The Road to Return of the Jedi, Only Part
Apr. 18th, 2008 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
krpalmerLast year, I read all the early drafts of Star Wars publicly available as a sort of leadup to the thirtieth anniversary of the movie. Now, with an awareness of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Return of the Jedi coming up in May, I've got around to further following up on a Saga Journal review I wrote (having already commented on a "fake Episode III script" that increased my appreciation for the real thing) and read the one early draft of the movie the "Jedi Bendu Script Site" has managed to find. With only one draft to read, I was seeing a snapshot of sorts rather than a process, and yet it just may have helped settle a decade-long grudge...
I was quite interested in "Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays" when I first heard about it, but I recall one fansite review of the book declaring that its coverage of the development of Return of the Jedi "proved" the movie's production had been rushed, and there just hadn't been the time to give it the polish it needed to properly stand alongside the other two Star Wars movies... at the time, I suppose I lumped that in with the constant online beating up on that movie, which troubled me without my quite being able to articulate why. The specific idea did bother me, though, and I had the uneasy thought that Raiders of the Lost Ark, in addition to its other qualities, might have been "the distraction the saga didn't need," later on trying to shrug off the complaints about DVDs of the Star Wars movies not being immediately available with "they need every moment they can get to work on 'Episode II'"... and then, the thought did come to me that the now all-but-forgotten More American Graffiti had been made in between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. It might not mean anything, but it was at least a thought.
Starting to read the "revised rough draft," I more or less put that "big question" out of my mind and took note of the bit I remembered from "The Annotated Screenplays" where Wedge, flying a captured TIE fighter (which actually reminds me of a plotline from around the same time in the Star Wars comics) "starts to panic" when his fighter malfunctions. Given the whole "the legend that is Wedge Antilles," it had seemed at the time I first read it to be an idea better off taken out... and then I began to really realize that Leia was also along on that flight, heading for the nameless "sanctuary moon" orbiting the polluted Imperial city-world of "Had Abbadon" instead of joining in the rescue of Han Solo. The suggestion of Leia sitting that rescue out might have been implicit to some extent in the final moments of The Empire Strikes Back, and yet it seemed a definite absence from this draft... and not just because of the lack of "slave girl Leia," but also for Han not being freed from carbon freeze by "someone who loves you." (As it turns out, Han is thawed out off-screen in this draft, presumably more so he can show up "bearded" than because George Lucas was somehow unsure for once about presenting the effect on-screen.) I suppose this did let Leia be obviously in charge of the landing on the "sanctuary moon" and the attempt to knock out the shields protecting the two under-construction Death Stars, and some have complained about a lack of "Leia leading" in the movie, but to me the tradeoff is somehow acceptable. In any case, I found myself thinking back to when I recently reread "Heir to the Empire," with just a thought or two of writing a critique of it... things got too unwieldy, but I found myself reassured I hadn't planned every reaction to it ahead of time when I became convinced that Leia wasn't as obsessed with "the greater good" to her own unhappiness as the novel insisted; she'd gone to help rescue Han, hadn't she?
The rescue of Han Solo plays out about the same as it does in the movie, even with the absence of "slave girl Leia" and Boba Fett, as I eventually noticed. I did take note of Lando being locked up with Han and Han taking this badly until Chewbacca provides an explanation, and Han being angry at Lando was a point others have complained about wanting to see... but when during the final sail barge escape Luke (who doesn't have a new lightsabre of his own construction; somehow, it's not quite the same when he just grabs another blaster from another guard and starts shooting) and Han get knocked into the sarlacc pit and Lando is the one who picks them up, I started thinking. Lando's action of joining in the rescue of Han could be seen as a demonstration that he's making up for having betrayed him in the previous movie, and Han's action of rescuing Lando from the sarlacc pit could be seen as a demonstration that he's realized that and is willing to accept things as they are. It could even be mentioned that Han's vision clearing (as emphasised by a change of one line of dialogue for the Special Edition) is a further illustration of that...
In the meantime, Darth Vader seems to be dealing most not with the Emperor but with Grand Moff Jerjerrod. In the movie itself, Jerjerrod seems just one more overwhelmed time-server next to Vader, but in this draft he seems more like Tarkin, at times calling Vader "my old friend." Where Tarkin was Vader's ambiguous director, though, here Jerjerrod seems out to just plain browbeat Vader, telling him he's not measuring up to the Emperor's standard and won't get the chance to try and turn his son to the Dark Side until Vader finally grabs him by the throat and breaks his neck. As a result of all this (including Jerjerrod smugly informing Vader he's "more machine than man"), the Emperor seems a distant and even adversarial figure to Vader, even turning the tables on him in a certain way in their one actual encounter by cutting off his apprentice's air supply. Still, there's one particularly interesting moment: when Jerjerrod says Vader still has "some feelings for your troublesome offspring," Vader snaps back "The only feeling I have for him is hatred."
