<Snip Sluggo's Pics>
And those are just the one's with pictures!
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
Hey xhonzi, the idea of clones and superweapons is an interesting one. You should start a new thread about this.
Clones certainly had the potential to be the superweapon in the prequels, but the movies didn't really treat them that way. It would also be interesting to see if someone would research how the clones were viewed in the EU from 1977-1991, from 1991 to 2002 and from 2002 today.
I am not a writer so please pardon the grammar and spelling.
Jabba’s Palace
They infiltrate Jabba's palace and when leia tries to free Han, she finds out that he has died from being encased in carbonite. Chewbacca goes into a rage after losing Han during the sail barrage scene and Chewbacca has a major role helping Luke defeat Jabba's men on the sail barge. Then Chewbacca is sedated and sent to a medical frigate.
Boba Fett is in Jabba's palace but is not on the sail barrage and is not killed. I would like to keep Boba Fett a mystery not really showing up in many scenes. Maybe he helps the Empire in tricking the Rebels into the Emperor’s trap.
Endor
Leia is the leader of the stirke force on Endor. Darth Vader is part of the Empire strike force on Endor and does some bad ass killings of the rebel’s strike force. Vader takes Luke to the Death Star to the emperor. Ewoks are wookies of course. Chewbacca returns from his medical stay and convinces the wookies to help the republic blow up the shield generator. The wookies escape but the rebels are captured. The Wookies with Chewbacca frees the rebels on Endor(night strike).
At the end they have a funeral for Han's death. During Han’s funeral Luke and Leia see Anakin, obi wan and yoda.
ROTJ feels like all of the main actors are winking at the camera and not really taking the movie seriously. The other 2 films seemed much more serious.
Deckard2 said:I am not a writer so please pardon the grammar and spelling.
Jabba’s Palace
They infiltrate Jabba's palace and when leia tries to free Han, she finds out that he has died from being encased in carbonite. Chewbacca goes into a rage after losing Han during the sail barrage scene and Chewbacca has a major role helping Luke defeat Jabba's men on the sail barge. Then Chewbacca is sedated and sent to a medical frigate.
Boba Fett is in Jabba's palace but is not on the sail barrage and is not killed. I would like to keep Boba Fett a mystery not really showing up in many scenes. Maybe he helps the Empire in tricking the Rebels into the Emperor’s trap.
Endor
Leia is the leader of the stirke force on Endor. Darth Vader is part of the Empire strike force on Endor and does some bad ass killings of the rebel’s strike force. Vader takes Luke to the Death Star to the emperor. Ewoks are wookies of course. Chewbacca returns from his medical stay and convinces the wookies to help the republic blow up the shield generator. The wookies escape but the rebels are captured. The Wookies with Chewbacca frees the rebels on Endor(night strike).
At the end they have a funeral for Han's death. During Han’s funeral Luke and Leia see Anakin, obi wan and yoda.
ROTJ feels like all of the main actors are winking at the camera and not really taking the movie seriously. The other 2 films seemed much more serious.
It would have been an interesting twist if Han was perminantly blinded by the freezing process but began to see through the power of The Force (it would be a total inversion of the training scene in ANH).
Han going from a cocky pirate mocking Luke for using a mystical energy field to deflect blasts from a thing he can't see to being a blinded rebel who can only see through the same mystical energy field has a nice mythic symmetry to it.
That's actually an amazing idea!
There is no lingerie in space…
C3PX said: Gaffer is like that hot girl in high school that you think you have a chance with even though she is way out of your league because she is sweet and not a stuck up bitch who pretends you don’t exist… then one day you spot her making out with some skinny twerp, only on second glance you realize it is the goth girl who always sits in the back of class; at that moment it dawns on you why she is never seen hanging off the arm of any of the jocks… and you realize, damn, she really is unobtainable after all. Not that that is going to stop you from dreaming… Only in this case, Gaffer is actually a guy.
What if Harrison Declined to do the third film?
They could have had him die in the carbonite.
