Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

On Tatooine R2D2 and C3P0 approach Jabba the Hut’s palace. R2 bears a holographic message from Luke Skywalker who wants to bargain for the captive Han Solo. To C3P0’s dismay, the droids are presented to Jabba as gifts. Jabba won’t relinquish his favorite wall decoration—Han frozen in carbonite.

A bounty hunter delivers the mighty Chewbacca to Jabba. Now both Han and Chewbacca are his prisoners. That night, the bounty hunter slips into Jabba’s chamber and frees Han from the carbonite. Revived but temporarily blind, he asks who is there. The bounty hunter removes a head mask and speaks—it is Leia. Their reunion is short-lived; Jabba and his wretched retinue discover them. Han is imprisoned and Leia enslaved (wearing the famous gold bikini).

A lone robed figure arrives at Jabba’s palace. Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker has come to negotiate for his friends. When Jabba refuses to barter, Luke demands their release. Jabba drops him into a pit with a rancor beast. Luke kills the rancor, infuriating Jabba. Luke, Han, and Chewbacca are to be executed in the Pit of Sarlaak, a deadly creature burrowed in the desert sand. Meanwhile, Lando Calrissian has secretly infiltrated Jabba’s palace and is disguised as a guard onboard Jabba’s sail barge. Also aboard are C3P0 and R2, who has Luke’s light saber hidden inside.

With Leia chained at his side, Jabba views the proceedings from his barge. Luke, Han and Chewbacca are about to be dropped from the prisoner hovercraft into the pit. Luke issues Jabba a final ultimatum: release them or die. Jabba laughingly refuses. Luke leaps off the plank as R2 ejects his light saber into the air. Luke catches it and attacks and kills the guards. Leia strangles Jabba with the chain. Han, whose eyesight has returned, saves Lando from falling into the pit. Grabbing Leia, Luke swings swashbuckler-style to the hovercraft. They pick up R2 and C3PO and speed off as the barge explodes.

Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his Jedi training while the others head for a rebel base. Luke finds Master Yoda weak and ill. He tells Luke he has nothing more to learn, but he must confront Vader before he is a true Jedi. His final words reveal there is another Skywalker but dies and vanishes without giving further details. Obi Wan appears and tells Luke the other Skywalker is Leia, Luke’s twin sister. Luke rejoins the rebel fleet, but does not yet tell Leia what he knows. Rebel spies have uncovered a new and more powerful Death Star being constructed above Endor. The Alliance plans an attack, but a shield generator on the planet’s surface protects it. Lando will lead the attack group, while Han heads a mission to deactivate the shield generator. Luke, Leia, and Chewbacca volunteer to go with him.

Revealing mistake: When Luke is being fed to the Rancor, in Jabba the Hutt's dungeon, there are black outlines around the beast's legs, from the composite's blue screen special effect. This was edited out in the special edition rerelease.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: This was not a "mistake". The outlines showing around the beast's leg were due to the limited CGI technology at the time the film was made. With advances in special effects in the following decades, the filmmakers were able to enhance the CGI quality in later releases.

raywest

But it is a mistake to show that the Rancor is not real, and the outlines show that. It's certainly not intentional.

lionhead

Not sure what you mean that the rancor is not real. Of course it's not real. The issue is, at that time, it was not technically possible to show the beastie without the lines showing. I classify a mistake as something that was not intentional. In this case, it was, due to the limitations of CGI in the 1980s.

raywest

More mistakes in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Darth Vader: Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don't know the power of the dark side.

More quotes from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Trivia: When Oola the dancing girl (with those two things growing out of the back of her head) is trying to get away from Jabba, she briefly falls out of the top of her costume. It isn't as visible in the letterbox version, but quite visible in the regular version.

More trivia for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

Question: After Anakin becomes Darth Vader, he seems ruthless, actually evil. "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!" Is just one quote. That being the case, this movie makes it seem like Anakin knows that he's evil and wishes he wasn't. Basically, my question is, why didn't Anakin turn on Palpatine sooner? Or simply leave the Sith?

Answer: Darth: "Obi-Wan once thought as you do. You don't know the power of the dark side. I must obey my master." It's implied that the dark side is intoxicating, once you totally give in to the dark side it has a hold on you, and appeals to morality and rationalization are useless against your lust for its power. (On a symbolic level, the dark side is a metaphor for vice. Darth Vader is an addict and abusive parent. It's actually funny how many scenes still make sense if you replace "the dark side" with "the bottle" or similar).

TonyPH

If we bring the prequels into it, it's one of the criticisms of those films that they only make the question of how much Anakin is a "true believer" more confusing. But it stands to reason that at first Anakin may feel vindicated in his resentment toward the Jedi. Later on, Vader may not feel that as strongly, but by then his anger has turned toward himself for failing to save Padme. He may feel that a man as terrible as he does not deserve to be "rescued" from the dark side, leading to a feedback loop where he only gets further enamored with its power and does more evil things which causes him to hate himself even more, and so it goes.

TonyPH

Answer: Anakin was seduced by the emperor to think that the Jedi were evil. This was partly fueled by anger &fear, thinking Padme would die if Palpatine didn't help save her. After he turned to Darth Vader & joined the dark side, he eventually realised the true nature of the Emperor, but he was to weak to do anything about it. Darth Vader still wanted to rule the galaxy, but didn't want the emperor controlling everything. He just wanted to use Luke to help overthrow the emperor and take over the galaxy. It wasn't until he found out he had a daughter also, and saw Luke about to die by the hands of the emperor, that he realised that Luke was right & he needed to switch sides.

envisaged0ne

Vader was not just using Luke to kill the Emperor. He actually did want to rule the galaxy as father and son - if Luke would turn to the Dark Side, that is.

More questions & answers from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

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