On a lighter note...
Okay, now I'm going to wax nerdy. I know you guys love that. It is my feeling that Return of the Jedi was the weakest Star Wars movie. There are many reasons for this, but my thought tonight is the more confusing aspects of the movie.
First is the plan to free Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. The more I think about this the more confused I get. Let's look it over:
1: Send in Lando Calrissian to infiltrate.
2: Send in R2-D2 and C-3PO and give them to Jabba, along with a message from Luke. R2-D2 has a lightsaber hidden in him.
3: Leia shows up with Chewbacca, letting Jabba have him. She tries to free Han.
4: Luke shows up and demands his friends be turned over.
It's reasonable to believe that Luke's plan was for R2-D2 to give him his lightsaber in the throne room, and R2 simply wasn't there so he grabbed a gun. But what if the droids had been memory wiped? What if R2 had been searched and the lightsaber taken? Going back one step, why did Luke plan on showing up, then have Leia attempt to trade Han for Chewbacca? Did he want Han out of the way when the violence started? Was he relying on the Force to get through it all without violence? Why not just have Lando rescue Han and call it a day? Why didn't he at least attempt to do so?
When I first started to see the seams in Return of the Jedi, this was one of the things that bugged me the most. I've seen many discussions (usually arguements) about perceived "plot holes" (an overused term to be certain) in the prequels, most of which are pretty easily explained without stretching at all. Indeed, I characterize the Star Wars films as working on the simple emotional level, and on an intellectual level; Return of the Jedi works the least on the second level, for me. Like Chris Claremont's X-Men, everything is carefully considered and nothing happens by accident in Star Wars. I've never seen Luke's plan to rescue Han explained in a way that makes sense without overt reaching.
The second bit involves the Emperor's plan to convert Luke. I'm sure there is a rational explanation for this one, but I've never heard a consensus. Okay, he wants him to give in to hatred and take his first step toward the dark side. He also thinks Vader is kind of old and he's a cyborg, so a new apprentice is very favorable to him. So far so good. Is he relying on Vader to defend him from Luke? Was he willing to sacrifice his life to turn the last Jedi to the dark side? What would he do if Luke did kill Vader? Did he believe Luke would just swear loyalty to him or what? Anakin had crossed a point-of-no-return (aiding in the killing of Mace Windu, even though he just wanted to 'disarm' him) and was willing to do ANYTHING to save Padme. Luke didn't have anywhere near those stakes. And let's not even talk about how much his lightsaber skills increased since the last movie, out of nowhere.
I was very excited to listen to the commentaries on the DVDs, hoping they would shed light, but unfortunately the Vader/Luke dual's portion of the commentary is the sound guy jabbering about random stuff. Anyways, do you guys have any reasonable explanations for these two oddities? Was the story just poorly thought out? Am I missing something obvious? Help me out, here.
First is the plan to free Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. The more I think about this the more confused I get. Let's look it over:
1: Send in Lando Calrissian to infiltrate.
2: Send in R2-D2 and C-3PO and give them to Jabba, along with a message from Luke. R2-D2 has a lightsaber hidden in him.
3: Leia shows up with Chewbacca, letting Jabba have him. She tries to free Han.
4: Luke shows up and demands his friends be turned over.
It's reasonable to believe that Luke's plan was for R2-D2 to give him his lightsaber in the throne room, and R2 simply wasn't there so he grabbed a gun. But what if the droids had been memory wiped? What if R2 had been searched and the lightsaber taken? Going back one step, why did Luke plan on showing up, then have Leia attempt to trade Han for Chewbacca? Did he want Han out of the way when the violence started? Was he relying on the Force to get through it all without violence? Why not just have Lando rescue Han and call it a day? Why didn't he at least attempt to do so?
When I first started to see the seams in Return of the Jedi, this was one of the things that bugged me the most. I've seen many discussions (usually arguements) about perceived "plot holes" (an overused term to be certain) in the prequels, most of which are pretty easily explained without stretching at all. Indeed, I characterize the Star Wars films as working on the simple emotional level, and on an intellectual level; Return of the Jedi works the least on the second level, for me. Like Chris Claremont's X-Men, everything is carefully considered and nothing happens by accident in Star Wars. I've never seen Luke's plan to rescue Han explained in a way that makes sense without overt reaching.
The second bit involves the Emperor's plan to convert Luke. I'm sure there is a rational explanation for this one, but I've never heard a consensus. Okay, he wants him to give in to hatred and take his first step toward the dark side. He also thinks Vader is kind of old and he's a cyborg, so a new apprentice is very favorable to him. So far so good. Is he relying on Vader to defend him from Luke? Was he willing to sacrifice his life to turn the last Jedi to the dark side? What would he do if Luke did kill Vader? Did he believe Luke would just swear loyalty to him or what? Anakin had crossed a point-of-no-return (aiding in the killing of Mace Windu, even though he just wanted to 'disarm' him) and was willing to do ANYTHING to save Padme. Luke didn't have anywhere near those stakes. And let's not even talk about how much his lightsaber skills increased since the last movie, out of nowhere.
I was very excited to listen to the commentaries on the DVDs, hoping they would shed light, but unfortunately the Vader/Luke dual's portion of the commentary is the sound guy jabbering about random stuff. Anyways, do you guys have any reasonable explanations for these two oddities? Was the story just poorly thought out? Am I missing something obvious? Help me out, here.