Here’s my ideal opening for ROTJ. It’s from the “wish list” thread and is now 6 years old, but… here it is. I hope you can follow.
Opening text would have to be altered to mention that Luke has returned to Dagobah to continue his training.
After opening text, we pan down to Darth Vaders Super Stardestroyer near the uncompleted Death Star.
Cut to Darth Vader in his mediation chamber talking to Luke telepathically through the force urging him to join him on the darkside.
cut to the deleted scene of Luke in the cave working on his new light saber. Edit the exterior of the cave to resemble Dagobah. Luke shakes the voice in his head and continues working and then igniting his saber.
Cut back to the Super Stardestroyer and we see Vader’s shuttle leave for the Death Star (why was he leaving from a standard Stardestroyer originally?) continue to the original opening scene with Vader and Jerrod.
After that, cut to Yoda’s hut on Dagobah for Yoda’s death scene. After Luke says “So I am a Jedi.” Cut Yoda’s line about having to face Vader again and just cut to him saying “When gone am I, the last of the Jedi will you be.” This way we get the idea that Luke has continued and now finished his training with Yoda. Yoda dies then cut to the Emperors arrival on the Death Star then back to Dagobah for the Obi-Wan scene, then on to Tatooine.
This would give the beginning of the film a more menacing tone with Vader still haunting Luke and more of a build up to the action at Jabba’s palace.
I know some feel that this opening would drag and be boring, but at this point the audience should be invested in the characters and story enough for this to be interesting. It certainly is to me.
And as for Luke showing up late to the briefing, footage would need to be altered so that he’s already there. (the “I’m with you too!” moment is corny anyways.) His moment with Leia (“What’s wrong?” “ask me again sometime.”) should be before the briefing begins.
As for the deleted footage of Luke in the cave not being HD and looking terrible next to the other footage… Yeah, I dunno.There would be some problems with this sequence, especially with the lightsaber building. The whole reason the scene was cut in the first place was that it played much better to have the saber revealed during the sail barge fight.
Meh. I never felt the “saber reveal” was a big or impressive moment anyway.
JEDIT- I mean, It’s a great moment because you realize Luke’s about to kick ass and the day is saved, but not because of the lightsaber itself. I feel the cave reveal is a better “Oooh new lightsaber!” moment.
Similarly, Luke’s wearing a black traveling cloak in the cave but not when he’s walking around on Dagobah. So he goes from looking menacing and slightly evil to having Beru’s haircut in Yoda’s hut, then back to him being a menacing badass when he’s (re)introduced on Tatooine.
I got no problem with that either. He’s cloaked and serious/focusing in the force while building his saber, more casual when chatting with Yoda, and trying to look imposing while entering Jabba’s palace.
What is lost is the idea that Luke may have changed for the worse in the time between films. I don’t find that much of a loss either as even as a small child I never was worried he’d gone dark. If he had, he’d have abandoned his friends and the Alliance. He’s clearly (to me anyway) just trying to look like a badass.
My problem with the idea for this cut is that Luke’s introduction in ROTJ is pretty badass… But in this cut, his introduction would be more mystical with the cave scene/Vader taunting him and I think that could work well to. I do think additional footage would have to be shot for it to work though. A Luke double would have to be used.
I’d have to see it all cut together to know if it would work for me, really. But I think it’s worth a shot.