Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

***Star Wars*: Episode VI *Return of the Jedi***, marketed as simply ***Return of the Jedi***, is a 1983 science fiction film directed by Richard Marquand and written by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. It is the third film in the *Star Wars* saga, and the third and final film in the original trilogy. It is the sixth chapter internal chronology.

The film is set one year after the Empire's invasion of Cloud City, when Luke Skywalker and friends travel to Tatooine to rescue their friend Han Solo from the vile Jabba the Hutt. The Empire prepares to crush the Rebellion with a more powerful Death Star, while the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the space station. Luke Skywalker confronts his father, Darth Vader, in a final climactic duel before the evil Emperor.

The film debuted on May 25, 1983, and was released on VHS and LaserDisc in this form multiple times during the 1980s and 90s. The film was re-released with changes in 1997, and this version was later released on VHS and Laserdisc as well. The special edition arrived on DVD in 2004, but with further updates and changes to the 1997 versions. The original, unaltered version of the film was released as part of a new DVD set in September 2006. The film was re-released in the Blu-ray format in September of 2011.

## Opening Crawl

```
Luke Skywalker has returned to
his home planet of Tatooine in
an attempt to rescue his
friend Han Solo from the
clutches of the vile gangster
Jabba the Hutt.

Little does Luke know that the
GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly
begun construction on a new
armored space station even
more powerful than the first
dreaded Death Star.

When completed, this ultimate
weapon will spell certain doom
for the small band of rebels
struggling to restore freedom
to the galaxy...

```

## Plot

Luke Skywalker initiates a plan to rescue Han Solo from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt with the help of Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Leia infiltrates Jabba's palace on Tatooine, disguised as a bounty hunter with Chewbacca as her prisoner. Lando is already there, disguised as a guard. Leia releases Han from the carbonite, but she is captured and enslaved. Luke arrives soon afterwards but, after a tense standoff with Jabba and a battle with his rancor, is captured. Jabba sentences him, Han and Chewbacca to death, planning to feed them to the Sarlacc, a pit monster. They are taken to the Great Pit of Carkoon, the Sarlacc's nesting ground. Luke, with R2-D2's help, frees himself and battles Jabba's guards. During the chaos, Boba Fett attempts to attack Luke, but Han, temporarily blinded from the carbonite, inadvertently knocks him into the Sarlacc pit. Meanwhile, Leia strangles Jabba to death, and Luke destroys Jabba's sail barge as the group escapes. While the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah, where he finds that Yoda is on his deathbed. Before he dies, Yoda confirms that Darth Vader, once known as Anakin Skywalker, is Luke's father, and that "there is another". The ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi confirms that this "other" is Luke's twin sister: Leia. Obi-Wan tells Luke that he must fight Vader again to defeat the Empire. Obi-Wan also warns Luke to keep his emotions in check, as his anger could lead him to the Dark Side.

The Rebels learn that the Empire has been constructing a second Death Star under the direct supervision of the Emperor himself. As the station is protected by an energy shield, Han leads a strike team to destroy the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor; doing so would allow a squadron of starfighters to destroy the Death Star. The strike team, accompanied by Luke and Leia, travels to Endor in a stolen Imperial shuttle. On Endor, Luke and his companions encounter a tribe of Ewoks and, after an initial conflict, gain their trust. Later, Luke tells Leia that she is his sister, Vader is their father, and he must go and confront him. Luke surrenders to Imperial troops and is taken to Vader. Luke tries to convince Vader to turn from the dark side of the Force, but fails.