After helping to rescue Han, Luke never has the chance to fulfil his promise to "an old friend," instead being captured by Imperial minions. Even in this draft, that seems somehow unsatisfying after Luke having made it through a confrontation with Vader himself in The Empire Strikes Back... Moreover, perhaps, it affects me because it keeps our heroes separated, and I may be conscious of that through having started reading the Star Wars comics only after TESB, with a Han-shaped hole stuck in them. In captivity, Luke bemoans how he's not going to be able to resist, and then Yoda shows up in spirit form. That gives me the impression that he's died off-screen, but even after Obi-Wan sacrificing himself to Vader's blade it all seems somehow odd... Luke does say that "there must be some good in him," but this first small step doesn't quite go anywhere as Yoda starts talking about "another." It does turn out that Leia was "taken to Alderaan by your mother," which I'm sure is a very ambiguous note for the "Padme should have lingered" crowd...
Instead of having the chance to step up to a position of responsibility in the Rebellion, Han tears off in the Millennium Falcon to rescue Leia on the "sanctuary moon." It's true that I've seen people complaining how Han doesn't get to fly the Falcon in Return of the Jedi, and plotting a course that brings his ship in so close to the moon that he escapes Imperial patrols and just makes it through the atmosphere is impressive in its own way, and yet I found myself thinking back to "Heir to the Empire" again and Han having shrugged off most of his responsibility at its beginning. The encounters with the Ewoks play out about the same as they do in the movie, though.
Luke, still in captivity, encounters a hooded figure who happens to be Obi-Wan Kenobi returned to life. I'd like to think this now leaves me ambiguous less through any extravagant horror over "bodily resurrection" versus "spiritual survival," but just through Luke not being able to function with his own unaided strength and conviction... although, perhaps, there's the germ of an interesting idea there for me even so. Ben manages to come back because Luke has let go of his anger, and if he's let go of all of his anger in the process, even with Ben and Yoda alongside him intending to help him "destroy the Emperor" and his father... but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. In any case, Ben does at times seem to be in the same ambiguous position I've heard he occupied in the developing drafts of Star Wars, just sort of standing around while Luke snatches his father's lightsabre away from him and the Emperor, in perhaps a first faint premonition of Revenge of the Sith, tosses Vader a replacement blade from his sleeve. Again, Luke not having his own weapon seems a little ambiguous, even if a "red versus red" duel seems a little interesting now juxtaposed against the "blue versus blue" final duel also in RotS. Luke defeats Vader with what seems very little trouble or hesitation, then tells the Emperor "I only fight in self-defense" and tosses Vader's captured lightsabre to Ben. Again, there's the germ of something interesting there, but somehow it's just not the same. The Emperor seems to attack Ben first, Luke protecting him with a shield that keeps flashing Yoda's image, and that was another point that seemed dubious to me in "The Annotated Screenplays"... and then Vader, without much prompting, knocks the Emperor into some lava and falls in himself. Without Luke having been trying to reach him, without a final unmasking and farewell with his son, it's definitely lacking something...
While this has been happening, Leia and Han finally manage to knock down the shields protecting the two Death Stars and Lando leads the Rebel fleet in. When I first heard about this early version, I had thought "two Death Stars are better than one!" However, these Death Stars seem very passive, hiding behind their shields until that protection is gone and the Rebel ships can demolish them with a concerted fleet attack. It does feel different from the "fighter attack" of Star Wars, and "Return of the Jedi is just a remake of Star Wars!" is another complaint I've heard... but somehow it's not quite as exciting as "flying into the Death Star!"
With all of this said, I can admit that a certain uncertain feeling began creeping up on me while I was reading the draft, noticing all those important (to me, anyway) points missing and the phrases from the other movies and the lines from Return of the Jedi in odd places... "What if it's a fake? What if someone wrote it using The Annotated Screenplays as a thin outline and passed it off on the Jedi Bendu, the one script they have that I hadn't already seen floating around online?" Then, I happened to notice that the draft was missing its penultimate page... unless "they" intended that to be a clever touch of verisimilitude that also skipped having to write the scene where Luke's father returns in the flesh...
Still, on one level that's like being worried on learning that ambiguous things were taken out of Revenge of the Sith in the production process and that some of the most resonant moments of its story (in my opinion) were added at the "last moment," during the reshoots. Return of the Jedi is what it is, and compared to this draft its basic story may have been there from the start, but has been refined by a considerable degree. Of course, this is again in my opinion... and who can say that a bit more polishing wouldn't have drummed it into even the most obtuse that an important point of the movie is Darth Vader's redemption, or even created that mystic grail of a movie combining redemption everyone can accept and a interstellar insurgency meeting the most stringent demands for "grittiness?" Nevertheless, that isn't a thought that troubles me.
