Saturday 16 May 2015

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi



So we pick up a little after The Empire Strikes Back, with Luke & co. off to rescue Han from Jabba... 

...and the Empire are working on Death Star 2: The Revenge 




Love Vader's dry humour as he warns that the Emperor is on his way.  


"Not as forgiving as I am," like he's all cuddles and fluffy bunnies himself. 

3PO & R2 go to Jabba's palace, where the gang boss & his hangers-on all seem pretty hungover. 


R2 plays Jabba a holo-voicemail of Luke, who wants to bargain for his limited edition Solo-in-carbonite. 

Salacious B. Crumb is a great creation, isn't he? 


Luke has donated R2 & 3PO to Jabba's service, or so it seems. Love that snooty droid that puts them to work. 

I don't mind the CGI special edition band so much, but the song is just so inferior to the original. 

One of Jabba's slaves tries to throttle him so he drops her down a trapdoor. At least it puts an end to that dreadful song. 

A bounty hunter arrives, having captured Chewbacca, and wants a bigger reward than offered. 

This bounty hunter is my kind of scum. Not like that poser, Boba Fett. 

Jabba talks down the price, and Chewie is led past the disguised Lando. 

The masked bounty hunter sneaks into Jabba's collection when everyone's asleep & starts fiddling with the carbonite... 





Jabba will be furious when he learns the bounty hunter's taken Han out of his original packaging! 

Turns out the bounty hunter is really Leia. 

Jabba thinks this - like most things, to be fair - is a barrel of laughs. 

The practical creatures in Jabba's palace are great fun. 

Chewie fills Han in on what's happened between films, while Leia changes into something very uncomfortable.  

Now Luke turns up, playing the hypnotist. He's starting to dress more like his dad, too. 

Luke falls for the old trapdoor trick, and along with 1 of Jabba's green pig guards, falls into the pit... 

The creature from this pit is decidedly scarier then Erato

Love the Rancor; it's basically a very grabby dinosaur. What's not to love? 

Luke brings the garage door down on the Rancor's neck, killing it. 




Great little scene with the distraught Rancor keeper. He loved that Rancor. 

"How are we doing?"
"Same as usual."
"That bad, huh?" 

Jabba resorts to his back-up pit, and decides to throw them all to the Sarlacc instead. 

"I used to live here, you know."
"You're going to die here, you know. Convenient."  



The dialogue's always that much more polished & credible when George doesn't write the screenplay himself. 


Jabba orders Luke to walk the plank, but he & R2 have a little routine worked out for just such a situation... 

Luke kicks off with his new - green - lightsaber & the main barge starts shooting at the smaller ships.  

Leia uses her chains to strangle Jabba to death; Luke makes it to the barge. 

Lando has to trust to the half-blind Han to shoot the Sarlacc & rescue him. 

With the droids picked up too, the gang escape.  

Luke is off to see Yoda again while the others had back to base with their prize. 1 Han Solo, as requested. 

The Emperor arrives; a creepy wizened black hooded figure. Such a great performance from McDiarmid, what a voice. 




After this he went on to frame Inspector Morse for murder.







Yoda has become very old and frail; he tells Luke he will not be a full Jedi till he confronts Vader. 

Yoda also confirms that Vader is his father. "Unexpected this is... and unfortunate." 

Testament to the work of the creature makers & performers (Frank Oz in particular, obviously) that Yoda's death is able to have such emotional impact. Credit where it's due in the writing too. Lucas can't half create a character. 

Ghost Ben fills in the last of the blanks, though Luke's already figured out Leia is his sister. 


Great set design on the rebel base war room. 

Pretty sure those other Mon Calamari in the background are whispering "bet it's a trap, seems like a trap to me." 

Han's been promoted to General. He lets Lando take the Falcon, and assembles his strike team. Guess who's on it... 

Han's 'funny feeling' that he won't see the Falcon again presumably linked to Ford's wish for the character to be killed off.

More great design with the web-like window that frames the Emperor's chair. 

Time to see if the Bothan cheat code works... A, A, B, B, Up, Down, A, A, Left, Right... and we're through! 

The gang arrive on the forest moon of Endor, and soon run into trouble. A new design of stormtrooper with hover-motorbikes! 

Luke bests his opponent but Leia is flung off into the forest. 

Leia encounters Wicket, an Ewok. Have to say, I have never seen what the problem with the Ewoks is. 