Harrison gets his wish that the character is dead. But fans everywhere would have been devasted which Lucas knew. He knows kids don't want to see the hero die.
Also in the movie serials he was emulating the hero could die one week at the end of a cliffhanger and come back the next week without a scratch.
What if it was Han who flew the falcon into the second death star and died trying to escape the fireball that lando somehow survives going yeehaw!.
You see Lucas could not win. If he killed Lando he would be racist. If he killed Han Solo the parents of children would write to him angry just like if he had luke or leia killed. The kids would no longer buy the action figures or the comics or novels and tie in merchandise.
“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.
skyjedi2005 said:He knows kids don't want to see the hero die.
And that is why Return feels, to me, out of place in the trilogy (and why I wanted to walk out of the theater in 83). It's a full-on children's film. Star Wars was a serious science fiction\outer space adventure. Return isn't even remotely serious. It's comedy & cute stuffed animal marketing tie-ins.
In Star Wars, Luke's aunt & uncle are killed (complete with close up of the burned bodies), his mentor is killed, the princess is tortured & her family killed, and Luke's best friend is killed. Star Wars isn't a children's film. Lucas moved away from the seriousness almost as soon as the franchise got going. Even Empire shows signs of the comedy\cute feel that was fully realized in Return.
Deckard2 said:ROTJ feels like all of the main actors are winking at the camera and not really taking the movie seriously.
It definitely feels that way to me, and it's not at all surprising. If the story is no longer serious, why would the actors have even bothered with trying to continue playing the characters seriously?
For me - if a science fiction story starts out like this;
...then there's no way it can successfully morph into this:
As a 15-year-old who sat in the theater in 1977 (at least once a week) and was very moved by Star Wars, the series' transition to children's bed time story was a transition I wasn't able to make.
Gaffer Tape said:That's actually an amazing idea!
Han Solo is not blind, he suffers from Bozeman's Simplex, a disease that causes him to see 25.62 times more than everyone else if you could see like Han does this is what you would be seeing right now :
My brother and I just had a four hour car ride, and this topic came up. Basically we dished on it for the entire trip.
Here are our conclusions.
ROTJ, like the prequals, although far less egregious, suffered from a flawed execution, and not (in our opinion) fundamentally bad ideas.
Changes we would see:
JABBAS PALACE-
It is Leia, not Luke, who organizes the rescue. In fact, dialogue dictates that a while back Luke sent R2 to Leia, and no one has seen Luke in a while.
Leia's plan needs R2 in the Palace to help her deactivate the carbonite. Lando has already snuck in, 3PO and R2 hand themselves over, and Leia comes in disguise. Just like in the film she and Han (and R2) get caught.
Then Luke shows up, all mysterious. My brother and I both thought some kind of visual to cue that Luke had changed was in order. We had four ideas.
-Long hair. Akin to Anakin in ROTS.
-Short hair, like Anakin had in AOTC, minus the rattail.
-An Obi-Wan-esque cropped beard.
-Make up to show the scarring he recieved at Vader's hands healed poorly.
This change shows he's different, and hopefully makes the audience a little more likely to suspect he'll fall to the Dark Side. Also, when he flips his hood back "You will bring captain Solo and the Wookie to me" its kind of a shock.
From here on in the Jabba sequence runs more or less like in the movie with two changes.
During the skiff battle Chewie should toss some dude like a football into the Sarlac. Seriously, Chewie never gets to cut loose.
Han get's his site back a little faster, which leads to a confrontation with Boba. Boba wraps Luke in the rope, then Han yells at him and the two have an old-West shootout moment. Boba is faster, but Han ducks and falls, spinning and shooting at Boba. He misses, but it richochets, igniting Fett's jetpack and sending him to his doom. It keeps the moment similar, while giving Han a Hero Moment and killing Fett slightly more satisfactorilly.
After the Barge goes boom, the lost Sandstorm scene is inserted. It provides another set, making the film feel bigger, and gives Han and Lando a moment to acknowledge Han's forgiving him.
