The Sandpeople are depicted as physical beings with interesting details in their costumes that speak of a culture beyond what is said.
The Ewoks and Gungans could have filled a similar role but they look increasingly less physical and are played for laughs.
Doesn’t this fella look physical enough? ; )
Actually, I forgot to mention one of the biggest gripes story-wise with ROTJ, because at this point it’s so ingrained: Leia is Luke’s sister. I mean, Jesus, really? Vader being Luke’s father worked, sure, and it blew everyone’s mind. But Leia is his sister?!? All this does is add soap opera dynamic with no payoff. I remember at the time, people saw it and started joking that Han was Luke’s brother, and Chewie was his dog, etc. It became the subject of parody–the entire Star Wars galaxy was shrinking down to one family. I mean nobody went completely bonkers and claimed Darth and Greedo were childhood friends or that Darth made C-3PO in his basement, but it was still widely ridiculed. And I feel it was a fair criticism.
Well said. It was indeed the subject of parody at the time. Making Leia his twin sister was basically when Star Wars jumped the shark in a script and movie full of what a fuck were they thinking moments. Phantom Menace just turned out to be an extension of all that. It’s also technically inept in many departments where we had come to expect high production values from the previous ones.