I was quite interested in "Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays" when I first heard about it, but I recall one fansite review of the book declaring that its coverage of the development of Return of the Jedi "proved" the movie's production had been rushed, and there just hadn't been the time to give it the polish it needed to properly stand alongside the other two Star Wars movies... at the time, I suppose I lumped that in with the constant online beating up on that movie, which troubled me without my quite being able to articulate why. The specific idea did bother me, though, and I had the uneasy thought that Raiders of the Lost Ark, in addition to its other qualities, might have been "the distraction the saga didn't need," later on trying to shrug off the complaints about DVDs of the Star Wars movies not being immediately available with "they need every moment they can get to work on 'Episode II'"... and then, the thought did come to me that the now all-but-forgotten More American Graffiti had been made in between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. It might not mean anything, but it was at least a thought.
Starting to read the "revised rough draft," I more or less put that "big question" out of my mind and took note of the bit I remembered from "The Annotated Screenplays" where Wedge, flying a captured TIE fighter (which actually reminds me of a plotline from around the same time in the Star Wars comics) "starts to panic" when his fighter malfunctions. Given the whole "the legend that is Wedge Antilles," it had seemed at the time I first read it to be an idea better off taken out... and then I began to really realize that Leia was also along on that flight, heading for the nameless "sanctuary moon" orbiting the polluted Imperial city-world of "Had Abbadon" instead of joining in the rescue of Han Solo. The suggestion of Leia sitting that rescue out might have been implicit to some extent in the final moments of The Empire Strikes Back, and yet it seemed a definite absence from this draft... and not just because of the lack of "slave girl Leia," but also for Han not being freed from carbon freeze by "someone who loves you." (As it turns out, Han is thawed out off-screen in this draft, presumably more so he can show up "bearded" than because George Lucas was somehow unsure for once about presenting the effect on-screen.) I suppose this did let Leia be obviously in charge of the landing on the "sanctuary moon" and the attempt to knock out the shields protecting the two under-construction Death Stars, and some have complained about a lack of "Leia leading" in the movie, but to me the tradeoff is somehow acceptable. In any case, I found myself thinking back to when I recently reread "Heir to the Empire," with just a thought or two of writing a critique of it... things got too unwieldy, but I found myself reassured I hadn't planned every reaction to it ahead of time when I became convinced that Leia wasn't as obsessed with "the greater good" to her own unhappiness as the novel insisted; she'd gone to help rescue Han, hadn't she?
The rescue of Han Solo plays out about the same as it does in the movie, even with the absence of "slave girl Leia" and Boba Fett, as I eventually noticed. I did take note of Lando being locked up with Han and Han taking this badly until Chewbacca provides an explanation, and Han being angry at Lando was a point others have complained about wanting to see... but when during the final sail barge escape Luke (who doesn't have a new lightsabre of his own construction; somehow, it's not quite the same when he just grabs another blaster from another guard and starts shooting) and Han get knocked into the sarlacc pit and Lando is the one who picks them up, I started thinking. Lando's action of joining in the rescue of Han could be seen as a demonstration that he's making up for having betrayed him in the previous movie, and Han's action of rescuing Lando from the sarlacc pit could be seen as a demonstration that he's realized that and is willing to accept things as they are. It could even be mentioned that Han's vision clearing (as emphasised by a change of one line of dialogue for the Special Edition) is a further illustration of that...
In the meantime, Darth Vader seems to be dealing most not with the Emperor but with Grand Moff Jerjerrod. In the movie itself, Jerjerrod seems just one more overwhelmed time-server next to Vader, but in this draft he seems more like Tarkin, at times calling Vader "my old friend." Where Tarkin was Vader's ambiguous director, though, here Jerjerrod seems out to just plain browbeat Vader, telling him he's not measuring up to the Emperor's standard and won't get the chance to try and turn his son to the Dark Side until Vader finally grabs him by the throat and breaks his neck. As a result of all this (including Jerjerrod smugly informing Vader he's "more machine than man"), the Emperor seems a distant and even adversarial figure to Vader, even turning the tables on him in a certain way in their one actual encounter by cutting off his apprentice's air supply. Still, there's one particularly interesting moment: when Jerjerrod says Vader still has "some feelings for your troublesome offspring," Vader snaps back "The only feeling I have for him is hatred."
