Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who was also the executive producer. The sequel to Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980), it is the third installment in the original Star Wars trilogy, the third film to be produced, and the sixth chronological film in the "Skywalker Saga". The film stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and Frank Oz.
Princess Leia Organa is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists in the Star Wars franchise, portrayed in films by Carrie Fisher. Introduced in the original Star Wars film in 1977, Leia is princess of the planet Alderaan, a member of the Imperial Senate and an agent of the Rebel Alliance. She thwarts the sinister Sith Lord Darth Vader and helps bring about the destruction of the Empire's cataclysmic superweapon, the Death Star. In The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Leia commands a Rebel base and evades Vader as she falls in love with the smuggler Han Solo. In Return of the Jedi (1983), Leia helps in the operation to rescue Han from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt and is revealed to be Vader's daughter and the twin sister of Luke Skywalker.
Landonis Balthazar "Lando" Calrissian III is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He was introduced in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as an old friend of Han Solo and the administrator of the floating Cloud City on the gas planet Bespin. Prior to the events of the film, Lando made a career as a gambler, con artist, playboy, mining engineer, and businessman, and was the owner of the Millennium Falcon until losing the ship to Han in a bet. In the film, when Cloud City is threatened by the Galactic Empire, Lando reluctantly betrays Han to Darth Vader, but later redeems himself by helping Han's friends escape from the Empire. In Return of the Jedi (1983), after becoming a general in the Rebel Alliance, Lando helps rescue Han from Jabba the Hutt and leads the attack on the second Death Star.
Banthas are fictional creatures in the Star Wars franchise. They are large, quadrupedal mammals with long, thick fur, and are first seen in the film Star Wars (1977), where they are used as beasts of burden by Tusken Raiders on the planet Tatooine. They have since been featured in several other Star Wars works, including the Special Edition version of Return of the Jedi (1983), the prequel films The Phantom Menace (1999) and Attack of the Clones (2002), and the television shows Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett, as well as video games and books.
Bib Fortuna is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. The Twi'lek majordomo and chief aide of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, Bib is Jabba's closest associate, succeeding him as daimyo after his death before ultimately being killed himself by Boba Fett. Fortuna first appeared in Return of the Jedi (1983), the final entry in the original Star Wars trilogy. He also appeared briefly in the prequel trilogy film The Phantom Menace (1999) and in the second season of Disney+ series The Mandalorian (2021), The Bad Batch (2021) and The Book of Boba Fett (2022). The character has also appeared in other Star Wars media, including novels, comic books, video games, and radio dramas.
Changes in Star Wars re-releases vary from minor differences in color timing, audio mixing, and take choices to major insertions of new visual effects, additions of characters and dialogue, scene expansions, and replacement of original cast members with newer ones. Though changes were also made to the prequel trilogy, the original trilogy saw the most alteration. Dissatisfied with the original theatrical cuts of the original Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, creator George Lucas altered the films in ways that were ostensibly not initially possible, primarily due to limitations of time, budget, and technology.
The sarlacc is a fictional creature in George Lucas's sci-fi action saga Star Wars. It first appeared in the film Return of the Jedi (1983) as a multi-tentacled alien beast whose immense, gaping maw is lined with several rows of sharp teeth, inhabiting the Great Pit of Carkoon, a hollow in the sand of the desert planet Tatooine. After bounty hunter Boba Fett escapes from its maw in "Chapter 1: Stranger in a Strange Land" of The Book of Boba Fett (2022) and eventually returns to retrieve his armour, the sarlacc is killed by his partner Fennec Shand in "Chapter 4: The Gathering Storm".
Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy is a 2004 documentary film directed by Kevin Burns and narrated by Robert Clotworthy. It documents the making of the original Star Wars trilogy: Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983), and their impact on popular culture.
The Hutts are an alien species in the Star Wars franchise. They are rotund, voracious and grotesque-looking slug-like creatures with a predisposition to being leaders in organized crime. The most famous Hutt and the first to be depicted was Jabba the Hutt in the films Return of the Jedi, the Special Edition release of A New Hope, and The Phantom Menace. Jabba and numerous other Hutts appear in various works of the Star Wars expanded universe, which greatly elaborates on their history, culture and role in galactic society.
