CT When you first saw ROTJ, what did you think was the status of the Empire at the end?

No, not exactly.
There is a lot of speculation and little actual evidence. At some stage of the planning, it seems that the confrontation with the Emperor would happen in the final episode of the Saga (which is what ended up happening), and according to Gary Kurtz (whose account is faulty, at best), that would be Episode IX.

 

I first saw the original version of ROTJ in the theater at age 9. I figured the Empire was done for after the deaths of the Emperor, Vader, and a bunch of their troops and pilots, AND the destruction of DSII and the Executor. The "... and they all lived happily ever after" party on Endor further cemented that view. Later, when I was older and maybe being more pessimistic about things, the Special Editions came along and added the additional scenes of parties on other planets, including the aforementioned toppling of the the Emperor statue, and effectively said "no really... the Empire is done." I never read the EU novels covering this timeframe. So that worked for me, because it is feasible that any leftover Empire remnants would have too much disorganization and infighting to ever pose a real threat to the New Republic.

I will also add that I have fairly recently had an "epiphany" of sorts about my true feelings regarding the Sequel Trilogy (and yes, I am a ST mod ), and this is one of the areas where the ST gives me issues.

Also, there's this (sorry if this was already posted) :

 

Reminds me when I lost Alderaan, Tatooine AND Corellia, among others, to the Death Star, whilst trying to seize Coruscant in EaW...

 

That Robot Chicken clip is actually a perfect illustration of how authors (or rather Zahn specifically since he’s ALL about military logic) post-ROTJ stories would justify keeping the Empire around without the Emperor, even if it undercut the film’s happy ending.

 

My first watch of ROTJ was the original version and I thought the Empire was gone. Though later when post ROTJ content was released (Like Heir to the Empire) it did make sense that many Emperials was scattered around the Galaxy.
I mean, there was a lot of crafts at Endor but not what I would expect to be the entire Imperial Fleet.

I was 7 when I watched the film first time so no I did not think about stuff like some imps was still alive

 

I was six when I first saw the film. Saw the version with galaxy-wide celebrations at the end. Believe it or not, I assumed that imperial remnants of some kind were still out there.

 

^^ This

I was 10-11 years old when I saw the original version in the theater and simply thought that was it, the Empire was defeated, the Rebellion won, end of story. The joyous celebration scenes left little room for doubt in my young mind. Even if it had occurred to my younger self that a(ny) portion of the Empire lingered afterward, certainly the victorious Rebels could handle it because they had already achieved the hardest part by killing the Emperor and Vader.

 

What was the epiphany?

 

Basically I realized that I just don't really like that much about the ST, and also that I'd previously been almost unknowingly making excuses for it or only focusing on the positives.

 

I would be very loathe to have to give back to the universe the places I've had to travel to in order to process what happened between October 2012 and December 2019.

 

I thought the Empire was over. I saw it in the theater in 1983 on opening day, and I was 14 years old at the time. Of course, we're supposed to have a happy ending at the end of the trilogy, so I suspect the idea would be that the empire was effectually done.

 

I thought the empire was gone-all but a few star destroyers, which would've easily been dealt with by the Rebel fleet. When I was a kid I figured the whole imperial fleet was there in its full capacity.

 

I was just a kid when I saw the original movies so I thought the empire was gone for sure.

 

I might have tought they end there for a total of five minutes before my best friend who knew the EU told me they continue to exsist for many many years after this and even eventually make peace with the rebellion.

 

I watched the original first and thought the Empire was defeated because of no more Vader and Emperor it was to me for many years until the sequels that the battle of Endor was the final battle.

 

I saw the OT for the first time in 1995 with the "one last time" release. At that time Lucas was gearing up for the PT and he was still talking about the ST so I assumed the Empire was still around post ROTJ.

 

I was only around 4-5, so I think I assumed the Empire was gone. 'Oh, the villains have been defeated, the universe is safe' kind of thing, probably wasn't able to think deeply enough and realise that the Empire wouldn't have just disappeared considering the scale of it.

I would have undoubtedly watched it on VHS - did that have the celebration bit? I can't actually remember whether when I first watched it it didn't have the Coruscant celebrations etc. I always remembered it that way but I've watched ROTJ a lot since then both as a kid and as an adult so it's possible I've just misremembered.

 

The last version released on VHS (I think) was the 1997 Special Editions... those had the enhanced celebration scenes at the end, showing Coruscant, etc. But all the prior VHS releases were the original versions, which only showed the celebration that took place on Endor, with the main characters and the ewoks.

 

There’s two VHS releases of the 1997 Special Editions: One that has gold packaging for pan & scan and silver packaging for widescreen and gives ANH a logo that just says “Star Wars”, ESB a logo that just says “The Empire Strikes Back”, and ROTJ a logo that just says, “Return of the Jedi.” The other release uses Episode number logos and was released at the same time that TPM was released on VHS. I wish TPM and the OT were also released on DVD at the time so that VHS wouldn’t be the only option for the original version of TPM or the 1997 Special Editions.

 

I was so young when I first saw the original version, I thought the Empire was gone.

 

I can understand George wanting to make EpVI a closure by adding these celebrations, but i disagree with them.
Coruscant just lost its head of state, Naboo lost its most important countryman, Tatooine is a backwater planet. Why do they celebrate?
No, in real life people would mourn the tyrant's death, like Stalin's funeral. And the death of the emperor would cause a power struggle, not democracy.

 

I would agree that after seeing the TROS "galactic celebration," the ROTJ one seems...out of place now. But IMO I would rather have that then the ridiculous "Yub Nub" Ewok celebration the originals had. I'd be okay with the Ewok celebration, just with the new score though.

 

I was 10 when I saw ROTJ and definitely got the gist that the Empire was gone, Luke and the good guys had won.