After helping to rescue Han, Luke never has the chance to fulfil his promise to "an old friend," instead being captured by Imperial minions. Even in this draft, that seems somehow unsatisfying after Luke having made it through a confrontation with Vader himself in The Empire Strikes Back... Moreover, perhaps, it affects me because it keeps our heroes separated, and I may be conscious of that through having started reading the Star Wars comics only after TESB, with a Han-shaped hole stuck in them. In captivity, Luke bemoans how he's not going to be able to resist, and then Yoda shows up in spirit form. That gives me the impression that he's died off-screen, but even after Obi-Wan sacrificing himself to Vader's blade it all seems somehow odd... Luke does say that "there must be some good in him," but this first small step doesn't quite go anywhere as Yoda starts talking about "another." It does turn out that Leia was "taken to Alderaan by your mother," which I'm sure is a very ambiguous note for the "Padme should have lingered" crowd...
Instead of having the chance to step up to a position of responsibility in the Rebellion, Han tears off in the Millennium Falcon to rescue Leia on the "sanctuary moon." It's true that I've seen people complaining how Han doesn't get to fly the Falcon in Return of the Jedi, and plotting a course that brings his ship in so close to the moon that he escapes Imperial patrols and just makes it through the atmosphere is impressive in its own way, and yet I found myself thinking back to "Heir to the Empire" again and Han having shrugged off most of his responsibility at its beginning. The encounters with the Ewoks play out about the same as they do in the movie, though.
Luke, still in captivity, encounters a hooded figure who happens to be Obi-Wan Kenobi returned to life. I'd like to think this now leaves me ambiguous less through any extravagant horror over "bodily resurrection" versus "spiritual survival," but just through Luke not being able to function with his own unaided strength and conviction... although, perhaps, there's the germ of an interesting idea there for me even so. Ben manages to come back because Luke has let go of his anger, and if he's let go of all of his anger in the process, even with Ben and Yoda alongside him intending to help him "destroy the Emperor" and his father... but perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. In any case, Ben does at times seem to be in the same ambiguous position I've heard he occupied in the developing drafts of Star Wars, just sort of standing around while Luke snatches his father's lightsabre away from him and the Emperor, in perhaps a first faint premonition of Revenge of the Sith, tosses Vader a replacement blade from his sleeve. Again, Luke not having his own weapon seems a little ambiguous, even if a "red versus red" duel seems a little interesting now juxtaposed against the "blue versus blue" final duel also in RotS. Luke defeats Vader with what seems very little trouble or hesitation, then tells the Emperor "I only fight in self-defense" and tosses Vader's captured lightsabre to Ben. Again, there's the germ of something interesting there, but somehow it's just not the same. The Emperor seems to attack Ben first, Luke protecting him with a shield that keeps flashing Yoda's image, and that was another point that seemed dubious to me in "The Annotated Screenplays"... and then Vader, without much prompting, knocks the Emperor into some lava and falls in himself. Without Luke having been trying to reach him, without a final unmasking and farewell with his son, it's definitely lacking something...
While this has been happening, Leia and Han finally manage to knock down the shields protecting the two Death Stars and Lando leads the Rebel fleet in. When I first heard about this early version, I had thought "two Death Stars are better than one!" However, these Death Stars seem very passive, hiding behind their shields until that protection is gone and the Rebel ships can demolish them with a concerted fleet attack. It does feel different from the "fighter attack" of Star Wars, and "Return of the Jedi is just a remake of Star Wars!" is another complaint I've heard... but somehow it's not quite as exciting as "flying into the Death Star!"
With all of this said, I can admit that a certain uncertain feeling began creeping up on me while I was reading the draft, noticing all those important (to me, anyway) points missing and the phrases from the other movies and the lines from Return of the Jedi in odd places... "What if it's a fake? What if someone wrote it using The Annotated Screenplays as a thin outline and passed it off on the Jedi Bendu, the one script they have that I hadn't already seen floating around online?" Then, I happened to notice that the draft was missing its penultimate page... unless "they" intended that to be a clever touch of verisimilitude that also skipped having to write the scene where Luke's father returns in the flesh...
Still, on one level that's like being worried on learning that ambiguous things were taken out of Revenge of the Sith in the production process and that some of the most resonant moments of its story (in my opinion) were added at the "last moment," during the reshoots. Return of the Jedi is what it is, and compared to this draft its basic story may have been there from the start, but has been refined by a considerable degree. Of course, this is again in my opinion... and who can say that a bit more polishing wouldn't have drummed it into even the most obtuse that an important point of the movie is Darth Vader's redemption, or even created that mystic grail of a movie combining redemption everyone can accept and a interstellar insurgency meeting the most stringent demands for "grittiness?" Nevertheless, that isn't a thought that troubles me.
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Date: 2008-04-28 04:23 pm (UTC)I get a little pissed with SW making a big deal about Lando "betraying" Han in ESB. What the hell was he supposed to do? Give Vader a reason to destroy Bespin and kill who knows how many citizens, in order to help a friend who may have cheated him out of a starship? Come on!
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Date: 2008-04-28 09:40 pm (UTC)