What everyone overlooks in Return of the Jedi
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
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Cool
Just heard the first few seconds, you mirror my thoughts completely! Return of the Jedi is my favourite movie of all time too! Not only that, but I remember back then - it was everyone's favourite Star Wars movie too!
Siri goes back to that old adage, if we don't know what we're doing, the enemy can't either!
I always just passed it off as Luke trusting in the forceand going with the flow and laying not necessarily agreeing with that and trying to do things her own way kind of envisioning her story behind the scenes that leads to her revelation at the end of being both force sensitive and Luke's slightly incestuous sister.
Even in real life, if you’re setting a plan to accomplish a task, you can account for different variables, but ultimately all plans come apart in some fashion once its set in motion.
One question I have about the RotJ is when Han and Leia are taking down the shield on the wall of the bunker there is a display of the Death Star and what I have always believed to be the Rebel fleet coming in Hyperspace. Leia even says that the fleet will be here any moment. Is this Hyperspacing tracking and does cannon or legends make any mention of it?
Here is a clip. The display is at 1min 5sec or if you're watching the movie 1hr 33min 30 sec
ruclips.net/video/gT-ZsR2P8dU/видео.html
I know some people say that beginning part of the movie is filler. I disagree, it critical to the characterization of the characters. It's the conclusion of Han's arc (the one that's defined him since we first met him and he's trying to get out of debt) and it establishes the new Luke, a Luke that's more powerful and skilled than ever but also a Luke that's closer to the Dark Side than ever.
We need this established, it provides necessary context for his confrontation with Vader and the Emperor later in the film.
It needed to be there (obviously to get Han back into the action) because there really wasn't anywhere else in the movie to introduce Luke's newfound confidence. Plus a big action scene was the best place to reveal Luke's new lightsaber. I would have cut the sequence down a bit, but I can't say the whole thing isn't effective.
People who think it’s filler, don’t love the characters. It’s such a cool scene and it does so much. It kills a minor villain that was present throughout the saga, rescues Han, shows a more dominant Luke, and kills Boba Fett, and all this while having some cool action and great lines and humor between the main cast.
I like it more then the Ewok stuff, those felt more like filler then this.
Correct.
I agree with you, it's also one of my favorite arcs too!
"To when Luke enters and force chokes the Gamorrean Guards."
*Anakin Skywalker:* THAT'S MY BOY.
I got HISHE vibes from this 😅
😅
I had a lengthy discussion with someone in an Eckhardt's Ladder comment section about the Force chokes, which this guy was adamant didn't happen. I mean, nothing at all could convince him - I guess he didn't want to believe that Luke could commit a dark side act.
@@srj34 - He doesn't for sure choke them. It's ambiguous. scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/108353/what-did-luke-do-to-jabbas-guards
@@RedCaio Luke can force choke the guards in the LSW video games, which cannot be done to any other enemies by a non red saber hero. In the very least, the developers at TT games were under the impression that Luke force choked them. There's also canon literature that Luke didn't believe any use of the force was inherently bad, rather the intent was what mattered.
In the novelization of Return of the Jedi that was released in 1983, Luke does Force choke the Gamorrean Guards. BUT...it says in the book that he does not kill them.
No the plan was to get slave Leia onscreen.
And teenager boys to grow shock.
not my proudest fap, but a welcome one none-the-less
The plan was for Leia to wear less.. the plan for Carrie Fisher was get the scene over soon as possible.
The plan for the creature in the pit was to have lunch.
I find the lack of plans disturbing..... NO THERE IS ANOTHER (cue smug geek grin at his puns running amok LOL).
@@emberfist8347 But then why send in R2 & 3PO ahead of time & put Jabba on edge? They could've just had R2 come in with Leia so Luke's lightsaber would be at the ready if he was needed.
I guess so. All the 9 year old boys who saw New Hope were 15 and all ready for some sex appeal in Star Wars.
What? My daughter was a slave too!?
Blake Tyson fr tho would I look sexier than leia in that slave clothing? ...asking for a.. a friend
@@lordvader602 Well, you were a nine year old slave... so let's not go there please.
@@emberfist8347 What makes that even worse is that I think I saw somewhere that the Hutts don't have sexual organs or have one of each, so that's a fun thought.
Blake Tyson How rude. Just know that this sexy barbecue will invade your planet if you insult my appearance again.
SpyNix07 ...oh
I always just assumed they went down to plan E, that Luke had failsafes for each plan and left fighting their way out until the end but was ready for anything, just like he said. It never bothered me much.
Plan A - Bargain - Place R2 Failsafe
Plan B - Infiltrate and Rescue
Plan C - Final Offer
Plan D - Fight
Unexpectedly is sent into Rancor Pit - Set Back
Plan E - Revolt/Escape using R2 Failsafe
Doesn't seem too hard to follow.
I think you answered your own question/s
I always thought, and this has been since 1983, was that Luke was stacking the deck. Lando's in there as a guard. R2 has Luke's lightsaber. Chewbacca and Leia are ready to act when the opportunity arises.
As I got older I thought it may have been a Plan A, Plan B and Plan C scenario. Lando is on the inside. He's there to spring whoever might need it.
Plan A- If Jabba agreed to take payment for Han then Lando could spring the droids.
Plan B- If Leia had rescued Han while in disguise then Lando could spring Chewie and the 2 of them rescued the droids.
Plan C- IF neither of those 2 plans worked the at least everyone would be on the inside and R2 would be the ace up the sleeve.
What's so hard about that? You hit on all these ideas in this video AND you covered Luke having the Tatooine native edge coupled with the force foresight.
This scheme is like an Guy Ritchie heist movie when comparing to the writing in sequel trilogy.
Good summery of the plans.
Tbh Luke's plan was a horrible one that relied on way too many things happening like Jabba not putting a restraining bolt on R2, Jabba not dismantling the droids, Threepo somehow being able to not screw up a plan he dosen't even know about, Jabba taking them to the sarlac pit even though he most likely would have killed them in other ways since it has been shown that he can kill in other ways instead of driving Luke and the gang to the sarlac pit like if 1 event out of all of these didn't happen than Luke's plan would have gone horribly wrong and he and his gang would have died right there and then
@@fellowpassenger_54-67 perhaps in the 19 years of living on Tatooine Luke learned a thing or two about how Jabba operates. Not only that but in the year between ESB and ROTJ Lando likely fed Luke some more recent intel. I think the sarlacc comes into play with a higher likelihood when you consider Jabba would be executing Han, Chewie (long time pains in the Hutt ass) and a Jedi. That kind of mass execution is cause for spectacle.
@@fellowpassenger_54-67 WRONG. Lando and Chewie KNOW everything about Jabba and his Methods. And Luke is a Jedi. SO... Lando tells Luke abou the TRAP DOOR and Rancor and as a Jedi Luke easily finds the 1 Trap Door to tempt Jabba to use it.
With the Rancor DEAD and Han out of the Carbonite HOW will Jabba execute them? Sarlac Pit. So now all involved are OUT of the PALACE... they are 1/2 way free already.
You are NOT THINKING. The writers though you were smart enough to put it all together. They over estimated tons of you in that you cannot see it right in front of you.
Read the thread I started that lays it all out. If you are REALLY a Star Wars fan and you know ANYTHING about a Heist... which is what the Rescue IS you will KNOW I am right when you read that.
ROTJ will always be my favorite Star Wars movie. Great beginning, great ending, I have no complaint about it at all.
