LUKE’S VOICE
Why didn’t you tell me?
BEN
You were not ready.
YODA
(coughs)
After your training, told you would be.
Luke awakes in a peasant inn on the planet Tatooine. A creature called OLLONY gives him a drink from a jug. C-3PO and R2-D2 return from a scavenging hunt, scaring the DEL ANDUES, who scurry for cover. They deliver a small box of parts. Then LANDO CALRISSIAN and CHEWBACCA arrive. They’ve bought parts and are now completely broke. Lando informs Luke that travelers are arriving in the village, and Luke concludes that Han Solo has been unfrozen: “They’ll fatten him up for a few days” before killing him. Luke tells C-3PO that from the parts he’s going to build something that will get them into Jabba’s palace so they can rescue Han.
The young Jedi has R2-D2 scan him as he creates a message for Jabba. While Lando and Chewie eat, Luke sends the droids to the palace. They leave and Luke tells Lando and Chewie that they will soon follow—with a gem for Jabba and the promise of 100 more. The plan is to trick Jabba into taking Han Solo out of his fortress, as Luke has no hope of overpowering the crime lord and his vassals within his fortress.
The droids arrive at Jabba’s and talk to an electronic eyeball on a spidery arm. They are admitted to the palace through an immense door, where they are met by two GIANT, GREEN SCALY GUARDS and BIB FORTUNA, “a wizened old man dressed in a dark cloak and a tall hat, the high Beeser of Hutt.” Bib takes them to Jabba to deliver their gift. In the main palace chamber, they see JABBA THE HUTT: The “godfather of the galactic crime world is a repulsively fat sultan-like monster with a maniacal grin.”
R2 projects a 10-foot-tall image of Luke, who states that he is a Jedi Knight and would like an audience so that he might bargain for the life of his friend Han Solo—and that he has objects of great value from the Durell System. As a token of his goodwill, and to C-3PO’s horror, Luke gives Jabba the two droids. He says that more agents will arrive for Jabba’s reply. Bib remarks, “Bargain rather than fight? He’s no Jedi; he’s an imposter.”
The droids are taken to the boiler room, where EUE-ATEDEATE (U-8D8) assigns them tasks: C-3PO, interpreter; R2-D2, miscellaneous chores. Indeed, he begins by mopping the floor. Back in the main palace chamber, Jabba does away with a garrulous CAPTAIN by triggering a trapdoor in the floor that opens into a RANCOR pit. Lando and Chewie arrive bearing the Durellian spice extractor as a gift. Jabba refuses to negotiate and has them seized; they are taken away as girls begin to dance.
Lando and Chewie pass R2 pushing a broom in a hallway; in their cell they meet up with a bearded Han Solo; he scratches the Wookiee’s chest. Han is about to hit Lando when Chewie explains how Lando rescued them on Cloud City.
Now Luke enters the palace, using a Jedi mind trick on Bib Fortuna. When he is brought before Jabba, the Hutt cannot be manipulated and remarks, “I have killed many Jedi Knights in my time …” Luke is dropped into the rancor pit, but jumps back up 20 feet and holds on to the grate; two filthy Jawas mash his fingers with the butts of their lazer rifles. Luke then kills the rancor by crushing it with a massive toothed door; the rancor keeper is distraught.
Jabba is outraged and decides that they will all suffer for Luke’s “crime.” Back in the cell, R2 projects an image of Luke telling Lando, Chewie, and Han his plan—and then distributes blasters. When guards arrive to take the prisoners, R2 resumes vacuuming innocently. Jabba orders Han, et al., to be taken to the “sloth pit.”
A sail barge and skiffs travel across the dune sea; when they arrive, the heroes are searched and the blasters confiscated. Luke reassures a skeptical Han that all is okay. But they look into the pit and see “a disgusting mucus-lined hole at the vortex of sand. Around the edge of the cavity are thousands of needle-sharp teeth and four thin, 10-foot-long feelers that sweep across the sand looking for victims.”
When Luke walks the plank, he uses it for a springboard, catapulting himself back into the skiff and using the Force to pull a blaster from its holster. All hell breaks loose. Chewie throws one of the guards into the sloth pit. Jabba is at first amused but then gives the order to shoot everyone, including those on his side. The Wookiee is wounded. The skiff tilts over and Han and Luke fall out, sliding slowly downward in the ooze. Another guard is eaten.
The droids gain access to the control room and set the barge on a self-destruct sequence, then throw themselves out a window. Lando lowers a tow cable to help his friends as Chewie loses consciousness. The barge explodes and drops into the pit, throwing Jabba, Bib, and company into the waiting jaws of the sloth. Lando pilots the skiff to safety, after pulling the droids out of the sand.
At the Hutt spaceport, the Falcon blasts off, but is seen by Imperial stormtroopers. Han says, “Boy, it’s great to be behind these controls again.” Luke tells him, “Alright, hot shot, head this bucket toward the SICE system.” They make the jump to hyperspace.
