I wonder in ROTJ will win any Oscar’sChapter IV Part Deux
54th Academy Awards [1]
Best Picture
Raiders of the Lost Ark — George Lucas (posthumous win) and Frank Marshall, producers
Chariots of Fire — David Puttnam, producer
On Golden Pond — Bruce Gilbert, producer
Will There Really Be a Morning? — Jonathan Sanger, producer
Reds — Warren Beatty, producer
Best Director
Hugh Hudson — Chariots of Fire
Mark Rydell — On Golden Pond
David Lynch — Will There Really Be a Morning?
Steven Spielberg — Raiders of the Lost Ark
Warren Beatty — Reds
Best Actor
Warren Beatty — Reds as John Silas “Jack” Reed
Paul Newman — Absence of Malice as Michael Gallagher
Dudley Moore — Arthur as Arthur Bach
Burt Lancaster — Atlantic City as Lou Pascal
Henry Fonda — On Golden Pond as Norman Thayer Jr.
Best Actress
Susan Dey — Will There Really Be a Morning? as Frances Farmer
Susan Sarandon — Atlantic City as Sally Matthews
Katherine Hepburn — On Golden Pond as Ethel Thayer
Meryl Streep — The French Lieutenant’s Woman as Sarah Woodruff/Anna
Diane Keaton — Reds as Louise Bryant
Best Supporting Actor
John Huston — Will There Really Be a Morning? as Ernest Farmer
John Gielgud — Arthur as Hobson
Ian Holm — Chariots of Fire as Sam Mussanbini
Howard E. Rollins — Ragtime as Coalhouse Walker Jr.
Jack Nicholson — Reds as Eugene O’Neill
Best Supporting Actress
Kim Stanley — Will There Really Be a Morning? as Lillian Van Ornum Farmer
Melinda Dillon — Absence of Malice as Teresa Perrone
Jane Fonda — On Golden Pond as Chelsea Thayer Wayne
Elizabeth McGovern — Ragtime as Evelyn Nesbit
Maureen Stapleton — Reds as Emma Goldman
Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Reds — Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths
Absence of Malice — Kurt Luedtke
Arthur — Steve Gordon
Atlantic City — John Guare
Chariots of Fire — Colin Welland
Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
Will There Really Be a Morning? — David Lynch based on the novel by Frances Farmer and The Decline and Fall of the Love Goddesses by Patrick Agan
On Golden Pond — Ernest Thompson based on his play
The French Lieutenant’s Woman — Harold Pinter based on the novel by John Fowles
Prince of the City — Jay Presson Allen and Sidney Lumet based on the book by Robert Daley
Ragtime — Michael Weller based on the novel by E. L. Doctorow
Best Original Score
Raiders of the Lost Ark — John Williams
Chariots of Fire — Vangelis
On Golden Pond — Dave Grusin
Will There Really Be a Morning? — John Barry
Ragtime — Randy Newman
Best Original Song
“Endless Love” from Endless Love — Music and Lyrics by Lionel Ritchie
“Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” from Arthur
“The First Time It Happens” from The Great Muppet Caper
“For Your Eyes Only” from For Your Eyes Only
“One More Hour” from Ragtime
Best Sound
Raiders of the Lost Ark — Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Greg Landaker, and Roy Charman
On Golden Pond
Outland
Pennies from Heaven
Reds
Best Makeup
Will There Really Be a Morning? — Christopher Tucker
An American Werewolf in London
Heartbeeps
Best Costume Design
Chariots of Fire — Milena Canonero
The French Lieutenant’s Woman — Tom Rand
Pennies From Heaven — Bob Mackie
Ragtime — Anna Hill Johnstone
Reds — Shirley Russell
Best Art Direction
Raiders of the Lost Ark — Art Direction: Norman Reynolds and Leslie Dilley; Set Direction: Michael Ford
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Heaven’s Gate
Ragtime
Reds
Best Cinematography
Raiders of the Lost Ark — Douglas Slocombe
Excalibur — Alex Thomson
On Golden Pond — Billy Williams
Ragtime — Miroslav Ondricek
Reds — Vittorio Storaro
Best Film Editing
Raiders of the Lost Ark — Michael Khan
Chariots of Fire — Terry Rawlings
The French Lieutenant’s Woman — John Bloom
On Golden Pond — Robert L. Wolfe (posthumous nomination)
Reds — Dede Allen and Craig McKay
Best Visual Effects
Raiders of the Lost Ark — Richard Edmund, Kit West, Bruce Nicholson, Joe Johnston
Dragonslayer
Raiders of the Lost Ark dominated the 1982 Oscars with 7 wins, including a posthumous Best Picture Award for George Lucas, as Warren Beatty’s Reds snagged 12 nominations, but no film swept the major categories. Marcia Lucas and Steven Spielberg accepted the award on George’s behalf, whose work was featured in a career retrospective after his death the year prior in a fiery single car accident. David Lynch would be nominated for a second consecutive Best Director Award, but lose again. For Will There Really Be a Morning? Lynch would win Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, and the film would win 3 out of the 4 acting awards. Chariots of Fire was favorited for Best Picture, and many felt Henry Fonda was snubbed for his role in On Golden Pond.
The following year, at the 55th Academy Awards, Lucasfilm’s First Blood would secure nominations in all the major categories, including Best Picture, Director, and Actor, but notably only win 2 awards: Kirk Douglas for Best Supporting Actor and then Marcia Lucas and Paul Hirsch for Best Editing.
________________________________________________
[1] With the many butterflies to the 54th Academy Awards, I decided to add a mostly complete TTL chart of winners and nominees, and just give a few details for the 55th Academy Awards, as Gandhi still steamrolls as OTL.
The Star Wars Story: how George Lucas and Steven Spielberg held Hollywood hostage for 20 years
- Thread starter VVVVVV
- Start date
Haha, I'm tempted to give it Best Picture, but I think Terms of Endearment might be more the Academy's flavor.
Next update is the long awaited alt-ROTJ chapter!
Chapter V
Return of the Jedi production
As soon as David Lynch had wrapped on the Frances Farmer biopic, he immediately entered into pre-production on what was then still known as Revenge of the Jedi. He inherited a script by George Lucas that featured a fleet of Death Stars, Leia not involved with Han’s rescue, which takes place on Tatooine, among other things that the team at Lucasfilm would ultimately change. From the beginning there had been disagreement on what direction to take what would be the concluding film of the Star Wars trilogy. George and Gary Kurtz had originally discussed plans for the third film, mostly about rescuing Han from the clutches of Boba Fett, to be followed up by a second trilogy focusing on Luke finding his sister and finally defeating the Emperor. The story at that time took a lot of influence from the serialized adventures he grew up on. Eventually George decided the third film would be the last, wanting to move on to other projects such as Howard the Duck (which he had Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz currently working on) and more Indiana Jones films.
Gary Kurtz wanted things to leave things on a bittersweet note, with Luke walking off into the sunset like a spaghetti western. George wanted to end things positively, and for everything to come together in the end. Kurtz did persuade George to change the title, from Return of the Jedi to Revenge of the Jedi. They both agreed “Revenge” made for a more interesting title. The change persisted so deep into production an early round of promotional material went out with this title, and the first round of prototype action figures (such as Luke with his green lightsaber, Leia in disguise, Han Solo in carbonite and out, Chewie with his chains and bowcaster, Boba Fett with a launchable missile from his jetpack, Bib Fortuna with detachable arm, and Darth Vader with retractable helmet) for the picture used “Revenge” for its packaging. Lynch would actually receive these action figures as a gift after signing onto the picture. Finally, before he passed away, George finished a screenplay draft using the “Revenge” in its title as well.
It is this script that featured a fleet of Death Stars, Grand Moff Jerrjerod going on a hunt for Luke, with Leia planning an assault on the Empire’s capital planet as Luke rescues Han on Tatooine. Before the first scheduled sit down with Marcia Lucas, Gary Kurtz, Lawrence Kasdan, Howard Kazanjian, and Steven Spielberg the studio would arrange for private viewings of the original Star Wars (renamed Episode 4: The Force Awakens) and The Empire Strikes Back for Lynch, that next week before the meeting he completed his own draft based on George’s. This one reduced the Death Stars to 4, moved Han’s rescue to the “smugglers moon,” Nar’Sada, and added scenes with a character named Mace Windu based on a name used in early drafts of Star Wars (Mace Windy), material that had been made available to Lynch.
He shared this draft to the group, going over the main changes, and they all started to discuss their own visions for the third and final Star Wars film. Ultimately Gary Kurtz won the group over, introducing the element of Luke’s long lost sister that was left ambiguous in the end (possibly for a sequel trilogy, if they decided to make one in the future), and removed the Death Stars and Mace Windu sequences entirely. Kasdan took these ideas and wrote the final draft, spicing up scenes like the Han rescue and making edits here and there. It was during this work that Kasdan and Lynch would have a conversation about the title, and the decision was made to change the title back to Return of the Jedi.
