100 Things I Love about “Return of the Jedi”

The last one. Also kept to 100 items.

1) Considering that Vader isn’t very forgiving, learning that the Emperor is even less forgiving is a scary thing to hear in the first scene.

2) Threepio knocking on the door, then less than a second later concludes that no one’s there so they can leave. He REALLY wants to go home.

3) When the droids go inside and Threepio is trying to get an audience with Jabba, Artoo makes a noise that sounds like, “I don’t know.”

4) The puppetry on Jabba—over a dozen people coming together to move one character. There’s smoke coming out of his mouth from his pipe. Good attention to detail.

5) “There will be no bargain.” “We’re doomed.”

6) Leia threatening to blow up herself and Jabba to get a little more money.

7) Jabba doesn’t care about the money as much as keeping Han as a living decoration.

8) The first thing we see Luke, our hero, do is Force choke some guards. In a cool black cloak. That we never see again. Pity.

9) And then he pulls off the Jedi Mind Trick.

10) Leia’s bikini. I don't mean Carrie Fisher--I like the costume itself. Although that metal would be terribly uncomfortable.

11) But, Luke’s black Jedi outfit is cooler. I modeled my own Jedi costume after it, using a sweater and its sleeves as an impromptu vest.

12) The Rancor pit music.

13) Luke fighting off the Rancor without any Force powers. Except maybe Force-guiding the skull into the control panel.

14) The Rancor dies…and its keeper rushes in and cries.

15) “How we doing?” “Same as always.” “That bad, huh?”

16) Luke’s green lightsaber. He made it with no human guidance and it looks great. Is it just me, or does his green saber look a lot thicker than any other saber in these movies?

17) The music that plays during their escape from Jabba.

18) Luke, who had to have the people he tried to rescue in The Empire Strikes Back rescue him, is now almost a one-man army. Awesome.

19) Luke jumps onto the sail barge; a guy leans out the window and Luke just pulls him out and keeps climbing.

20) The first instance of using a lightsaber to deflect blaster bolts.

21) That shot where Chewie looks up from holding Han up and growls, almost like he’s saying, “How do I get into these messes?”

22) Leia strangling Jabba.

23) Han trying to shoot the tentacle grabbing Lando while practically blind.

24) And the next line, “It’s all right. Trust me.” It’s like he’s saying, “Like I trusted you on Bespin.”

25) The guy shooting Luke’s hand, reminding us that it’s cybernetic and feels pain.

26) The black glove he wears for the rest of the film, giving us symbolism of his fighting the Dark Side and reminding us that he’s not wholly human anymore.

27) The Emperor’s arrival, walking with a cane and wearing a pagan-like cloak and hood.

28) Yoda’s only scene. Beautifully lit, scored, and acted. Does Yoda look so old? “Yes I do!” Hmm, I wonder, could the Force actually make Luke live to be 900?

28 1/2) After seeing Doctor Who, Yoda's line "When 900 years old you reach, look as good you will not!" is suddenly hilarious.

29) Hamill’s performance in the scene in Yoda’s hut, especially his facial expressions.

30) “Unfortunate that you rushed to face him…that not ready for the burden were you.”

31) The music that plays when Yoda dies and disappears, with Luke’s expression. My goodness, John Williams scored that event and acting masterfully.

32) Luke looks back at Yoda’s hut and the firelight goes out.

33) Luke is truly on his own from now on, as the hero must be in the end.

34) That location where Luke and Obi-Wan talk.

35) Mon Mothma, the almost regal leader of the Rebellion.

36) The name “Shuttle Tyderium.”

37) And “Admiral Ackbar.” I keep thinking of him as Admiral Snackbar.

38) “Exciting is hardly the word I would choose.”

39) It’s kind of strange, but I seem to recall Han telling Lando that if he damages the Falcon, he’ll have to pay Han the repair damage. No line like this is in the film, so why do I remember it?

40) “I’m endangering the mission, I shouldn’t have come.”  Luke knows that Vader knows the rebels have arrived, and instead of capturing them now has let them go.  Han's relieved and thinks they've pulled a fast one, but Luke knows the truth and is more worried.

