CT Okay, how would you have rewritten ROTJ?

I will admit that ROTJ is the weakest of the original trilogy. The first movie has some surprisingly tense scenes, almost reminiscent of the first Godfather in the final fight (though, IMO, the middle of ANH was a little weak).

Second movie I think is on-par with The Dark Knight for excellent pacing, twists and turns.

Third movie...the biggest change I can think of is that Boba Fett died a stupid and unnecessary death in the opening of ROTJ. Change that so he is in the Battle of Endor.

I've read a few treatments lately, and it appears that one early draft featured the Imperial Homeworld of Had Abbadon, with two death stars orbiting...certainly stimulating...

What if--

in the final scene, Palpatine makes a plea to Luke to assume the role of emperor. Palpatine has been mortally wounded by Vader at this point btw. He declares that there must be order, that without order civilization would collapse, and billions would die in anarchy.

And Luke responds,

"if that is the will of the Force, so be it"

and walks away.

 

I'm right on board with you when you suggest Boba Fett being at the Battle Of Endor. I've been thinking about that for weeks.

When Luke slices Boba Fett's rifle in half, Boba pulls out a darksaber and have duel in the middle of the fight. A good enough fight that would justify Boba falling into the Sarlacc.

After Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, etc escape the Sarlacc and the explosion of Jabba's vehicle, that there be a seen of of the Sarlacc struggling for a few seconds and then Boba flies out in utter outrage, lands on the sand and watches them speed away. You hear a groan from Boba and then the Sarlacc blows up in the background.

When the rebels are on Endor after the speeder bike chase, Han and Luke hear something behind them to find Boba Fett aiming twin blasters at them (his gun was severed by Luke) and says something along the lines of,

"I've got you now, Solo. Unfortunately, no one is paying to for your bounty after what you did to Jabba. I could just drop you right now." - Fett

"There is no point in killing me now, Fett! We can be allies and destroy the Imperial base." - Solo

"Why should I care about your struggle with the Empire? I only care about credits." - Fett

"The Rebel Alliance can pay you very well for your assistance. We need a great fighter like yourself." - Skywalker

I would re-write it where the Ewoks are not fluffy little balls of cuteness that can defeat a military force. They would be equal or stronger than the Wookies and they adapt quickly to new weapons like blasters and rocket launchers. There would be 15 AT-STs in the Battle. There would aslo be a supreme Imperial commander in one of the AT-STs commanding the battle. He would wear a heavy duty combat suit and have a blade fight with the "strong" Ewoks after his AT-ST is shot down. He gets a few kills with his blade and blaster before a final confronation with Boba wihich would be the showdown on the planet just like the showdown with Vader and Luke on the Death Star II.

The Emperor's room would be much bigger and it would contain more holographic imagery (he is the galaxy's ruler and needs constant updates on affairs). There would be more guards surrounding the room. When the emperor tells the guards to leave, they all walk past Vader and Luke. The emperor would have to be more menacing. When the he throws lightning at Luke, he also throws him across the room with a loud sinister laugh. Luke tries to fight back by launching at the emperor with his lightsaber, but is overwhelmed by the force lighting and falls to the ground.

There is a lot more I would do and I'll post it later.

 

Change the battle of Endor to battle of Coruscant. Have Han and Leia rescue Luke from the Emperor's Palace after the lightsaber battle and death of the Emperor Leia and Vader get to hash things out.

 

I'm actually quite okay with Endor and I like the Ewoks. Ewoks were like the first time since ANH that you actually see like a family unit and people having meals...

And I really liked the overarching theme of primitive peoples beating a high-tech force through guerilla warfare.

Coruscant would seriously have been difficult given the tech at the time. And it wasn't done very well in the prequels anyways...

 

Most important change: Give Leia a stronger arc. The movie ends on a hopeful note because of her and Luke's potential to rebuild the Jedi order, so it seems unfair how much the plot centers on Luke's adventures while she has to spend one act as a teddy bear nurse and one as eye candy.

 

Oh god no.

 

RotJ is my fave OT film. I would make the tribal species more credible (replace the Ewoks), change some dialogue, put Shaw back in at the end (Hayden so doesn't fit), and not done the silly H/L romance. ESB is in my view the weakest OT film.

 

Don't forget Dinner with Darth, Yoda's stew, and The Ice Cream Maker Guy!