Lynch would recount changing the name some years later: “You know, I was very invested into the Star Wars bubble at the time. I definitely understood the conversation at the time, but I swear, if I were to hear it verbatim today, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what any of it means. But Lawrence, he was really very convincing. Oh, the Jedi this, the Dark Side that. You know? Today it gives me a headache. It’s like forgetting a second language.”
One potential problem did arise after the script was finalized. No one was sure whether Harrison Ford would be participating in the third picture, lest of all Harrison Ford himself. Unlike Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who had signed for 3 pictures, Ford had signed on for two originally. It wasn’t just a matter of throwing the right amount of money at Ford and calling it a day, although the money was always a factor. The Han Solo actor had serious reservations about returning, especially after falling in love with the Indiana Jones character, who he’d much rather be playing. A meeting was scheduled between Ford, accompanied his agent, and Lynch, who had executive producer Howard Kazanjian alongside him. Kazanjian took the leading role in the discussion, working out the numbers with Ford’s agent, and when it became clear a deal could be reached, Ford suggested that Han Solo be killed through self-sacrifice. Lynch agreed to include it, later calling Kasdan and asking him to write the scene.
Several new characters had been written into the story, although with little initial thought into who should be cast in what. For the role of Beto Thule, George C. Scott was convinced to join the cast, Marcia having wanted to work with him since casting First Blood and wanting him for the Colonel Trautman role. Kurt Russell took the role of Captain Harand, later quoted to have said he wasn’t “so stupid to say no to Star Wars again,” after being the first choice to play Han Solo. Pam Grier was cast as Mon Mothma, or her “moon mother” role as she would later affectionately refer to it as. Erik Bauersfeld would play double duty, notably acting within layers of makeup/special effects, which took hours to take on and off each day, for the roles of Bib Fortuna and Admiral Ackbar.
Filming began in January 1982, after the release of Will There Be a Morning? and a quick press tour finally freed up David Lynch, and would last until the end of May. It was the idea of Kazanjain to use the code name “Blue Harvest” so the production wouldn’t get gouged by others. The first stage of production was spent at Elstree Studios for 78 days, where the film occupied all nine stages. Production then moved to a few weeks of location shooting and then ten days at ILM for blue screen shots. Notably, at Lynch’s invitation, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill changed several of their lines while they were shooting, much to the frustration of Carrie Fisher. This was based on a schedule devised by Kazanjian, the intent being to complete filming early in order to give Industrial Light & Magic and The Graphics Group as much time as possible to work on special effects. The Graphics Group had started inside Lucasfilm in the late 70s, first building computers and the first computer graphics software. Return of the Jedi would feature some of the first, and for years most extensive, use of cgi in film. The year prior The Graphics Group had worked on a sequence for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, so it wouldn’t quite be the first to feature would become cgi, but nonetheless was the first film to really show audiences what the future could entail.
There were three specific models built by The Graphics Group: first the carbonite melting away as Han is freed, second Jabba the Hutt’s hologram (which in the end would’ve likely been cheaper to portray as a puppet), and third the explosion of Darth Vader’s Executor. These were crude, stylistic models that in later years would be replaced by stunning lifelike models, but they effectively did their job and showed what promise the field had. Creature puppets and models were designed by ILM, some directly based on Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art for the film. The advancements in computer graphics didn’t leave the practical effect department slacking for its own share of innovative work. Jabba’s band and in particular its performance would later be singled out for its mastery puppetry work.
Steven Spielberg, who had signed onto Return of the Jedi as producer, was a constant presence on set. He was basking in the success of E.T., which had seen Marcia Lucas take a out a full page ad congratulating him on surpassing Star Wars as #1 in box office returns, as Spielberg had done when Star Wars surpassed Jaws. Lynch would later freely admit that Spielberg effectively served as co-director for certain sequences, especially the action scenes which Lynch had little experience in. Spielberg later answered questions about his “co-director status,” telling reporters that Lynch led the project from start to finish, and his vision shines in the final product, but all films are collaborative projects.
As the first test reels were being watched a problem, which was first noticed after Star Wars released and then persisted with Empire Strike Back’s release, rose again. While testing commenced in a commercial theater, Sprocket Systems employees noticed that many of the sound effects that had been mixed in could not be heard. To fix this, THX was developed by Tomlinson Holman, who described it as a quality assurance system. It was made to ensure Return of the Jedi’s soundtrack would be accurately reproduced in throughout venues, so that what was heard in studio by engineers was faithfully recreated in every theater.
Meanwhile, the special effects work required by Return of the Jedi pushed ILM to its operational limits, where there was an unspoken pledge that each new film should outdo the previous by leaps and bounds. Dozens of new roles opened up at the studio, filled up by later Hollywood heroes such as Joe Johnston, Dan O’Bannon, Tom Savini, and James Cameron, his Piranha sequel having been shut down and his direction in Hollywood unclear, working in various departments. In years past it was policy to let go of staff members when between Lucasfilm pictures, and later open positions back up when required. Marcia would reverse this policy, partially made easier by an increased production slate of films in succeeding years.
In the editing room, Marcia Lucas sat down with David Lynch and over the course of three weeks and 18 hour days spent in the editing room, they together compiled the final cut. An opening sequence in which Yoda searched through his hut for his lightsaber was cut, among other trims and re-edits of certain scenes. When they were happy with their cut, they asked Anne V. Coates to watch and give notes. A couple small changes were made as a result, but her work went uncredited outside of being included in the “thank you” section.
The final budget was $40 million, a significant sum that would ultimately pale in comparison to Return of the Jedi’s returns. E.T. had surpassed Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all-time, but after a massive advertising campaign for “the last Star Wars movie,” Return of the Jedi took back the mantle. Critics and audiences alike praised the film, noting that all the actors gave surprising, career performances under Lynch’s direction. Roger Ebert named it his #1 film of 1983, saying it was “a complete entertainment, a feast for the eyes and a delight for the fancy. It’s amazing how Lucasfilm answered George Lucas’ loss with some of their very best work.” When it finally end its theatrical run, Return of the Jedi grossed nearly $450 million in the United States and Canada, and $700 worldwide. Notably, it would be the first foreign produced film released in China in 1985, and for decades would rank as the country’s most watched film ever in terms of ticket sales, no doubt having a huge impact on the local industry in later years.
The film was also a merchandising success, as action figures like Boba Fett (edited from his prototype to remove the projectile missile from his jetpack) proved especially popular, and for more mature audiences, expensive puppets of Yoda and Jabba the Hutt were released. T-shirts, lunch boxes, and more were mass produced. The Games Group, a sister division of The Graphics Group, would produce the Award-winning Star Wars roleplaying game and a few different arcade games (such as Imperial March and Rebel Commandos). After the success of Dragon’s Lair, Don Bluth would enter into negotiations with Lucasfilm to produce games in that style for all three Star Wars films, as well as some of his own creation.
########
Return of the Jedi
Directed by: David Lynch
Screenplay by: David Lynch and Lawrence Kasdan
Story by: George Lucas
Produced by: Marcia Lucas, Gary Kurtz, Steven Spielberg, Howard Kazanjian (executive)
Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Edited by: Marcia Lucas
Music by: John Williams
Production company: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release date: May 25, 1983
Running time: 132 minutes
County: United States
Language: English
Budget: $40 million
Box office: $700 million
Cast (list does not necessarily reflect all roles in film)
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa
Harrison Ford as Han Solo
Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca
Kenny Baker as R2-D2
Frank Oz as Yoda
David Prowse / James Earl Jones / Sebastian Shaw as Darth Vader / Anniken Skywalker
Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi
George C. Scott as Beto Thule
Pam Grier as Mon Mothma
Kurt Russell as Captain Harand
Erik Bauersfeld as Bib Fortunate and Admiral Ackbar
Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles
Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett
David Suchet as the Emperor
Imgur album of concept art.
Return of the Jedi production
As soon as David Lynch had wrapped on the Frances Farmer biopic, he immediately entered into pre-production on what was then still known as Revenge of the Jedi. He inherited a script by George Lucas that featured a fleet of Death Stars, Leia not involved with Han’s rescue, which takes place on Tatooine, among other things that the team at Lucasfilm would ultimately change. From the beginning there had been disagreement on what direction to take what would be the concluding film of the Star Wars trilogy. George and Gary Kurtz had originally discussed plans for the third film, mostly about rescuing Han from the clutches of Boba Fett, to be followed up by a second trilogy focusing on Luke finding his sister and finally defeating the Emperor. The story at that time took a lot of influence from the serialized adventures he grew up on. Eventually George decided the third film would be the last, wanting to move on to other projects such as Howard the Duck (which he had Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz currently working on) and more Indiana Jones films.
Gary Kurtz wanted things to leave things on a bittersweet note, with Luke walking off into the sunset like a spaghetti western. George wanted to end things positively, and for everything to come together in the end. Kurtz did persuade George to change the title, from Return of the Jedi to Revenge of the Jedi. They both agreed “Revenge” made for a more interesting title. The change persisted so deep into production an early round of promotional material went out with this title, and the first round of prototype action figures (such as Luke with his green lightsaber, Leia in disguise, Han Solo in carbonite and out, Chewie with his chains and bowcaster, Boba Fett with a launchable missile from his jetpack, Bib Fortuna with detachable arm, and Darth Vader with retractable helmet) for the picture used “Revenge” for its packaging. Lynch would actually receive these action figures as a gift after signing onto the picture. Finally, before he passed away, George finished a screenplay draft using the “Revenge” in its title as well.
