In the epic conclusion to the original Star Wars trilogy, Luke and Leia rescue Han Solo from the clutches of Jabba the Hutt before aiding the Rebel Alliance in one last stand against the evil Empire. Blaster fights, spaceship scuffles and lightsaber duels abound. Language is reduced, but Leia is forced to don a revealing golden bikini. And the teddy bear-like Ewoks may evoke some surprising emotions.
It’s been a year since the Empire struck back against the Rebel Alliance. Imperial forces have been busy rebuilding the Death Star, bigger and deadlier than before. It’s nearly complete, and it’s being protected by a shield generator located on the forested moon of Endor.
The Rebels are planning to take down that generator and destroy the planet-killing starship once again. But first, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa need to rescue their friend, Han Solo, from Tatooine’s most notorious gangster, Jabba the Hutt.
Han’s been frozen in carbonite ever since Darth Vader tried to use him, Leia and Chewie as bait to lure Luke into a trap. Luke managed to evade Vader’s tricks, but he learned an unsettling truth in the process: Vader is his father, the former Jedi Anakin Skywalker.
Luke returns to Jedi Master Yoda on the swamp planet Dagobah to confirm these facts. When he does, he learns that in order to become a full Jedi, he’ll have to confront Vader.
But maybe, just maybe, there’s a way for the Jedi to return without killing his father.
Luke insists that it’s not too late for Vader, that Vader can still turn away from Dark Side. And even though the Emperor succeeds in goading Luke to anger and using his hatred to fight, Luke ultimately remembers the teaching of his mentors, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, to let go of those feelings.
Every member of the Rebel Alliance is ready and willing to sacrifice themselves in order to bring freedom to the galaxy. Indeed, we hear that many Rebels lost their lives to bring intel to the Alliance. Luke, worried that his presence is drawing Vader closer, surrenders himself to Imperial troops in order to protect his friends.
Han’s previous bravado would suggest that he’d like nothing more than turn tail and fly the Millennium Falcon as far away from the Empire as possible. But in his time aiding the Rebellion and bonding with Luke and Leia (not to mention spending a year in frozen carbonite hibernation), he’s changed his tune. He’s not only willing to help, but he’s also willing to lead, volunteering to take charge of a dangerous mission to shut down the shield generator protecting the Death Star.
Many characters demonstrate bravery. Ewoks, the teddy bear-like species that inhabits Endor, risk their lives to help the Rebels defeat the Empire.
At this point in the trilogy, we don’t really learn anything new about the Force. So to recap, it’s an energy that makes up and penetrates all things, living and otherwise. Those who are particularly attuned to the Force can manipulate it to their bidding. And some, namely Vader and his master, Emperor Palpatine, can use it for evil—which is what’s known as the Dark Side of the Force.
Unlike The Empire Strikes Back, we don’t hear much about anything to do with “balance” in the Force, but it certainly still operates under those principals, which echo Eastern religions like Taoism. Of course, you may also be able to see some spiritual similarities to Christianity: Luke is convinced that it’s not too late for Vader to return from the Dark Side—which parallels the Christian belief that it’s never too late to turn away from sin. And ultimately, this is a tale where good triumphs over evil.
Emperor Palpatine claims that he has “foreseen” the future, and certainly, he anticipates many of the Rebels’ moves, setting traps for them. He also talks about Luke’s “destiny” a lot (although, so does the ghostly apparition of Obi-Wan).
Speaking of which, Obi-Wan apparently mastered the Force so well that when he died in A New Hope, he became a sort of Force ghost. Yoda, who is 900 years old (or so he says), says that even he is not strong enough in the Force to resist death. Sure enough, he perishes—and much like Obi-Wan, his body vanishes. We later see him and another Jedi join Obi-Wan as Force ghosts.
The Emperor uses his Force abilities to shoot lightning from his fingertips. Vader and Luke each use their powers to perform acrobatic jumps that wouldn’t be possible for normal humans. Luke also uses the Force to influence weak-minded individuals, telekinetically choke a few guards and levitate objects.
