In all seriousness, what would you change about ROTJ if you could? I like hearing your perspective!
- Remove the Death Star II, or make the Death Star II a ruse to lure the Rebels into a trap.
- Retool the entire Jabba sequence. Jabba’s palace would’ve be on a planet other than Tatooine; Leia would gift the droids to Jabba; Lando would free Han from the carbonite and get captured in the process; then Leia would arrive in person and successfully barter for Han & co’s freedom. Everything else would be cut.
- Luke would be on Dagobah, where he’d have been since the events of TESB, finishing his training under Yoda. He wouldn’t have a new lightsaber at this point.
- Leia would be “the other”, as powerful in the Force as Luke, but not his sister.
- Han would have some actual dignity. Instead of delivering dumb slapstick and one-liners, his relationship with Leia would continue to evolve.
- The Ewoks would be scary. They’d be pygmy versions of the original Chewbacca design, with oversized eyes and sharp fangs. They’d wear clothing made from human skin, and gruesome sculptures made of Imperial armour and human bones would decorate their village.
- Palpatine would not be a cackling Saturday morning cartoon supervillain. He’d be as he was portrayed by Clive Revill — resonant but understated.
- There’d be deeper exploration into Vader’s motivations and psyche. It would be made clear that Vader was a good man who joined Palpatine under false pretenses and became his puppet, and now wishes his son to join him in the dark side so together they can depose Palpatine and transform the Empire into the strong but benevolent power he always wanted it to be.
- It would be revealed that Vader kept Ben’s lightsaber as a trophy, and he would show it to Luke on Endor.
- Palpatine’s finest troops would actually live up to that descriptor. For once, we’d have stormtroopers with effective armour who can actually hit what they fire at.
- Palpatine would make a strong case for why Luke should turn to the dark side — power not for power’s sake, which Luke doesn’t crave, but to right wrongs, avenge evil, and protect his loved ones.
- During their duel, Luke and Vader would end up swapping lightsabers; Luke, with Vader’s red lightsaber, would face Vader, with Ben’s blue lightsaber.
- Han would die in the battle on Endor.
- Vader would succumb quicker to his injuries after killing Palpatine. He would die without his true face ever being revealed.
- Luke would dismantle Ben and Vader’s lightsabers and craft his own from their components. This lightsaber would be purple.
- No Force ghosts at the end. Whether or not Anakin atoned for his sins by saving Luke would be left up to the viewer to decide for themself.
I wouldn’t make Leia a Force-sensitive at all. Why, you may ask? It renders the entire quest to find Luke in The Force Awakens completely pointless from the start, especially in The Last Jedi, where it is revealed that she’s suddenly this powerful Force-user who flies back to the ship upon being blown out into space.
There’s an implication in TLJ that the display of her force powers to save her own life was either subconscious or unconscious, with no indication that she actually has any control of those powers (she never uses them again). Plus flying in space takes very little effort. I think it’s an awkwardly executed scene, but I also think the idea that it invalidates the quest to find Luke is a little silly.
Then why didn’t the Resistance need her this whole entire time to be the Force-user they needed to help defeat the First Order? Hell, the leaked plot summary for The Rise of Skywalker on Reddit says that she trained with Luke!