Return of the Jedi by Joss Whedon

POSTED BY: Legolad
UPDATED: Saturday, March 18, 2006 16:41
VIEWED: 8369
PAGE 1 of 3

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE

LEGOLAD

Thursday, March 16, 2006 7:29 AM

This came up in another thread, and I thought I'd give it its own post. First of all, no, Joss had nothing to do with Star Wars and likely never will.

But there's an excellent interview with him where he mentions that if there's one movie he would have liked the chance to make, it would have been Return of the Jedi.

Take a moment to imagine that.

So... for everyone out there (like myself) who loved the first two but were incredibly disappointed by Jedi... what do you think Joss' version would have been like? What would you have wanted to see? What would YOU have done? Just thought I'd throw the topic out there... let your imaginations run wild.

Oh, and here's the interview, which is quite long, but very good; he discusses nearly everything he's worked on, from Toy Story to Serenity:
www.infocusmag.com/05augustseptember/whedonuncut.htm

"We need a hood ornament."

GARIM

Thursday, March 16, 2006 8:12 AM

Actually, I am pretty sure that Joss said that he would've liked to make "Revenge of the Jedi", which it was originally intended to be called.

MIGHTYROAR

Thursday, March 16, 2006 9:06 AM

I heard in interview with Lucas, where he said that he intentionally leaked the title "Revenge ..." to dupe manufacturers of non-official merchandise to have the wrong name on them. Then when the film was released, he came up with the whole "well, revenge isn't really a jedi trait" thing

CHRISPV

Thursday, March 16, 2006 3:12 PM

First lesson of Lucas-speak, 99% of what he says is pure bilge. If he says he did anything intentionally, I'd cast some serious doubt on that. Rembember, he always wanted Luke and Leia to be siblings, and yet he wrote in a scene in Empire where they play tonsil hockey.

And the 1% that isn't bilge, you ask? Well, he has to be honest about his name, otherwise he couldn't cash those ENORMOUS checks of his.

As for the main question, I don't know. The dialog would be better, but I actually think that might be a deterrent. I'm not of the type that says the hokey dialog in SW is "charming," but going from Lucas level scripting to Joss level scripting so abruptly would stand out pretty severely.

Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal, Fox!

REGINAROADIE

Thursday, March 16, 2006 3:24 PM

I dunno. I always liked RETURN OF THE JEDI. Yeah, maybe there were too many Ewoks in it, but for the most part, it does wrap up the series incredibly well.

I mean, not only do you have the biggest, baddest space dog figth ever put on film (with all due respect to SERENITY), but you also got the ultimate final showdown between Luke and Darth Vader and The Emperor. Just that part when Vader says "If you will not be turned, then maybe she will.", he bursts out of the shadows screaming "NOOOOO" and then just going apeshit on Vader. The whole series has been building up that moment where you think Luke'll finally go over to the Dark Side.

And The Emperor being tossed over the side into that power core thing at the end has to be one of the best sci-f deaths.

I dunno. I always liked JEDI.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"I think one of the greatest things about modern America is the computerization of medical records. As a volunteer sheriff, I can look up anyone's psychiatric records and their surgical histories. Yeast infections. There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably...because we're down river...from that old bread factory."

Dwight - The Office - 209 - E-mail Surveillance

ZEEK

Thursday, March 16, 2006 3:57 PM

I always liked Jedi too. I don't really mind the Ewoks even. The only thing I'd change is giving them deadlier weapons. It's obvious that nothing they use would hurt a stormtrooper. Yet still we see the troopers being taken out by them. That's just silly.

The scenes of Luke being all badass are great though. At Jabba's palace you see exactly the path I wish they had gone with Anakin. He's doing a good thing, but he's using his powers a bit to evily in the process. Using the force choke was always an evil use of the force in my opinion.

Then the final showdown between Luke, Vader and the Emperor. That is a great way for things to play out. Even with Vader turning away from the darkside to save his son is awesome (until you learn that Anakin is a loser who couldn't decide what cape to wear without someone else telling him).