It is this script that featured a fleet of Death Stars, Grand Moff Jerrjerod going on a hunt for Luke, with Leia planning an assault on the Empire’s capital planet as Luke rescues Han on Tatooine. Before the first scheduled sit down with Marcia Lucas, Gary Kurtz, Lawrence Kasdan, Howard Kazanjian, and Steven Spielberg the studio would arrange for private viewings of the original Star Wars (renamed Episode 4: The Force Awakens) and The Empire Strikes Back for Lynch, that next week before the meeting he completed his own draft based on George’s. This one reduced the Death Stars to 4, moved Han’s rescue to the “smugglers moon,” Nar’Sada, and added scenes with a character named Mace Windu based on a name used in early drafts of Star Wars (Mace Windy), material that had been made available to Lynch.
He shared this draft to the group, going over the main changes, and they all started to discuss their own visions for the third and final Star Wars film. Ultimately Gary Kurtz won the group over, introducing the element of Luke’s long lost sister that was left ambiguous in the end (possibly for a sequel trilogy, if they decided to make one in the future), and removed the Death Stars and Mace Windu sequences entirely. Kasdan took these ideas and wrote the final draft, spicing up scenes like the Han rescue and making edits here and there. It was during this work that Kasdan and Lynch would have a conversation about the title, and the decision was made to change the title back to Return of the Jedi.
Lynch would recount changing the name some years later: “You know, I was very invested into the Star Wars bubble at the time. I definitely understood the conversation at the time, but I swear, if I were to hear it verbatim today, I wouldn’t be able to tell you what any of it means. But Lawrence, he was really very convincing. Oh, the Jedi this, the Dark Side that. You know? Today it gives me a headache. It’s like forgetting a second language.”
One potential problem did arise after the script was finalized. No one was sure whether Harrison Ford would be participating in the third picture, lest of all Harrison Ford himself. Unlike Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, who had signed for 3 pictures, Ford had signed on for two originally. It wasn’t just a matter of throwing the right amount of money at Ford and calling it a day, although the money was always a factor. The Han Solo actor had serious reservations about returning, especially after falling in love with the Indiana Jones character, who he’d much rather be playing. A meeting was scheduled between Ford, accompanied his agent, and Lynch, who had executive producer Howard Kazanjian alongside him. Kazanjian took the leading role in the discussion, working out the numbers with Ford’s agent, and when it became clear a deal could be reached, Ford suggested that Han Solo be killed through self-sacrifice. Lynch agreed to include it, later calling Kasdan and asking him to write the scene.
Several new characters had been written into the story, although with little initial thought into who should be cast in what. For the role of Beto Thule, George C. Scott was convinced to join the cast, Marcia having wanted to work with him since casting First Blood and wanting him for the Colonel Trautman role. Kurt Russell took the role of Captain Harand, later quoted to have said he wasn’t “so stupid to say no to Star Wars again,” after being the first choice to play Han Solo. Pam Grier was cast as Mon Mothma, or her “moon mother” role as she would later affectionately refer to it as. Erik Bauersfeld would play double duty, notably acting within layers of makeup/special effects, which took hours to take on and off each day, for the roles of Bib Fortuna and Admiral Ackbar.
Filming began in January 1982, after the release of Will There Be a Morning? and a quick press tour finally freed up David Lynch, and would last until the end of May. It was the idea of Kazanjain to use the code name “Blue Harvest” so the production wouldn’t get gouged by others. The first stage of production was spent at Elstree Studios for 78 days, where the film occupied all nine stages. Production then moved to a few weeks of location shooting and then ten days at ILM for blue screen shots. Notably, at Lynch’s invitation, Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill changed several of their lines while they were shooting, much to the frustration of Carrie Fisher. This was based on a schedule devised by Kazanjian, the intent being to complete filming early in order to give Industrial Light & Magic and The Graphics Group as much time as possible to work on special effects. The Graphics Group had started inside Lucasfilm in the late 70s, first building computers and the first computer graphics software. Return of the Jedi would feature some of the first, and for years most extensive, use of cgi in film. The year prior The Graphics Group had worked on a sequence for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, so it wouldn’t quite be the first to feature would become cgi, but nonetheless was the first film to really show audiences what the future could entail.
There were three specific models built by The Graphics Group: first the carbonite melting away as Han is freed, second Jabba the Hutt’s hologram (which in the end would’ve likely been cheaper to portray as a puppet), and third the explosion of Darth Vader’s Executor. These were crude, stylistic models that in later years would be replaced by stunning lifelike models, but they effectively did their job and showed what promise the field had. Creature puppets and models were designed by ILM, some directly based on Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art for the film. The advancements in computer graphics didn’t leave the practical effect department slacking for its own share of innovative work. Jabba’s band and in particular its performance would later be singled out for its mastery puppetry work.
Steven Spielberg, who had signed onto Return of the Jedi as producer, was a constant presence on set. He was basking in the success of E.T., which had seen Marcia Lucas take a out a full page ad congratulating him on surpassing Star Wars as #1 in box office returns, as Spielberg had done when Star Wars surpassed Jaws. Lynch would later freely admit that Spielberg effectively served as co-director for certain sequences, especially the action scenes which Lynch had little experience in. Spielberg later answered questions about his “co-director status,” telling reporters that Lynch led the project from start to finish, and his vision shines in the final product, but all films are collaborative projects.
As the first test reels were being watched a problem, which was first noticed after Star Wars released and then persisted with Empire Strike Back’s release, rose again. While testing commenced in a commercial theater, Sprocket Systems employees noticed that many of the sound effects that had been mixed in could not be heard. To fix this, THX was developed by Tomlinson Holman, who described it as a quality assurance system. It was made to ensure Return of the Jedi’s soundtrack would be accurately reproduced in throughout venues, so that what was heard in studio by engineers was faithfully recreated in every theater.
Meanwhile, the special effects work required by Return of the Jedi pushed ILM to its operational limits, where there was an unspoken pledge that each new film should outdo the previous by leaps and bounds. Dozens of new roles opened up at the studio, filled up by later Hollywood heroes such as Joe Johnston, Dan O’Bannon, Tom Savini, and James Cameron, his Piranha sequel having been shut down and his direction in Hollywood unclear, working in various departments. In years past it was policy to let go of staff members when between Lucasfilm pictures, and later open positions back up when required. Marcia would reverse this policy, partially made easier by an increased production slate of films in succeeding years.
In the editing room, Marcia Lucas sat down with David Lynch and over the course of three weeks and 18 hour days spent in the editing room, they together compiled the final cut. An opening sequence in which Yoda searched through his hut for his lightsaber was cut, among other trims and re-edits of certain scenes. When they were happy with their cut, they asked Anne V. Coates to watch and give notes. A couple small changes were made as a result, but her work went uncredited outside of being included in the “thank you” section.
The final budget was $40 million, a significant sum that would ultimately pale in comparison to Return of the Jedi’s returns. E.T. had surpassed Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all-time, but after a massive advertising campaign for “the last Star Wars movie,” Return of the Jedi took back the mantle. Critics and audiences alike praised the film, noting that all the actors gave surprising, career performances under Lynch’s direction. Roger Ebert named it his #1 film of 1983, saying it was “a complete entertainment, a feast for the eyes and a delight for the fancy. It’s amazing how Lucasfilm answered George Lucas’ loss with some of their very best work.” When it finally end its theatrical run, Return of the Jedi grossed nearly $450 million in the United States and Canada, and $700 worldwide. Notably, it would be the first foreign produced film released in China in 1985, and for decades would rank as the country’s most watched film ever in terms of ticket sales, no doubt having a huge impact on the local industry in later years.
The film was also a merchandising success, as action figures like Boba Fett (edited from his prototype to remove the projectile missile from his jetpack) proved especially popular, and for more mature audiences, expensive puppets of Yoda and Jabba the Hutt were released. T-shirts, lunch boxes, and more were mass produced. The Games Group, a sister division of The Graphics Group, would produce the Award-winning Star Wars roleplaying game and a few different arcade games (such as Imperial March and Rebel Commandos). After the success of Dragon’s Lair, Don Bluth would enter into negotiations with Lucasfilm to produce games in that style for all three Star Wars films, as well as some of his own creation.