And you love it too, Thor?
"Good... Gooooooooood..."
Its the satisfying ending to the skywalker story
ROTJ is my favorite movie of all time also.... when Luke warned Jabba of his potential demise because he didn't bargain, that in itself told me that Luke knew how everything would turn out.....
"Last mistake you'll ever make." I just love the way Luke says that. He indeed knew everything would turn out well.
@@thorskywalker "I warn you not to underestimate my powers." Is another.... Damn you Rian Johnson. Damn it.
I think it also implicated the dark side of Luke, as Luke would (as a fellow Tatooinian) definitely know of Jabbas crimes and would thus definitely be biased in his concept of justice. It always appeared to me that he WANTED Jabba to give him an excuse for destroying him. Hence he did not use the phrase "don't make me destroy you" in the negotiations, which would have been a very powerful dark side reference, citing Vader.
That opening act is a masterpiece in my opinion. One of the best parts of Return of the Jedi.
Correction: the only black guy involved in the main plot.
THE best part of return of the jedi
@@wesleyantrim6648 the fk no
The plan's very simple. It goes like this:
Lando infiiltrates the estate and sees if he can get Han out. This is where the plan actually starts.
if he can't then:
Send in the droids to try and bargain, give Jabba a chance, as well as getting the lightsaber onsite. If he bargains, Lando gets the droids out later.
If Jabba doesn't bargain, then:
Chewie and Leia get in place to get Han out. Lando gets the droids out later.
If that doesn't work then:
Luke goes in and tries to mind-trick or threaten Jabba.
If that doesn't work, everyone fights their way out.
I like this and I think it also shows how powerful Jabba is and that Jedi are not all powerful.. It was a learning experience for all and showing how they could fail. It also shows how close nit they are. They are a family.
100 percent agree with you I think that makes sense but makes Luke smart and to have all of those contingency plans shows it
@@jeffmcarthur5617 BS. It IS in the movie. They just didn't spoon feed it all to you because they figured you would be smart enough to SEE IT. They over-estimated YOU obviously.
Unlike the PAN for the 1st Death Star there was no need to explain.... OK there is this Trench you gotta find and it leads the HOLE no bigger then a Wamp Rat and you gotta shoot a Torpedo into that HOLE and KABOOM.
Find MY explanation of the plan to a T.
It is ALL THERE. A COMPLETE PLAN watch any HEIST MOVIE.
They have to have INSIDE MEN aka Lando getting there before the Movie even starts. And eventually BOTH Droids although they cannot tell 3PO because he is a liability with secrets.
They need RECON to know where Han is, is he still in Carbonite or NOT and they need INTEL of the Mark, Jabba in this case. And Lando does this too before the movie begins. R2 does some too.
The AFFECT that Carbonite has on Han plays into the Plan... you can't carry him out IN IT he has to be realeased from it AND he is too weak and blind to carry out as so n as he is released from it. This must be 2 man job.
Chewie needs to be in a Holding Cell to PROTECT Han so you have to bring him in for the Bounty. You need the Bounty to Bribe someone for the CODES to release Han.
You need to know Jabba's tendencies... which Lando and Chewie DO KNOW.
You flat out are either STUPID or just an @$$ to not see it.
smartalec, you outlined it perfectly.
@@jeffmcarthur5617 It's backstory, we don't need to see the planning scenes, it would be boring.
If you like scenes of people sitting around talking there's always the Prequels.
The Sarlacc pit scene with the horns and Luke flipping is one of the coolest scenes ever paired with an amazing score. It’s one of the reasons that this is also my favourite Star Wars movie.
Williams did a rearrangement of the score for this scene in '97 and it lessened the thrill of it I felt. Much better with the original - and of course Yubnub at the end! :D
The remastered Sarlaac looked like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors.
This again... Here we go: We were never supposed to know exactly what the plan was. But what we do know is, Luke wanted R2 and 3PO to infiltrate Jabba’s Palace as a “peace offering”. They were to be used as nothing more as service droids around the Palace. The next step was to get Chewie and Leia inside the Palace by having Leia play the part of a bounty hunter and Chewie being the decoy (sadly). This was all part of the plan to break Han out on Luke’s arrival IF AND ONLY IF JABBA REFUSED TO SIMPLY HAND HAN AND CHEWIE OVER. This was the plan.HOWEVER, it is unknown WHY, but Leia decides to go ahead of the plan and tries to save Han herself. She does this act because she saw how Han was being displayed in front of the whole Palace. She couldn’t take it. Because Leia was not expecting Jabba to be so wise, she ends up getting captured as well. Now Han, Chewie, and Leia are captured. The initial plan was to only have Han and Chewie in Jabbas custody so if Jabba refused, Leia (secret, trusted bounty hunter), Lando (undercover henchman), and Luke with the help of R2 keeping his Lightsaber hidden, would catch Jabba and his crew off-guard, free Han, and most likely kill Boba and Jabba. That is why when Luke arrives, Leia is disappointed in herself and Luke smiles and lets her know he won’t blow her cover just yet. That’s also why he ONLY asks for Han & Chewie. Leia was another matter that they had to worry about in the future (we all know how Leia ends up freeing herself by killing Jabba). Without Han and Chewie present in front of him, Luke didn’t send the signal to Lando or R2 for his lightsaber inside the Palace. Instead, he waited for the opportunity when they would all be together in one place. There was a plan, it just had to be changed due to minor inconveniences. However, even after Jabba sending them to the Sarlacc, THE PLAN WAS ALWAYS IN MOTION. Luke would get help from R2 with his lightsaber and free Han and Chewie while destroying some henchmen, Lando would also surprise Jabbas men by turning on them, and Leia sadly enough couldn’t help more effectively than planned. Nonetheless, she still Kills the head of the Snake and helps free Han. Again, THERE WAS A PLAN. IT JUST HAD TO BE CHANGED DUE TO LEIAS ACTIONS OF FREEING HAN TOO EARLY.
Well said
My problem is that Luke had no reason to give R2 his lightsaber. If Jabba didn’t happen to want some grand execution Luke, Han, and Chewie would be dead. The whole sequence was executed that way just to drag things out and make it feel more epic and convenient. If Luke had his lightsaber he’d easily kill the beast and Han/Chewie wouldn’t be close by. Leia would also have a harder time escaping
@@KurokamiNajimi I agree this was a major risk. Maybe Jabba had a reputation to favor grand executions over simply shot by deathsquad, and the team counted on this. But it sure was risky.
@@Nintendoggy I still like the opening bit overall though for the reasons Thor gave and because of slave LeiaxJabba
Shadow Panda He definitely had in legends. He had a habit of ordering to bring some of the bounties alive so that they'd die in some arena or something as such (that explains maybe Luke introducing himself as a jedi).
This is Darth Bullsith of the Galactic Notification Empire! All wings, report in!
Bullsith, standing by!
Red leader standing by
Gold leader standing by
Fulcrum, standing by
Rogue Leader, standing by!
Blue leader, standing by!
Thor Skywalker: "There was no plan"
Me: Still a better outcome than Disney's plan
That wins RUclips comments for the day
NR.1🎖️🥇🏆🥇🎖️
What are you talking about?
Disney planned to destroy Star Wars, and it was a perfect success.
Soy boys be like
disney also had no plan
I'm surprised Lando was able to blend in. Back in them days he was the only black guy in the galaxy
And Leia was nearly the only woman. Certainly the only young human woman with a name.
