Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983), here are 10 cool facts you should know. May the Force be With You!
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, has been making a comeback in recent days. One of the main factors is because on May 25, 2023, the movie turns 40 years old.
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Star Wars: Return of the Jedi hits Theaters Again
Well recently through the Star Wars Celebration 2023 event, it was announced that to celebrate the 40th anniversary, the film will be released again in theaters in America and across the UK. In America, the movie will be shown from April 28 – May 4, 2023. In the UK, it will be from April 28 – May 1, 2023.
Based on these facts, it’s only fitting that I now discuss 10 unique and cool facts from this movie. Without further ado, let’s just start the discussion below.
1. Film Ke-3 dan Ke-6
The first facts about Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is that it can be considered the 3rd and 6th movie as well. What does that mean?
So here’s the deal guys. When Star Wars creator, George Lucas first created the story, he only envisioned it as a 3-movie trilogy. And Return of the Jedi was really going to be the finale.
But while making Return of the Jedi, Lucas suddenly became interested in developing the idea of a prequel trilogy. So when the movie was released, Lucas added “Episode VI” to the title.
So the overall title became: Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Now when the re-master version of the original trilogy was re-released in 1997, the titles of the three original films had their re-master episode details added.
The specifics are: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
2. Revenge of the Jedi
Yes, the movie was originally titled Revenge of the Jedi. Even then as you can see for yourself through the video, the trailerTrailer adalah cuplikan singkat dari sebuah film yang dirilis sebagai promosi sebelum film tersebut tayang... More with the title was released. But during the movie production process, the title was changed to Return of the Jedi. Actually, Lucas had given the title Return of the Jedi from the beginning.
But at the time, the film’s scriptwriter, Lawrence Kasdan (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back), thought that Return of the Jedi was a title that sounded “weak.”
Lucas, who initially agreed with Kasdan’s idea, immediately changed and decided to change it to the original title. The reason is that according to Lucas, a Jedi should not have the nature or even take revenge.
3. Han Solo Almost Didn’t Return
Like Mark Hamill with his Luke Skywalker or (late) Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. There is no denying that the character of Han Solo is inseparable from the original actor, Harrison Ford.
In fact, it’s Ford’s Solo character that steals the show in all three original films. However, you know what? He almost didn’t return in the final movie of the trilogy?
It’s no secret that Ford is not very enthusiastic about his role as Han Solo. This is because, he feels that the Solo character has no significant connection or is not very important in the saga.
But in the end, after much persuasion and negotiation, Ford agreed to return. And we finally get to see Han Solo’s liberation scene from his frozen carbonite in this movie.
4. 3 Actors as Darth Vader
In A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, the villain Darth Vader was essentially played by two actors. Specifically, David Prowse as the actor behind the iconic cape and mask. And James Earl Jones as the voice of Darth Vader.
However, in the final episode, actor Sebastian Shaw was featured as the iconic villain. Shaw appeared at the end of the climax of the fight between Vader VS Luke. Specifically, he was the real face of Vader aka Anakin Skywalker when Luke took off his mask.
Shaw also reappeared in the movie’s ending scene when he, as Anakin Skywalker with Yoda (Frank Oz), and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), appeared as a force ghost to Luke.
5. There are 2 scenes 3 Force Ghost
For those of you who haven’t seen or just watched all the Star Wars movies in this decade, you probably won’t “get it.” But for those (including me) who have seen this movie at least before 2010-2011, you must feel confused.
This is because when watching the movie’s post-2010-2011 re-master releases, there are significant differences in the movie’s ending scene. Specifically, the appearance of Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi as his force ghost.
So as you can see through the accompanying video above, Anakin was originally played by the original actor, Sebastian Shaw. But in the re-master 2011 version, he was replaced by the actor who played Anakin in the prequel trilogy, Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith).
6. Palpatine’s First Full Appearance
Sheev Palpatine, aka Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid), is undeniably the real Star Wars villain. He is the mastermind of all the chaos in the galaxy far, far away. Well actually Palpatine first appeared in Star Wars: The Empire Strike Back.
At that time, he appeared as a hologram and only briefly. The cast at that time was not even McDiarmid. But eventually through Return of the Jedi, he made his first full appearance. And he was played in a hilarious and iconic way by McDiarmid.
7. Blue Harvest
When Lucas made Return of the Jedi, Star Wars was already the top movie franchise at the time. Now that it was already booming, there were a lot of fans and media that started rumors.
Of course, they are rummaging around to get various details or even a little bit of spoilers from this movie. If we think back to the early 80s, the phenomenon of spoilers through the internet did not exist at all.
But in reality, that’s exactly what happened. As a result of this, Lucas and his team decided to change the title of the movie to Blue Harvest during the production process. And it can be said, this trick at that time was very successful.
8. Family Guy Parody
There are actually many movies, series, and animations that parody Star Wars. But it’s the parody of the silly animated series Family Guy (1999-present) that we’ll be discussing here.
Because not only is the parody funny but still super respectful of the original work/source, it is also related to point 7. So the title of the first episode of this parody is ‘Blue Harvest.’ And uniquely, this title became the title of the parody Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
If so, then what is the parody title of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi? Well, the title is ‘It’s a Trap!
9. 6 People For Jabba the Hutt
It’s no secret that all Star Wars planetary creatures (especially those in the original trilogy), use practical effects. Not the result of CGI.
Well the galactic gangster Jabba the Hutt is one of them. He is driven by puppet movers aka puppeteers. And who would have thought that Jabba would need so many puppeteers?
Yes guys. To move that huge Jabba figure, it takes not just 1, 2, or even 4. Instead, to move Jabba, it takes 6 puppeteers. GOKIL!
10. It’s A Trap!
As explained in point 8, the title of the parody of Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi of the Family Guy series is It’s a Trap!.
Now the title, in fact, is not just a title. Rather, the title was inspired by the exclamation of a supporting character in this movie, Admiral Ackbar (Timothy D. Rose & Erik Bauersfeld).
Ever since the exclamation, there’s no denying that the exclamation “It’s a Trap!” has become so iconic. So iconic, Admiral Ackbar’s exclamation and look has now become one of the top memes.
But you know what? It wasn’t originally that call. Instead, the original exclamation was “It’s a Trick!” But after Lucas cs did test screening, they decided to replace it with “It’s a Trap!”.
Well, it’s a good thing it was changed. Try to imagine if Lucas and his friends continued to use “It’s a Trick!” it’s not sure if it would be as iconic or even become a meme as it is now.
Okay, guys. Those are 10 cool and unique facts from Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Hope you found it useful!
