RotJ has always been my favourite film of the SW series. It has the most fluid space ship battle, and the best light saber battle. It also has some of the scenes that I like most, like Jaba’s sail barge, and the speeder bike chase. And it also has some of the best Darth Vader moments. Jedi also has many of the series’ deepest and strongest emotional points, with Luke helplessly watching the Rebel fleet from the Death Star while the emperor taunts him, and while he tries to redeem his father, but his father resists, and tries to break Luke, and use Lea against him, and then Luke breaks… and when Vader dies, saved… the funeral pyre for Vader, the ghosts of Obi, Yoda, and Anakin…

I also love Jedi’s ending (though I prefer the non SE version), and I’m very glad that Harrison Ford didn’t get his way by having Han Solo die in the movie, which I think would have been a cheap emotional cash-in that SW didn’t need, and that its story accomplished a perfect resolution.

So much criticism towards Jedi seems to be about the Ewoks, but people taking issue with Ewoks should think about this: Full body armour that does nothing to protect the wearer, and only makes it difficult for the wearer to see, and walk. If Storm Troopers aren’t a weak point of Star Wars, then Ewoks are completely in the clear.

I think that the people who critique RotJ for Ewoks just have latent teddy-bear issues or something, and that their gripes say something about only them, and not the movie.

I’ve grown to appreciate Empire Strikes Back more over time, but at best I say it’s equal to Return of the Jedi - which is a pretty darn good compliment. I think the series goes RotJ (best), ESB (2nd best, up to parity with RotJ), IV (decent, even good, but also rough in many ways).