@@leschaps2387 Well actually there were several other women.. on bespin, and in jabba's palace, and several stormtroopers, you just wouldn't be able to tell, because they all have the same armor, and they all wear helmets
There is literally black guy behind lando on cloud city
@thefilth thefury she thinks that for a big while
OMG. I never realized it until you pointed out - Jabba was racist! So uncivilized.
I love the Ewoks. I loved them as a kid. I love them now that I am middle-aged. I will highly likely love them into my final days of life.
I love them as well. I don't understand why some people dislike them. Out of all the crazy aliens we've seen in the OT, why couldn't there be a race of tribal teddy bears?
@@kriptonite981 while I really like the ewoks, it's really stupid that they are able to take out an entire Battalion of stormtroopers and high tech walking tanks.
It completely takes away all potency or threat the imperial warriors had
@@kriptonite981 I respect your opinion about Ewoks. I personally am not a fan because I find it hard to believe that the empire's best legion got bested by cheesy acting creatures. This was the final battle of the OT and their antics were too silly for me. If a more serious tone was implemented I might have believed it more. Love TROJ though.
@@mkooij take out an entire battalion? From what I remember and a quick rewatch, they got a surprise attack on the troopers by surrounding nearly all of them, but after the initial attack the Stormtroopers chased them back into the forest where they only kept fighting due to traps. Even against the At-St they failed multiple attempts at stopping it until the log trap.
mkooij I am sure Custer thought the same exact thing. But look at it this way, they had surprise, numbers, battlefield preparation, they were fighting for the embodiment of their god (C-3PO), had a special forces Rebel veterans backing them, and they viewed their enemies as food.
This is the plan, George thought Carrie was hot, so he made a scene that didn’t make sense, but all that matters is that he got Carrie in a metal bikini.
And hundreds of women in conventions for decades later.
And I'm okay with that. And I am not okay with that.
Actually that was Carrie Fisher's idea. She came up with it. I did my homework.
I think it actually all makes perfect sense: "Always in motion the future is" we learn from Yoda. This means that Luke indeed looked into the future and probably saw how all of this would turn out BUT, since the future isn't set in stone, he tried everything within his powers to resolve this without it coming to this messy confrontation. So there's not one single plan in motion but SEVERAL plans at once. And they're all there in an attempt to resolve this more peacefully: There's a plan in motion based on negotiation, there's a plan in motion based on trading, there's a plan in motion based on trying to trick Jabba etc... Luke's deperately trying not to resort to violence but in the end it turned out to come to that anyway and that's probably what he already knew from the start but refused to accept as the only option.
It all fits perfectly within the character arc of Luke starting in a New Hope and ending in this film: His most powerfull abilities are evolving from youthfull enthousiasm and goodheartedness combined with being a bit naïve (in ep. IV) going to getting stronger with The Force but not yet knowledgable enough and being a bit overconfident and/or impulsive (in ep. V) and resulting to intellect, foresight and cunning in ep. VI but in the end realising all of this still isn't enough. In the final act of ep. VI he gradually understands that his most powerfull weapon is actually something he already had from the start: Kindness and compassion. Most moving way to conquer Evil and best character development in movie history ever!!!!
Nicely put!
And then he tries to kill his nephew...
I thought Yoda said "Always emotions the future." Is it "in motion" or "emotion"? Curious I am.
Difficult to see. Because it’s always in motion, always changing every time something new is done. That’s why it was messy, but he took care of every issue he foresaw. It’s not a simple just do this one thing. It’s straight forward as presented in the movie. The idea is that without the force, a normal person wouldn’t have been able to plan for the contingencies and would fail. This is contrasted with The Emperor who said everything is proceeding exactly as he had foreseen. He was too confident and arrogant to plan for every possible contingency this time around and it cost him. No matter what JJ says.
Toon Noppen: correct, except Luke wanted to give Jabba a chance to cooperate, since Jabba would be a powerful ally-- just like Luke didn't just kill the Ewoks; Luke even offered him one last chance before jumping off the plank at the Sarlaac-pit.
Luke could have easily just gone in and KILLED Jabba and everyone else, using just his X-wing, and then dug Han out from the wreckage.
But that's not the Jedi way. Luke TRUSTED THE FORCE, and it saw him through-- just like on Cloud City when he jumped into the pit away from Vader: he didn't "have a plan" to land on the city running-light and hang from it until Leia got his telepathic message to come save him. In fact he even tried to talk to BEN for help at first.
The Force works in mysterious ways, and a Jedi knows when to trust in it.
Nah, ROTJ is perfection. Ewoks and all 😅
My interpretation of the plan was that, like you said, the droids were given in good faith to get on Jabbas good side. Then Leia coming in with Chewie was Plan A and Luke, the all powerful Jedi, was the last resort Plan B. And he put his lightsaber in R2 so Jabba wouldn't feel threatened when Luke came to him unarmed and when the opportunity came, he'd get his sword from R2 and go to town. Hell, Luke even takes a gun from a guard to shoot Jabba when R2 isn't around and Jabba threatens him.
As for the pit of Carkoon, I just assumed that was all pure improvisation on Luke's part and him saying he's taken care of everything was just playful banter. Plus, there is this exchange:
"I used to live here, you know"
"You're gonna die here. Convenient"
Yes! I've beem telling people this for years!
I'm kinda halfway between you and Lionard Kirsch here. On the one hand, yes, no movie is without flaw. On the other, this is still my favorite Star Wars movie so I don't care about the flaws!
@@artsman412 You guys are NOT THINKING. You should see the THREAD I started.
If you THINK IT THROUGH it is as good of a HEIST as any "Ocean's 11 (or whatever)" Heist plan WITHOUT a Narrator.
You have to remember what you KNOW about Heists and what you know about the Characters.
IT ALL FITS together like GLOVE if you LOOK AT IT and remember what you SHOULD KNOW.
I think part of it was also to set up Jabba in to a feeling of arrogance and pride. It is easier to slip things past somebody when they think they already know your plan and have stopped it, after all. And Jabba was known for being able to deal with Jedi even as recently as the Clone Wars. Those stories would have easily reached Luke as much as the use of the sarlacc pit.
@@brucemercer7753 I GAVE read your comment and I agree. I'm just saying that even if there are problems with the movie (like say, the Ewoks, C-3PO story time, or the opening at Jabba's (things I don't have a problem with but others point out as issues)) they're not enough to make me dislike the movie.
"The Plan" doesn't bother me as much as how did Han change his shirt while frozen in Carbonite?
The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
I always wonder why Han was cuffed when lowered into the freezing chamber, but when he gets pulled out he has his hand free and is holding them up.
Nice try. He didn’t change shirts. Go watch the clips.
@@omikron6218 if you watch the freezing scene in Empire closely, you'll see that the Ugnaughts remove the cuffs around Han's wrists just before he is lowered into the pit. He still has a metal restraint attached around his back, but he can raise his forearms enough to have his hands up. The reason he is no longer wearing that restraint when Leia releases him is because it is also made of carbonite and thaws away with the rest of the block.
I love how similar ROTS and ROTJ are, which is why they are both one of my favorite (especially ROTS) Star Wars movies. I bet Vader is so jealous of how Luke manage to resist Palpatine but he could not when it came down to him in the Chancellor's office.