Plus the Emperor is one of the best evil characters ever in Jedi. Every line he delivers is spot on evil.

All in all a pretty great movie IMO. I don't really know what else Joss could have done with it.

ISAACSHEPHERD

Thursday, March 16, 2006 4:00 PM

If Joss had a chance to write and direct I think the movie would have been much better. I do like the ending but I think someone in the main cast would have died. I think he likes to kill main characters b/c we never really see it comming. Too many movies keep all the heroes alive in the end and it loses the intensity and makes them predictable.
I've recently began watching Buffy and I'm on disc 2 for season 2 and Joss kills someone in almost every episode (although they aren't main characters).
As far as the ending goes with the Luke/Vader/Emperor fight, I really like that part. I don't think that part really needs to be changed. The Ewoks on the other hand would have turned out much different. They got annoying and seemed a bit out of place compared to the rest of the SW movies.
IS

The Bible's a bit fuzzy on the subject of kneecaps.

REGINAROADIE

Thursday, March 16, 2006 4:01 PM

I agree. If anything, he would be paying more of an homage to it than improving it. If FIREFLY had run for x # of years and the final season was like the second civil war or something like that, I always imagined that Simon's fight with Gabriel and the Blue Handed Men or whoever was in charge of what happened to River would be fought out just like in JEDI.

For some reason, I just see Simon brandishing a lightsaber. And even though it would be infringing on copyright, it would still be really cool.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"I think one of the greatest things about modern America is the computerization of medical records. As a volunteer sheriff, I can look up anyone's psychiatric records and their surgical histories. Yeast infections. There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably...because we're down river...from that old bread factory."

Dwight - The Office - 209 - E-mail Surveillance

SADLITTLEKING

Thursday, March 16, 2006 5:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by IsaacShepherd:
If Joss had a chance to write and direct I think the movie would have been much better. I do like the ending but I think someone in the main cast would have died. I think he likes to kill main characters b/c we never really see it comming. Too many movies keep all the heroes alive in the end and it loses the intensity and makes them predictable.
I've recently began watching Buffy and I'm on disc 2 for season 2 and Joss kills someone in almost every episode (although they aren't main characters).
As far as the ending goes with the Luke/Vader/Emperor fight, I really like that part. I don't think that part really needs to be changed. The Ewoks on the other hand would have turned out much different. They got annoying and seemed a bit out of place compared to the rest of the SW movies.
IS

I agree.

I thought Jedi was good. I think the only things Joss would change is making the Ewoks menacing rather than cute and he'd actually kill some characters. C-3PO and/or R2 would be junked during the Jabba fight. Wedge would die in the final space battle. Lando would sacrifice himself and Funny Mustache Big Head Co-Pilot Guy in order to destroy the Death Star. Yes, Joss would destroy the Millenium Falcon. He's that vindictive, I tell you. He's probably smashed Millenium Falcon toys hundreds of times, living out his perverted fantasy to make Star Wars fans around the world collectively weep.

KAYNA

Thursday, March 16, 2006 6:10 PM

Maybe I'm a dork but I liked the Ewok victory. The Empire is a technological force (just look at the Death Star). All the systems they take seriously have laser guns and energy shield and such so that's what they plan on fighting with and against. Who would ever think to use "primitive" weapons on them?!?
They never contemplated the posibility so they never bothered to defend against it. If they thought the Ewoks might try to fight them I agree they would have slaughtered them all but the didn't. The Ewoks never came into the equation as far as the Empire was concerned and that proved fatal.

Sorry about that. It's a pet peeve of mine. Anyway, I'm not sure Joss would have made them menecing. He seems to like putting power in unexpected and inocuose places. He might have made them more warrior like though.
As for the rest of it, yes some big characters would have died. It makes things more real and emotional. Joss is good at that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Op: You're fighting a war you've already lost.
Mal: Yeah, well I'm known for that.

1 2 3 NEXT PAGE