Some biker scouts get the drop on Leia, but with the Ewok's help she puts them down and makes her escape 

The Emperor's red guards look very cool. 

Vader's started to get very fidgety about Luke; he's even openly referring to him as "my son" to the Emperor. 

Chewie smells a free lunch. The type there's no such thing as... 

They're caught in a trap; they can't get out... until R2 saws his way out, anyway. 

The Ewoks are planning on a big BBQ with their catches until 3PO sits up; they worship the bling. 

3PO's well in with this lot & they've clearly spent ages playing with Leia's hairstyle but it's still Han Burgers for tea. 

Luke gets 3PO high & the Ewoks release them. 

R2 gives them a shock, but it seems he's pulled Wicket. 

3PO recaps episodes IV & V for the Ewoks complete with authentic sound effects. "Yes, R2 I was just coming to that!" 

CHEWIE: "DID YOU MENTION THE BIT WHERE LUKE AND HAN GOT MEDALS BUT I GOT BUGGER ALL COS THE REBELLION ARE RACIST AGAINST WOOKIES???" 

Wicket starts humping Han's leg. 

Chief Chirpa inducts them into the tribe. Pretty sure Wicket & Han's right leg just got married too. 

Luke asks Leia if she remembers her mother. She does, but surely she can't mean Padme? 

Luke makes with the spoilers. "You are my sister" is a poor 2nd to "I am your father" isn't it? But obviously he's also just implied that Vader is *her* father too. That penny obviously drops. 

Vader's arrived on Endor, and has brought the AT-AT Walkers with him. 

Vader likes Luke's new lightsaber. 

Vader, big delivery boy that he is, will take Luke to the Emperor. 

The rebel fleet ready themselves to attack the new Death Star as soon as Han & Leia get that shield down. 

"Your overconfidence is your weakness."
"Your faith in your friends is yours."
The Emperor springs his trap. 

Gotta love that "you rebel scum!" guy. It's the absolute pinnacle of his life so far, you can tell. 

All together now, "It's a trap!" 

Those other Mon Calamari from the war-room are like "See, didn't I say it was a trap, and he wouldn't listen..." 

On Endor, the Imperial forces face an unexpected rebellion from the Ewoks. I get that people think they're cutesy but I love that they're brave little buggers, naively throwing everything into their attacks on the imperials. 

I'm not certain but that last line made it sound like Wedge may even have been promoted all the way up to "man who uses own accent." Surely not. Must still be doing American. An X-Wing pilot can dream, though. 








The battle starts to go against the rebels, with Han & Leia still locked out of the bunker & Ewoks dropping like flies. 

Lando isn't faring much better, and the Emperor finally taunts Luke into using his lightsaber. 

Chewie's Tarzan impression I could live without but it's just an inoffensive bit of fun really. 

Leia is hit in the shoulder and gets to reverse Han's "I love you"/"I know" trick. 

Han's got an idea. Uh oh...  

Back on the Death Star, Luke & Vader battle it out. The Emperor enjoys a good cackle.  

Han suckers the bunker chumps into opening the door. 

Vader stalks Luke, and rumbles he has a sister. 

Luke is provoked into battering Vader down but pulls back from the brink when he sees history repeated in a robotic hand... 







The Emperor makes Luke feel the force. 

Vader leaves it late to take his chance. 

Definitely not a fan of Vader's "No" added here, I get it, but so unnecessary. More powerful just done with looks. 

With the shield down... 

...the fighters enter the Death Star, led by the Millennium Falcon. 

With the Emperor disposed of, and Vader dying, it's time for Dave Prowse's moment to shine. Oh... denied... 

Ironically, I reckon Hayden Christensen could pass for a young Dave Prowse. 

The rebels get their shots on target... 

...and that's 2 Death Stars they've done over. Back to the drawing board. 

Leia gives Han the good news, but he's now got some serious questions about Hoth. 






Luke cremates Vader and the whole galaxy celebrates. 

Perfectly happy with these celebration scenes but miss the old tune. 

Wicket tries to hump R2 again. 

Luke sees dead people. 

It does seem annoying that Shaw was replaced with Christensen, but you know what it does make more sense as that's how he looked when he really effectively "died". He's been an animated corpse since Mustafar. Yet with that immensely powerful will keeping him going, submerged but always driving him to that moment when he could overthrow (literally) the Emperor, and leave Luke the last man standing. Balance to the force? Job done. 

TTFN! K.
Coming Soon...   Time-Flight 

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