topdawg193 said:
While on the topic of Lando, a common complaint of ROTJ is that Lando's betrayal of Han in the previous movie is never really dealt with, or talked about. It's just glossed over, and they are all-of-a-sudden good friends again.
Of course, the most likely reason for this is that this is because Lando played a big part in rescuing Han from Jabba's Palace (by infiltrating the Palace, and previously tracking down the bounty hunter who escaped from Bespin with Han), and so Han is grateful for this. But in the film, we never really see Han acknowledge Lando's role in his rescue; this is just assumed (interestingly, in the cut 'landing-area-sand-storm-scene' after the Sail Barge resuce, Han does thank Lando, awkwardly and almost bitterly, and we can see somewhat of a reconciliation between the two characters).
I was thinking, though, that it may be possible to strengthen Han and Lando's character relations, and explain clearer why they are suddenly on good terms after such a monumental betrayal, by rearranging some dialogue in two key scenes.
Immediately after the Sail Barge rescue, there is a space shot of the Falcon and Luke's X-Wing leaving Tatooine. Here, Han thanks Luke for his role in the rescue operation:
HAN (over comlink)
Hey, Luke, thanks. Thanks for comin' after me. Now I owe you one.
What I'm thinking is, would it not be possible to trim this to just 'Hey, Luke, thanks. Now I owe you one'? Maybe by inserting a pause in between the two sentences (and this could even make Han's appreciation pack a greater emotional punch), and, if necessary, by employing certain audio edits if the inflection of the statements needs amended?
By doing this, we can then take the cut statement ('Thanks for comin' after me') and insert it into the 'Han-and-Lando-in-the-Rebel-Hangar' scene from slightly later on in the film. In this way, Han would appear to be thanking Lando, specifically, and we could understand that he has forgiven him for his previous misdeed due to the act of bravery and loyalty he showed in 'comin' after' him. Because of the pauses, and sheepish nature of that scene (with Han worried about giving the Falcon to Lando), it might not be overly problematic to effectively insert this audio line in somewhere. For example, right at the end of their conversation, before they part ways:
LANDO
Look, would you get going, you pirate.
Han and Lando pause, then exchange salutes.
This could become:
LANDO
Look, would you get going, you pirate.
Han and Lando pause.
HAN
[Hey]...Thanks...for comin' after me.
Then they exchange salutes.
Notice here that I'm changing the inflection slightly with some minor pauses, and maybe even lifting an appropriate 'hey' from Han (he says this word numerous times throughout the trilogy, including in ROTJ, so it hopefully shouldn't be too hard to find the right one) to initiate the thanks. This way, we get a a better resolution on the betrayal-redemption-gratitude-forgiveness arc of these characters' story.
The only issue I can see is, Han's dialogue is heard over a com-link in Luke's X-Wing, and so sounds a little quiet and slightly garbled. But sufficient audio editing could solve this problem, I'd imagine.
OK, SOMETHING like this has to be done!...this idea could very well work.