Was thinking about the opening scene of Return of the Jedi today and remember, well, how dull it feels compared to some of the other openings in the franchise.
The Star Destroyer entering frame overhead feels uninspired, and just copying the opening of A New Hope without adding anything new. The reveal of the Second Death Star isn’t much of a reveal, either. We just pan down and it takes up a very small portion of the frame, feeling rather insignificant.
While I don’t want to suggest an entirely new opening, I did want to discuss possibilities about making the concept of this opening a little more interesting.
First of all, I always wondered why Darth Vader didn’t go to Endor in his Super Star Destroyer. Instead, he takes a regular destroyer with two others backing him up. Because the smaller one’s are faster? Why not show off the Super Star Destroyer? One option to consider could be to pan down to a wide shot of the Super Star Destroyer rather than Endor and the Death Star. Either Vader’s shuttle could already be leaving the Destroyer and heading toward the camera when we pan down, or you could alter the shot of the shuttle exiting the Star Destroyer hangar by removing Endor and the Death Star and recolor the Star Destroyer hull to more closely match the Super Star Destroyer.
Regarding the Death Star, I wonder if it would be possible imply that the Death Star is completely covered in darkness, the sun being blocked by Endor maybe, and slowly reveal it as the sunlight exposes the surface. Maybe too much like Rogue One though? Maybe the Death Star itself is eclipsing the sun, and as the shuttle gets closer the sun breaks the horizon, similar to that shot of the Falcon escaping Bespin in ESB.
Another idea would be for the shuttle to come from around Endor, and have the Death Star slowly be revealed from behind the planet. Maybe one could rotoscope the shuttle interior shots to pull this idea off. Alternatively, you could also just pan down to a larger close-up of the Death Star to give its scale more justice (if HQ images of Death Star II are even available).
I think I would want to go with the approach where pre-existing elements could be used rather than having to use CGI that might not fit with the surrounding models/matte paintings.
Although I’m a little more iffy on this idea, I kind of think the music is also a little dull during this opening, and I wonder if a slight nod to the Death Star theme/motif or even the ANH Imperial motif could be implemented when we see the Death Star to make the opening feel a little more ominous. Like I said, I’m on the fence about messing with the soundtrack, but it could be worth messing with.
Anyway, wanted to get these ideas out there and see what you all thought could be done. Like I’ve said, I kind of think when it comes to changing the OT, less is more. The less that needs be changed but has the greatest effectiveness seems to be the sweet spot, but I would love to hear any ideas/opinions.
I would be interested to see if Ady would do something with his own opening for ROTJ:R, and this to me seems like the approach he would take.