########
Return of the Jedi
Directed by: David Lynch
Screenplay by: David Lynch and Lawrence Kasdan
Story by: George Lucas
Produced by: Marcia Lucas, Gary Kurtz, Steven Spielberg, Howard Kazanjian (executive)
Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford
Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe
Edited by: Marcia Lucas
Music by: John Williams
Production company: Lucasfilm Ltd.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release date: May 25, 1983
Running time: 132 minutes
County: United States
Language: English
Budget: $40 million
Box office: $700 million
Cast (list does not necessarily reflect all roles in film)
Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa
Harrison Ford as Han Solo
Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca
Kenny Baker as R2-D2
Frank Oz as Yoda
David Prowse / James Earl Jones / Sebastian Shaw as Darth Vader / Anniken Skywalker
Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi
George C. Scott as Beto Thule
Pam Grier as Mon Mothma
Kurt Russell as Captain Harand
Erik Bauersfeld as Bib Fortunate and Admiral Ackbar
Denis Lawson as Wedge Antilles
Jeremy Bulloch as Boba Fett
David Suchet as the Emperor
Imgur album of concept art.
Return of the Jedi
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
The REBEL ALLIANCE swells as more and more planets join the epic war against the GALACTIC EMPIRE, thanks to the diplomatic efforts of PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA
The princess courts the ruthless trader baron BETO THULE to the rebel cause, the last piece in the puzzle to the rebellion’s final assault on the empire
Meanwhile, LUKE SKYWALKER completes his training with MASTER JEDI YODA on DAGOBAH…
We open in the swamps of Dagobah. Luke is kneeling, the necessary components to a lightsaber floating in the air in front of him, a green crystal in the center. Using the force, Luke merges the components, then guides the saber to his hand. He tells Yoda he shouldn’t have disassembled his own, but Yoda says he hasn’t needed it for a very long time, and won’t.
Luke takes the Jedi oath as Yoda watches on:
“I swear on my honor, and on the faith of the brotherhood of knights, to use the Force only for good; denying, always turning from the Dark Side; to dedicate my life to the cause of freedom, and justice. If I should fail of this vow, my life shall be forfeit, here and hereafter.”
That night, Luke has a dream where he is standing in the Emperors throne room, the Emperor sitting motionless as Luke makes his way up the steps. Finally, the Emperor removes his cloak to reveal the face of Luke himself. Luke awakes screaming, but is stilled by the voice of Obi-Wan telling to be quiet, lest he awake Yoda. Luke asks Obi-Wan where he’s been all this time, but Obi-Wan tells him to ask the question he really wants to know.
“How could you lie to me about my father?”
“Your father was my greatest pupil, and my greatest shame. When I brought you to your uncle, he made me promise we would never tell you who your father had become. When he became Vader, he stopped being your father. I was protecting you, Luke. You can never become like him. You can never join the Dark Side.
“Now, there’s something else I’ve been hiding from you. You have a sister, Luke. I lost track of her a long time ago, but she’s out there somewhere. Search with the Force, and you’ll find her.”
The next morning, Luke is preparing breakfast for Master Yoda and himself. The pair argue back and forth as Yoda refuses to eat Luke’s cooking, evidently Yoda hasn’t eaten much at all lately. Luke reminds Yoda that he has to take his X-wing into orbit to see if Leia has sent him any messages, Yoda grumbles his consent.
Up in orbit, Luke pulls out a device while reassuring R2 that their friends haven’t forgotten about them. To both of their surprise, they’ve received a message from Lando Calrissian, who informs them that he has found Han Solo on the smugger’s moon, Nar’Shada. Jabba the Hutt has put him on display there, as a warning to all who might cross him. R2 is delighted, but Luke isn’t so sure about leaving Yoda.
Suddenly, out in the distance, Darth Vader’s Executor arrives out of a hyperspace jump. Perplexed at the Empire’s arrival, Luke hurries back down to the surface, telling R2 they can’t just leave Yoda despite the droids protests. Once there, he rushes into Yoda’s hut, who then promptly refuses to leave. Luke pleads, but Yoda tells him that he is a Jedi Knight now, and the battle to come is his alone.
As Luke walks through the hut door, he looks back and sees Yoda’s robes collapsing into itself, Yoda having become one with the force. Luke rushes to his X-wing fighter and lifts off just in time to enter a ferocious dogfight against several Imperial TIE fighters. As he and R2 speeds away, we momentarily move into the Executor. Darth Vader paces on the bridge of the ship. A lieutenant asks him if they should pursue, but Vader says no. They found him once, they shall find him again.
We then transition onto Rad Samaa II, the space station that houses the Galactic Trade Union, where Leia is deep in negotiations with its leader, Beto Thule. He’s threatening to walk out of the negotiations, saying they keep going around in circles. The team with Leia, rebel leader Mon Mothma and Chief Admiral Ackbar (among others), protest that they’ve already increased their offer by 100,000 credits, but Thule says it isn’t just about the credits. He is already more wealthy than most men could even imagine, and if he just in it for the credits, he could always turn in the princess and her merry band to the Empire. After all, there are massive bounties on all the rebels heads. Leia, angry, lays into Thule, saying he has no good in him, and they are not asking him to join the rebellion and risk his own head, they just need the use of his trade ships and routes. C3PO enters, pardoning for his interruption, and informs Leia that Luke is arriving.
She rushes to the space dock and the two embrace warmly. C3PO is delighted to see R2. Luke asks her if she’s heard from Lando, but she says no, she couldn’t take the transponder with her for fear the Empire could intercept the transmission and locate her, worse still realize what mission she was on. Luke says the transmissions are encrypted, but Leia counters that the Empire can get past such obstacles easily, the only hope was that they didn’t look in the right place. He finally admits it was his fault the Empire found him, that he should have flown to another system, and blames himself for Yoda’s death.
Leia says there’s it is no time for guilt, that they must focus on rescuing Han. They plan to leave first thing in the morning. That night, Luke tosses and turns in bed, his dreams haunted with visions of great destruction, worlds on fire and the death screams of countless people.
The four of them travel to Nar’Shada, into the underbelly of a worldwide metropolis, and meet up with Lando and Chewbacca. Imagine the Mos Eisley cantina on steroids and acid, then you have the smugglers moon. It is filled with nasty monsters and hedonistic characters. Han is being held on display inside the courtyard of Jabba’s headquarters on the moon, as message to all who come for business and otherwise. Do not cross Jabba the Hutt. Lando explains all the major crime lords have some kind of operation on Nar’Shada. He also explains the problem isn’t necessarily getting to Han, but escaping with him. Jabba’s thugs guard the entrance, the courtyard, and who knows how many were inside. A hologram of the building is shown on a table. The group agrees they will need assistance, so Leia contacts the rebellion and requests a squadron of rebel commandos.
A costumed/disguised Leia guides a chained up Chewbacca, as C3PO follows behind, into Jabba’s headquarters. She tells the Gamoran guards to take her to Bib Fortuna, she’s here to sell Chewie to Jabba. They enter a den of debauchery, filled to the brim with nameless monsters, On stage a band of peculiar creatures jams in a foreign language and culture. In the center, surrounded by lieutenants, is Bib Fortuna. As they make their way through, Leia makes eye contact with two Rebel commandos in disguise. He welcomes them, assures that Jabba will be interested. A hologram of Jabba the Hutt appears, using a special communication device. He is a specially hideous creature.
C3PO begins translating Jabba’s Hutteese, and the negotiations go poorly after Leia asks for a ridiculous sum of 100,000 credits. Eventually Jabba asks why doesn’t he just kill her, and take Chewbacca for free? Leia fires into the communication device, destroying it, as Chewie throws off his chains and rips Bib’s arm off. Leia wraps the chain around Bib’s throat, and the two commandos in disguise reveal themselves, blasting two of the Gamoran guards and aiming their blasters at two more, taking their arms. Bib shouts for no one to make a move.
We shift perspectives to infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett, set up atop a warehouse across the thoroughfare, as he watches the remaining Gamoran guarding the entrance get blasted, and then watches Luke, Lando, R2, and Captain Harand and a pair of Rebel commandos rush inside.
Once inside the courtyard, one of the commandos is shot. Luke force flips and takes out a Gamoran with a swipe of his lightsaber, using the force to throw it at the other guard like a boomerang. Lando peaks in, and sees Leia holding Bib hostage. Luke hurries up R2. Finally, Han emerges from the carbonite. Suddenly, Boba Fett comes flying to the attack. Han tells them he can’t see, so he’s entirely defenseless. Fett takes out the remaining commando outside and gravely injures Captain Harand. Lando shouts inside to hurry up.
Luke leads the bounty hunter away, exchanging blaster fire and jumping miraculous heights out of the courtyard and onto higher platforms. Luke deflects Fett’s blaster fire with his lightsaber, and pulls Fett to him with the force and takes a strike, but the bounty hunters armor proves resistant. Fett strikes Luke, knocking him to the ground. As he walks forward, Luke uses the force to push him off the platform. Breathing heavily, to Luke’s exasperation, Fett comes flying back up. He deploys the missile atop his jet pack, only to have Luke use the force to turn it back onto the bounty hunter, who evaporates in the explosion.
Luke gets back as Leia rushes out of Jabba’s headquarters, Chewie close behind and returning fire with his iconic bowcaster. A wipe transition to Han and Harand suspended in a bacta tank. Han climbs out as Lando and Chewie watch on, with Harand still resting in his tank, Han almost immediately begins questioning why Lando betrayed him. Lando has a lot of excuses, Vader terrified him, he was selfish, but ultimately he helped Chewie and the rest find you, which wasn’t as easy as initially thought. Han tells Chewie to grab Lando, but Chewie denies. Lando says, I saved your life. Han says, yeah I guess you did do that.
