xhonzi said:
zombie84 said:
If I were to do ROTJ, I wouldn't include a single scene from the actual film, except maybe the conversation between Luke and Vader on the Endor base and the "I am a Jedi" moment. I would throw away the entire film and start over. You probably wouldn't see Tatooine, you wouldn't see Endor, and you wouldn't see a Death Star, and none of the character arcs would be the same either. And with that, you wouldn't have Return of the Jedi, you'd have something totally else, a Sequel to Empire Strikes Back.
It's easy to say what you wouldn't do. Do you have more on what you would do?
Well, writing a screenplay or even a storyline sequel to ESB is not something you can whip up on an internet forum in five minutes. It takes years to explore and write properly. And it might also take a few stabs at the storyline before you find the right plotline. I would include Dagobah--one thing I really liked about SpenceEdit was that it opened with Luke on Dagobah. We see him now, a real Jedi knight with a uniform and everything, and he is there beside Yoda as his master passes away. He's been there, training all this time and trying to get peace of mind. I would have Luke still have conflict within him, trying to come to terms with his father, still not forgiving him but only gradually coming into a sphere of grace--and that's what makes him a Jedi knight. We have to see that moment of clarity that is criminally left offscreen.
And I'd have Vader do the same, that its not so simple as just a spontaneous "don't pick on my son" moment at the end of the film but a more complex process where Vader being thrown into contact with his offspring again makes him start re-evaluating his life. The moment at the end where he finally turns on the Emperor would have more meaning, and it would be more complex. I'd have the climax set on Coruscant, maybe use the original script that had the Emperor as Satan, sitting on a throne atop a lake of fire in the bowels of the planet. A bit over the top, but you could make it work as long as you show restraint. This guy is evil, after all, so consumed by hate that it has warped his body.
The rescue of Han is a hard one to put in. I guess I'd have Luke, now that Yoda is dead, pick up his lightsaber, grab R2D2 and go find that bastard that kidnapped his friend--he has the skills now to get him back. I don't know how I'd stage it--no Tattoine, maybe even no Jabba the Hutt, but I'm not sure about that. This is the world of gangsters and bounty hunters and it would be a dangerous place, not a funny puppet show. The relationship between Lando and Han would be tense, because as far as Han's experience is concerned, he still betrayed him and sold out all his friends, I mean the guy got tortured over it, and ever though Lando helped get him back you don't just get over it over night. I'd have Han die at the end of the film, sacrificing himself--the natural culmination of his arc, a selfish loner who learns the value of friendship and, in the end, gives everything his has, his very life, to save those he loves. Maybe he could even do it to save Lando, to show he's finally gone beyond his grudges and give himself for something greater than himself.
I don't know what the middle part of the movie would be, with the Alliance. Given Luke and Vader and the Emperor are on Coruscant, maybe the Rebel final assualt would be on the heart of the Empire itself--storming the capital. You could see how even the citizens themselves don't like the Empire, they secretly wish the rebels would win, and are factioned into loyalist and rebel supporters, and as the rebels assault the Imperial headquarters from the air and from the ground the populous begins to revolt--that brief moment at the end of the SE where you see crowds overthrowing stormtroopers and pushing over statues. Finally, at the end of it all, the heroes stand in a bittersweet victory. Han is dead, Leia will go off on her own and have some part in the new order, they have a revolution to control and many fallen comrades to mourn. And Luke, most of all, is at a crossroads. He had briefly given into the darkside, and he mourns his father, but finally forgives him, and he now stands, battered and tired, the last of the Jedi Knights with a whole new world to build before him. But, somehow, he feels, finally, like a full person, a man now, who understands the world a little better. And the audience, hopefully, will be satisfied after a long and sometimes difficult journey, but they leave the story on a note a hope.
Anyway, those are some of my first thoughts on how to make the film more interesting. That's one thing the Harry Potter series got right with the final entry--its still for kids and still has lots of whimsey and humour, but the characters have to fight their way through hell and earn their victory, and it comes at a price both to their friends and to the souls as well, but in the end its a satisfying and positive thing.
Something like I am suggesting, especially by 1983 standards the film would be very expensive, probably about $40 million or more, but it could be done, and done effectively. Like ESB, the most important thing isn't the effects or the creatures, its the acting and the characters--and thats the whole problem with the ROTJ we got in the first place.