Rebel commandos, led by Princess Leia, have made their way into the very heart of the Galactic Empire, as the first step toward the final battle for freedom …
As Leia tries to sneak her “huge” Imperial transport Tyderium onto the moon, through a spiderweb of Star Destroyers and enemy ships, one of her escorts, WEDGE, pilots a TIE fighter and has troubles with his controls. Instead of abandoning Wedge, Leia locks a tractor beam on him. Although this surprises an Imperial controller, her codes check out so she and her disguised rebel friends are cleared to land on the sanctuary moon.
In the revised rough draft, Jerjerrod does not take Vader to see the Emperor; instead they have a heated conversation on the bridge of Vader’s Star Destroyer:
Jerjerrod starts for the hangar entrance. Vader follows.
VADER
Don’t you toy with me.
JERJERROD
All right then … The Emperor is disturbed with your failure to deal with young Skywalker and he has decided to handle the matter personally. You will supervise the construction of the Battle Stations; a task he feels will be much less demanding.
VADER
But I have all but turned him to the dark side of the force.
JERJERROD
The Emperor does not share your optimistic appraisal of the situation. Skywalker is more powerful now than before your feeble attempts to convert him.
VADER
He can’t do this. The boy is mine.
JERJERROD
That seems to be part of the problem. It would appear that you still have some feelings for your troublesome offspring.
VADER
The only feeling I have for him is hatred.
JERJERROD
Then you should be thankful the Emperor has taken such an interest in him. The Emperor will turn Skywalker to the dark side, and then destroy the rebellion in one swift stroke.
VADER
The rebellion will not be easily crushed, and my son will not be easily turned.
JERJERROD
The Emperor will succeed, where you have failed. You are weak, Lord Vader, more machine than man. The Emperor’s plan has already been put into motion. The entire rebel force is on its way to us, for one last, hopeless confrontation, so I suggest you prepare your fleet.
VADER
My son would not be so foolish as to fall into such a trap.
JERJERROD
Ahh, but he is not with them. Your son is on his home planet of Tatooine. He will soon be in our hands, and the Emperor will have his way with him.
VADER
Get off my bridge!
JERJERROD
As you wish …
Luke wakes up in a Tatooine inn, when the droids arrive and while two Jawas make breakfast—concept illustration by Johnston, spring 1981.
Shuttle concept by Johnston, inspired by the earlier skyhopper from Star Wars (no. 072), March 1981.
A Johnston drawing that fixed the basic design of the shuttle, circa mid 1981.
Jerjerrod concept by Rodis-Jamero, early 1981.
Imperial guard costume concept by Rodis-Jamero (with a philosophical guard).
Approved concept by McQuarrie of an assassin droid that would eventually find a place at Jabba’s, April 1981 (037).
Concept art by Rodis-Jamero of the droids in front of the “main gate, Jabba’s castle” (no. 126).
Luke hologram in Jabba’s throne room (no. 122, with Bib Fortuna in stove-pipe hat) by Rodis-Jamero.
McQuarrie concept art of the rancor door (no. 301).
Nilo’s Luke vs. rancor (no. 120).
The same by McQuarrie (with man-in-suit rancor), circa April 1981.
Jabba’s palace concept thumbnails by McQuarrie.
Luke vs. the rancor color sketch by Rodis-Jamero.
Luke’s dream sequence has been scratched; instead Vader telepathically says, “Luke, beware: You are the Emperor’s prey now”—which wakes Luke up in his Tatooine inn, where ATETU and TWEETU, “two vile, little dirty Jawas,” cook him a stew. The revised draft then proceeds with little changed.
This time, R2 does not give blasters to Han and the others, and the sloth pit into which Jabba and his cronies fall after being defeated by Luke has been renamed the “SARLACC NEST.” Back on the moon, Leia has to deal with only one ion cannon now, which the rebels will use to destroy the shield generator on Had Abbadon (the communications network is no longer an issue). A new scene on Vader’s Star Destroyer has Jerjerrod communicating with the Emperor via hologram:
THE EMPEROR
Take extra precautions. He is now far stronger than his father.
JERJERROD
Yes, Master. We will have the boy quite soon.
THE EMPEROR
Vader is to know nothing of this. Young Skywalker must be brought directly to me. Do you understand?
JERJERROD
Yes, Master.
THE EMPEROR
… and watch Lord Vader closely. He is powerful and not to be underestimated.
