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Return
of the Jedi (1983) (aka Star Wars: Episode
VI)
In the final (third) episode of the original Star
Wars trilogy's science-fiction space adventure - the
epic conclusion by director Richard Marquand - the top grossing
(domestic) film of the year:
- the film's opening included the series' trademark
scrolling roll-up text, disappearing into infinity in the stars
as it described the time-period, after the display of the preface
- "A long
time ago in a galaxy far, far away... Luke Skywalker has returned
to his home planet of Tatooine in an attempt to rescue his friend
Han Solo from the clutches of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt.
Little does Luke know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly begun
construction on a new armored space station even more powerful
than the first dreaded Death Star. When completed, this ultimate
weapon will spell certain doom for the small band of rebels struggling
to restore freedom to the galaxy... "
- as already noted, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill)
had returned to his home planet of Tatooine (with his two droids
C3PO and R2D2) in an attempt to rescue his space-pilot friend Han
Solo (Harrison Ford) (still in carbon freeze and encased in carbonite)
from vile, hookah-smoking crime lord/gangster Jabba the Hutt, a
grotesque and repulsive slug-like creature; the two droids approached
Jabba's fortress palace in the distance and were met at the gate
by a mechanical arm with an electronic eyeball
- meanwhile, the evil Emperor Palpatine
(Ian McDiarmid), the Sith mastermind who had engineered the creation
of the Galactic Empire and the fall of Anakin Skywalker was plotting
and planning the doom of the Rebellion by constructing a
new, second more powerful Death Star space station - to be placed
in orbit around the forest moon of Endor, although it was falling
behind schedule
- there was a daring rescue attempt
by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) (disguised as a masked bounty hunter)
to free Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt; she freed him from the wall
where he was encased and revived him; he asked: "Who are you?" and
the bounty hunter replied: "Someone who loves you"; temporarily
blinded, he recognized her voice - and kissed her; she rushed him: "I
gotta get you out of here,"
but they were immediately captured by rhino-faced guards, and imprisoned
along with Chewie
- one of the film's most iconic images was of captured
and enslaved Princess Leia, wearing a gold-plated metal bikini and
held prisoner as a chained-up, dancing harem 'slave girl' by crime
lord Jabba the Hutt in his palace on the planet of Tatooine
- Luke arrived to free Chewie and
Han, when Jabba activated a trapdoor and Luke was dropped into a
pit with a monstrous Rancor, a drooling beast with sharp-fanged teeth,
beady eyes and giant claws; in an exciting segment, Luke defended
himself in Jabba's pit with the imposing and fierce Rancor beast
and crashed a heavy metal door down onto the head of the beast to
kill it
- subsequently, a battle broke
out between Jabba the Hutt's luxury sail-barge Khetanna and
the skiff - accompanied by the threatening carnivorous desert beast
(the Sarlaac) with a large gaping maw located in the hollow of a
sand-pit; Luke avoided having to walk the gang-plank, used his light-saber,
attacked the guards, and freed the prisoners; the struggle resulted
in Jabba's death (strangulation by Leia using her chains), the explosive
destruction of the barge, and the liberation of the captured rebels
- the sinister,
black-robed Emperor arrived during an impressive sequence in the
under-construction Death Star replacement, where he was greeted by
thousands of storm-troopers who were standing at attention, and was
met with Darth Vader (voice of James Earl Jones); the Emperor advised
Vader to be patient about Luke: "In
time, he will seek you out. And when he does, you must bring him
before me. He has grown strong. Only together can we turn him to
the dark side of the Force...Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen"
- meanwhile, Luke returned to Dagobah,
thinking he would finish his Force-training with aging 900 year-old
Yoda - who was about to die: ("Soon will I rest. Yes. Forever
sleep. Earned it I have"); Yoda told Luke that he hadn't completely
mastered the Force until he confronted Darth Vader: "One thing
remains, Vader. You must confront Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi
will you be. And confront him you will"; as Yoda faded in strength,
he confirmed that Darth Vader, once known as Anakin Skywalker, was
Luke's father ("Your father he is"); before the Jedi Master became
one with the Force and faded into oneness with it, he revealed one
more thing: "Pass on what you have learned. Luke, there is another...Sky
- walker"
- a ghostly image of Ben (Obi-Wan Kenobi) appeared and
Luke asked why he hadn't been told the truth about Vader: ("You
told me Vader betrayed and murdered my father"); Ben explained
that what he had told Luke before was true - that Anakin Skywalker
was for all intents and purposes 'killed' when he became Darth Vader: "Your
father was seduced by the dark side of the Force. He ceased to be
Anakin Skywalker and became Darth Vader. When that happened, the
good man who was your father was destroyed. So what I told you was
true from a certain point of view"
Yoda with Luke
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Yoda's Dying Revelations to Luke
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Ben's Ghostly Appearance to Luke
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- in addition, Ben spoke to Luke about the second
Skywalker mentioned by Yoda - it was a reference to his twin
sister Leia: "The
other he spoke of is your twin sister...To protect you both from
the Emperor, you were hidden from your father when you were born.
The Emperor knew, as I did, if Anakin were to have any offspring,
they would be a threat to him. That is the reason why your sister
remains safely anonymous"; Luke guessed, insightfully that
Princess Leia was his twin sister: "Leia is my sister!"