History rhymes
RyanSquad what? Of course not. (Cough) S-shut up
@@lordvader602 Don't worry, you are living in immortality. Likely you reunited with Padmé and Shmi in the afterlife. Lol
I mean their situations are completely different. Vader (Anakin) was a very emotional character who lost his mother after having a vision about her in pain, he'd been lied and at times mistreated by the Jedi despite his many accomplishments. Luke in ROTJ has been through a very difficult time (his father being his worst enemy, losing his hand, and his best friend being captured) but really he wants nothing but to keep his friends safe and to free his father. Anakin fell because of his past, Padme and through him believing a lie that Palpatine told him. Luke only came close to falling when his sister was threatened which caused him to attack Vader in rage. I don't think he really would have fallen but even then it would have been for different reasons then Vader did.
@@starwarsboy7705 not disagreeing but the Gungans had an army at least and used weapons that were believable in hurting the droids, they also lost the battle before the control ship went down. The ewoks were maybe like 50-100 at most and should have been decimated, if it takes a blaster to punch through storm trooper armor a pointed stick shouldn't be able to hurt them.
I always liked how Calrissian lowered his mask, purely for the benefit of the audience. Without us watching, he never would have done that. Even as a little kid I knew what was up there.
The reason people, including me, overlook Luke's weird plan is because it backfires and results in Leia being forced to wear a gold bikini.
Yes, it distracts even the best of us from the flaws of the plot
@@emberfist8347 It is weird because the plan relies only on pure luck.
@@emberfist8347 Oh really? Because it seems like pure luck to me that R2 was assigned to the sail barge instead of being disassembled for parts or deactivated and that Jabba decided not to just kill Han and Luke on the spot after killing the rancor instead of waiting couple of hours to get to the sarlaac.
@@vetarlittorf1807 Jabba loved shows. The more dramatic the death of his enemies were, the better.
@@sheevone4359 It's still just as risky and reckless to bet on that.
The plan was to get everyone inside of Jabba’s palace I believe.
Lionard Kirsch look at the 3rd comment down
@@roryporter810 RUclips comments move around.
I always felt Luke had foreseen at least the fight, and knew he could win it if it came to pass. If Leia's attempt worked, great. If not, then all the pieces would be in place for the battle he saw. So what we got was plan B with a lot of improv.
Lionard Kirsch A contingency plan if a fight broke out
Well Luke's plan was a really dumb one due to many reasons like why would he not tell threepo the plan since the whole operation could go horribly wrong if threepo had no idea what he was supposed to do and Jabba doesn't put a restraining bolt on R2 for no reason like if he did than Luke's plan would have gone horribly wrong at the sand skiff when he can't get his lightsaber than gets shot to death also there was no guarantee that Jabba would drive them to the sarlac pit since we are shown that Jabba is very capable of killing people in many ways so if he decided to kill Luke and his crew in the palace than the movie would have ended right there like a better plan would have been for luke to just come in the palace by himself with the lightsaber and kill jabba and his minions instead of getting his whole crew captured
I respectfully disagree with you Thor. I always felt there was one well-thought-out plan. The reason it's convoluted and seems to have multiple hitches along the way is because Jabba is too intelligent. He would have seen right through a simpler plan, which is why Leia's plan is a decoy inside Luke's plan. It's meant for Jabba to see through it and then not see through Luke's plan. But Jabba does see it partially which is why he decides to have everyone tied to Han executed, which Luke planned for. Jabba was tricked into thinking he foiled the plan to rescue Han, when failure was part of the plan all along.
Going along with this notion...Remember in Rots when Anikan says he senses a plot to destroy the Jedi, Obi-wan says he senses a trap, Anikan asks what's the next move, and Obi-wan says to spring the trap. It's part of the Jedi way (at least Obi-wan's) to get captured and be brought straight to your adversary.
The point of that scene was to show how badass Luke had become.
Well Yoda said that Luke WAS a full Jedi; and he had 6 years of experience as a leader in the Star Wars, starting with rescuing Leia and destroying the Death Star, as well as training from Yoda on Dagobah.
In the comic Luke explains that Jabbas palace was to well guarded so he needed to get them all outside.
There was a plan.
Actually, the rescue of Han Solo was a series of contingency plans.
@Oatmeal Guy the problem was getting out with Han
The thing is that there's no gurantee that Jabba would have gotten luke and his crew outside since Jabba is very capable of killing people in many ways so Luke's plan just relied on way too many convinient things happening like R2 not getting a restraining bolt for no reason and jabba not dismantling the droids and Jabba driving them out to the sarlac pit just for plot convenience so that Luke's horrible plan would work
This.@@fellowpassenger_54-67
It was a good launching point for the classic "winging it" jedi nonsense plans we've all grown so accustomed to.
Runs in the family..
Winging it aka trusting in the Force.
Star Wars is famous for needlessly complicated plans, but its the campiness that makes it more enjoyable.
@@swaggasaurus4837 Like the CaNtO bItE pLaN
@@Killerbee4712 Except in that they had a plan with no details other than "find the guy", they abandoned that plan almost immediately for sort of no reason, they tried to bail without even really attempting to find the guy, they fled and only later discovered the random guy they picked up was the only other person in the galaxy who could do the hacking they needed.
So much worse than "I'm gonna distract those people and then do some badass Jedi shit"
I absolutely love all of your work. Especially story disection videos like this one. I enjoy them immemsely, and they help me enjoy star wars stories much more than I would be capable on my own. They help me see new interesting and clever sides of existing old stories and enhancing them greatly for me. Keep up the good work you have been doing since the beginning.
The tatooine scene in RotJ was great, one of my favorite Star Wars scenes.
Let's be real there was no the plan there where probably multiple plans for it. Luke probably did his research. There was most likely backup plans. At least I think that's the most logical explanation.
Blake Tyson
I agree with all of your points except for “D” - that’s called improvisation. Lol
@@ThirdEngr He did show some intent for it. Remember he gave R2-D2 his lightsaber. He might have seen it coming. He might not have an fully deitalied one but at least Goals to complete
The Force isn't about doing research into detail, it's about sensing a path.
Just like when Luke jumped into the pit at Cloud City to get away from Vader, he wasn't planning on hanging from the station-light until Leia came along and rescued him; he simply sensed a path in the Force, and trusted in it. Like Ben said, the Force controls a Jedi's actions, in addition to obeying his commands; and Luke wanted to get safely away from Vader.
The whole thing seems like a scenario out of one of my ttrpg sessions where my players all decide to have their own way of getting in and doing the mission without telling the others.
I’ve been looking forward to this
Have you, though? 😂
Kevin Valdez of course
You’ve been Luking forward to this because you had foreseen it
My powers have doubled the last time we met, count.
Killerbee47 good Twice the pride Double the fall
I've given this a lot of thought and here's my theory: at the end of Empire Lando and Chewie are out searching for Han. I guess that took them an entire year. They find Jabba's palace and Lando infiltrates it disguised as a guard. He also sends Chewie back to the Alliance on the Falcon so they can form a rescue plan, but the alliance just found out about the second Death Star, and doesn't want to put any resources into rescuing Han. Leia, however, is in love with Han and sneaks away with Chewie to rescue him. Luke hears about this and heads to Tatooine with the droids. Leia and Chewie run into a bounty hunter who Leia uses for her disguise. I'm assuming this is how Jabba knew Leia was lying because she was disguised as Boushh, a named character. I guess Jabba knew who Boushh was, and saw through it. During this Luke contacted Lando and formed the plan to give Jabba the droids and get himself sent to the pit of carcoon, where R2 gives him his lightsaber. Lando informs Chewie of this before Han is put in the cell with him. From there events of the movie are depicting Luke rescuing Leia from the sail barge, so they can all leave.