41) The shot of Luke and Leia after Han says, “Hey, it’s me.”

42) The speeder bike chase, with Leia going out to chase them without consulting anyone (maybe because she’s a committee). Although I will admit, the film does sag in pacing between the time they land on Endor and when they make allies with the Ewoks.

43) Luke taking out his saber to fight the trooper on the speeder bike.

44) Leia shooting the Stormtroopers with near-perfect accuracy.

45) “Parade of the Ewoks.” It’s perfect for ballet dancing.

46) Threepio regaling the Ewoks with their story, complete with sound effects. I knew there was a reason why the heroes dragged him around for three films!

47) The piece “Luke and Leia.” This was hardly used in the film and it’s a lovely piece.

48) The “reprisal” of the AT-AT on Endor. I’m still not quite sure what it’s doing there if they’re using AT-STs to locate rebels, but whatever—that elephant walker is still cool!

49) The conversation between Luke and Vader on Endor, with Vader seeing that Luke's built his own lightsaber, then Luke's line "Come with me." When Vader shakes the saber at Luke after Luke calls him Anakin, I always think, "What if that accidentally went off and skewered Luke?"

50) All the Rebel ships going into hyperspace.

51) The Ewok high-jacks a speeder and manages to make the whole plan work better.

52) Han tapping the Stormtrooper on the shoulder. Their whole plan hinged on that event.

53) The set of the Emperor’s throne room. Epic and Star Wars-y.

54) The shot of the Emperor’s chair turning around, framed by the backs of Vader’s and Luke’s heads. I gasped in awe when I saw it in widescreen for the first time.   Amazing what a little shot composition can do.

55) Han throwing the box at the Imperial in the bunker, who then falls backwards down the chasm.

56) “You Rebel scum!” Is that the name of a rock band?

57) Lando realizing that the Empire knew they were coming.

58) “It’s a trap!”

59) The shot of the TIE fighters instantly appearing. I always liked that they seemed to keep materializing out of nothing, like they could keep coming and coming in a never-ending stream. I suppose it was an effects error, but I love it!

60) The delivery of Luke telling the Emperor, “No” after seeing the space battle.

61) “The Forest Battle.”

62) Leia shooting the guy on top of the AT-ST with one shot.

63) Wicket knocking himself out with his own slingshot.

64) Artoo comes when called, ready to save the day as usual…and is electrocuted.

65) The space battle. Still love it.

66) The Death Star starts taking out Rebellion ships. Not just for planets anymore! Gosh, I hope Mon Mothma wasn’t on one of those ships.

67) “Cut to the left, I’ll take the leader.”

68) The tide only really turns when Chewie gets a hold of an AT-ST. The Ewoks are more of a distraction, but they do as well as they do because they know the terrain and are able to use it better than the Imperials (kinda like in Vietnam). The traps they make do work well, but they take some time to set up.

69) The reversal of “I love you.” “I know.”

70) Leia taking out two guys with two near simultaneous shots.

71) The shot of the lightsabers crossing in front of the Emperor’s laughing face. My favorite shot in the movie.

72) I was doing a widescreen to pan-and-scan comparison and put in the VHS of this movie. I was watching an old VHS on a high-definition set at midnight…and loved it. There was a strange charm to it, even though half the image was gone and VHS isn’t made for hi-def. I hadn’t enjoyed the movie like this in a few years. I think I’ll hold onto those tapes.

73) The dynamics of the lightsaber duel: Luke doesn’t want to fight and tries to tease the good side out of his father; Vader wants to induce Luke to fight to prove Vader has no good side; the Emperor is having a great time watching them fight and will accept whoever survives as his successor.

74) The shot of Luke and Vader on the stairs, lightsabers crossed, with the Emperor in the background. This shot was on the “Faces” VHS cover.

75) “If you will not fight, you will meet your destiny,” followed by the saber throw.

76) Luke’s face lit half in white light, half in blue.