Luke returns to Dagobah, where it seems he's been for some time, training. He rushes back because Yoda is ill. THe scene plays the same, but when Luke asks if Vader is his father, Yoda says "Ah, the question you've never asked." implying the issue had been an elephant in the hut for some time. This way we have a reason for why Luke is suddenly so badass, he's been with Yoda all this time.
At the Rebel Briefing, it's a much more diverse crowd. The Prune-faces are featured more, as well as a more ethnically and genderwise diverse human crowd. A whole contingent of guys in differnet uniforms (something vaguely Napoleonic to stand out) are sitting together, to give the impression of diverse forces joining together for this one big rush. And Lando's copilot should be there.
Lando is only a commander... just to make it funny that Han outranks him.
Another contingent of people greet Leia. They are the surviving Alderaanians, converting their merchant vessels to warcraft for thsi attack. The leader tries to convince Leia to stay away from the battle, because 'she's all they have left.' Leia says that if they lose, none of them will have anything left. (A nice moment for Leia to show some leadership).
Otherwise the film would be mostly the same until we meet the Ewoks.
Ewoks need to be much more intense. Not scary, but not cuddly (cute is ok). They have bone-totems on their belts, and claws, and mud caked in their fur. The Ewoks have been apparently waging a guerrilla war against the Imperials the whole time. Moff Jerjerod keeps denying that there is any problem with 'the natives,' clearly indicating that there is a problem. When the gang is captured by the Ewoks, empty stormtrooper armor is piled next to the cooking fire.
When 3PO tells his story, the Ewoks pass around a horn bubbling with a noxious drink, and all the heroes drink it as an initiation (just to imply the Ewoks have some kind of culture of their own).
I wouldn't change a damn thing about the Emperor or any of the scenes of him, Vader and Luke. (except that he really needs a nicer shuttle). I think they're perfect.
ENDOR BATTLE:
No Ewok steals the speederbike. Let Chewie do it. He deserves some more action.
More Ewoks die. Not a bloodbath, but we should see some get shot. We should also see some stab Stormtroopers with spears and poison blowdarts.
Have the Force Field projector be on top of a mountain, and the bunker at the base... just to make the geography more clear.
The shuttle the heroes came in had a small force of maybe 40-50 people shoved in the back like a Normandy lander. Let them (including the Prune-faces) get some action.
Leia gets blasted in the shoulder and it WOUNDS HER badly. This is WAR dammit.
Mainly the battle should feel bigger.
SPACE BATTLE:
More ships. More types of ships. The Rebellion might have some repainted ships. Ships should crash together.
THere should be at least one Hero Shot of the Falcon flying with all guns blazing, blasting TIE fighters. Footage was shot of soldiers in the Falcon's guns firing away. That should be used.
Footage was also shot of Madine's death, as well as a female XWing pilot. These should go back in.
The guys in Napoleonic jackets can bite the dust heroically, as can some of the Alderanians. This is WAR dammit.
When Lando is escaping the Death Star, the firebursts out... and we hold our breath as a few seconds later the Falcon doesn't fly out, it tumbles out, totally scorched and barely holding together.
ENDING
Lando and Han reunite, and Han sees how totally damaged the Falcon is, black and scorched. This could be a fun moment.
Leia (arm in a sling) greets the surviving Alderanians and they kneel. A hopeful moment for the future.
Yub Yub is playing. Screw it, I love that song.
The Ewok Cheif, a translator, and a Rebel commander are talking. They're a proud people Ewoks, not all dancing teddy bears.
Luke comes back. Everyone is happy. Luke looks over and sees ObiWan, Yoda, and Sebastian Shaw.
The camera pans up above the happy people, XWings drop fireworks in the sky, camera pans up to the stars, where, as the music crescendos, the AUDIENCE POV ITSELF is pulled into hyperspace as the credits roll. People cheer.
TheBoost: That is awesome! I like the existing RotJ, but if it had been done as you suggest, the same basic ideas but a better and more serious execution, it would have achieved greatness. That was very well thought out and satisfying.
There does seem to be a fear of showing any kind of death in RotJ. It should be WAR, indeed.