Back on the moon, Leia and CAPTAIN JODE plot out how they are going to fire the rebels’ two guns: Located in different areas in the forest, one gun will knock out communications from Had Abbadon to the two Death Stars; the other gun will knock out the shield generator for the Death Stars, making them vulnerable to the rebel fleet. Leia takes a landspeeder to travel back to her shuttle and give the signal that they’re ready.
On another part of the moon, Imperials ride one-man rocket bikes. Walkers are also present, one of them commanded by GENERAL VEERS, who talks with Vader; Piett reports that the Falcon has been seen. Veers finds Leia’s ship and kills its rebels; Vader orders a search of the entire moon to find the others and then communicates with Luke telepathically:
VADER
My son, your friends are in trouble … You will come to me in time … Son, come to me. I can help you.
This instigates another dream sequence:
BEN
He was a friend, betrayed. Murdered by the dark side.
When Luke refuses to consider destroying his father, he learns a startling secret:
YODA
Destroy you he will, as he destroyed himself.
BEN
Your sister must do it then.
Luke is suddenly sitting in Yoda’s house.
LUKE
Sister?!? I don’t have a sister.
YODA
Your twin; strong with the Force is she, but untrained. If you fail, our only hope is she …
The room grows very large around Luke and Yoda.
LUKE
My sister.
YODA
She was taken to Alderaan by your Mother. Safer it was to keep you apart.
LUKE
Leia!
BEN
She is your sister.
YODA
Block the thought from your mind; of this, Vader must not know. Dead he thinks she is.
The Falcon lands at SICEMON, on a vast grass plain. “In the distance, giant flying whales glide around the city.” CAPTAIN NEW arrives and takes them to the War Room, where GENERAL MADINE discusses the two ion cannons and the attack. Han thinks the plan is crazy and wants to retrieve Leia from the moon—but Luke manacles him to a control console using the Force. Luke tells Han that he must learn patience.
On the moon Leia and Jode return to their transport, realize that Imperials are posing as rebels, and hightail it out of there on rocket bikes. A big chase ensues. Jode is knocked off his bike; Leia is knocked off hers by a net that springs up in her path.
Jabba’s barge concept by McQuarrie.
Concept of Jabba’s barge by McQuarrie, with propulsion notations, early 1981 (no. 105). “Since there’s not much wood on the desert world, the decision was made to use a light metal, like aluminum, for Jabba’s barge,” McQuarrie says. “Because the sails’ primitive simplicity clashed with the facade’s rather sophisticated appearance, the sails shrank in each successive drawing until they became sun canopies. My concept was that the barge walls were simply heavy cloth curtains attached to a s
keleton framework. The fins attached to the sides are steering rudders. One of Joe’s touches was the spikes, which act as ground sensors that trail along the sand dunes. In an earlier script, there were two sail barges—I even illustrated the scene [see this page]—but the second ship was eliminated because it was just decoration.
“These ships are all powered, at least in my mind, by a system for harnessing gravity. It’s based on the idea that outerspace is not a vacuum, but filled with superfine particles we cannot detect, which carry microwaves, radio waves, and light. Basically it’s the same as the 19th century concept of ether. The particles are drawn to high-density masses, such as planets and stars, and it is their pushing down upon the surface of these objects which creates gravity.
“If it were possible to acquire a small piece of super dense matter—like that found in a black hole—and shield it from the ether by enclosing it in a totally insulating box, you could harness perpetual motion. Lifting one side of the container would allow the ether to enter along a single, controlled axis, generating an inverse jet propulsion while adding to the gravity core’s mass and power. At least that’s how mine works. Speed would be a matter of regulating the ether flow.”
Concept art of a skiff, with notations, by Johnston, late 1980 (no. 023) and an undated drawing, also a skiff concept.
Rodis-Jamero’s take on a skiff, January 1981 (001).
Skiff concepts by Johnston.
On Sicemon, Luke constructs a lazer sword. Although C-3PO says, “The knowledge to construct lightsabers has long been lost,” Luke succeeds.
YODA
At last, the secret of the lightsaber you have mastered. Your training is complete. You are ready for your final test … Your father.
Luke then receives a vision that Leia is in trouble and that the attack will fail. Yoda says the only solution is to face Vader. Luke returns to the chained-up Solo, knocks his feet off a console, and asks him if he still thinks he can sneak to the moon without being caught by the Imperials. “Does a bantha scratch?” answers Solo. He, Luke, Chewie, and the droids take off in the Falcon, telling Lando to wait for their signal before launching the attack. Solo’s plan is to exit hyperspace so close to the planet that they’ll be able to land before being spotted.
On the forest moon, Leia wakes up to see an EWAK named WICKET, a little furry creature with yellow eyes and a tail. They bond after battling stormtroopers together, and he leads her into the forest.
The Falcon exits hyperspace in the moon’s atmosphere, appearing like a burning asteroid. On the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer, Vader takes notice, as does CAPTAIN NAFFER. Solo and the others disembark; Leia is introduced to the other Ewaks—TEEBO, CHIEF CHIRPA, and LOGRAY—who live in a cave that is accessed by swinging on a vine over a chasm. Leia is made a member of the tribe.
