{"id":7123,"date":"2016-01-04T23:44:24","date_gmt":"2016-01-05T03:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arts.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=7123"},"modified":"2016-01-04T23:46:26","modified_gmt":"2016-01-05T03:46:26","slug":"weekend-watch-star-wars-episode-v-the-empire-strikes-back-and-star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-the-jedi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2016\/01\/04\/weekend-watch-star-wars-episode-v-the-empire-strikes-back-and-star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-the-jedi\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Watch: \u201cStar Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back\u201d and \u201cStar Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was surprised to find that the remastering in the latter two original Star Wars movies didn\u2019t bother me nearly as much as \u201cA New Hope.\u201d There might be a few reasons for this; for one, these two movies clearly had a much bigger budget than the first one, so the visual effects are noticeably better, meaning the changes don\u2019t feel as dramatic when it comes to explosion effects. Also, \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d has barely any changes. Still, \u201cReturn of the Jedi\u201d does have a lot of changes, more significant than any of the other movies, so it should\u2019ve bothered me far more than \u201cA New Hope.\u201d I think that by this point, though, I\u2019d gotten used to expecting changes, so it didn\u2019t annoy me as much.<\/p>\n

There are some changes that do bother me, though. The abominable snowman-esque wampa at the beginning of \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d is effective, but I was surprised to find upon researching the changes that the monster originally isn\u2019t shown. That\u2019s so much more effective for building suspense! Why did George Lucas need to add in multiple full shots of the monster eating? Also, there\u2019s the infamous \u201cJedi Rocks\u201d scene from \u201cReturn of the Jedi,\u201d which is honestly ridiculous. Jabba the Hutt\u2019s music works fine with those few shots of the people dancing, but that one alien just approaching the camera and singing directly to it is so inappropriate for the scene, so weirdly over-the-top. In the same vein as showing the wampa, I dislike how the remastered edition fully shows the sarlacc\u2019s mouth and tentacles as it pulls people to their death. It\u2019s so much more disturbing as a carnivorous hole in the ground.<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s also the annoying added dialogue of Darth Vader saying, \u201cNo\u2026NO!!!\u201d as he suddenly attacks the Emperor and throws him to his death. Why is that necessary? It\u2019s very hokey, and his change of heart would be so much more badass and affecting if he hadn\u2019t said anything, just silently made the choice to switch to the light side. I don\u2019t mind the added shots of Naboo and Coruscant and all those other planets celebrating the defeat of the Empire at the end, but I\u2019m not a huge fan of the new music; I like that Ewok music. As for the infamous replacing of Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen, I don\u2019t mind it much. It\u2019s silly and unnecessary, but it doesn\u2019t actively annoy me like it annoys some people.<\/p>\n

As for the actual movies, they\u2019re both very enjoyable and fast-paced. \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d is known as the best one, and I can understand why. It\u2019s a big step up in effects. It introduces many of the iconic characters, like Lando Calrissian and, of course, Yoda (I was surprised by how much I liked Yoda; he might be a wise old man, but he\u2019s not extremely peaceful like Dumbledore. He\u2019s pretty harsh with Luke, actually, and is initially reluctant to train him. I also didn\u2019t mind the ugly puppet as much as I thought I would). There are lots of iconic lines, like when Leia tells Han she loves him and he says, \u201cI know.\u201d If I had one complaint, it\u2019d be that Luke and Han really don\u2019t get much time to know each other in these movies; their plots are separate almost the entire movie, and it might\u2019ve been interesting to see more of their dynamic, since they\u2019re kind of the two main characters. Still, the way their stories eventually weave together is smart and effective as Luke finally arrives in Cloud City to save Han and Leia.<\/p>\n

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Some of the moments in these movies are just naturally not going to hit as hard because I know how everything happens. Watching Luke find out Darth Vader was his father, I was conscious of Mark Hamill\u2019s slightly silly scream instead of really feeling his pain and shock. It all happens more abruptly than you expect upon rewatch, like how Vader suddenly just says \u201cI<\/em> am your father,\u201d not some dramatic, \u201cLUKE\u2026I AM YOUR FATHER.\u201d Similarly, though I like the climactic fight in \u201cReturn of the Jedi\u201d a lot, the final moment between Luke and Vader as Vader finally takes off his mask didn\u2019t really profoundly affect me emotionally. I can\u2019t tell you exactly why, because on paper, it\u2019s really emotional and powerful. Maybe, again, it\u2019s just because I know what happens, and so much of the story has entered pop culture that it\u2019s hard to really feel as a story on its own.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still so much to like in these movies, though. I really like the icy planet of Hoth in \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back\u201d and the forest climate of \u201cReturn of the Jedi.\u201d I really like the opening of \u201cReturn of the Jedi,\u201d when Luke saves Han and Leia from Jabba (especially the fact that Leia is the one who kills Jabba!!!). I love how Leia and Han\u2019s romance progresses, especially with her line to Han in the last movie when he tells her he loves her and she shoots back, \u201cI know.\u201d I like how Chewbacca, R2-D2, and C-3PO are used in both movies. I love how Luke, so whiny and inexperienced in the first movie, progressively becomes more and more badass. When he\u2019s force-grabbing his lightsaber at the beginning of \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back,\u201d or flying around and taking down those AT-AT Walkers, he\u2019s a certifiable badass. Maybe it\u2019s a bit premature since he hasn\u2019t even trained with Yoda yet, but it doesn\u2019t matter. Star Wars is very much the kind of franchise where you can wave away logic (the Force in general is pretty undefined) in favor of, well, cool shit.<\/p>\n