Luke uses that last power to great effect with the Ewoks. When the Endor natives first encounter C-3PO, a golden protocol droid, they believe he is a god. They bow to him and recite a prayer-like chant—then they prepare to sacrifice 3PO’s friends for a banquet in 3PO’s honor. When Luke and Han tell 3PO to order the Ewoks (since he’s the only one who can speak their language) to release them, he initially refuses, stating that it’s against his programming to imitate a deity. (Never mind that he didn’t correct the Ewoks when they falsely identified as such.) Finally, Luke tells 3PO to inform the Ewoks that 3PO will use his godlike powers against them if they don’t obey. The Ewoks don’t believe 3PO, but Luke uses the Force to levitate the droid, scaring the Ewoks into submission.
Return of the Jedi is perhaps the most daring of the original Star Wars trilogy as it introduces viewers to Princess Leia’s golden bikini. The garment—one she’s forced to wear while enslaved to Jabba the Hutt—is just what I described: a golden bikini with a sort of skirt that falls between her legs. Jabba makes unwanted advances at Leia, at one point slurping his tongue at her. (Seeing this, 3PO turns his back, stating that he can’t watch.)
Leia is not the first of Jabba’s slaves. Before her, a green Twi’lek (an alien species with tentacle-like appendages sprouting from their heads) is forced to dance for the worm-like Hutt while wearing a similarly revealing garment. And we see several other women in Jabba’s palace—though they don’t appear to be slaves—performing seductive songs and dances while garbed in less-than-modest clothing.
Han and Leia profess their love for each other at different points in this film. They kiss and embrace several times. At one point, Han becomes jealous of Luke because he suspects that Leia has feelings for the Jedi. Leia confirms that she loves Luke, but not in the way that Han thinks.
Leia and Luke learn that they are twins in this film. And while they never discuss the fact that they shared a kiss in the previous film, Leia says she thinks she’s always known (which may bring into question her decision to kiss Luke in The Empire Strikes Back).
It’s Star Wars, so there’s plenty of blaster fights and space battles to go around. We see characters on both sides of the fray get (bloodlessly) killed—though we do see some engulfed in flames as they die in spaceship crashes. Explosions are frequent and presumably deadly. Several large spacecraft blow up, certainly killing everyone onboard. One spaceship explosion creates a shockwave that ripples throughout the nearby space.
At a couple of points, Luke gives in to his anger and hatred, attempting to strike down Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader with his lightsaber. Vader blocks Luke’s attempts with his own lightsaber, and the two duel. Luke succeeds in lopping off Vader’s hand—an echo of the previous film, when Vader relieved Luke of a hand as well—revealing that Vader, like Luke, has a mechanical hand.
The Emperor encourages Luke to finish off Vader and to take Vader’s place by his side. When Luke refuses, the Emperor tortures him with lightning, promising to kill him.
When a slave tries to avoid what would seem to be a sexual assault, Jabba drops her down a trapdoor into a rancor pit. We don’t see the beast initially, but the woman’s fear is clear, and she screams out in pain and terror as it eats her alive. Later, Jabba triggers the trap on Luke, and a nearby hog-like alien falls in with him. The rancor—essentially a big, long-clawed, sharp-toothed beast—goes for the hog guy first. It picks him up and begins chowing down as he squeals in terror. Then the rancor goes for Luke.
Luke picks up a nearby bone (the remains of a previous rancor victim) and wedges it between the rancor’s jaws to buy himself some time. Eventually, the rancor shatters the bone. When it grabs Luke around the waist, he smashes the rancor’s fingers with a rock. Luke finally defeats the creature by hitting a button that drops a heavy metal door on the rancor’s neck, crushing it. (And the rancor’s trainer/owner is greatly saddened by its loss.)
Jabba sentences Luke, Han and Chewbacca to death via the Pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the Sarlaac, where they will learn a “new definition of pain and suffering” as they’re “slowly digested over 1,000 years.” The Sarlaac is essentially a toothy creature (though remastered versions of the film will also show it with prehensile tentacles and a beak-like mouth) that engulfs the entire pit. Many of Jabba’s goons fall into this crevice when Luke and his friends fight back. Lando Calrissian, an old frenemy of Han’s who had been working in Jabba’s palace in disguise, nearly falls victim to the creature, but he’s narrowly rescued by Han and Chewie. Meanwhile, Luke uses his lightsaber to dispatch Jabba’s guards, and Leia—who has a chain around her neck—uses her chain to strangle the Hutt.