The team return to Rad Samaa II, finally together again on the Millennium Falcon. C3PO and R2 catch up. As they approach the space station, we transition back to Nar’Shada for a moment.
Darth Vader is interrogating Bib Fortuna, who is missing an arm. Jabba’s majordomo tells him it isn’t his fault, he was ambushed by the Wookiee and they had help. Vader doesn’t particularly like that answer, and demonstrates his anger by force choking Bib to death.
Then back on Rad Samaa II, a Luke and Han join the negotiating table. He mocks the trader baron Thule, despite Luke’s protests, and to everyone’s surprise, Thule actually delights it. It is revealed that the pair know each other from a past life. Thule says he is surprised to find him with this group, and asks why he thinks he should contribute his vast resources to the rebel cause. The one time scoundrel tells him simply, because it is the right thing to do. The trader baron has no hope to thrive under the empire, not really. One can only survive. Even with all the credits to his name, there’s nothing stopping the Empire from yanking it all away in a heartbeat. Leia is shocked, especially so when Thule agrees.
They quickly begin making war plans. Mon Mothma addresses the group, along with a crowd of rebel officers and pilots. She tells them that they have a unique opportunity to strike a deciding blow against the heart of the Empire. If they could take down the Emperor, and capture the capitol all in one swoop, it would probably win them the war.
Chief Admiral Ackbar goes over the plan, dividing Lando, Han, and Chewie into a group, with the plan for them to lead a strike team onto the moon to destroy the shield generator protecting the planet. Luke, Captain Harand and his commandos, would strike the capitol and target the Emperor and Darth Vader, their intelligence saying they’re together.
A wipe transition to Had Abbadon, where the Emperor sits atop his throne surrounded by rivers of lava, and tears into Darth Vader for his failure in capturing Luke Skywalker, calling him the greatest disappointment of his reign.
The fateful battle comes.
They enter the Imperial Core with Thule’s trader fleet, who himself has a small navy at hand. We see inside an Imperial Star Destroyer, where an Empire officer is reporting that several ships are different than on the manifest sent by the Galactic Trade Union. We see they are Rebel dreadnoughts and X-wings and Y-wing bombers. A great space battle commences, with Han in the Millennium Falcon and Luke in his X-wing as he guides him to the planet. Darth Vader’s Executor is a casualty on the Empire’s side.
Han leads his team down to the moon, the only land to speak of being an archipelago. The fighting is fierce outside the shield generator, and Lando is injured. Han wraps himself in bombs.
<Wookiee noises>
“You take Lando and get back to the Falcon.”
<Wookiee noises>
“You just shut up and let me do this, dammit!”
<Wookiee noises>
“Take good care of her, Chewie.”
Han rushes into the shield generator facilities, and a moment later the building explodes. Leia is in Thule’s flagship with Admiral Ackbar, repeatedly calling Han over the radio. Lando replies to he’s gone. Lei crumbles to the floor in despair.
Luke and the Rebel commandos attack the Imperial Pyramid. We see them advance and engage Imperial Stormtroopers, with a birds eye view. Luke’s X-wing is shoot down and he guides it down into the palace near the center of the pyramid.The size of the palace is huge, with giant columns and lots of space. Luke enters into a dramatic and dazzlingly choreographed fight against two red Royal Guards, ultimately defeating them. Darth Vader comes up from an elevator.
“Luke, we’ve been expecting you. The Emperor would like to see you.”
Luke travels down, telling Vader that when they met before he was an apprentice, but now he is a Jedi Knight, like his father before him. Once in the throne room, the Emperor tells Luke to join him, to become his apprentice in the Dark Side. Luke refuses, saying he’ll never give into the Dark Side. The Emperor tells Vader to destroy him. They enter into a duel, sparring back and forth. All the while the Emperor is shouting insults, belittling Vader and Skywalker both. Use your anger, he tells them. The Emperor laughs as they struggle. Finally, Luke beats Vader down. The Emperor shouting, finish him, finish him, join me. But Luke turns off his lightsaber, saying he will not strike down his father. That he can feel the Light still within him. Buried deep but there.
The Emperor unleashes lightning from his finder tips onto him, wave after wave. The age old adage: if you don’t join me, you are my enemy. Walking down from his throne, his shoots wave upon wave. Luke pleads to his father to help him. The Emperor says his pet won’t bite its master. Seeing Luke crumble, Vader stands and puts his lightsaber between Luke and the lightning, causing some of it redirect back onto the Emperor, and the rest moving right up the lightsaber and into Vader. The Emperor is stuck and beings to wither away from the lightning before he collapses from exhaustion.
Vader lumbers over to him, his steps slow but steady. The Emperor demands Vader destroy Luke Skywalker. Destroy him like he once destroyed Anniken. Instead, Vader lifts the Emperor atop his head, screaming never, and throws him into the river of lava. Vader then collapses to the floor. Luke rushes to his side.
“Remove my helmet.”
“But you’ll die, won’t you? We’ve got to get you help.”
“I’m dying already, son.”
So Luke does, and holds Vader in his arms.
“Do you know where my sister is?”
“Your sister, your sister…”
Vader expires.
Luke makes his way to the top of the Emperor Pyramid, and watches below as regiments of Rebel soldiers march in the city, capturing the city from the Empire. In the sky above, destroyed Star Destroyers hanging limply. On Rebel worlds we see scenes of celebrations, and there’s a grand parade through the capitol square.
Sometime later, a shirtless Luke is looking out on the capital square from a balcony, where Rebel Alliance banners have replaced Imperial ones. What are you going to do next, he asks Leia. She’s wrapped up in a blanket. She tells him she will stay here a for a while and help the rebellion, but survivors from Alderaan have gathered on Dantooine, and she needs to be with them. She asks him the same question. He says that somewhere out in the galaxy he has a sister, and he’s going to find her. Maybe she’ll be like him.
Cut to a very pregnant Leia being crowned queen.
Cut to Luke with R2 in tow, hiking up to the Jedi Temple, his mission only just begun…
Roll credits
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
The REBEL ALLIANCE swells as more and more planets join the epic war against the GALACTIC EMPIRE, thanks to the diplomatic efforts of PRINCESS LEIA ORGANA
The princess courts the ruthless trader baron BETO THULE to the rebel cause, the last piece in the puzzle to the rebellion’s final assault on the empire
Meanwhile, LUKE SKYWALKER completes his training with MASTER JEDI YODA on DAGOBAH…
We open in the swamps of Dagobah. Luke is kneeling, the necessary components to a lightsaber floating in the air in front of him, a green crystal in the center. Using the force, Luke merges the components, then guides the saber to his hand. He tells Yoda he shouldn’t have disassembled his own, but Yoda says he hasn’t needed it for a very long time, and won’t.
Luke takes the Jedi oath as Yoda watches on:
“I swear on my honor, and on the faith of the brotherhood of knights, to use the Force only for good; denying, always turning from the Dark Side; to dedicate my life to the cause of freedom, and justice. If I should fail of this vow, my life shall be forfeit, here and hereafter.”
That night, Luke has a dream where he is standing in the Emperors throne room, the Emperor sitting motionless as Luke makes his way up the steps. Finally, the Emperor removes his cloak to reveal the face of Luke himself. Luke awakes screaming, but is stilled by the voice of Obi-Wan telling to be quiet, lest he awake Yoda. Luke asks Obi-Wan where he’s been all this time, but Obi-Wan tells him to ask the question he really wants to know.
“How could you lie to me about my father?”
“Your father was my greatest pupil, and my greatest shame. When I brought you to your uncle, he made me promise we would never tell you who your father had become. When he became Vader, he stopped being your father. I was protecting you, Luke. You can never become like him. You can never join the Dark Side.
“Now, there’s something else I’ve been hiding from you. You have a sister, Luke. I lost track of her a long time ago, but she’s out there somewhere. Search with the Force, and you’ll find her.”
The next morning, Luke is preparing breakfast for Master Yoda and himself. The pair argue back and forth as Yoda refuses to eat Luke’s cooking, evidently Yoda hasn’t eaten much at all lately. Luke reminds Yoda that he has to take his X-wing into orbit to see if Leia has sent him any messages, Yoda grumbles his consent.
Up in orbit, Luke pulls out a device while reassuring R2 that their friends haven’t forgotten about them. To both of their surprise, they’ve received a message from Lando Calrissian, who informs them that he has found Han Solo on the smugger’s moon, Nar’Shada. Jabba the Hutt has put him on display there, as a warning to all who might cross him. R2 is delighted, but Luke isn’t so sure about leaving Yoda.
Suddenly, out in the distance, Darth Vader’s Executor arrives out of a hyperspace jump. Perplexed at the Empire’s arrival, Luke hurries back down to the surface, telling R2 they can’t just leave Yoda despite the droids protests. Once there, he rushes into Yoda’s hut, who then promptly refuses to leave. Luke pleads, but Yoda tells him that he is a Jedi Knight now, and the battle to come is his alone.