77) Luke going berserk at the thought of Vader converting Leia.

78) And the choral music underscoring it.

79) Luke looking at his cybernetic hand, then at Vader’s, remembering his cave vision, and refuses to strike the final blow.

80) The act that makes Luke a Jedi is throwing down his sword.

81) You can see Han’s reflection behind him when he says, “Move” before the bunker blows up.

82) Force lightning? We’ve never seen anything like that before. The Emperor doesn’t need a lightsaber when he can shoot FRIGGIN’ LIGHTNING out of his fingers.

83) Vader realizes that all the power in the galaxy is insignificant next to the power of a son who loves and forgives him. 

84) And the Emperor can’t even react to save himself because he’s in such shock—he was overconfident and never imagined Vader would betray him.  I also like that Luke succeeds in destroying the Emperor in a different way than anyone expected.  He doesn't kill anyone--he reaches out to his father's good side and gets through to Vader that he has goodness in him.  Vader may have killed the Emperor, but without Luke believing in him, it never would have happened.

85) Vader’s skeleton lights up like an X-ray. Lets you see the damage his body’s sustained over time.

86) The Rebel ships going through the tunnel in the Death Star.

87) Wedge unlocks his foils from attack position to get through the tunnel. It takes less than half a second, but it’s there. What attention to detail.

88) The Falcon loses its satellite dish on the way.

89) Once when writing a paper, I had this movie on, and when the scene when the Executor blows up, I put the scene’s dialogue in the middle of the paper:

Guy #1: “Sir, we’ve lost our bridge deflector shield!”

Guy #2: “Intensify the forward batteries, I don’t want anything to get through…Intensify forward firepower!”

Guy in ship: “AHHHHH!!!”

Guy #3: “Too late!” (jump)

Then I acted it out to relieve the tension. I still do this almost every time I watch the movie, jumping onto the floor or couch. I’m such a nerd.

90) Isn’t it interesting that none of the Imperials stop to help Luke carry DARTH VADER, their COMMANDER and GUY WHO CHOKES THEM FOR MINOR INFRACTIONS?

91) The reveal of Vader’s face.  Even better is that the music playing is a tender version of  the villain music that has struck fear in us throughout the last two movies, "The Imperial March."

92) Vader telling Luke that he’s already been saved and that his son was right.

93) Luke cries as his father dies. Bless him.

94) I’m still on the edge of my seat, wondering if the Falcon is going to get out before the Death Star blows up.

95) The two kisses between Leia and Han. I’m not a big fan of kissing, but these were sweet, cinema kisses. And the second one was the icing.

96) Along with the juxtaposition of "Luke and Leia" and “Han Solo and the Princess.”

97) The funeral pyre and the final intense playing of the Force theme music as we mourn the loss of a villain we once hated who has found inner peace.

98) Luke returning to his friends, safe, and the embraces Leia and Han give him.

99) The original Ewok celebration music. It has a good dancing beat to it. I love the little beats as Luke is smiling while looking at the ghosts materializing.

100) The ghosts joining in at the party, and the absolute beam of fatherly pride that Shaw’s Anakin gives Luke. Anakin has returned. Kind of negates the whole purpose of the movie by replacing the older actor with the younger one.

101) And now, something I don’t like: it ends. The trilogy is over. But it was a good ride.

100 Things I Love about “Star Wars”

A follow-up to my “100 Things I Love about The Empire Strikes Back post, only this time I stopped at 100.

1)      The opening shot.  Besides the ships telling us all we need to know about the plot, the original 1977 version had the visuals perfectly matched to the music: the first moon appeared at one musical cue; the music built to a similar cue and a second, larger moon appeared; then the crash came as Tatooine entered the screen.  Ever since the subtitle was added, that scene has been off, with the planet arriving too early for its musical cue.  The opening crawl also arrives too late for its cue ever since the subtitle was added.

2)      Threepio and Artoo walk across the hall through a storm of laser bolts and never get hit.