Basically everyone except Leia (and C3PO) knew the plan because Leia was acting recklessly, and Luke had to form his plan around her mistakes.
On the other hand, there's a comment I like better than mine, by Essero Eson. I think it's toward the top. It says that the whole thing was a well thought out plan with backup plans and backups for the backups. It turns the whole thing into what is basically a heist, which I really like.
That being said, I don't think the writers had either of these plans thought out, which I guess is fine, it allows us to come up with it ourselves.
The little kid that was me when this movie first came out didn't care, it was awesome and I just loved every second of it.
Me too! As a middle aged man now, I find myself mostly looking at Leia in the Palace. ;)
there was a plan, a "trust me, I know what I'm doing" Anakin-style plan.
yeah, they winged it.
I always new that there was a reason Luke gave R2 his new saber and he had a key word for R2 when to release it to him too, DIE, was the key word. Luke only says it once throughout the entire act with Jabba. I also agree with what you said about Luke having a vision about being out over the sarlac pit, makes a lot of sense.
Back when I used to watch Mike Zeroh alot, he reported that ep 9 would have a similar opening scene with Jabba's son, Rotta, now grown and in charge. I still think this could have been interesting, esp examining if Rotta would hold Leia responsible for the death of his father...which he might actually be grateful for, as it cleared his path to power!
There could even be a twist on an old trope, as Rey, Finn and Poe are about to be shown to Rotta, but an attendant presents a flimsy gold "outfit" to wear:
Rey: "I'm not wearing that...wait, why are there TWO of them?"
Attendant: "It's not for you..."
Finn and Poe: "...Oboy."
Fangirls: "SQUEEEE!!"
Shows how bullshit that man is
Actually a good and funny way to do a call back Leia’s bikini would have been to have a bit where Rey is working on the Falcon and finds the metal top, mangled and tarnished, in a trash compactor or smuggling compartment.
I always felt that Luke’s confidence, even when the plan(s) fails, is due to his own confidence in his new abilities as a Jedi.
I've never really thought about it, but I think the simplest explanation is they had loads of contingencies in place for any number of scenarios.
Star Wars and I share the same birth year, 1977. I've been a fan as far back as I can remember. RotJ has always been my favorite and still is, and the Sarlacc scene is my favorite scene in all of Star Wars.
That said, I always felt that the plan was layered. Plan A, get an audience. Plan B, send in Leia with Chewie, get Han while Lando gets Chewie and R2 gets 3PO. Plan C, Force the issue. Plan D, Sarlacc Pit as was seen. Don't know if that's correct, but it is what I've thought for the last 37 years.
Space portion of the Battle of Endor is peak practical effects. I'll take that battle over any CGI space battle, anytime.
Actually, that particular space battle had CGI in it. In fact, Return of the Jedi sort of kickstarted the experimental era of CGI in Hollywood. Though it wasn't until Terminator 2 when Hollywood got really crazy about CGI, which reached its peak in the 2000's.
@@vetarlittorf1807 then story elements start to get sacrificed for large scale CGI battles
Okay, here is my thought on what the plan was. It’s similar to Thor’s concept, but a little tweaked. So, he has Lando in there as the eyes of the operation, scouting out the place. He's there to watch everyone's back and locate Han. Once he is in place, Luke sends in Artoo and Threepio. He prepares the message to give them a reason for being there and puts his lightsaber in Artoo as a fail safe: if things go to shit and Luke needs to fight, he can get his lightsaber and not risk it being stolen. Plus, he needs Threepio there as a translator for the next phase of the plan, that being Leia (disguised as the bounty hunter Boush) bringing in Chewbacca. Leia uses Chewbacca's bounty to get into Jabba's castle. Once she's in, she can get Han. With Lando in there as well, undercover as a guard, he can then release Chewie and get the droids, and they escape. Now, as for Luke: Luke is the fallback play. If this part of the plan fails, if Leia, Lando, and Chewbacca can't get Han and the droids out of there, Luke will come to negotiate like he said he would in Artoo's message. He hopes to use his mental powers to make Jabba give him Han and the others, but obviously that doesn't work. Since Artoo isn't there, he can't use his lightsaber, so he improvised when the mind trick doesn't work by summoning that guard's holdout blaster. And then of course he falls into the Rancor pit and the whole sarlaac debacle occurs. From the thing with the rancor on, that was Luke having to improvise, but I think everything before that DOES make it seem like Luke had an at least somewhat sensible plan
This has always bothered me! I’ve always had the assumption that at minimum Luke had a plan, but was unsatisfied by that - really like your idea of a vision driving his actions. And think that could explain him keeping everyone in the dark & everything else - the future being always in motion, if he had told them the vision may not have come to pass.
In particular, what always bothered me the most (working from the assumption that Luke indeed has a plan) is how could Luke be sure that R2 would be placed on the sail barge? Seems equally likely - if not more so - that he’d be assigned to Jabba’s repair shop, starship, or pod racers (although obviously this didn’t join the list of possibilities till episode 1). This is why I really like the vision idea - it explains how Luke could be sure that if he were to give R2 to Jabba that R2 would be on the sail barge & in a position to send him his lightsaber when given the signal.
Edit: I think this dovetails nicely with the multi-stage plan theory outlined below. Even if Luke knew all those plans were destined to fail, allowing them to move forward was a way to put all the players in his vision where they needed to be without them being aware of the true purpose behind their individual plans, or that according to a force vision they were all going to fail individually in order to ultimately succeed together.
Return of the Jedi has also always been my favorite Star Wars movie since I was a kid. My belief was always that it was multiple different plans going on. Heck, I even thought Lando was sneaking in as a guard completely on his own and that Leia's and Lando's plan involved getting to know Jabba more/getting on his good side while Luke just comes out of nowhere kind of brute forcing the situation but as you said had maybe some foresight or just R2 holding the lightsaber as Plan B which explains the confidence.
I don't have a good reason as to why they didn't plan together besides maybe they did split up from one another at the end of Empire Strikes Back so it wouldn't be crazy to assume when they split up is the time they all made their plans and started setting it into motion. That's my guess any way
While the execution might be a tad sloppy, I've always loved the sequence because I got the impression that Luke had matured and become quite similar to Qui-Gon in that he was confidently following the will of the force and was able to manipulate everything to go exactly as he wanted through his understanding of the force.
RotJ will always be my favorite Star Wars movie ever purely for its ending. Vader redeeming himself as Anakin and sacrificing himself as well as all the planets celebrating will always bring a tear to my eye even at a grown ass 22 years old lol. As for the beginning, I think they did have some kind of plan, but Luke falling down the trap door and fighting the Rancor might’ve threw a wrench at the plan a little and forced the gang to do some improvising, no pun intended (now you got me doing it Thor lol)
The beginning has nothing to do with a plan and everything to do with Luke's confidence. The audience is thrilled to see & participate in Luke's transformation. This sets up the emotional payoff for the END of the film. Although Luke has transformed himself into a heroic figure through self-discipline, this isn't what saves the day. It is his only faith in that which is good, and particularly the goodness in one so evil as Vader, that ultimately saves the universe. Luke's faith in the goodness of Vader transforms Vader himself. It wasn't his heroism but his character that enabled Luke to bring down the Empire & save the universe, & even then he couldn't do it alone. Through Luke's actions, we reflected on our own ideas of goodness & the condition of our own inner nature. Thus, along Vader we are transformed by Luke's goodness as well. His light shines that bright.