JERJERROD
Yes, Master. He will be quite distracted. The rebel attack is proceeding as you planned, and Lord Vader already suspects their presence. He has sent several units to the sanctuary moon.
THE EMPEROR
Good. Everything is falling into place.
JERJERROD
It is as you have foreseen, my Master.
On Tatooine, Lando leads Luke, Han, Chewie, and the droids to an underground hangar through a raging sandstorm at the Hutt spaceport; at the entrance, Luke and Han resolve their feelings toward Leia:
LUKE
I know everything. She loves you, Han. My feelings for her are different than yours. I’m not going to get in your way.
Han gives Luke a hug—just as C-3PO runs up saying, “They’ve taken Artoo.” Luke and Han go back into the sandstorm and down an alleyway. Han is knocked out just after spotting R2 hanging from a strap halfway up a wall. Luke is trapped in a cage with special electrified bars. Back at the hangar, C-3PO is telling Lando and Chewie what happened when Han and R2 emerge from the sandstorm to see a starship taking off; they pursue in the Falcon, but the enemy ship makes the jump to hyperspace. They change course for the rebel fleet.
On the moon, CAPTAIN KAUN and Leia discover that their transport has been found and taken over by Imperial stormtroopers. The rocket bike chase occurs as in the previous draft (the Ewaks are now “Ewoks”).
After Lando and Han join up with the rebel fleet, Solo declares that he has to rescue Luke from Darth Vader, whom he assumes is the culprit. He leaves with Chewie and the droids. The Imperial ship that blasted off from Tatooine nears the Empire’s fleet above Had Abbadon, but steers clear of Vader’s ship: “The Emperor doesn’t want Lord Vader to sense the boy’s presence,” the officer says. Luke sits in a small cell within the shuttle:
LUKE
Ben, help me … come to me, please Ben. I’m not strong enough to face my father. Help me to resist the dark side of the Force, Ben, Ben, please …
Luke looks up to see a shimmering, translucent image of Yoda standing in the tiny cell with him. Luke is startled by the vision.
LUKE
Yoda?
YODA
Ben can no longer help you. His power to stay in the netherworld has been spent. He will soon be one with the Force. His identity lost forever.
LUKE
No, help him. Bring him back …
YODA
Only you can draw him back to the material world. Stop your anger.
LUKE
How, I can’t …
YODA
You can’t, because that is what you think. Have you learned nothing?
(One numbered page is left blank in the draft, indicating that the scene would have more yet-to-be-written dialogue.) Luke is delivered to the Guard Officer, who takes him into the “massive Imperial palace.” As he is escorted through the hallway, two captains spot Luke and report his presence to Lord Vader. In the Emperor’s throne room, there is no lava this
time; instead, “on the far side of the room is a long wide flight of stairs that leads to a throne that is silhouetted by a huge window behind it.” The Emperor tells Luke that he will turn to the dark side of his own wishes and orders the young Jedi to the “tombs.”
In a new scene on Vader’s ship, the Dark Lord is furious to learn of Luke’s fate:
Concept art by Johnston for a shot of Vader approaching the Emperor on Had Abbadon, to be supplemented by a matte painting, spring 1981; an overlay showed how an Imperial shuttle would be seen through the window.
Vader and the Emperor by Rodis-Jamero.
The Gothic, or Romanesque, look continued in Reynolds’s set concept for the Emperor’s lair, May 1981.
Concept illustration by Johnston of an Imperial approved-design shuttle flying over Had Abbadon (no. 129), spring 1981.
Concept art of the “huge” transport commanded by Leia, with detachable mobile bunker, to combat the Imperials, by Johnston (no. 094), circa March 1981.
Rodis-Jamero’s take on the “rebel mobile bunker,” spring 1981 (no. 125).
Johnston study of shuttlecrafts flying over the city planet.
Emperor’s lair concept by production designer Norman Reynolds.
“Ion Cannon/Mobile Bunker Interior” by Johnston.
VADER
What is the Emperor doing with my son …
JERJERROD
My Lord Vader, the Emperor does not have to answer to you … besides, I don’t believe he has your son … Where did you come by this piece of erroneous information.
VADER
He’s been seen at the palace … And that’s where I’m going!
JERJERROD
The Emperor would prefer you didn’t … You would go against his wishes. The rebel attack is about to begin. You are truly fearless, my old friend.
