The first half of *Return if the Jedi* is peak Star Wars.
And it happens on a planet, not out among the stars.
No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense diegetically (if that’s the word I want) but it leans hard into the source material of the adventure serials of the 30s and 40s, where each episode ended with the hero dying in some inescapable circumstance, only to show in the very next episode that he escaped by hiding behind a rock.
Your addendum is probably closer to what was going on.
But, was there a unified plan? Luke was off crafting a light saber. Maybe Leia thought he was taking too long, and decided to take matters into her own hands. Maybe, in the back of her mind as she was unfreezing Han, she was thinking, “That Luke thinks he’s so smart. It’s gong to be so funny when he shows up and finds out that Han is long gone. Too bad about Chewie.”
Meanwhile, poor Lando is risking discover and death for months, or years, his last instructions being, “don’t do anything until you hear from us.” And….nothing, until everyone starts showing up, unannounced.
I’ve seen several variations of this piece in the past, and it always makes me wonder: Why do so many people assume these characters were coordinating their efforts?
There’s nothing in the movie that suggests they were. I never got that impression when I saw the movie as a kid.
If you assume they all showed up on their own, there’s really nothing much to make sense of. Luke was planning to use the ol’ Jedi mind trick to walk out with Han and the droids. Leia was hoping to use the thermal detonator to do the same. Lando, as we saw in Empire, is a coward, so he doesn’t have a plan, but he’s there to keep an eye on his friend. Then things get more complicated than any of them expected, and they have to improvise.
I think that's the best explanation. Another one is: plans are overrated anyway!
Everyone of these characters is a minor super-hero with huge amounts of plot armor (something that Luke actually might be able to force-intuit). So the action guiding principle is "we are not trapped in here with you, you are trapped in here with us!"
Just get everyone inside and then -once an opportunity arises -overpower Jabba and his goons.
In all seriousness most people have seen this movie a hundred times and never thought of all this and all the scenes work individually. Most of the plots in Star Wars make no sense if you think about them
We see the plan work out in the movie: Jabba is an egotistical, hedonistic fool who nonetheless managed to make himself a wealthy crime boss, no doubt by sheer intimidation. He bought Han as an art installation, and tries to execute Luke (twice!) as entertainment for his flunkies. The dude just wasn’t that difficult to outwit.
I also wondered , the first time I saw it, why no one realized that that was Leia ‘sneaking’ in. I didn’t even have to figure it out. I just knew, mostly because she just looked like herself in terms of figure and movement.
It’s very odd to me. I’m not particularly good at recognizing in general, but it literally did not occur to me that the figure was anyone else. It might be slightly connected to the fact that I did some cosplay crossing ages ago. (It was easy. I looked like a boy til I was about 30.) Planet of the Apes was the same. I literally had no idea that anyone thought it was anywhere but Earth.
As a kid, I would get up super early on Saturdays to watch the old Flash Gordon series. And when I saw Star Wars, it was clearly just a mash up of that with a sprinkle of “Hero with a Thousand Faces”. So, I didn’t expect much of it to stand up to scrutiny.
To me this whole segment was Luke showing that he was overconfident and under-informed. He’s still a farm boy, and he seems to be acting out some adventure story he got told when he was maybe twelve.
Luke’s plans all do seem to fall into this mode; blunder in and hope for the best. I like the idea that underneath it all, it’s still just farm boy Luke playing the hero.
I also think about some of the most bone-headed ideas my gaming group came up with when we played a variant of D&D in the 80s. All of us, myself included , did things as dumb - because like Luke we were overconfident and/or under-informed, of because it just made for fun storytelling.
That’s the whole point of the Force, dummy! I know no one can read any more but if even cinema asks too much of modern literacy then boy howdy we really are fucked.
I only saw the first Star wars movie so I'm not qualified to discuss these issues. But I did work at screen writing and took a course in Manhattan on the subject, and I can say that movies follow a strict formula. For example, you have the opening ten minutes to capture the audience and get them to buy into your fantasy. Otherwise the movie flops. Another example, right before the climax, the worst happens and you think all is lost before the final victory. This takes the viewer from the highest level of emotion to the lowest and back to the highest. Movies follow this structure. For what it's worth, it gives you an organized way to evaluate a film.