If I may add, this is one of the main issues audiences had with The Last Jedi, although I don't think we knew it at the time: we had all been waiting years to meet the person Luke inspired within us: a person of hope, persistence, empathy & virtue. Classic Luke's character awakens those qualities within ourselves, and we were all extremely excited & optimistic about hearing from an old friend. Instead, as we all know, in the same way Vader 'killed' Anakin, Johnson 'killed' Luke & we never got to see the man, the hero, we all fell in love with. And so, on account of being robbed from meeting our hero one last time, we were robbed of that highly-anticipated contact with our own hero within. Those of us that knew Luke and were inspired by him, left the theatre wishing we had never gone.
Well said.
Yep, and Luke goes swinging out like Errol Flynn in Robin Hood.
I've noticed the weirdness of this opening, but never thought it through step by step like you do in your video. Well done on your part.
Luke, on the other hand, didn't plan his caper all that well. All I can think is it's like your vision explanation. Luke's been training to be a Jedi for some time and he's grown stronger in the Force. The kid who had to be told to turn off his targeting computer is all about intuition at this point, so when somebody (maybe Lando) confirmed that Jabba had possession of Han, Luke was all "I got this" and he told everybody what they needed to do based on a dream he had the night before. It's the first time in the story that Luke has ever been in charge of anything, and apparently this is how he wanted to run things. Clunky, with a lot of moving parts, but it worked.
When I first watched Jedi I thought it was strange how Jabba was just hiding behind a curtain like he was expecting that to happen
I always figured the plan went awry when R2 wasn't at the palace when Luke arrived. Things only start going their way at the Sarlacc Pit when R2 is able to shoot Luke his lightsaber. Perhaps Leia's plan was to extract Han with Lando and Chewie, but when Leia is caught and failed to relay with Luke, whose part was to get the droids back, after the rescuing Han?....
Yeah you're right it's kinda weird.
Where was Lando when Leia was defrosting Han?? Was he rescuing Chewie? Why bother have Leia and Chewie come in when Lando is there, he's already clearly gotten in good graces with the gang?
Hello there
General Adam X78
General Kenobi
Was a very convoluted plan for sure
I think Luke had a vision of what was to take place and like Palpatine, he manipulated events to be in his favor.
Leia had a separate plan that Luke knew was going to fail, and let her proceed anyway because it was actually going to be in his favor later.
The only part of the operation he didn't plan for was the Rancor. Once he survived that sequence, Luke knew that he would succeed.
this was my least favorite of the OG Lucas films. Curse the Ewoks! I didn’t really find them annoying, just really boring
Jay Jay the Stuka Ewoks are still 100x better than Gungans.
@@cbowser3 yah but the gungans were involved in action scenes + pushing the narrative while ROTJ spent about 15 mins straight on the Ewok culture and nothing else
@@cbowser3 The gungans had a slightly cooler, more militarized action scene than the teddy bear fight in ROTJ
Unpopular opinion, maybe: There are two, and only two, good Star Wars movies. And there has not been even one worth watching in 40 years.
@@RobertJRoman I grew up with the prequels and I love them with a passion. Even though we’re products of different times, Empire is still my favorite Star Wars movie.
Honestly, I would like that they actually focused more in Palpatine, Vader and Luke (I mean, we couldn't even hear the Emperor's actual name in ROTJ).
Jordi Studios - No way. We get enough of Palpatine later; there is no way I would want MORE Palpatine.
@@thegreypath1777 Really? Not even hearing the Dark Lord's actual name?
Poe: TELL ME WE HAVE A PLAN!
Holdo: It's okay. Leia and I have taken care of everything.
Poe: Oh. Okay.
Yes, their plan was to find the Master Codebreaker, and tell their whole plan to some random criminal, hoping he wouldn't sell them out as they tried to sneak off to Planet Red-Salt.
Difficult to see, the future is...
To retcon this whole thing (and I think this is what I thought back in the day); it was *probably* that a frontal assault against Jabba would tip off the Imperial authorities in the Tatooine sector, this exposing key figures in the Rebel Alliance to jeopardy on what was essentially a personal mission. So it was probably a series of contingency plans.
(1) Lando in first, undercover, to see if there was any opportunity to bust Han out or, at a minimum, to report back to Luke and Leia about the layout of the palace and strength of Jabba’s forces.
(2) Droids in with Luke’s message. Who knows? Perhaps Jabba would have liked to make a deal? When they didn’t hear from Artoo and Threepio, it probably became apparent that a fight would be required.
(3) Leia and Chewie in next. Perhaps, at a minimum, Leia could have extricated Han. It seemed apparent she knew he would have hibernation sickness and not be 100% in a fight, BUT it was probably worth a chance to try to get him out. That way, it’s possibly two less people for Luke to have to worry about when the rubber hit the road.
(4) Luke finally gets there and has a tough task to accomplish, but he has everyone in place for help.
He may have had the vision of the Great Pit of Carkoon, but it was probably not crystal clear. If he could foresee that jeopardy, he could have had the foresight to have everyone there on his terms, not Jabba’s.
That’s my take on the plan.
I love this movie just as much as the other 5. It's also the one I watch the most next to the third film. I feel like all the scenes on tatooine in this film was great because as others have stated in the comment section, it was perfect showcase of how far our heroes have come since the new hope. Especially Luke and the fact that he's now a full fledged Jedi knight. Well not according to Yoda but to me he was.
Luke marching into Jabba's Palace was iconic. The naive farm boy was becoming a confident Jedi Knight..
There’s an extra line of dialogue from the original rotj comic, when Han and Luke talk on the way to the pit. Luke says don’t worry I have it all under control, I had to get you out of the palace it was far too well guarded
As comics like this are usually based on original unedited scripts this might help casting further light on the plan
"Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth" - Mike Tyson
I can tell, you really enjoyed making that video. Since you like ep6 so much. I like it too but im not a big fan of the opening sequence. Good video :)
5:13 "-aggressive negotiations-"
Still puts a smile on my face to this day
Agree with you Thor, the opening scene in RoTJ is amongst my favorite too. Its a great DBZ scene: it shows exactly how much Luke has grown and how powerful he is now and that he's able to do things he wasn't able to do before. Best part is: because of all the struggles and growing pains in the previous two films, Luke's moment to show off in front of his friends feels completely earned and satisfying.
Here's what I think really happened.
Luke and Leah are discussing plans, but like all stubborn and adolescent siblings, they got into an argument about who's plan to use, and stopped talking to each other just a few days before the plan was to go into effect. Maybe the argument stems from Luke's vision that Leah's plan was going to fail, and her stubbornly refusing to believe it. So Luke, following his vision of the future, inadvertently ruins Leah's plan (by accident?) and proceeds with his own plan.
Leia did say to Jabba as she was being captured (meaning her plan failed), "We have powerful friends (referring Luke). You're going to regret this." Maybe in that moment, she realized that Luke was indeed right about his vision and decided to just follow his lead.
The trilogies mirror: the great Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin I’m not sure had a plan to rescue the chancellor, but pretty much just trusted in the force and winged it.
