John Doom said:
As for the whole childish thing though, SW is after all as much for children, technically more, than it is for adults.
Except I didn't care about that stuff when I was a child, and I was only interested in Luke's journey to the "creepy" Emperor :D
That I definitively agree on, it's very distracting from the main story of ROTJ. It's too strong a contrast to the main story. ESB had a parallel conflict, but it was such a strong juxtaposition. It felt more related, at least as far as mood and atmosphere went. Ewoks intercut with the Emperor is kind of weird.
I'm not saying it's great, I'm just saying it's not a bad idea. It's just as you put it, kind of half-assed and oddly paced.
I actually watched all of the Emperor scenes yesterday, and skipped the Ewok scenes. It was amazing how different and more impactful it all suddenly felt. Judging by some of the concept art they were originally going for some much darker scenes. I think this is why I personally liked Dark Empire. It may have been a tad too dark, but at least it kept the focus in the right place.
All in all the Empire,or rather a small squadron and by effect the Death Star II, being defeated on a forest planet by a few rebels and a primitive society kind of makes contextually sense. It's silly, but so is a farm boy saving the day with a single torpedo.
I'm not sure it's the same: even before becoming the "only hope" in TESB, Luke was strong in the Force (as Vader admitted himself), not an ordinary farm boy.
Well, what is the Force really? Isn't it supposed to be nature? At least that's what Obi-Wan and Yoda keep hinting at. There's a reason why Obi-Wan is dressed as an ascetic and lives on a desert planet. Likewise Yoda lives in a hovel on a swamp planet. The Jedi/The Force/ The Rebels are heavily related to themes of nature, while the Dark side/The Empire is related to the artificial, mechanical, evil, etc.
I think the PT have made the Force into too much of a privileged superpower in the lore. Yes, technically Luke was strong with the force, but he was also supposed to be the relateable commoner who learns to be something special. The Force is more than just a plot point, it's a concept.
Lore is important, but the philosophy and emotional impact of a film is much more important to the general audience.
Also the ANH rough draft literally had a bunch of Wookiees being taught how to pilot fighters within a single day and destroying the Death Star.
Now that's silly!I can't find it in your link, but I'm glad it didn't make it into ANH :D
Scroll down to the last paragraph and you'll see it.
(It was illustrated in a Dark Horse Comics adaptation called "The Star Wars" and the image of a bunch of early Ralph McCuarrie concept art Wookies piloting a bunch of Y-Wings in an attack run on the Death Star is pretty absurd.