3)      “Star Wars” kicks off right away.  We see with his first scene that Darth Vader is a brutal man who will do anything to get what he wants.  Violence, lies, torture—anything.  Without a great villain, we cannot have a great hero.

4)      Leia talking to Vader has always sounded to me like, “The Imperial Senate will not distill for this.”  Before I even knew what the word “distill” meant.  Made even funnier by the “Star Wars Uncut” edit in which this scene is represented by photos of the actors’ faces on vodka bottles, with Leia indeed using the word “distill.”

5)      By the way, Leia’s buns were inspired by the hair style worn by Pancho Villa’s female warriors.

6)      Threepio kicking Artoo.

7)      The noises Artoo makes when tazered by the Jawas.

8)      Ah, Threepio, ever the pessimist.

9)      Threepio desperately trying to sell himself.

10)   Threepio’s “Shutting up, sir” after being ordered to by Owen.

11)   Luke’s line about picking up power converters.  I used to hate it, but I had a high school teacher who would quote that line whenever someone complained about homework, so I grew to find it hilarious.

12)   Owen and Beru as caring guardians.  Owen wants Luke to go off and start his own life, but needs him around and is just as upset as Luke is about the deal.  Beru understands Luke completely and appeals to Owen in a kind way.  They’re very good people, which is why we care about their deaths after only a couple of scenes with them.

13)   The binary sunset.  What a gorgeous scene, with the swelling music, Luke’s frustration at not being able to leave home because of familial obligations, and the orange-and-yellow/blue-and-purple (depending on whether you're watching the pre- or post-1993 versions, which shifted the color timing) colors of the setting suns on a harsh planet. 

14)   Tatooine’s a pretty dangerous place—a desert planet that you can’t venture out into at night, or even in the day, because of Sand People.  Adds a big menace to the early part of the movie.

15)   The Empire’s shown to be a real threat too—they kill anyone who may have had contact with the droids, for goodness’ sake.  They destroy a whole planet because a princess won’t give them information, and we know that they will do it again anytime they choose.

16)   The editors rocking the film back and forth to make the Tusken Raider raise the staff many times instead of once.

17)   Ben knows Luke’s name without being told, indicating that he’s been watching over Luke from afar and has been waiting for this moment of meeting a long time.

18)   Everything’s dirty.

19)   The Leia hologram.

20)   The pause Ben gives before telling Luke what happened to his father.

21)   Ben’s simple explanation of the Force.

22)   Luke’s lightsaber is cyan in this movie instead of a more intense sapphire blue in The Empire Strikes Back.  I figure that the saber probably hasn’t been ignited in 20 years and the crystal has slightly warped and needs a bit of time to charge up before reverting back to its original blue.  I don’t see it as a mistake and like that the color’s a bit different here.

23)   Also, Obi-Wan’s lightsaber has a slightly different shade than Luke’s, a sort of sky blue.  I think it adds a lot of personality.  It’s very different from the prequels, where every single blue saber is the same shade of blue, and every green saber the same shade of green, even with the digital technology to do something more.   Crystals of the same kind of gemstone have different hues—emeralds can be any shade of green, sapphires are every color (except red, which are rubies), and there’s even a tourmaline that is red and green in the same stone.  How cool would THAT have been, to have seen a duel-hued saber?  Or instead of Obi-Wan and Anakin having exactly the same blue saber, Obi-Wan’s could be the “Star Wars” sky blue and Anakin’s could be midnight blue, symbolic of his fall to the Dark Side.   That would also put more visual distinction in their fight scene.  The older films had more variation in the colors of their four sabers, each blade with a distinctive color, than the prequels had with their hundreds of sabers.

24)   Vader saying that the Death Star is nothing compared to the power of the Force.  Which can destroy the Death Star.

25)   The introduction of the Force Choke.  No one else reacts in horror because Vader could easily do that same to them.  Tarkin reins him in only because the Emperor’s given him that power.   Also nice because we see the magic come in slowly, not thrown at us all at once.