Good point. I am a ring theory advocate as well.
I was in my mid teens when I first saw Return Of The Jedi and I have to say that the validity of the "plan" never came into question for me. The reason being? It's exactly the conclusion you already came to. It had already became established that Luke could see the future when connected to his dear friends. His confidence just told me he knew where this situation was going whether or not Leia or Lando's part in the plan was "successful". I never got the impression that Luke needed any specifics like intellectual plans need. It was more like Luke was more interested in the PURPOSE of the role his friends played and not so much as the role they played in some "plan". I wasn't even trying to make some sort of "excuse" for lazy writing. To me it all unfolded so perfectly to reflect the level that Luke was now on. He felt the outcome through the force. He didn't need any more military type tactical planning as those who don't understand the force must rely on in order to produce a similar outcome. Luke was now a Jedi. And the way he rescued them all well reflected that fact to me. Just my 2 cents.
“How are we doing, kid?”
“Same as always.”
“That bad, huh?”
Funny line, even in 1983! 😁
In Luke's version of the plan where Jabba's death was needed, I think it was intentional that they bring Jabba out of his castle and on to the Sail Barge... since an attack on Jabba inside of a palace full of his thugs would be much more difficult than if they tried to take him out on the Sail Barge in the middle of the desert with less of Jabba's thugs.
I think the best explanation is that Luke trusted the force and truly followed its path. That’s why despite he does irrational things he’s still very confident and calm
I noticed this from the first viewing, it always seemed like there was no actual escape and getting caught was the goal, and I always thought the intent was to show Luke letting the force guide his actions and the plan was listen to the force, and let it guide them to success
Only a Jedi would prepare for negotiations by hiding their lightsaber.
Listen to the radio drama. There's exposition in there about the plan. Luke wanted Jabba outside of the palace. Luke knew that Han would never be safe unless Jabba agreed to let him go, or Jabba was dead.
The opening sequence with the droids approaching the palace makes it clear that Luke has been "watching" for a very long time. Lando has been on the inside for weeks, possibly months. When he told Han "I've taken care of everything", he wasn't boasting. He was stating fact.
These days we are used to - more or less- seeing characters working out the plan onscreen then we see it implemented
Actually, not really. Modern films go either of the two ways:
1. Show what the plan is and the plan falls apart so the characters improvise or lose.
2. Show one of the characters say "I have a plan!" then cut to the plan working to a T complete with a narration.
Other variants are much more rare in my movie experience.
@@mac1991seth so, more or less then
Look, there's a lot I could say about this act, and how much I love it, too (and how much Jabba the Hutt scared me back then when I was just a little kid). Anyway, to comment on the plan, I think what's going on here was something a lot like a game of chess; Luke Skywalker vs. Jabba the Hutt. I think there definitely WAS a plan, but it had several 'lines' as they say in chess, that could possibly follow. Which way Luke proceeded was dependent on which 'moves' Jabba made, and vice-versa. This means that the original plan likely (obviously) didn't go as best hoped, but Luke did have strategies that he could use to adapt, if anything did go wrong. And visions from the Force likely did play into how Luke formulated these plans.
Well as a child when i saw it the first times, i was just amazed of all the aliens, Jabba and the Rancor. Also how brave they were saving Han, didn't think of a plan then.
Later I'm in on that they needed everyone in place. Luke gave Jabba the droids and Lando got there himself. They needed a two part rescue, so Leia needed to go in and unfreeze Han from the carbonit before the rescue was started. So he could join the escape. Cheewie was known to Jabba thats why Leia brought him in as a prisoner. Then Luke came and he probably, as you said, knew that Jabba takes his executions to the Sarlac and that's what he wanted. Luke wanted to angry Jabba so much that he choose to execute them, but I still feel that the Rancor might not have been in the plan.
Well, firstly...because, classic three act play.
That being said, I think some degree of prescience on the part of Luke is reasonable, as we know there is some degree of prescience with force wielders, if somewhat imperfect. I think the biggest leap is that it would lead to the Sarlacc pit. If we assume that it was somehow known that it would go to the Sarlacc pit, then it all makes sense. Yes, everything was a plan to get everyone in. But it does raise the question of couldn't there have been a less risky plan that wasn't dependent on going to the Sarlac pit?
I also agree with Essero Eson's comment breaking it down into a multi part plan accounting for contingencies. Especially the last line of the comment, "It was a solid plan. If you only have a Plan A, you don't have a plan. You have an opening move and then you're improvising."
Maybe hearing your adult analysis of it makes it seem like they were just winging it in a convoluted plot without a clear plan, but growing up I never felt there was a lack of a plan. Leia being discovered and captured seems like their plan was maybe a bust - but I never felt like they were going to lose. Clearly they must have a contingency. The reason I felt that way was all down to Luke being so certain of what he was doing. Not even once did he seem like he had a shred of doubt things were not completely under control.
This was awesome! It felt almost as if I was sitting with a round of friends discussing Star Wars and having you there with us! Very good points you made!
The Jabba's Palace sequence is my most re-watched part of the series, probably because plot-wise it functions well as a self-contained episode within its own movie. But the most important work that it does is towards the larger narrative, in that it solidifies the character progressions accomplished in Empire: It highlights Luke's tremendous growth in power and confidence, it cements the sincerity of Han and Leia's romance, it confirms that Lando is now a bona fide hero who will risk his life for his friends rather than sell them out to the Empire. By accomplishing all of this, the sequence sets up the later acts of Jedi: because Luke is more powerful and self-possessed it allows the menace of the Emperor to be further developed for the throne room scene to have the stakes necessary as the climax of two trilogies; because Han and Leia's romance is well-established it doesn't feel so clunky to dissolve the love-triangle with Luke by using the ass-pull of Leia being his twin sister and it enriches Han and Leia's dynamic during the Endor sequences; because Lando is now a confirmed hero it doesn't seem odd that he would lead the squadron on the Death Star Assault. So even while the plot mechanics of the Jabba's Palace sequence are dodgy at best, they do a great job of proving that all the character growth from the previous movie was legitimate, they remind the original movie audience (who last saw Empire in theaters three years earlier) where all these characters are in relation to each other, and it perfectly sets the table for your big blowout high-stakes series finale. By not getting bogged down in the minutiae of a Mission: Impossible style caper, it achieves tremendous narrative economy in priming the entire rest of the movie.
If we look into how Jedi functions within the trilogy as a whole we get:
A New Hope: the characters are established as basic archetypes so that the audience isn't overwhelmed by the novelty of the setting
The Empire Strikes Back: the setting is now familiar, the characters are forced to change as a result of the pressures applied by the plot.
Return of the Jedi: The characters demonstrate that they have grown, and they are now ready for the final confrontation with evil.
So while Lucas and Kazdan lacked the strongest hand in dealing with the plot details of this sequence, they clearly had a masterful grasp of the thematic work they wanted it, and each episode as a whole, to accomplish. The prequel trilogy had a similarly strong superstructure, but lacked the lively dialogue, chemistry between actors, and seems to have suffered from all the blue/green screen sets and effects, so while they make sense they feel hollow and un-earned for me. The sequels had better actor chemistry, better dialogue, and clearly superior practical effects, but because the thematic arc construction was such a mess there is no larger payoff to be found anywhere in it.
Good points! Yeah the prequels with the set up and world building would have been fantastic with decent dialogue, and the sequels just needed a proper story arc.