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
Boost you should cut and paste that into the wishlist thread because there are a lot of great ideas in there which might actually be doable.
I would have had Kasden write the screenplay, had gary kurtz produce and Kershner direct.
Lucas only as a story consultant and executive producer to make sure the film does not go over budget.
How Different would the history of the franchise be today if the problems on empire did not prevent Lucas from getting steven spielberg when he was at his collaborative best to direct jedi.
Lynch would have never taken the job, as he would have resented Lucas always being over his shoulder and the word had already gotten out that Lucas was controlling and impossible to work with, reports obviously over stated and exaggerated. Of course Lucas was worried he was an independent funding the whole show himself and could have lost the ranch.
Lucas as a self made man was used to doing everything himself and this came out of the spirit of American Zoetrope, i think he usually is greatly misunderstood. It does not help that he is shy, introverted and quiet.
I think that Lucas is an admirable guy, and as usually as it is with all artists his strength is drawn out of his weaknesses.
The French New wave of autuer theory of filmaking, and USC taught him to be proficient in making films that were uniquely his films. Thus Lucasfilm. The plots stories and direction of the films were not determined by the hollywood banker types and shysters lucas found it distateful to work with.
“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.
xhonzi said:There does seem to be a fear of showing any kind of death in RotJ. It should be WAR, indeed.
I'd bet there's some interesting stuff that ended up on the cutting room floor. A bunch of unused battle footage ended up in the second Ewok movie, which ironically has a lot of deaths for a kid's film!
Where were you in '77?
I wouldn't be surprised. The fact that we know several scenes were cut out probably means that they were up against a firmly set running time of 135 min. Would have loved more deaths in Battle of Endor other than that one Ewok!!
VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader
skyjedi2005 said:I would have had Kasden write the screenplay, had gary kurtz produce and Kershner direct.
Lucas only as a story consultant and executive producer to make sure the film does not go over budget.
* * * * * * *
The French New wave of autuer theory of filmaking, and USC taught him to be proficient in making films that were uniquely his films. Thus Lucasfilm. The plots stories and direction of the films were not determined by the hollywood banker types and shysters lucas found it distateful to work with.
Pardon me if I misunderstand, but on one hand you seem to be praising Lucas for his autuer-ness, and on the other saying he should step back and just be a businessman and let other people make 'his' films.
TheBoost said:skyjedi2005 said:I would have had Kasden write the screenplay, had gary kurtz produce and Kershner direct.
Lucas only as a story consultant and executive producer to make sure the film does not go over budget.
* * * * * * *
The French New wave of autuer theory of filmaking, and USC taught him to be proficient in making films that were uniquely his films. Thus Lucasfilm. The plots stories and direction of the films were not determined by the hollywood banker types and shysters lucas found it distateful to work with.
Pardon me if I misunderstand, but on one hand you seem to be praising Lucas for his autuer-ness, and on the other saying he should step back and just be a businessman and let other people make 'his' films.
It was Lucas himself who said making star wars almost killed him, and that he hated directing. Maybe i'm the only one who believes this, but Lucas at the height of his powers in the 1980's could have directed Empire and Jedi imho. He could have directed all 9 episodes as he had originally planned or at least all six as we have them now.
The toll star wars had on his personal life was enormous it reportedly cost him his marriage.
Being a diabetic and working around the clock without proper rest, nutrition etc was dangerous to his health. His doctor told him to slow down. Otherwise a dude that hates to relinquish any control would have been on the empire set every day and directing it himself.
I think lucas back then was a brilliant editor and new what shots to scrap and what to keep. The editing and pacings all wrong on the prequels, i bet george would have edited them himself if he could.
If i was hollywood i would never hire ben burtt as an editor, as a sound designer yes, editor no.
David tatterstall was not up to par either.
A better cinematographer and editor despite the weak script and weak direction would have lifted the films considerably.