26)   I remember being very young and seeing the scene of the burned homestead and looking at the charred skeletons and thinking, “I don’t remember seeing that before.”  That is my first memory of Star Wars, so I can’t remember seeing these movies for the first time.

27)   Although I do remember seeing a widescreen version once on the Sci-fi channel in the 1990s.  The cantina scene.

28)   The Jedi mind trick.

29)   The Cantina.  You can cut off a man’s arm and shoot a guy in the face and no one will call the cops.  THERE ARE NO COPS.  Mos Eisley is as backwater as you can get, which is why I wonder why all that hustle-and-bustle was added to the special edition.

30)   “I don’t like you either!”

31)   Obi-Wan’s classy dialogue with Han in procuring a ride to Alderaan.

32)   And Luke’s antagonistic banter with Han.

33)   The look on Ben’s face when Han tells him his ship “made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.”  Ben knows when he’s being had.

34)   Han blasting Greedo in the Cantina in one shot, instead of the awkwardly animated humanly-impossible computer trick where his whole head slides off his neck to dodge a blaster bolt that was never intended for the film.

35)   Han coolly walking out of the Cantina after blasting Greedo and tossing the bartender a coin.  I always knew from this scene that Han was dangerous.

36)   Han’s been going on about how great the Millennium Falcon is, and the first thing Luke says is, “What a piece of junk!”

37)   The pair of dice Chewie hits his head on in the Falcon cockpit.  You never see them again.

38)   The first shot of the Falcon in space leaving Tatooine and the subsequent line, “Watch your mouth, kid, or you’re going to find yourself floating home!”

39)   The stars turning to lines when going into hyperspace.  You love it too!  I’ve realized that we never see this effect in the prequels.

40)   And the “blue aluminum foil” effect when seeing the ship in hyperspace from the outside.

41)   Leia insulting Vader and Tarkin when they’re right next to her.

42)   Alderaan’s original destruction.  Why, in the special edition, did they make the destruction of a planet of millions of people look beautiful?

43)   Artoo beating Chewie at space chess.

44)   When Ben tells Luke to stretch out with feeling, Han is stifling a laugh in the background, amused by the whole silly thing.

45)   Han realizing that Ben is right when he says, “Turn the ship around.”

46)   When all I had was the pan-and-scan versions, I never saw the docking bay on the right side of the screen that the Falcon was being pulled into, so I always thought that the ship was going to crash into the wall.  With widescreen, I see the bay clearly, but the memory remains.  Who in the world panned-and-scanned that shot like that anyway?

47)   The head-on shot of the Falcon being pulled into the docking bay, with the music underscoring it.

48)   The whole bloody score.  The trilogy has almost-incontestably the best film score ever done.

49)   Them hiding in the secret compartments.

50)   The commander opening the door to reveal Chewie and the gang.

51)   Han calling Obi-Wan a fossil.

52)   Luke admits he can’t see in the helmet—an improvised line.

53)   “Where are you taking this…thing?”

54)   Han’s conversation with the guy over the intercom, especially “How are you?” followed by the cringe.

55)   Han shooting the intercom after the conversation goes bad.

56)   “I’m Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you.”  Like that name’s supposed to mean anything to her.  Also is the first mention of “Skywalker” in the movie.

57)   Leia’s unimpressed and confused when someone comes to rescue her.

58)   Han suggesting to Leia that she can go back into her cell if she doesn’t like that Han’s cut off their escape route.

59)   “This is some rescue!  You came in here, didn’t you have a plan for getting out?” "He's the brains, sweetheart!"

60)   Leia’s “Someone has to save our skins!” after grabbing the gun from Luke.  Han and Luke are so inept that she has to take charge of her own rescue.

61)   This isn’t stunning acting overall, but the actors are into it and full of energy.

62)   Artoo rescuing the gang from death by crushing.

63)   Ben using the Force to make Stormtroopers think they heard a noise.  We never see anything quite like this again.

64)   And the lightsabers are used pretty sparingly in this film.

65)   Threepio tricking the Stormtrooper by saying he’s taking Artoo to maintenance.  I don’t think Threepio does anything this tricky again.

