by James Kahn
holding cave. He reaches the door and pushes a button to open it.
When he succeeds, he sees a heavy barred gate between him and
safety. Beyond the gate two guards look up from their dinner.
Luke turns to see the monster heading for him, and pulls with all
his might on the gate. The guards move to the gate and start
poking at the young Jedi with spears, laughing.
Luke crouches (against the wall) as the monster starts to reach
for him. Suddenly he notices a main door control panel halfway up
the wall. As the Rancor moves in for the kill, Luke picks up a
skull from the cave floor and hurls it at the panel. The giant
overhead door comes crashing down on the beast's head, squashing
it like a sledgehammer on an egg.
A startled gasp is heard from the stunned court. There's
consternation at this turn of events. Heads look to Jabba, who is
actually turning red with anger. Leia cannot suppress her joy.
Jabba utters harsh commands to his guards and they hurry off.
JABBA (in Huttese subtitled)
Bring me Solo and the Wookiee. They will all
suffer for this outrage.
21 INT RANCOR PIT 21
The Rancor KEEPERS have come into the cage and are examining
their dead beast. One of them breaks down and weeps. The other
glares menacingly at Luke, who is unworried. Several guards rush
into the holding tunnel and take Luke away.
22 INT THRONE ROOM 22
The crowd of creepy courtiers parts as Han and Chewie are brought
into the throne room, and other guards drag Luke up the steps.
LUKE
Han!
HAN
Luke!
LUKE
Are you all right?
HAN
Fine. Together again, huh?
LUKE
Wouldn't miss it.
HAN
How are we doing?
LUKE
The same as always.
HAN
That bad, huh? Where's Leia?
Luke looks to Leia.
LEIA
I'm here.
Threepio is standing behind the grotesque gangster as he strokes
Leia like a pet cat. Several of the guards, including Lando,
bring Luke from the other side of the room. Boba is standing
behind Jabba.
Threepio steps forward and translates for the captives.
THREEPIO
Oh, dear. His High Exaltedness, the great
Jabba the Hutt, has decreed that you are to
be terminated immediately.
HAN
Good, I hate long waits.
THREEPIO
You will therefore be taken to the Dune Sea
and cast into the pit of Carkoon, the nesting
place of the all-powerful Sarlacc.
HAN (to Luke)
Doesn't sound so bad.
THREEPIO
In his belly, you will find a new definition
of pain and suffering, as you are slowly
digested over a thousand years.
HAN
On second thought, let's pass on that, huh?
Chewie barks his agreement.
LUKE
You should have bargained, Jabba. That's the
last mistake you'll ever make.
Jabba cackles evilly at this.
As the guards dra g the prisoners from the throne room, a loud
cheer rises from the crowd. Leia and Chewie exchange concerned
looks, but Luke Skywalker, Jedi warrior, cannot suppress a smile.
23 EXT TATOOINE SEA - SKIFF 23
Jabba's huge SAIL BARGE moves above the desert surface
accompanied by two smaller SKIFFS. One of the skiffs glides
close, revealing Luke, Han, and Chewie -- all in bonds --
surrounded by guards, one of whom is Lando in disguise.
HAN
I think my eyes are getting better. Instead
of a big dark blur, I see a big light blur.
LUKE
There's nothing to see. I used to live here,
you know.
HAN
You're gonna die here, you know. Convenient.
LUKE
Just stick close to Chewie and Lando. I've
taken care of everything.
HAN
Oh... great!
24 INT BARGE OBSERVATION DECK 24
Jabba the Hutt rides like a sultan in the massive antigravity
ship. His entire retinue is with him, drinking, eating, and
having a good time. Leia is watching her friends in the skiff
when the chain attached to her neck is pulled tight and Jabba
tugs the scantily clad princess to him.
JABBA (in Huttese subtitled)
Soon you will learn to appreciate me.
Threepio wanders among the Sail Barge aliens, bumping into a
smaller droid serving drinks, spilling them all over the place.
The stubby droid lets out an angry series of beeps and whistles.
THREEPIO
Oh, I'm terribly sor... Artoo! What are you
doing here?
Artoo beeps a quick reply.
THREEPIO
Well, I can see you're serving drinks, but
this place is dangerous. They're going to
execute Master Luke and, if we're not
careful, us too!
Artoo whistles a singsong response.
THREEPIO
Hmm. I wish I had your confidence.
25 EXT SARLACC PIT 25
The convoy moves up over a huge sand pit. The Sail Barge stops to
one side of the depression, as does the escort skiff. But the
prisoner's skiff moves out directly over the center and hovers.