Very funny. Why does no one ever mention that the Star wars universe has created perfect artificial life and enslaved it? All the droids have emotions, independent thought, feel things like fear and concern for themselves and others yet have no purpose but to serve their human masters. Pretty dark.
Plan? What plan? The one where Ben Kenobi, who definitely knew Luke and Leia were twins when they were born, encouraged Luke to hit on Leia by talking up how beautiful she is and later had to be reminded by Yoda that Luke has a sister? The one where Anakin builds a protocol droid from scratch as a kid and then never recognizes him (or the R2 unit that he befriends) again? That plan? I'm sensing a pattern here.
Well, all those years in the desert with no one to talk to took a toll on old Ben. And, hey, if being force sensitive is strongly genetic, maybe their child could the true chosen one. What could possibly go wrong?
Lucas' contradictions and plot holes are part of what gives Star Wars its power, because the Ur-Narrative for Western viewers is the Bible, which is riddled with contradictions and plot holes. To people raised in a Judaeo-Christian tradition, Star Wars just feels right... a new religious text open to endless analysis.
The first half of *Return if the Jedi* is peak Star Wars.
And it happens on a planet, not out among the stars.
No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense diegetically (if that’s the word I want) but it leans hard into the source material of the adventure serials of the 30s and 40s, where each episode ended with the hero dying in some inescapable circumstance, only to show in the very next episode that he escaped by hiding behind a rock.
Your addendum is probably closer to what was going on.
But, was there a unified plan? Luke was off crafting a light saber. Maybe Leia thought he was taking too long, and decided to take matters into her own hands. Maybe, in the back of her mind as she was unfreezing Han, she was thinking, “That Luke thinks he’s so smart. It’s gong to be so funny when he shows up and finds out that Han is long gone. Too bad about Chewie.”
Meanwhile, poor Lando is risking discover and death for months, or years, his last instructions being, “don’t do anything until you hear from us.” And….nothing, until everyone starts showing up, unannounced.
True: taking the spirit of the cliffhanger series in mind, I’m sure continuing excitement trumped plot logic at times.
I’ve seen several variations of this piece in the past, and it always makes me wonder: Why do so many people assume these characters were coordinating their efforts?
There’s nothing in the movie that suggests they were. I never got that impression when I saw the movie as a kid.
If you assume they all showed up on their own, there’s really nothing much to make sense of. Luke was planning to use the ol’ Jedi mind trick to walk out with Han and the droids. Leia was hoping to use the thermal detonator to do the same. Lando, as we saw in Empire, is a coward, so he doesn’t have a plan, but he’s there to keep an eye on his friend. Then things get more complicated than any of them expected, and they have to improvise.
I think that's the best explanation. Another one is: plans are overrated anyway!
Everyone of these characters is a minor super-hero with huge amounts of plot armor (something that Luke actually might be able to force-intuit). So the action guiding principle is "we are not trapped in here with you, you are trapped in here with us!"
Just get everyone inside and then -once an opportunity arises -overpower Jabba and his goons.
I would watch some sort of Rashomon-style retelling of Jabba’s palace, from each hero’s POV, assuming they did come at it independently.
That would rule tbh
I got a pretty good laugh from this piece by Frank Fleming a few years back.
https://www.frankjfleming.com/p/the-missing-scene-from-return-of
In all seriousness most people have seen this movie a hundred times and never thought of all this and all the scenes work individually. Most of the plots in Star Wars make no sense if you think about them
My god that piece is brilliant.
Great article. This was my favorite line “Why even have a door; they might as well just set it to open on an automatic motion sensor at this point.”
I can never watch that part again in a theater because I’ll say that out loud!
We see the plan work out in the movie: Jabba is an egotistical, hedonistic fool who nonetheless managed to make himself a wealthy crime boss, no doubt by sheer intimidation. He bought Han as an art installation, and tries to execute Luke (twice!) as entertainment for his flunkies. The dude just wasn’t that difficult to outwit.