Vader grabs the Grand Moff by the neck and begins to lift him off the ground with one hand; Jerjerrod gasps for air and struggles to free himself from the dark Lord’s iron grip.
VADER
You are not my friend, bureaucrat. I will go to the palace, but you will not live to see it. 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 floor in a heap.
Another new scene occurs in the war room of the rebel frigate, with ADMIRAL ACKBAR, “a pale blue non-human creature,” giving a strategy debriefing. MON MOTHMA delivers an inspirational speech. Within the Tombs Prison, Luke lies unconscious on a small island in the middle of a hot lava lake, but is woken by a shrouded figure, who turns out to be Ben Kenobi—in the flesh. “I could no longer stay in the netherworld,” he says. Luke explains that he is no longer angry and that he understands why he wasn’t told about his father.
BEN
I know … and I am here … to help you destroy the Emperor, and … your father.
LUKE
I can’t.
Suddenly Yoda appears beside Ben.
YODA
You can and you will … I in the netherworld and Obi-Wan at your side. Help you we will.
When Han and friends are taken to the Ewok stronghold, now it is the droids who are the heroes; Leia does not intervene. Indeed Solo discovers her presence only after being freed, once the “divine” C-3PO has convinced the Ewoks to “kill the giant walkers.”
The rebel fleet arrives as before, but Vader now descends to Had Abbadon and approaches the throne room; two guards barring the way are dispatched, and Vader confronts the Emperor.
VADER
Where is he?
EMPEROR
Safe … There is no need for you to worry, I will take good care of him …
VADER
It is for me to train my son … you—
The Emperor raises his hand and Vader’s breathing suddenly stops. The dark Lord struggles at his controls, attempting to regain his air supply. He chokes.
EMPEROR
You forget yourself … Lord Vader. I will tolerate no more discussion on the subject. The boy is mine to train. Your place is with the fleet.
Vader collapses on the floor and the Emperor lowers his hand. Vader starts breathing again and rises to a kneeling position.
VADER
Forgive me, Master.
On the moon and in space the action is roughly the same, but on Had Abbadon, when the Emperor takes an elevator down to the tombs, Vader secretly follows.
LUKE
Do you feel that?
BEN
Yes, it’s the Emperor … he’s moving this way …
LUKE
… and so is my Father.
BEN
He is following the Emperor. Yoda!
YODA’S VOICE
I am between them and the Force … cloud their minds I will.
BEN
Luke, you must take them on one at a time … together they will destroy you …
The Emperor enters the cavern and looks across to the boiling lava lake. He sees Ben and is surprised.
EMPEROR
So you are not dead after all, Obi-Wan. I thought I felt your presence in the netherworld. So, you have returned, but you have failed … the boy is mine and will soon embrace the dark side.
Approved concept art of Leia making friends with the Ewoks, by Rodis-Jamero (no. 110), April 1981.
“Front elevation shuttle” set concept by Reynolds, May 18, 1981 (with Vader hiding behind a tree).
Concept art by Johnston, early 1981. A sub-genre of concept art for Jedi consisted of mechanical, mobile, armed droids, perhaps bounty hunters or trackers. “They were part of an idea for ‘specialty droids’ that didn’t go anywhere because of budget reasons,” Johnston would say. “Often we would just keep doing designs for stuff that had been dropped if we had nothing more pressing to do.”
Droid concept by Johnston.
Set concepts by Norman Reynolds.
Ewok/rocket bikes gag concept by Rodis-Jamero.
YODA
It is you who have failed, my old friend.
The Emperor turns around to see the shimmering image of Yoda standing before him.
EMPEROR
You!
YODA
Evil one, this will be the last day of your existence.
EMPEROR
Your presence in the netherworld can do me no harm and neither can this boy or this old man.
YODA
Your fear is strong … overestimate your abilities you do.
Vader steps out of the shadows and stands next to the Emperor.
VADER
My Master, they must be destroyed, now it is too late to turn the boy.
Luke looks at his father, then reaches out and Vader’s lazer sword leaps off the Dark Lord’s belt and into the young Jedi’s hand. Luke ignites the lazer sword as the Emperor pulls a sword out of his sleeve and tosses it to Vader.
EMPEROR
Destroy them.
Vader’s sword ignites and he starts to move toward his son. Luke backs away […]
The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (Enhanced Edition) Page 12