The Max Rebo Band is a fictional alien pop music band in the Star Wars franchise, first appearing in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi as in-house performers for crime lord Jabba the Hutt. The lineup originally seen in the film consists of the blue-skinned Ortolan organist Max Rebo, a plump Kitonak woodwind player named Droopy McCool, and the Pa'lowick lead singer Sy Snootles, while additional members were inserted into the later-edited Special Edition of the film. A great deal of further information about the band and the personal histories of its members is found in various literature of the now-noncanonical Star Wars Expanded Universe.
The Making of Star Wars is a television special produced by 20th Century Fox, which aired on the ABC Television Network on September 16, 1977. It was written by Richard Schickel and directed and produced by Robert Guenette.
Star Wars Celebration is a large fan convention held to celebrate the Star Wars franchise. The event is usually held annually in varying locations around the world, and commonly features a host of Star Wars project announcements, panel discussions featuring actors, producers and writers, screenings, exhibits, cosplay and merchandise sales. It began in 1999, when Lucasfilm held the first Star Wars Celebration in Denver, Colorado to celebrate the upcoming release of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.
The Ewoks are a fictional species of small, furry, mammaloid, bipeds in the Star Wars universe. They inhabit the forest moon of Endor and live in arboreal huts and other simple dwellings, being seen as primitive in comparison with other sentient species. Ewoks debuted in the 1983 feature film Return of the Jedi and have since appeared in two made-for-television films, The Ewok Adventure (1984) and Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985), as well as a 2D animated series, several books and games, and briefly in the 2019 feature film Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Jabba Desilijic Tiure, more commonly known as Jabba the Hutt, is a fictional character and major antagonist in the Star Wars franchise. Created by George Lucas, Jabba is voiced by Larry Ward with several puppeteers inside a one-ton puppet portraying him in Return of the Jedi. He was originally supposed to first appear in Star Wars (1977) as a stop motion character with Declan Mulholland as his stand-in. Jabba was later added into the film as a CGI character when it was re-released in Special Edition in 1997. He also appears in the prequel movie The Phantom Menace. The character is a large slug-like creature based on annelid worms and originally designed as an apelike figure.
"It's a Trap!" is a direct-to-video special of the animated series Family Guy which later served as the double-episode season finale of the ninth season and is the final part of the series' Star Wars parody trilogy Laugh It Up, Fuzzball. It is named after the phrase uttered by Admiral Ackbar in the Star Wars film Return of the Jedi. The home video was first released on December 21, 2010, and later aired on Fox in the United States on May 22, 2011.
Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy consists of three episodes of the American animated sitcom Family Guy. The episodes are a crossover and parody retelling of the original Star Wars trilogy Star Wars (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Return of the Jedi (1983). The first episode, "Blue Harvest" (2007), was released to commemorate the original film's 30th anniversary. Due to its success, it was followed by two direct-to-video sequels: "Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" (2010) and "It's a Trap!" (2011), which were subsequently aired on television in edited versions, omitting most profanity and sexual references. The trilogy was released on Blu-ray and DVD in the United States on December 21, 2010. Its title comes from a phrase Han Solo said to Chewbacca in The Empire Strikes Back as the latter was laughing at the former.
SP FX: The Empire Strikes Back is a television documentary special which originally aired on CBS on September 22, 1980. Hosted by actor Mark Hamill, it is a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the special effects in the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back, which was released that year. The special was written by Richard Schickel and directed by Robert Guenette, who had both previously worked on the 1977 special The Making of Star Wars.
From Star Wars to Jedi: The Making of a Saga is a 1983 television documentary special that originally aired on PBS. It is a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the original Star Wars trilogy, with particular emphasis on the final film, Return of the Jedi.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a 2019 American epic space opera film produced, co-written, and directed by J. J. Abrams. Produced by Lucasfilm and Abrams' production company Bad Robot Productions, and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017), and the final episode of the nine-part "Skywalker saga". Its ensemble cast includes Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, and Billy Dee Williams. Set one year after The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker follows Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron as they lead the Resistance's final stand against Supreme Leader Kylo Ren and the First Order, who are aided by the return of the Galactic Emperor, Palpatine.
In Search of Tomorrow is a 2022 documentary film, written and directed by David A. Weiner. It takes the viewer on a year-by-year deep dive into science fiction films of the 1980s, such as Star Wars, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Back to the Future, Dune, RoboCop, Aliens, Tron, WarGames, The Terminator, Ghostbusters, Predator, Akira, The Road Warrior, The Abyss, Short Circuit, and several more. The film also examines the science and technology behind the fiction amid insider tales of the creative process.