As Luke walks through the hut door, he looks back and sees Yoda’s robes collapsing into itself, Yoda having become one with the force. Luke rushes to his X-wing fighter and lifts off just in time to enter a ferocious dogfight against several Imperial TIE fighters. As he and R2 speeds away, we momentarily move into the Executor. Darth Vader paces on the bridge of the ship. A lieutenant asks him if they should pursue, but Vader says no. They found him once, they shall find him again.
We then transition onto Rad Samaa II, the space station that houses the Galactic Trade Union, where Leia is deep in negotiations with its leader, Beto Thule. He’s threatening to walk out of the negotiations, saying they keep going around in circles. The team with Leia, rebel leader Mon Mothma and Chief Admiral Ackbar (among others), protest that they’ve already increased their offer by 100,000 credits, but Thule says it isn’t just about the credits. He is already more wealthy than most men could even imagine, and if he just in it for the credits, he could always turn in the princess and her merry band to the Empire. After all, there are massive bounties on all the rebels heads. Leia, angry, lays into Thule, saying he has no good in him, and they are not asking him to join the rebellion and risk his own head, they just need the use of his trade ships and routes. C3PO enters, pardoning for his interruption, and informs Leia that Luke is arriving.
She rushes to the space dock and the two embrace warmly. C3PO is delighted to see R2. Luke asks her if she’s heard from Lando, but she says no, she couldn’t take the transponder with her for fear the Empire could intercept the transmission and locate her, worse still realize what mission she was on. Luke says the transmissions are encrypted, but Leia counters that the Empire can get past such obstacles easily, the only hope was that they didn’t look in the right place. He finally admits it was his fault the Empire found him, that he should have flown to another system, and blames himself for Yoda’s death.
Leia says there’s it is no time for guilt, that they must focus on rescuing Han. They plan to leave first thing in the morning. That night, Luke tosses and turns in bed, his dreams haunted with visions of great destruction, worlds on fire and the death screams of countless people.
The four of them travel to Nar’Shada, into the underbelly of a worldwide metropolis, and meet up with Lando and Chewbacca. Imagine the Mos Eisley cantina on steroids and acid, then you have the smugglers moon. It is filled with nasty monsters and hedonistic characters. Han is being held on display inside the courtyard of Jabba’s headquarters on the moon, as message to all who come for business and otherwise. Do not cross Jabba the Hutt. Lando explains all the major crime lords have some kind of operation on Nar’Shada. He also explains the problem isn’t necessarily getting to Han, but escaping with him. Jabba’s thugs guard the entrance, the courtyard, and who knows how many were inside. A hologram of the building is shown on a table. The group agrees they will need assistance, so Leia contacts the rebellion and requests a squadron of rebel commandos.
A costumed/disguised Leia guides a chained up Chewbacca, as C3PO follows behind, into Jabba’s headquarters. She tells the Gamoran guards to take her to Bib Fortuna, she’s here to sell Chewie to Jabba. They enter a den of debauchery, filled to the brim with nameless monsters, On stage a band of peculiar creatures jams in a foreign language and culture. In the center, surrounded by lieutenants, is Bib Fortuna. As they make their way through, Leia makes eye contact with two Rebel commandos in disguise. He welcomes them, assures that Jabba will be interested. A hologram of Jabba the Hutt appears, using a special communication device. He is a specially hideous creature.
C3PO begins translating Jabba’s Hutteese, and the negotiations go poorly after Leia asks for a ridiculous sum of 100,000 credits. Eventually Jabba asks why doesn’t he just kill her, and take Chewbacca for free? Leia fires into the communication device, destroying it, as Chewie throws off his chains and rips Bib’s arm off. Leia wraps the chain around Bib’s throat, and the two commandos in disguise reveal themselves, blasting two of the Gamoran guards and aiming their blasters at two more, taking their arms. Bib shouts for no one to make a move.
We shift perspectives to infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett, set up atop a warehouse across the thoroughfare, as he watches the remaining Gamoran guarding the entrance get blasted, and then watches Luke, Lando, R2, and Captain Harand and a pair of Rebel commandos rush inside.
Once inside the courtyard, one of the commandos is shot. Luke force flips and takes out a Gamoran with a swipe of his lightsaber, using the force to throw it at the other guard like a boomerang. Lando peaks in, and sees Leia holding Bib hostage. Luke hurries up R2. Finally, Han emerges from the carbonite. Suddenly, Boba Fett comes flying to the attack. Han tells them he can’t see, so he’s entirely defenseless. Fett takes out the remaining commando outside and gravely injures Captain Harand. Lando shouts inside to hurry up.
Luke leads the bounty hunter away, exchanging blaster fire and jumping miraculous heights out of the courtyard and onto higher platforms. Luke deflects Fett’s blaster fire with his lightsaber, and pulls Fett to him with the force and takes a strike, but the bounty hunters armor proves resistant. Fett strikes Luke, knocking him to the ground. As he walks forward, Luke uses the force to push him off the platform. Breathing heavily, to Luke’s exasperation, Fett comes flying back up. He deploys the missile atop his jet pack, only to have Luke use the force to turn it back onto the bounty hunter, who evaporates in the explosion.
Luke gets back as Leia rushes out of Jabba’s headquarters, Chewie close behind and returning fire with his iconic bowcaster. A wipe transition to Han and Harand suspended in a bacta tank. Han climbs out as Lando and Chewie watch on, with Harand still resting in his tank, Han almost immediately begins questioning why Lando betrayed him. Lando has a lot of excuses, Vader terrified him, he was selfish, but ultimately he helped Chewie and the rest find you, which wasn’t as easy as initially thought. Han tells Chewie to grab Lando, but Chewie denies. Lando says, I saved your life. Han says, yeah I guess you did do that.
The team return to Rad Samaa II, finally together again on the Millennium Falcon. C3PO and R2 catch up. As they approach the space station, we transition back to Nar’Shada for a moment.
Darth Vader is interrogating Bib Fortuna, who is missing an arm. Jabba’s majordomo tells him it isn’t his fault, he was ambushed by the Wookiee and they had help. Vader doesn’t particularly like that answer, and demonstrates his anger by force choking Bib to death.
Then back on Rad Samaa II, a Luke and Han join the negotiating table. He mocks the trader baron Thule, despite Luke’s protests, and to everyone’s surprise, Thule actually delights it. It is revealed that the pair know each other from a past life. Thule says he is surprised to find him with this group, and asks why he thinks he should contribute his vast resources to the rebel cause. The one time scoundrel tells him simply, because it is the right thing to do. The trader baron has no hope to thrive under the empire, not really. One can only survive. Even with all the credits to his name, there’s nothing stopping the Empire from yanking it all away in a heartbeat. Leia is shocked, especially so when Thule agrees.
They quickly begin making war plans. Mon Mothma addresses the group, along with a crowd of rebel officers and pilots. She tells them that they have a unique opportunity to strike a deciding blow against the heart of the Empire. If they could take down the Emperor, and capture the capitol all in one swoop, it would probably win them the war.
Chief Admiral Ackbar goes over the plan, dividing Lando, Han, and Chewie into a group, with the plan for them to lead a strike team onto the moon to destroy the shield generator protecting the planet. Luke, Captain Harand and his commandos, would strike the capitol and target the Emperor and Darth Vader, their intelligence saying they’re together.
A wipe transition to Had Abbadon, where the Emperor sits atop his throne surrounded by rivers of lava, and tears into Darth Vader for his failure in capturing Luke Skywalker, calling him the greatest disappointment of his reign.
The fateful battle comes.
They enter the Imperial Core with Thule’s trader fleet, who himself has a small navy at hand. We see inside an Imperial Star Destroyer, where an Empire officer is reporting that several ships are different than on the manifest sent by the Galactic Trade Union. We see they are Rebel dreadnoughts and X-wings and Y-wing bombers. A great space battle commences, with Han in the Millennium Falcon and Luke in his X-wing as he guides him to the planet. Darth Vader’s Executor is a casualty on the Empire’s side.
Han leads his team down to the moon, the only land to speak of being an archipelago. The fighting is fierce outside the shield generator, and Lando is injured. Han wraps himself in bombs.
<Wookiee noises>
“You take Lando and get back to the Falcon.”
<Wookiee noises>
“You just shut up and let me do this, dammit!”
<Wookiee noises>
“Take good care of her, Chewie.”
Han rushes into the shield generator facilities, and a moment later the building explodes. Leia is in Thule’s flagship with Admiral Ackbar, repeatedly calling Han over the radio. Lando replies to he’s gone. Lei crumbles to the floor in despair.
Luke and the Rebel commandos attack the Imperial Pyramid. We see them advance and engage Imperial Stormtroopers, with a birds eye view. Luke’s X-wing is shoot down and he guides it down into the palace near the center of the pyramid.The size of the palace is huge, with giant columns and lots of space. Luke enters into a dramatic and dazzlingly choreographed fight against two red Royal Guards, ultimately defeating them. Darth Vader comes up from an elevator.