Luke, Han, et al., find Leia’s shuttle, where Luke senses trouble. He enters alone and when two troopers try to get the jump on him, he slices them in half with his lazer sword. He also uses a blaster to fire at troopers attacking Han outside, but is separated from his friends, chased by a walker.
After the skirmish, Chewie takes meat from a post, triggering a trap in which he, Han, and the droids are caught. Luke stops running when he suddenly encounters Ben, a “shimmering image … on a log.”
BEN
There will come a time when you must destroy your father or join him.
LUKE
I know.
BEN
The longer you wait, the more difficult it will become. Time is running out for me. Soon I must rejoin the material world or I will become one with the Force.
LUKE
Come back, Ben, I need your help.
BEN
I am of greater use to you now, than if I returned to your level. My corporeal self is old and Vader is far too strong. Here I can limit his use of the Force.
Yoda appears on the far side of Luke, having joined Ben in the netherworld, again counseling that Luke face Vader. Luke gives himself up to the pursuing walker.
Han and his group meet the Ewaks, who take C-3PO for a local deity. Lando and Captain New command the rebel fleet. Though not seen, Admiral Ackbar is reported as bringing the third fleet into position. They all approach the galactic city-planet, Had Abbadon.
Luke is taken to Veers, who tells the shuttle captain to take him to Vader, despite standing orders to escort Luke to Had Abbadon. The captain complies, but tattletales to Grand Moff Jerjerrod.
Han, Chewie, and the droids are taken to the cave, where Leia intervenes and they are reunited. Leia gives Han a big hug and a kiss. At a village council, Leia and C-3PO convince the Ewaks that it is in their interest to help them. They split into groups: The droids and Teebo head for the Falcon to give the “attack” message to the rebel fleet, while Han, Leia, Wicket, and Chewie head for the first gun emplacement.
Veers and a few guards hand over Luke to Vader on the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer. Luke informs Vader that his powers no longer affect him—he is “strong.”
VADER
But not strong enough to destroy the Emperor. He will crush you, if you do not embrace the dark side. I cannot keep him from you, you must decide quickly.
The Grand Moff Jerjerrod enters the bridge area and approaches Vader.
JERJERROD
So this is the boy that has given you so much trouble. Not very imposing is he? Why wasn’t he taken directly to the Emperor?
VADER
He is mine, and I will take him myself.
JERJERROD
I’m afraid the Emperor does not desire your presence … He will go with me.
Vader grabs the Grand Moff by the neck and begins to lift him off the ground with one hand. The Generals, Admirals, and crew look on in disbelief. Jerjerrod gasps for air and struggles to free himself from the dark lord’s iron grip.
VADER
No one will be going with you, bureaucrat. I no longer wish to be annoyed by your simpering ways.
JERJERROD
The Emperor will destroy you for this …
Vader snaps the man’s neck and he drops to the deck in a heap.
VADER
I think not; your importance has been greatly exaggerated.
Vader grabs Luke and leads him off the bridge to the startled stares of his commanders and crew.
Leia and Han meet with Captain Jode at the first gun, which will take out the communications network; the bad news is that the second gun has been captured. Han says they’ll have to take it back. At the Falcon, Teebo distracts Imperial guards who have found the ship by stealing one of their rocket bikes. C-3PO sneaks aboard with R2 and they give the signal for the fleet to attack. The rebel fleet makes the jump to hyperspace/lightspeed. The first ion cannon destroys the communications satellite on Had Abbadon.
As Vader and Luke walk toward an Imperial shuttle on the Super Star Destroyer, Captain Piett informs the Dark Lord that the rebel fleet is attacking. Vader makes defense plans and then boards the shuttle. The rebel fleet arrives, and a giant aerial battle commences.
On the moon, Han, Chewie, Wicket, and a small band of rebels arrive at the second gun emplacement, which is protected by many troops and two walkers. Luke and Vader arrive on the surface of the city-planet.
The wind blows across the bleak cityscape. Vader is leading Luke toward the terminal entrance when the shimmering image of Ben appears in their path. Luke and Vader stop short. The dark Lord draws his lazer-sword.
VADER
So you are not dead after all, Obi-Wan. Your presence in the netherworld can do me no harm. The boy is mine, you have failed old one.
BEN
It is you who has failed.
VADER
Luke will not destroy me as you wish. He will turn to the dark side, or be destroyed by the Emperor. There is nothing you can do to save him now.
BEN
I do not wish to save him. His fate is already decided. It is you I would save.
VADER
You w
ill fail to turn me as you did before. My strength lies with the dark side.
BEN
Your son feels there is still some good in you.
LUKE
Father, listen to him.
BEN
You will be destroyed, if not by Luke, then by your Emperor … When you become one with the dark side of the Force, you will lose all identity.
The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Enhanced Edition) Page 7