Speaking before this weekend's Star Wars Celebration V conference in Florida, producer Gary Kurtz has revealed that if it wasn't for the wild popularity of Star Wars merchandise, Return Of The Jedi would have had a much bleaker ending. "The original idea was that they would recover Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base," Kurtz told the LA Times.
"George then decided he didn't want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason." What's more, the film would have shown Princess Leia struggling to cope with her new-found responsibilities, and would have ended with Luke Skywalker walking off into the distance as an embittered, Clint Eastwood-style loner.
Friday, August 13, 2010
EWOK BONGO: Should Return of the Jedi have ended differently? No, not talking about the decades-later addition of Hayden Christensen's image in the Dead Homies Farewell. This:
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I am so naming my band Dead Homies Farewell and getting it ready for next year's Gathering of the Juggalos.
ReplyDeleteThe Ewoks would have been a cannibalistic Cargo Cult
ReplyDeleteAnd that movie was made as Avatar....
First, I came across this brilliant piece again, trying to understand Episodes IV-V-VI in light of the prequels: http://www.morningstar.nildram.co.uk/A_New_Sith.html
ReplyDeleteSecond, Blackstar Warrior: http://io9.com/5607587/a-preview-for-blackstar-warrior-the-lost-star-wars-film-starring-lando-calrissian
Third, Star Wars is really properly understood as Lucas initially conceived it: a Saturday morning serial. Killing off Han Solo wouldn't have worked, although I think a few scenes of Leia trying to run the Rebellion - with the big principles: Yoda, Captain Antilles, Bail Organa, and Obi-Wan Kenobi all dead - might have been a better subplot than the whole Ewok thing. Although the "Leia Reads List of This Week's Dead Bothans" playset might have not done as well.
Also, the most awesome thing about this story is that I discovered it (and I'm betting Adam did as well) after Dahlia Lithwick tweeted about it.
ReplyDeleteFunny story- for a huge part of my life, I though she said, "Manny Bothans died to bring us this information." I always wondered who the hell Manny Bothens was. I will not say how old I was when this was cleared up for me, but I will say I could vote.
ReplyDeleteJoseph J, the party tent for your band's performance will be named the Teddy Bear Luau.
ReplyDeleteDamn straight! And I defend the Ewoks, those brave guerilla warriors maligned by jealous fan boys!
ReplyDelete"<span>Then again, not every film should have a sad ending. Imagine if Field Of Dreams ended with Kevin Costner sitting in an empty baseball field for a week, realising that nobody was actually going to turn up, and killing himself."</span>
ReplyDeleteI agree with the first sentiment, but I posit that the second sentence does not make the author's point.
I've always thought that Lucas originally intended for *Lando* to die in the attack on the Death Star, with the Falcon being destroyed in some heroic sacrifice. The script includes what seem to be remnants of that plan (esp. the last interaction between Han and Lando before they go off on their separate missions, in which Han seems sure it's the last time he'll see the Falcon), and it would have provided a nice kind of redemption for Lando after selling out the heroes in Empire.
ReplyDeleteCan I mega-like?
ReplyDelete