- a dangerous mission was embarked upon to Endor by
the freed rebels (Solo, Leia, Luke, the two droids, and Chewie),
where the strike team's objective was to destroy the shield generator
that protected the orbiting second Death Star station via an energy
force shield
- there was a thrilling "Speeder Bikes" chase
sequence at breakneck speeds through the dense trees and foilage
with POV shots on the forested moon of Endor, when Luke and Leia
battled against Imperial Stormtroopers on scout patrol that had
detected them; they were soon aided by furry bear-like alien creatures
known as Ewoks
- in the Endor Bridge scene, Luke explained his
worries to Leia: "Vader is here, now, on this moon...I
felt his presence. He's come for me...I have to face him...He's
my father"; he
also discussed the sibling connection he had with Leia: "The
Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. And my
sister has it. Yes. It's you, Leia"; she admitted that she wasn't
very surprised knowing they were related: "Somehow, I've always
known"; Luke knew he must confront his father, and believed
he had to stay and confront Vader, because there was good in him: "He
won't turn me over to the Emperor. I can save him. I can turn him
back to the good side. I have to try"; to accomplish his goal
of meeting Vader, Luke surrendered to Imperial troops
- in another passionate and exciting sequence
set in the throne room of the Emperor (on the Death Star), Jedi
Knight Luke engaged in a climactic light-saber duel with his own
father - the Dark Lord Darth Vader (Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker,
who had been converted to the Dark Side) - the cackling evil Emperor
Palpatine predicted the defeat of the Rebels and watched their
struggle; when Vader read Luke's thoughts, he learned that he had
a twin sister: "Obi-Wan
was wise to hide her from me" - and he threatened to also
turn Luke's sister Leia to the dark side: ("If you will not
turn to the Dark Side, then perhaps she will"), Luke angrily
severed Vader's prosthetic hand (Luke noticed how he was becoming
like Vader - now they both had artificial bionic hands)
Luke's Sparing of His Father
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Luke's Light-Saber Duel with Darth Vader
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Vader's Severed Prosthetic Hand, Connecting the
Two
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- at the end of the duel, Luke was not goaded by the
Emperor into killing Vader when he had the chance - he decided
to spare him: ("Never! I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've
failed, Your Highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me";
although mortally-wounded, Vader made a redeeming choice to save
Luke and kill the enraged Emperor (who was threatening Luke with
purple bolts of lightning and slowly killing him), in order to
save his son; Vader/Anakin Skywalker heaved up and hurled the Emperor's
body down a long shaft into an abyss in the Death Star battle station,
where his body exploded in a burst of energy and was torn apart
by the Death Star generators
The Demise of the Emperor
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Luke Zapped by Emperor's Lightning Bolts
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Darth Vader Angered by Emperor
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Emperor Palpatine
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Vader Picking up Emperor
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Emperor Hurled Down Long Shaft
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Emperor's Body Exploding
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- afterwards came the amazing sequence of the unmasking
of Darth Vader (David Prowse); mortally-wounded and breathing laboriously
as he lay dying in Luke's arms, Vader asked Luke to remove his
mask-respirator: ("Help me take this mask off...Just for once,
let me look on you with my own eyes"), but Luke protested: "But
you'll die!," to which Vader responded: "Nothing can
stop that now. Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes";
when he removed his father's mask, Luke saw the face of a sad elderly,
bald man with a scarred, withered and pale white face who ordered
Luke to flee the second Death Star with his last dying breaths: "Now,
go, my son. Leave me." Luke disagreed, and vowed to save his
father: "I've got to save you." Vader replied: "You
already have, Luke...You were right about me. Tell your sister
you were right" - and then Vader, after renouncing the Dark
Side of the Force, and with the redeemed face
of Anakin Skywalker (Sebastian Shaw), died in his son Luke's arms
- after the eventual destruction of the Death Star's
shield deflector on Endor, the Rebels commenced an attack on the
unprotected Death Star's main reactor, and the space station was
obliterated (as the Millennium Falcon escaped)
- Luke had taken an Imperial shuttle and escaped from
the exploding Death Star with his father's corpse, and that evening
on the forest moon of Endor (as the rebels celebrated the destruction
of the Death Star, their ultimate victory over the Empire, and the
demise of the Emperor), Luke privately burned his father's armored
body in a funeral pyre
- meanwhile on Endor, Leia told a stunned Han that Luke
was her brother, and she and Han kissed
- in the final scene with his Rebel friends, Luke looked
at the happy, reunited ghost-spirits of Ben "Obi-Wan" Kenobi,
Jedi master Yoda and then Anakin (his father) smiling upon him -
and he waved them goodbye
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C3PO and R2D2 Approaching Jabba's Palace Gate
Leia's Failed Rescue of Han - Just After a Kiss
Jabba the Hut
Princess Leia Chained and Imprisoned by Jabba the Hut
Luke's Fight-Encounter with Rancor Beast in Pit
Jabba's Captured Rebels (Luke, Chewie and Han) on Skiff
The Monstrous Sarlaac and Luke on Gang-Plank
The Desert Battle Ending with the Death of Jabba and the
Sail-Barge's Explosion
The Arrival of the Emperor at the Death Star
Speeder Bike Chase on Endor
Luke and Leia -- Siblings
End of Duel: Luke's Unmasking of Darth Vader (Anakin)
The Destruction of the Death Star
Vader's Helmet Burning in Funeral Pyre
Luke's Look Upon Anakin (His Father), Yoda, and Ben
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