Tomorrow, Saturday, marks 30 years since the release of the last film in the original Star Wars trilogy, 'Return Of The Jedi'. I can hardly believe it was that long ago. 1983 was a much simpler, yet also much more difficult time of my life, in the midst of prolonged civil unrest, military counter-insurgency operations (that would eventually escalate, a few years later, into a full-blown conventional campaign), and a host of other memories. One of them was the tragic loss of my fiancée, only a few weeks after we'd watched this movie together.
Wired has produced a fun article titled 30 Things You Didn’t Know About 'Return of the Jedi'. It includes gems such as these:
- The Ewoks occasionally speak Tagalog, although most of their dialogue is loosely inspired by Kalmuck, a language spoken in Mongolia. One of the Ewok songs once was believed to be in Swedish — with the lyrics translating, wonderfully, as “It smells of cereal in here” — but that, sadly, was based upon people mishearing the gibberish the oversized rodents were singing.
- Carrie Fisher’s infamous “slave girl” outfit was, reportedly, a stylistic response to her alleged complaints that the outfits she wore in the first two Star Wars movies made disguised the fact the she was a woman.
- An early version of the movie was to end with Luke walking off alone, leaving his friends behind in true gunfighter/Samurai fashion. That idea was dropped in favor of a happier ending, reportedly because Lucas feared a downbeat ending would throw a wrench in the printing press from which truckloads of merchandising money flowed.
There's much more at the link. Entertaining reading.
Thirty years ago . . . dang, I suddenly feel old!
Peter
Regarding Carrie Fisher's, errr - infamous 'slave girl' outfit, the deletion of ..in.. might be long past due.
ReplyDeleteReason.
About 15 or so years ago, I was doing my best to interest a couple of nieces and nephews, ballpark ages, from 13-15-ish, to the genre, with barely concealed indifference.
Then, the emergence of that INFAMOUS outfit.
The young audience were rivetted, silence was immediate, all parties leaned forward, (yair, me too, as always), from that point on, barely a word was said, from BOTH junior genders.
In varying degrees, their interest continues, (pleased?, you bet I am!), that some artfully designed and applied bits of metal and material would be their introduction to their personal Cosmos.
That day, youngsters entered the viewing room, and left as Princes and Princesses.
Today, they are a credit to themselves, because of a courageous Princess, and her champion?.
Who knows.
As I recall, the ending was going to have Luke walking off into the sunset, Leia as the Empress of a new Empire, Han dead and the Millenium Falcon destroyed.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I think that would have been a better ending.
I didn't care for the movie then. Still don't. "Stone Age Teddy Bears Defeat Galactic Empire"... bleech!
ReplyDelete