that Lucas does on this commentary, which in short and in a nutshell, presents what the Star Wars films are all about.  He indicates factors of the prequel trilogy, and pretty much sums up the whole entire series.  A must-listen to say the least.

FINAL THOUGHTS