CT Emperor Palpatine arrives at Death Star 2 in ROTJ.

And in a deleted scene, he even tries to stop Vader from going to see the Emperor, explaining (as he’s being choked) ‘It’s at the emperor’s command…!!!’

 

I disagree. Piett seemed very tense when he was telling Vader about the supply shuttle and its older code.

 

This was retained in the orginal novelisation, or at least the idea that Vader was debarred from the throne room, which I think worked to good effect.

"It's an older code, sir, but it checks out; I was about to clear them", there is certainly a sense of deferrence to Vader here. In TESB, Piett, despite being an opportunist, is clearly in fear of Vader (remember he has always been at least Captain of the Executor since the beginning of TESB). Especially true of the end of the movie, when the Falcon escapes into Hyperspace from Bespin.

...Bringing that around to the issue of the Emperor's arrival on Death Star II. Wasn't the Executor sent back to Coruscant after TESB, and so the ship would have been there and available to him. I'm not sure if this is stated anywhere except some Legends continuity.

 

In Legends at least, the ship was with Vader, at Endor, as late as the end of the Shadows of the Empire comic, which is set very shortly before the start of the ROTJ movie. Presumably Vader transferred to the Avenger shortly after that, before paying the visit to the DS2, sending the Executor back to Coruscant (he'd blown Xizor's skyhook apart above Coruscant not long before).

 

I mean, I just saw it as him being respectful. Remember, Vader outranks him by a lot so he’s not gonna go, ‘DUH, of course they have a code-clearance you absolute, asthmatic fick-waffle! What are you, stupid?!” Even if Vader didn’t have Force abilities to kill him right then and there, you just don’t talk like that to your commanding officer.

 

I didn't get that impression at all.

Piett isn't acting any different than he has in the past. He acted scared when he had reason to act scared, like when the Falcon suddenly escaped to hyperspace when he had just told Vader that they deactivated it. He had no reason to be scared in their interactions in ROTJ. He hadn't done anything wrong at that point, and Vader was calm, instead on edge like he had been at the end of ESB.

Since Jerjerrod got a dressing down from Vader in the beginning of the movie, it doesn't seem like Vader's influence was diminished in any form either.

I think that would have been a waste of time. It's seconds spend on something that doesn't add anything to the movie. We have the massive fleet of TIEs and the whole hangar full of troops, plus Vader kneeling down, to introduce the Emperor. Adding shots of a shuttle leaving a docking bay again, after we already had that shot for Vader's arrival, would have been redundant. I think it would have been a bad editing choice.

 

In early drafts of the script for ROTJ, Jerjerrod tries to give orders to Vader.

 

There is a larger rivalry between Darth Vader and the character who becomes Moff Jerjerod for the favor of the Emperor in earlier drafts for Return of the Jedi.

A little bit of that made it into the filming script. Vader clearly supersedes Moff Jerjerod’s authority with his surprise visit to the Death Star.

The poor Moff even walks alone when the Emperor and his retinue arrive.

Later the Emperor makes it clear he doesn’t want Vader anywhere near him on the Death Star.* We see a small smirk at this from Jerjerod who knows Vader leaving means his authority on the Death Star has been restored.

Other than firing the Death Star’s prime weapon that’s it for Jerjerod in the movie.

There are two interesting deleted scenes. The one where Jerjerod and two Emperor’s Royal Guards deny Vader entrance to see the Emperor. Vader begins choking the Moff and it looks light he’s going to fight the guards. Jerjerod manages to say it’s the Emperor’s order Vader wait - not his. So Vader relents.

The other deleted scene has the Emperor ordering Jerjerod to fire the Death Star to destroy the Forrest Moon of Endor. Jerjerod is reluctant to carry out the order since so many imperials are on the moon. He’s suddenly not so keen on having command of the Death Star.

*What was the Emperor’s plan for Vader during the battle of Endor if Luke hadn’t shown up? Piett is briefed by the Emperor on battle plans - so it doesn’t seem Vader would command the fleet.

 

Probably just go onto the moon and root out the rebels, the usual stuff.

Was there a tie-in novel that explained why the Emperor was sour with Vader in this movie?

 

They would not have had the technology needed to portray Palpatine leaving Coruscant on an SSD onscreen in 1983. That's why George made the OT first, the PT had more complicated technology (and was a more mainstream-friendly story).

 

Yeah Piett might not be as scared of Vader as he was in TESB after Vader kills Ozzel, but he acts very subservient. May be it has something to do with when the Falcon escaped Bespin and Piett expected the worst from Vader.

 

I get the feeling Vader is killing incompetent commanders or those who openly condescend to him. We do see Vader working successfully with other imperials. He’s not choking the officers who let the Death Star plans escape the blockade runner. General Veers seems cautiously comfortable working with Vader.

My feeling is Piette comes to a functional if u comfortable working relationship with Vader. Also it’s possible in this instance he’s under the Emperor’s protection.

 

Or simply put: Ozzel is a moron

 

What’s Captain Needa?

 

A standup guy. Honestly I always feel bad for him when I watch Empire.

 

At least Needa apologized when he screwed up. Not his fault Vader is a terrible boss.

 

Piett had correctly deduced that the generator on Hoth was down to the Rebels and not smugglers as Ozzel thought, that made an impression on Vader and p***** off Ozzel, Vader probably thought he still had use of Piett.

 

And in retrospect, perhaps Needa had failed Vader multiple times before this movie, and this was just the final straw.

 

It's implied that this is at least the case for Ozzel - "You have failed me for the last time, Admiral".

 

I think Vader was just so frustrated now, he'd followed the Falcon through the asteroid field, he nearly lost it when it hid inside the space slug. Finally one of his Stardestroyers had cornered the Falcon only for it's captain, Needa, to lose it when Vader was likely preparing to board the Falcon. Needa was just unlucky that his ship was the one that found the Falcon.

 

Needa did leave his post to make an apology causing his mistake to take up more of Vader’s time. Maybe he should have stayed onthe bridge.

EDIT: Darth Vader was himself personally thwarted by the Millennium Falcon and tricky piloting of Han Solo at the first Death Star. With Needa this is not a case of the captain making a mistake that Vader never would fall for.

 

I had never paid attention to Jerjerod's expression while the Emperor is telling Vader what to do. I had also never noticed the Emperor has his cane in that scene. Golden.

 

Funny, I just read Any Work Worth Doing in FACPOV:ROTJ and in it Jerjerod basically idolizes Vader.

 

Jejrerrod is probably the most comfortable Imperial officer in Vader's company since ANH, I don't recall seeing another have the nerve to make a counter request after Vader admonishes them.

 

Palpatine arrived by himself via Naboo fighter with Who Let The Dogs Out? blaring at full volume.