Tag: empire

STAR WARS Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi Review

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This is it: The final chapter of the original trilogy. Today let’s talk about The Revenge Return of the Jedi. 

Originally released in 1983, this was originally made to be the end of the franchise before Episode I came out.

From what I remember hearing about the release, this movie was the least enjoyable to some? The Ewoks living on a forest moon were strange to people I think. But this is a universe with space wizards so I think suspension of disbelief shouldn’t exist. I personally like it. I haven’t watched the original release but I do have the dvd version with the music video playing in Jabba’s palace. 

Not many people in the main character cast got to experience that performance. Only Han and possibly Lando were there at the time, and Han was basically asleep in carbonite.

Luke “gives” Jabba C-3P0 and R2-D2 in exchange to release his friend Han Solo, but Jabba refuses. Luke later arrives in person to rescue him, and the gang eventually frees everyone and Leia kills Jabba, and Han unintentionally makes Boba Fett fall into the killer Sarlacc pit. 

They return to the rebellion leadership, and learn that the Empire built a new Death Star. They have to split up where a team goes to a forest moon to destroy a shield generator protecting the Death Star II, and another goes directly to the Death Star II to destroy it when the shields are down. 

Luke let himself get caught so he could face Darth Vader and the Emperor. The Emperor mocks him and his friends, which I think Family Guy represents very well here:

The Emperor’s overconfidence is eventually his downfall. The ground team worked with the local teddy bear Ewoks to blow up the shield generator, while Lando flew the Millennium Falcon into the Death Star II and blew up the core. Inside the Death Star II, Luke convinces his father to turn back to the light, and he throws the Emperor down a shaft before dying to his injuries. 

Word somehow got out very quickly across the galaxy because we see fireworks and celebrations everywhere. The Ewoks are playing drums on Stormtrooper helmets which seems kinda morbid because it doesn’t seem likely that they are empty helmets they’re drumming on. 

This is it for the original trilogy and all is right in the galaxy. 

Nope!

Just because a dictator is removed doesn’t mean everything is all perfect now. As we saw with Andor and Rebels many of the Empire loyalists are deep into the propaganda and will definitely continue fighting the Rebels. 

We’re talking about some of those moments next with the new video games so stay tuned!

STAR WARS Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back Review

kneisguyLeave a comment

Welcome back to another post about Star Wars. Last time the rebels fought the Empire and blew up their planet-killing Death Star. This time, it’s been reported that the Empire is striking back. 

Today we’re discussing Episode V in the series. My personal favorite of the original trilogy, and its influence on the rest of the Star Wars universe. 

The movie starts out with the traditional scrolling introduction that all other numbered Star Wars movies do. The rebels have still been running from the Empire and Darth Vader is searching for Luke Skywalker because he blew up the Death Star.

They’re on Hoth.

A snow planet with little life. Luke gets captured by a vicious native creature before being rescued by Han, and then they prepare to evacuate their base because the Empire found them.

The snow battle is really cool because we get to see the Empire’s large walkers get taken down by the little snow speeders; it’s similar to a David and Goliath battle. The way they made the battle behind the scenes was really impressive too because they used models and physically animated them.

After the escape from Hoth the main characters split up. Luke went to search for an old Jedi Master Yoda, and the rest were on the Millennium Falcon trying to escape Vader’s ship. 

We see a lot of familiar faces if you’ve been following along with me in this timeline watch. Yoda hasn’t been seen since Star Wars Rebels, and it’s the same with Lando Calrissian. It seems like if you’re a character in the original trilogy, you’ll show up at some point in Rebels. 

The events of Solo are also mentioned when Lando and Han meet again, where they talk about Han winning the ship from him. 

Lando is now in charge of Cloud City. A place floating in the air on a sky planet, because after seeing a desert planet, a snow planet, and a swamp planet with Yoda, where else would we go visit?

Lando ended up making a deal with the Empire to turn over the Millennium Falcon crew to them in exchange for Lando keeping his leadership position. Darth Vader was still giving him orders though so he decided to free them and join the rebellion. Unfortunately Han was frozen before that happened and taken by Boba Fett. 

Meanwhile on the swamp planet Dagobah, Luke and R2-D2 crash landed in the water and met Yoda, who was acting like a little freak for some reason. Just a silly little nutter. 

Yoda teaches Luke how to be a Jedi and use the force. Luke goes into a weird cave where he fights Vader, and defeats him, and it turns out that his own face is in the mask. 

While attempting to lift rocks when upside down, he has a vision of the Millennium Falcon crew being captured so he ends his training early to save them. 

Darth Vader is waiting for him, and attempts to freeze Luke like he did Han Solo, but he escapes the trap, and they fight. 

Darth Vader gets the upper hand and cuts off Luke’s before revealing that he is Luke’s father. Big reveal when this movie first came out, but we already know because we’ve been watching all the previous movies. 

Luke jumps and gets rescued by Leia, and they escape Cloud City. Movie ends with Luke getting a new robot hand and then looking off into space. 

Final Thoughts 

I think the most well known spoiler in movies is the fact that Darth Vader is Luke’s father. We already knew that because we watched Episode 3 where Luke and Leia were born. So these scenes are even stranger with that context. 

We see more of the Empire with snowtroopers, and more world building in Star Wars if this was the second Star Wars movie you’ve ever seen. It’s a bit sad, of course, with the loss of Luke’s hand and loss of Leia’s Han.

The next movie should wrap it all up when the Jedi return, so see you soon!