Lucas has a great broad scope in visuals that much can be admitted by the cgi vistas the prequels show. He has a lot of good ideas, and sometimes some not so good ones. Meaning he is a fallible human being and not a god, even so he is the most successful film maker in the history of the medium. He not only changed cinema forever and brought the technologies forward that are still advancing, but wrote the rules of the blockbuster,and dare i say it he made films fun again a long time ago in 1977.
“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.
captainsolo said:I wouldn't be surprised. The fact that we know several scenes were cut out probably means that they were up against a firmly set running time of 135 min. Would have loved more deaths in Battle of Endor other than that one Ewok!!
You're thinking of The Ewok Adventure. Chuka Trok(?) bought the farm, as did the Gorax. (They brought Chuka back for the cartoon though.)
Battle for Endor slaughters Cindel's entire family in the first ten minutes. (And I thought Alien 3 was a downer!) Lots of bad guys get shot, and you see what's left of Noa's spacefaring partner rotted away in the dungeon. And Lucas wrote the story for this cheerful little film. ;)
Where were you in '77?
I think by Battle of Endor he means the Ewok battle at the end of RotJ.
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
Doh! You may be right! ;)
Where were you in '77?
Don't worry. I jump all over every chace to talk about the Ewok TV movies too. :)
IT'S MY TRILOGY, AND I WANT IT NOW!
"[George Lucas] rebooted the franchise in 1997 without telling anyone." -skyjedi2005
"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM
"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.
Anchorhead said:skyjedi2005 said:He knows kids don't want to see the hero die.
And that is why Return feels, to me, out of place in the trilogy (and why I wanted to walk out of the theater in 83). It's a full-on children's film. Star Wars was a serious science fiction\outer space adventure. Return isn't even remotely serious. It's comedy & cute stuffed animal marketing tie-ins.
In Star Wars, Luke's aunt & uncle are killed (complete with close up of the burned bodies), his mentor is killed, the princess is tortured & her family killed, and Luke's best friend is killed. Star Wars isn't a children's film. Lucas moved away from the seriousness almost as soon as the franchise got going. Even Empire shows signs of the comedy\cute feel that was fully realized in Return.
Deckard2 said:ROTJ feels like all of the main actors are winking at the camera and not really taking the movie seriously.
It definitely feels that way to me, and it's not at all surprising. If the story is no longer serious, why would the actors have even bothered with trying to continue playing the characters seriously?
For me - if a science fiction story starts out like this;
...then there's no way it can successfully morph into this:
As a 15-year-old who sat in the theater in 1977 (at least once a week) and was very moved by Star Wars, the series' transition to children's bed time story was a transition I wasn't able to make.
The remedy is to combine the two :
The ewoks though small and cuddly should have been portrayed as dwarfs of fairy tales. Little yet they will kick your ass with their battle axes and smash in your face with their war hammers. Ewoks need to pack a punch instead of killing stormtroopers with their cuteness. What did they do smother troopers with their fur. LOL
"The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won’t last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you’ll be able to project it on a 20’ by 40’ screen with perfect quality. I think it’s the director’s prerogative, not the studio’s to go back and reinvent a movie." - George Lucas
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skyjedi2005 said:Lucas ...... is the most successful film maker in the history of the medium. He not only changed cinema forever and brought the technologies forward that are still advancing, but wrote the rules of the blockbuster
There's no denying that Lucas changed film. ILM is the gold standard. No doubt, he created one of the most popular franchises of all time (Star Wars), as well as being on the team of another (Indiana Jones). Add American Graffiti to the list and Lucas becomes legendary. However, I would have to give the title of most successful film maker in history to Spielberg. As far as writing the rules of the summer blockbuster, I'd give that to Spielberg also.
How to do ROTJ: Exactly as it was done. Except maybe leave out Leia holding hands with Wicket, because that just shouted "Here's a little cute teddy bear". Great film, no need to make more changes.
And that is why Return feels, to me, out of place in the trilogy (and why I wanted to walk out of the theater in 83). It's a full-on children's film. Star Wars was a serious science fiction\outer space adventure. Return isn't even remotely serious. It's comedy & cute stuffed animal marketing tie-ins.