At the bottom of the deep cone of sand is a repulsive, mucous-
lined hole, surrounded by thousands of needle-sharp teeth. This
is the SARLACC. A plank is extended from the edge of the
prisoner's skiff. Guards release Luke's bonds and shove him out
onto the plank above the Sarlacc's mouth.
26 EXT SAIL BARGE OBSERVATION DECK 26
Jabba and Leia are now by the rail, watching. Threepio leans
forward and the slobbering villain mumbles something to him. As
Threepio steps up to a comlink, Jabba raises his arm and the
motley array of intergalactic pirates fall silent. Threepio's
voice is amplified across loudspeakers.
THREEPIO
Victims of the almighty Sarlacc His
Excellency hopes that you will die honorably.
But should any of you wish to beg for mercy,
the great Jabba the Hutt will now listen to
your pleas.
27 EXT SKIFF 27
Han steps forward arrogantly and begins to speak.
HAN
Threepio, you tell that slimy piece of...
worm-ridden filth he'll get no such pleasure
from us. Right?
Chewie growls his agreement.
LUKE
Jabba! This is your last chance. Free us or
die.
Lando moves unobtrusively along the skiff as Luke shoots a quick
look of conspiracy to him.
28 INT SAIL BARGE OBSERVATION DECK 28
The assembled monsters rock with mocking laughter as Artoo zips
unnoticed up the ramp to the upper deck. Jabba's laughter
subsides as he speaks into the comlink.
JABBA (in Huttese subtitled)
Move him into position.
Jabba makes a thumbs-down gesture. Leia looks worried.
29 EXT BARGE - UPPER DECK 29
Artoo appears from below and zips
over to the rail facing the
pit. Below, in the skiff, Luke is prodded by a guard to the edge
of the plank over the gaping Sarlacc. Luke looks up at Artoo,
then gives a jaunty salute the signal the little droid has been
waiting for. A flap opens in Artoo's domed head.
JABBA (in Huttese subtitled)
Put him in.
30 EXT SKIFF - PLANK 30
Luke is prodded and jumps off the plank to the cheers of the
bloodthirsty spectators. But, before anyone can even perceive
what is happening, he spins around and grabs the end of the plank
by his fingertips. The plank bends wildly from his weight and
catapults him skyward. In midair he does a complete flip and
drops down on the end of the plank in the same spot he just
vacated, but facing the skiff. He casually extends an open palm
and -- his lightsaber, which Artoo has sent arcing toward him,
drops into his hand.
With samurai speed, Luke ignites it and attacks the guard who
prodded him off the plank, sending the hapless monster screaming
overboard. The other guards swarm toward Luke. He wades into
them, lightsaber flashing. Lando struggles with another guard at
the back of the skiff.
31 EXT SARLACC PIT 31
A bewildered guard lands in the soft, sandy slope of the pit, and
begins sliding. He claws desperately as a Sarlacc tentacle grabs
him and pulls him screaming into the viscous mouth.
32 INT SAIL BARGE 32
Jabba watches this and explodes in rage. He barks commands, and
the guards around him rush off to do his bidding. The scuzzy
creatures watching the action from the window are in an uproar.
33 EXT SKIFF 33
Luke knocks another guard off the skiff and into the waiting
mouth of the Sarlacc. He starts to untie Chewie's bonds.
LUKE
Easy, Chewie.
At that moment, the deck gunmen on the barge unleash a series of
blasts from a big cannon on the upper deck. Lando is tossed from
the deck of the rocking skiff. He manages to grab a rope, and
dangles desperately above the Sarlacc pit.
LANDO
Whoa! Whoa! Help!
34 EXT UPPER DECK - SAIL BARGE 34
With two swift strides, the dangerous Boba Fett ignites his
rocket pack, leaps into the air, and flies from the barge down to
the skiff.
35 EXT SKIFF 35
Boba lands on the skiff and starts to aim his laser gun at Luke,
who has freed Han and Chewie from their bonds. But before Boba
can fire, the young Jedi spins on him, lightsaber sweeping, and
hacks the bounty hunter's gun in half.
Immediately, the skiff takes another direct hit from the barge's
deck gun. Shards of skiff deck fly. Chewie and Han are thrown
against the rail.
HAN
Chewie, you okay? Where is he?
The Wookiee is wounded and he howls in pain.
HAN
I'm okay, pal.