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\u201cReturn of the Jedi\u201d is known as by far the worst of the original trilogy. At first, I didn\u2019t really get this. The heist-like rescue scenes at Jabba\u2019s palace might be completely unrelated to the main plot of the movie\u2014if you think about it, Jabba isn\u2019t related to Vader and the Empire at all\u2014but they\u2019re so fun that they don\u2019t just feel like dealing with business before the real plot kicks into gear. And the forest moon of Endor is pretty cool; seeing all that green vegetation is refreshing after the all-white and all-brown worlds we\u2019ve been used to. And that first Endor battle scene, with Luke and Leia flying through the forest and watching stormtroopers crash into trees, is so dynamic and fun.<\/p>\n

In terms of flaws, one of the small problems is that the Emperor isn\u2019t a super satisfying villain. Darth Vader is so effective because he has an emotional tie to Luke. He\u2019s a tragic figure, a Jedi turned to the dark side. The Emperor, on the other hand, is a pure figure of evil, completely dark, the puppet master controlling Vader. He\u2019s cool, and Ian McDiarmid as the Emperor is great, always spouting stuff about the dark side and encouraging Luke to join. It\u2019s an interesting conflict, even though it\u2019s clear Luke is never really in danger of joining his father. On his own, the Emperor is cool, but the fact that he suddenly becomes the main villain kind of telegraphs that Vader is going to have a change of heart. This isn\u2019t a huge problem, but it takes away a little bit from a wholly surprising and fascinating ending. At least Vader still dies, so it\u2019s not overly happy or anything.<\/p>\n

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The only real problem, though, is an obvious one: the Ewoks. When the Ewoks first showed up in that scene with Leia and helped her out, I thought they were cute and inoffensive. I wondered why people hated them; it\u2019s not like they were the major driving force of the story, right? It\u2019s not like their narrative would threaten to overtake the main characters\u2019, would it? Then they became an increasingly large part of the narrative. There\u2019s the needless digression of them capturing the main characters. I like that it\u2019s a moment of lightness, and it\u2019s clever that Luke would force-levitate C-3PO to make him seem like the god the Ewoks fear, but it all goes on with too long. And they become even more important later on. Look, I don\u2019t really mind the plausibility<\/em> of them defeating the stormtroopers. I can accept Lucas\u2019s half-baked Vietnam metaphor, with the technologically inferior natives beating the superior invaders. I can buy that the Ewoks would have some ingenious tricks to take the Empire by surprise.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not an issue of plausibility; it\u2019s an issue of what\u2019s good for the story. The Ewoks are basically the ultimate case of deus ex machina. Part of what\u2019s so engaging and appealing of the Luke-Han-Leia trio (with Chewie, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Lando helping out) is that you feel like it\u2019s just them against a massive Empire. Even with some remaining Rebel pilots, how could they hope to destroy multiple Death Stars and end the tyrannical Empire? But the Ewoks\u2014these random aliens who, like the Emperor, don\u2019t really play a role until the third movie\u2014are basically the ones who save the day. Han and Leia barely do anything at the end, and they\u2019re some of the best characters!<\/p>\n

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The final battle sequence is a bit strange\u2014while really serious character conflict is happening with Luke, Vader, and the Emperor, the battles outside are light, fun, and almost comedic. Some of the ways the Ewoks defeat stormtroopers are practically slapstick. I like that the battle is fun, but the Ewoks\u2019 dominance makes it feel even more silly and inconsequential, as opposed to the sky battles with Lando.<\/p>\n

As an individual film, \u201cReturn of the Jedi\u201d may have a lot of flaws that bring its quality to a lower level than \u201cA New Hope\u201d or \u201cThe Empire Strikes Back.\u201d But as the conclusion of a legendary film series that permeates pop culture, it\u2019s satisfying. It\u2019s easy to forget that these films have very real issues when their influence is so prevalent, but all of those issues have contributed to the full legend of Star Wars that exists today, Ewoks and all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was surprised to find that the remastering in the latter two original Star Wars movies didn\u2019t bother me nearly as much as \u201cA New Hope.\u201d There might be a few reasons for this; for one, these two movies clearly had a much bigger budget than the first one, so the visual effects are noticeably […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7123"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7131,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123\/revisions\/7131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}