ROTJ (this is probably gonna get nasty cuz so many cool scenes are ruined)
-first seeing jabba after 6 years of hearing about him
-when the rancor dies, the pet-owner cries!! a big scary monster was someones pet!! bwaaaahaahahahahahahaaa.
-after they blowup jabbas sail barge - starting with luke saying 'lets go..and dont forget the droids' to the shot of the x wing and the falcon going in different directions. love the music. nowadays, the jabba storyline is kinda long and come off as filler. but the idea of a group of people doing what they can to help a friend thats in trouble is just something that sticks with me.
-yoda telling luke not to underestimate the emperor.
-the music when yoda dies and luke realizes what needs to be done. combine that with the thunder in the background. just beautiful and somber.
-why dont you use your divine influence...and get us out of this!! fords expression is just priceless.
-"i wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear, lord vader?" if ROTJ had a voiceover like goodfellas, we would have heard vaders narration say "when the emperor asked me that, I knew I was never gonna be alive after the battle of endor"
-3P0 telling the story of star wars to the ewoks. this was a great scene and im glad the droids were able to stay relevant even though ROTJ was mostly the luke and vader show.
-kinda torn about including this one --> Luke asking leia if she remembered her real mother. it was this scene that really made me curious of the PT and what happened to anakin skywalker, especially after we hear Bens story. it was a great way to start off the scene too.
[rant] I cant tell you how disgusted I was at how it got ruined cuz of lucas' completely uncaring attitude towards competant (if not decent) storytelling.
in 2004, we were all really concerned about this for ROTS because you couldn't realistically have padme die and leia remember her at birth. but you couldn't leave it open-ended either because it would have been bad storytelling - and given how non-dimensional padme was in the PT, none of us were convinced lucas could pull it off anyways. Carl Cunningham said that the resolution of padme was shot both ways and either padme survives but its contrived and ham-fisted. or one of the most pathetic plotholes in cinema history is created. and please spare me any apologist crap of leia using the force to remember her (the way it was written in the ROTS novel is absolutely ridiculous). It was scenes like this that made us all anticipate the PT and lucas knew that fucking well and thumbed his nose and laughed all the way back to skywalker ranch.
[/rant over] doesnt bother me as much anymore since I regard PT as EU and pretend ROTS and ROTJ are not same universe. I guess I'll leave it for old times sake.
-luke meeting the emperor for first time - gotta love that music
-Its a trap!! alright, alright- it was never really one of my "favorites", but with the internet meme and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRvQKnsjYzM , I gotta add this in now!! bwaaaahaahhaahahahaahaahaahahahahahahahahahahaaaa!!!!!
-i love it when han taps the stormtroopers shoulder and ambushes him.
-when the 2 logs swing together and crush the AT-ST
-when the ewoks rope the trooper on the speeder - that was awesome.
-vader crossing the rubicon by threatening to go after leia. gotta love the music.
-luke NOT crossing the rubicon, refuses to let his emotions get the better of him and telling the emperor that he will never join the dark side.
-Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker - after throwing it all away and spending most of his life ruining himself as much as his friends and loved ones, makes the ultimate sacrifice. perfectly staged, scored and shot. THANKS HARMY!!
-vaders funeral - early example of 'closure'
-the celebration - i like yub nub. i like seeing the rebels celebrate. i like the idea of seeing a group of characters we all came to know and love - those in the flesh and in spirit. Thanks harmy!!