66)   Luke and Han keeping the Stormtrooper belts on after discarding the rest of the uniforms.

67)   Han running screaming after the Stormtroopers, then screaming again as they start chasing him back the same way.

68)   The adventurous swing across the chasm.

69)   The editing really saved this movie.  Well-deserved Oscar for Best Editing.

70)   This one’s for my Mom: her favorite line in the movie is “I’ve been waiting for you, Obi-Wan.”

71)   The lightsaber duel.  What looks awkward is actually very small, masterly movements, for masters do not display flashy moves—they need only one swing to defeat an opponent.

72)   Vader isn’t ready to take out Ben yet, so he draws out the duel until he’s said everything he wants to say to him.  It’s a duel with words as much as with swords.

73)   Ben calling Vader “Darth” like it’s a first name.  Which it was back then.  If you notice, the Imperials never call Vader “Darth Vader,” they call him “Lord.”  If “Darth” were a title, they would call him that instead of “Lord.”  Leia calls him “Darth Vader” because she’s a princess—she outranks him.

74)   “You should not have come back” followed by the expression on Ben’s face.

75)   Ben’s blade “vanishing” momentarily.  I always assumed that it vanished because it faced the camera head-on and appeared missing.  Basically, that’s exactly what it was.

76)   Ben disappearing when slashed.

77)   Luke’s “NO!”  It’s short and doesn’t draw attention to itself in a cheesy way.  One of the better exclamations of “NO!” in cinema history.

78)   The Falcon backing out of the Death Star like it’s a car.

79)   The lights go out on the droids in the game room, with only Threepio’s eyes glowing.

80)   “She’ll hold together.”  (ship parts explode)  “Hear me baby?  Hold together.”

81)   “Help!  I think I’m melting!  This is all your fault!”  How did Threepio get covered in wires?  I don’t know, but I’m sure it must be Artoo’s fault.

82)   Han is brutally honest to Leia: he rescued her for money, not because it was morally right.

83)   The original shot of the Falcon approaching Yavin.  It looks nice, and I was shocked to see that this fine-looking shot was altered with computers for the 2004 DVD.

84)   I was always so focused on those two random pilots walking towards the Yavin temple that I never noticed until the most recent viewing that our heroes are in the right-hand corner of the frame.

85)   I like the idea that the Rebellion makes a temporary home in an old temple: ancient civilizations were there centuries ago, and now that they’re gone, someone else is using it.  Makes me wonder if sentient species are living elsewhere on the planet.  If so, the Empire obviously doesn’t care.  Makes them all the more callous.

86)   Han saying, “May the Force be with you.”

87)   When Luke says, “You all right Artoo?” Artoo beeps, to which Luke says, “Good.”  I imagine Artoo saying “No!” having had enough adventure for one day.

88)   The original shot of the X-wings taking off from Yavin.  Little points of light represent the ships, giving a sense of urgency.  The red planet is clearly visible, giving an accurate representation of the McQuarrie artwork it’s based on.

89)   All those models look excellent.  I was appalled and insulted for the original ILM team that it was replaced with horrible-looking CGI for the new editions.  A real slap in the face.

90)   The “Force Fanfare.”

91)   The pilot bouncing up and down while saying, “How many guns do you think, Gold Five?”

92)   “You worry about those fighters, I’LL worry about the tower!”

93)   Vader goes out in a spaceship himself to fight the rebels.

94)   Tarkin’s so tense in that last scene, even though he’s sure the rebels will be obliterated.  Does this guy have any fun at all?

95)   Vader letting Wedge go to keep his sights on Luke, making Wedge the only minor character to survive three ship battles.

96)   Luke letting go of technology and trusting his human, Force-guided instincts to destroy the Death Star.

97)   “YEA-HOO!!!”

98)   Artoo beaten up and covered in oil, a battle casualty.

99)   The silent ending.  A stately, happy ending, with everyone smiling and without dialogue.

100)                       The ending credits music.  I always watch the credits of these three movies for the music.