For a moment, Luke is distracted, and in that moment, Boba fires
a cable out of his armored sleeve. Instantly, Luke is wrapped in
a strong cable, his arms pinned against his side, his sword arm
free only from the wrist down. Luke bends his wrist so the lightsaber
points straight up to reach the wire lasso and cuts through. Luke
shrugs away the cable and stands free.
Another blast from the Barge's deck gun hits near Boba and he is
knocked unconscious to the deck, next to where Lando is hanging.
LANDO
Han! Chewie?
HAN
Lando!
Luke is a little shaken but remains standing as a fusillade
brackets him. The second skiff, loaded with guards firing their
weapons, moves in on Luke fast. Luke leaps toward the incoming
second skiff. The young Jedi leaps into the middle of the second
skiff and begins decimating the guards from their midst.
Chewie, wounded, tries to lift himself as he barks directions to
Han, guiding him toward a spear which has been dropped by one of
the guards. Han searches the deck as Chewie barks directions;
finally he grabs hold of the spear.
Boba Fett, badly shaken, rises from the deck. He looks over at
the other skiff, where Luke is whipping a mass of guards. Boba
raises his arm, and aims his lethal appendage.
Chewie barks desperately at Han.
HAN
Boba Fett?! Boba Fett?! Where?
The space pirate turns around blindly, and the long spear in his
hand whacks squarely in the middle of Boba's rocket pack.
The impact of the sw ing causes the rocket pack to ignite. Boba
blasts off, flying over the second skiff like a missile, smashing
against the side of the huge Sail Barge and sliding away into the
pit. He screams as his armored body makes its last flight past
Lando and directly into the mucous mouth of the Sarlacc. The
Sarlacc burps. Chewie growls a weak congratulations to Han.
36 INT SAIL BARGE 36
Leia turns from the spectacle outside, leaps onto Jabba's throne,
and throws the chain that enslaves her over his head around his
bulbous neck. Then she dives off the other side of the throne,
pulling the chain violently in her grasp. Jabba's flaccid neck
contracts beneath the tightening chain. His huge eyes bulge from
their sockets and his scum-coated tongue flops out. The Exalted
Hutt's huge tail spasms through its death throes and then slams
down into final stillness. Leia struggles to free herself of her
bondage.
37 EXT SKIFF 37
Luke continues to destroy the aliens on the guards' skiff, as Han
extends his spear downward to Lando, who is still dangling
precariously from a rope on the prisoner's skiff.
HAN
Lando, grab it!
LANDO
Lower it!
HAN
I'm trying!
A major hit from the barge deck gun knocks the skiff on its side.
Han and almost everything else on board slides overboard. The
rope breaks, and Lando falls to the side of the Sarlacc pit.
Luckily, Han's foot catches on the skiff railing and he dangles
above Lando and the pit. The wounded Wookiee holds onto the skiff
for dear life as another hit from the deck gun rocks the skiff
violently.
HAN
Whoa! Whoa! Grab me, Chewie! I'm slipping.
Chewie grabs hold of Han's feet, holding him upside down, as Han
extends the spear toward Lando, who is clutching to the side of
the pit.
HAN
Grab it! L--Lando. Grab!
Luke finishes off the last guard on the second skiff. He sees the
deck gun blasting away at his helpless companions. Luke leaps
from the skiff, across a chasm of air, to the sheer metallic side
of the Sail Barge. Barely able to get a fingerhold, he begins a
painful climb up the hull, when suddenly an ax smashes through a
window an inch from his head. With Jedi agility, Luke grasps the
wrist holding the ax and yanks the helpless guard through the broken
window and into the deadly pit.
The injured Chewie is reaching over the rail for the dangling
Han, who is in turn blindly reaching down t
oward the desperate
Lando. The Baron has stopped his slippage down the sandy slope of
the Sarlacc pit by lying very still. Every time he tries to reach
for Han, the loose sand moves him closer to his final reward.
HAN
Grab it! Almost... You almost got it!
Another blast hits the front of the tilted skiff, causing Lando
to let go of the spear.
LANDO
Hold it! Whoa!
Again Han extends the spear toward Lando.
HAN
Gently now. All... all right. Now easy, easy.
Hold me, Chewie.
Lando screams. One of the Sarlacc's tentacles has wrapped tightly
around his ankle, dragging him down the side of the pit.
HAN
Chewie! Chewie, give me the gun. Don't move,
Lando.
LANDO
No, wait! I thought you were blind!
HAN
It's all right. Trust me. Don't move.
LANDO
All right! A little higher! Just a little
higher!
Han adjusts his aim as Lando lowers his head, and the fuzzy-eyed
pirate fires at the tentacle. Direct hit. The tentacle releases