“Luke, we’ve been expecting you. The Emperor would like to see you.”
Luke travels down, telling Vader that when they met before he was an apprentice, but now he is a Jedi Knight, like his father before him. Once in the throne room, the Emperor tells Luke to join him, to become his apprentice in the Dark Side. Luke refuses, saying he’ll never give into the Dark Side. The Emperor tells Vader to destroy him. They enter into a duel, sparring back and forth. All the while the Emperor is shouting insults, belittling Vader and Skywalker both. Use your anger, he tells them. The Emperor laughs as they struggle. Finally, Luke beats Vader down. The Emperor shouting, finish him, finish him, join me. But Luke turns off his lightsaber, saying he will not strike down his father. That he can feel the Light still within him. Buried deep but there.
The Emperor unleashes lightning from his finder tips onto him, wave after wave. The age old adage: if you don’t join me, you are my enemy. Walking down from his throne, his shoots wave upon wave. Luke pleads to his father to help him. The Emperor says his pet won’t bite its master. Seeing Luke crumble, Vader stands and puts his lightsaber between Luke and the lightning, causing some of it redirect back onto the Emperor, and the rest moving right up the lightsaber and into Vader. The Emperor is stuck and beings to wither away from the lightning before he collapses from exhaustion.
Vader lumbers over to him, his steps slow but steady. The Emperor demands Vader destroy Luke Skywalker. Destroy him like he once destroyed Anniken. Instead, Vader lifts the Emperor atop his head, screaming never, and throws him into the river of lava. Vader then collapses to the floor. Luke rushes to his side.
“Remove my helmet.”
“But you’ll die, won’t you? We’ve got to get you help.”
“I’m dying already, son.”
So Luke does, and holds Vader in his arms.
“Do you know where my sister is?”
“Your sister, your sister…”
Vader expires.
Luke makes his way to the top of the Emperor Pyramid, and watches below as regiments of Rebel soldiers march in the city, capturing the city from the Empire. In the sky above, destroyed Star Destroyers hanging limply. On Rebel worlds we see scenes of celebrations, and there’s a grand parade through the capitol square.
Sometime later, a shirtless Luke is looking out on the capital square from a balcony, where Rebel Alliance banners have replaced Imperial ones. What are you going to do next, he asks Leia. She’s wrapped up in a blanket. She tells him she will stay here a for a while and help the rebellion, but survivors from Alderaan have gathered on Dantooine, and she needs to be with them. She asks him the same question. He says that somewhere out in the galaxy he has a sister, and he’s going to find her. Maybe she’ll be like him.
Cut to a very pregnant Leia being crowned queen.
Cut to Luke with R2 in tow, hiking up to the Jedi Temple, his mission only just begun…
Roll credits
Last edited:
Excellent. Most excellent. [Vader breathing sounds]
Now we get to the next interesting bits, where does Indiana Jones go without George's ideas mix with Spielberg's, where does Star Wars go from here. George isn't around to tinker or delay, he had ideas for another trilogy (sequel?), but isn't around to give guidance/direction. Very interested to see what direction they may go.
Also will there be any changes in Lucas Arts games, etc. They were a very successful outfit producing some stellar games over the years.
Now we get to the next interesting bits, where does Indiana Jones go without George's ideas mix with Spielberg's, where does Star Wars go from here. George isn't around to tinker or delay, he had ideas for another trilogy (sequel?), but isn't around to give guidance/direction. Very interested to see what direction they may go.
Also will there be any changes in Lucas Arts games, etc. They were a very successful outfit producing some stellar games over the years.
Will any of the other Hollywood studios be affected by the butterflies that this timeline creates?
I would expect to see a sequel or sequels following Luke looking for his sister and rebuilding the Jedi Order in either the late 80s.
I wonder if we will get more than three Indiana Jones movies.
Several questions shall be answered in the next chapter.
Well, for now ROTJ is being advertised as the last Star Wars film, but that certainly will change down the road at some point.
Certainly, some of that starts next chapter.
Thank you guys for reading along so far! The album of concept art was edited to include art of the Jedi temple
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On location shots for the archipelago moon, where Han has his final stand, would have been filmed in the Maldives.
Most everything else would be studio sets, including Dagobah I believe.
Chapter VI
Lucasfilm becomes LucasArts, New World acquisition, Millennium and Animation labels
It was in the late hours spent toiling over the Return of the Jedi edit that David Lynch and Marcia Lucas first became intimate. By this time, over a year had passed since George Lucas’ death in a tragic car accident, and Lynch himself was fresh out of a relationship with Frances Farmer biopic star Susan Dey. He ultimately came to view the mostly onset dalliance as a mistake, and was determined not to make it again. Surely enough, nothing would come of tabloid reports about Lynch and Star Wars leading lady Carrie Fisher shaking up. Lynch and Marcia had already become quite well acquainted via numerous telephone talks, once obstinately about George they had become about the project, and eventually about themselves. As they met in production meetings, and spent time together on set, with Lynch working closest with producer Marcia over fellow producers Gary Kurtz and Steven Spielberg (although Lynch acknowledged that Spielberg practically co-directed certain scenes), a budding romance took root.
It was in the editing room where they opened up to the possibility of a romance. Her work as an editor was skilled, her insights into Star Wars invaluable. It was not the most expected development, with Spielberg noting he was shocked when she told him they were living together. After living together for 6 months, they announced their engagement. Yet a wedding never materialized, even despite the pregnancy and birth of Jack Lucas in 1985, notably lacking the Lynch surname. An obvious point of contention, their relationship did indeed prove rocky at times, as Marcia at times focused more of her time on LucasArts projects and less with her young family. Lynch himself was often off working on his own projects. Sometimes, undoubtedly the best for little Jack, they would be working on a project together, such as when developing Lynch’s Ronnie Rocket project.
After Return of the Jedi released, and Marcia looked down the road to decisions that would determine the future of Lucasfilm, she came to feel it might be best to hire a team to handle those decisions for her. With such intent she entered into conversations with David Geffen, who had co-created Asylum Records in the 70s, and in more recent years creating Geffen Records and The Geffen Film Company. After a brief period of negotiations, Geffen agreed to merge studios and join Lucasfilm as Chairman. Although it was more like Lucasfilm absorbed Geffen’s film company, receiving only 25% of the new company and some cash. The combined company was temporarily named the Lucasfilm/Geffen Holdings Company, before finally deciding on the name LucasArts. Operating under which there was the film studio Lucasfilm, The Graphics Group and The Games Group were both spun into standalone divisions out of Lucasfilm, the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, and the sound effects company Sprocket Systems, which operated the soon-to-be industry standard THX system.
It was Geffen’s idea to pouch talent from Paramount, the studio that had recently settled with Marcia Lucas after withholding funds due to her from Raiders of the Lost Ark profits. She had been astute to wrangle back sequel rights to Raiders, apparently at one point refusing to pursue any such sequels for as long as the rights were owned by Paramount. As Geffen succeeded in hiring Michael Eisner, who had been president of productions at Paramount, who brought along Jeffrey Katzenberg to serve as his number 2. A rather mishmash corporate structure persisted for several years, with Marcia Lucas as President of LucasArts and David Geffen as CEO and Chairman of LucasArts. Nominally under them but effectively the third arm of a troika was Michael Eisner as President and CEO of Lucasfilm, with Jeffrey Katzenberg as Chairman and head of the new Lucasfilm Animation division. Other executives at Lucasfilm included Howard Kazanjian and Verna Fields, having been hired rom Universal, as co-presidents of production.
Roger Corman’s New World Pictures was acquired by LucasArts. New World’s distributing arm would be utilized for all future Lucasfilm releases, with New World International being formed to handle distribution outside the United States. Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, who had called Marcia about the rights to First Blood soon after she had bought them, would be hired to get that particular division running. Corman would then start Millennium as a co-venture with Lucasfilm to produce low and mid-budget genre films, also to be released under the New World banner, having signed on for at least 5 pictures. Eric Eisner, who had oversaw production at Geffen Film Company, would be named as LucasArt’s COO but really would serve as Geffen’s number 2 at the company. He would also oversee New World Pictures, which for the better part of the next decade would continue to operate out of their own offices in Los Angeles.
But it was the new animation division, under the leadership of Katzenberg, that would release some of the early iconic work post-Jedi. First, after a meeting with Richard Moore, in which he displayed his project The Thief and the Cobbler, having worked on it since the late 60s, ended with the film entering full production at Lucasfilm Animation. Moore was allowed autonomy in hiring animators, and the studio expanded under his discretion. Meanwhile, Katzenberg reached a deal with Don Bluth to enter into a co-venture to produce an adaption of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Bluth would also begin work with The Games Group, creating Dragon Lair-like arcade games, the first being based on Star Wars, with plans for Raiders and some with new stories, unrelated to movies, such as “Devil’s Island,” “Cro Magnon,” and “Sorceress.”
