DuracellEnergizer said:

pablumatic said:

The sequels need to bring back the tension of the originals, but I don't exactly know how they'll do that given that the antagonists were soundly defeated in Return of the Jedi.

That's only true for the SE. The theatrical version leaves it up to the individual to decide for him/herself if the entire Empire was defeated in the Battle of Endor if it merely was the battle that spelled the beginning of the end for the Empire.

It's been confirmed that as far as the state of the Empire is concerned, what we saw in 1997 was always the intent (even if intent isn't canon). Of course, they could change their mind, but I don't find that very likely.

Anyway, something that went wrong is that lightsaber duels became all about "epicness" wih no emotion and disconnected characters.