Vader takes Luke to the new Death Star to meet the Emperor, who is intent on turning him to the dark side. The Emperor reveals that the Death Star is fully operational and the Rebel fleet will fall into a trap. On Endor, Han's strike team is captured by Imperial forces, but a surprise counterattack by the Ewoks allows the Rebels to battle the Imperials. Meanwhile, Lando, piloting the *Millennium Falcon*, leads the Rebel fleet to the Death Star, only to find that the station's shield is still active and the Imperial fleet is waiting for them. The Emperor tempts Luke to give in to his anger and join him. Luke engages Vader in a lightsaber duel. Vader senses that Luke has a sister and suggests turning her to the dark side. Enraged, Luke overpowers Vader and severs his father's prosthetic right hand. Upon seeing the remnants of Vader's prosthetic, he sees a parallel between himself and Vader, and fears that he will become like Vader. The Emperor tells Luke to kill Vader and take his place, but Luke refuses, declaring himself a Jedi as his father had been. On Endor, the strike team defeats the Imperial forces and destroys the shield generator, allowing the Rebel fleet to launch their assault on the Death Star. Simultaneously, the Emperor tortures Luke with Force lightning. Luke calls out to his father for help. Unwilling to let his son die, Vader throws the Emperor down the Death Star reactor, killing the Emperor, but is himself fatally injured in the process. He asks Luke to remove his mask, but Luke is hesitant, stating that it would kill him, to which Vader replies, "Nothing can stop that now." Luke removes the mask, revealing a scarred and aging Anakin Skywalker, and after a brief talk in which he tells Luke that he has helped redeem him, he dies peacefully.

As the battle between the Imperial and Alliance fleets continues, Lando leads a group of Rebel ships into the Death Star's core and destroys the main reactor. As Luke escapes on a shuttle with his father's body, the *Falcon* flies out of the Death Star after striking the main reactor, causing the Death Star to explode. On Endor, Leia reveals to Han that Luke is her brother, and they kiss. Luke returns to Endor and cremates his father's body on a funeral pyre. As the Rebels celebrate their victory over the Empire, Luke encounters the ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the redeemed Anakin watching over them.

## Cast

* Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker
* Carrie Fisher - Leia Organa
* Harrison Ford - Han Solo
* Billy Dee Williams - Lando Calrissian
* David Prowse - Darth Vader
* Sebastian Shaw - Darth Vader (Unmasked) / Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker (Original physical form)
* Hayden Christensen - Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker (Special edition physical form)
* James Earl Jones - Darth Vader (Voice)
* Alec Guiness - Obi-Wan Kenobi
* Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca
* Anthony Daniels - C-3PO
* Kenny Baker - R2-D2 / Paploo
* Denis Lawson - Wedge Antilles
* Frank Oz - Yoda
* Jeremy Bulloch - Boba Fett
* Jason Wingreen - Boba Fett (Original Voice)
* Temuera Morrison - Boba Fett (Special Edition Voice)

* Ian McDiarmid - Emperor Sheev Palpatine
* Michael Pennington - Moff Tiaan Jerjerrod
* Caroline Blakiston - Mon Mothma
* Tim Rose - Admiral Gial Ackbar
* Kenneth Colley - Admiral Firmus Piett
* Warwick Davis - Wicket W. Warrick
* Michael Carter - Bib Fortuna (Physical Form)
* Erik Bauersfeld - Bib Fortuna (Voice)
* Richard Bonehill - Nien Nunb
* Gerald Home - Tessek / Mon Calamari officer
* Mike Edmonds - Logray
* Toby Philpott, David Barclay and Mike Edmonds - Jabba Desilijic Tiure
* Larry Ward - Jabba Desilijic Tiure (Voice)

## Appearances

###  Planets

* Dagobah
* Tattooine
* Endor

### Vehicles

* Millenium Falcon
* Rebel X-Wing
* Rebel B-Wing
* Rebel A-Wing
* Imperial TIE Fighter
* Imperial TIE Bomber
* Imperial TIE Advanced
* Imperial Star Destroyer

###  Droid Types

* Protocol Droid
* Astomech Droid

### Organizations

* Rebel Alliance
* Galactic Empire

### Armies

* Rebel Trooper Army
* Rebel Fleet
* Imperial Army