Whether waiting in a line wrapping around a mall on opening day or thirsting over new “Star Wars” action figures at the toy store, if you were a kid 40 years ago, you knew “Return of the Jedi” was a big deal. And you loved it.
When “Jedi” was released in theaters on May 25, 1983, the box office wasn’t ruled by prequels and sequels. There weren’t even that many movie franchises around. Instead, we were just concerned about getting Han Solo out of that carbonite from “The Empire Strikes Back.”
Two more “Star Wars” trilogies followed, plus so many other blockbuster franchises that arose over the decades, but “Return of the Jedi” has managed to age pretty well. Here are five reasons why it’s still cool:
Luke Skywalker’s hero quest is still an all-timer (and so is his dad’s)
In George Lucas’ original 1977 “Star Wars,” Mark Hamill’s Luke started off as a whiny farm boy who jumped in an X-wing, used the Force and blew up the Death Star. He, thankfully, grew up a little more in “Empire” – which was bound to happen, with all the Yoda training and Darth Vader coming clean as Luke’s space daddy. But in “Jedi,” Luke is fully in grown-up Jedi master mode, going to Jabba the Hutt’s palace to save Han (Harrison Ford), reveal to Leia (Carrie Fisher) that they’re twin siblings and face off with the Emperor for all the marbles.
Anakin Skywalker, aka Vader, also completes an evolution as well, from Jedi hero to villainous lord to Father of the Year candidate, throwing the Emperor down a shaft and giving up his life for Luke’s. After everything that went down, who doesn’t get a little verklempt when a dying Vader asks Luke to take off his mask and says – with James Earl Jones’ legendary voice – “Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes.”
Thanks to Admiral Ackbar, a memorable meme was born
In 1983, everybody got such a kick out of a lobster dude leading the Rebel fleet into battle against the second Death Star. At the time, his line “It’s a trap” – spouted when the good guys expect the space station’s shields to be down but realize the Empire has tricked them – was just one of a bunch of nifty aspects to an epic “Star Wars” battle scene.
In the 2000s, though, that simple sentence took on a life of its own. It became one of the first memes in a burgeoning Internet culture, was borrowed by everything from “Family Guy” to “The Daily Show” and is still shared widely on social media as a reaction GIF.
Princess Leia’s bikini evolved from demeaning to empowering
At the beginning of “Jedi,” Leia goes undercover as a bounty hunter to rescue her love Han from Jabba’s clutches. She’s found out and the monstrous gangster enslaves Leia, puts her in a revealing gold metal bikini and even licks her with a gross ginormous tongue. She gets her revenge, choking Jabba to death with a chain, but the fashion choice has been a controversial one over the years, with critics decrying its sexual objectification. Fisher herself acknowledged that she “hated wearing that outfit” in a 2016 NPR interview. “It wasn’t my choice.”
However, in recent years there’s been a shift in thinking. The “Slave Leia” costume has been popularly renamed “Huttslayer Leia” by female cosplayers embracing the character’s deadly warrior side. And in a USA TODAY interview earlier this year, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” star Evangeline Lilly said as a kid she used to “fantasize about being Princess Leia chained to Jabba. She was just so beautiful and epic. She was the ultimate heroine.”
Ewoks led a ‘Return of the Jedi’ parade of weird creatures
The Mos Eisley cantina scene in the first “Star Wars” introduced a hive of scum, villainy and odd alien creatures just hanging around and drinking hard. It was just a taste of what was to come as “Return of the Jedi” really opened up a weird world of monsters and creatures. You had the colorful Max Rebo Band, husky Gamorrean guards and the gigantic Rancor in Jabba’s palace – not to mention the massive Hutt himself – but also Ackbar leading the Rebellion and droopily jowled Nien Numb co-piloting the Millennium Falcon with Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian.
Then there were the Ewoks. Whether you love them or loved to hate them, these teddy bears – who pound for pound had arguably the most effective fighting force in the galaxy – just added a ton of over-the-top personality and could also take down a battalion of Stormtroopers with trees and other forest resources, MacGyver-style. And do you have Baby Yoda if you don’t have Ewoks? Not likely.
There’s never been a better ‘Star Wars’ finale
How many good third movies have there been? Not many. “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” for sure. “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” won a best picture Oscar, so that’s another one. “Return of the Jedi” is in even more rarefied air since it’s the best “Star Wars” closing chapter.
“The Rise of Skywalker” was a faceplant for the recent sequel trilogy. “Revenge of the Sith” wrapped up the prequels well but it wasn’t exactly a conclusion and it was also sort of a downer. But “Jedi” is all satisfying catharsis: As the galaxy celebrates the fall of the Empire, Luke gives his dad a fiery burial and then joins his pals in the Ewok village for one heck of a rager before seeing the ghosts of his father, Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness). It’s as awesome to watch now as it was when you were a kid on opening night in 1983, planning when to next see it again.
If only we had Disney+ back then.
More about the ‘Star Wars’ galaxy:
Ranked:Every ‘Star Wars’ movie, from worst to best
‘Return of the Jedi’ turns 40:The 75 best ‘Star Wars’ characters, definitively ranked
Star Wars Celebration:New movie will bring back Daisy Ridley as Rey
Fun fact, ‘Star Wars’ fans:A stack of dirty dishes inspired the Millennium Falcon