 

The only major change I'd make is eliminating the second Death Star entirely, because its repetitive after the Battle of Yavin. I'm not sure what the specifics would be, but it seems Lucas ran out of ideas for the Empire to run with.

I'd also make Leia's slave outfit a little less revealing; all the other girls wore more than she did.

 

Fine points, all of these.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk 2

 

I wouldn't change anything

 

I like the comments regarding Leia and her side of the story (family story). Too much centred on Luke for mine. This could have given us more insight on where the ST may be heading.

 

Luke and Leia aren't related.
Han dies.
No Death Star.
Jabba's Palce section reduced in length by 90%

 

It would actually be pretty fun to rewrite the whole script. Maybe I will later, but I doubt many of you would be interested, anyway. Just some major things I would edit:
Make the Tatooine fight shorter
The Death Star would be removed, somehow or another
Final fight at Coruscant
*not* have Boba Fett die like a punk

 

The whole film is about the adventures of Slave Leia and Boba Fett as they're pursued by Admiral Ackbar. That would be my film!!

Actually, some really good ideas in this film though.

 

If I had it my way, it would start with Luke et al going to rescue Han from Jabba, then they'd find out about a second Death Star then go to Endor and meet some teddy bears and blow up the Death Star and Vader would be all like "Nooooo!" and redeem himself then everyone would be happy.

Wait a minute...

 

Agreed. It's GL's creation and should be what he decides that it should be.





Art is personal
/LM

 

And you? What do you want?

 

I hate to say it, but I was always intrigued by the line from Han about feeling like he was never going to see the Falcon again. I hate to say kill Lando, because I really, really like Lando, but when I learned about the original idea of Lando being killed destroying the Death Star II, it really resonated with me. It's interesting to watch how Lando, in being forced to betray Han, really tries to redeem himself. It's definitely would be a very valiant act on the character's part and would add some loss on the side of the Rebels, something that ultimately makes the victory seem more hard won and well deserved.

I'd definitely add the opening scene with Vader calling out to Luke. I just saw that scene on the Blu-ray set last week and it was really pretty powerful and left Luke's actions and motives as feeling even more ambiguous.

I also wouldn't have Boba go out like a punk.

 

Peace, love and understanding.





Let's be happy!
/LM

 

Not what I meant.

 

Aha! Well, in regards to ROTJ, I think my first post makes it rather clear what I want.

I'll indulge you just for the heck of it, though: I want it to be GL's creation. It could've been an endless amount of different things, but since it came from his head, it became what he made it to be and that's exactly how I like it. No, I would not have done it the same way, but then, I wouldn't have come up with that awesome story either, so that point is moot.
I really don't get people's obsession with changing someone else's creation. My stance is: Take it for what it is and if it inspires you to come up with ideas of your own, make something of your own!
Wishing that things had been different doesn't make anyone happy. Quite the opposite, I'd argue.

ROTJ is, BTW, a great movie that I love.





Life is good
/LM

 

Personally, I wish I had a time machine and send Geroge Lucas the storyline to "Shadows Of The Empire" in 1981 and had him making that the 3rd film coming out in 1983. A lot of interaction happens on Coruscant in "Shadows", so then we don't need that planet in ROTJ. ROTJ would possibly have been released in 1986 as the 4th film with a little enhanced quality with the space battle effects (they are good anyway). ROTJ would need something better than the Death Star as mentioned above. It could be a different space station that could create artificial blackholes that could consume entire stars instead of just planets. The Rebel Alliance would be fighting to destroy this even more terrifying Imperial war machine than the first dreaded Death Star. The station would have the same Death Star weapons (destroying rebel capital ships), but no longer the primary. The blackhole weapon would be the ultimate weapon of the station. What would it be called?

 

I'd just like to take a moment to weigh in to support Lars_Muul here. There are some things in ROTJ that I don't feel were done well, and some things I personally would have done differently, but it just feels so... presumptuous to try and rewrite something George Lucas made to my personal standards (which is not to say that this applies exclusively to him; I'd have the same response if this was about - say - Harry Potter). I'm not saying there's anything wrong with threads like this in general, but it's not really something I personally feel comfortable with.

 

^^^
Agreed. I do like debating the merits of ideas put forward during the development of the films by the filmmakers themselves, but leave it to the fans to rewrite the films and we'll just end up with: