Star Wars Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition) DVD
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 Rating: - George, if it ain't broke don't fix it! Rated **(***)
I agree with any of a number of previous reviewers: Would somebody PLEASE take STAR WARS away from George Lucas before he ruins it completely?

Like Francis Ford Coppola, who messed with THE GODFATHER trilogy over and over again trying to "perfect" it, Lucas keeps coming back to the original STAR WARS trilogy and adding enhanced effects and formerly deleted scenes.

In what is now known as STAR WARS EPISODE VI: THE RETURN OF THE JEDI, (let me catch my breath a minute, please), Lucas decided to "enhance" the film by inserting extra scenes and dialogue. Lucas decided to make the battle scene explosions more "dramatic," do a score of other little tweaks, and clean up the print.

Lucas has done this so many times over the past three decades that it's now impossible to figure out which film is the "real" THE RETURN OF THE JEDI. Of all the questionable "improvements" he's made, cleaning up the print is the only worthwhile effort. Most of the added scenes and lines add nothing to the film, and some of the changes actually degrade the movie. At the very end, Lucas chose to insert a whole sequence of CGI planetary capitals celebrating the fall of the Galactic Empire, an artificial-looking addition that was hardly worth the effort. Far more annoying is the eleventh hour closing scene replacement of the spirit of Anakin Skywalker (originally David Prowse) with the twentysomething Hayden Christensen, who played Anakin in Episodes II and III. Standing next to the glowing green Yoda and the elder Obi-Wan (Sir Alec Guinness), Christensen's Anakin looks like a Yuppie punk wrapped in a bedsheet.

Fortunately, this two-disc set contains the original theatrical release with all the nicks and imperfections it was born with. The print's a bit dim, and the special effects are showing their limitations after twenty-four years, but this is THE RETURN OF THE JEDI that will remain THE RETURN OF THE JEDI. It is what it is, and it never needed changes. Given the immense amount of material that has grown up around STAR WARS since it was first released, Lucas would have been smarter to release one or the other or both versions as he did, but added an Extras disc with all kinds of "The Making Of.." and "The Legacy Of..." goodies. I was disappointed that this isn't that set.

I was twenty-three when THE RETURN OF THE JEDI debuted in 1983, a full six years after STAR WARS. It was a long time to wait for the cycle to end, and the rumors of a second trilogy (and a possible third trilogy) went unanswered for an unconscionably long time.

I never became a "Jedihead" (the original tag for the STAR WARS version of a Trekkie), but THE RETURN OF THE JEDI, while not as good as THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, was an eagerly awaited coda to the tale.

The STAR WARS films are not CITIZEN KANE IN OUTER SPACE. Overall, they are not "great" films, but they are true "classics." THE RETURN OF THE JEDI is a crucial part of the cycle, and does entertain and excite, all the true bases of success and the core of meaningfulness for any story.

The STAR WARS universe is clearly derivative. THE LORD OF THE RINGS has a "Dark Lord" and a RETURN OF THE KING. STAR WARS has a "Dark Lord of the Sith" and a RETURN OF THE JEDI. Lightsabers are yet another nod to the film's Sword & Sorcery roots. STAR WARS' "Corellians" appear in Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION as "Korellians", and "Han Solo" is also there as "Hari Seldon." The space war elements are a mishmash of STAR TREK, FORBIDDEN PLANET, AMAZING STORIES, pulp fiction, and a hundred other sources. George Lucas was able to take these well-used pieces and combine them into something that is both very original and yet archetypal.

THE RETURN OF THE JEDI closes the sci-fi retelling of the Mythos of the young Hero. Having faced his demons in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and suffered traumatic, life-altering injury and loss as well as the acquisition of his unique Secret Knowledge, Luke Skywalker has grown into a powerful Jedi. By the time of THE RETURN OF THE JEDI it is becoming clear that Luke has transcended the seductions of the Dark Side, and is now using his powers for unselfish purposes, including perhaps most profoundly, the redemption of his own father, Darth Vader.

Nevertheless, one challenge remains. When Vader discovers Leia's existence, he declares Luke a supernumerary and decides to turn Leia to the Dark Side. The ensuing lightsaber battle between Vader and Luke for Leia's soul is the most profound and most critical moment in the entire sextology. Luke's positive urge to protect his sister meshes with the negative rage he feels at his father's betrayal. Luke Skywalker never comes closer to the Dark Side than at that moment when he maims his father and has the defeated, clearly weakened Vader at his feet. His decision to toss away his lightsaber and renounce the Dark Side at that moment is not only the key to his own salvation but to that of his father, who is then called upon to act on behalf of all that is good, and does. In doing so, father and son together redeem their entire universe.

While not as complex as THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, THE RETURN OF THE JEDI is a far more sophisticated story than the straight-ahead A NEW HOPE. It brings Lucas' modern myth of the Hero to the only close that it could have. Thank heaven that THE RETURN OF THE JEDI even survives Lucas's post-theatrical obsessive-compulsive changes to remain a modern classic.

FIVE STARS FOR "THE RETURN OF THE JEDI", TWO STARS FOR LUCAS' "IMPROVED" VERSION.

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