ROTJ is plenty serious. How anybody can watch all the stuff that goes on with Vader and Luke and the Emperor and say it's not serious I don't know. ROTJ is not a full-on children's film. Like Star Wars, it's a children's film designed to appeal to adults. Or at least to adults who aren't allergic to ewoks. ROTJ is certainly not comedy overall. I don't know where you get that idea from. It had comical elements, but then so did Star Wars. ROTJ is darker than Star Wars. And the cute teddy bears were a savage little bunch of fuckers who were quite happy to eat Han and Luke and Chewie. It was only in the merchandise and the spinoffs that they became totally safe cuddly teddy bears. In ROTJ, the ewoks are red in tooth and claw.
In Star Wars, Luke's aunt & uncle are killed (complete with close up of the burned bodies), his mentor is killed, the princess is tortured & her family killed, and Luke's best friend is killed. Star Wars isn't a children's film. Lucas moved away from the seriousness almost as soon as the franchise got going. Even Empire shows signs of the comedy\cute feel that was fully realized in Return.
In ROTJ, the princess is sexually assaulted (or at least it's implied) and kills her assaulter. Her assaulter even has a huge phallic tail. (And she kills him with a chain -kinky or no?) Luke fights his father and comes close to killing him. Luke's father and mentor die.
The first film was intended as a kids' film, just one that could appeal to adults. Return of the Jedi is the same, except for those people who can't stand ewoks, and those people are certainly not all adults. Empire Strikes Back and ROTJ have plenty of seriousness. I'd say the stuff with Luke on the Death Star (starting with his capture on Endor and continuing on down to Vader's death and the funeral pyre) is some of the most serious stuff in Star Wars.
Btw, Lucas calling Star Wars for kids isn't just a recent thing. He does it back in the 1977 Rolling Stone interview.
;
Deckard2 said:ROTJ feels like all of the main actors are winking at the camera and not really taking the movie seriously.
It definitely feels that way to me, and it's not at all surprising. If the story is no longer serious, why would the actors have even bothered with trying to continue playing the characters seriously?
I don't get that at all. There are humorous bits, but there's plenty of that in the first film. Star Wars (the saga, not the film) was never supposed to be deadly serious, and thank god for that. I don't see that ROTJ is any more "winking at the camera" than the other two films. The serious parts of ROTJ are very much serious.
For me - if a science fiction story starts out like this;
...then there's no way it can successfully morph into this:
As a 15-year-old who sat in the theater in 1977 (at least once a week) and was very moved by Star Wars, the series' transition to children's bed time story was a transition I wasn't able to make.
But it didn't morph from that to that. The ewoks in the movie weren't unthreatening plush toys. They were nasty little fuckers with spears and fangs who nearly ate Luke, Han and Chewie.
And Leia's costume in Jabba's palace certainly wasn't something for an exclusively kids' film. Contrast that with how covered up she was in Star wars.
Star Wars always had elements of children's bed time story, from the first film, but it never became purely that, in any of the films.
skyjedi2005 said:He knows kids don't want to see the hero die.
And that is why Return feels, to me, out of place in the trilogy (and why I wanted to walk out of the theater in 83). It's a full-on children's film. Star Wars was a serious science fiction\outer space adventure. Return isn't even remotely serious. It's comedy & cute stuffed animal marketing tie-ins.
In Star Wars, Luke's aunt & uncle are killed (complete with close up of the burned bodies), his mentor is killed, the princess is tortured & her family killed, and Luke's best friend is killed. Star Wars isn't a children's film. Lucas moved away from the seriousness almost as soon as the franchise got going. Even Empire shows signs of the comedy\cute feel that was fully realized in Return.
Show me one younger character of importance who dies in the first film. There's none. Biggs is a minor character. Kenobi dies in the film but Yoda dies in ROTJ. Owen and Beru die but Anakin dies in ROTJ. There's NOTHING like Han dying in the first film. The film had a purely happy ending, just like a kids' story. Whereas ROTJ's ending is more bittersweet, because of the focus on Vader's funeral pyre.