I personally felt this was a demonstration of the force when I first saw it. It felt like a "flow" rather than a plan. It had a start point and and end point ...like floating down a river ......so how you got there did not matter just the arrival/result. This might seem odd but on seeing it the first time I never felt the "good guys" were in any danger.
I also love the opening, a big part of why i love it so much is Luke being a badass throughout (shades of Anakin with the force chokes and "don't underestimate my power") That scene where R2 shoots his lightsaber and Luke catches it has to be one of the coolest thing I've ever seen in Star Wars
Luke already showed he had prescience in Empire. Logically expand that out, Luke saw that every plan ended up with them at the Sarlacc, and using that knowledge built a plan centered around Jabba's preferred method of execution. I believe Luke was the ONLY one who knew the plan, so kinda screwing over Leia in the process, but with Jabba immune to mind tricks he had to believe he was winning over and over again, so confident in his victory that he let his guard down and was immediately thrown into chaos when Luke fought back. It was a BRILLIANT plan.
I think it's a safe bet that battling a rancor was one detail he hadn't planned for
The plan was for lando to seed himself inside of the palace. Leah was to free Han from the carbonite, knowing she would likely be captured. Once freed, he would b able to assist in the escape. Luke knew Jaba would take them to the desert. Where the real rescue would take place. It’s pretty straight forward. 🤷🏻♂️
Weird, I also have visions of Leia in a slave outfit. Am I a Jedi too?
Love your work on this channel! It's inspired me to take my analysis of the geek world to my own channel as well!
The beginning of RotJ is basically a heist movie.
A far better heist movie than Solo.
I always felt like he had a plan that had lots and lots of contingency layers, and the hope was the least amount of work could get everyone freed (i.e. Leia unfreezes Han While Lando gets chewies help with clearing a path out. Since Lando was on the inside he probably had to scratch the initial plan and move to one of the first contingencies when he found out about the trap. Then so on) As is said in the military no plan survives first contact, hence why the military always develops contingency plans mixed with the empowerment of their soldiers to improvise. I don't think it would be that outlandish to think Luke could develop great plans then improvise to regain the tactical advantage.
I never really noticed how convoluted it was until someone pointed it out some years ago.
You don't notice because the scenes are beautiful, the characters are captivating, the costume and set designs are perfect, and it moves quicky enough to where you can't think about it too much. And oh what the hell is Jabba?! Yuck! It sets the stage for how much Luke has grown in power and maturity from Empire. It shows Lando is now fully part of the team, and that Leia don't need no rescuing and is a bit of a badarse herself. It may not make sense strategically, but it works wonders cinematically.
The plan is to lull Jabba into a false sense of security and get him into the most vulnerable position. Jabba knows Han has friends who are going to try to save him. Get all the necessary players in place, make Jabba think they're inept and that he got the better of them, then anger him enough to get them to go to the Pit of Carkoon. He's much more vulnerable there than in his palace stronghold.
The comments on this are awesome about all the various contingencies. Even as a kid I always got that essentially they were all undercover and infiltrating under different guises, attempting different moves that may have worked in total or separately to combine to form a larger plan, and if they failed they still all ended up together. I like that Luke 'gave away' the droids - remember that when this film was released there were only 2 before it with the previous film having a massive twist, so it was not so unbelievable that the droids might be given away, having said that I don't recall meeting anyone who even as a kid thought they were a genuine gift to Jabba. I think the only aspect that was not anticipated was the Rancor trapdoor/pit, which I think is the weakest part - if Luke was that force sensitive he would have had a 'bad feeling' about standing in that spot - there should have been a better way to get him into the Rancor pit than that corny ploy, especially when C3PO obviously tries to tip him off. I like the point that Luke grew up on Tattooine so he would have heard about Jabba - maybe he even lost friends to Jabba or he or his community was at least screwed over by him or his network somehow so there may be some personal background attached to him having it in for Jabba, kinda like taking a local Godfather out of a community for the benefit of everyone.
One thing that you don't seem to be taking into account is that Luke was following the will of the Force, which is what makes him a good Jedi, like Qui-Gon.
Or heck, even like Dr. Strange, in a way. Maybe they had to go through a ton of crap to accomplish their mission lol.
I noticed this once I got older, then I figured that Luke’s plan was to stack the deck with his fellow heroes and wing their way out of it. Droids were there to get his saber on station. And for R-2 to zap that little creature (force vision). Lando was there to help Chewie with Han. He also was there to gather intel and relay it to Luke. Leia was there solely to free Han to make his rescue easier than whilst being stuck in carbonate.
Great topic and well articulated.
I love Return of the Jedi so much
The way I see it, these are the steps to the plan.
1. Send Lando undercover to gain information. (Finding Where Han is displayed, learning Jabba’s habits, etc.)
2. Send in the droid’s to put Jabba on guard that a Jedi is interested in Han.
3. Send Leah and Chewbacca in, so Leah can release Han from carbonite. (It’s a lot easier to rescue someone when they’re not frozen in a block after all.)
4. Jabba captures Leah. (I believe it was completely intended for her to be captured. Because of the fact they sent the droids in first, Jabba would be skeptical of anyone he didn’t know. Lando’s information gathering would have informed Luke about Jabba’s “interest” in women which would bring her in arms reach of Jabba. Especially because Jabba saw her kiss Han, and keeping her so close to him is a power move. Effectively telling Han that not only has he captured him, but that his “woman” is now Jabba’s. This would also be why Leah just waited out in the open, like she wanted someone to see her, as well as why she spent the time to kiss Han instead of trying to escape.)
5. Luke enter’s the palace and intentionally stands on the trap door that leads to the Rancor. (He most likely already knew about the Rancor from Lando. He would have mind tricked Jabba, knowing it wouldn’t work. This would immediately put Jabba at ease, as Jabba would now see Luke as an inexperienced Jedi at best, essentially not a threat. It’s also why Luke force pulled the blaster, instead of going for his lightsaber, it would force Jabba to react immediately at this new threat in front of him, opening the trap door. ((There is the issue of this part where what if instead of opening the trap door, Luke is shot by any of the many bounty hunters in the area. I like to think that Luke had mind tricked the Gamorrean guard to immediately jump at him and try to subdue him. This would cause others to hesitate to shoot while the struggle ensued, as he was still on the trap door.))
6. Kill the Rancor. (Killing the Rancor would show Jabba that he underestimated Luke, but it would also infuriate him. From the intel gathered by Lando, Luke would know that they would be executed by the Sarlacc pit, as it’s one of Jabba’s favorite way to execute his prisoners. This put Jabba on his sail barge, which is definitely less secured than his palace. It would also put most of the group in right next to each other. ((The obvious exception being Leah, though all the fighting is happening away from the barge, so she is pretty safe and in position to carry out the next phase of her mission. There is also the droids, but R2, after sabotaging the sail barge and giving Luke his lightsaber, confidently pushed himself and 3P0 off the edge. Almost like he knew that Luke was going to blow up the barge and then pick up the droids later.))
7. Kill Jabba and destroy the Barge (Jabba has to die if Han was going to be rescued. He is to big of a threat, not only to just Han and the group, but also to the entire rebellion. Leah was in the perfect position to kill Jabba, while everyone was focusing outside, where the lightsaber wielding Jedi was. No one was going to pay attention to “slave”.)
So in conclusion, the plan was to always kill Jabba on the sail barge, and everything that preceded it was done to get everyone to that point.