CT Do the extended Edition endings of Return of the Jedi make sense???

He did, but only relatively recently.

 

Oh thanks Alex. I wasn't sure when and if he said that. Thanks for verifying.

 

Just because he doesn't want anyone present, doesn't mean that he doesn't have security cameras in place. Just as he had them in his office when he killed the Jedi Posse. And yes, the lightning is visible. It's not nature, it's the Force.

They did see Luke and Vader, they just didn't care. They cared more about their own asses, then the guy notorious for choking people if they fart wrong.

Except for the fact that there's security cameras.

When Palpatine says jump, you say, "How high?" They're all deeply afraid of him which is why Jerjerrod nearly soils himself when told that he's on his way. Vader is mean, Sidious is vicious.

Sure there is. Palpatine wants to crush the Alliance in one fell swoop. He's more concerned with that than garrisons at Bespin, Naboo or Kashyyyk.

Read, "The Making Of Return Of The Jedi" which contains the story meeting transcripts from 1981. Lucas wasn't interested in Episodes VII-IX, much less I-III. He just wanted to finish the story in ROTJ. This initially entailed the Alliance destroying the Imperial capital and killing everyone there, both Imperial military and civilian. Lucas, Kasdan, Kazanjian and Marquand went back and forth on the subject before finally deciding to move the planetside action to the Death Star so that it could be destroyed and signal the end of the war. The celebrations were initially planned to be shown around the world the galaxy, but as noted, this was dropped. Lucas reinserted the notion because by 1996, he was no longer interested in the ST. He wanted the story to end there and as the EU had already set up that within three years, Coruscant falls to the New Republic. The Imperials commanders that were like Tarkin, were all either wiped out by each others actions, or by the Republic. Fifteen years after ROTJ, they only control a fraction of the galaxy that they used to and surrendered.

No, the idea was that with the Death Star and the Executor destroyed, the Imperial Fleet withdrew and retreated to Imperial space. Within time, they would surrender since the cause was lost.

 

Wow, you really have a narrow view there. You're basing that on the movie being structured as it is, so yeah the scene as you sarcastically described would be out of place. It's not calling for "every single character" and "every single thought" to be "fleshed out" and "expressed" and I don't give a crap about the EU. I'm fine with the movie as it is but since the question was posed and since there has been a grander scope with more movies, the extra information could have been something to consider. By the way there are lots of "bit characters" with significant parts (Dodonna, Rieekan, Derlin, Greedo, etc), but the other movies use them better than Return of the Jedi did.

 

I think that there's a bit of creative liberty being taken with the timeline at the end of the SE of Return of the Jedi. The scenes were simply added to show the greater effect the events on Endor had throughout the galaxy because originally, the party scene with the Ewoks was too intimate and personal for our heroes. I think we all got that the Empire was defeated big time, but the SE punches it up by showing that the rest of the galaxy did indeed get the news.

Still, I think (and this is just my interpretation) the events on Coruscant, Naboo, Tatooine, etc. are taking place in the days/weeks/months following as the news spreads, intercut with Endor and it isn't necessarily a linear sequence that's being presented to us. I could be wrong on that, though.

That Tatooine celebration does stick out a bit to me. That planet is always presented as basically lawless and I would think they'd be having their own celebration over Jabba the Hutt's passing, but the people there obviously didn't really care for the Empire or any sort of law, so it sort of makes sense, even though they were mostly out of the Empire's control.

 

Luke: "It's not that I like the Empire - I hate it - but there's nothing I can do about it right now."

And of course, in the novelization, Biggs warns Luke that the Empire's nationalization of commerce is likely to spread all the way to Tatooine, and hit even the moisture farmers like Owen.

"What good's all your uncle's work if the Empire takes it over? You know they've already started to nationalize commerce in the central systems. It won't be long before your uncle is just a tenant, slaving for the greater glory of the Empire."

 

^ Yup. In my headcanon, the capture of the Tantive IV and the escape of the droids with the DS plans was the excuse the Empire used to move in and take over Tatooine, which mostly happened off camera. Maybe it's not the most productive planet in the Empire, but when the Imp garrison settles in, it won't be much use as a rebel base.

 

Makes sense. I'm pretty sure Palaptine wanted to control as much of the galaxy as possible, including Hutt space.

 

I always assumed there was already an Imperial presence on Tatooine. It makes sense. One of the things Vader hated about the Republic was how ineffective it was at enforcing its laws in the Outer Rim. Once the Empire was established, I'd think he'd make it a priority to quickly assert the Empire's authority on Tatooine.

I don't think Luke's "But it's all so far away from here" is an indication that the Empire doesn't exist at all on Tatooine. I'd imagine there'd just be a very small, token presence to keep an eye on the local government. Tatooine's probably a place where the Empire sends its bottom-tier troopers. Luke probably wouldn't really think of those losers as representing The Big Bad Empire, per se. Also, they'd probably be headquartered in the few areas of the planet that are population centers, and wouldn't even bother ever coming out to the desert to check on a bunch of two-bit moisture farms. I doubt Luke would ever even see them.

But I think the Empire's presence probably increased there after the events of ANH. That would account for the mass celebrations in RotJ.

 

In the Darth Vader newcanon comics - Vader seems to treat Jabba as the real power on Tatooine - negotiating (rather forcefully) with him.

 

Yes they do.