Marcia Lucas and Eric Eisner would successfully negotiate a deal with the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group to purpose the rights to Dune (it had entered turnaround after failure to find a satisfactory screenplay) to Total Recall (based on a Philip K. Dick short story) and finally, to Red Dragon (based on the novel). The two companies also entered into an agreement for domestic distribution of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group productions. Dan O’Brannon, who had brought the Total Recall project to Marcia Lucas, also sold his screenplays Return of the Living Dead (based on the novel) and Lifeforce (based on the novel The Space Vampires) to Lucasfilm. Tobe Hooper was brought on to direct Return of the Living Dead at the Millennium label.
At Lucasfilm, Michael Eisner would hire James Cameron for First Blood II, which for the moment had become a prequel film. Meetings were scheduled with Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick. Terry Gilliam brought Brazil to Lucasfilm after a meeting with Geffen and the Eisners. Ridley Scott would sign a multiple picture deal after the success of Blade Runner. Finally, Sergio Leone entered into a deal to direct a film based on the novel The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad. And ever looming in the background, no one stopped thinking about the next Indiana Jones picture…
Lucasfilm becomes LucasArts, New World acquisition, Millennium and Animation labels
It was in the late hours spent toiling over the Return of the Jedi edit that David Lynch and Marcia Lucas first became intimate. By this time, over a year had passed since George Lucas’ death in a tragic car accident, and Lynch himself was fresh out of a relationship with Frances Farmer biopic star Susan Dey. He ultimately came to view the mostly onset dalliance as a mistake, and was determined not to make it again. Surely enough, nothing would come of tabloid reports about Lynch and Star Wars leading lady Carrie Fisher shaking up. Lynch and Marcia had already become quite well acquainted via numerous telephone talks, once obstinately about George they had become about the project, and eventually about themselves. As they met in production meetings, and spent time together on set, with Lynch working closest with producer Marcia over fellow producers Gary Kurtz and Steven Spielberg (although Lynch acknowledged that Spielberg practically co-directed certain scenes), a budding romance took root.
It was in the editing room where they opened up to the possibility of a romance. Her work as an editor was skilled, her insights into Star Wars invaluable. It was not the most expected development, with Spielberg noting he was shocked when she told him they were living together. After living together for 6 months, they announced their engagement. Yet a wedding never materialized, even despite the pregnancy and birth of Jack Lucas in 1985, notably lacking the Lynch surname. An obvious point of contention, their relationship did indeed prove rocky at times, as Marcia at times focused more of her time on LucasArts projects and less with her young family. Lynch himself was often off working on his own projects. Sometimes, undoubtedly the best for little Jack, they would be working on a project together, such as when developing Lynch’s Ronnie Rocket project.
After Return of the Jedi released, and Marcia looked down the road to decisions that would determine the future of Lucasfilm, she came to feel it might be best to hire a team to handle those decisions for her. With such intent she entered into conversations with David Geffen, who had co-created Asylum Records in the 70s, and in more recent years creating Geffen Records and The Geffen Film Company. After a brief period of negotiations, Geffen agreed to merge studios and join Lucasfilm as Chairman. Although it was more like Lucasfilm absorbed Geffen’s film company, receiving only 25% of the new company and some cash. The combined company was temporarily named the Lucasfilm/Geffen Holdings Company, before finally deciding on the name LucasArts. Operating under which there was the film studio Lucasfilm, The Graphics Group and The Games Group were both spun into standalone divisions out of Lucasfilm, the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, and the sound effects company Sprocket Systems, which operated the soon-to-be industry standard THX system.
It was Geffen’s idea to pouch talent from Paramount, the studio that had recently settled with Marcia Lucas after withholding funds due to her from Raiders of the Lost Ark profits. She had been astute to wrangle back sequel rights to Raiders, apparently at one point refusing to pursue any such sequels for as long as the rights were owned by Paramount. As Geffen succeeded in hiring Michael Eisner, who had been president of productions at Paramount, who brought along Jeffrey Katzenberg to serve as his number 2. A rather mishmash corporate structure persisted for several years, with Marcia Lucas as President of LucasArts and David Geffen as CEO and Chairman of LucasArts. Nominally under them but effectively the third arm of a troika was Michael Eisner as President and CEO of Lucasfilm, with Jeffrey Katzenberg as Chairman and head of the new Lucasfilm Animation division. Other executives at Lucasfilm included Howard Kazanjian and Verna Fields, having been hired rom Universal, as co-presidents of production.
Roger Corman’s New World Pictures was acquired by LucasArts. New World’s distributing arm would be utilized for all future Lucasfilm releases, with New World International being formed to handle distribution outside the United States. Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna, who had called Marcia about the rights to First Blood soon after she had bought them, would be hired to get that particular division running. Corman would then start Millennium as a co-venture with Lucasfilm to produce low and mid-budget genre films, also to be released under the New World banner, having signed on for at least 5 pictures. Eric Eisner, who had oversaw production at Geffen Film Company, would be named as LucasArt’s COO but really would serve as Geffen’s number 2 at the company. He would also oversee New World Pictures, which for the better part of the next decade would continue to operate out of their own offices in Los Angeles.
But it was the new animation division, under the leadership of Katzenberg, that would release some of the early iconic work post-Jedi. First, after a meeting with Richard Moore, in which he displayed his project The Thief and the Cobbler, having worked on it since the late 60s, ended with the film entering full production at Lucasfilm Animation. Moore was allowed autonomy in hiring animators, and the studio expanded under his discretion. Meanwhile, Katzenberg reached a deal with Don Bluth to enter into a co-venture to produce an adaption of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. Bluth would also begin work with The Games Group, creating Dragon Lair-like arcade games, the first being based on Star Wars, with plans for Raiders and some with new stories, unrelated to movies, such as “Devil’s Island,” “Cro Magnon,” and “Sorceress.”
Marcia Lucas and Eric Eisner would successfully negotiate a deal with the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group to purpose the rights to Dune (it had entered turnaround after failure to find a satisfactory screenplay) to Total Recall (based on a Philip K. Dick short story) and finally, to Red Dragon (based on the novel). The two companies also entered into an agreement for domestic distribution of De Laurentiis Entertainment Group productions. Dan O’Brannon, who had brought the Total Recall project to Marcia Lucas, also sold his screenplays Return of the Living Dead (based on the novel) and Lifeforce (based on the novel The Space Vampires) to Lucasfilm. Tobe Hooper was brought on to direct Return of the Living Dead at the Millennium label.
At Lucasfilm, Michael Eisner would hire James Cameron for First Blood II, which for the moment had become a prequel film. Meetings were scheduled with Orson Welles and Stanley Kubrick. Terry Gilliam brought Brazil to Lucasfilm after a meeting with Geffen and the Eisners. Ridley Scott would sign a multiple picture deal after the success of Blade Runner. Finally, Sergio Leone entered into a deal to direct a film based on the novel The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad. And ever looming in the background, no one stopped thinking about the next Indiana Jones picture…
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I wonder how Michael Eisner becoming President and CEO of Lucasfilm will affect Disney?
If Cameron does First blood two, does that mean Lucasfilm releases Terminator?
There was talk in that time period of a Spider-Man film
And When Superman 3 and Supergirl do not do as well , The right were sold .
Love to see Lucas Film Superman 4 with the return of Richard Donner as the director
Here's a movie that Lucasfilm could do around 1985: Day of the Dead. Or, more specifically, a Day of the Dead based on the original script (which can be downloaded here: https://www.homepageofthedead.com/films/day/script.html (it is in Microsoft Word form and has to be downloaded) or read on the site (click the next page link)). George Romero wanted it to be an epic, but he had to cut the budget in half and change a lot of things in OTL...
A best picture nomination would still be more then the film got in the OTL.
Would buying New World Pictures give Lucas films access to theaters ?
Video distribution yes ,but I do not recall New World films in theaters that much.
It seems to me, it would cost almost as much to upgrade New World distribution network as it would for Lucas to develop one from scratch .
If the goal is having a low budget film division , than why not buy out Empire Pictures/ Full Moon productions ?
I think Charles Band would work better with Lucas then Roger Corman
Video distribution yes ,but I do not recall New World films in theaters that much.
It seems to me, it would cost almost as much to upgrade New World distribution network as it would for Lucas to develop one from scratch .
If the goal is having a low budget film division , than why not buy out Empire Pictures/ Full Moon productions ?
I think Charles Band would work better with Lucas then Roger Corman
I just have one thing... is Richard Williams still going to be credited ITTL for Thief and the Cobbler?
Alt-Terminator is definitely something I've been kicking around in my head. It's definitely gonna land at Lucasfilm, but how exactly I'm still trying to decide. Either hold off on production for the technology Cameron wanted (and would ultimately utilize in T2) and do one film, or on the flip side do a trilogy? Both are interesting options imo
That's a possibility, although now that they own the Living Dead title rights, they might not want to fund their competition? Or perhaps there's a reunion between Romero and the "Living Dead" franchise?
They were certainly releasing their films theatrically. New World's home video division wasnt started until 1984, and the home video market was still beginning to take shape in the early 80s as the technology became cheap enough to become ubiquitous. Also, buying them out gets the film library.
Indeed.
That's the plan.