On Endor, several speeder chases ensue. The stormtroopers operating these vehicles are chased by and give chase to Luke and Leia. Luke and Leia each manage to jump off their speeders before they crash, but their pursuers aren’t so lucky. Some get shot down. Most crash into trees. Later in the film, an Ewok uses a lasso to whip one speeder to its doom. Others clothesline a speeding stormtrooper with a bit of rope.
And speaking of the Ewoks, they decide to aid the Rebel forces on Endor. When Han and his team get captured, they attack in droves using primitive weapons to shoot, club and otherwise smash Imperial troops. During the battle, many Ewoks fall to blaster shots. One explosion knocks down two Ewoks—one gets up and grabs his buddy to keep running, but his friend doesn’t move, and the surviving Ewok sobs over his body.
At Jabba’s palace, several droids get tortured: Hot irons get applied to one droid’s feet, another’s limbs are torn from its body, and we see the “disintegrated” remains of several other droids scattered around the complex. One of Jabba’s snacks appears to be a creature that is still alive when he chomps down on it.
Many of Vader’s underlings are clearly afraid of him (perhaps they’ve heard the rumors about his Force-choking abilities), but they’re even more afraid of the Emperor who, Vader alleges, “is not as forgiving as I am.”
Someone gets thrown down a shaft into the reactor of a ship. We see some hand-to-hand combat and other blaster-filled scuffles throughout the film. The Ewoks threaten people with spears and bows. Someone threatens to set off a thermal detonator. Leia takes a blaster wound to the shoulder, and Han gets some of her blood on his hands when he aids her. Luke gets shot in his mechanical hand, exposing the wiring underneath.
The Ewoks initially tie up Luke, Han, Chewbacca and R2-D2 (an astromech droid), planning to roast them for a feast. The Ewoks eventually release the pals, but R2 uses a taser to repeatedly zap one of the offending aliens. Elsewhere, a rat-like alien chows down on one of C-3PO’s mechanical eyes. We see Darth Vader sans mask, showing the scars of injuries he received in the past.
None, but we do hear some insults exchanged, including when Han calls Jabba a “slimy piece of worm-ridden filth.”
R2-D2 is forced to serve presumably intoxicating beverages to Jabba and his cronies.
A lot of the alien species we meet in Jabba’s palace are, for lack of a better term, gross (at least to our human eyes; I’m sure they find each other quite attractive). It seems that if you fall out of Jabba’s favor, you’ll be enslaved, tortured, imprisoned or killed (and sometimes a combination).
Characters frequently lie. Jabba negotiates with a bounty hunter. Han still shows a disregard for sentient droids—or at least for 3PO, to whom he’s repeatedly rude.
When Han is freed from carbonite, he experiences “hibernation sickness” and is temporarily blinded.
Return of the Jedi marks the end of the original Star Wars trilogy. And if you’ve made it to this point in the series, you’re likely already familiar with many of the series’ content concerns: When blasters fire, lightsabers swing, ships explode or lightning zaps, there are usually casualties. The Dark Side of the Force is fueled by anger, hatred and aggression. And the Force itself is based in Eastern spiritual concepts.
Episode VI throws a couple of other curveballs for families, too—namely, Leia’s gold bikini. It’s not the most skin we’ve seen in the galaxy far, far away up to this point (when Luke was submerged in a healing fluid in The Empire Strikes Back, he was essentially only wearing underwear), but it’s the first time such a display is meant to be titillating.
That said, foul language is reduced in this trilogy entry, with no profanity whatsoever (unless you count “scum”). And we’re also introduced to the Ewoks, who are about as adorable as they come. Of course, that also means that their deaths can be that much more impactful.
All in all, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi is a great conclusion to this epic saga. Once again, Star Wars shows us that good triumphs over evil. That friendship is a strength, not a weakness. That love is more powerful than hatred.
And though this story takes place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, it can still give us hope for a better and brighter tomorrow.
Emily studied film and writing when she was in college. And when she isn’t being way too competitive while playing board games, she enjoys food, sleep, and geeking out with her husband indulging in their “nerdoms,” which is the collective fan cultures of everything they love, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate and Lord of the Rings.