I also wondered , the first time I saw it, why no one realized that that was Leia ‘sneaking’ in. I didn’t even have to figure it out. I just knew, mostly because she just looked like herself in terms of figure and movement.
I have to admit, I couldn't tell. But I've never been able to see through disguises very well!
It’s very odd to me. I’m not particularly good at recognizing in general, but it literally did not occur to me that the figure was anyone else. It might be slightly connected to the fact that I did some cosplay crossing ages ago. (It was easy. I looked like a boy til I was about 30.) Planet of the Apes was the same. I literally had no idea that anyone thought it was anywhere but Earth.
As a kid, I would get up super early on Saturdays to watch the old Flash Gordon series. And when I saw Star Wars, it was clearly just a mash up of that with a sprinkle of “Hero with a Thousand Faces”. So, I didn’t expect much of it to stand up to scrutiny.
To me this whole segment was Luke showing that he was overconfident and under-informed. He’s still a farm boy, and he seems to be acting out some adventure story he got told when he was maybe twelve.
Luke’s plans all do seem to fall into this mode; blunder in and hope for the best. I like the idea that underneath it all, it’s still just farm boy Luke playing the hero.
I also think about some of the most bone-headed ideas my gaming group came up with when we played a variant of D&D in the 80s. All of us, myself included , did things as dumb - because like Luke we were overconfident and/or under-informed, of because it just made for fun storytelling.
1000%
That’s the whole point of the Force, dummy! I know no one can read any more but if even cinema asks too much of modern literacy then boy howdy we really are fucked.
Here was the plan: https://frankjfleming.substack.com/p/the-missing-scene-from-return-of
I hadn’t seen this prior to writing but nails it!
I see someone else had already posted the link. Sorry about the duplicate. But yes, Frank's got a gift for writing those kinds of scenes.
I had never seen that post before, but love that we both used the Dr. Strange 14M reference!
I only saw the first Star wars movie so I'm not qualified to discuss these issues. But I did work at screen writing and took a course in Manhattan on the subject, and I can say that movies follow a strict formula. For example, you have the opening ten minutes to capture the audience and get them to buy into your fantasy. Otherwise the movie flops. Another example, right before the climax, the worst happens and you think all is lost before the final victory. This takes the viewer from the highest level of emotion to the lowest and back to the highest. Movies follow this structure. For what it's worth, it gives you an organized way to evaluate a film.
I think he just wanted to see Leia in a bikini. He didn't know they were related, yet.
The plot logic sucks a rancor's balls on Mustafar, but it's hugely entertaining, so it gets away with it.
Very funny. Why does no one ever mention that the Star wars universe has created perfect artificial life and enslaved it? All the droids have emotions, independent thought, feel things like fear and concern for themselves and others yet have no purpose but to serve their human masters. Pretty dark.
Dark indeed; somehow the droids can’t turn off their pain sensors and can get physically tortured. That part left a lasting impression on me as a kid.
I’ve saved your post in my TBR, but the title struck me as, it could equally be asked, what exactly was Lucas’s plan?
Plan? What plan? The one where Ben Kenobi, who definitely knew Luke and Leia were twins when they were born, encouraged Luke to hit on Leia by talking up how beautiful she is and later had to be reminded by Yoda that Luke has a sister? The one where Anakin builds a protocol droid from scratch as a kid and then never recognizes him (or the R2 unit that he befriends) again? That plan? I'm sensing a pattern here.
Hahahaha yes yes yes
Well, all those years in the desert with no one to talk to took a toll on old Ben. And, hey, if being force sensitive is strongly genetic, maybe their child could the true chosen one. What could possibly go wrong?
Lucas' contradictions and plot holes are part of what gives Star Wars its power, because the Ur-Narrative for Western viewers is the Bible, which is riddled with contradictions and plot holes. To people raised in a Judaeo-Christian tradition, Star Wars just feels right... a new religious text open to endless analysis.
Does anyone else wonder how the heck Leia is a princess and yet Darth Vader has no clue?
It’s called Lucasvision
Or the complete lack thereof
Ha, ha. Thanks for the out loud laughs.
Thank you so much for reading!
The point is that there wasn’t one, but it is very hard to tell because George Lucas cannot write