I don’t buy for a second the argument that the movie was dealt a shit hand from which to build from.
Agreed. The only bad hand they were dealt was the loss of Carrie, and no matter how they handled it, that was pretty much always going to be the most forgivable component of the film. Everything else feels like it was picked piece by piece out of a random Star Wars plot generator. I don’t hate it, but it’s definitely disappointing to think about what could have been- not just for the TROS but for the sequels as a whole.